The Great Coupon Request Challenge: Gift card winner

It's the final week of The Great Coupon Request Challenge and we have a winner of the McDonald's gift card and envelope of manufacturer's coupons!

The winner is:

Congratulations! I just sent an e-mail to you. Please respond by June 24 to claim your prize.

Thanks to everyone who shared which companies they contacted and what they received!

* How many companies did you contact last week?

* Did you get any responses via e-mail or snail mail?

* Did you get any coupons yet?

Thanks to everyone who has posted already! Because of your posts, I knew who said yes to sending coupons so I contacted them as well.

Last week I received 2 coupons from Al Fresco for $1 off any Al Fresco product. These will be great during Super Doubles next week! I am still waiting on a number of other coupons from companies who said they would send them. If they come, I'll let you know.

If you are new to the challenge, read on for all the details. Even though the challenge is over, you can still send out requests for coupons.

Each week for the next 4 weeks, I will contact a minimum of 10 companies and request coupons for items we use. Most contact will be via the customer Contact section on the manufacturers websites and through the company's toll-free phone numbers. I also plan to contact some companies through their Facebook page Message option as well. I'll post an update on the blog weekly with the coupons I have received from the manufacturers. My goal is to see how many valuable coupons (for products we use) I can score in the next month and how much I will save by using those coupons. It will also be fun to see what samples and freebies some of the companies will send with the coupons! Of course, I'll take pictures and include those in the weekly post.

Your challenge is to contact as many companies as you would like and request coupons from those companies as well. Set a goal and try to stick to it. Each week, post the coupons you have received or the companies you contacted on The Great Coupon Request Challenge blog post for the week. If we share which companies are sending coupons, we will all know who to contact.

Everyone who makes a post during the 4 week challenge will then be entered into the random drawing for a $15 McDonald's gift card and an envelope full of coupons! You can enter each week, so be sure to share your contacts and coupons received on each weekly blog post. You can post as many times as you want, but you can only earn one entry for the giveaway per week.

I will randomly pick the winner on Friday, June 19 at 1:00 pm.

Here is a sample letter you can use as a guide for contacting companies. I suggest you change it up a bit and personalize it so the company knows you really do use their product

Hello, I am writing to let you know that we really enjoy using (name of product). (Write a few things you like about the product or how it helped in a specific situation, such as a party for the kids or when you had a bad cold.) We live on a budget and try to use coupons to help us stay within the budget. If you could send any coupons or samples of (name of product) we would really appreciate it. Thank you for such a wonderful product! Sincerely, (your name)

For those of you who were reading this blog in 2010, you may recognize this challenge. We did a similar adventure then and couponers received tons of great coupons. You can see the posts from that adventure at the link above. I recommend reading the comments to see which companies were generous about sending out coupons. Although the coupon world has changed in the last 5 years, I imagine many of those same companies are still willing to send out valuable coupons to customers.

I recommend you start by looking in your fridge, freezer and pantry. Which products do you use often? Call them using the 1-800 number on the package or contact those companies on the Contact section of their websites.

I can't wait to see what fantastic coupons everyone receives! On your mark, get set.....request!