Thursday, February 26, 2009

Swag Bucks!

I am so excited about Swag Bucks! I joined back in December and use it as my search engine when I need to look up something online. This week I exchanged the Swag Bucks I had earned for four $5 gift cards to Amazon! I would totally recommend the site. All I did was add the toolbar to my browser and type my search string into it instead of Google or Yahoo. It has definitely paid off too! $20 might not seem like a lot, but as a coupon/savings person, I know a little can go a a long way!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tuesday Freebies 2/24...more added!

Here are a few freebies for this week:

14 day supply of Nature's Made Calcium Supplements

Quaker Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond True Delights.... there are AWESOME, so go request this one before they run out!

Wal-Mart still has some good samples you can request on their website. These always come, so be sure to check the website often to see if they have any new ones!

Free small sub from Quiznos... Jason and I used ours today for lunch!

Try Touch Of Gray(tm) FREE! The first men's hair treatment that lets you comb away a little gray, but not all. Let everybody see your energy AND your experience. Great for job-hunters, too. Try it FREE! Click Here to sign up!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Monday Menu Plan

Monday: salmon, rice, steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Chicken Fricassee, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies
Wednesday: Quizno's subs (free), chips, and homemade cookies
Thursday: Potato Soup or Chili
Friday: Pita Pizza (YUM)
Saturday: Burgers, oven fries or sweet potato fries
Sunday: cooking together day (menu to be determined)

Be sure to visit OrgJunkie to get more menu plan ideas!

The Couponizer

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Coupons and Recipes

A great way to save money and get some recipe ideas is to sign up for one of the Betty Crocker or Pillsbury newsletters. They will send you recipes and coupons to give you some ideas on meals for your family. I know it makes it easier for me to plan my shopping trips to have meal ideas along with coupons for the ingredients. I'm going to put a few links here, so be sure to go sign up to get the newsletters coming! Most of them will mail you a coupon book for joining too!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Dunkin' Donuts. Dunkin' keeps me blogging. Try Dunkin' Donuts Coffee For Free. Get a Sample


Save Money on Groceries, Over 100,000 members. Join AFullCup.com. Click Here to go to the website.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A Few Special Offers!


Pampers Coupon
Request a Coupon to save on Pampers!

Shop Markdowns and Clearance

One great way to find good deals is to pair up coupons with items that have been marked down or on clearance. I have found some quality products at very low prices and snagged them for almost free after using the coupons I had on hand. I bought razors for .09, face wash for free, and cleaning supplies for a third of the original cost. It does take a little time to shop for these items, but I just stop and get a coffee and then walk around the stores looking for clearance or mark down tags. I always have my coupon book with me now so if I find a tag, I can flip through my book and quickly see if I have a coupon match. It works great and I am building up my donation pile by doing this!

Another way to save is looking for specials on meat. Our Kroger has two levels of markdowns on their meat: a few days before the sale-by-date they do Manager's Specials and lower the price by a few dollars, but on the sale-by-date, they mark down even more. I usually stick with the manager's specials; the products are usually looking a little scary by the sale date and I don't like to take chances with meat. I think I get some pretty good deals; I now have a good stockpile of chicken, pork, and ground beef, so I can wait on sales to buy more!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Making New Recipes

If you are like me, you always have a few items in your 'fridge that were needed for recipes, but maybe only half the container was used. I found some of those last week and decided on a new plan... I will come up with at least one recipe a week that will use up some of those things before they go bad. Here's what I had last week: ricotta cheese and cottage cheese left over from a lasagna recipe. Now I have a new recipe that I kinda made up last week to use them up...

Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
cottage cheese
ricotta cheese
1 lb ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
pasta
shredded mozzarella

Preparation:
Brown the ground beef; drain off any fat. Combine beef, sauce, and cottage cheese and let warm on the stove. While this is simmering, go ahead and cook your pasta. I used penne that I had gotten on sale that week. When pasta is almost done, drain. In a casserole dish, layer as follows : sauce, noodles, ricotta, shredded cheese, and repeat until you run out, ending with shredded cheese. I did two layers, but only had enough ricotta for one layer. It was still pretty yummy and it used up items I had on hand as well as those that were on sale last week! Can't beat that!

I challenge you go try this in the next week or so! Go through your 'fridge and see what you find. If you end up with a yummy recipe, be sure to come back and post it!!


Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Kroger 2/17

I got a few good deals at Kroger today. Instead of typing it out as usual, I'll do the item, cost, and my coupon amount in ( ).

1 gallon Border Milk 3.99 (.75)
Country Bobs All Purpose Sauce 3.39 (3.39)
3 Chef Boyardee Pastas .88 each (.35/3 tripled)* donate
Lean Pockets 1.59 (.40 doubled)
4 Pillsbury Grands Biscuits 1.27 each (.40/2 doubled x 2)*
---a cellfire coupon for .50 also come off for these
Country Crock 2.44 (.25 tripled)*
3 Maruch Noodles 1.00 (.35, adjusted to 1.00 x 3) FREE donate
1.25lbs 90/10 ground beef for chili 3.51
2 Multigrain CHeerios 1.67 (.75 x 2)
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 2.49 (1.00)*
Blue Bell Ice Cream gallon 3.99 (1.00)
Sure Clinical Deodorant 5.99 (2.00) has rebate to send in and get free
5lbs Russet Potatoes 1.99
Nivea Lip Balm 1.99 (1.00)
Cheerios Banana Nut 2.49 (.75)*
Blistex 1.09 (.35 tripled)
Mrs Bairds Bread 2.00 (1.00)
2 Hershey's candy bars .50 each (B1G1 .89)
10 Starkist Tuna pouches 1.00 each (B2G1 1.49 x 3)
-----------------------------------------------------
*Dayton Event Product, buy 10, get $3 off, so I got an additonal .30 off each of those items.
Total OOP: 32.21 Saved 51.18 (61%)
I only bought 9 of the tunas, so I will see if they will fix that when I go back.
I also got (2) 1.00 off my next order coupons, as well as several catalinas to use later! I will also get 5.99 back when I send in the rebate for the Sure.

I love Kroger!

One thing I have noticed is that buy 1 get one coupons give you the non-sale amount at Kroger, so even if it is on sale, you get a break. The Hershey's candy is a good example of that... they were 2/1.00, I used a B1G1 coupon, which took .89 off. The same thing happened with the tuna; they were on sale for 1.00 each, but the B2G1 coupon gave me 1.49 off.

CVS...again.

I was bored today so I got out and went looking for some deals. It makes me use my brain for something besides grieving. Here is the breakdown on this transaction:

Colgate Total Advance 2.99 (earn 2.99 ECB)
Herbal Essences Shampoo, Mousse 2.99 each (earn 2 ECB)
Sudafed PE Sinus Headache (clearance) 2.75 eacg
Clean & Clear Morning Burst Face Wash (clearance) 1.75
Rolaids 3 pks 2.19 each
----------------------------------------------------
$3 off $15 CVS coupon
1.00 Colgate MC
(2) 1.50 Sudafed PE MC
1.75 Clean & Clear MC
4.00 off 2 Rolaids MC
3.00/2 Herbal Essences MC
----------------------------------------------------
Total OOP: 1.86 Earned 2, 2.99 ECBs

Tuesday Freebies

Here are a few freebies for you guys to enjoy! I love getting mail, so free samples are great if you feel the same way...plus there are usually coupons in there too!

All You Magazine is offering a free trial issue. It is a magazine found only at Wal-Mart that has some great articles as well as coupons scattered throughout the issue. I just received my free issues and I think I am going to subscribe now!

A few other Wal-Mart samples (these ALWAYS come, so got request them!)

Viva Paper Towels: I had never used this brand before, but got a great deal on them around the holidays at CVS. I am now a loyal fan...they are BY FAR the best paper towel I have used.

Huggies Baby Wipes: Again, the best of the brands. I would recommend Huggies over every other brand out there. They are thicker and softer than the other name brand baby wipes.

Here are a few others:
Dove Hair Care

Gevalia - 3 Boxes for $3 + Free Mug + Free Shipping.Click Here for more information.

Get your FREE sample of Crystal Light, Purell, Blistex, plus many more samples from REMEDY Magazine just for joining REMEDYLife. In addition to FREE healthy samples you'll get coupons and special offers absolutely FREE. Click Here to join today!

Cheap is good…but FREE is better! Join FreeFly’s and get FREE samples of name-brand products! Click Here to join today!

CVS 2/16

This was a quick trip yesterday; I plan on going back today. I just wanted to get the paper towels because they are on my list of charity donation items. I have decided to keep up my blog to show how much you can get to donate with very little out of pocket. I'll also try to be better about sharing some non-shopping related tips, recipes, etc.

I had spent all my ECBs, so this was starting with ZERO of those!

Scott 8 pack paper towels (2 day sale) 4.99
Colgate Advance toothpaste 2.99
Always Infinity 18 count 5.99
Hershey Kisses (markdown) 1.49
-------------------------------------------
$3 off 15 CVS coupon
$2 Always Infinity CVS coupon
Scott $1 MC
Colgate $1 MC
Always Infinity free 18 count MC (5.99)
Hersheys Dark $1 MC
--------------------------------------------
Total After Coupons: $1.42
Earned 2.99 ECBs

You can join CouponMom.com to get an easy resource to find coupon matchups! Here is a YouTube video about the site.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Charity Work

I'm trying to work on collecting items to donate to Ronald McDonald House. If you are interested in helping out, watch for sales and pick up some of the following. I would also appreciate any coupons that would help me get these at a better price. :)

Batteries
Laundry Detergent (liquid)
Xerox Paper
Scotch Tape
Postage Stamps
Disposable Gloves
Ice Tea Makers
Paper Products - towels, napkins, plates, cups, utensils
Travel Size Toiletries- shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, shaving cream, deodorant
Fruit - Fresh or individual servings
Popcorn (bag)Pudding - Individual servings
Ramen noodlesTuna/Salmon - Individual servings
Breakfast Items - Danishes, muffins, POP Tarts, granola/breakfast bars, oatmeal (individual wrapped)
Snacks - cheese/peanut butter crackers, cookies (individually wrapped)
Baking Mixes (cookies, muffins, brownies, cakes)
Gift Cards - H-E-B, Kroger, Target, Wal-Mart

Free Samples

Here are a few freebies I found out today. I have been getting quite a few in my mailbox and I love it! Free products, plus extra coupons! If you have certain brands and products that you need or can't live without, check their websites. Many times there are sample offers or at least a coupon offer on the websites; if not, email them and let them know you love their products. I have gotten a few coupons in the mail that way too!

AquaFresh is offering a sample of their Extreme Clean toothpaste.

If you are a fan of hot tea, Yogi Tea is offering a sample pack of their blends.

Total is offering a sample of their new Cranberry Crunch cereal. I can't wait for this one; I love anything cranberry!

Hylands is offering two different samples, one for leg cramps and another for their sleep aid.

Enjoy!

Kroger 2/5

Kroger has another deal this week that if you buy 10 of the select items, you get $3 off. The number of participating products aren't nearly as good as the Mega Sale, so I did one set of these and will stop at that. I marked my participating items with an *.

Multi-Grain Cheerios (6 boxes) 1.67 each
Yo-Plus Yogurt 2.00
Pepperidge Farm Garlic Bread (2 pkgs) 1.47 each
Pepperidge Farm Cheese Bread 1.87
Ball Park Turkey Franks (4 pkgs) 2.50 each
Ground Chuck (1lb) 2.69
93% Lean Ground Beef (1.16lbs) 3.61
80% Lean Ground Beef (1.01lbs) 2.63
*Pillsbury Honey Wheat Grands biscuits (3 cans) 1.27 each
*Ragu Pasta Sauce (4 jars) 1.53 each
*Betty Crocker Cinnamon Swirl Muffin Mix 1.99
Ocean Spray Cran-grape juice 1.99
*Gatorade G2 drinks (2 bottles) .89 each
5lb bag potatoes 1.99
Health Ones Honey Ham (4 pkgs) markdown 1.19 each
Lysol Wipes 2pk markdown 2.74
Clorox Wipes (105 count) markdown 3.49
-------------------------------------------------------
Total OOP 38.89 saved 52.06, 57%

Randalls 2/5

I did some serious shopping yesterday in order to get some meat while it was on sale. Jason and I are getting ready to start Weight Watchers back again soon, so I will be spending a bit more on produce and meat than we were before.

Randalls:
(I don't usually shop at Randalls, but they had some good deals this week. If you love making Frito Pie, Fritos are 1.00 a bag this week)
Cheetos Puffs 1.00
Fritos Twists BBQ 1.00
Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice 1.99
Kelloggs Raisin Bran (2 boxes) 1.99 each
Kelloggs Pop Tarts (8 boxes) 1.00 each
Nature's Own 7 Grain bread 2.59
Nature's Own White Wheat Hot Dog buns 2.00
93% Lean Ground Beef 1.19 lbs (3 packages) 3.56 each
Sanderson Farms Chicken Breast Tenders (2.99/lb) 6.43
Green Grapes 2.38lbs (.88/lb) 2.09
Fuji Apples 3.53lbs (1.00/lb) 3.53
Baby Carrots 1lb pk (2 pkgs) 1.00 each
----------------------------------------------
Total OOP 38.89 Saved 42.27, 52%