Snag great deals on everyday items while wrapping up your Christmas shopping

In the midst of your Christmas shopping this week, there are very good deals to be had on non-gift items. Twelve-packs of Coca-Cola products have reached the lowest price I’ve seen in a long time. You can get four packs for $11 this week at Kroger ($2.75 each) or three packs for $9 at Target ($3 each). At Kroger, you must use your Kroger Plus card to get the savings. If you buy more than four packs, the price goes up to $3.25 each. At Target, there’s a limit of six 12-packs per customer.

My buy price for Coca-Cola 12-packs used to be $2.50, but I haven’t seen them reach that mark in a long time. To learn more about how tracking buy prices can save you money, check out my previous post on this subject.

Another great deal available this week is on lipstick. CVS has tubes of Revlon ColorBurst or ColorStay Ultimate for $6.49, but you get $4 in Extrabucks on each one, making the final cost just $2.49. This is an excellent price when you consider that other brand-name makeup sold at superstores costs $6 a tube or more. I have used this lipstick and found it to be a good-quality product. There is a limit of six lipsticks per customer.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Extrabucks program, find out how it can help you get items at very low prices or even for free.

Coke Rewards offers free merchandise, magazines and more for soda fans

In the world of soda, most consumers fall on one side of the fence or the other: Coke or Pepsi. Count me among those who prefer Coke products. My current favorite is Diet Cherry Coke, which to me is one of the least “diet-tasting” sodas out there.

As a true bargain hunter, I typically wait for sales to stock up on my soda of choice, but for a while, I didn’t realize I was missing out on another form of savings—the My Coke Rewards program. Although the Coke Rewards logo appears on my Diet Cherry Coke boxes, I didn’t pay much attention to it. One day, curiosity led me to check it out online, and I’ve been a loyal participant ever since.

The idea behind the Coke Rewards program is simple: Coca-Cola products you purchase contain a rewards code. You enter these codes into your online account, and the program keeps a running total of your accumulated rewards points. You can redeem these points for merchandise, magazines, free soda, discount coupons, gift cards or entries into contests. You can also donate points to support charities.

On Coca-Cola 12-packs, you’ll find the code under the flap you remove to convert the box into a “fridge pack.” On single and two-liter bottles of Coca-Cola products, the code is under the cap. In shrink-wrapped cases, it’s inside the shrink wrap. Any product bearing the Coke Rewards logo will have a rewards code. Participating brands include Sprite, Minute Maid, Powerade, Mello Yellow, Nestea and Barq’s.

Like most rewards programs, there are rules. For example, your points expire if your account does not have any activity for a 90-day period. You can only earn 120 points per week, but that would be a lot of soda! To learn more about program rules, bonuses for referring friends and more, check out the Coke Rewards frequently asked questions page.

Learn about special promotions and program updates by monitoring the Coke Rewards Facebook page.