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Business & Tech

Frugal Fridley Family: Getting Extra Bang for Your Shopping Buck

Gift cards aren't just for gifts anymore!

Will you be shopping at JCPenney, Lowe's, Macy's, Sears, K-Mart, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops, Office Max, DSW, or Amazon this holiday season?

If you are, Frugal Fridley Family has a deal for you.

Have you ever bought gift cards as a gift and gotten a bonus during a promotion?

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This week your local Cub Foods is having a promotion on gift cards for the above stores. If you buy $100 worth you receive a Catalina coupon for $20 in free groceries.

This deal gets even better.

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Just because it's a gift card doesn't mean that you have to give that card as a gift: you can shop with it.

For example, let's say you're buying your teenage son a $500 laptop for Christmas. If you were to buy $500 worth of gift cards to Office Max in $100 increments over the week, you'll not only have the cards to buy the computer, you will have $100 to spend on food at Cub. Maybe you're going to buy your husband that table saw he wants at Lowe's. Buy three $100 Lowe's gift cards and receive $60 in free food!

There are some restrictions listed in the ad: The $20 coupon is a store coupon and expires in 7 days. Only one can be used per purchase, but since it is a store coupon it can still be used with manufacturer's coupons to save even more.

Of course you can always buy cards as gifts, too, either way you'll save $20 on a future grocery purchase.

Rainbow is having a similar promotion but only on Black Friday. Save $15 on your next shopping visit when you purchase $100 worth of gift cards while using your Roundy's Rewards Card. One per person.

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