Need Some Free Printer Paper?

by Sariah S. Wilson

I blogged in December about how our family's financial woes transformed my life and made me into a deal seeking saver. Now, there's some frugality I'm not comfortable with (I am drawing the line at dumpster diving), but I really am trying my best to maximize my savings and use as little money as possible.

For example, yesterday I took an almost 2-year-old and a screaming infant to Walgreen's (the whole taking the baby out of the house now that he's a month old so far seems to be sort of a bust). I got two cans of formula, two Glade soy candles and four packages of Mentos gum, which initially rang up as $46, but I only paid $9 out of pocket. (Woo-hoo for coupons!) It's been difficult getting myself back into the groove of things with the baby (not as much time for organizing coupons and setting up/going on shopping trips), but I'm determined to try. I like paying next-to-nothing way too much to start paying regular retail again.

A lot of times the deals I come across are national ones that I thought I might start passing along here if I see anything that could be really beneficial. So I wanted to share this deal with you at Staples:



You can buy a package of this paper at Staples for $1 each (on sale now for $6.99 a package). Why? Because Staples is running a $5.99 rebate for each package that you buy, and there are NO LIMITS to how many packages you can get. I've read where one lady bought the entire inventory that her local store had because the savings were so awesome.

Now as authors, paper is something we obviously use a lot of. You can't get much better than $1 a package on printer paper.

This post from Southern Savers is what alerted me to the deal, and I headed out yesterday and bought ten packages.

The way this works: you buy the paper, paying the $6.99 per package. Staples apparently accepts competitor's coupons (although your local store might have a manager who refuses to accept it, despite the fact that it is Staples' policy to do so - you might want to call ahead and check), so you can use a $10 off of $50 Office Depot coupon (like the one Southern Savers has a link to), saving yourself some money right off the bat.

Then you can sign up for a Staples Reward Card (if you don't have one already). This is a free program that gives you 10% every quarter on any ink or paper purchases. You may not shop at Staples regularly, but that's no reason to ignore free money!

When you buy the paper, the rebate information will print out automatically. Even if it doesn't, the Southern Savers post shows you how to get the rebate form online and proceed from there. Make sure you get the RIGHT kind of paper. I asked the store manager where the rebate paper was, and she walked me right over to the end cap where it was displayed. The SKU number is 554638, so you might want to take that with you to make sure you get the correct one.

Now, I know that rebates can be a scary prospect for some people. I've had my share in the past of not getting things refunded to me. But Staples has an online rebate program, and they advertise and brand themselves as the easy rebate store. So if you have a problem, all you'd have to do is contact them and I know you'd get it straightened out. (Plus, if you do it online, you'll still have the original receipt which will make it very easy to follow-up with them.)

I bought 10, which cost $74 (with tax). I am getting $7.40 back from the reward program, saved $10 with a coupon and will be getting a $60 rebate, meaning I will actually "make" $3 off of this transaction, along with ten packages of what is now free paper.

Everyone can use free paper, right?

If anyone wants to do this but is scared or needs someone to walk them through it, email me and I'll help you. This is just such a great deal for something that many of us use on a daily basis - you can't pass it up!