Do You BOGO?
July 16, 2013Hardcore shoppers know to be on the lookout for BOGO deals, which means you “buy one, get one” free or half price. My latest score under a BOGO deal was at the grocery store, where Purex laundry detergent was buy one, get one free and priced at $3.39. Extreme couponers can make BOGO deals even better by adding a coupon on top of the sale. It had never occurred to me that I could use two coupons, one for each bottle of detergent, even though I was getting one free – until I watched Extreme Couponing on TLC. Since I also had two $1 off coupons for Purex, the net price for TWO bottles of laundry detergent came to only $1.39!
However, you need to be aware that some BOGO deals aren’t as good as they may sound. For example, a local shoe store occasionally runs a buy one, get one half off sale. The problem is that they are using the sticker price, whereas the week before the sale all shoes had been marked down 25% off sticker price, essentially the same deal – but you only had to buy 1 pair of shoes instead of 2.
BOGOs also tempt you to buy more than you might otherwise want or need. Target recently had swimwear on sale BOGO half off. I found 3 pieces I liked so I ended up buying a 4th that I wasn’t really planning to purchase just to get it at “half off,” but I still ended up spending $10 more than originally planned.
So where can you find BOGO deals? Start with your local grocery store’s weekly circular or the coupon inserts of your Sunday newspaper. Or go online to sites such as couponsurfer.com or bogofetcher.com for deals in your area. Another favorite source of mine is the Entertainment Book, which has tons of coupons for BOGO deals at area restaurants. You can even order an Entertainment Book for another city if you plan ahead so you can save on dining out when you go away on vacation!