Stephanie's Savings

There is an excellent J.C. Penney deal for free family photos. For the month of November, you can get family photos done at no cost. You get a free sitting fee, a free 8-by-10-inch photo, and a free digital upload emailed to you! Limit one offer per family. You will need to schedule an appointment with your local JC Penney for this promotion.

Rite Aid has an excellent promotion for gift cards this week. When you purchase $100 worth of Applebees, Chili’s or T.G.I.F gift cards, you’ll get back a $20 Up reward. When you purchase $50 worth of Kohl’s, Bass Pros or Best Buy gift cards, you’ll earn a $5 Up reward. Purchase $25 worth of Facebook, iTunes or AMC Theater gift cards get a $3 Up reward. No matter what set you purchase, you are making a profit because you still get the full value of the gift card. The reward is your profit. The Kohl’s gift card is an excellent deal. The reward is small, however you can use the Kohl’s gift card online or in-store and get huge savings. For example, they usually have a promotion that if you use your Kohl’s credit card, you will get 30 percent off your purchase (yes, you can still use a gift card with this). Plus, they run the “Spend $50 get $10 Kohl’s Cash” promotion quite often. So, if you purchase two $50 Kohl’s gift cards from Rite Aid, you will earn two $5 Up rewards. Use your gift cards at Kohl’s in conjunction with a Kohl’s credit card to receive 30 percent off, which will give you about $150 worth of merchandise for $100. Then, for spending $100, you’ll earn $20 Kohl’s Cash. If you shop online you will earn back a percentage of your purchase. You'll pay $100 for $100 worth of gift cards, so there is no loss there, and get more than $30 in rewards between Rite Aid and Kohl’s.

Also at Rite Aid this week, you can get a great deal on Cheer laundry detergent. It’s on sale for $4.94. Use the $2-off coupon from the Oct. 14 P&G coupon insert and pay just $2.94. Select gift sets are on sale for $9.99 and come with a $3 Up reward, making things only $6.99. Nexxus and other professional hair care products have a promotion where you will earn a $10 Up reward when you buy $20 worth. There are printable coupons for products. Dove for Men body wash is on sale two for $11. Use two $2.50-off printable coupons, and one Dove body wash Rite Aid Video Values coupon. Pay $5, plus get back a $3 Up reward. Your final cost is $2 for two bottles! This is an excellent price for Dove body wash. All 3M Command products are buy one get one 50 percent off, plus get a $5 Up reward when you purchase $15 worth.

CVS has free Colgate Max Fresh toothpaste this week. It’s on sale for $2.75, use the 75 cent coupon in this week’s insert, plus earn back a $2 Extrabuck reward. Purchase $30 worth of Huggies or Pampers and get a $10 reward. This is a limit of one so you will only be able to do one of the scenarios listed. If you are purchasing Huggies, purchase three jumbo packs of Huggies at $10 each, for $30. Use three $3-off Huggies printable coupons, pay $21, and get a $10 reward. Your final cost is $11 for all three packs. If you're purchasing Pampers, purchase three packs of Pampers for $10 each, fpr $30, use three $2 off coupons from the Oct. 28 P&G insert. Pay $24, and get a $10 reward. Your final cost is $14 for three packs of Pampers.

How to Coupon:

Always take advantage of promotions and reward programs. For example the Kohl’s deal mentioned above can really help you stretch your money. If you’re going after the diaper deals mentioned, be sure to participate in their rewards programs. You can find step-by-step instructions for this on my Facebook page under Stephanie’s Savings.

All deals mentioned in this column are provided with current knowledge of deals and coupons available. All are subject to change without notice. Stores reserve the right to limit sales. Some coupons may be regional.