Giant: Free Hallmark Cards + Making the Most of the Catalinas

I just got back from a fun little shopping trip at Giant where I used a moneymaker to get some other items I wanted for almost free. Let me explain. Giant is running this deal this week:

Buy 3 Hallmark Greeting Cards get a $5 catalina* (read the comments on Shannon's blog!)
- plus you get 10% off each greeting card when you use your Bonus Card**

So, here's what I did.

Transaction 1:
3 Hallmark $0.99 cards (rang up $0.89 each with 10% off)
Paid: $2.83 with tax
Got: $5 catalina coupon to use on my next order

Transaction 2:
3 Hallmark $0.99 cards (rang up $0.89 each with 10% off)
Lays chips $3.19
- $1 Lays chips coupon (from newspaper insert)
- $5 catalina from trans. 1
Paid: $0.02
Got: $5 catalina coupon to use on my next order

Transaction 3:
3 Hallmark $0.99 cards (rang up $0.89 each with 10% off)
Herr's chips $3.00
Heinz vinegar $1.29
- $1 Herr's coupon (from newspaper insert)
- $0.50 Heinz printable (doubled to $1)
- $5 catalina from trans. 2
Paid: $0.12
Got: $5 catalina coupon to use on my next order

If I really just needed cards desperately and did lots of shopping at Giant I could just keep buying cards and save the $5 catalinas for another week since they don't expire until 5/28. However, I usually don't spend that much out of pocket at Giant and since I don't desperately need greeting cards I decided to keep rolling this deal and get some other things almost free that I was wanting to get anyway- and I'll still get gobs of greeting cards, I just won't be paying for them, if you follow what I'm saying. Oh and this is where self checkout comes in handy! It makes it easy to do multiple transactions and you don't have people waiting behind you getting all antsy.

I plan to go back and do this deal some more later on in the week. It's a great way to get things for free. In fact, you could get approximately $2.17 in produce and buy it with the 3 Hallmark $0.99 cards, use one of your $5 catalinas to pay for it, and you'd get free produce plus 3 free cards!

I'm guessing you are getting the picture. Be creative and use these kinds of deals to get more groceries for your cupboard for free!

Oh, and if you are heading to Giant anyway, check out all the sale match-ups here.

* A catalina is a coupon that prints out at the register when you buy certain items. You can't use the catalina coupon on the transaction that produced it, but you can use it immediately on another transaction.
** What's a Bonus card? It's Giant's store card that you need to get the sale prices.