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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Frugal Friday: On the Road Again



We're off and traveling again this weekend. This time we're taking a quick trip to my father-in-law's house. He and his wife live about 4 1/2 hours from us, so we're trying to plan for drinks and snacks on the road. I stocked up on cans of pop at Kroger's sale last week, but my husband asked if there was any way that we can do bottles instead. (Have I ever mentioned the HUGE design flaw in the cup holders in our van? They aren't very stable, so cans always hold the possibility of big spills.)

Now before I give my frugal idea for bottles of pop when traveling, please don't think that I'm overly-organized. Because I'm not. My timing was just right-on this time!

A few weeks ago, I cashed out our My Coke Rewards points. I got tired of waiting for them to post another $$ off 12-pack coupon, so I figured I'd get the next best thing. I ordered 7 coupons for free 20 ounce bottles of Coke products.

Would you believe that they arrived yesterday.... just in time for our road trip? The best part is that we don't have to haul a cooler in order to enjoy our free beverages. We can simply carry the coupons and use them wherever we stop. Of course I'm prepared for many smaller gas stations and convenience stores to not accept them. We actually have some bigger towns along the way, so we'll just time our trips so that we end up stopping closer to civilization. We should be able to redeem our coupons along the way rather than taking drinks with us.


If you've not yet signed up for My Coke Rewards, I highly encourage you to sign up today. I've been using their system for about 6 months, and I've scored my share of free drinks from them. We don't go out of our way to buy Coke products because of their program, but we do register the codes found under the caps or on the ends of the 12-pack boxes. It only takes a few seconds.

My plan is to continue to bank our points until our next road trip. Then I can intentionally cash them in for cold drinks for the road.

For more great frugal ideas, stop by Frugal Friday sponsored by Life As Mom.

4 comments:

Frugal Sara said...

We don't drink coke but it does pay to take the few extra seconds to do things like this! Out gas station has little tear off coupons on the pizza boxes. After you collect 10 coupons you get a free pizza.

Taking advantage of little things like this can have its perks later on!

Niki Jolene said...

What a neat program. We usually do not buy Coke because we are just as happy with Bubba Cola from Save-a-lot, but sometimes when Coke is on sale we pick it up. I'll have to check out this program!

:)

Unknown said...

Good idea with the Coke Rewards!! I think I am gonna borrow that idea when we go on vacation!!

Shalet said...

Great idea! Have a wonderful trip!