I haven’t received any entries in my expired coupon giveaway yet, so I’ve decided to extend the deadline to Friday and see if we get any takers. I realize that it’s a very specialized need, so if not, I’ll just send them to Coupons To Troops. But if you can use expireds, be sure to enter – your odds are great and I have some fantastic coupons!
Deadline Extended For Expired Coupon Giveaway
September 28th, 2009Giveaway: Envelope of Baby Coupons!
September 27th, 2009
I have some great baby coupons that I received in the mail recently, and I’d like to give them to a good home! The set includes one coupon good for $5.00 off any Nestle Goodstart 2 formula bulk canister (Expires 2/15/10) and various coupons for Gerber graduates (Which also expire 2/15/10). I will also throw in some extra coupons from my stash to fill out the envelope!
To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me what kind of coupons you need the most. Coupons for canned food? Baby formula? Hairspray? Something else?
I will choose one winner via Random.org on Friday, October 2nd. Giveaway is open to anyone worldwide who can use these coupons!
Expired Coupons & Their Uses – Special Giveaway – Deadline Extended!
September 26th, 2009
I’ve mentioned before that I keep a shoebox for expired coupons. Why on earth would you keep an expired coupon, you say? Because many military commissaries will accept expired coupons, and you can mail them directly to military families through programs like Coupons To Troops, or even trade them on Hot Coupon World. It’s high time that I cleared out the expireds from my stash, and I have a pile of great, high-value coupons – many for free items! – that I could not use. So here comes the fun part: If you shop at a military commissary and can use expired coupons, leave a comment on this post. I will draw one winner through Random.org on
It’s My Birthday, But I’m Giving YOU Presents!
September 26th, 2009
Since it’s my birthday weekend, I thought it would be fun to celebrate by giving my readers some presents, too! I’m going to be hosting a couple of fun giveaways today and tomorrow – so keep your eyes peeled!
You Say It’s Your Birthday?
September 25th, 2009
My birthday cake from last year!
Today is my birthday, so I have decided to start the weekend early by taking today off! I still have plenty of fun posts scheduled to run for the rest of the week, and if you email me or leave a comment, I will get back to you on Monday.
And while we’re on the topic of birthdays, let’s not forget all the birthday coupons and freebies that you can sign up for. Free Birthday Treats has an extensive list, as does this thread on Hot Coupon World. Thanks to these lists, you can get everything from a free birthday drink at Starbucks to an annual birthday card from Chicken of The Sea!
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!
Planting This Year’s Garlic Crop
September 24th, 2009
Remember how I planted garlic last year? Well, that crop has served me well, and I’ve been enjoying fresh garlic in my meals all summer long. Last week, I pulled the last two heads, and set one aside to re-plant:
Garlic is so easy to grow – it’s pretty much foolproof. Not only did this crop of garlic get covered in snow last winter (we had a freak occurrence of snow here and I didn’t think to move the pot under cover until it was too late), but I also didn’t water it once. I was under the impression that you weren’t supposed to water garlic, but apparently that is incorrect, since my gardener friend laughed nervously when I told him that! But it still turned out great.
Planting this garlic cost me nothing, took about five minutes, and will likely provide me with garlic all of next summer. The few cents that I spent on garlic in 2008 was a great investment! Growing your own produce is such a great way to save money – I’d like to make time to do more of it.
How about you, readers? Do you grow any of your own fruits or vegetables?
$1 Off Any eBay Purchase – First 100,000
September 23rd, 2009
The first 100,000 eBay users who click here to register for their “Daily Deals” email alert will receive a coupon good for $1.00 off their next eBay purchase. I’ve gotten some great deals on eBay, so this coupon will come in handy the next time I need to make a purchase!
Thanks to Money Saving Mom for the tip!
Shopping Trip – September 20th
September 23rd, 2009I hit up several stores on Sunday, and outlayed a total of $63.02 – however, I am getting $51.95 of that back in rebates, making my final total $11.07 spent for $108.48 worth of merchandise:
My first stop was Walgreens, where I did several different deals. Transaction #1:
Total spent: $1.49, and got $2.50 back in Register Rewards
Total before coupons: $2.49
View receipt
Got:
1 trial sized Thermacare Heatwrap – on sale for $2.49, used a $1/1 printable to bring the price down to $1.49 – and I received a $2.50 Register Reward back for the purchase. I love these things, so I was very happy to find out about this deal!
Transaction #2:
Total spent: .09 cents
Total before coupons: $2.59
View receipt
Got:
1 32 oz bottle of Coffee-Mate – we were all out, so I used the $2.50 Register Reward that I earned to make this $2.59 bottle of creamer only .09 cents.
Transaction #3:
Total spent: $1.49, and got $2.50 back in Register Rewards
Total before coupons: $2.49
View receipt
Got:
1 trial sized Thermacare Heatwrap – on sale for $2.49, used a $1/1 printable to bring the price down to $1.49 – and I received a $2.50 Register Reward back for the purchase.
Transaction #4:
Total spent: .09 cents
Total before coupons: $2.59
View receipt
Got:
1 32 oz bottle of Coffee-Mate – on sale for $2.59, used my $2.50 Register Reward from the previous transaction to make my final cost .09 cents. Always good to stock up on this!
Transaction #5:
Total spent: $5.00, and got $6.00 back in Register Rewards
Total before coupons: $6.00
View receipt
Got:
1 bottle of Roots of Nature hair treatment – on sale for $6.00, used a $1/1 printable to bring the cost down to $5.00, and received a $6.00 Register Reward back for the purchase.
Transaction #5:
Total spent: .48 cents
Total before coupons: $6.48
View receipt
Got:
1 30-count package of sponges – price: $4.00
4 Scotch-Brite scrubber sponges – on sale for .62 cents each, for a total of $2.48.
I then used my $6 register reward to bring the total down to .48 cents. The scrubber sponges were marked as $2.49 each, so I initially grabbed just one and expected my total after the Register Reward to be .49 cents. But it rang up on sale at only .62 cents, so my total was too low to use the Register Reward. I explained this to the cashier and said that I would have to go grab a few more since they were on sale. The cashier said to run back and grab them if I could do it quickly. I knew I’d have to re-think my math in order to get the total right, so I asked if she would void the transaction. She said no, she couldn’t do that because she’d half to call a manager – which I think would have been easier than having me run halfway through the store and leave her register tied up, but oh well. I quickly added up how many I would need, grabbed three more, and got back before any other customers showed up. So, I ended up spending a penny less and getting three more sponges!
I’m glad to stock up on these, because since I don’t have a dishwasher, we go through sponges at a rapid pace.
Transaction #6:
Total spent: $27.98, but I am getting $27.98 back in rebates, making it free (less the cost of two stamps!) – and I also received a $3.00 Register Reward for the purchase!
View receipt
Got:
1 Blood Glucose Monitor – cost: $19.99, but has a “Try Me Free” rebate attached to it, and I received a $3.00 Register Reward for the purchase – so I made a small profit, and have a great item to donate.
1 bottle of volumizing shampoo – cost: $7.99, and also has a “Try Me Free” rebate attached to it. I am a hair product junkie, so getting a nice bottle of shampoo for the cost of a stamp is a good buy in my book.
My only oversight here was that I got both items on the same receipt, but will have to send the receipt to two different places – oops. But what I will do is take these back to Walgreens the next time I go in and have them refund one of the items and then re-ring it, so I will have a receipt for both. Both rebates are valid past the end of the year, so there’s still time.
Final transaction:
Total spent: .29 cents
Total before coupons: $3.29
View receipt
Got:
One 5 lb. bag of flour – I always need flour! Regularly priced at $3.29, used the $3.00 Register Reward that I earned in the previous transaction to bring my total to .29 cents.
Next, I stopped by Rite Aid:
Total spent: $13.98, but I will get $13.98 back in rebates
View receipt #1
View receipt #2 (this time I was smart and got them on separate receipts!
Got:
1 bottle of Proantinox supplement – on sale for $6.99, and Rite Aid had this as a “Free After Single Check Rebate” item. Another great item to donate, plus everything I buy from now through October 17th will qualify for the “Gift of Savings” bonus rebate program.
1 bottle of conditioner – another item with a “Try Me Free” hangtag! I love getting nice hair products for a stamp!
Next, I headed to Fred Meyer:
Total spent: $10.73, but I am getting $9.99 back in rebates.
Total before coupons: $11.73
View receipt
Got:
1 box of Kashi Waffles – on sale for $1.79, found a coupon in the store for $1 off any Kashi frozen item. These looked good, so I thought I’d give them a try.
1 tube of mascara – yet another item with a “Try Me Free” rebate attached! I love makeup, and I love it even more when it’s free!
I also received a .05 cent credit for bringing my own bag, as well as a catalina for a free Air Wick warmer & refill – I don’t know what triggered that, so it was a nice surprise! So I went back through the line to collect on my fun freebie:
Total spent: .10 cents
Total before coupons: $4.13
View receipt
Got:
1 Air Wick Warmer & refill – normally $3.98 for both, free with my coupon!
1 packet of Ramen – since I brought my own bag, I knew I would be receiving a .05 cent bag credit. So I picked up this .15 cent packet of Ramen, and paid only .10 cents after the credit.
Last stop, Safeway:
Total spent: $1.30 out of pocket, put $4.53 on the Safeway gift card that I won from
Moomette’s Magnificents.
Total before coupons: $9.79
View receipt
Got:
4 cans of Chef Michael’s dog food – when I was in Fred Meyer, I found a display with a big stack of coupons good for one free can of this dog food. Fred Meyer was already sold out (as you can imagine!), so I took some of the coupons and used them at Safeway instead. The sale price at Safeway was .99 cents each, and I used four free product coupons – total cost, zero! (And while I took multiple copies of these coupons, I still left a stack for other customers to use.)
1 tub of Yoplait yogurt – need this for an article I’m writing. Cost: .70 cents
1 Sunday paper – more coupons! Price: $2.50
1.15 lbs of ground beef – need this for a meal I have planned this week. Price: $2.63
I then went through the line one more time:
Total spent: Zero!
Total before coupons: $14.89
View receipt
Got:
10 cans of Chef Michael’s dog food – on sale for .99 cents each, used ten of the aforementioned coupons. Final price: Free!
1 bottle of Cascade rinse agent – on sale for $4.99, noticed a free Cascade coupon in my binder that was close to expiring, so I thought I ought to use it! Once I get a dishwasher, this will come in handy.
And in case you’re wondering – I don’t have any pets, but I always pick up pet food when I can get it free with coupons. I have so many friends and relatives with dogs and cats, and they always welcome free pet food.
Shopping Trip – September 19th
September 22nd, 2009On Saturday, I visited 2 stores and brought home $32.04 worth of merchandise for $5.89:
First stop, Safeway:
Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $15.47 on a gift card that I won in a giveaway from Moomette’s Magnificents. (Thanks again, Cindi!) And one of the items rang up wrong, so I received a $2.00 cash refund.
Total before coupons: $14.97
View receipt #1
View receipt #2
Got:
A 24-pack of toilet paper – price: $4.99
A 36-pack of Kotex – on sale for $5.99, used a $1/1 coupon that I received with a free sample in the mail, which doubled; final price: $4.49
1 tube of hydrocortisone – was supposed to be on sale for $3.99, but rang up at $5.99; so customer service refunded me $2.00 in cash. Had to buy this because I got some sort of allergic reaction on my calves.
Then we headed into Portland for the afternoon, because I had a gift certificate for a massage at Root Whole Body and wanted to redeem it. As luck would have it, there was a Whole Foods just down the street from Root, so we stopped there before my appointment since I had a few coupons for items only available at Whole Foods:
Total spent: $5.89 (And remember, I had $2.00 extra in my wallet from the refund at Safeway!)
Total before coupons: $18.57
View receipt
Got:
2 bottles of Genesis Juice – on sale for $3.09 and $4.49, respectively; used two free product coupons that I received in the mail to bring my total to zero. I’ve had these coupons for over a year, so I was happy to finally be able to use them! Luckily, they had no expiration dates. I only signed up for one coupon, but for some reason, they sent me a second coupon a few months later. But that’s fine by me! The free coupon offer is still available, so click here if you’d like to sign up.
1 12 oz bag of Portland Roasting Coffee – regularly priced at $10.99, used a $5 off coupon. Frugal Living NW had a special promotion recently where the first 25 readers to become a fan of Portland Roasting on Facebook would receive a $5 coupon. And I was one of those 25 readers, so I thought I would put my coupon to use. The total came to $5.99, which is a decent price for good coffee, and we were almost out so it was good timing.
I also received a .10 cent credit for bringing my own bag, making my final total $5.89.
And the massage was fantastic!
Free Family Portraits
September 21st, 2009
If you’d like to get some family photos taken, you’re in luck; there are several coupons available for free portraits:
If you live near a Sears Portrait Studio, you can click here to print a coupon good for one free 10 x 13 portrait – no session fee, expires October 31st.
You can also head over to Picture People and present this coupon to receive one 8 x 10, two 5 x 7, and eight wallet sized photos of the same image free of charge – again, there is no session fee. Expires October 4th.
Thanks to The Freebie Blogger for these picture-perfect deals!
