Double the Doubles at Copps!?

Rumor has it that it that Copps is allowing you to double TEN coupons (not just five) with a $25 purchase tomorrow! If you have any deal ideas let us know! I would love to take advantage of any awesome deals!!

Free Snuggle Dryer Sheets

There was a coupon for $2 off any Snuggle fabric softener coupon in last Sunday's paper. Wal-mart has the 40 ct. sheets for under $2.

I just thought I'd mention this in case you were not aware: if you have a coupon like this (that is worth more than the purchase price) and you use it at Wal-mart they will usually take off the full coupon amount. So make sure you buy something else to cover the extra "overage". Snuggle will help pay for something else you need! This policy varies from store to store.

If you like liquid fabric softener, Family Dollar has Snuggle liquid for $3 (regular price) so you could get a bottle for $1 there as well.

Ordering Gifts Online?

If you plan to do any shopping online this holiday season here are a few must have sites to help you save some money...

RetailMeNot--before you order from any website at least just stop by this site and put the retailer site name in their search box. You will find all sorts of coupon codes for everything from a % off to free shipping. (They also have printable coupons and deals on gift certificates from Restaurant.com)

Amazon's Free Super Saver Shipping--Amazon carries just about every product under the sun and most items ship free when your order is over $25. There are some items that don't qualify so keep an eye out. If you need to get to that magical $25 mark and don't know what to get head over to this site to see what filler items you can get for your remaining amount. [Hey, do me a favor and if you order anything from Amazon... go through the box off on the lower left!]

MyPoints and Ebates--both of these sights give you a little "rebate" back when you order online. Both have a huge list of online retailers. MyPoints gives you "points" which you can turn into gift cards. Ebates gives you cash back. At either site you can combine the money back with coupon codes (see above) to get the best deal possible. [If you are interested MyPoints or Ebates let me know and I'll send you a "referral".]

Promo Code for Free Patterned Nursing Covers

This is a great promo. I have used in the past!

I know it’s been a while since you purchased a nursing cover from us. I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and give you a new promo code for a free patterned nursing cover for yourself or for that special friend. If you’re not currently nursing, you probably know someone who is or shortly will be! They make great baby shower and Holiday gifts!

We are running a new promotion where you can get any of our nursing covers (regular price $32)- Free. You just pay the $8.95 shipping. The code is "Christmas".

Go to uddercovers.com , click on "Shop Now", select the product you would like (we also have 3 piece gift sets available with this promotion) and you will automatically be directed to the center of the page where you can enter in the promo code! Type in Christmas and it will bring your product total to $0! They will sell out fast. You can use the code more than once - you just have to open a new browser/window to do so. Good Luck!

This promotion gives you a $32.00 discount off your total order no matter what you put in your cart! This promotion code is valid once per transaction, so you can order as many times as you would like! Thanks again for your earlier purchase and have a Merry Christmas.

Thanks and have a great day!

Sarah Sachs

Free Men's Health Assessment

If the man in your life is due for a check up and you don't have the money to spend on a "well visit" you might want to take advantage of this deal. I saw this in the Green Bay area "Sun" paper that comes in the mail and a quick internet search confirmed the deal.

Bellin Health is offering FREE Men's Health Assessments. The website states the a value of this assessment is $405! Included is various lab work (total cholesterol, glucose, liver function) and a visit with a provider to discuss the results. To schedule call 920-445-7373 or 888-758-7373.

The ad in the Sun said this deal expires 12-31-09. The reference code mentioned is: GBSUN. The Bellin website doesn't mention an expiration date. It does state that it is for "a man over 18 who has not been to a doctor in over 3 years or longer".

Free Long Distance

If you make any long distance phone calls and are paying for them on your (landline) phone plan, I highly recommend that you get a Google Voice number. GV has a lot of features that I think are worth having but the best in my opinion is free long distance. Calls anytime, anywhere in the US won't cost you a penny.

I don't make too many long distance calls but for the few I do the fees ad up quickly. Several years ago I started asking for calling cards for birthday and Christmas gifts, so except for the few times I forgot to use the calling cards, I haven't paid for long distance. But now that we have free long distance I find I am more willing to pick up the phone and call our family/friends in Arizona for little things. It's been a lot of fun!

Using GV for long distance is a lot like using a calling card. There are a few extra buttons to push but I'm more than willing to do that to save the money. Once you have a Google Voice number set up it is easy to make a long distance call. You simply call your GV number (which is a local number) and enter a PIN. From there you can dial the number and GV will connect you.

If you have a blog you can put a widget on your blog for others to call you for free. They just enter their number in the widget box and GV will call them first and then you!

There is a lot more to Google Voice than free long distance. With a GV number you get:

• One number: a single phone number that rings all your phones
• Free SMS: send, receive & store text messages online
• Block calls: send unwanted callers straight to voicemail
• Record calls: record phone calls and store them online
• Conference calls: join several people into a single call
• Screen callers: hear who is calling before you pick up

If you want to know more here's a short video:

Google Voice is free. You can request an invite here. If you request one from Google I'm not sure how long it is currently taking... maybe a week or two. Or if you know someone with a GV number already they can "invite" you. I have a couple invitations left if you would like one.

$5 off $5 Hallmark

These $5 off $5 Hallmark coupons were available in several magazines recently. If you don't happen to get any of the magazines that included the coupon you can now print two from the Hallmark website.

To get the most out of a coupon like this spend just over $5. Unless, of course, there is something you were going to be getting at Hallmark anyway. To use both coupons, you'll have to do two separate transactions.

Things are pretty pricey at Hallmark, but I'm guessing you can at least get something for free with this coupon.

Free Nestle Baking Chips at Festival

Go to the Nestle website and print $1 off coupons (limit 2), then head to Festival where they are having a great sale on baking supplies. The Nestle chips are on sale for $.98 with coupon (also limit 2). Yay, for free baking chips!

Did you know you no longer have to cut out the Festival Newspaper coupons? Just stop by the service desk and pick up one of the flyers that have the store coupons (not the green sheet, that's separate) on them. The cashier just has to enter one code for all the coupons and you don't have to cut them out. It's a win-win time saver for you and the cashier!

Free Christmas Music

Amazon is giving away one free Christmas song download a day now through Christmas. They did this last year and I added 25 songs to my Christmas playlist! To view the song for each day visit this Amazon Page. The site states that the songs are only available to download for "a limited time" and I'm not sure if you'll be able to go back and download the songs from previous days.

There is a free Curious George Christmas song from Amazon here as well.

Amazon offers free songs all the time, not just during the Christmas season. It's a good way to hear new music. Who knows, you may find some new favorites!

If you like Christmas music you can tune into 104.3 or 99.7 on the radio, both stations are playing Christmas music full time now. Or if you are near your computer, I highly recommend Pandora. It's like an internet radio station that you program to songs that YOU like. It's great all year round. Listen to only the songs or artists you like!

New! Subscribe via Email

If you don't want to miss a money saving post take a minute and subscribe to GB Savers via email. Each time there is a new post you will receive an email. Don't worry, you won't be flooded with emails. No new posts means no emails! Don't miss another deal!

December Home Depot Kids Workshop

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for December is the 5th. So head over to make a wagon. No registration necessary, just show up between 9am and noon.

Vanilla Beans

In the past I have made vanilla "extract" by soaking a vanilla bean or two in alcohol for a few weeks (I used vodka but you can also use rum). This make a great gift if you can find some cute containers. You can also put a vanilla bean in with some sugar to make vanilla sugar. Not to mention all the other yummy things you can make like real vanilla ice cream!

Anyway, I want to make some more extract. So after asking around and doing a little searching I found a great deal on vanilla beans. I can get 26-28 beans for $18 (including shipping). If you have ever seen how much vanilla beans are in the grocery store you'll know that is a great deal!

I'm just not sure I can use that many beans! Is anyone interesting in splitting the order with me?

Cheap Chex Cereal

Piggly Wiggly has Chex cereal on sale this next week - starting Wed - through Tgiving - for .99 a box and there is a $1.00 of 2 coupon on that Pillsbury/General Mills flier we just got this past Sunday - you can only buy 3 at a time so I plan to cut out the coupons and put them in my purse and will use them each time I stop there (which is multiple times a week).

FREE-Mom's Guide to Surviving the Flu

Crystal at Everyday Food Storage (and her family) were recently hit hard by the flu. She put together an awesome, FREE flu resource (A Mom's Guide to Surviving the Flu) full of information on taking care of yourself and your loved ones if you get sick this season. I pray that you all stay well... but just in case... download her helpful booklet here.

Free Bread Baking E-book

I just got this in my inbox... a free ebook download from the Urban Homemaker. I bought my grain mill and mixer from the Urban Homemaker and really enjoy her recipes. The book is called a Beginners Guide to Baking Bread. This ebook is free today only... click here to get to the download page. If you sign up for her newsletter you can also download another free ebook called Steps to the Best Bread.

Games!

If you are interested in getting in on the games deal at Toys R Us, don't wait! Jerry stopped by for me on the way home from work this evening and he said some of the games are already gone. I'm sure they'll get more in stock, but obviously the word is out!! :) It is a GREAT deal!

heres a code for 50 free photo cards woohoo

You can order 50 free 4x8 or 5x7 photo cards including free shipping using the coupon code freebies4mom-1109 at SeeHere by Fujifilm. There is no catch, this truly is a freebie and I'm able to bring it exclusively to my Freebies 4 Mom readers thanks to SeeHere. I ordered my 50 free 5x7 photo cards and my order total of $39.50 was slashed to $0.00 with that coupon code. This coupon code expires on November 30 so you have plenty of time to design your free photo cards. Amanda Haigh

Seven Games for Under $4!!!

Just in case you didn't already hear about this deal, I thought I'd mention it here. Toys R Us has seven classic Hasbro kids games on sale for $3.99 this week. If you spend $25 or more on Hasbro games you get a $10 TRU gift card. PLUS there is a rebate for $2 back on all the games on sale! So if you get one of each game you will pay $27.93 out of pocket, get a $10 gift card, and a rebate of $14 making the end price $3.93 for SEVEN games!

Even if you have some of the games already stock up for future birthday gifts or this could be a great way to donate some toys on a budget!!

If you want more details see this week's TRU ad in the paper or head over to Common Sense with Money.

Festival Deals and Recipe

This week is Festival's annual 50% off McCormick spices and extract sale. While I usually just get the cheap 50 cent spices elsewhere, I usually take advantage of this sale to stock up on maple and clear vanilla extract. If you want nice white frosting for cookies and cakes (GBAMOMs!) use clear vanilla! I use maple extract to make my own "maple" syrup.

Nestle baking chips are on sale 2 for $3 and there are tons of coupons available as well. You should be able to get these for about $1 each. No limit, so stock up!

There are coupons for $.88 eggs, $.98 butter, and $.98 flour too. Limit 1. Unfortunately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just in case you are interested here is my "Maple" Syrup Recipe. I found this recipe in a kids cookbook when I was a kid! Unless we splurge and get the real stuff, we have never bought syrup! This recipe has saved me a ton of money over the years!

Easy Maple Syrup

1 cup boiling water
2 cups granulated sugar (or 1 c. white and 1 c. brown)
1 t. maple syrup extract

Optional: 1-2 T. butter (or butter extract)
1 tsp. vanilla


Bring water to a boil. Add sugar. Boil for a few minutes. The longer you boil the thicker it will be. Remove from heat and stir in maple extra. Serve warm. Store in fridge in a container that is microwaveable to make it easier to reheat.

[Shelly's super fast method: Boil one cup of water in the microwave. Stir in sugar (I always use white). Add maple extract and mix well.]

Shopko Express Doubles

Shopko Express is doubling coupons up to and INCLUDING $2 through November 13th. (No internet printables.) There should be at least a few things that are free or nearly free. If you run across any great deals share them here!

November Home Depot Kids Workshop

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for November is the 7th. So head over to make a tile trivet. No registration necessary, just show up between 9am and noon.

Zenni Optical

GUEST POST by JERRY (Shelly's husband):

I've worn glasses for over thirty years.  Wow, I feel old!  At this point eyeglasses are an essential part of who I am.  I realize that sounds silly, but when you have had such an obvious accessory for so long it just comes to be part of your identity.  People have asked me about getting contact lenses, but I wonder if this would change me in some very real way. 

So as a pretty much lifelong eyeglass wearer, I am always on the lookout for a deal on glasses.  Well, it appears the online commerce revolution has finally come to the corrective eyewear industry in the form of Zenni Optical.  Zenni is an online only retailer of prescription glasses and general eyewear.  They have complete single vision lenses including frames starting at the incredibly low price of $6.95.

I was a little nervous about such low prices.  Would the quality be acceptable?  Would the frames fall apart in shipment?  I recently received my first pair of glasses from Zenni and for the most part it has been a positive experience.

My total cost for new glasses was $25.90 including shipping.

I picked out a stylish (at least Shelly thinks so) pair of half-rim frames very similar to my old pair of glasses that were $8.00.  Zenni does consider certain prescriptions to be extra strength.  The order page on their website will tell you if your prescription is considered extra strength.  These prescriptions have an additional $9.00 charge.  While this more than doubles the $8.00 glasses, $17.00 is still quite an improvement over typical retail prices.  I have one of those prescriptions that is usually greeted by a "wow" when someone at an eyeglass store puts in my order, so my glasses were subject to the $9.00 charge. The total cost for my glasses was $17.00 and shipping and handling was $4.95.

The other $3.95 came from the purchase of some clip-on sunglass lenses that I added to my order.  Unfortunately, Zenni hasn't yet applied their revolution in eyewear to the area of clip-on lenses.  These clip-ons are stereotypical of what you would think of when you hear the word.  They are larger than my frames, so they stick out on either side.  They also have two black clips where they attach to my glasses.  I think these will have to be put away until I start driving a Cadillac, collecting Social Security, and eating supper at 4:00.  Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

So for my $25.90 I got a complete pair of glasses, the clip-ons, a Zenni optical lens cloth, and a space-age looking plastic case.

The frames available at Zenni seemed to be similar to what you would find at most retail eyeglass sellers.  The ordering process requires you to fill out the detailed information from your prescription, so when you see your eye doctor, be sure to get a copy to take home.  There are two pieces of information that you will also need that you don't normally find on your prescription.  The first is the distance between your pupils.  You can measure this at home by following the directions at Zenni's website, or you can ask your eye doctor for this information as this is something they measure during a routine eye exam.  The second item is the size of your frames.  The frames on Zenni are listed by their dimension in millimeters.  I wasn't sure what size frames I needed, so I measured my current frames and could see that they matched many of the frames available on Zenni.

Purchasing glasses online means that you have to adjust them yourself at home.  I used a guide we found online to help with the adjustment and so far I have to say they fit pretty well.

While the quality of the frames will be determined by how well they hold up over time, the quality of the lenses doesn't seem to be an issue.  My prescription had a change this time and I could see things more clearly from the moment I put the new glasses on.

So with the exception of the $3.95 I wasted on the ridiculous clip-on sunglasses I am very happy with my Zenni Optical experience so far.  I will keep you up to date if anything changes or if I have any problems in the future.  If you have any questions, let me know.  If you wear glasses and you like saving money give Zenni Optical a try.

Free Digital Christmas Magazine

I posted this on my personal blog but it's too good to miss....


I posted this on Facebook a week or so ago when I first heard about it, but since I just got my "copy" and started looking through it I just had to share again! This digital magazine is put out by a homeschooling magazine but it is full of wonderful Christmas activities, recipes, and crafts that anyone can use. The recipes alone make it worth downloading!! You can preview it online or download it here.

The End of Kraft Food and Family Magazine

Just got my last issue of Kraft's Food and Family today. Why is it my last you ask? Because it came with a renewal notice! They want to charge me $5.99 (preferred rate) to subject myself to their advertising! Ridiculous!! I enjoyed flipping through the magazine when it came in the mail. I even tried several of the recipes (substituting more cost effective products, of course!). There were occasional coupons in there as well, but PAY for it? You have to be kidding me! No thanks Kraft.

I was going to send Kraft a little email letting them know of my disappointment but their website was down when I tried. Probably tons of other frustrated customers trying to give them a piece of their mind! :)

Family Dollar Overage

Did you know Family Dollar takes manufacturer's coupons? A few weeks ago, just after we got those $3 off Snuggle coupons, I read on one of the money saving blogs that Family Dollar had it regularly priced for $3. So yesterday while I was out shopping I stopped to get two free Snuggles. It just so happened that Snuggle was on sale this week for $2.50. Having never using manufacturer's coupons there I wasn't sure if they would give overage or not. So I grabbed a package of napkins just in case. Sure enough, my total was $1.36 for $8 worth of stuff. So the extra $1 overage went to pay for half of my napkins!

Make an Easy $5 at Walgreens

Zantac is on sale this week for $8.99 and you get a $9 RR plus there is a $5 off printable coupon available! If for some reason you can't get the coupon to print there were $1 off coupons in the 10/18 SmartSource and the boxes at my Walgreens had a $2 off peelie right on them.

Food Storage Analyzer

MoneySavingMom mentioned the opportunity to earn a $10 gift card from Emergency Essentials for trying out and reviewing their food analyzer. I have been on their mailing list a long time and their website has lots of helpful information as well, so I couldn't resist the chance to earn a $10 gift card.

Even if you aren't crazy about stockpiling like I am, I think you will find the analyzer helpful. If you don't have larger buckets of wheat, oats, or flour then just go straight to the last two tabs of the analyzer where you can put in "grocery store/canned food" items or "add your own" items. I put in the food items I currently have and the handy analyzer told me I have enough food to feed the seven of us for 69 days!! I didn't even include the cake and brownie mixes so technically we could eat for even a bit longer than that! :)
This isn't just a checklist. This is based on nutrition and calories. If you have a goal to store a certain amount (ex: 3 months worth) you can use this list to help decide if you have enough and where the gaps in your storage are. I found it pretty comforting to know that if something happened we'd be able to eat at least a couple months from just what we have here at home.

*The picture of my "stockpile" above was taken awhile ago. We actually have more than that now!

Sam's Club

I've been meaning to post this for some time but never got around to it. When MoneySavingMom recently posted about her trip to Sam's Club it reminded me.

Click here to see a spreadsheet that I made up to help me compare Sam's Club prices to other stores. It isn't a very extensive list but a list of things I usually buy and thought might be a better deal there. I printed it out and filled in the "elsewhere" store with Aldi prices and for the most part they were pretty much even with one exception: vanilla extract is considerably cheaper at Sam's Club.

Personally, I could live without the Sam's Club membership. Is it worth the $40 membership fee to get cheap vanilla twice a year? No. For our family, I really don't think the savings justifies the yearly membership fee. At this point we hold onto it mainly for diapers but really even then the savings might not be worth it.

A bad "side effect" of shopping at Sam's is buying things that you don't really need, especially sweets and snacks. Another possible problem: if you buy large quantities and can't use it all before it "expires" you're basically just throwing money away. If you really need items in large quantities or just buy basics (flour, sugar, noodles, etc.) Sam's might work for you. However, if you just want basics, I suggest you check Aldi before you spend the money on a membership to Sam's Club.

You can do a google search about whether Sam's Club is a good deal or not. What I have found is most people compare Sam's Club prices to one grocery store's regular prices and then come to the conclusion they are saving money. They haven't usually shopped around, used coupons, or even waited for a sale.

One such person said they "saved" $6.48 buying Pepsi at Sam's over their grocery store. (They said it was $.24 per can at Sam's and $.42 per can at their grocery store.) Were they shopping out of a vending machine? Over FIVE dollars for a 12 pack of Pepsi!?! Festival had Pepsi on sale (with in-store coupon) last week for $1.98 a 12 pack. That's $.17 per can and beats the Sam's Club price buy $.07 a can. And that's just one example. I absolutely guarantee that anyone buying toothpaste at Sam's Club is paying WAY to much. It's free at CVS and Walgreens.

Some people say they don't have time to shop around for sales or use coupons and that may or may not be true. You can't really put a price on someone's time, especially for someone else. I think it all boils down to whether you're willing to spend more time or more money for the items your family needs. Personally, I'd rather take a little bit of time to shop at an extra store or two a week and save our hard earned dollars.

How about you? Do you have a Sam's Club membership? Is it worth the yearly fee?

Surprise: More than Free Ziploc bags

Piggly Wiggly had a great sale on Ziploc bags this week (sorry, it ended today*) 10 for $10 which alone was a pretty good deal. Plus if you bought 10 items you got an 11th free. There were plenty of $1 off 2 and $.40 off 1 coupons out right now that made the deal even better. I was happy to enough to be getting each package for $.45 but the register spit out THREE $2 off my next order coupons as a "Thank You" from Ziploc. You're more than welcome Ziploc... you just paid ME to buy eleven boxes of bags!

*Now, I know this wasn't a very helpful post since you won't be able to head to Piggly Wiggly and get this deal. Believe me I would have posted it sooner if I had know about the register coupons! But Piggly Wiggly had that same sale last year around this time (minus the register coupons) so I was keeping an eye out for it. And the point I wanted to make (or remind you of) is that stores tend to run the same promotions over and over. So keep watching those ads! And let this also be a reminder (to me especially!) to tell your GBSavers friends about deals in a timely manner! :)

Canned Pumpkin Shortage?

Had any of you heard about this? I did notice that Aldi didn't have any canned pumpkin yet but I didn't think anything of it. I still have several cans from deals last year, but I'm running low because I've made several batches of pumpkin bread and bars. Now I wish I would have stocked up even more. I only have two cans left and that's not enough to make my pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving! When and if they are in stock I don't think we'll be seeing any awesome sales. When supply is low and demand is high... prices go up. Ugh! If you see a deal please be sure and post it here!!

Walmart Deals

I did a little shopping Friday night. Overall it was a good trip! I spent nothing out of pocket at Walgreens thanks to a gift card from MyPoints and got $12 in RRs back. I spent $40 at Festival (on meat mostly). My last stop was Walmart. I had a few coupons that I had been saving to use there. My subtotal was $60.77 before coupons and $20.77 after! That's exactly $40 in coupon savings!!
6 packages of Kotex liners free after $1 off coupons
1 pack Always pad free after free item coupon from sample
Lipton Tea bags free after free item coupon from special promotion
6 packages of Pull Ups wipes $.14 each after $3/2 coupons
2 packages of Goldfish crackers $.65 each after $1 coupons
2 tubes of kids toothpaste $.97 each after $1 coupons
8 packages of muffin mix $.63 each after $1/4 coupons
4 packs of muffin liners $.75 each on clearance
2 bottles worchestershire sauce $.48 each after $2 coupons
1 can baking powder $.82 after $.65 coupon
2 canisters Crystal Light free after $2/2 coupon
2 Nature Valley clusters $.68 each after $1.60 off coupons from mailer
1 four pack TP $1 after $1 coupon
1 package lemon cake mix---$1.16 no coupon!! :)

And what I really needed and went for:
Spot Shot $3.36 after $1 coupon

If you aren't a member of Vocalpoint yet... I highly recommend that you join. They send all sorts of high value or free item coupons. Also take advantage of the freebie offers that MoneySavingMom and Freebies4Mom mention. It takes less than a minute to request a sample or a coupon and you can get lots of great stuff for free! Kotex samples, for example, always come with coupons and new samples become available all the time.

If you have a PC you can install Roboform to help you fill out freebie information forms faster or if you use Firefox you can install an add-on called AutoFill that will fill out forms with the click of a button. You can even set it for different profiles (one with your real email address and one for you junk email address).

This really has nothing to do with saving money unless you count the money saved not getting your carpet cleaned or replaced, but I want to highly recommend Spot Shot. If you have kids or pets or any stains at all on your carpet this stuff is a miracle! It gets just about any stain out on the first try. Walmart has the best prices on it and there is a $1 off coupon here. Plus right now when you buy a Spot Shot product you can print a form to get a free movie ticket.

Home Depot Kids Workshop!

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for October is the 3rd. So head over to make a firehouse bank. No registration, just show up between 9am and noon.

REMINDER!!

Holiday weekend = no coupons. According to the schedule there will only be a P&G insert this week so don't bother buying the CT or MJS. Have a great weekend!!

Edit: There was a P&G last week so there will probably be NO COUPONS at ALL this Sunday!

Home Depot Kids Workshop!

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for September is tomorrow the 5th. So head over to make a bean bag toss game. No registration, just show up between 9am and noon.

Free Beech-Nut Starter Kit

I am loooong past the baby stage, but I thought someone might find this useful!

 

Kris K

 

 

 

Sign up for the Beech-Nut eNewsletter and receive a FREE Starter Kit by mail, which appears to include cereal and jars of Stage 1 food, as well as coupons for Stage 2 jars of food. Allow 3-5 weeks for delivery.

When you sign up for the eNewsletter you'll also receive two great printable coupons by email, including a $1/2 Beech-Nut Cereals coupon and a $1/3 Beech-Nut Items coupon.

Kids Eat Free List

In a quick internet search to help out Vivian, I found this Kids Eat Free list that is broken down by day of the week. Some of the restaurants are not in our area but several are so I thought I'd share the link.

Free Online Family Organizer

I have read about Cozi several times recently. It is a online family calendar/organizer. I watched the little video and it looks pretty cool. There is a color coded calendar and you can access your information anywhere (you can even call their 800 number to hear your grocery list while shopping at the store!). Best of all it's free! With school right around the corner I thought it might be a helpful site to share.

Pinecone Research

If you have tried to sign up before and not been successful let me know. I got an email with a sign up link from Pinecone yesterday that I can forward to my friends and family.

If you haven't heard of Pinecone before... they are a survey company that pays you $3 per survey. They will mail you a check for $3 a few days after you take a survey (there is also a PayPal option). No waiting to reach a certain point or dollar amount. The surveys aren't too frequent but I get enough that it definitely worth while. They are one of the better survey companies out there!

$5 off $25 at CVS

Unless you've been living under a rock you've probably already heard about this...but I thought I'd throw it out just in case. Go here to take a quick quiz and earn yourself a $5 off $25 coupon at CVS!!!

Free Food

Here is a great post on how to get paid to buy food at Walgreens! Great deal!

Free Book from B&N

Here is a very happy Wesley holding his free book from the Barnes and Noble summer reading program. If you have a child going into grades 1 through 6 they can earn a free book by reading eight. Just download the form from the B&N website (or get it from the store) and fill it out. When you bring the filled out form to the store the readers get to choose a free book. There's still plenty of time...the program runs through September 7th.

Home Depot Kids Workshop

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for August is on the 1st. So head over to make a message center. This looks like it might make a nice gift for a grandparent for Christmas. No registration, just show up between 9am and noon.

Finally some Freebies at CVS

FREE!!!!! YES!!!!!

I admit ladies that I have not been Miss super shopper lately. I just have not taken the time to even look at the ads (partly b/c I was so stocked up) and I was getting pretty disappointed with what I saw.

Today I went to CVS and got all this free - now I have $14 in ECB's to spend. I let the last $6 expire b/c I hadn't been to CVS in over a month - SAD!!!!

Last year I ended up doing most of my school shopping at Walgreens because the deals were so good. Glad to see CVS having some - but quite frankly their supply is VERY, VERY limited. Walgreens makes a whole special aisle just for school shopping.

Has anyone figured out exactly WHAT THE STRATEGY IS at Walgreens and CVS now? With no rebates and few FREE items - has anyone learned any secrets yet? Or did they just get tired of all of us making money off of them? I figured they would eventually stop but I was hoping it wouldn't be for a long time.

Coupons this weekend

Just thought I'd remind you all that there will only be a P&G insert in this Sunday's paper. Actually, I was surprised that we'd even be getting that...usually there are NO coupons on a holiday weekend. So, no need to buy the MJS or CT. And remember that Dollar Tree has the GBPG for $1 each on Sundays...if you want more than one P&G insert that would be the way to go!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July everyone!!

Kids Workshop July 4th

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for July is on the 4th. So if you will be in town and have a few minutes head over to make a picnic caddy. No registration, just show up between 9am and noon.

Kellogg's FREE plus overage at Copps today!!

Make sure you run to Copps today for the Kellogg's deal, 8/$10 after instant $10 discount. I used 6 $1.00 cereal coupons and a $0.55 pop tart coupon. All totaled, after the deal and my doubled coupons, I got 6 boxes of cereal, one box of pop tarts and one box of Nutrigrain bars for FREE plus $1.55 overage. I love it! Copps has been great lately, don't you think? I know I've been scoring some great deals. Today I spent just $29.53 and saved $40.91!

On a side note, I have to agree that CVS has been quite disappointing for a while now. I spent the last of my ECB's to get diapers about a month ago and haven't been back since. Just got the $5 off coupon in my email for the 4th of July sale, and quarterly ECB's, so we'll see if there's anything worthwhile in this Sunday's flyer. Luckily we're very well stocked on most items from when the deals were good, so I haven't missed it much. I hope the deals get better soon though!

Five Things

Sure has been quiet here lately! Hope I'm not the only one depressed by the scarce deals at CVS lately. Walgreens had some great deals for awhile but it seems those are dwindling as well.

Just to encourage each other how about we each share FIVE things that we do to save money? Maybe we can find a new way to save or revisit an old idea we forgot about. Leave your five suggestions in the comments or make your own post. I'll go first.

1. Cut kid's (and dh's) hair at home.
2. Make "homemade maple syrup". (Don't worry, I don't tap trees!)
3. Wash and reuse ziploc bags when I can (unless they had meat or something sticky in them).
4. Make some of my own cleaning products (just started this recently!).
5. Grow the herbs I use most fresh (chives, cilantro, etc.)
   

Bonus: Shop at Aldi.
Bonus #2: Get free gift cards through MyPoints.
Bonus #3: Sign up for freebies from Freebies 4 Mom.
Bonus #4: Save the liners from cereal boxes to use as wax paper.

Okay, I guess I should have made it TEN because I could keep going, but I'll stop there. Now it's your turn!

Free Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs

If you happened to sign up to get the coupon for a free package of Oscar Mayer hot dogs and you haven't used it yet head over to Piggly Wiggly. They have Oscar Mayer hot dogs on sale buy one get one free. Use your free item coupon to "pay" for one and the other package is free as part of the BOGO sale. This makes a great coupon twice as good!

If you didn't sign up to get the free coupon in the mail be sure and read Freebies 4 Mom regularly or put her in your reader so you don't miss any more great free item coupons.

Paid Surveys

Pinecone Research is currently accepting new people to take surveys. This is one of the better survey companies. You don't get a lot of surveys but each one pays you $3. The best part is you don't have to wait until you have a certain amount to get paid. You take a survey and a week or so later you get a check for $3 in the mail. Occasionally, you also get to test a new product...they mail it right to your house to try! They only accept new members once in awhile so if you're interested don't wait.

June Home Depot Kids Workshop

It's that time again!! Saturday June 6, 2009 from 9am to Noon. Free! No registration required.

Now this says "hardware sorter" but think outside the box (pun intended!)...these could be used for LOTS of things. Sewing supplies, various collections, drawer organizer, or even a shadow box!

Freebies at Menards

Among other things, Menards has some free Crayola products (after rebate) this week. There is a generous limit of ten... a good way to get some future gifts.

If you don't normally check the Menards ad you might want to start. They have been having a lot of free after rebate items lately. Last week we got some things we actually needed free...paintbrushes and reusable (grocery-type) bags.

You do have to mail in the rebates and you get reimbursed in Menards money, but they often have very useful items for free.

Cheap Strawberries

I don't know if all the Aldi stores are doing this or even if the one on East Mason will be doing it again tomorrow but I got strawberries for $.49 a pound tonight! And it wasn't because they were going bad...they were beautiful and fresh! I bought 10 pounds. Two to eat and 8 to freeze or make freezer jam! If you pass an Aldi tomorrow (Wednesday)...it might be worth stopping to check.

Free Fun this Weekend

This weekend is Celebrate De Pere. While you can pay and go into the festival to have all sorts of fun there is plenty of free fun too.

The fireworks on Sunday night can be seen from anywhere down by the river in De Pere. The parade starts at 10am on Monday and is always fun! As usual, Seroogy's will be throwing over 20,000 meltaways during the parade. If that doesn't convince you I don't know what will!!

If you plan on going let me know and I'll look for you. We always sit up on the bridge for the parade (usually close to the middle). Looks like the weather will be perfect! Hope to see you there!!

Marcal paper products???

Does anyone know where to find the Marcal Small Steps paper products? I have a bunch of the coupons for free paper towel, tp, etc. but don't know where to use them. Neither Festival or Copp's carry it and I haven't had a chance to check other stores. Anyone use these coupons already? Thanks!!

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner Refill Recipe

I got a SB Auto Shower Cleaner free several months ago at Walgreens. We put in Roz's shower and she liked it well enough. She said it did keep her shower cleaner. But even using it only once every few days (instead of daily) it ran out and has sat empty because I am way to cheap to buy refills. :)

Today I was doing some spring cleaning in her shower and saw it hanging there empty. Five minutes later it was refilled and back hanging up! I googled a refill recipe and found this, for a typical 34-ounce refill:

3/4 c rubbing alcohol
3/4 c hydrogen peroxide
10 drops dish detergent
1 1/2 capfuls (about 3 tsp) dishwasher rinse aid (I used the free Cascade Rinse!)
Fill to top with water.

My cap came off just fine with a little extra effort. When you go to put the refill back in the unit, you'll need to put a piece of duct tape over the hole in the cap, so that it doesn't leak all over. The tape makes a new seal, which will be punctured when the refill is inserted.

These refills can't cost more than 50 cents...nearly free! (The refills are about $7 for 2??) Plus, this help solve my problem of what to do with all that free Cascade Rinse* I keep getting! I'll update when the bottle is gone and let you know how well it worked!

*Sign up for the P&G Home Made Simple coupon booklet that comes in the mail. It has a coupon for a free Cascade Rinse in every booklet.

$10 in Coupons

Go here to request a little booklet of coupons...including a free bottle of ketchup. I got mine in the mail last week!

And if you aren't checking Freebies 4 Moms site on a regular basis you are missing out! She always has the scoop on free stuff! I LOVE getting the mail...and my mail lady asked me how I get so much stuff free!! :)

Kraft Deals

I hope you all were able to print the Kraft coupons available at both Coupons.com and the Kraft website. There are other sites that had them as well...I think MoneySavingMom had a list. Looks like those coupons will come in handy at Festival next week. They will be having plenty of Kraft items on sale!

Like:
Nabisco Crackers (Triscuits and Wheat Thins) $1 after coupon
Kraft Salad dressing $.67 (or $.17 if you have the $1.50 off coupon)

So print those coupons now if you haven't already and be on the lookout for those same items that had coupons available to go on sale!

Buying an item on sale or with a coupon is good. Buying an item with a coupon when it's on sale is even better!

Fun Run to Copps

I did my grocery shopping last night. However, I wanted to take advantage of some double coupons at Copps so I held off and ran over there this morning. I loaded up all five boys. I don't normally take them grocery shopping so it was quite an adventure...for all of us! We got lots of looks and a few people, mostly grandma types, stopped to comment.

It was a great run! I got $68.08 worth of stuff for $19.19!! Plus, I got a $1 off your next order coupon. In hindsight, I should have split this into two transactions to double another five coupons but I felt like I was pushing my luck anyway!

I had several "free" item coupons. Some from the paper or coupon booklets (Ken's dressing, Cascade rinse) and some from the companies themselves (Pillsbury cookies, DH brownies). I used these items to pad my order a bit to make sure I got over the double coupon limit. Not so important this time since I had plenty of stuff but a good tip for you on the weeks you don't seem to have enough to reach the $25 limit. Also I think if you wait to give them your Key card it helps get your total over $25 faster too.

How'd you do this week?

Mixing It Up!

Red is the new black, 60 is the new 40, and Walgreens is the new CVS!

What is going on? I have so many register rewards I don't know what I'm going to do with them all. And keeping them straight so I don't repeat the same deal with an old register reward is a real challenge for my brain!

I have also, knock on wood, been having very good luck with coupons and/or cashiers lately. I like to think all my complaint emails are finally making a difference. :)

Well, at least there are some deals going on somewhere!

If you have been disappointed with the slow deals at CVS lately...I suggest getting your feet wet a bit at Walgreens before the deals there disappear as well.

CVS Monthly Flier

Hi Ladies - stopped by CVS tonight to pick up 2 mother's day cards since I knew I had ECB's to use and discovered the NEW MINI-SIZED monthly book with NO ECB deals in it - any ideas what is up with this? The gentleman at the store said that it makes his job easy because no one has to clip anything and all the prices are already in the register. My thought was "but there are no ECB deals" .... so, anyone know what is up?

Vivian

May Home Depot Kids Workshop

It's that time again!! Saturday May 2, 2009 from 9am to Noon. Free! No registration required.

Dollar Stores

Found an interesting article about dollar stores on MSN Money today. Click here if you want to read it. It tells a bit about which items are good deals and which are duds.

Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program=FREE Book!

Here's How It Works:
1. Kids read any eight (8) books of their own choosing.
2. Kids use the Summer Reading Journal to tell us their favorite part of each book. A parent/guardian signs the journal when it's complete. You can also get a Spanish-language Reading Journal.
3. Children bring their completed Reading Journal to a Barnes & Noble store between May 26th & September 7th, 2009.
4. We'll give them a coupon for a FREE book! They choose from a list of exceptional paperback titles.*

For grades 1-6.

For more information and the journal to fill out click here.

I Heart Double Coupon Day

Check out my blog for the results of my shopping trip today using some of the deals I listed in my last post!!

Copps deals for 4/22

This is the first time I’m doing this… I figured out some great deals for double coupon day, so I’m going to share them in advance. I’m going to do two transactions this week so I can double 10 $1.00 coupons. This Sunday we did something we haven’t done in a while; get three newspapers. We have our subscription to the Press-Gazette, then we stopped at gas stations on our way down to visit my family and picked up a Journal-Sentinel and Tribune. I’m so glad we did, as having multiple copies of coupons is going to pay off big this week at Copps. Here are the deals I found…

1. Birds Eye Steamfresh, 4/$5 - (2) $1.00/2 MC (doubled) = 4/$1.00
2. GE CF bulbs, 2/$3 - (2) $1.00 MC (doubled) = FREE plus $1 overage
3. Grande tortilla chips, 2/$5 - (2) $1.00 MC (doubled) = 2/$1
4. Lawry’s taco seasoning, $0.49 x 2 = $0.98 - $0.50/2 MC (doubled) = FREE
5. S&W beans, 5/$4, buy two for $1.60 - BOGO MC = 2/ $0.80
6. BC Warm Delights, 2/$3 - $1/2 MC (doubled) = 2/$1 (this coupon not from Sunday’s paper)

They also have a GM cereal sale; buy 5 boxes at regular price, get $5 off plus a free milk coupon. Get some cereal coupons online to make this a good deal, plus don’t forget about the Win Cash promotion on specially marked boxes. I won a $5 card in my Lucky Charms last week, which will be used to help pay for this week’s groceries. I’m also getting several other sale items. There are a lot of good $1 items this week. I figured out my two transactions so they are both over $25 before coupons and I can double like crazy. I’ll let you know how my totals end up on Weds. Happy shopping!!

beechnut & copps

Hello Shelly Went to Copps on Wed. & found out they now carry Beechnut brand baby food. Which I & my boys luv. Also they have B1G1 free coupon on the oatmeal cereal which can be used for any of the beechnut cereals. Amanda Haigh

Copps Deal List

I don't know if I mentioned this before...sorry if I have!

If you are looking for a good deal list for Copps double coupon Wednesday's...I recommend you check out Common Sense with Money every Wednesday morning. There is a list with coupon match ups to help you get ideas of what you can get free or cheap with double coupons. Sure wish we could double more than 5 coupons. I rarely spend enough to do two transactions at Copps but if you know you'll be spending more than $50 break it into two transactions so you can double 10 coupons instead of five!

Get paid to buy cereal...maybe!

They are starting to show up in stores. They are reported to be for sure at Festival, and possibly at Copps. If you see boxes from General Mills cereals that are marked "You could win cash", please be sure to buy these boxes if you are buying that kind of cereal. Both Shelly and I have won money. I received a $10 Discover card and Shelly received $5 in hers. 1 in 10 boxes is a winner! You could win $5, $10 or $25 cash card. Let us know if you win!

Here is a picture of the box I won in.

Kmart Doubles

Rumor has it the GB area stores will be participating in the next round of Kmart Super Doubles next week (April 19-25). Peek around in your coupons and let us know if you come up with any great deals! (Remember they double up to and including $2 coupons!!)

Holiday Weekend

Just a friendly reminder:

There will be NO coupons in this week's paper!

Hope you all have a great Easter!

Free All Bran Product

Just in case you missed it on another site. There is a rebate (up to $4.99) for Kellogg's All Bran products here. Coupons came out last weekend for $.70 off so that will pay your tax and postage plus put a few pennies in your pocket. I got a sample of the drink mix (lemonade) and recommend those. I was skeptical but they are really good. Free is makes everything taste better!

My CVS Run on April 6th

I paid them $10.95 cash and got $26 back in ECB's plus I get to fill out a rebate for $10 for the mouth rinse. YEAH!

I had 3 - $5 huggies coupons, 2 - .25 Dawn coupons, 3- $1 Mentos coupons, 1 - $2 Excedrin coupon, 1- .75 Colgate coupon, and 5 other coupons listed as either $1 or $2 but I can't remember what was for what - something doesn't add up but I did have two Nivea coupons. Now, if you just read this, I'm sure you are chuckling :) Oh well, old age!

I also used $27 in ECB's and $9.19 on my CVS card (which i used up :( ).

I paid full price for the spice (.88) and the antifungal cream (6.99).

So - anyway, I was happy. If you are reading this post and wondering why I am buying diapers - no, I'm not pregnant, I decided I needed some cheap shower presents since we don't have income presently. :)

Thanks for all the tips and tricks that help me keep saving money for my family.
Vivian

CVS Quarterly ECB

The CVS quarterly ECBs are printing. I put a little poll off to the right here to ask how much you earned. The poll is anonymous and just for fun! So what did you earn???

April Kids Workshop

The days are long but the years are short! Why does is seem like we just were at Home Depot yesterday? Yep, it's already been a month! Can you believe it, it's that time again...Home Depot Kids Workshop is tomorrow. No registration. Just stop by anytime between 9am and noon.

Free Fun for Kids!

We started a kids eat free (or cheap) so I thought I'd make a free fun for kids section too!

NEW Zoo
FREE Admission on Wednesdays from 6pm to 8pm. For more information visit the zoo website.

Home Depot Kids Workshop
First Saturday of every month from 9am to Noon. FREE, no registration required. Make a project to take home. Click here for more information or to see current project.

Free Bowling for Kids
Two free games of bowling per day all summer long. Starts in May and runs through August. For more information, click here. Several bowling alleys in the GB area are participating.

Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary
The Sanctuary is a great place to interact with nature. There are plenty of activities to keep you busy! For more information, click here.

Bay Shore Park
Take a picnic and play on the playground. Don't forget to check out the bay! Click here.

*Have an event to add? Let me know!*

No More Easy Saver Rebates

April will be the last month for Easy Saver Rebates at Walgreens. In my opinion, unless they come up with something AMAZING to replace the rebates this will be a nail in their coffin...as far as coupon shoppers go anyway. This was the only part of Walgreens many saving methods that I never had a problem with...and now they are getting rid of it. Figures. This from Walgreens:

“Walgreens is always looking into the future. For this reason, we are looking at ways to revamp the rebate program to assist us in proceeding in an exciting direction. Although change is always intimidating we feel that it is time to develop a new loyalty program so we can offer our consumers new and improved services. You will continue to find the EasySaver Catalog in our stores through April. Please look for future advertisement regarding our new programs to come.”

Kids Eat FREE or CHEAP!

*IMPORTANT*
*Please call and confirm that these deal are in effect!*

Check the Kids Eat Free Box in the left sidebar for more kids eat free listings!

Kids Eat Free

Applebees - Wednesday - One kids meal with every adult meal purchase. Additional kids eat for $1.00.

A&W - (On Monroe) Tuesday 4pm-7pm.

Damon's - Wednesday - 1 free kids meal with each adult entree.

Denny's - Tuesday between 4:00pm and 10:00pm - 2 kid meals per one adult.

IHOP - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday between 4:00pm and 8:00pm. Children 12 and under eat free. One children's meal per adult meal purchased. Drink is not included.

Perkins - Tuesday- Kids eat free all day.

Ponderosa Steakhouse - Tuesday. 4:00pm - close. Kids eat free.

Red Robin - Monday & Tuesday between 5:00pm and 9:00pm. Children 10 and under eat free.

Texas Roadhouse - Tuesday-Kids 12 and under eat free.

TGIFridays - Monday & Tuesday - Kids 3 and under eat free.


Kids Eat Cheap

Buffalo Wild Wings - Monday between 5:00pm and 8:00pm. Children 12 and under eat for only $0.99 off of the kids menu.

Fazoli's - Tuesday between 5:00pm and 8:00pm. Children 12 and under and under eat for only $0.99 off the kids menu.

Golden Corral - Tuesday. Kids eat for $1.99. Children 3 and under.

Want more? Put your zip code in here:

FREE Snacks!
Kwik Trip - free food with milk purchase plus birthday club


*Know of another deal to add? Please email it to Shelly!*

Restaurant FREEBIES list?

To Shelly and other GB Saver Posters - do you think we could start a side bar list of local GB Area restaurants that have freebie meals, such as Perkins has free kid meals on Tuesdays from 4 to 7pm, get 2 kids free with every adult meal purchased (kids under 12). I made that up so don't post it, but you get what I mean? We've been talking about dates with our kids and how to make them cheaper - let me know what you think? Vivian

kmart giftcard

http://www.glamalert.com/kmart/index.html Heres a new kmart deal i found spend $50 at kmart & Glamour will send you a $25 gift card when you send in ur sales receipt.

Copps and Wags

Just wrote a couple posts over on my blog about my shopping adventures this week. I detailed the Copps deals I made if you want to check it out!

Double Coupons at Shopko Express

This Saturday (14th) through Friday (20th), Shopko Express is doubling coupons up to and including $2. No listed limit. No overage/credit. No internet printables. They now have two stores: GV in Ledgeview and Broadway & Dousman in downtown Green Bay. If you go and get any good deals post them here for the rest of us to see!!

CVS and Grocery Savings

Just wrote a couple posts over on my blog; one detailing my CVS deals for this week, the other about my new grocery shopping routine. Stop on over if you want to check it out!

99 Cent Baby Wipes!

This was also on Money Saving Mom, but I ran out this morning and tried it myself. The $5.00 Huggies Gentle Care coupon can be used to buy the Mega refill pack of Gentle Care Sensitive wipes (182 ct.) which is $5.99 at Target, making them $0.99! A great deal for those of us beyond the newborn size diapers, but still in need of wipes!

Walgreens Deals

Here are my deals for the week:



Transaction #1

2 - University Medical Acne treatment - $3.19 each (Clearanced price)
1 - Colgate Max Toothpaste - $3.29
2 - Nabisco Ritz Crackers - $1.99 B1G1

Total before coupons: $11.66
Less coupons:
-$0.75 Colgate toothpaste
-$1.99 Nabisco cracker coupon rounded down from $2
-$7.00 RR from purchases last week

Total on gift card = $2.45
Earned $3.50 RR for Toothpaste and $5.00 for University Medical

Transaction #2
5 - J&J Baby wash - $3.21 each
3 - J&J Baby oil - $2.99 each
1 - Vasoline Lotion - $2.61
1 - Blink Tears - $7.99
1 - Sambucol Cold & Flu - $10.99
1 - 6" paper plates
1 - 9" paper plates - 2/$3

Total before coupons = $49.61

Less coupons:
-$8.00 J&J internet coupons (look here for more details)
-$3.00 J&J coupon from Walgreen's coloring book
-$1.50 Vasoline lotion coupon
-$2.00 Blink tears coupon
-$10 Sambucol EasySaver coupon
-$4 Sambucol internet coupon
-$1.02 paper plates from weekly walgreens ad
-$8.50 RR from transaction #1

Total on gift card = $14.26
Received: $2.00 RR from Vasoline Lotion, $8 from Blink tears, $10 from J&J

Note: My J&J deal could have been better if I was able to buy all lotion, oil or powder. Then I would have received a full $8 off from the coloring book coupon, but they didn't have enough for that deal, so I just got the body wash instead. Still worked out to be about $4 for 8 bottles of stuff. Great baby shower fillers.

Kids Workshop March 7th

Wesley reminded me this morning that this Saturday is the next Home Depot workshop! Remember there is no need to register. Just show up at any Home Depot between 9am and noon to start building! Next month (April) the project will be a window birdhouse.

Hey Packers Fans!

There's a BIG sale at the Packer Pro Shop right now. My brother was visiting from Milwaukee this weekend and we stopped in there after visiting the Hall of Fame. They have a ton of stuff marked down 50%. I would say about 1/2 of the store is on sale. I'd been wanting a new Packer shirt since all I had was an old oversized sweatshirt from high school. I ended up getting two really cute tops; a long sleeve t-shirt marked down to $13 from $24 and a 3/4 sleeve shirt marked down to $15 from $26. I didn't get to look much at the kids' stuff, but I did see some really nice winter coats marked down to around $30 from $65. Lots of nice stuff on sale for low prices if you want some new Packer gear!

Double coupons at Copps?

I'm new to shopping at Copps. Do they have a specific double coupon day? I was looking over my receipt from yesterday and it looks like they doubled all my manufacturer coupons. A nice surprise! Did I just get lucky or do they double coupons every Weds.? Thanks!

Dropping Dairy Prices

There have been a lot of great deals on dairy products lately. I'm not buying cheese now unless it's $2 a pound or less...which hasn't been hard as of late! I wish my freezer wasn't jam-packed because I'm afraid these low prices won't last long. Just like the lower gas prices though...I'll just enjoy them while they last!

Milk has been on sale quite a bit too. But I just thought I'd let you know that Aldi has milk for $1.99 right now. It's not a sale price so it can go up whenever but it's been that way for a few weeks now. It's not just the skim either...ALL their milk: whole, 2%, etc. As of yesterday, eggs are $1.08 a dozen and flour has come down as well, only $1.35 for a 5 lb. bag.

If you have never been to Aldi, stop by sometime and just check them out. Most things can be found cheaper elsewhere if you shop sales carefully and with coupons but Aldi has lots of good deals on the basics.

CVS & Walgreens deals

Today I went to CVS and Walgreens. Here are my deals. Hopefully this will help some of you newbies.

CVS


Transaction #1

I bought:
1 Renuzit Triscent - $5.49
1 Natural Dentist 16oz mouthwash/rinse - $9.99
3 Herbal Essences Shampoos - $1.17 each (clearanced)
2 pkgs Valentines clearanced $0.75 each
1 Mylanta Mint $3.65
Total before coupons = $24.14

Coupons used:
-$4 for Renuzit
-$2 Natural Dentist Internet coupon here
-$3/2 Herbal Essences shampoo
-$2 Mylanta Internet coupon (no longer available)
-$1 any shampoo, conditioner, or styling product coupon from red box
-$11.99 ECBS

Money on gift card = $0.76
Total ECBs earned = $9.00

Transaction #2 (different store)
2 Mylanta Mint $3.65 each
1 6hr instant energy drink $4.99
1 Natural Dentist 16oz mouthwash/rinse - $9.99
Total before coupons = $22.28

Less coupons:
-$4/2 Mylanta Mint
-$2 Natural Dentist Internet coupon here
$15.99 EBCs

Total on gift card = $0.64
Total ECBs earned = $14.99

Plus, I will receive a $10 rebate on the Natural Dentist here.

Recap for CVS:
Spent $27.98 in ECBs
Spent $1.40 on gift card
Earned $23.99 in ECBs
Plus, $10 rebate
Total profit = $4.61



Walgreens


Transaction #1
1 Gillette Fusion Gamer Razor $8.99
1 Excedrin Migrane $1.99
Total before coupons = $10.98
Less:
-$4 Gillette fusion razor coupon
-$2 Excedrin coupon here (rounded down to $1.99)
Total = $5.59 OOP

Earned $6 & $1 RR for next purchase

Transaction #2:
1 Walgreens Nutritional Drink $4 (ESR = $4)
2 Oust Air & Surface $2.99 each (ESR = $2)
2 Glade Scented Oil Refills 2/$5 (ESR = $2)
4 Hershey's Candy bars $0.89 each or 2/$1.59
1 Thermacare $2.49 (ESR=$2.49)

Total before coupons = $20.65
Less coupons:
-$2.99 Oust B1G1 coupon
-$2.50 Glade B1G1 coupon
-$0.89 x 2 Hershey's B1G1 coupon Manufacture coupon
-$1.40 Hershey's 7 day Walgreens coupon
-$7 RR earned from transaction #1
Total = $5.82

Summary:
Total OOP for both transactions = $11.41
Will earn $10.49 for Easysaver Rebate (ESR) + 10% = $11.54
Total profit = $0.13

CVS Profit!

Had a good CVS run tonight thanks to the red box! Could have done better if they weren't out of the Neutrogena facial bars that were moneymakers this week, those would have increased my profit by $4 or so.

Here's my deal:
2 Colgate Total $2.99 each
2 Mylanta $3.65 each
2 Revitalift wipes 5.99 each (had raincheck for $10 ECBs wyb 2)
2 Stayfree pads $3.49 each
1 Carefree pads $4.19
1 each Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner $2.99 each

Minus manufacturers coupons:
$1 and $1.5o Colgate
$4/2 off Mylanta
$2 off x2 Revitalift
$3.49 (BOGO) Stayfree
$3/2 off Herbal Essesence

Minus CVS coupons:
$2 any Carefree
$1 any haircare
and a $5 off $30!!! Yippee!

Spent $15.98 in ECBs and $2.45 on a gift card and got back...

$29.98 in ECBs...for a profit of $11.55!!

It has officially been one year since I have spent real money out of pocket at CVS. It was last February the twins got an ear infection that earned me my first CVS gift card. Since then I have earned or been given several more and not paid any real money. I've gotten so much stuff, I can't even begin to estimate the money I have saved!!

Decent deals at Copps this week

Just did a quick post about my shopping this week over on my blog. There are some pretty good dollar deals at Copps this week, but I haven't found many sale/coupon match-ups lately. I'm still below my usual shopping budget though, so I'll keep pressing on! How is everyone else doing?

My PIg Deal

HI Ya'll - I was excited this weekend to save some money at the Piggly Wiggly. I went in to pick up milk, bread and eggs - you know how that is - and I saw that GM cereal was on sale (kind of) for 4/$10.00 and you got a milk free plus I had a $1.00 off 3 coupon that expired THAT day. I was happy. Then I saw that BC cake mixes were on sale for $1 and they are my favorite so I picked up a few when I saw the buy $20 get $5 back instantly ad. So I bought:

4 boxes of GM cereal
3 cake mixes
2 frosting containers
2 deluxe brownie mixes

for exactly $20 - then I got my $5 back, my milk free and had my $1 coupon. So I spent $11.45. I just happened to have only GM coupons in my purse but at home I probably had BCrocker coupons too - oh well.

Have a great week - I'm buying Extra laundry detergent at CVS for $1.99! Vivian

Free...

When we bought our tax prep software this year it came with a free estate planning program. We already have a will, POA, etc. Anyone want it? It's called WILLPower and the disc says: Your easy-to-use estate planning solution (for Windows 2000/XP/Vista).

No coupons this weekend

Just wanted to let you know that it looks like there will be no coupons this weekend due to it being Valentine's Day weekend, so no need to go out and get the paper.

Cereal and milk

Festival has the BIG boxes of General Mills cereal (Cheerios, Trix, Lucky Charms, etc.) on sale this week for $1.98 and with store coupon you can get a gallon of milk for $.98...use man. to use coupons to save even more! When I went last night, the little machine spit out a $2 off 5 boxes coupon so I am hoping to swing by and do the deal again before Saturday.

It's not exactly my stock up price of $1 a box but these are the bigger boxes. One of these days I'm going to figure out the price per ounce so I know a deal no matter the size of the box!

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This isn't worth a special trip but you happen to be at Copps they have YoPlus yogurt four packs on sale buy one get one free. (@$2.69) If you happen to have the $1 off coupons or use the $1 printable here and use two you should be able to get two packs of yogurt (8 cups) for $.69 That is if Copps will let you use both coupons! I've never tried using two coupons on a BOGO there...any tried?

Pig Deals 2/4-2/10

1.69 milk/limit 2
1.49/3 lbs of apples (Red D or Macs)

:)))))))

Potential $1 profit at CVS this week

This week CVS has a 10ct. vial of Excedrin free after ECB's for 2.49. I didn't find any MC's that matched up with this, however the magic coupon machine has been giving me $1 off any Excedrin coupons the last two weeks. If anyone else has gotten these printed, make sure you use it for -$1 Excedrin, perfect for your purse, desk, etc.

Merrily Saving Along...

Just made a quick post over on my blog about my grocery spending this week. Stocking up on the best deals is really starting to pay off! I did minimal shopping for this week and only spent $32! I'm loving this.

Famous Footwear Rewards Program

Did you know Famous Footwear has a rewards program? We don't even shop there very often but we have managed to get several items free or nearly free using this program in the last couple months. My husband just signed up on a whim when he was buying a pair of shoes this summer. We keep getting coupons or "gift certificates" in the mail for $10 off ANY purchase or $20 off ANY purchase with NO minimum purchase requirements!

Whenever we get one I just send my husband to the store and he picks up a couple pair of socks...for free! Last time he didn't even pay tax...he literally walked out with his socks and didn't pay a penny! Joining is free. And like I said we don't really shop there much but it seems we have gotten plenty of "rewards" so far!

Here is the info from their website:

Why become a Rewards member?

* Free membership
* Earn Rewards certificates up to $25 each
* Receive a $5 coupon in the mail just for joining
* Get another $5 coupon if you join Rewards online
* Exclusive benefits: Members-only discounts, Special event invitations, Advance notice of sales

Gold membership
Spend $200 or more with us annually, and we’ll automatically upgrade you to Gold! Gold members receive all the regular Rewards benefits, plus:

* Earn 15 points for every dollar spent (example: spend $50, earn 750 points)
* Receive a special birthday gift

How does Rewards work?

* Earn 10 points for every dollar spent (example: spend $50, earn 500 points)
* Start with 500 points just for signing up
* Receive another 500 points for providing your email address when you sign up
* Get an extra 250 points for choosing to receive your certificates by email
* Get 1,000 extra bonus points for spending $100 or more in one transaction.

So you might want to give it a try! Here is the link.