Last Day for Free SoBe Life Water at CVS

My son and I ran into CVS yesterday for this quick deal. I got 8 SoBe Life Water's. I used this this B1G1 free coupon. There is another coupon here. The May monthly deal is they are on sale for $1.00 each and if you buy 2 you get $1 in ECB back. So, my total was $4 and I got $4 back. That equals FREE WATER!!

Remember that not only does the new CVS ad start tomorrow, but the June deals start as well. And finally, coupon inserts come out again!! Thanks to Be Thrifty Like Us for the SoBe reminder. Be sure to check out their CVS previews as well. :)

My Random Blogging

So here's the reason I've been even more random with my blogging this week. My 23 month old son broke his arm over Memorial Day weekend. Before I mentioned or pictured it, I wanted to be sure we've told everyone personally!! He's been so brave and is such the trooper. He's barely uttered a peep about it. He had his cast re-done Thursday, it's now super cool soccer balls!! The only "bad" news is he's got it for the next 6 weeks!! I am so grateful that we live near a terrific hospital for children. The hardest part is keeping him "still" to rest. There has been a lot of TV on in my house lately. I feel terrible about it, but it keeps him still. :)

Out of all that, I still have a deal to report! One of my husband's managers and his family gave my son a super cute Parents MD kit from Target. He loves it!! It was such a sweet "get well" present. So, as I was opening it all up I noticed a card for a free subscription to Parents magazine. It was "included with the toy purchase". Cool!! I had let my last free subscription lapse. Well, as I was reading the card (small print) if you had actually purchased the MD kit and didn't want the subscription, you could mail the card in with your receipt for a $5 refund off the toy/magazine. I wonder how many people throw those away everyday?? Basically they "charge" you $5 on top of the toy price for the magazine and you don't notice it. So keep an eye out for any such "deals" with Parents brand toys or anything at all for that matter. I'll be happy with my free magazine!!

A quick side note about magazines. You may begin to wonder, "how many can I read?", with so many offers for free subscriptions floating around the web these days. I usually flip through them first, read anything fun second, tear out super cool stuff third and lastly I take it to the library for donation. They have an area set up in the lobby to "freecycle" you magazines. If your library doesn't do this......ask about starting it! It's a win/win for everyone!! Be sure to recycle your magazines if you can't donate them. :)

CVS Reminder

Be sure to check out Be Thrifty Like Us for the CVS June monthly ECB deal preview!! Some good stuff is coming our way. :)

Misc. Coupon Deals

Yesterday I headed to Target!! Yippee!! My husband found 2 gift cards in his wallet with a total of about $90 on them. He went and "blew" some on office organization things while the kids and I were in Missouri. He did good, they are really cute. Anyway, everything was purchsed on the gift card. :)

I found Kraft/Post LiveActive Cereal for $2.99 and used this $3 coupon, making it FREE.

While you're at Kraft, sign up for their free food & family magazine. This month mine not only was packed full of recipes and coupons, it had a coupon for a FREE salad dressing (up to $3.09). So I picked up a 24 oz bottle of ranch. I also used 2 $1.00 off All Small & Mighty detergent mfg. coupons for 2 trial size bottles. That's 2 FREE bottles (4 loads of laundry). You can also print a coupon for that here. And I picked up 2 free things of cat treats. That was my last 2 mfg. coupons that I got from the coupon club I belong to. I ended up with about 8 free cat treat coupons. I guess I'm the only one with a cat. :)

Be sure to check out Sisterly Savings and Attention Target Shoppers for more FREE trial size deals at Target. I would have done more "free" shopping, but I'm out of printer ink.....which leads me to my next deal this week.

Walgreens has ink refills 50% this week with the coupon. That makes black $5 and color $7.50. I dropped off 2 this morning. My last one that I got free a few months back lasted about a month once I put it in. That's really good I think. I print a lot of coupons and print eBay shipping labels.

Another favorite coupon is this $2.25 off Silk Soymilk coupon. It goes great on my free cereal. Haha! And my other favorite coupon right now is this $1.00 off Fast Fixins chicken. I finally found the 10 oz packages on sale last week at Kroger for $1.00. I got over 6 lbs of chicken patties/fingers/nuggets for FREE!! In the past I've found the 10oz packages on sale 3/$5, not a bad deal either. The best part is that my daughter LOVES their chicken and it has added calcium!

New Dove Sample

I hope everyone had a great weekend. My kids and I had a great time visiting family. We just wish Daddy could have come, he had to work. :(

Anyway, to slowly get back in the swing of things, here's a new Dove Shine Therapy sample. If you have a second, Dove website. You might see a sample you haven't requested yet. I am loving my Dove Go Fresh cumcumber deodorant sample that finally came last week. :)

$5 off at Walgreens-May 23rd ONLY

Just click HERE to print your very own $5 off $20 coupon (in store purchase) for Walgreens!!!!! Be sure to check out some deals before you head over. I found some really good ideas here at BeCentsAble. Remember to make your list before you go so you don't over spend!! I know there are several, zero OOP (out of pocket) deals awaiting.

I'm on my way out the door here in a few hours. Walgreens?? No......(sigh). I'm heading to southwest Missouri to visit my Grandma!!! I have already checked online and the closest Walgreens is about 40 minutes away. UGH! I'll pass on the coupon, since I don't need anything. Sending hubby for a "freebie" trip could turn out bad. :)

Have a great and safe weekend!!! I'll be back posting by Monday.

Free Shipping Boxes, With eBay In Mind!

I thought I'd "officially" join Tasha over at Comical Coupon Cents today for Thrifty Thursday.

For today's thrifty idea, I thought I'd show you a thrifty shipping idea. This is what what I do when I get too cheap and lazy to log into eBay and order more shipping supplies. I make my own boxes!! Well, kind of. When I sell clothes I almost always ship them in a "poly mailer". They are strong and lightweight (cheap shipping) and perfect for storing my eBay items until they sell from my store. The draw back????? They cost about $.20-.25 each!!

Here's a break down of my last order: Bags + Shipping= $10.90-$.22 (refund from using my PayPal MC and from BigCrumbs). So the order cost me $10.68 for 50 bags, that's $.214 each. Okay, I'll round down.....it's 21 cents.

So, here's how I'm "saving" my budget 21 cents at a time. Haha!!

I turn "food boxes" inside out for shipping. Cereal and grain type products work best. Or it seems they do. They are clean inside and out, a good size, strong cardboard but still lightweight for shipping, etc. The only drawback is, it's a little time consuming to assemble them. But, it's always a trade off when trying to be frugal, right? I just like to play with tape and scissors so I don't mind. :)

Need more cheap/free shipping and ideas? Click here.

Be sure to visit Tasha at Comical Coupon Cents for lots of other thrifty ideas!!!!!

I hit the "freebie" Jackpot...

Yesterday I got 5 freebies/samples/coupons in

the mail!!

1. Pull-ups Potty Training Video, read this post for details.

2. Starbucks sample, it's 2.5 oz!!!!! I think these are all out.

3. Seattle's Best sample & $1.00 coupon, details are here.

4. Coupon for a free bottle of Coffee Mate, get yours here.

5. Loreal Skin Genesis sample, these are gone too.

Wow!!!!! I usually average one sample a day (in the mail), so yesterday was a fun day. I request so many samples that I usually have almost forgotten about them by the time they arrive. As I was preparing this post it reminded me of how many things I've requested and never seen. Hmmm. If I was really bored I guess I could track them, but I'm not bored. Haha! But seriously, it seems about only half the stuff I request actually comes. Anyone else notice this???

Country Home Magazine

How about 2 years for FREE????? I'd say...YES!!!!

Just click right HERE. Thanks to Miss Mommy at The Thrifty Mommy for the heads up!!

Make your own Bird Feeder!

Friday afternoon was craft time!! I decided we'd make a bird feeder that I saw in the "Going Green Family Handbook" from the May/June Nick Jr. Magazine . It was totally free, except for the bird feed!!

Here's a list of supplies:

2 Liter bottle (empty with cap)
Hammer
Nail
Twine
Duct Tape
Pencil
Funnel (I made one with a sheet of paper)
Bird Seed

Parents: Use the hammer and nail to punch 2 pencil size holes just below the curved top. I found this very difficult! Next time, I think I'll borrow a Dremel tool from my brother. Anyway, that was for the pencil perch. Then punch 2 larger holes 1.5" above the perch for the birds to feed from. Then punch 2 holes on the botton to hang. I found this immpossible, so I did mine one the side. It seems to work.

Kids: Weave twine through holes to hang.

Parents: Seal twine holes with duct tape.

Kids: Poke pencil through for perch.

Together: Pour seed through funnel, replace cap, flip over and hang!

And look, by Sunday morning we had a visitor!!!! My brother was kind enough to hang our bird house yesterday while he was over, so now the kids have plenty of bird watching to do. :)

CVS Welcome Coupon

Here's the latest $4/$20 "Welcome Coupon" for CVS:

$4 off $20

There is not a whole lot of good ECB deals this week. Lucky for me I don't "need" anything from CVS this week. So, I'll just be making one trasaction to "earn" some more ECB. I'm down to $10!!!!!

Also....I wanted to mention that there is $1.00 coupon for the Tums QuikPak in today's coupons and a rebate form as well!!!! Remember, this is a May ECB deal. So you can, buy one Tums QuickPak for $3.69 today, get $4.69 ECB back today and mail the rebate off for another $4.69 back.

Have a great Sunday!!

Sunday "Sweeps"

While clipping my coupons this morning, I actually looked for sweepstakes. I found 4 with the coupons, wow!! I have always clipped right past these in the past. Not any more!

Here's what I found in today's coupon pages:

Oh Boy! Oberto- enter to win a trip for 4 to San Diego.

Blue Diamond Nuts- enter to win a trip to the ADT Championship (golf) and looks like there is a chance for $1,000,000. Be sure to click the "need a upc" button so you don't need to actually buy any nuts. :)

Smart Source-enter to win a training experience at Kennedy Space Center.

Dial/National Treasure Giveaway-enter to win a trip for 2 to France. I've keep getting an error when trying to do this one....I'll try again this evening or tomorrow.

Anyone else find anything fun????

Fast Food Deals

Ever since I began "staying home" we have pretty much completely stopped eating out. We have begun to see a savings of about $100 a week, and we thought we hardly ever ate out. But $100 really was only one sit down restaurant meal and 2 fast food trips a week, for a family of 4. It really adds up and it's way too expensive!! All my outings are now planned with water (in our own plastic bottles) and snacks from the house. But.....I am human! So here's two fast food treats.

TODAY ONLY!!!!!! Free McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Biscuit or Sandwich with the purchase of a medium or large drink. Click here for more details.

Here's one for your coupon pouch, Free Arby's Sidekickers coupon. With the purchase of a drink and after 2 pm. Also, looks like they will be soon adding a kid's Birthday Club to the Arby's site. AND, there is a sweepstakes entry when you sign up for their e-mail thingy. Looks like they will send a coupon on your birthday, as well!! :)

Just remember, don't rush out to use the coupon. Keep it just in case!!

On a side note, since I've begun working the grocery deals, CVS, etc. I have also saved us at least $70 a week on groceries. Down from $100 a week to $30 a week. That's a total savings of $8,840 a year, just by clipping coupons and not eating out. WOW!!! So, we're saving loads of money and are eating healthier!

I am the Crazy Coupon Lady!

I have coupons coming out of my ears! I get the paper delivered every Sunday and my mom, Liz, gives me her coupons un-clipped on Sunday as well. Last week I cut ours together to save time. Then this week, Irene (my step-mom) started mailing me hers. Thanks Irene!! But wait, there's more. I also belong to a coupon club. We mail our unwanted coupons on to the next person each week. I couldn't be happier!! I takes no time at all to sort them. Now I will be prepared with at least 2 if not 5 or 6 of my favorite coupons when a sale hits.

Here's how I keep them organized and with me at all times. They all fit into the nice bright orange pencil case. Hey..... it was free! My mom gave it to me. The draw back is, I'm sure all the cashiers will start to remember me. I can hear them talking now, "Oh, here she is. The crazy coupon lazy with the orange pencil case FULL of coupons". Anyway, the pencil case fits in my purse. Here's what inside:

1. Envelope for "coupons to file". This is where I stash them when they come in the mail, off a product or if I didn't use one at the store. All my trips are planned with a list and all coupons are clipped to the list. I prepare this before I leave the house. This keeps the trip quick and I don't overspend.

2. Calculator in black case and a pen (not pictured). Haha.

3. Redbox free rental codes. I re-print this every few weeks or so. We only go once every week or two so there is always a code to use for a free rental.

4. Target coupons, sporting the super fashionable "Verizon" envelope. I pay bills online and this is one way I "re-use" the envelopes. Then I recycle them. I change out my envelopes every week or two when I sit down and organize/clean out my pouch. I usually do this on Sunday after I've clipped my coupons from the paper. I put my new coupons away and pull any expired ones (to recycle of course).

5. My CVS envelope (sporting the blue GMAC envelope). I store a few $3/15, $4/20 and $2 off CVS brands coupons in here. Also, my weekly transactions are kept in here. I prepare all my trips/transactions on Sunday. I paperclip each list (with pricing and ECB info) and my coupons together. I label them #1, #2, etc. Yes, I'm very OCD!!!!! This way if I happen to pass by a CVS, I'm always ready to run in and back out within 5 minutes.

6. Store and restaurant coupons. Things like Sonic coupons (my whole family had lunch today at Sonic for $5), $5 off $25 at Once upon a Child (resale shop), etc. This way I never forget a coupon at home. If it expires, so what? At least if I ever do pop in somewhere, I will have the coupon with me.

7. All of my coupons!!! They are in 14 categories right now.

I've seen some other cute ideas for storage. I like the idea of using a photo album but am worried about the extra bulk of the plastic pages. I am currently still refusing the carry a coupon "box". But this does seem to be working for me so far. If I pass by the "clearance" rack or find something else on sale that I missed when making my list, my coupons are very easy to grab. Anyone else have any different ideas???? Leave me a comment if so!

Sweepstakes

Since I have so much spare time and don't spend near enough time on the computer, I've decided to add a daily sweepstakes goal to my "to do" list. Just 5 minutes a day or so. You can't win if you don't enter, right?

My step-mom, Irene, e-mailed these 3 yesterday:

Advil Life List-$25,000 Grand Prize, one time entry

Windex Shine-$25,000 diamond Grand Prize, one time entry

Scott's Lawn Care-Ford Racing Mustang GT & $300 in Scott's coupons Grand Prize, enter daily

Another spot for leads is Freebies 4 Mom. Do you have a favorite site for leads???

Thanks for the sweeps Irene!! :)

My "CVS" Gift Baskets

Here's the two baskets I put together for Mother's Day. They were stuffed totally with items from my gift stockpile or with CVS stuff. My gift stockpile is a drawer full of small things that I can "re-gift", things like candles, potporri, etc. Of course, the CVS items were free, cheap or I "made" money buying them. I found the baskets in my pantry (free). The only expense I incurred was $.99 each for a big clear plastic bag and $.30 for a ribbon. I went to Michael's for the bags and ribbon and used a 40% off coupon on the already cheap ribbon ($1 for 1.5 yards).

Anyway, I thought this was a cute idea for items from your "stockpile". A basket would be a great idea for a birthday gift, holiday gift, teachers gift, new mommy gift.......etc!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Be sure to call mom today! :)

A quick run into CVS...

I did a quick run into CVS today to get something for the CVS/Glamour deal.

Colgate 360 toothbrush $3.99
2 Kiss Nail Glues (super glue) $3.98
Weather Works Styling Creme $5.99
Whiskas Cat Treats $2.19
minus the following coupons
$1.00 off Weather Works (from paper)
$2.19 off Whiskas (free treats cpn from paper in March)
$3/$15 from here, thanks to Money Saving Mom

and I used

$9.37 in Extra Care Bucks

My subtotal was then $.59 plus $.05 sales tax=$.64 cash OOP paid

I got back $5.00 in ECB from the nail glue and $3.99 back from the toothbrush.

So on this transaction I lost $.38 in ECB and spent $.64 in cash. But then, I mailed the receipt into Glamour this morning! I'll keep you posted if I get my bag of goodies. :)

Over the past 2 weeks, I have depleted my ECB supply down to $19.97 from $40.97 two weeks ago. But not counting this transaction, I made 5 $20 transactions over the past two weeks getting diapers, mouthwash, wipes, detergent, shave cream, face wash, okay you get the idea.....you know, boring household items we use. :) Not too bad, but I'm looking for better deals to come in the next couple of weeks.

Today is Family Fun Day!

My husband is off today!!!! I've never mentioned this before, but he is a restaurant manager so he has crazy hours and days off. Which leads to my random posting schedule. I try my best to shift to "day off mode" when he's off for the day, or the morning etc. Sometimes it's hard for me when it's a weekday.

Anyway, today we are heading up to visit my in-laws in their new place. For the past year and a half they have been an hour and half away, but now it will be closer to about 30 minutes. My daughter is so excited!!!

Then, we're off to the Dillard's Clearance Center. It's where they ship their 75% off stuff. It's a super fun place!!!! Lot's of high end stuff (think eBay)!!! They usually mark it down an additional 25-50%, so we'll see today what deals and treasures await us.

But....before I head to story time (in 15 minutes) and start our day, I wanted to mention a really cool deal I read about over at Be Thrifty Like Us. It's a CVS/Glamour Magazine deal. Buy one product from the list, mail your receipt into Glamour and you get a bag full of goodies (a $86 value). The bag is pictured above. Read the details here. I think I'll run to CVS while we're out today.

Also, this weekend is the "Circle of Friends" sale at Gymboree. You can receive an extra 30% off everything (online too). My son really needs PJ's so I think I'll make a trip. To me it's worth it to get "good" PJ's. They are so nice first of all, but I can re-sell them on eBay when he's done. I end up "ahead" as opposed to buying some PJ's at Wal-Mart or Target that have NO re-sell value. Anyway, if anyone needs a 30% coupon, send me a message/comment and I'll e-mail it to you.

Have a great day, I'm off to story time!

Munich and the Attack Birds!

Here's my poor old cat, Munich, as a barkyard bully swoops down and touches her! There is a gang of "mean" birds that hang out on the fence when I let my cat out. They chit chat back and forth and then one in particular (he only has one leg) dives down and tries to touch her. He ususlly does about half the time.

Poor Munich is so old and lazy she just watches them and sometimes chatters back at them. She makes no move to actually do anything. Ha!!

Today, it was as quiet as a mouse outside. No birds in site. It was going to rain soon and the kids and I were playing outside. So, I let Munich out.........darn it if not 3 minutes later, the birds are all on my fence "chit chating"!!!! Back inside for Munich. :(

Fun Freebies and Coupons

Can you tell I like free samples???? They are just so much fun when they arrive. I love getting the mail each day....you never what will be waiting!

$2.25 off Silk Soymilk-it's a printable. I love this stuff on my cereal!!!!

Snuggle Sample-good for 2 loads.

Shine To Go-shoe shine sample.

Buzzy Seeds-free packet of veggie or flower seeds.

Tony Hawk Poster-promoting "Be Tobacco Free", pretty cool poster!

Potty Training Chart and certificate-where was this 2 years ago??

Pet Greens Treats-cat or dog treats!

The newest CVS $4/$20 Welcome Coupon-I have to start getting my trips ready...ugh!

Info on a CVS $5/$15 coupon, from Money Saving Mom-it works, I have lots printed and ready.

Yo Mommy Yogurt-free coupon for a 4 pack will be mailed, yummy!

Benefiber Sample-from Wally-World.

Kaboom Neverscrub-toilet cleaning system sample, turn the sound down!! You'll see why...

Dove coupons-4 different printables, Thanks Irene!!

Huggies Diapers-from Sam's, skip the memebership number if you don't have one. Size 1 and 2 only.

Free Tree Seeds-from Planting America, I had to pass on this one. We have too many trees! ******update****** This offer has been suspended due to the large response. I guess that's a good thing as far as trees are concerned! If you are still interested, just check back later.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!!!!!

My First "Assignment"

My first assignment as an agent for BzzAgent has arrived. Look what came in the mail. Not to mention a nice box I can use for eBay.

I love Ziploc so I was excited to try out the Twist 'n Loc containers. I received the Big Bags as a bonus (they are soooo fun!!!) and a lot of coupons. For more info on BzzAgent, click here. It's free to join.

So basically my job is to try out the containers and spread the word (bzz). I haven't checked these out in the store, but they have a $2.89 MSRP. Not too bad for a really sturdy container. Unlike the first Ziploc and Glad "take and toss" containers, it would be great for taking soup for lunch since the lid "locks". I wouldn't consider these "toss" containers. Although since they are so reasonable (price) they would be perfect for handing out leftovers (or whatever). I could have used these when the kids were babies for transporting milk to ther grandparents houses...

I've used one in the pantry for storage. But they would make great bathroom storage, craft storage, small toy storage, etc. Millions of uses!

I will say my only concern is that I used one in the frig to store garlic and they ARE NOT odor proof. I'll just remember that!!

I will use my coupon for another set or 2 of the Twist 'n Lock containers. And, if you ever get a chance to get some of the Big Bags, try them. They are super fun. I'm just not sure about the handle strength. :) I stored my daughter's stuffed animals in one for her party last weekend. It's a huge bag!!!!

Here's a link to the Ziploc site, you can print off a $.55 for any Ziploc container. Speaking of Ziploc, has anyone tried the Zip 'n Steam bags? They look fun!

Thanks for reading....be sure to leave me comments!!!! :)