Store Gift Card and Coupon Promotions

An excellent way to stretch your money is to hunt for gift card promotions. There are several different types of promotions I have seen:

• We are often able to get our prescriptions for FREE by using the Qs for gift cards when you fill a new prescription or transfer a prescription.  They are found in the weekly sale ads or are promotions found online at drugstore websites.  I always tear these out, as you never know when you might need one. We mostly use these from Target, but other stores do it as well.  CVS will honor these Qs as competitor Qs too!
• Shop during gift coupon promotions like Kohl’s Cash, Gymboree Bucks, and Office Depot WorkLife Rewards (get $XX.XX to spend in the store at a later date when you spend $xx.xx amount)
• $10/$10 Qs from department stores to promote a sale or when you haven’t shopped there recently
• Grand Opening Celebration gifts and promotions.  My mother collected $30 in GCs at a grand opening last summer because she went with my niece and they were giving GCs to everyone who walked through the door.  
• Often around Christmas time restaurants and stores will offer promotions where you will get extra GCs when you purchase a set amount of cards.   Some examples I remember are O’Charlies, Chili’s, Logan’s Roadhouse, Shortey Smalls, Little Caesar’s, Applebee’s and Kroger
• Radio Stations and TV Stations also offer similar promotions for restaurants and entertainment.
• Purchase Restaurant.com gift certificates.  These are anywhere from $2-$10 for a $25 GC depending on the coupon code you use.  Caution: these often require a $35 food purchase though, so you may need a larger group to dine with to use it. 
• Use your credit card rewards (if you use credit wisely) to get extra $ in GCs.  My favorite is DiscoverCard where your rewards can be exchanged $20 for a $25 GC or $45 for a $50 GC.  
• Purchase store calendars/gift cards/coupons and receive the other one free.  My favorite- Chick-Fil-A’s calendar.  It has 12 great coupons for free food.  This past Christmas it was free when you purchased a $20 GC.  Our family usually spends less than $4 to eat at CFA because we use a coupon for each of us and then we put the balance on the GC.  I’m hoping they run this promo again.   

Hopefully this will give you a good start for some promos to be on the lookout for.  If you find a good one, be sure to e-mail me and I can post it for everyone!