Catalina: Sheep and Steinbeck

When I hear of Catalinas, I think of Buster from Arrested Development and also John Steinbeck.  When I first saw them mentioned on coupon sites, I was confused.  I ignored.  But then one day I was getting my receipt and happened to notice that the little machine that printed out that annoying $19.99 Oil Change at Jiffy Lube! coupon had a word on it:  Catalina.

There it was!

I'll confess:  I figured it out, but still have not really shopped intentionally with Catalinas until this week. There is a McCormick deal running right now where if you buy three of their spices you get a $3 Catalina (or Cat) coupon for your next purchase.  On a couponing site, this will look like $3 cat OYNO (off your next order).  McCormick spice grinders were on sale for $1 until last night at Kroger, so I bought three in one transaction and three in another.  That's six spice grinders for FREE!  Well, "free" as in I paid out of pocket, but got the money back.

From what I understand, this Catalina is a marketing company, and until recently, these have been kind of hard to figure out or find ahead of time.  Or you had to scour the aisles, coupon forums, or try it out.  I found a really great resource over at Southern Savers with a national coupon database for Catalinas right now!  Go check it out for some extra good deals!