Consumer Watch: Link up with more deals - Military Money, Navy Money, navy pay, pay charts - Navy Times

Consumer Watch: Link up with more deals

A new feature at Commissaries.com gives you a direct route to more savings on your favorite brands.

Scroll down to the “Exclusive Savings” icon. It will lead you to a page with six icons, each linking you to a manufacturer’s website specifically for commissary shoppers: Huggies, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, PepsiCo and ConAgra Foods.

The offers vary and will change frequently. Besides coupons and special sale information, you’ll find details about contests and new products. The Defense Commissary Agency doesn’t control the websites or what the manufacturers offer, but is simply providing the links as a way for manufacturers to offer something extra to customers.

Some of the initial offers:

Rebate. Buy 12 Huggies diapers “Mega Packs” by Dec. 31 and receive a $25 rebate in the form of a commissary gift card when you mail in the rebate form, qualifying Universal Product Codes and original register receipts. This offer started July 21, so dig out your old receipts.

Coupons. Find coupons for $1 off any Lever 2000 body wash or eight-bar pack or larger, or $1 off any Hellmann’s or Best Foods mayonnaise.

Special sales. Among the September sales: Oscar Mayer bologna, $1.50; Cool Whip, $1; Kraft grated parmesan cheese, 8 oz., $2.50; and Gatorade Perform Thirst Quencher, 64 oz., two for $3.

Fitness deals

Health clubs that belong to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association have been signing up to offer free six-month memberships for families of deployed National Guard and Reserve members under a program announced earlier this year by IHRSA and the American Council on Exercise.

It’s part of the “Joining Forces” initiative launched by first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Biden, to encourage the private sector to give back to the military community.

Renewal rates and terms are up to individual club operators. The average cost of a monthly membership for a fitness-only club ranges from $30 to $70 per month.

Click here to search for a participating club in your area, and to recommend a club that’s not on the list. The program is optional, and there’s no guarantee that every IHRSA member will be willing or able to participate.

Some fitness professionals who are members of the American Council on Exercise also are signing up to provide free hours of personal training and fitness instruction to family members of deployed guardsmen and reservists, to include spouses, children, parents and siblings.

Service members and family members could use this benefit up to six months before a deployment if the service member has been officially notified of a deployment. Visit this website. You can search by ZIP code to find certified fitness professionals within a 25-mile radius who are participating.