Search and Win with Swagbucks!

If you haven't checked out Swagbucks, you really should. All you do is sign up, use the search box which is powered by Google and Ask, and win! I signed up about a week ago and already have 26 Swagbucks in my account. I use it for my regular internet searches and average two wins a day. Mostly I win one 1 Swagbuck at a time, but once I won 3!


You can trade your swagbucks in for items like gift certificates. 99 Swagbucks gets you a $5.00 Subway giftcard or Starbucks giftcard. These would make nice gifts or a nice treat for yourself.


There are also occassional codes for free bucks you can enter, which as I find them, I will try to post.

I should be able to earn a giftcard in the next two weeks! Have fun searching!

Come CVSing with Me!

That's right! I want you to shop with me. We may not be side by side racking up the savings, cashing in on ECB's, or paying as little OOP as possible, but we'll still be celebrating!

If you are interested, I thought I would try a little series about how to get you started and then help you roll your ECB's each week into free items, while earning more ECBs. Keep in mind that I don't know what kinds of items you buy, use or need, so this is just for fun. You can keep what you get or give it as gifts or give it to charity.

I wanted to get you started with something small and hopefully work up from there. I'll try to post by Tuesday each week, an item or items that you could purchase using ECBs earned from the week before, each time gaining more ECBs for future use.

Since this week you would be starting out fresh, I am going to do a deal using an internet coupon that you can download and print. After today though, I may be posting items that would need to be combined with a manufacturer's coupon that you can find in your local Sunday paper. Our local Sunday paper is a measley $1.25 and most times, using one or two coupons covers that cost right away, making the expense worthwhile. I clip every coupon and organize them into a small accordian file by grouping together like items. I don't use every coupon, of course, but you never know when you might be able to pick up a free item.

Here would be a good way to start at CVS this week, remembering that you have to put out a little bit of cash, in order to get your first ECBs.

This week Colgate Total Advanced (4 ounce) is on sale for $2.99. When you purchase it, you will earn $2.00 ECBs. Use this coupon for $1.50 off (on page 4 of the pdf file) making your total $1.49 plus tax. Now you have paid less than $2.00 for a $2.99 item and earned $2.00 ECBs back on the bottom of your Cash Register Tape (CRT). Cut the ECB out and save it for next week. It works just like cash.

Next Tuesday, I'll post what you can buy with your $2.00 in ECBs, earn more and use hopefully nothing out of your pocket (except maybe some tax)! Let me know if you join in!

Also, go here to print your $3.00 off $15.00 purchase. You'll find the coupon on page 29. It's a large pdf so it takes a while to download. While I won't be posting a large deal like that since I'm trying to keep your OOP low, you may come up with some ideas of your own!

Later, I'll be posting my deal which will be pennies for over $18.00 worth of stuff!

Free Samples

Total Cranberry Crunch Cereal Sample - click here


Orville Redenbacher's Natural Gourmet Popping Corn sample - click here

50 Free Photos, 1 Free 8X10 and 5X7 from CVS

Hop on over to CVS online here to sign up for 50 free prints, if you haven't already. Then place your order and include a 5x7 and an 8x10. At the checkout apply your 50 free prints, then enter the coupon/promotional code of ENLARGE and get your entire purchase free. I used store pick up in one to three days. It may not work if you chose 1 hour or mail.

I actually only used 40 of my 50 free prints, so next time I have a few prints that I need, I'll know where to go!

The promo code ENLARGE is only good through December 24, 2008!

Wal-Mart for $0.33 and making a 2nd trip!

I got the above for 33 cents! How you ask? Well, it's simple - coupons! I received a free coupon from Del Monte for the 9Lives cat food for a free bag. I used a $1.00 off any Kotex (which came inside a sample Kotex pack which I told you about in other posts so I simply bought a $1.00 pack of Kotex. Wal-Mart had the Gillette for $2.00 (some was over $3.00 so I had to look) and I used a $2.00 off coupon as well. Bottom line, I only paid tax!

I had several other coupons for free, or close to free items, but didn't get to finish shopping as my little one was feeling pretty rough and we were headed to the doctors. Just as well because I received a coupon for a free bag of Iams dog food in the mail today to add to my stack! I am going to try to finish up tonight or tomorrow!

I love coupons!

Make a Little Extra Money with Cash Crate

Here it is! My check for $20.08! It isn't much but every little bit helps. If you are interested click the picture below. Sign up is free and you can start making money right away by filling out surveys. I recommend using an email that isn't your regular one as it will generate alot of spam emails.

Happy surveyng!

Free Samples

Prilosec - click here


Kleenex with Lotion - click here (you do not have to be a member)

Free Subscription to Dog's Life Magazine - click here

CVS - Check your CRTs For Way Better Than Free Toothpaste

I was looking through my CRTs the other day and discovered a $1.00 off Colgate Total or Max coupon. You can stack your CRT with a maufacturer's coupon, so I quickly cut that coupon and then printed the $1.50 off 1 Colgate Total coupon found here.


CVS has Colgate Total on sale this for $2.99 AND when you buy it you receive $2.00 in Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) to use towards another purchase. Remember, ECBs work like cash. That means I only paid $0.49 for a large tube of toothpaste out of pocket AND I received the $2.00 ECBs making this a real money maker!!

My Coke Rewards - Double Points

If you have a My Coke Rewards account and any codes you need to enter, today is the day. My Coke Rewards is offering double points on select Coke products!

For Your Kids - Colgate Healthy Habits Nightly Log

Go here to create your child's healthy night habits log. There are stars to color in for washing hands, brushing teeth and reading. Once marked off, you log in to the website and click the correspnding stars. You can print the chart in black and white and your child can color it in. Each star is worth a point and once you earn 45 points you get a free toothbrush! Little ones usually love charts with stars or stickers so this is a great way to make the night routine more fun. The website also has games and other things for a little older children. Enjoy!

Free Samples

Free Sample of Mary Kay Miracle Set - click here


Free sample of Cosamin DS from Costco (membership not required) - click here

Free Sample of Gain (new) - click here

Trip to Target - December 13th ($4.18!)

I did a trip to Target yesterday with some printable coupons and made a great deal. Most of this deal you can make yourself also.

I got all this for $4.18 OOP (out of pocket). Without coupons I would have spent over $24.00!! Breakdown below!

I purchased 2 bags of Purina Cat food for $4.19, used 2 $4.00 off coupons found here. You can print two by hitting back after the first coupon prints and then refresh.

Air Wicks Starter Kit was $4.99 and I used a manufacturer's coupon $5.00 off for a profit of $0.01! Can we say free Christmas gift-perfect for a day care teacher!

Pace Salsa was $3.29 and I used my Free coupon (up to $4.00) which I won playing this sweepstakes. The best part was they gave me the full $4.00 for a profit of $0.61!

2 packs of Rayovak batteries found at the dollar spot for $2.00 and I used two of the coupons found here. It says for alkaline, but since there weren't any left the cashier let me use them since the register took them just fine. That means two free packs of batteries. You can print as many as you want!

The chips and the animal crackers were extra and they were all that we paid for and we had some overage to offset the cost of those!! So I say - get to Target!!

CVS - In My In-Box

Everyone check your email in-boxes! Today I received my Year End Savings Statement from CVS (10/1/07-9/30/08) and I saved over $700.00! I'm sure it's more for many out there, but I was thrilled to see this!

The best part?? There's a $4.00 off $20.00 coupon you can print in the email valid through December 14th. Hopefully that will make for a few good deals on Sunday, unless I can come up with something from this week I still want to do.

So, how did you do?

Free Samples

Five Free Issues of Cosmopolitan - click here

BodiHeat sample - click here

Chiquita Bites coupon and Try me Free - click here

More Free Kotex - click here

Register with Walden.com here and receive two free gifts - an Amazing Grace DVD and a calendar.

Kohl's - Save $5.00 on a $5.00 purchase!

Sign up for Kohl's Sales Alerts here and get a $5.00 coupon delivered to your email in-box! Kohl's almost always has great sales so this coupon could make for a nice freebie - think stocking stuffers!

CVS - Week of 12/7

I got a couple of good deals at CVS today! First off I went here (it was on the third page) and printed a $3.00/2 J&J First Aid Kit. CVS has these on sale for $0.99. I bought 2 and the cashier adjusted the coupon down to $1.98 so they were Free!! Then I purchased a Colgate Total toothpaste for $1.99 and used this printable coupon (Registration required, but it's free!) for $1.50 off. Toothpaste for $0.49! Then I got some candy for $0.99 for a stocking stuffer and used $1.00 ECB that I already had. My grand total was $0.65 for all the above. I didn't earn any ECB's this week, but I still have $5.98 for next week that I haven't used yet!

So what are waiting for? Grab the coupons and go shopping!!

KMart Super Doubles Coupons - up to $2.00

Of course I missed all the great deals by waiting until Tuesday night to shop, but I still snagged a few great items!!

Total before coupons - $19.74

Total after coupons - $5.35

That's less than a buck an item!!

Vaseline Lotion $3.29

used $1.25 doubled to $2.50 paid $0.79

Kotex Pantyliners $1.29

used $0.75 doubled to $1.29 (cost of product) FREE

Dove Shampoo $3.79

used $1.50 off doubled to $3.00 paid $0.79

Dove Conditioner $3.79

used $1.50 off doubled to $3.00 paid $0.79

Cat Treats $2.79

used $1.00 off doubled to $2.00 paid $0.79

Kleenex $2.29

used $0.40 off doubled to $0.80 paid $1.49

Cookie Mix $1.00

used $0.40 off doubled to $0.80 paid $0.20

Frosting $1.50

used $0.50 off doubled to $1.00 paid $0.50

Cash Crate Earnings!

In the month of November I earned $19.50 in offers and $0.58 in referrals for a total of $20.08. This means I met the month's payout and they will be processing a check to be mailed on the 15th! YAY!!


So, if your looking for a few extra dollars each month, check it out!

New Wal-Mart Freebies

Glad Force Flex Trash Bags - click here

Children's Good Nights - click here

Want to win a $100 Wal-Mart gift card?

Go to Deal Seeking Mom and read up on how to enter to win! I have three entries. Keep your fingers crossed!!

More Sweepstakes!

Gain Share the Love - click here to win. There are lots of prizes and the grand prize is a washer and dryer set for you and a friend! Good luck!!


Where's Mr. Jelly Belly - click here to win lots of great prizes with a grand prize of $10,000.00!

Cash Crate

I just wanted to take a moment to remind you that there are plenty of ways to make a little extra money out there these days. Cash Crate is one such way. You can sign up by clicking the banner below. It's free to sign up, you complete surveys, you get paid! I received a $15.00 plus check already and am almost at the new payout of $20.00! I should get a check next month as I will meet payout by the end of November. I don't know about you, but $20.00 can go a long way these days to purchase some needed items, or pay a bill. The link below is a referral link, so you would be helping me out, but then you could refer your own friends as well to help you out!

Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are a great way to win some fun prizes. I told you about my first win here. Since then I have also won a free bottle of Pace here and 5 free movie tickets from Secret here. In addition to those two, which are still current, I am also playing the following:

Bird's Eye Steamfresh Meals for Two - click here. This is easy to play and you can either win a coupon for a free meal for two or you could win the grand prize of free meals for a year!

Coinstar - click here. You can win gift cards, cash or electronics. This is very simple to play also.

Nabisco Magical Cracker Sweep - click here. This one takes a while to load, but you can win one of 10,030 $50 Electronics gift cards or 170 per day or one of 10,207 The Tale of the Magical Cracker books or 173 per day. There are also additional prizes.

Good luck and let me know if you have any luck!

Pillsbury Coupon Booklet

Sign up here to receive a coupon booklet for $10.00 is savings on Pillsbury items - Yummy!!

A Few More Freebies!!

Lately, it seems the Freebies have been drying up. Here's a few to hold you over until I can locate more! Next post I hope to talk about Sweepstakes and instant wins. I've been holding my own in these lately!

Free Kirkland Diaper Sample from Costco (do not need to be a member) - click here

Glad Food Bags Sample - click here

Benefiber Sample (new link) - click here

Free Kotex Sample (yet another one) - click here

Tea Sample from Teasta

Teasta Tea is offering two free samples!! Simply go here and choose two different samples ($3.15 price range) and when you check out enter TRYME and hit apply in the coupon code block. You will have to create an account but will not have to enter any billing information. I got a Blueberry Green Tea and a Holiday Tea. Yummy!!

CVS Survey and a Gift Card

I picked up a prescription at my local CVS last week and a survey printed on the bottom of my receipt. Sometimes I call them and sometimes I don't. This one was for $2,500.00. I was about to walk away when the cashier said "Wait! If you do the survey and bring it back in, we'll give you a $5.00 gift card." I jumped right in my car, called from the parking lot and completed the survey and went back in the store. Sure enough they gave me the $5.00 gift card. That should work well with any up coming deals!!

A Few Free Samples

Mystery Shampoo and Conditioner (from Wal-Mart) - click here


Free Huggies Diaper Sample - click here


Free Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn sample - click here


Always Clean sample - click here

CVS - Cold remedies for a profit!!

I did two transactions at CVS yesterday and I have to say the first was by far the best!

I purchased the following:

Theraflu Warming Liquid $6.00

Tylenol Cold $6.00

Sudafed Sinus $5.00

2 bags of Halls cough drops $3.00 ($1.50 each)

Total $20.00

I used the following:

$1.00 off Tylenol

$1.50 off Sudafed

$2.00 off Theraflu

$10.00 ECBs from last week

OOP - $5.50, BUT I have a full mail in rebate for the Therflu for $6.00 making my total a negative $0.50!!!

I earned $10.00 ECBs also with the transaction (by purchasing $20.00 in cold, cough, sinus etc. products) so I suppose you could say I earned $10.50!

My second transaction consisted of 2 mega packages of Playskool diapers for a total of $21.98. I used the 10 ECBs I had and payed $11.98 for the 2 packs and earned another $5.00 ECBs. $11.98 for the two packs of diapers is a deal in of itself!!

Wonder what next week will be like!! I have a coupon for $5.00 off $30.00 that expires next Sunday so hopefully there will be some good deals out there.

More Free Samples

Free sample of truffles from Haydee Chocolatier - click here

Free Sample of Dunkin' Donut Dunkin' Dark Coffee - click here

Free sample of gourmet pancake mix from Sweetstacks, Inc. - click here

Vaseline Intensive Rescue Lotion - click here (from Costco - you do not have to be a member)

Colgate Total Advanced Whitenting Toothpaste - click here

CVS - Lots of free stuff!

This week I had $5.00 in ECBs to use up before they expired. Sunday and Monday only, our CVS offered certain Halloween items free after ECBs. I did two tranactions.

The first was:

1 pumkin pail - $0.99 (Earn $0.99 ECBs)

2 funlights - $1.98 (Earn $1.98 ECBs)

1 bag of candy corn $1.29 (Earn $1.29 ECBs)

1 20 count Excedrin Express Gels $1.99

Used the following:

$3.00 off any one Exderin Express Gels CRT (given on a previous CVS receipt)

$2.00 Ecbs (out of the $5.00 I had)

Total for all was 26 cents!! I earned $4.26 in ECBs to add to the $3.00 I had.

Also, the Excedrin has a mail in rebate so I will get $1.99 back on that as well! That being said, I actually made money!

Next I purchased the following:

2 packs of Huggies at $9.99 each - $19.98

1 Pack Qtips - $2.49

1 Pack wipes - $2.79

Used the following:

$4.26 ECBs as mentioned above

$2.00 ECBs leftover from week before

$2.00 in coupons ($0.50 0n wipes and $1.50 on Huggies)

Total was $18.00 and I earned $10.00 in ECBs!! This may sound like alot, but considering the 2 packs of diapers were more than that I think it was a great deal!

Omaha Burgers 18 plus extras for $3.98!!!!!

Thanks to Angie at Thrifty Florida Mama - click here and read up on how to get your 18 Omaha Steak Burgers, Cutlery and Cutting Board for $3.98!! I did it and it works! I can't wait to get all those yummy burgers for next to nothing!!

And Yet More Freebies

Free Sample of Prilosec - click here

Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift Deep Wrinkle Treatment - click here

Free Sample of Imodium Multi-Sympton Relief - click here

Free sample of Snuggle - click here

Freebies Again!

Here are some new freebies. My mailbox has been fairly empty the last few weeks, so I'm going to try to find some new, good freebies to request! Here are three to get you started.

Free sample of Splenda – click here

Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Cakes – click here

Always Infinity – click here

Photo Opportunities - Shutterfly

Click here and then either sign up or log in to your Shutterfly account for a $10.00 credit. It must be used by November 12th.

I have found that Shutterfly offers a great deal or specials and promotions. So far I've developed 130 photos, 3 5x7's and 1 11x14 collage for only $5.20! Plus when that order came in, it had an offer for 4 free greeting cards and now this $10.00 credit. Keep it coming!

More Photo Opportunities

Today I am going to talking about SnapFish. You can sign up here for a free account and receive 25 free prints and an 11x14 collage poster (may have to purchase one). Also, I received an email from them (thanks Barbara for the heads up) that you can get 50 prints for just $0.50!! That's a penny a print. At the check out just enter the code FALLPENNY08. This code is only good through the 11th, so go grab your photos now. You will still have to pay shipping, but it should still work out to be a good deal.

Saving Time - Subscribe to a Blog Reader

We all talk about saving money. But what about other areas of our lives that could use a little bit of savings? One big area that I need to work on is time management. It seems as if there is never enough time in the day to get everything done. So today, I thought it would be neat to discuss a time saver.

If you're like me then you may read multiple blogs. I follow many adoption blogs, as we just completed our adoption of a little boy from Russia almost six months ago. I also follow many blogs about living frugally. In the beginning I would visit a blog and add it to my favorites. I found myself going to my favorites every day and clicking every blog to see if there was a new entry. It was taking forever to visit the blogs I enjoyed.

A good friend of mine Becky (who recently also completed her adoption) emailed me one day with a life saver - she introduced me to a blog reader. It's easy to set up and then each day I log in and the reader tells me by putting in bold the blogs which have new entries. This means that I only hit the blogs that have posts I have not read yet, therefore saving me quite a bit of time on the computer.

Setting up a reader is easy. There are many to choose from. With the reader I have chosen, you simply sign up, then begin adding subscriptions (blog addresses). You can manage them and sort them any way you want. When there is a new entry it comes up in bold, you click on it and brings up the new entry. You can read it from there, or click to go the site itself. Once read you can click that it's been read and the title of the blog goes back to regular font until the next entry is placed.

It's an easy time saver!

A Few Freebies for Tuesday!

Bertolli Sauce in Microwavable Pouch – click here

Pamprin Multi Sympton sample – click here

Schick Quattro Titanium – click here (new link so it be requested again!)

Theraflu – click here

Life’s Abundance Holistic Pet Food – click here

More Free Museum Passes (for children)

The Association of Children's Museums has partnered with ParentsConnect Local or GoCityKids to offer a free child's museum pass when you purchase an adult entry. This coupon is good through October 26th at nearly 130 children's museums across the country! We just visited the Portsmouth, Virginia museum this past weekend with 2 free passes which I told you about here (no longer valid) and it was a lot of fun!

Go here (click 'more' once on the page) to see which museums are participating in your state, then go here to print your coupon. (Click 'Get Coupon' next to the header for Association of Children's Museums.)

Enjoy! (Thanks Erin at Coupon Cravings)

CashCrate - A Money Making Opportunity

I joined CashCrate a few months ago and while for me it isn't a huge money maker, I did receive my first check!

Simply sign up for free (you can use the link above by clicking on the box) and then fill out surveys. I usually sort by 100% free and by rating. The surveys do take a few minutes and I strongly recommend using a separate email address as it does generate alot of inquiries. After you finish a survey you just click submit and wait for it to confirm. Once it confirms, the money becomes yours. You do have to meet a minimum payout of $20.00 and payments are processed by the 20th of the month following the month in which you met the minimum payout.

One downfall is that not all offers confirm and there is really nothing you can do about it. I usually do surveys in spurts such as two or three in one day, then wait a day or two before completing anymore.

Cashcrate earnings to date: $15.20

In My In-Box - CVS Offers

Check your email in-boxes!! I received an email today from CVS which said my Extra Bucks were available. These are from summer spending. The neat thing was I could either print them on-line or I can wait to get them at the store (printed at the bottom of my next receipt). I think I'm going to wait since I already have $10.00 in ECBs to use with my next purchase. I'm going to work on some scenarios tonight and then decide for sure.

There was also a $5.00 off $25.00 coupon good through Saturday only that is available to print. I'll be working that into my scenario as well. The email also contained a coupon for on line shopping with free shipping and an offer for 50 free photo prints when you sign up with the CVS photo lab with your ExtraCare card. This would be a great way to print some of those photos you have saving up space in your computer or on your chips. I also shared with you how to receive 50 free prints and free shipping from Shutterfly here.

Happy Shopping!

Hint: Use a separate email account for certain sign ups to keep your everyday email free of spam.

Ziploc Fall Gift Pack and Clean Start Sweeps

Go here to be one of the first 20,000 to sign up to receive the Ziploc Fall Gift Pack. The Pack contains a Ziploc Brand Vacuum Freezer System Starter Kit, and $14.10 in coupons for Glade Candles, Glade Scented Oil Candles, Oust Surface Disinfectant & Air Sanitizer, Ziploc Brand Vacuum Bags and any Windex product.

Also, there is a Sweepstake here (Clean Start Sweeps) that you can enter. The grand prize is a $5,000 check to purchase an energy efficient washer and dryer and 3,000 first prizes of a Fall Cleaning Gift Box filled with SC Johnson products worth $37.00. With 3,000 first prizes, the chances of winning are pretty good! (Thanks Heather at Freebies 4 Mom)

Photo Developing Opportunities Abound!

I would like to take a moment to let everyone know about Shutterfly, a photo developing website. Right now if you create a new account, you can get 50 free prints with free standard shipping. If you're picture happy like I am, this is a great opportunity to get some of those photos developed for free. If you are interested in an account, please either leave a comment or email me and I will send you the referral link.

Also for those of you with little ones, if you received a Pampers booklet in the mail, take another look at it. Mine contained a special code to use on Shutterfly for 50 free prints, 3 free 5x7 prints and 1 free 11x14 collage poster print. I'm hoping this means I can use all the prints and still get the free shipping from the other promotion! Sounds good to me!

Museum Passes!

This is too good to pass up with the yucky weather coming in.

Go here to see what museums are participating in your state, then go here to print your admission card. It's good for two free passes.

Enjoy -

(Thanks Jennifer at Sisterly Savings!)

CVS - Week of 9/21

No pictures this week, but I wanted to share the deal I did - not the best, but I have lots of ECBs for next week.

I purchased the following:

Mega pack of Huggies - $15.00
8 pack of Viva paper towels - $6.49
12 double rolls of Charmin - $6.49
Baby Wipes - $2.49
Total - $30.47

Used the following:
$5.00 off $30 purchase from CVS found in my email!!
$4.00 ECBs from week before last
$1.50 MQ Huggies
$0.50 MQ Charmin
$0.25 MQ Viva

Total paid $19.22. Definantly not the greatest deal but we needed the stuff and considering I saved over $10.00 AND received back $10.00 in ECBS (deal was buy 25.00 of select products Huggies, Viva, Charmin receive back 10 ECBs)!! Besides a mega pack of diapers is usually more than $19.22 in a lot of stores!!

Even More Freebies!

Well, I haven't been able to get this blog moving yet with more information other than CVS and Rite Aid trips and freebies, but for now I hope it's enough. I still plan to make it more, but life just keeps moving by at a thousand miles per hour. For now enjoy the freebies!

Free Kashi cookie – click here

Free Yogi Tea sampler – click here

Free Poise sample from Costco – click here (you do not have to be a member)

Free Kotex Lightdays Pantiliners from Costco – click here (you do not have to be a member)

Free Nicorette Gum Starter Pack – click here

New Sample of Always Infinity – click here

Load of Freebies!!

Crest Whitening Expression – click here

Jergens Naturals Lotion – click here

Natures Bounty Free Sample and Reusable Tote – click here

Free Subscription to Traditional Home Magazine – click here

More Pledge Wipes – click here

Eucerin Intensive Foot Repair – click here

Bear Naked Fruit and Nut Granola - click here

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser - click here

9 Lives Cat Food – 3 lb. bag to first 50,000 – click here

I have a few more, but they'll have to wait until later! Until then - enjoy!!

Another Quick Freebie - Mary Kay Mascara

Click here for some Mary Kay Mascara. Someone once told me boys had great eyelashes because God knew women had mascara. I love this saying!

Freebies!!

I haven't posted freebies in a while and my mailbox is showing it. I haven't received any freebies this week. I need to get on a roll. here are a few new freebies to get myself and you jump started! It's a mixed bag, so enjoy.

John Frieda Hair Sample - click here

Carefree Sample - click here

Purina One Sample - click here

Gain with Baking Soda Sample - click here

Huggies Diaper with Lotion Sample - click here

Betty Crocker Potatoes - click here

Betty Crocker Warm Mini Delight - click here

Airborne Power Pixie - click here

CVS - Week of 9/7 - Three Transactions and Mega Clearance Event!!

Today I did three transactions!! Normally I try to keep it to just one, but today it worked out better to do two and then I went to a different CVS store to check out there clearance and did a third!

For the first I purchased the following:

2 Aussie Hair Care $2.49 each, used $2.00/2 mq =$2.98
1 Right Guard Deo $2.99, used $1.00 mq = $1.99
1 Soft & Dri Deo $2.99, used $0.75 mq = $2.24
Total was $7.21, used $6.99 ECBS
Total OOP (includes tax)= $0.42
Received back $6.00 ecbs

Second transaction I purchased the following:

1 Right Guard Deo $2.99, used $1.00 mq = $1.99
1 Soft & Dri Deo $2.99, used $0.75 mq = $2.24
1 Reeses Cadny $0.75
1 Pail & Shovel $0.19
1 Sand Playset $0.25
9 Little Swimmers $0.89 each - AMAZING!! ($8.99 regular)
Used $6.00 ECB from last transaction.
Total OOP - $7.87
THAT'S LESS THAN THE COST OF ONE LITTLE SWIMMER PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!

Because of the summer clearance, I had to run to the other CVS store on my way home and I picked up the stuff in the photo below...

That's one pair of youth goggles, 3 large turtle sand/water playsets, 2 bubble blower playguns, and 6 packages of sand/water toys all for a whopping OOP $6.13. These items wil be saved for gifts! Can't beat that!

I also have $4.00 ECB for next week! What an exciting day!

Rite Aid Week of 9/7 ($3.77 OOP)

I did pretty well at Rite Aid today. I decided to do another Single Check Rebate and I also used a few more of the coupons I found at the front on school supplies.

I purchased the following:

Bic Pens $0.99, used $0.75 Rite Aid coupon = $0.24

3 One subject notebooks for $0.99, used $1.00 off = FREE plus $0.01

1 Large Dawn dish soap $2.50, used $0.50 mq = $2.00

1 Cascade 15 count Action Packs $2.50, used $1.00 mq = $1.50

1 Gardening Playset $2.99, 75% off = $0.74

Spent OOP $4.77, get $1.00 SRC - total $3.77 for all of the above!

Last Week's Mailbox Goodies

Here we are again. Another week has passed. This week we got something my husband was really excited about. The razor with trimmer. These retail for over $9.00 in the store and we got one free! I also received my Pantene shampoo and conditioner sample, some recipe cards (not shown), Scott's roll of toilet paper (yes a whole roll - great for the extra bathroom), and the Fiber One sample (cereal and bar).

I haven't been signing up for too many samples lately, but hopefully I'll have a few more to post soon.

CVS - Better than okay this week!

This week I met my ultimate goal of CVSing. I went in needing children's Benadryl and came out paying less than the cost of the Benadryl and stacked on 4 free items!!

I purchased the following:

Children's Benadryl - $4.79

Dawn dish liquid - $0.99

CVS brand paper towels 3 pack - $1.99

2 Cover Girl WetSlick Lipsticks - $5.99 each

Total - $19.75

Used the following:

$1.00 off Covergirl lip item

B1G1 Free Cover Girl lip item ($5.99)

$1.00 off CVS paper towels

$2.00 off $10.00 purchase

$6.49 extra bucks

Total after all discounts - $3.54!! The Benadryl alone was $4.79. I also received back $6.99 in ECBs for next week - $1.00 on the Benadryl and $5.99 on the Wetslick lipstick!! How'd I do?

For more CVS check out CVS Superstars!

Last Week's Mailbox Goodies

Last week wasn't too bad in the freebie category! I received the following:

Pediasure Pedipop
Triple Flex Vitamins
Greenies Pill Pockets for dogs (I received the cat last week)
Stride Gum
Caesar Dog food
Wholesome Goodness cat food - came with free can of cat food coupon
Potty Training Kit which we started tonight!

This week is looking pretty slim so hopefully a few more freebies will roll in!

CVS - Just an okay week

I finally went to CVS week to make a deal as I hadn't been in a couple of weeks. It wasn't the best deal, but I was happy.

The Kotex was on sale for $1.39 at our CVS with Extra Bucks in the amount of $1.49 - that's a 10 cent money maker right there. It's gets better though - I had a $1.00 off manufacturer's coupon which means I paid $0.39 and got back $1.49!!

The Eucerin was on the Extra Bucks program as buy $15.00 get $5.00 back. Since we use Eucerin, I went ahead and bought the everyday lotion as I had a $1.00 off coupon and the every day itch relief came with a small tube of calming creme atached to the back. For everything I paid $12.60. Before the coupons and my $5.00 extra bucks I already had, I saved over $8.00! I have $6.49 in Extra bucks for my next trip!

Freebies for Tuesday!

Clean & Clear Morning Burst Oil Absorbing Sheets – click here

Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash – click here

SunSilk Hair Care Samples – click here

Free Cascade and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers - click here

Yet Another Kotex Sample pack - click here

Goodnights Sleep Pants – click here

Gain with Baking Soda – click here

Free Yesterdays News Cat Litter Coupon – click here

Enjoy!!

Surprise Freebies at Rite Aid and I made 53 cents!!

Today I made my first Rite Aid trip with my little sister in search of some good deals. I went thinking I would buy the Pert Plus and the Oust which were on sale. I came out with those two items and some free school supplies thanks to Cassandra!!

She spotted a sheet of coupons good at Rite Aid only at the front of the store on school supplies. Well it just so happens that the Bic pens were on sale 2 for $1.00 and one of the coupons on the flyer was for $1.00 off Bic pens. That means FREE. Then she spotted Pentech Pencils for $0.50 and the flyer had a $0.50 off coupon. FREE again. Lastly Elmer's Schol Glue was 3 for $0.99 and yup you guessed it - the flyer had a $1.00 off coupon which meant FREE glue plus a penny!! I would have totally missed these coupons if it weren't for my little sister's keen eyes!!

In addition to those free items, I bought the Pert Plus which was on sale at Rite Aid for $2.99. I had a $2.00 off coupon, so I paid $0.99. The plus is that it comes with a Single Check Rebate of $2.00 from Rite Aid. So now I just go on line, enter my receipt number and in about two weeks, they will send me a check for $2.00. I just made $1.01.

I also bought Oust for $2.99. I had a $1.50 off coupon making my total for this item $1.49. Again this has a Single Rebate for $1.00. This means I got the can for $0.49.

So for all these items you see I actually made $0.53!!

Planning Shopping Trips

I've never been much on planning a shopping trip or even making a shopping list. However, now that we are trying to live more frugally these two items seem pretty important in order to keep our budget with time and money in check. Each Sunday afternoon I take time to comb the ads in the Sunday paper and look for the best sales on items we need or use and then look for possible coupon matches.

Several key things I have learned during my frugal research:

1. If an item is B1G1 and you have a coupon, that is usually the best deal!
2. Don't buy things you normally wouldn't, even with a coupon, unless you can get it cheaper than the item/brand you would normally buy.
3. You can stack certain coupons at certain drugstores. (e.g. if a drug store has a coupon for an item and you have a manufacturer's coupon, most of the time you can use both coupons on the one item for a great deal.)
4. Always get an item, even if you don't use it, if you can get it free. If you can't use it and it was free, donate it to a local food shelter or charity.
5. Rebates are a great way to try new things for free. Just remember you do have to use a stamp and wait 4-6 weeks for a refund.
6. Never abuse coupons, including printables. Some stores will no longer accept printable coupons because of fraudulent use. (e.g. photocopying a coupon several times.)

I'm sure there are more great points out there and if you have one feel free to leave me a comment.

I have to admit, I have been solely focused on CVS as that seemed to be the easiest store for me to put together purchase scenarios and also the most convenient to me. However, this week I see a couple of things at Rite Aid that just may be worth the trip. Rite Aid has a promotion for Single Check Rebates that I plan to research today and maybe start using tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow I am taking my little sister for her first introduction to CVSing! I hope I do her proud.

I'm also hoping to post more about saving at the grocery stores soon. Can you tell I'm hoping to really vamp up this site soon with lots of great information! If you have a topic you would like to consider blogging about regarding being frugal, let me know!

Last Week's Mailbox Goodies

Slow week last week. Somehow I did get two Snuggle samples in the mail which each came with a coupon. I also got flower seeds and Greenies Pill Pockets. Maybe next week will be better!

Lots of Freebies

Here is my newest list of freebies! A special thanks to my little sister Cassandra for all her help in compiling this list!

Free Ziploc gift pack for the first 10,000 to sign up - click here

Free Bounce Everyday Sample - click here

Free Snausage Dog Treats - click here

Scott Extra Soft Double Roll Toilet Paper - click here

Purina One 30 Day Challenge - click here

O.B Tampons click on the word HERE in the picture - click here

Vera Wang Princess Perfume click on receive a free sample in the bottom right hand corner click here

Baby Phat Seductive Goddess sample - click here

Post it Super Sticky Recycled Notes - click here

Dove Pro Age - click here

Free 2 year Sub. from Lego's for Kids... its from Legos.com .. Just Click on your country at the right - click here

That should do it for today! Enjoy!

Last Couple of Week's Mailbox Goodies!

Here's what arrived in my milbox over the last two weeks.

Family Fun Magazine
Gas X Thin Strips
Glad Force Flex Trash Bag
Kotex Package
Playtex Package
Tampax Package
Pond's Cleansing Towlette
Tru Lemon samples
Oatmeal Crisp Cereal
Neutrogena Makeup
Gilette for Men shampoo
American Greeting Card
Biore Sample

How's that for beating out the bills!

CVS Last Week ($3.80)

I'm a little late posting this, but here is my CVS vsit from last week for only $3.80! I haven't had a chance to look at this week's deals yet, but hopefully will find the time! I'm also working on a new list of freebies. I had one started and lost the page I had them listed on so hopefully I'll have a new list in a day or two! Now, on to the good stuff!

Here's the breakdown:

Pampers $8.88, used $1.50 manufacturer's coupon

1 Dawn Dish liquid $0.88, used $0.50 manuafacturer's coupon

2 Pert Plus, B1G1 Free $3.69, used $3.00 manufacturer's coupon

1 Folger's Twin Pack $6.99, used $0.25 manufacturer's coupon

1 CVS Aspirin, used FREE coupon from CVS

Also had $2.00 off $10.00 Purchase and $10.00 Extra Bucks

Total - $3.20 for all!!

Freebies

Free sample of Nivea here - click Get a Rockin’ Gift, then choose for male or female

2 free issues of Family Circle here - no cancellation required

Ultra Downy Total Care free coupon through Wal-Mart here - Click on special savings under the bottle

Meow Mix Wholesome Goodness food here

Free GeoTrax Dvd here - enter country in top right corner, go from there

Nature Made Triple Flex Joint Supplement sample here

Free Potty Training Kit from Pampers here

Minute Maid Coupons here - printable

From Full Time to Part Time

Many of you who read this blog know that we just adopted a little boy from Russia in April. We started really looking at our finances upon our return home as we had to adjust our budget to include things like diapers, child care, medical bills, etc. I started really looking into ways to cut back and discovered that there are tons of blogs out there about living frugally, using coupons and saving money. I was inspired to start this blog to share the information with others as well.

My husband and I finally came to the conclusion that I would stop working full time and move into a part time position with the law firm I work for. Thankfully the firm agreed on my request and in the middle of August I will start a three day, shorter hours work week. This allows me more time to spend with our son which is very important to us as a family. I am so excited!!

Of course with this change brings less babysitting and gas costs, but a lower paycheck. I'll be searching even harder for the best deals, learning more about the art of using coupons to my advantage, and living more frugally in general. I look forward to sharing what works and what doesn't in the future with my readers.

I hope you enjoy this blog as I hope to make it more than just a list of freebies here and there, but full of Articles and information that will be valuable to me and hopefully you, the readers out there.

Stay tuned for a list of freebies coming up to hold you over until I can really get this site going!

Last Week's Mailbox Goodies

It's time again for last week's mailbox goodies!! Last week I received everything shown above, which includes:

Free Huggies Pull Up, this also came with Wipes - perfect for travel!

Extra Topping from Dog Lover's Choice (sauce)

Pond's Cleansing Toweletter

Benefiber

Naturally Wild Eukanuba Dog food AND it came iwth a $5.00 off coupon

Sample of Celine Dion Fragrance

Arm & Hammer Toothpaste Sample

Pretty good week. Several more posts coming today hopefully, one chock full of new freebies, and one about why we will need to start living more frugally very soon!

Last Week's Mailbox Goodies

Last week, I received the following in the mail:

Betty Crocker Warm Delight Mini
Curel Sample with coupon
Multi Vitamins for Her
Pull-Ups, also came with samples of Huggies Clean Team wash and shampoo
Old Spice Red Zone (bottle not shown - hubby already took!) with coupon
Coupon for a free 20 0z. Coke Zero

Not too bad and it sure beat opening bills last week!

Five Freebies For Friday

Earthblend Dog Food – click here

Schick Quattro Titanium – click here

Gillette High Performance Deep Cleaning Shampoo (Wal-Mart sample) – click here

Free Oatmeal Crisp cereal (Wal-Mart sample) – click here (These are great single breakfasts, but also great as a snack for the kiddos dry!)

Another Kotex Sample (Sam's Club sample, no membership ID required) – click here

CVS for 65 cents!!!!!!!

Today I went to CVS armed with my $15.98 ECBs from last week's transaction and a $3.00 off $15.00 CVS brand purchase coupon. Well, CVS was having a great baby sale on their store brand items. I'm normally a Pampers mom but I couldn't pass this up!!

I got the following:

2 Jumbo packs (30 count) diapers (2 for $12.00)
2 Boxes of Baby Wipes (2 for $4.00)
1 Pantyliners ($0.89)
1 Box of Kudos ($2.00)

Total was $18.89 minus the $3.00 off and $15.98 in ECBs made my total a whopping $0.65 OOP!!! I also made back $5.99 in ECBs for next week!! ($5.00 for purchasing $15.00 in CVS baby items and $0.99 on the pantyliners!!)

Too good to be true!!

New Wal-Mart Samples and More

New Wal-Mart Samples

Benefiber Sticks sample - click here (not to be confused with an earlier Benefiber sample)

Kotex Sample - click here

Tide Total Care - click here


Other Samples:

Metamucil Berry Burst – click here

Glad Force Flex Trash Bag - click here


For the kids:

Free Planet Heros DVD “The Ace that Jumped Over the Moon” - click here
This is geared for ages 3 and up – a 16 minute story!! I saw this on Freebies 4 Mom and ordered right away!! Can't wait to get that in the mailbox!!

Another Batch of Free Samples

Free box of Cheerios - click here

Free sample of FiberOne Honey Clusters Cereal - click here

Free CFL lightbulb - click here

Playtex Sport (Wal-Mart Sample) - click here

Pond’s Clean Sweep Towlettes for removal of makeup (Costco sample no membership number required) - click here

Degree Deoderant (site takes while to load, click on the moving deodorant) - click here

Gas-X Thin Strips - click here

Rebate offer:

Rebate here on Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin or Smart Start Strawberry Oat Bites Cereal

Pet Freebies

Pets are a big part our lives (as in 3 dogs and 2 cats) so I couldn't help but be excited to sign up for these freebies:

Greenies Pill Pocket treats - click here

Cesar Canine Cuisine - click here

Mighty Dog – Coupon for a Free Can - click here

Dog Lover’s Choice Natural Topping - click here

CVS - Week of July 13th

I made a trip to CVS to use up some ECBs I had gathered and also the new $3.00 off $15.00 coupon that everyone is so excited about. Go here if you need one.

This week I purchased the following:

2 - 6x8 picture albums for 7.99 each (These are fantastic! You can add up to 54 photos and they turned out great - I got two identical albums for two sets of grandparents!)
1 - CVS Hand Sanitizer Spray Pen $1.79

Total was $17.77
I used $1.79 off the CVS Spray (Cash Register Coupon making it free!)
$3.00 off $15.00
$8.50 ECBs

I paid $4.70 out of pocket (OOP) for those three items AND I earned back $15.98 in ECBs on the photo books for next time!! I was thrilled. Those photo books are worth every penny. You can do 2 of the 6x8 albums for $7.99 each and get the $7.99 back in ECBs and you can also do one 4x6 album for $3.99 and get $3.99 back in ECBs. I may make the smaller album later this week!

From the Mailbox

All the freebies are really starting to show up in my mailbox. Just today I received the following:

The Johnson and Johnson kit which I talked about here. What actually came was 7 coupons for $1.00 off different J&J products, a booklet about getting ready for baby, 3 Neutrogena cleansing pad samples, 1 Neutrogena Lip Smoother sample, 1 Neutrogena concealer sample, and a trial size J&J baby lotion bottle.

I also received a Juicy Juice sippy cup (go here)and a $2.00 off 2 Johnson's buddies soap products (I can't remember where I got this). It's my understanding they are often on sale for $1.00 each so that means two free!!

What a great mailbox day!

Women's Freebies

Here is a bunch of freebies especially for women!

Tampax Pearl - Click here

Tampax Pearl - Another sample! - Click here

Stayfree - Click here

Maybelline Mineral Powder - Click here

Aveeno Positively Ageless - Click here

Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew - Click here

I won, I WON!!

I actually won something - can you believe it? I can't!!


Go to Lipton Tea here and play the youthful spirit contest. Everyday you can spin to win up to $1,000.00. I've spun about 4 other times on different days and then today - I won $25.00!! It's in the form of a gift card to be mailed to me! I'm so excited!!


You can enter once a day during the promotion period. Each time you spin even if you don't win, you get entered for a $25,000.00 grand prize drawing - works for me!!! You can also win 10 times during the promotion period!! I'll be spinning some more!


So go on - I won - so can you!!

No Shopping This Week – Only Freebies!!

This week I haven’t been able to get it together enough to plan a shopping trip. I checked out all the ads and just couldn’t make it work. I even had a $4.00 off $20.00 CVS coupon that expires today and still couldn’t make a deal I was happy with. Remember I only buy if I need something and then try to stack on free items. This week it just wasn’t in the cards.

I do however have a pretty good list of freebies...

Free potty training DVD - click here

Enfamil sample - click here

Dove Hair Care - click here

Pantene Color Expression - click here

Scott Xtreme Rags - click here

Biore - click here (Wal-Mart Sample)

Free Coke Zero – click here (You have to have an account, search for coke zero – no points)

American Baby Magazine - click here

Not quite free, but worth looking into if you print pictures online:

Snapfish – click here You can get 50 prints for 1 cent each. Use the code JUL4PENNY08 at checkout through July 12th. If you are new you get 20 prints free also. I ordered 70 prints this morning for $5.17 (shipping and the 50 cents)!!

One good thing this week is I received my first rebate check. I have listed the rebates I am waiting for on the sidebar by date sent. I received $4.69 for the Excedrin Back & Body just the other day!! That’s $4.69 to put towards a bill!!

Kroger for $5.85!!!!

I thought I would try my hand at Kroger to see how I could do with a few things and a few coupons. Well, check this out – remember Kroger doubles coupons…all for $5.85

I picked up the following, prices are sale prices:

5 packages of Beef Brown & Serve sausages - .99 cents each normally $1.69 – $4.95
3 cans Chef Boyardee at $1.00 a can – 3.00
2 Betty Crocker Brownie Mixes at 2.00 each – 4.00
Pert Plus – 3.29
French’s Worchester Sauce – 1.49
Lawry’s Marinade - .99
Cattleman’s BBQ sauce - .99
French’s mustard - .99
3 Gerber Graduates at 1.19 each – 3.57

Total before using Kroger card - $32.xx
Total after using Kroger card - $23.xx

I had the following coupons:
1 $3.00 off when you buy 10 promo items (sausage, brownies, Chef Boyardee)
3 $0.50 off Gerber -$3.00
1 $0.50 off Lawry’s $0.99 FREE
1 $0.30 off mustard $0.60
1 $3.00 off Pert $3.00 Shampoo for $0.29!!
1 $0.75 off Brownies $0.75
1 $0.50 off Cattleman’s $0.99 FREE
1 $0.75 off Worchester $0.75
1 $0.35 off Chef Boyardee $.70
1 $1.00 off Gerber register reward $1.00

Total $14.78 in coupons

Total after using coupons was…

$9.14 !!!!!!!!!!!! Plus the Pert has a mail in rebate for the full cost of $3.29 so really after rebate I spent $5.85!!!!

More Freebies and Other Rebates

New Wal-Mart Freebies:

Nivea for Men Extreme Comfort Shave Cream - click here

Old Spice Red Zone - click here

Other Freebies:

Garlic Gold - click here

Arm & Hammer Toothpaste (click on the toothbrush) - click here

True Lemon - click here

More Rebates:

6 Pack of Ensure - click here

Gerber Nuk bottle - click here

Noxzema Razors - click here

That does it for today!! I'm going to try some grocery shopping with coupons tonight at our Kroger store. Hopefully it will turn out the way I want it to. If so be prepared for pictures and a breakdown of cheap grocery shopping!!

CVS – Week of 6/30 – 7/5

I made my trip to CVS last night to work a deal.

I needed Swiffer wet refills and they were on sale from $8.49 down to $5.99 a box. If you bought two then you receive $5.00 extra bucks. I worked my deal with the Swiffers and piled on a few free items. Here’s the breakdown:

Swiffer wet refills $5.99
Swiffer wet refills $5.99
Pack of Lifesavers $2.19
Pack of Lifesavers $2.19
Pack of Gum $1.19
Huggies Baby Wash $3.49
Total $21.04

Used $1.00 off Huggies coupon -$1.00
Used $1.19 off Wrigley’s gum -$1.19
The lifesavers were B1G1 Free -$2.19
$4.00 off $20 CVS coupon -$4.00
Extra Bucks -$7.00

Total $5.66 or $5.96 after tax.

That’s less than the cost of one box of Swiffers on sale!! I earned only $5.00 Extrabucks for next week, but I earned $3.50 in Extrabucks on my spring spending which printed last night, so I’ll have $8.50 for next week! I think I did pretty well. You tell me!

New Wal-Mart Freebies & A Couple of Rebates

New Wal-Mart Freebies:

Pond's Wet Towlettes - click here

Fragrance Sample - click here

American Greetings Card - click here

Huggies Diapers - click here (available in sizes 1, 3 and 5)

Other Freebies:

This from my friend and another adoptive parent Donna - thanks!

Nature Made Multi Liquid Softgel For Her with Iron and Calcium- click here

Rebate Offers:

I haven't touched on rebates before, but it's a great way to try new things. Of course the downside is you have to put the money up front and wait for the refund and you lose the cost of the stamp to mail it, but some things are just worth it!!

Here are a few current rebates out there:

Land O Lakes butter - click here

Bundinos (little sandwhich like things) - click here

Blue Rhino Propane Exchange - click here (I am currently waiting on this one)

One tool I really love in signing up for all these freebies is the Google toolbar with the autofill. Auto fill allows you to type your information in once and then anytime you have yellow fields on a form you need to fill in you can click autofill on your toolbar and ta da! you have most of your fields filled in for you. A great timesaver!!

Tomorrow I'm posting how I got 22 plus dollars worth of stuff for less than 6 dollars from CVS!! Stay tuned...

More Freebies!

Free sample of Purex laundry detergeant - click here

Free sample of Tide with Dawn Stainscrubbers - click here

Free sample of Snuggle - click here

Free sample of Pledge Multi surface spray and wipes - click here

Free sample of Gold Bond Powder - click here

Free sample of Frutista Freeze from Taco Bell July 8th- 15th (in store). See details here

Hopefully I'll have more in a day or two!!

Pampers Points

Did you know that each pack of Pampers you buy contains a code that you can enter on the Pampers website? It works similar to the Coke rewards program. You do have to create an account with Pampers and then each time you buy a package look for the code. Enter it and you have points. They have some great items you can redeem the points for including a pack of free Pampers for 125 points. The downside is each package doesn't give you too many points. I think I have about 12 points now! We'll see what happens!!

Free Samples

Wal-Mart is probably one of the best places that offers free samples from their web page that arrive quickly in your mailbox! Surprised? I was too. I'll try to post a photo of some of the free items I have received from them soon. Sometimes the product comes with a great coupon too!! This week you can request the following free samples from Wal-Mart (you can either click the links provided which will take you directly to the page and then click where it says get my free sample or the like or you can go to Wal-Mart's webpage and do a search on free samples:

Benefiber - go here
Playtex Personal Cleansing Cloths - go here
Multigrain Cheerios - go here
Pantene Pro-V Expression - go here
Tena Underwear - go here
Playtex Gentle Glide - go here
Weather Works by Frizz Ease - go here
Huggies Pull-Ups - go here

This makes checking the mail so much funner!

Luvs Diapers Offer

Luvs is offering a Welcome Kit here to parents who register with their website. This kit includes a $5.00 off 1 package of Luvs diapers, among other items. What a great savings!!

I've already signed up and a coupon should be coming to me shortly! The website is also hosting a little competition where you make a sign using their little graphics by putting a charity with an original slogan on it. I made one for the SPCA I was working for. In 36 days the sign will come up for viewing and people can vote for it. If my sign wins Luvs will give $1,000.00 to my charity (the SPCA) in my name. I'll let send out a reminder to vote because I know a lot of furry creatures who could benfit from $1,000.00!!

Johnson & Johnson Parent Pack

A fellow adoptive mom emailed me this little deal today.

Call 1-866-565-2229. It is a completely automated service. Choose option one and then leave your name and address. They promise to mail you a package within two weeks. I'm told the package contains two coupons for free J&J product up to $5.00, a sample of baby wash and additional coupons and samples.

This sounds great. I can use the sample sizes for travel and the free product for either our family or save as an extra gift.

My favorite gift to give at a baby shower is the baby tub filled with bath items. My older sister is pregnant and so these coupons for free product just may help fill up her tub with goodies!!

Double Your Coke Points

I'm a little late on this, but being I just started this blog yesterday....

Today if you have any 12-pack Coke products you can enter the codes at mycokerewards.com for double your points. Normally a 12 pack gives you 10 points. Today I entered three codes and instead of receiving only 30 points, I received 60!!

Last year I used the reward points to order magazine subscriptions as gifts for friends and family at Christmas. This year I've been redeeming them for free 12 packs of drinks for the summer.

Do you use My Coke Rewards and if so, what items do you redeem them for?

CVS Deals - Week of June 22

Today I made a trip to our local CVS store. When I started reading other blogs about the CVS Extra Care card I realized that the program was something I could and should learn to use especially now that I have a little one in diapers. As I started looking through other peoples ideas and deals, I came to the conclusion that for me what would work best is not necessarily buying all the deals that got Extra Bucks back and certainly not buying 20 tubes of toothpaste for a deal, but rather an approach that I would go in actually needing one item and then working a deal in which I got the item I needed and then stacking on additional items for free. This way I would come out of CVS with the item I needed (whether or not I paid full price) but with several other items for free that we either need, liked, but wouldn't ordinarily buy because of price or could use as a gift.

So far, it's working!!

Take for instance my shopping trip today. I started out with $6.99 in ECBs (Extra Care Bucks that work like cash) and two $4.00 off $20.00 CVS coupons. I made two deals.

Deal One:

42 Count box of Prilosec (my husband lives by this and I would have had to buy this regardless - normally I pay around 22.00 at Wal-Mart)

Cost $25.99
Coupon $1.00 off manufacturer
Coupon $4.00 off $20.00
ECBs $6.99
Final Cost $14.00
Plus I earned $3.00 ECBs

Deal Two:

Jumbo pack of Pampers Diapers (again I actually needed these this week)

Cost $13.99

I added to this transaction:

1 Aussie conditioner (needed) $2.99
1 Colgate Total toothpaste $2.99
2 Suave Body Washes $5.00

Total $24.97
Coupons $1.50 off toothpaste
$1.50 off Pampers
$2.00 off 2 Suave
$4.00 off CVS
ECBs $3.00
Final Cost: $13.87
Plus I earned $7.00 ECBs

So technically, I just saved our family $8.00 from the Prilosec as normally I would have just purchased it at Wal-Mart and I paid less for everything I got in the second transaction than the pack of diapers alone would have cost me!!

I think I'm getting the hang of this!!

Welcome

My husband and I just recently adopted a child from Russia. Our son is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to us. During the course of the adoption we took on a lot of debt and now we are working towards paying off that debt. This blog will be about just what the title suggests - turning dimes into dollars. Just how far can we stratch our money these days with the gas prices, the grocery prices and the cost of living in general? I'm going to try to touch on a lot of topics from the art of coupon cutting to the perks of the CVS Extra Care card to rebates to freebies to making a dime buy a dollars worth of stuff.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog!