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.