1/3/10 Coupon insert preview

It's the new year- time to save money!  That's what retailers think, so there are 3 or 4 (depending on where you live- RedPlum doesn't do inserts here in So. Cal) inserts this Sunday- Stock up on multiple papers!!

Here is  link to coupon previews! 


I am already plotting my next shopping trip!

Mimi's coupon!

 

All You Couponing guides

Some of this info may be a bit redundant, however, there are basic, intermediate and advanced slideshows, so you can brush up or learn something new, depending on your current couponing level.

Check it out!

Finish (electrasol) $2.50 coupons this weekend!!

If you don't have a dishwasher OR don't use Finish, please drop me an email- I want all of your $2.50/1 Finish Coupons!!

Entertainment book has arrived!

Our Entertainment book has arrived!  San Diego, CA locals, if you want any coupons from our book, please let me know.

If any of you live in the Inland Empire (isn't that a RAD term for Riverside county?? Sounds slightly menacing!) and want some coupons, let me know.  There are a TON of coupons for places that are only in Riverside county. Weird for a San Diego Area book, right?

I'm super excited.  I have cut out a bunch for both myself and T.  I made an envelope for T to put in his car, so he'll always have coupons with him.

Con Agra Mail in offer!

All you has a great Con Agra Mail in offer.  Purchase $10 in Con Agra products, fill out hte form, send in the receipt and they'll send you $25 in coupons.

Here is the form with all the details.

Participating brands include:

• Orville Redenbacher's®
• Crunch 'n Munch®
• Banquet®
• Snack Pack®
• RO-TEL®
• Hunt's®
• Manwich®
• Chef Boyardee®
• Kid Cuisine®
• Peter Pan®

I'll hold onto my form until Rotel Tomatoes are 10/$10 at either Vons or Albertsons.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Enjoy a great day with family and friends.

My gift to you: Cheap movie tickets! For my San Diego, CA peeps- at Ultra Star Cinemas, buy an adult ticket for a kids price!

I know I have pimped get1free before, but really, it's so awesome, I gotta do it again!

Free Fresco Taco at The Bell!

http://www.drivethrudiet.com/

Download the coupon- it's a SmartSource Coupon...

Coupons valid for 7 days from download or until 1 million free taco coupons are redeemed (including online and print coupons), whichever occurs first. Notice will be posted at http://static.tacobell.com/drivethrudiet/coupon.html if 1 million coupons are redeemed prior to the expiration date and any unredeemed coupons will be void

More Savings goals!

Remember- I've still got that $20 Gift Card to give away!! 

Here are more of my savings goals for 2010:

I have decided to make 2010 Year of FREE. I am going to maximize the free stuff and resources for free stuff as much as I can. That includes trading and bartering (I'm a licensed esthetician, so I trade facials and body wraps for stuff or services I need/want).

Be better about eating what's in the house, vs. eating out when I don't feel like cooking. That will help cut down on the spoiled food we'll throw away too.

Remember to check mypoints before I do any online shopping.

Eat better, cook better, use coupons and sales to bring home better food for my family.

Teach and share frugal living skills to those who want to learn.

Goal 1: Use the HBA stockpile

I have several savings goals for 2010.

#1: Use the HBA Stockpile we have built up. 

I took an inventory of of our HBA stockpiles.  I think, conservatively that based on what we have, we shouldn't need to buy any HBA until May.   My HBA stockpile has all been free or very little OOP (usually less than $1.00/item in the cases where there was an OOP). T's stockpile has cost a bit more, but he is pretty brand specific for Shampoo and conditioner.

Now, I should note, that at some point in 2009, our stockpiles were larger, however, I donated a lot of items, and the smaller, travel sized items where shipped overseas to service members in war zones.
My HBA stockpile- stored in my bathroom, under the counter:
Shampoo: 8
Conditioner: 6
Lotion: 3
Bodywash:7
Deodorant: 5
Mouthwash: 2 (both are very large)
Bubblebath: 2
Hair  "stuff" (hair spray, gel, mousse): 5
Sunscreen: 3
Toothpaste: 3
Razor refills: 4 packages (total of 16)

DH's BHA Stockpile:
Shampoo: 3 (very large bottles)
Conditioner: 3 (very large bottles)
Body wash: 5
Bars of Soap (back up when he runs out of body wash): 6
Face wash: 7
Deodorant: 8
Hair stuff: 12
Moisturizer 4
Shaving cream: 3
Razor refills: 3

His bottles of shampoo are the size of 4 bottles of regular shampoo. Same for conditioner.

My stockpile doesn't include face wash or moisturizer.  I don't stockpile mine.  I have a large (50 oz.) bottle of cleanser and several tubes of moisturizer.  I receive samples as an esthetician at trade shows and classes, so I don't buy skin care products usually. It will take my probably another 6 months to work through my bottle of cleanser. 


My goal is to use what we have- I will replenish the stockpiles if the item is FREE or a money maker. I am hoping not to have to buy anything (except maybe toothpaste for myself and razor refills for DH) until May.

Take stock of what you have in your bathroom- you'd be surprised at how much you have.  Try and use what you have, before you buy more.

TIP: If you have shampoo that smells good, but doesn't clean your hair the way you like, don't throw it away, pour it into an empty hand soap bottle with a pump top and use it to wash your hands.  Bought a conditioner that leaves your hair too greasy or doesn't leave your hair soft?  Use it to shave your legs with instead of shaving cream.

Share your 2010 Savings goals and enter to win a $20 Gift Card.

2010 is going to be the year of savings!

That's right!  To get everyone thinking about saving and sharing ideas how to save, I have a great contest.  The winner will receive a $20 gift card!

To enter- EMAIL me your savings tip or what you will do to save money in 2010.  It can be something that you've read in my journal, seen online, or something that you came up with yourself. I will publish the ideas on my savings blog as I receive them (a link for those of you who read this on facebook).  Each email is 1 entry. 

I will put all the names into a hat and on January 5, 2010 I will draw a winning name.  There is no limit to how many times you enter.



How are you going to save money and live better in 2010?

Free Steaz Organic iced tea

Click here for a free coupon, redeemable only at Target! Expires 12/31/09- SO HURRY!!

reminder!

Reminder- There are no coupon inserts this weekend (20th), next weekend or the next (27th and 3rd) due to the holidays.

Take this time to clean out your coupon wallets and coupon stashes!

Can anyone use expireds?

I am doing an early 12/31/09 coupon wallet clean out. I don't have enough to mail overseas.

Can anyone use expired coupons? If so, let me know. I'll try to get them out this week. Most will have a 12/31 ex. date, but some will be 12/15. So if you can use them before the end of the year- even better!


Just pop me an email.

Thanks!

cheap last minute stocking stuffers!

Thanks to Lonewolf at HCW for this tip: Iherb.com is a great website that has low prices for popular products you'd find at health food stores like Whole Foods. First time customers can get $5 off anything (even if price and shipping is $5). In addition they have a sample page with neat samples you can add to your cart for free. The coupon code is COB899.

I went to iherb.com on Tuesday, and ordered two sample shower gels and two bars of soap. I also added 4 free samples. With my $5.00 off coupon code, my OOP was $4.00. I had a pre-paid visa from earlier in the year and it had exactly $4.00 left on it! I used that and yesterday the post man left a small box from iherb.com on my doorstep! They are based out of Irwindale, which is near LA, so it is pretty close to us. Everything is wonderful and smells great!


For those of us who have registered our CVS card with CVS.com, check your inboxes! This morning CVS had emailed me a coupon for a free gift. My choice of either a CVS bran chapstick OR a CVS brand tube of lotion! Hooray!


Head over to Walgreens for the Friends and Family Savings sale to pick up stocking stuffers. Details at ABS! Thanks!

Shoppping fer freebies!

This entry is f-locked, so it won't get x-posted to my facebook, which my husband can see. I don't want his X-mas surprise to be spoiled!

So, I scrounged around online on Monday to find T some cheap/free good presents. A tree without presents is sad.

I did some surveys back last month, and my compensation was a $10 Barnes and Noble.com gift card. I bought him a book from him Amazon wish list. It was $11.96. His book was $1.96 OOP. Hooray!

Last month I has participated in a 1 800 flowers promo and they emailed me a $40 gift card. I ordered him a box of fancy fruit. It was $38.34, so I still have a credit and I received another credit on my next "purchase". HA! FREE!

I cashed in our remaining United airline miles for a few more restaurant.com gift certificates for our New Year's trip.

And... I took the $20 GC The big and tall men's store they sent us and bought T new work out clothes- only $3.45 OOP.

All in all, not a bad haul for less than $10!!

Entertainment books on sale for $19.99!!

Thanks to ABS!


Here is a link to ABS, with details on this deal!

Wags trip 12/11/09!

I took my grip of coupons and headed over to Walgreens to scare up some cheap soda for a holiday party we are attending.

2 2-liters cranberry Sierra mist BOGO Coupon
2 20 oz. Sierra Mist BOGO Coupon
1 tube Neutragena mens face scrub Register reward $5.00

Total with tax and bottle deposit after coupons and Register reward $4.36

I will be using my RR toward the Olay Quench Lotion purchase for the rebates. The Lotion is expensive! $10.36 for a large bottle- so remember your coupons!

Free lotion

Olay is offering a rebate on up to 2 quench lotions!

Your best bet is to pull out the BOGO Quench coupons from 11/29 P&G insert and pair it up with a $3 off Q that is in a bunch of magazines this month- Cosmo, Self, Shape.

Submit your rebate and get your money back for 2! So it's a great money maker, and just in time for the cold, dry winter winds!

I'm hitting up Wags after work to grab some lotion!

Free phone call from Santa, Sammy the Snow man or Tony Stewart

Great for little ones or someone who loves NASCAR!

Great idea if you have unlimited texts with your cell phone

Shop text- It looks like a great idea!

San Diego, CA area cheapsters?

Is anyone interested in a couponing class or a field trip in January? A field trip would be most likely to a Walgreens, but we could do a grocery store trip instead.

It's a great idea if your New Year's resolution is to save money.

Weekend days are best for me, but I'm flexible.

Post a comment or drop me an email.

So- Cal peeps- Some great Albertson's match ups!

Courtesy of Kerri from Save at Home Mommy! Great Albertson's Match up for this week!

Free food at Jamba Juice!

On 12/15/09 from 11am-2pm- OR- until supplies run out, Jamba juice is giving away their flatbread pizzas!


If that doesn't strike yer fancy, check out this coupon for their oatmeal for only $1.00! Good until 12/11/09- so HURRY!!

Free sample of Dunkin Donuts Coffee!

Go on- GO get a free sample!!

Free Creamer!

Get thee to Facebook!

Friend International Delights and if you are one of the first 25,000, you can print a coupon for free creamer. It's Smartsource, so hit back and print a second!


LINKY

It's Poll time

I want to post more deals for other stores, so take the poll and let me know where you shop!

48% savings! Hooray!

48% savings doesn't seem like a lot to most people, but, in the land of limited doubles- that's great!

I scored 2 weeks worth of groceries for $83.79. That includes food for my work pot luck as well (about $10 to feed 15 people).

A few insane deals:

International Delights Creamer $1.49 sale price -$1.00 (.55 coupon "doubled" to $1.00) .49 OOP.

Coffee Mate Creamer $1.29 sale price -$1.00 (.50 coupon doubled to $1.00) .29 OOP.

Milk and cookies: Save $1.00 on milk WYB Nabisco cookie product, paired with my free Nabisco cookie coupon (found a bug in the sealed box, so I called them- Nabisco sent me 2 free product coupons). $1.49 OOP for 1 gallon of milk and a box of chips ahoy.

Del Monte Fresh Canned fruit- 2 for $7.00. BOGO coupon from Vocal point plus a $1.00 off coupon. OOP-$2.50 for 2.

I got a few pieces of marked down meat- and tonight we are having a pot roast cooked in the crock pot (it's at home cooking right now!!), with broccoli, asparagus, and salad.

My holiday gift to you!

Email me your coupon wishlist and I will mail you a pot lock of 30 coupons- I will try to fill your wishlist as best I can!

home from vacation!

Ahhh!! Now it's time to do laundry!


Well, I sifted through our mail and here is what came in the last week:


Coupon for Free Jello Mousse Temptations (from an email I received)
Del Monte Fruit Coupons (From Vocal Point)
SC Johnson Coupons (From Right @ Home)
Samples from Walmart.com
Check from Synovate (Rewards check)
Formula Checks and Diaper coupons (which are up for grabs- shoot me en email or leave a comment)


We also signed up to be a Neilsen Home Scan Family, the little device should come today via Fed Ex. We'll connect it and get it set up. Soon we'll be earning points and scoring free prizes!


And- I'm almost done X-mas shopping! Just a few more little things and we're set. Remember, shop through mypoints, or ebates and earn cash back or points while you shop! Our Holiday shopping online has gotten us several gift cards from mypoints!

Some great new freebies!

Enter your email address and zip code for 12 days of Whataburger coupons!


Free Samples of Splenda!


For those who love restaurant.com- Feed it forward- give 20 of your friends each a $10 restaurant.com gift certificate. It's pretty cool!



And thanks to my new readers! Every new subscriber and reader helps!

A holiday update

Thanks to couponing101.com for the link!

http://www.couponing101.com/2009/11/freebie-friday-thanksgiving-edition.html

All kinds of great black Friday deals!!

Have a great weekend, I'll be back and full of deals on tuesday!

rebates- received

Received rebates in the past two weeks:

Drano $6.00
Liquid Plumbr $6.00
Pantene $9.95
Kraft $10.00
SC Johnson $5.00

Total $36.95 in free products

1 more reason I love air line miles!

I have my Vons card (a Safeway company) hooked up to a United Airlines Miles account via their Grocery Miles program and I earn points each time I grocery shop at Vons (which isn't too often these days!!).

When you earn enough points, you can redeem them for a plane ticket- OR- you can redeem the points for other stuff through the United Sky Mall. Occasionally, United will mail you offers too.

Friday I received an offer to redeem points for magazine subscriptions.

For 2300 points, I received 3 subscriptions. 1 for my husband (ESPN), one for me (All You), and one for both of us (Veranda- it looked interesting). I still have a hefty balance of points left that we will use for our remaining holiday shopping.

So if you have United Airline miles- keep your eyes peeled for this great offer coming through your mail box!

Save .50 on Driscoll's Berries!

Yummy!

Save .50 on Driscoll's Berries!

It is a Smart Source Coupon- You can print 2 per computer!

Thanks to ABS for the link!

A couple great offers!

CVS-Check your email CVS'ers! If you have registered your CVS card with CVS.com then you received a coupon for a free green bag tag. Attach it to your own re-usable shopping bag, have the cashier scan it each time you use it. For every 4 uses, you receive $1.00 in Extra care bucks! WOO HOO.

Target also give .05 off your purchase for each reusable bag you bring in!

For those in the So. Cal area, Pat and Oscars has a great deal! Buy a gift card for $20 and receive a free meal for one! You will receive a Meal for one for EACH $20 GC you buy!! Don't forget to swipe your Family Rewards card to earn free food!

Printable coupon round up: Turkey Day Edition

Campbell's has $15.00 in coupons!

Hormel has new coupons (You gotta sign up to print them, but they email you when there are new coupons, so it's a good trade off!)

Simple and Delicious- Including coupons for Egg Beaters (My fav!!)

Target's new coupon Policies...

Yup, they are changing them AGAIN!

Big thanks to Couponing101.com for helping spread the word!

For those is the Tri-state area...

Hood Diary has some great coupons!


Speaking of Tri-state... DH and I are leavin' on a jet plane for the East Coast next week, so updates may be scarce.

What's better than cheese..

Free Cheese!!


Aloutte Baby Brie Rebate!

This one's for my Husband

Nom Nom Nom- Bogo Lobster burritos at Rubios!

Woo hoo!

Arrowhead Mills (they sell Gluten free mixes!) It's a brick's coupon, so you can print 2!

Jack in the box!

Get a free three piece order of stuffed jalapenos when you buy a new southwestern bowl!

Preview of the coupons in December's All You Magazine

Courtesy of Couponing101.com

• $1/1 Vanity Fair Plates or Bowls
• $1/1 N.Y.C. New York Color Product of $1.72 or more
• 75¢/1 Bertolli Pasta Sauce
• 50¢/1 Vaseline Clinical Therapy Lotion
• $2/1 Rimmel London’s Gentle Eye Make Up Remover
• $1/1 Rimmel London Eye Shadow or Eye Liner
• $1.50/1 Dove Cream Oil Body Lotion or Hand Cream
• $2/1 any Neutrogena Product
• $3/1 Neutrogena Cosmetics Item
• $1/1 Truvia Natural Sweetener
• $1/1 Kellogg’s All-Bran Cereal
• $1/2 Trident Layers Gum
• $1/1 Starbucks Coffee, 5 oz bag or larger
• $1/4 Hunt’s Canned Tomatoes, 14.5 oz or larger
• $1/4 Ro*Tel Diced Tomatoes
• $1/1 Marie Callender’s Pasta Al Dente
• $1/1 Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn
• $1/1 Peter Pan Peanut Butter
• $1/2 Parkay
• $3/2 Glade Fragrance Collection products
• $1/1 Poise Product
• 65¢/2 C&H Sugar Products
• $1/1 Smithfield Paula Deen Crunchy Glaze Spiral Ham
• $1/1 Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Touch of Honey Cereal
• $1/1 Marzetti Veggie Dip
• $1/1 True North Nut Snacks
• $1/2 All You Magazine January Issue AND N.Y.C. Color Product of $1.99 or more
• $1/2 All You Magazine January Issue AND McCormick Perfect Pinch Seasoning Blend
• $1/2 All You Magazine January Issue AND Peter Pan Peanut Butter
• $1/2 All You Magazine January Issue AND Rimmel London Cosmetics Product
• $1/2 All You Magazine January Issue AND Hunt’s Ketchup
• $1/2 All You Magazine January Issue AND Nivea Body Wash
• $1/1 Tazo Filterbag Tea or Tea Latte Concentrate
• $10/1 Philips Norelco arcitec, Speed-XL (8200 series), or Nivea for Men Razor
• $5/1 Philips Norelco Replacement Head
• 55¢/1 Sargento Natural Deli Style Sliced Cheese
• 50¢/1 Colgate Wisp 16 ct
• B1G1 Free LaCross Beauty Tool, up to $7
• $1/1 Nature Made Vitamins
• $1/3 Fancy Feast Appetizers
• $2/1 Ester-C
• $2/1 Wow Cleaning System

expireds...

We've got 2 flat rate envelopes full. I'm working on a third. If you live overseas and you want an envelope, please shoot me an email. We can mail 2 per month at no cost, after that I ask that you cover the cost of postage ($4.95 per envelope). We have already mailed the 2 freebies this month.

Thanks for comin' out!

I just wanted to say thanks to the 4 people who came to the coupon class tonight! Several others emailed and have scheduled private lessons.

I hope everyone who came had a good time and took home a LOT of coupons!

Some great healthy coupon links!

Coupons for some great healthy products that I *love*:

Fresh Express Bagged Salad 55¢


McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal $1

Butterball Ground Turkey 75¢

California Cheese 30¢ expires 1/31/10

Any California Dairy Product 30¢ expires 1/31/10

California Milk (gallon or 1/2) 50¢ expires 1/31/10

Chobani Greek Yogurt

ConAgra printables (Warning it's a Smart Source printing)
• Eggbeaters $1
• Hunts Canned Tomatoes (11oz+) 50¢/2

Morningstar Farms $1
Join, they will email you a $1 coupon

Musselmans  (apple sauce)

Skinny Cow® Truffle Bars $1

True Lemon/ True Lime Coupon  I LOVE THIS STUFF!!  It's great in water or iced teas

Yo-Plus

New IP's from our buddies at Coupon Surfer

** Save $1 on 4 5.5 oz. cans of Purina Mighty Dog Dog Food at your favorite pet store

** Save 25% on Planters Holiday products at Amazon.com

** Save $1 on any Ghirardelli Seasonal Item of 4 oz or more at your favorite supermarket

** Save $10 on at Walgreens.com

** Save $1 on any Pure and Natural Bar Soap, Body Wash or Liquid Hand Soap at your favorite supermarket

** Save $1.75 on any 72 oz. or larger package of Purina brand Moist + Meaty Dog Food at your favorite supermarket

** Save $2 on any Nivea Body Wash for Women product your Favorite Pharmacy

** Save at least 55 cents on any Ziploc Brand Zip 'n Steam Bags at your favorite supermarket


Ronzoni

Kikkoman

Idahoan Potatoes


And more

Free money... (sorta)

Coinstar is offering a $10 bonus in the form of a free gift card when you change in at least $40 in a single transaction by 12/6/09.

And if you choose to get your money in the form of an E- Gift Certificate you won't pay the coin processing fee of 8.9% you pay if you choose to take the money in cash.  So get $40 in E certificates to buy Holiday gifts or give as holiday gifts AND get a $10 bonus certificate.

E-certificates include Amazon, CVS, Starbucks, Old Navy, Regal Entertainment, Borders, JC Penny, ITunes and Lowes.

Find a machine and see all the details HERE

Thanks- AFS!

Dentek Flossers- I love these things. I am really hoping it comes with a coupon!

Wal*marts sample offers- They always have good stuff!

Download Free classical X-mas music!

P&G Saver- Sign up for all kinds of great P&G product samples and coupons.

Click HERE for a free sample of Being Girl Sampling Kit, includes:2 Tampax Pearl Tampons, 1 Compak Pearl Tampon, 1 Always Infinity Maxi-Pad, 2 Always Pantiliners, and 1 Always Feminine Wipe.

Sunday Savings!

Buy 5 participating products, get $5 in savings.

Save $2.00 with the purchase of Stove top and Heinz Gravy.

Thanks to Stephanie at Couponing101 for this weeks Walgreen's Specials.

Duraflame Stax- check local stores for $5.00 peel off coupons.

Purchase specially marked general Mills cereals and earn free movie tickets!

Sign up for a printable Calendar with over $50 in Tylenol coupons!

Overseas project 2- car packages for soldiers

So my second project this fall is to send care boxes to troops overseas.

First up is a friend of a friend from High School.  That box will go out on Monday.  I have some paperback books to add to the box, and everything needs to go into ziplock bags and it's ready to go.

If you have a friend or relative who is serving in a war zone and they or someone in their squad could use a care package, please let me know. I would like to mail 3 or 4 out before X-mas.

If you would like to contribute to the package, please let me know.  There are a lot of websites that will give you info on what can be included.  Please no Magazines, especially those with scantily clad ladies (playboy, maxim).  Most of our soldiers are in countries with morality laws and half nekkid ladies are verboten.

2010's Mantra...

Will be "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!"

Saving money this year for the holidays

In previous years, I have spent hours and so much money sending holidays cards.

I have resolved this year, to save myself money (I calculated that we spent over $50 on X-mas cards including the cards and postage!) and time (a few hours)- we will send out our usual Holiday email to the family and friends, and we'll send online cards.

There are a few relatives without internet, for those family members, I'll print the letter and mail it in a card.

Here a few free online card sites:

www.123greetings.com

www.bluemountain.com

www.regards.com (This site is great- you can sign up for a free account, and load up your address book- making it easier to send e cards!)

updated settings!

I have updated the settings on this blog now to allow non Live journal-er's to comment, however, you'll have to enter a CAPCHA (I wanna keep the bots out!!).

So Non-Live journal-er's- Post a comment and tell me what the best deal you found this week was! 

Freebie Friday!

 I'll be updating with freebies as I discover them!

Be one of the first 500,000 to become a fan of Outback Steakhouse on Facebook and receive an email coupon for a free Bloomin' Onion. You are required to purchase an entree to get the free onion. Must be 18 or older.

A week of giving

This week has been a week of giving!

Thanks to those of you who have donated coupons to be shipped, I was able to ship two more envelopes out this morning! That brings the total number of envelopes sent up 13! They've been sent to 5 countries. The average amount of savings per envelope is $200.

If you have a friend or family member living overseas on a military base and you know they could benefit for some coupons, please let me know. The recipients have been sharing the contents of the envelopes with the other families on base. The most needed coupons are baby related- Diapers, wipes, formula. Formula Checks are welcome as well.

Last night I took our food for the San Diego Food Bank to our local Vons. They have the big bins right inside the doors. I off loaded everything from my car into a grocery cart and took it inside- I filled 3/4 of one bin!


This is just a guide- most food banks will accept any non-perishable, non-expired food stuff.
Beans, Canned: kidney, navy, pinto, pork & beans, refried
Fish, Canned: salmon, tuna
Fruit Juice, 100% (canned and boxed)
Fruits, Canned
Meals, Boxed: Complete dinners, Helper & Pasta meals
Meats, Canned: beef stew, chili, hash, spam
Oil, Vegetable (bottled)
Pasta: macaroni, noodles (including ramen), spaghetti
Peanut Butter
Rice: instant and dinners
Potatoes, Instant
Soup (canned and boxed)
Snack Items: fruit snacks, granola bars, pop tarts
Tomato Products: canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste
Baby Food and Baby Formula
Beverages: hot chocolate, coffee, tea
Cereals (hot and cold)
Jello
Muffin and Pancake Mixes
Pasta, Canned: Beefaroni, ravioli, SpaghettiOs
Pudding, Instant
Snack Items: cookies (store-bought not home-made), crackers
Staples: flour, spices (basic), sugar
Stuffing
Syrup
Vegetables, Canned

A lot of these items can be bought for pennies with coupons- some are even free!

Mail Call!

In today's mail, I received:

A sample of of Honey Nut Cheerios with 2 $1.00 off Cheerios coupons,

A box of Betty Crocker instant mashed Potatoes in garlic and herb- nom!

coupons from


coupons from P&G.


WOO HOO!!

What did you get today?

Two more Packages mailed!

Today two more coupon envelopes will go out.

One is being shipped to Germany, and the second to the UK- both to Military families serving overseas.  Each envelope contains approx. 200 coupons,

Thank you to everyone who donates coupons!

Use your mad couponing skillz to help someone!

 There was a piece on the local news last night, discussing the need for increased donations to hunger based charities. 

I cleaned out our cupboards last night and filled a Trader Joe's bag and a re-usable grocery bag full of food.  I will be dropping them off at the bin inside the Von's down the street from our house.

What kinds of food am I donating?
Canned fruit and veggies
Tuna
Broth
Soup
Stuffing
Cereal
Juice
Corned Beef Hash

All of these items were free with coupons.  Go through your cupboard and pull some of your free items.  If you don't want to donate them to a charity, find a friend or neighbor that is having a hard time and offer them a basket of goodies. 

A great deal at Vons this week 11/4-11/10

 Check out this great post at Abundant Food Savings.

Some great scenarios and a great savings!

Thanks to Abundant Food Savings for being a constant source of inspiration!

WOO HOO! $1.25 off Pillsbury Simply... cookie dough!

Via Pssst, I received an email with a Brick's coupon link for Simply... refridgerated cookie dough.


I can fwd it to up to 10 friends- Leave me a message with your email address and I'll fwd it to you!

$1.25 off is over 50% savings.  I saw it at Von's a few days ago and it was $2.00.  That's one hell of a deal!

Donating to a food/hunger based charity- any little bit helps.

Any amount of food that can be donated will help. See

patgund 's

post here about his recent experience.  


I'm cleaning out out cupboard tonight.  I'll post pics of what we're donating to inspire you all!

those those who need a little help...

I have posted about this group before, and I believe in it, so I'll post it again:


Golden Share Foods.  Good, inexpensive food that is good for you.

In the same vein, there is also Angel Ministries.  Angel Ministries also accepts food stamps.

Free coupons!

To help you all save this holiday season, I will be giving away 1 envelope containing 100 coupons each week in November and December.

Just email me at akeen02037 at gmail dot com to enter. Once a week I'll pull a name.

HI new folks!

I just added a link to this blog on my HCW siggie line, so if you followed the link- welcome!

If you have a Livejournal account, please friend me! I am trying to post each day with savings updates.

For those in the San Diego, CA area- check out the entry from last week about my upcoming savings class!

It's the first of the month!

All of the printable coupon websites have been restocked!

Coupons.com, redplum.com, cellfire.com, shortcut.com

Print and re-load to your hearts content!

The much sought after Morningstar Farms Prinatble Coupon!

IE Link or Firefox Link

Kellogg's cereal coupons!

Go here to print them!!

Kellogg's coupons available:

$1 off any one Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats Little Bites Cereal (14.5oz or larger)

$1 off any one Kellogg's Corn Flakes Touch of Honey Cereal (12oz or larger)

$1 off any three Kellogg's Cereal 10oz or larger

$1.50 on any three Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, and or Fruit Loops

$1.00 off any 2 Special-K original (11.4 oz or larger)

$.75 off any one Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal (10oz or larger, any flavor)

$.75 off any one Kellogg's Honey Smacks Cereal (15.3oz or larger)

$.75 off any one Kellogg's Crispix, Smart Start, or All Bran Cereal (11.4oz or larger, any flavor)

$1.00 off two Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats cereal (14.5oz or larger, mix or match, any flavor)

$.75 off one Kellogg's Low Fat Granola or Craklin Oat Bran Cereal (17oz or larger, any flavor)

$1.50 off two Kellogg's Corn Flakes Cereals (12oz or larger)


Thanks to Printable Coupons and deals for this heads up!

Pair this up with the printable coupon for Target (At Target.com) and save even more!

The Holiday Season- a time for thanks

Stephanie over at Coupon Savings Game is fostering a great idea for the holidays.


This fall, DH and I will be picking a few extra items each grocery trip to donate to the San Diego Food Bank.   I encourage all of you to find a charity in your community and donate.  If you cannot afford to buy something, and cannot coupon something for free- clean out your cupboard and donate a few items that are still in date that you may not eat.

For those who live in Eastern San Diego  County, there is also Santee Santas.  They provide boxes of food and gifts to those less fortune. 

And for those who are in need- don't be afraid to ask for help.  There are a lot of wonderful organizations and individuals who are willing to help you. 

Savings class- Learn basics and beyond! November 12, 2009

Alright- It's on!  

November 12, 2009 
6:30pm-9:30pm (email me for our address) We are in San Diego, CA

Learn basics and beyond for couponing and saving money at the grocery store, mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target, and drug stores.  

Just 1 hour each week dedicated to saving- clipping coupons, and filling out rebates- can save your hundreds of dollars a month!

All you need to bring is scissors (to clip coupons!), note taking materials, and if you have coupons that you don't want/need, bring those along too to share with others.

There will be instruction "match ups"- making the most of the coupons you have and what is on sale.
Where to find coupons- beyond the newspaper.
Rebates- saving beyond coupons.
There will be lots of time for questions and answers.

I will have examples of what I have bought with coupons, Items I have brought home for free, and there will be a door prize!

I will be serving food- snackie type foods and maybe a pot of soup or chili.  There will be beverages as well.


Please drop me an email at akeen02037@gmail.com if you are interested in attending. 

MORE BIRTHDAY FREEBIES!

Coldstone Creamery

Baskin Robbins

Red Robin

For those who live back east: Longhorn Steakhouse

Souplantation (or Sweet Tomatoes)

Sonic Drive-In

Rubio's 

Del Taco

Cheap Cereal Alert!

If you are a part of Vocal Point, you should have received a sample of Kashi cereal.  As a follow up, Kashi sent coupons out.  There were 2 $3.00 off and a bunch of $1.50 off in the booklet.

Take your $3.00 off any 15 oz. or larger Kashi Go lEan Crunch coupons to Trader Joe's.

Kashi Go Lean Crunch is $3.29/box at my local TJ's.

.29 for a box of cereal!!  WOO HOO!


If you aren't a member of Vocal Point- Sign up!

Some great deals in your favorite magazines- and Free target coupons with match ups!!

For those of you who receive magazines in your home, take a better peak at those advertising pages that contain mail in offers- there are some great deals!

Example:

In November's Shape Magazine on page 63, there is an advertisement/promo page called Self Scene (for those who don't subscribe, check out http://www.selfconnected.com).

There is a mail in offer when you buy 2 Olay Quench Advanced Healing body lotions, receive a loofah set for free!  And in the November issue of Self there are 2 Olay Quench coupons- Save $1.00 and a BOGO coupon.


Also in the November issue of Shape, there is a tear out section with some great SC Johnson coupons, and a coupon for a free roll of Marcal bath tissue. 

Perhaps the best magazine for coupons is All You, which is available for purchase at Wa*Mart.  Discount subscriptions are available at Magazines.com.  If you have a mypoints.com account, make sure to shop through them when you purchase- you can earn points for a magazines.com purchase.  All You has usually $40-$65 in coupons each month.  In addition to the great money saving coupons, All You features tasty, family friendly, inexpensive recipes, and great money saving tips.


In the last week or so, most of you loyal Target shoppers should have received a coupon book from Target entitled, "Clip your way to over $35in coupon savings."

These are Target coupons, so you can combine them with Manufacturer coupons.  Here are some possible combinations using coupons from recent inserts or magazines:

$1.50 off any 2 Crest toothpastes (excludes trial size) match up with two .75 off on any one Crest 4.1 oz or larger or Liquid Gel (from P&G 10/11/09).  That is $3.00 off 3 tubes of toothpaste!

.75 off Multi-pack Kleenex.  Match up with the .75 off Multi-pack Kleenex from the November 09 All you.

$1.50 off 14ct. or higher Mucinex.  Combine with the $1.00 off Mucinex Coupon from the 10/11/09  SmartSource insert. 

$1.00 off Vaseline Skin Care Product.  Match it up with the $1.00 off any one Vaseline Clinical Therapy Lotion.  NOTE: THe Target coupon shows the Sheer Infusion lotion, however, it does not stat that you HAVE to buy that kind.  This may be a YMMV match up, depending on if your target cashier is coupon savvy or if they'll just look at the picture.

.75 off Gain or Cheer laundry Detergent.  Match it up with either .35 off Cheer or $1.00 off Gain.  Both from the P&G insert 10/11/09. I'd go with the Gain coupon!

$2.00 off two Head and Shoulder or Pantene products.  Match it up with two $1.00 off Pantene coupons from the 9/27/09 P&G insert (they exp. on 10/31/09)

.75 off Campbell's Select harvest Soup.  Match it up with .50 off any two  Campbell's Select harvest Soups.  It was in my coupon wallet, I'm not sure when it was in an insert- probably within the last month.

$1.00 off DanActive.  Match it up with a .50 off coupon from a Smart Source machine (blinkie) in most Ralphs/Krogers or in Vons/Safeways.


The last two match ups are from todays (10/25/09) Smartsource insert:

.75 off Colgate 360 toothbrush.  Match up with .75 off the same.

.76 off Colgate Total Toothpaste.  Match up with$1.00 off the same.

The first reader to email me will receive all of these coupons!  Both the Target and Man. coupons!  It's my way of saying thank you!

Free food!

It's world Pasta day on 11/26/09.  Bucca Celebrates with free pasta! 


KFC is at it again- Free chicken on 10/26/09.  Check out the Press Release!


Barnes and Noble Cafe- Free cookies and Cocoa- tomorrow ONLY!



NOM!

For my peeps with babies!

Sign up here to enter to win a years worth of diapers!!

Join Pampers.com for a chance to win a year's supply of diapers. Membership is FREE, plus you’ll be enrolled in our Gifts to Grow Rewards program. Earn points towards educational toys, books, and more with each package of Pampers diapers, pants, and wipes you buy!

Thanks to ABS for this one!

A great Veteran's day deal for our Retired Fighting Heroes!

 A free steak dinner from McCormick and Schick's!



Applebee's is offering a free meal to active and retired service people on Veteran's day!

3 ROAK envelopes

ROAK= random act of kindness.

I have 3 envelopes FULL of coupons, some expired, some still valid.  Each envelope contains about 50-80 coupons.  Inserts, tearpads, blinkies.  All kinds and for All kinds of stuff.  Great for trading, keeping, sharing with family.

Be one of the first 3 to email me your mailing address and one of these awesome envelopes is all yours!

I cleaned out my personal carry to shopping coupon folder and this is what I cleared out.

For those healthy eaters...

Those of us who eat healthy, enjoy organic and shop primarily at stores like Henry's (or mambo sprouts) or whole foods can use coupons too!

Organic Valley Milk products

Mambo Sprouts Printables (but they are good every where)

Delicious Living- Healthy food coupons

Eating Well- Printables (They have Tofurky coupons!!)

Here is a great list of various organic food company websites with links to coupons!


Here is a great blog for those who embrace the Organic Lifestyle and want to save some money...

Sunday goodies!

Well, this week for us, the coupon offerings were pretty lame.

However- Walgreens has a Sure men's deodorant deal this week: 2/$3 and there are $1.50 off q's this week in the Smartsource insert.  Score two inserts and your deodorant is free.  I posted a rebate for these in the past week as well.  So, all in all a great double dip!

I did my "rebate shopping" today.


Drano rebate- Free after $6.00 rebate(and the bottle has already been used- our bathroom drains have been running slow- I blame the Sensodyne toothpaste!)
SC Johnson Rebate $5.00- I purchased 2 packages of ziploc plastic containers at $3.67.each (I had a $1.50 off 2 coupon) and a canister of Scrubbing bubbles for $4.67 (I had a free up to $4.00 coupon).  After Coupons $6.51- after my $5 rebate $1.51. The scrubbing bubbles were great- Yup already gone and good gods, is my shower CLEAN!!!

Rite Aid and Walgreens both have BOGO free on Purex 3 in 1 sheets.  Both are $8.99- so it's really up to you were you buy them- if you have $1.00 off Coupons from a few weeks ago- Use them!  If you hit Walgreens, use any register rewards you may have to help you save more.

Speaking of Register rewards, this week is a pretty great week to stock up on meds and score register rewards. Check out the deal scenarios at Abundant Food Savings.


Domestically speaking, todya I baked cookies, and I am making up a couple lunches for this week ahead of time.  Chicken caesar Salad and some turkey roll ups.  Tonight for dinner: fajita salad (Fajita seasoned beef with pepper and onions)on top of a garden salad, corn on the cob, and beans. And- we washed 6 loads of laundry- All caught up!!

It's Finally Friday!

Seven ways you might be wasting money on Yahoo Finance.


Tonight I am going to do some shopping, on my list:

Secret Pal gift for a swap on HCW (free with my Register rewards at Walgreens)

Drano (rebate)

Glade Candle and Ziploc plastic containers (SC Johnson rebate)

Activia (rebate for a free package of yo-plait)

In addition to my regular shopping.

I hope everyone has a great, and frugal weekend!


 

Coupons for TGI Fridays!

Free App with drink purchase and $5 lunch deals!



Hope everyone has used their Woody/Free Burger q's from facebook!

Some cool new rebates..

Trade your kids trick or treat candy wrappers in for a free yogurt!

Try Sure for Men- Free!


OOHH- This one I am excited about!  $5.00 rebate when you buy a new crock pot!

For Brooke- Kraft mac n' cheese cracker rebate!

For Amy- Pert Plus for Men rebate- pair it with those coupons I just gave you!

Starkist Seasations Rebate- This stuff looks pretty tasty!

Check out this site for a grip of rebates!

Potatoes for free! Rebate!

Ok, so not all of us, but for those of us lucky enough to live in Florida, Missouri, New York and Oregon, age 18 or older, can check out this awesome Potato rebate (up to $5.00)!  More from Potatoes has some other great games, sweepstakes (enter to win!) and recipes.

mysurvey.com affiliate!

We are now a mysurvey.com affiliate!

Houseparty.com- Awesome Parties and freebies!

Houseparty.com partners with companies that want to advertise.  People register on the site, sign up for parties they want to host and if they are lucky enough to get accepted, they are sent a HUGE box of goodies to throw the party, which showcases the product that is being "advertised".

 
It's easy!

Browse the parties we have coming up and apply online to host the ones that seem like a perfect fit for you. When you host a House Party you're a VIP: You get sneak previews of the best TV shows, free stuff, and the best offers out there on the things you really like.

If you don't see any current House Parties that move you, then sign up for the mailing list, tell us what types of events you're interested in, and we'll send you an email when an event launches that matches your preferences.

more survey sites and some great product sampling sites

Sign up,  take some surveys, earn points that you exchange for cash or gift cards or earn cold, hard cash.

I've already pimped Mypoints, and Send Earnings.  If you would like an invitation to either, let me know- I earn referral points and you will earn points when you join!

There is also:

NPD online

I-say

Synovate- I do this as well as my points the most.  So far this year, I have gotten $50 from Synovate!

Memolink

Zoompanel

The Net Panel


Now onto some great product sampling sites.  Sign up, enter information about you homes demographics and these companies will mail you free food and products to try or coupons for free food (like perishables) and coupons to share with friends!

Pssst by General Mills. In the past, they have sent me free yogurt coupons, some really good Fiber one bars, coffee, creamer.  It is wonderful!

Vocal Point by P&G is similar to PSST.  You sign up for samples, and then post your opinions.  Recently I have received Kashi cereal and coupons and Secret Clinical strength deodorant.

Sunday Round up!

There was a P&G saver insert in most papers today- if you need anything, let me know!  I don't clip anything from it.

For those who love frozen food, check out this deal.

Got kids (or child like adults)? Like Keebler Products?  Here is a great rebate/promo.  Toy vouchers!


Courtesy of Couponing101.com, a few great articles for those of you new to the whole money saving lifestyle.

This website is great- Bookmark it and you will always know what is in the insert coupons for the coming week- it will help guide your choices.  Buy one newspaper or 6??  (You think I'm kidding?  When there are high value Jet Dry coupons, I buy 4-6 papers.)

Free coupon for Herbal Essences.. GO HURRY... NOW!!!!

This is the time of year where there will be a lull in bargins and great sales.  Give it just a few weeks and it will pick back up!  Holiday sales and great coupons for baking and home cooking products will start to make appearances in papers and online, and there will be some great rebate opportunities.

Freebie Friday round up

This First one is great if you have little ones (Yvonne and Brooke come to mind!)

Boston Market- Kids Eat Free in October! 


BOGO Eggs:  Take the Pledge, eat an egg, Get a coupon!

Marie Calendar's Pasta Al Dente Rebate- Great to pair up with the coupons in the last few weekends papers or the last issue of All you!

It's all about who you know..

These days with the Glory of Facebook, every company (well, most companies) has a Facebook page. Most of these companies offer something free if you friend them.   Here are just a few examples.

There is Woody from TGI Fridays, who is offering a free burger (I am skeptical as to whether or not that one will materialize).

Panda Express is offering a portion of their new Sweet Fire Chicken.

Texas Pete's Hot Sauce is offering a BOGO coupon if it reaches 100K fans by a specific date in November.

Herbal Essences by Clairol is giving away a limited number of free item coupons.

In the past Baja Fresh has given away free tacos and other free food to their fans. 

Occasionally, Bumble Bee has printable coupons on their Facebook page. 

If you know of any other companies that advertise on Facebook that offer coupons or samples, please comment!

American Express Blue- A great Credit card with great benefits

If anyone is interested in applying for an Am Ex. Blue card, let me know and I can send you and email with some info. American Express Blue is offering their cardholders incentives to refer new members.

•     Earn up to 5% cash back on their purchases
•     0% intro APR on purchases for 6 months
•     No annual fee

You can make payments each month, just like your regular credit cards, no need to pay it all off at once, like traditional Am Ex cards.   We used our Am Ex to pay for wedding expenses ( we charged the expenses and then immediately sent a check to Am Ex) and earned $250 in cash back- which paid for our post wedding trip to Disneyland.

It's also great if you use My Points to do your online shopping.  You can "double dip"- earn the points shopping with My Points, and earn cash back with your Am Ex Blue.  It's a win win!

I used mine the first few years I had it as my sole business charge card- I earned cash back for doing my day to day business errands, about $50/year.

It's Sunday!

That means New coupon inserts!

I have 2 copies of inserts, if you need something, let me know.

I'm still accepting your expired coupons or unwanted coupons to mail to families overseas.  We mailed over 500 coupons to Spain on 10/2/09.  I'll be sending the next batch to Japan in a couple weeks.

For Couponing newbies (or if you'd like to brush up on your Q skillz), here is a great set of articles that are chock full of great info: 15 days of couponing by Bargin Briana.


Have an awesome, money saving week!

San Diego, CA locals- a money saving offer for October

Most of my San Diego, CA area readers know that I am, among many other things, a licensed Esthetician.

When the economy goes south, one of the first areas in our budget that we tend to cut is self care.  Professional skin care and massage are both still important to our health and well being.

In light of this, I am offering "Pay what you can" month in October. You can book a 1/2 hour or hour facial, complete with a warm paraffin wax hand dip, any you pay what you can afford.

I have appointment slots open M-F at 5:30 or 6:30 and most weekends from 11am-3pm.  Drop me an email to schedule an appointment. 

I only use professional spa grade products. 

Some great news!

It looks like coupons.com is going to start loading E-coupons to your Safeway family of stores savings card. The Press Release gives more info.

Free Starbucks Brewed coffeeTake the Via Taste Test Challenge at All Starbucksstores Friday October 2 through Monday October 5 comparing the Via instant coffee to brewed Pike's Place roast - you'll get a coupon for a free tall brewed coffee for your next visit even if you can't tell the difference.

The Herbal Essences Gorgeous Giveaway starts and goes through Tuesday October 6th today link to the giveaway will be up on Facebook HERE if you are registered. Right now no one is sure what exactly they are giving away.

Some great new samples over at Walmart.com!

Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation BOGO offers!

Thanks to Yvonne for this deal!


Check it out- but hurry, the coupons expire FAST! 

The first of the month..

Brings new coupons at all of our favorite printable sites, plus cellfire, shortcut.com, and if you like the discounted Gift Certificates  at restaurant.com, those have been refreshed also!

Here is a great $10 rebate opportunity from Kellogg's!

A really great Rebate from SC johnson!

This is such a great deal!   Click to download the PDF rebate form.

This offer allows three (3) $5 rebates per household. And we have until 7/15/10 to postmark these offers! What a deal! $15 for purchasing 9 outstanding products!



SC Johnson $5 Rebate
Since 1886, the SC Johnson family has been working to bring you the kinds of products you can trust. 
Products that are right for your home, your family and the world we share.
Get $5 back by mail when you purchase ANY 3 SC Johnson Products, including:
•     Ziploc®
•     Glade®
•     Windex®
•     Scrubbing    Bubbles®
•     Pledge®
•     Shout®
•     Fantastik®
•     Drano®
•     Raid®
•     Off®
•     SaranTM
•     Nature’s    SourceTM

A great survey company!

Looking to make some cash for taking surveys?  Check out mysurvey.com! If you would like to join, send me your emil and I'll shoot you a referral email!


1,000 points is $10!  WOW!

Discounted health club rates through your health insurance!

I saw a sign the other day for a curves that was advertising discounted or free memberships with health insurance perks.

Sure enough, I logged onto Aetna's website (they are my insurance carrier) and they offer discounted health club memberships.  In our area (you search by your zip), there are Curves, plus Gold's Gym and Frog's Gym that offer discounted monthly rates and a discount on the down payment.

I also receive a discount on eye exams (and lenses and frames) through Lenscrafters with my medical insurance, even though I don't have a separate vision policy.  

Call your medical insurance agent or check out your carrier's website, you might be surprised at the perks that are available!

Free coffee from *bux?

You betcha!  Check it out! 

Coupon lingo!

Actual - Physical items you hold in your hand meaning a boxof hamburger helper rather than a hamburger helper coupon BLINKIES - These are found in stores in a box most often the box will have a red blinking light on it.
BOGO or B1G1F - Buy one get one free
Cat or Catalina - Coupons that come from a box next to the CRT machine
DND - Do Not Double - Not a problem in my area!
Double Coupon - Means the value of the coupon is doubled at the register
ECB - Extra Care Bucks ECB's are a CVS exclusive
FAR - Free After Rebate
FREE ITEM COUPON - GOLD! You get a free product at the store at no cost or just tax
HBA - The health and beauty aid section, sometimes also Home Bath Accessories. I've seen and heard both.
Walgreen's Instant Value Coupon- coupons from the weekly ad o
IP - Internet printable coupon
MANU or MANNY - Coupon issued from the manufacture
MIR - Mail In Rebate - you have to mail it to a clearinghouse to redeem
NED - No expiration date - rare coupons that never expire
OOP - Out of Pocket - money paid after coupons
OYNO - On your next order - a lot of catalinas fall under this, meaning you need to make an additional purchase to redeem
P&G - Proctor & Gamble Sunday insert coupons
PEELIE - coupon's found on product that are sticky unless removed carefully
POP - Proof of purchase found on actual item
RR - Register Rewards - These come from Wags, a lot like ECB's
STACKING - Wags and CVS allow you to use a store coupon and a Manu coupon on the same item
TEAR PAD - A pad of refund forms or coupons found hanging from a store shelf or display
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary - sometimes deals work well for others and not some. It comes from each person has a different distance to the store so each person has a different experience

more pics of what savings can look like

I dumped the pictures off the camera this morning.


First up, the Present box:

Since taking this pic last week, I've added more items- mostly candles.  This is about 1/2 of my holiday shopping!

















My HBA stockpile, stored underneath my bathroom sink.  THere is one in T's bathrrom as well for his HBA stuff, but it's rather messy, so I didn't take a picture of it.

The green bottles are the Free Garnier Fructis from the Walgreens deal earlier in the year.

The Softsoap Serum body wash was free.  It was $1.99 and there was a $1.00 off Target coupon and a $1.00 off manufacturer coupon.  The best part is- I really like it.  I will be keeping my eyes open for more of the same.
 










To celebrate the awesomeness of upcoming fall sales (just take a look at your local Walgreens circular for this week to see what I'm talking about), I am going to give away a big ol' box of HBA.  I'll even include 50 coupons!

Just comment on this post.  I'll toss everyone's name into a mixing bowl, and on the 1st of October (Thursday), I'll pick out a name.  I'll post the name of the winner, and the box will be mailed out Friday the 2nd!

Pictures of our recent .99 only trip

Brooke and I visited the Fletcher Hills 99 cents only last week.
The store used to be a Gold's Gym, before that, according to my mom, it was a fabric store.














The beverage aisle...


















The frozen foods/fridge case and an island of fresh fruit and veg...

Free sample and coupon- Honey Nut Cheerios!

As seen on TV tonight!

10% of your savings to the school of your choice!

If you shop at the Safeway family of stores, check your receipts for a code you can enter at escrips.  Select a local school and allocate your savings to that school!

I chose the school my co-workers daughter attends.  Chose your kids school, the one closest to your house, or your alma mater!

Slow day!

I've been super busy with real life stuff today, but check out the SUPER LONG list of upcoming free stuff from Walgreens starting this Sunday, 9/27!

Thanks to Abundant Food Savings for the Sweet, Sweet list!

Are you too Cool to carry coupons?

There are two sites that you can "load" coupons onto your grocery store club card. Leave your coupon wallet at home! Just swipe and save.

Shortcuts is a service of AOL. To see if your local store is participating, check here. Big Thanks to my co-worker Robert and his wife for telling me about Shortcuts!

The other is Cellfire. To learn about the two ways to save with Cellfire, check this out.

If you have a upromise account, which I cannot recommend enough, you can also sign up your store club card to load with "clip-less" coupons as well. If you aren't familiar with upromise, you have to check it out!! It's great, even if you don't have any of your own kids, or they are very little. Save now for your kids' future, or for yourself if you want to go back to college. I have my ATM/debit card and the AM Ex. connected to my upromise account, so I can save money to go back to school (Or re-allocate the money to my niece's college fund). When I shop, I am saving at the same time!


And this is less cool, since I don't need another credit card, but for those who want to save fore retirement, check out nesteggz. You can either shop through their website to earn cash back that can be deposited into an IRA, mutual fund, money market account, or virtually any other retirement savings vehicle you choose or you can earn points with any purchase with their credit card.  If you are in the market for a new credit card, give it a shot!  If it's something that interests you, drop me a message with your email address and name and I'll shoot you a referral email!

Half price gift certificates!

Groupon is a fairly new website that operates in about 25 cities, they offer a new discounted gift certificate each day.  Youonly have 24 hours to buy that day's deal, so if you like it, jump on it right away!

For questions, about how it works, or to see if your city is on the list, check out groupon.com.  I have a bought a couple gift certificates, and they are great!

Today's finds!

 Stephanie over at couponing101.com has a great list of free and really inexpensive items at Wal*mart with coupons you may already have or can print. 

If you live in the North Eastern/Atlantic states, here are some printable coupons for Hood Dairy products!


What's your Flu IQ?  Take the CVS flu quiz here and print a $5 off $20 coupon. 

Sending coupons overseas- A new project!

Alrighty, my fellow cheapsters! 

While this project isn't new, I'd love to expand it and get it going- big time.

The Coupon Girls, who run Hotcouponworld (one of my fav. coupon boards), have a great site, which assists those families living on FPO's and APO's overseas by sending the expired (and non-expired!) coupons that they can use at their on site Commissaries and Exchanges.


I've been sending expireds to coupon friends overseas, but it's usually just 25 or 50 at a time.  I'd love to be able to send more!  If you have coupons that you don't want or expired coupons that you cannot redeem and you would like to see them help a service family save some money, please send me an email.  If you cannot afford to mail them, send me your mailing address and I will send you a self addressed stamped envelope to mail them to me.

Once I have a couple hundred, I will mail them off to a coupon buddy over seas.  Many times, these ladies (and gentlemen) distribute them on base, take them to the Commissary to share, or to the on base recreation center, where all of the families on base can benefit from your generosity.  I have several addresses to mail to- so service families all over the world will be helped!

So far, I have sent coupons to Puerto Rico, Japan, UK, and Italy!

The Price Book- a Shoppers best friend

Familycorner.com defines a price book as, "A price book is simply a list of the items you use regularly and the best prices they sell for in the stores where you are willing to shop. It is an excellent tool for tracking prices, sales and buying opportunities. Prices in a price book should be listed by cost per unit so you can easily compare different size packages from different stores. When you see a deal in the weekly flyer or in the store, you will know instantly if it is really a good deal and worth your time to go out and purchase. Just because an item is on sale doesn't automatically make it a good buy. The regular price at some stores may be less than the sale price at others. Your price book is an invaluable tool to help you determine if a sale is really a deal."  Really, I can't come up with a better definition then that.

Your price book can be as complex or as easy as you want it to be. You can calculate price per unit*, or just list the regular price of each item at each of the stores you visit in your area. 

If you have an iPhone (which I don't, but DH does), there are several apps available for purchase that take all the guess work out if it.  If you are computer saavy, you could do a price book in Excel and print a copy when you go to market.

You can go old school, like I have.



I am in the middle of updating mine- our eating habits change, and products stop being sold, or we choose other products instead.  My Vons and Target columns are complete and my Walgreens column is about 1/2 done.  I am hoping to get the rest of the sheet completed by the end of the month.

*Price per unit helps you determine if the jumbo sized drum of applesauce is a better deal than a regular sized jar. take a look at the shelf tag- it should give you a price per unit (usually ounce or pound (lb.)).  If the price per ounce/pound on the larger container is smaller, then it is a good deal.  Here is an example of what the shelf tags can  look like:

This is also a great strategy to see if the store brand or a brand that isn't your usual brand is a better deal than what you normally buy.

The joys of being domestic

Yesterday, we had run out of fruit and lunch type things (soup in a can, cheese, yogurt, fruit, fiber 1 bars), so I made a list, organized my coupons and grabbed my price book. I was off to the grocer.

Recently, I updated my price book with more of the items that we buy, so I wanted to get the "Vons" column filled, so that I can complete it a little faster, scan it and get it on line.

Armed with my stack of coupons (about 10 of them were for free items (HEHE), and the price book, I set out. I was in and out in little over an hour, the price book slowed me down considerably- some of the items that we buy, Vons doesn't sell, so my hunt for those items was futile. Tue up side was that someone had coupon fairied a good deal of coupons- so I scored about $40 in coupons. Someone had left their catalinas in the cart I picked and 2 of them were "save .50 off your next purchase." So I scored a $1.00 off right off the bat!

The trip total: $79.87 spent out of pocket, saved $85.65 (that's combining Vons Club and Coupons)., Admittedly, therewere some items on the list that I did not purchase, even though I did have a coupon, because they were above my threshold. Tuna was the biggie.

I came home, unloaded the groceries and set to work on the cooking. My big score of the night was a 4 lb roast for $3.75. I seared it and tossed it in the crock pot over night on low. We're having an early dinner b/c T has a concert tonight.

My second big score was a box of stouffer's manicotti- a "family" sized box for $2.77. I figured I probably couldn't make it any cheaper, so we had that, a green salad and corn for dinner.

Last night I also started on this mornings breakfast. I cooked and chopped a package of maple sausage, and carmelized two small yellow onions and put them in a covered dish. This morning I mixed them with egg beaters and cheese and poured part of it into a greased muffin tin to make little omlette pouffs. The rest I poured into a greased basking dish and baked. We just ate- and they were OMG SOO GOOD!

This weekend I'll be posting more about my price book and how you can make one, and more about "the present box"- both complete with pictures.

100 ways to save $$$

From Yahoo finance- some of these are really great tips! 

Net Flix free 1 month memberships- 4 up for grabs!

I have 4 free one month net flix memberships.

If you are interested, please let me know.

1 per person, please! 

Coupon Train- Choo choo

 Is anyone interested in a coupon train?

here's how it works:

I accept sign ups.  I fill an envelope with, say 50 coupons and the list of people. I mail the envelope to the first person on the list, they take out the coupons they want, and put in an equal amount of their unwanted coupons, then they mail it to the next person on the list.  They do the same, and it passes along until it reaches everyone on the list and it gets mailed back to me. That way everyone gets coupons!

It's really- I've been doing them for over a year and I love it!

If you'd be interested, drop me an email. 

Yummy!

It's Friday tomorrow, and that means it's Freebie Friday over at Abundant Food Savings!  Check it out!

In that vein, here a couple websites I like for free samples and coupons:

Free Samples  and from the same blogger, check out Printable coupons


Walmart has great samples that usually come with coupons

Volunteering- a great way to live on the cheap!

Everyone loves Theatre, but, it can be expensive.

If you are looking for a way to experience theatre for free and have some time to give, consider volunteering to be an usher.

In San Diego, many of the larger theatre companies are actively seeking ushers.


The Old Globe

The San Diego Repertory Theatre

Orchestra Nova- Email Paige Satter for Volunteering and Ushering opportunities.  

La Jolla Playhouse

San Diego Symphony

If you are unsure if your local theatre or musical organization needs volunteer ushers, call their administrative office and ask, or check their website and drop them an email.  

Many theatres, orchestras and symphonies are non profit organizations.  They rely on volunteers to help their organization succeed. 

Museums need volunteers as well to be docents, hand out brochures, and help with special events.  If there is a local museum you like, think about volunteering.  You will get to spend time in a place you like, and you will be helping an organization.

clippity clip...

That's the sound I'll be making at lunch when I clip over 10 sets of inserts!

If you need any, let me know.  If you need betty crocker/General Mills product coupons, let me know.   I don't clip anything out of those inserts, because I don't use those at all, so I may have a couple sets on intact BC/GM inserts.  If you'd like them, just let me know.

Enter to win free groceries!

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Pasta has a free groceries for a year contest!

Enter to win!

 

If you love Yankee candles-- B2G1 Free!

 

Buy 2 Large, Medium or Small Housewarmer® jar candles or Cylinders at regular price and receive a third for free. (Higher price prevails) You will also receive $5 economy ground shipping when spending under $100. You may call our catalog sales department at 1-877-803-6890 and mention code XF918B5. Offer expires October 4, 2009. Offer valid at www.yankeecandle.com, the Yankee Candle catalog sales department, Yankee Candle Retail stores (excluding outlet stores, military exchanges, Target and Yankee Candle Fund-Raising) and participating retail locations in the continental United States. Certain restrictions apply; see store for details; while supplies last; cannot be combined with any other offers or coupons. We regret that price adjustments cannot be made on previous purchases. Please see a sales associate for details.

Tues./Weds. update

If you have a fresh and easy near you, here is a great $10 off a $50 or more purchase.  

Now I am going to discuss something that is a hot subject in the frugal living/couponing world- writing emails to companies.

I am of the mind if I buy something and it's awesome- I want the company to know.  Conversely, if I buy something and it's awful (like the hot deli food that gave me food poisoning), I want the company to know- maybe they can work better or change something.


The best way to do this is to visit the companies website, most of them have a "contact us" page where you can email them.
Here is a recent example:

After buying the soy based glade candles, I was really impressed by them (they have a vert strong, clean scent). I wrote glade an email asking if their holiday scents would be in the soy based as well.  They wrote me back to thank me for my email and sent me a coupon for a free 2 oz. soy based candle.

Some couponers/frugal livers see this as begging for coupons- I do not.  I only write companies to give them feedback, if they do send coupons that is just gravy.

Now, I am off to write Bristol Farms about their hot deli.

Like TGIFriday's?

Join the Give me more stripes Club- get a free appetizer when you join! Earn points when you eat at TGIFriday's and earn free food!!

Yummy!

I can't stop myself- so many free offers!

Just when I thought I had reached my limit of computer time.. I opened my email!

Sign up and receive a coupon for a free Yoplait whips. Bad news for me- This offer void in the following states: CA, ID, LA, MN, NJ, NV, ND and TN. Click here for an alternative offer. But great for some of the rest of you!

Free chips and queso at Chili's when you sign up for their email club!

Who says there is no such thing..

(As entering a contest for) a free lunch? Lean Cuisine Free Lunch Fridays!
Details:
Every Friday, 125 winners get a week of FREE LEAN CUISINE® entrées! Enter every week for your chance to win.
Grand Prize is a year's worth of FREE LEAN CUSINE® entrées!

Enter to win free WonderBread! YUM! One winner will win 20 loaves of Wonder 20 oz. Classic White or Wonder 24 oz. Classic Sandwich Bread. Enough for 2 loaves per month for the school year (9 months) from The Review Broads.

I bought what? The down side of stockpiling

I was cleaning DHs bathroom and I came upon a big tote of HBA under the sink.

Why the hell do I have all this Pert Plus? Oh, yeah, it was free.  But.. we don't like it.  It makes my hair smell weird (hooray body chemistry).  

We all run into this when we stockpile.  Something is free and we think we might use it, so we bring it home.  It's usually an HBA item, something that we use (shampoo, deodorant), but not a brand we've used.  We try it and.. not so much.  What to do with the rest?

There are a couple choices:

Donate it to a shelter (check your local shelters, some do not accept toiletries)
Hold onto it until it's time for food and toiletry drive at your kids local school,
Get together with your friends and do an unwanted swap.  Whatever is leftover can be donated.

Would anyone in the San Diego area be interested ion doing an unwanted item exchange?  I have a box of toiletries and some canned goods

Happy Sunday!

There are some great Q's in today's paper!   I bought 4 papers today and spent about an hour clipping.

Before we go into some of the great steals and deals, Target updated their coupon Policy here.  I recommend printing out a copy and putting it in your coupon wallet in case you run into any problems.


Great deals and offers:

Speaking of Target coupons, in this Sunday's papers there was a $1.00 of target coupon for Soft Soap Nutri-serum.  Pair it with the printable here (use zipcode 90210) for another $1.00 off and save $2!

Free online meal planning recipe guide-Buy any 2 ziploc Brand products and enter your UPC's at: tasteofhome.com/ziplocfallideas (expires 1/31/10)

Cold Stone Creamery- Making wishes come true.  8th annual world;s largest ice cream social 9/24/09 5-8pm.   Donate and receive a 3oz. sample of Jack's Creation.  Donations benefit the Make a Wish Foundation. Learn more here.

If you are looking for a new printables site, and coupons.com just isn't satisfying your coupon needs, check out Redplum.

Free food at Arby's each Wednesday!  Thanks to Abundant Food Savings for this tip!  I have seen signs outside a couple of my local Arby's.

Remember, Black Friday is just 2 months away!  Start stockpiling coupons with long expiration dates and save those pennies!!  Not sure what Black Friday is?  Learn all about it and some shopping strategies from HCW!