This what $3.98 OOP at Walgreens looks like!

Oh yes! I've put myself on Drugstore restriction for a while, we've been trying to use up all of our HBA stockpiles, but there were just too many good deals to pass up this week.

The sitch in our house is: if we personally don't use it, we don't bring it home.  Even if it's free. So we don't bring home nasal spray or Glucose monitors. I leave those on the shelves for people who need them. I'll even coupon fairy for those items to help others get free stuff.

So here's the run down:

Popchips: $2.50 -$1.00 Q (on package) $1.50

Playtex Tampons $3.99 -$1.00 Wags Q, -$1.00 Man. Q (from a sample I received) $1.99

Betty Crocker Warm Delights $1.00 each (3), -.75 (2), -.50 (1) (from recent SS inserts) $1.00/3

Stride Gum $1.39 each (3) Mystery value coupon -.50 (2), B2G1 (1) (from a recent SS insert) $.78/3

Halls Cough Drops $1.00 each (2), Walgreens store coupon for $1.00 sale price, -$1.00 (2) 3/28/10 SS FREE

Clean & Clear Persa Gel (2) $6.23 each (On Sale- 20% off the regular price), -$1.00 (2) 3/28/10 SS.  Paid with my MSA card. Zero OOP, Earned $3.00 RR.

Softsoap-Yummy Pomegranite bodywash $4.99 each (2), Walgreens store coupon for $2.99 sale price, -$1.00 (2) 3/28/10 SS $1.99 EACH.

Dove Shampoo, on sale $4.00, -.50 coupon (coupon booklet received in the mail), Earned $4.00 RR.

With sales tax (in CA, you pay tax on the pre-coupon amount- LAME!) OOP $10.98 on my debit card, and I earned $7.00 Register rewards.

The mystery flavor gum is very fruity.  DH had one of the warm delights for dessert tonight and gave it a thumbs up.

There are still a lot of really great free deals at Walgreens this week, especially if you are in the market for nasal spray or vitamins.  If you need a shopping coach or buddy, just let me know!

Doubles at Southern CA Albertsons!

Albertson's is doubling coupons!

Wait. Stop. Don't get too excited.

The fine print says:

Maximum value $1.00.  Coupons Valued at $1.01 or higher are not elligible for doubling.  Offer does not apply to in-store, competitor, alcohol, tobacco, or free coupons.  Total coupon redemption cannot exceed price of item. No cash refund.  One Double coupon per manufacturer coupon.  Three double coupons per family per shopping trip.  Photocopies of this coupon are not accepted.  Misredemption constitutes fraud.

So, basically, boys and girls, the three coupons like the ones pictured above that were in each of the Albie's circulars that came in your bright shiny Sunday papers are it for you per day.  So, go to Albie's, grab a stack of circulars, and go each day with your 3 double coupons and your three mannie's and pick your poison.

Don't forget your Albertson's Preferred card!

This offer is valid only with "Get Double the Value" Coupons from the circulars, your Albertson's card from 3/28/10-4/13/10.

Winners from the We've joined Twitter contest!

Our winners are Maria, Lisa, Katie and Elizabeth.

All winners have been emailed or paged via Twitter and envelopes chock full of coupon-y goodness will be mailed out this week!

Things have been a little hectic here in the bear cave, so I appologize for a lack of an awesome Freebie Friday post.  If you are itching for some awesome freebies, check out Maria's Website, she had some kick ass Freebies on Friday!

Hopefully things will slow down a bit and I'll be posting a bunch of great deals and steals this week.  Walgreens has some amazing deals this week- I'd love to hear and see some of your shopping conquests!

New Yoplait Greek Yogurt- and a coupon for you!

TWICE THE PROTEIN*
TO NOURISH YOUR INNER GODDESS

• New Yoplait® Greek yogurt has a unique, thick and creamy texture and the great taste expected from Yoplait.
• Each cup is packed with 12 grams of protein, zero grams of fat and zero grams of saturated fat. Yoplait is the only leading yogurt with vitamins A and D in every cup.
• Available in four delicious flavors — Strawberry, Blueberry, Honey Vanilla and Plain — at an affordable price compared to other Greek yogurt products.

* of the leading yogurt

New Yoplait® Greek yogurt invites women to nourish their inner goddess with the delicious goodness found in every cup of the brand’s newest offering. Packed with 12 grams of protein — twice that found in the leading yogurt — Yoplait Greek nourishes from the inside out.

Available in four delicious flavors, Strawberry, Blueberry, Honey Vanilla and Plain, Yoplait Greek has a unique thick and creamy texture. The new yogurt is available nationwide for a suggested retail price of $1.19 per 6 oz. cup, an affordable price compared to other Greek yogurt products.

Each 6 oz. cup of Yoplait Greek contains 12 grams of protein and zero grams of fat, making it a perfect choice for those looking for a healthy option, without compromising taste. In addition, Yoplait is the only leading yogurt with vitamins A and D in every cup and is an excellent source of calcium.

Like all other Yoplait products, Yoplait Greek is made with milk from cows not treated with rBST. For more information on new Yoplait Greek, visitwww.yoplaitgreek.com.

Leave a comment with your email address and I will email you a link to a Brick coupon where you can print 2 coupons for Yoplait Greek Yogurt!  This giveaway is limited to the first 10 people who comment!  This yogurt is heavenly- I had some for breakfast, courtesy of the free product coupon I received from PSSST, from General Mills.

Free and discounted Beauty for San Diego and Inland Empire Residents!

I am not a fan of tanning.  Most of you who know me IRL know this, however, I do love body wraps and facials, and my buddies over at iTan have some awesome deals on infared bod wraps, and a coupon for a free photo-facial (Click on the specials tab and print the coupon- check location for the location closest to you offering this service!).

iTan also has great deals on Mystic Tan, which some of my friends and co-workers are gaga for.

Sign up for their Bronze Buzz, and receive:

• Tan for FREE on Your Birthday (Or a Mystic Tan!!)


• Exclusive iTAN Specials


• Upcoming In-Store Events


• Tanning Trends & Tips

Currently, there are iTan locations in San Diego county and the Inland Empire.

Does anyone use Swagbucks?

Does anyone use Swagbucks?

If so, how do you like it? I have an account, but I haven't really explored it.  Wow me with some tales of awesome!

Tomorrow is the day- 4 coupon potlucks!

Tomorrow I am selecting 4 winners... 4 envelopes...4 coupon potlucks.

I have been savings some great non-insert, high value coupons too!

To enter, follow us on twitter! See this post for all the deets.

Good Housekeeping Research Institute

Want to be a Beauty Product Tester?

Scientists at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute are conducting studies of

Anti-aging beauty products—and would like you to participate!

If you’re female, over the age of 35, and want to evaluate some of the newest skincare products,

please call: 212-649-2422

or e-mail GHRIBeauty@hearst.com

We still need many testers, specifically for our age-spot, anti-aging serum, and firming & sculpting cream studies.

CVS Advisor

CVS Advisor: This is such an AWESOME opportunity! Take a look at the website and sign up if you are interested. I signed up about 6 months ago, and I have take 2 surveys and earned 2-$5 ECB!

From the CVS advisor Website:

We’ve created the CVS Advisor panel to gather your input about CVS stores, products and services. In addition we’d like to hear your suggestions for how we can improve CVS. Your guidance is especially valuable as we strive to make your shopping experiences at CVS the best they can be.

Throughout the year, we will send you invitations to participate in online surveys about CVS products and services. If you choose to participate in our surveys, we will thank you for your time by providing you with a self-printable CVS ExtraBucks coupon immediately after completing our survey. Becoming a member of ExtraCare and the CVS Advisor Panel is FREE. (Note: Advisor Members are eligible to receive CVS ExtraBucks coupons for surveys that are completed after the initial membership survey.)

Latest from Vocal Point- Pantene!

I received this full size (12.6 oz) bottle of Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion shampoo with Cassia Complex from Vocalpoint earlier in the week.

It has a really nice scent and made my hair soo clean and shiny.

It came with 3 $2.00 off coupons, which I'll be giving away on 4/1/10 (NO JOKE!).

To enter, leave a comment.  You can earn an extra entry by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our blog via.  So that's a total of three votes.  Leave a comment with how you are entering.  I'll pick 3 winners on 4/1/10 and they'll each receive the $2.00 coupon and a coupon potluck of 20 coupons!

If  you like receiving free products and sharing them with friends and family, consider joining Vocalpoint. I have been a member for over a year!

Coupon Preview: All You Magazine

I've talked about All You before and how awesome it is.

You can buy it at Walmart or get a subscription at Magazines.com (and if you use mypoints.com, earn 500 points at the same time!!).

HERE is the sneak preview of the coupons for the April edition!

Freebie Friday!

Hooray!  It's Friday and our first Friday at our new Blog home!

We've got some pretty cool Freebies to share this week:

3/23/10- Free Pastry morning at Starbucks with this coupon and a beverage purchase.

So Cal.-er's: Friend Pat and Oscars on facebook! They have a great promo for a free bowl of pasta when you bring in a can of food for the San Diego Food Bank. Hillz and I did this yesterday and scored free pasta!  I had $5.00 on my Frequency card, so we got a salad too!  And we had leftovers!

Free sample of Pantene when you friend them on Facebook, Courtesy of Couponing101.com!

Free Sample of True Lemon (it's great in iced tea and fizzy water!) and a $1.00 off coupon!

Free sample of Psssssst Instant Shampoo.

Free sample package of U by Kotex- This is a deluxe free sample kit.  It contains: 1 Cleanwear Regular Pad, 1 barely there Liner, 2 Regular Tampons.

YoPlus by Yolait is giving away coupons for free 4 packs of Yo Plus!  This offer void in the following states: CA, ID, LA, MN, NJ, ND, NV and TN.  For those of us who live in the VOID states, we get a $1.00 off Q.

And finally, while not exactly a freebie (it costs $20!), it's an event that has the opportunity for a lot of great freebies. Self Magazine has an event across the country each year called Workout in the Park, and this year the event in Sn Diego is on 4/24/10 at Mission Bay Park.  Tickets are $20. With your ticket, you will receive a free subscription  to Self (Or you can ask for a refund of $10 if you are like me and already have a free subscription!).  There are great work out classes scheduled throughout the day, and the sponsors will have samples and demonstrations set up.  I am really looking forward to it.  I'd love to go with some other San Diego area ladies.

For those of you who live elsewhere, check out the site, there are 2 other locations in the US this spring that are also having the event!

Part of each ticket sale is donated to charity, so it is something you can feel good about spending your money on!

There are your Friday Freebies my dears!  Have a wonderful, Frugal weekend!

For my K-mart shoppers!

Here is an AWESOME coupon, from our friends at Printable Coupon Spot.  $10 off any $20 purchase at Kmart!

Pair it up with the double coupon event that will be going on the first part of April and the savings will be out of this world.  If any of you are Kmart shoppers, I want to hear all about your crazy double coupon adventures! Nothing makes me happier than to hear about other shoppers successes!

Win a brand new Canon 1DMKIV Body only Camera

Big thanks to Heathy for the link to this contest on Facebook!

Check it out- it's pretty easy to enter!

For all my photog friends, this is a great promo!

Organic Valley Give Away- Thanks to Thrifty Jenny!

Thrifty Jenny is giving away 2 Organic Valley prizes valued at $50 each!

Check it out and enter!

Our First Post on Word Press!

Thanks to some great Migration software on WordPress, I was able to migrate all of the Livejournal posts over and not lose 2.5 years worth of blogging!

It seems like just yesterday that I started sharing my love of saving money and coupons with others.

I'm still going strong and I hope to help more and more people with this new blog!

We've joined Twitter!

So, we've joined the 20th Century... and we've joined Twitter!

To celebrate, we're giving away 4 Coupon potluck envelopes.  Friend us on Twitter and leave a comment (on Livejournal or Facebook or Twitter) to let us know!  I'll pick of you and pack a big ol' envelope full for each lucky winner!

I'll pick my 4 winners on 3/26/10.

San Diegans- SDG&E invites you to a free home lighting event!

Saturday March 20, 2010

9am-2pm

CVS store parking lot
3151 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104

Bring up to 5 standard light bulbs and trade them in for CFL bulbs.

Bring up to 2 halogen torchiere or table lamps and trade them for 2 energy efficient torchiere or table lamps!\

To Participate, bring your bulbs, lamps, a valid CA ID, and a copy of your SDG&E bill with you to the event!

Freebies for this week- Mail call

This is this weeks freebie haul!

THe P&G Brand Sampler came yesterday.  In it was: Pampers Cruisers (for my niece), metamucil samples with coupons, Tide sample, and coupons for other P&G products.

I received my Bzz Agent Starbucks campaign samples and coupons! We'll be brewing up a couple pots this week and sharing it with friends and co-workers.

Zone bar and coupon (from facebook).

Aveeno shampoo and conditioner samples and coupon.

Similac and Enfamil coupons $5.00 off- these are up for grabs if anyone wants them (just email me!)

K-mart Double coupon offer for one week in April!

It's back!

And good lordy is there a buzz around the internet!

Here is a PDF list of all of the locations participating.  

It looks like that you will need to have a Shop your way rewards card in order to take advantage of the double coupon offer. It's free and it looks like you earn cash back for shopping- It's just a loyalty card!

The rules for this event are as follows:

-Offer dates: 04/04-04/10

-Manufacturer Coupons up to and including $2 value will be doubled

-In-store Activation MUST BE tied to your Shop Your Way to Rewards card

-Does not include Kmart Store Coupons

-Does not include Kmart Pharmacy Store Coupons

-Limit 5 total coupons per customer per day

-First 5 coupons provided by customer will be doubled

Thanks to Maria and my lovely ladies over at HCW!

Stouffer's dinner club

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but if you eat Stouffer's frozen food, check out the Stouffers Dinner Club.

Check out this link to find out more about how it works and what kinds of rewards you can earn!

So far, we've received a couple neat rewards.  We don't eat a lot of frozen food, but when we do, I love to get rewarded!!
 

Using coupons to your advantage! Organic buyers- Heads up!

When using coupons, it is important to read and understand the terms of the coupon.

Example, "Save $1.00 on any FOUR (4) Hunt's Diced Tomatoes." Then, there is a graphic of a can of Hunt's diced Tomatoes.  This graphic doesn't limit you to that specific item.The language or terms of the coupon state ANY FOUR  Hunt's Diced Tomatoes. For example, if you like the organic variety of the Diced Tomatoes, you can use this coupon for those products.


Many companies make organic versions of their products- Prego, for example, makes an organic sauce.  Prego puts out coupons about once a quarter.

Keep your eyes open, be an informed consumer!

All my organic honeys!

Check out this great blog post about website to print organic product coupons! 

Make it easy, take it easy!

 Make it easy, Take it easy and P&G are offering a free coupon book with $20 worth of coupons.  Enter your zip code and see if you qualify.  San Diegans- You will qualify!  I found out about this offer from a insert in the Albertson's flyer this week.

Save up to $10.50 on Arm and Hammer products with printable coupons found here!

Free Baja Fresh Burrito 3/17/10!

Come in on St. Patrick’s Day, wear green and receive a FREE BURRITO with purchase of a large beverage. (1) Open the picture with the offer (2) Click “Account” in the upper right hand corner (be sure your name is displayed below “Account”) (3) Print the offer (with your name on it) and enjoy!

Friend them on facebook and follow the directions above.


NOM!

Bzz Agent campaign: Starbucks Pike Place Roast

I was selected to participate in the latest Bzz Agent Campaign for Starbucks Pike Place Roast Coffee. It is one of my fav. 'bux coffees, it's the coffee I usually get my Misto made with.  I'm a 4-5 day a week Starbucks "addict" and most of the time it's drip coffee, like Pike Place Roast.

I can't wait for my samples to arrive in the mail.  I'll be sharing my samples with my local buddies!  Next time you're over I may be making  a french press full for us to share!

Continuing the year of free!

2010 is the year of the free!

Free sample of Lipton Green Tea.

Free sample of John Freida shampoo and Conditioner.

I received my mocha flavored sample of Splenda- it is SOOOO Good!  It came with a coupon to purchase it online only :(

I also received:

Chocolate Cream of Wheat sample (It was ehhh.. ok)
Dove shampoo and Conditioner sample
Ferrekai shampoo and conditioner sample
A Kikkoman Soy Sauce spoon rest (it's super cute!)


DH received a sample of Arm and Hammer tooth paste (he was so excited!) and he also received a coupon for a free package of Just for Men Touch of Grey beard or Mustache colorant.  I swear I didn't sign him up for it!  I have no idea who did! LOL.

And we just applied for a slew of House Parties from Houseparty.com.  Hopefully we'll get one (or more!!)

A pretty great website and how I am saving money.

I've touted AFS before, but I'll do it again: Abundant Food Savings (AFS) is a great savings website! They have match ups, printables, freebies.  It's a must read. It's on my daily blog roll.

I haven't been doing a lot of match up's lately because we haven't been doing a lot of shopping. We're relying on our stockpile, and shopping only for absolute necessary items (like fresh fruit and veg and milk for DH- I don't drink milk).

I am doing a lot of comparison shopping, and that means utilizing my price book frequently, adding to it. I bought our vitamins at CostCo, they were cheaper at CostCo, even after the coupons and sale prices at Walgreens! Ditto with Flaxseed oil and fiber tabs.  The local 99 cents only has our favorite Fiber One bars for 99 cents a box.  That's 5 bars for 99 cents!  At Vons, with a coupon that's doubled, I can get the same box for $1.50, sometimes when it's on sale.  When they are regular price, with a coupon they are $2.49.  That's when I don't buy them! At 99 cents a box, I stocked up and bought 6 boxes!

To save more money, I have stopped stockpiling stuff we won't use, even if it's a money maker, stopped buying food that we won't eat before it goes bad.

I'm watching our bottom line a lot closer.

Articles on Frugal living, couponing

The "best" birthday freebies

The best months to get deals (I love this article!)

Secrets of a hard core couponer

Woo hoo rebate!

I received a check from Olay today for $12.38 from a Olay lotion rebate!

Hooray!

Freebie Friday!!

It's Friday- that means it's freebie friday!

Lessee what kind of new freebies are wandering around the 'net:

Sign up for The North Face Newsletter and text messages and receive a free $10 gift card (good online or at their stores).

Be one of the 1st 100K fans of Sunchips on Facebook and they'll mail you a coupon for a free 10.5 ounce bag!

Vitamin Water wants you to become a fan on Facebook!  Sign up they'll mail you a coupon for a free bottle of vitamin water!

Free sample of Pureology styling products.

Have a wonderful weekend!


 

Free samples and coupons!

Free Beneful Sample! (Dog Food)

David Sunflower seed coupons 

Vasoline Sheer Infusion Coupon

Emergen-C Sample

Flavored Splenda Sample- may come with a coupon(hazelnut or Mocha)

Coupon Policies

Vons Coupon Policy
Wal*mart Coupon Policy
Target Coupon Policy
RiteAid Coupon Policy

How to save and earn the most?

With so many great deals and promotions constantly going on, how can you save the most money and earn the best rewards?

There are 2 schools of thought.

The first is that you should do it all. Sign up for every affiliate program, get your name (and email address) out there and be involved with every program. Sign up for special credit cards to earn airline miles, points, etc.

There is an up and down side to this approach. The up side it that you may find out about more deals and rewards this way, however, the down side is that you may spend more time reading email and sifting through junk mail to get the good deals and to save money. How valuable is your time? Will you spend 5 hours online researching a deal to save a few dollars? It that worth it to you? Remember to look closely at credit cards that offer points, cash back, or airlines miles. Is there annual fee? A fee to “cash in” you rewards? a penalty if you don’t use rewards each year? Does the card have a higher APR than the same “brand” of card without rewards? Will you actually be saving the same amount of money or more than the rewards that you receive from the card? Be a savvy consumer!

Something to consider: Many programs do not overlap and do not let you “double dip”. For example- United Airlines Miles programs allows you to register your credit cards and when you dine at certain establishments, you earn airline points- a very small amount of airline points. Upromise has a similar program, however, you earn actual CASH BACK in your Upromise account. You cannot do both at the same time. So you must weight the options- are the airline miles or the cash back more valuable to you?

The second school of thought is that being a choosy consumer is the better path. Take a look at the affiliate programs and see which one fits your lifestyle. There are hundreds of affiliate programs, survey companies, WOM programs. There is bound to be one for you. What works for one consumer may not work for you. Many of my friends love Swagbucks, but I love Mypoints.

Whichever path you chose, remember that there will always be a sale or deal that you will miss, but it will come back around again.

At first, you may choose to sign up for as many affiliate programs, WOM and survey companies as you can and see which one works for you. Then as time goes on, you may chose to drop the companies that do not fit your lifestyle or offer incentives that meet your needs.

I need yer addresses!

If you entered the contest for the $10 CVS card, please email me your mailing address.  Everyone who entered will receive a potluck envelope of coupons.

Yvonne and Brooke, I have your addresses.   

How to save $250 in 30 days...

Courtesy of Yahoo Finance and Cosmo...

There are of course a few issues with this article.  If you are a man, then switching your birth control pills is a big N/A, so you won't save $21-$31 (but you are already savings that money- so congrats!)

Now, I don't know how many of you get your hair cut once a month, but this one: "Save $15 to $20: Little-known fact: The price of your cut includes a fee for drying. So if you ask to leave it wet, your stylist will usually bump down the cost."  Most places charge extra for a blow out, it isn't included.

Some of Cosmo's other tips for savings money:

Don't buy designer tights (pantyhose)
Buy generic food
Netflix instead of hitting up the Block Buster
Pay your bills online