Frugality

The Mythical Stacking Of Discounts: It DOES Exist!

How many times have you turned over a coupon to read this phrase? You sigh, do some math, and figure out which one of the coupons you have gives the best discount. Just once I’d like to be the guy that walks up to a cash register, hands over a wad of coupons and exits the store having gotten something so cheap that it almost seems like stealing.

It’s called stacking discounts, and finding a situation where you can do it can prove very difficult. But there is one store where you can pull it off: Kohl’s.

I love Kohl’s, even though at regular price their merchandise is horribly overpriced. I’d never pay full price for items at Kohl’s, as discount coupons regularly show up in the mail. The thing I love about Kohl’s is that every now and then the stars align just right allowing shoppers to stack discounts and come away with the deal of the season. I had one of those celestial experiences this weekend.

Here’s the puzzle pieces that fell into place:

Expired Kohl’s Cash:

We had $10 in Kohl’s Cash earned from a previous sale (earn $10 Kohl’s Cash for every $50 spent) that we never used. It had actually expired over two months ago. My wife called, talked to a manager, and was able to get him to honor the expired credit. We’ve learned to never throw away expired Kohl’s Cash, as this is not the first time we’ve been allowed to use an expired certificate.

Facebook Coupon:

I just recently “liked” Kohl’s on Facebook. Last week a coupon was posted on their Facebook page giving $10 off any purchase of kid’s apparel of $25 or more.

15% Coupon:

I normally don’t even think of going to Kohl’s without a 30% coupon, but I made an exception this time due to the uncertainty of how long they would honor the expired Kohl’s Cash, and the expiration date of the online coupon.

Clearance Sale:

Once we got to Kohl’s, we found what we were looking for: shorts for my son. We also found that they were already discounted deeply at 60 to 70 percent off.

The best part was, all of these discounts could be used at the same time. Here’s how my bill ended up looking:

Shorts #1:                        $16 (60% regular price of $40)
Shorts #2:                        $16 (60% regular price of $40)
Shorts #3:                        $12 (70% regular price of $40)
—————————————————————————-
Total before coupons:      $44.00
Kohl’s Cash:                   -$10.00
Online Coupon:              -$10.00
15% Coupon:                 -$  3.60
—————————————————————————-
Total Price:                      $20.40

After all the discounts were applied, we paid $6.80 for each pair of shorts that were originally priced $40 each. Admittedly, I do not believe the shorts are worth $40 each, and would never have paid that much for them. But I absolutely believe they’re worth $6.80. They’re good quality, and I’m sure my son will outgrow them before they wear out.

Like a perfect storm, several discounts came together so we could get my son some much needed shorts. This kind of discount stacking doesn’t happen to me often, but when it does, I take full advantage of it.

Have you ever stacked discounts or do you have any tips to be able to do it more frequently?

Brought to you courtesy of Brock

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Brock Kernin

Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children,  Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.