FREE General Mills samples (spanish only)

Are you a spanish speaking U.S. Citizen?  Then these samples are just for you!

Head over here to sign up for FREE General Mills Samples to be sent directly to your home!

Print July Coupons.com before they are gone

Can you believe July is almost gone?  Where is the summer going?  I still have lots of summer activities to fit in – Stone Mountain, Braves game, more cookouts and homemade icecream, yardwork, and the summer is just flying by!

With the change of a new month means the change of coupons on coupons.com.  Some coupons available now might not be available into August, so print them while you still can.

Here are some of the good ones:

$0.75/1 Taco Bell Seasonings or any products

$0.50/2 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

$1.00/2 Fruit of the Loom packages

$1.00/1 Glade scented oil candle

$3.00/1 Huggies diapers

$0.50/1 Bisquick

and there are many more!

Happy printing!

8/1 Sunday coupon preview - 4 inserts this week!

Go here to preview the coupons that will be in the 8/1 Sunday paper. 

There will be 4 inserts in this week's paper - 1 SmartSource insert, 2 Redplum inserts, and a P & G insert.

$25 Restaurant.com gift certificate for $2.00!!!

 

Hurry as this offer is only good through 7/31!

Enter promotional code PLATE at checkout to receive a $25 gift certificate for just $2 bucks!

Lots of FREE samples!

Freeflys has a bunch of new samples available!

Click on the links below to take you right to the page to sign up for the sample.  Then wait for your mailbox to be full of goodies!

Free Shampoo and Conditioner samples

Free Soft & Chewy Dog Treat Samples

Free sample of Sinus Medicine

Free samples of Saline Nose Wipes

Free Baby Magazine Subscription

Back to school sale at Vistaprint – lots of freebies!

Vistaprint is having some great “Back to school” freebies and sales!

FREE self inking stamp

FREE banners

(Wouldn’t this be adorable for a kids birthday!)

FREE business cards

(you can use these as mommy cards or to hand out to all your kids teachers with all your info on it)

FREE t-shirt

140 FREE address labels

There is a shipping charge but it is usually way less than what you have paid for the item.  I have ordered many times from Vistaprint before – business cards, postcards, return address labels, and always feel like I am getting a great deal even after paying shipping.

$2.00 coupon for E-mealz!

I have blogged about using E-mealz before here and here. 

 E-mealz is online menu planning site. They provide you with 7 meals planned out with sides and an organized grocery list. The menus are written and created by REAL moms with REAL families and are balanced and family friendly. They consist of favorite recipes collected from hundreds of moms and come with an organized, aisle by aisle grocery list. The plans are based on the current week sales at the grocery store that you choose. The subscription to the plan costs $1.25 a week billed as $15.00 for 3 months.

I have used E-mealz before and I did like it.  I do plan to use it again in a few weeks (and share Menu Plan Mondays again!) when things slow down a bit from the summer.

If you have been wanting to try out out E-mealz now is a great time!  Use code savemoney to save $2.00 off the purchase price at checkout!

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

New diaper coupons + super cheap diapers at Food Lion this week!

There are lots of new printable high-dollar diaper coupons available:

 

$3.00/1 Huggies coupon here

$2.50/1 Huggies coupon here

$2.00/1 Huggies Pull-up coupon here

There are also $1.50/1 Huggies coupon in 7/11 SS and  $1.50 Pampers coupons in 6/6 PG or 7/4 PG.

 

There is a great deal at Food Lion this week on diapers. (We finally have one here – it is grand opening week!  Yay!) Huggies, Pampers, and Pullups – on sale for $7.99 Use $1.50 Food Lion printable (FLIP) coupon for Huggies or Pullups here or here Or use the $1.50 Food Lion printable coupon for Pampers here or here AND because Food Lion will allow you to stack (or use both) a store and manufacturer coupon on 1 item, use any of the printable or newspaper coupons above too! Pay as low as $3.49 for Huggies diapers and $4.49 for Pullups!

$10 moneymaker at CVS this week!

If you are just starting shopping at CVS and have no ECB’s this would be the perfect deal for you.  You will pay only tax out of pocket and earn $10 in ECB’s! 

 

There is a deal this week at CVS – Buy 2 Neutrogena products, get back $10 ECB’s.  Last year when they had this deal, the $1.99 tubes worked and it appears it is working again this year!  Except this year this a coupon to go along with it which makes it even better!  Yay!

Here’s the deal:

Buy (2) 1-oz. Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock Tubes (priced $1.99)
Use (2) $2.00/1 printable coupons (good for ANY Neutrogena product)
Total:  $0!!  pay the tax and get back $10 in ECB’s!

CVS deals: June 25 - 31

6 x 8 Photo Books – $7.99
Get back $7.99 ECB’s (limit 1)

FREE after ECB’s

U By Kotex Liners, Pads, or Tampons – $4.99
Get back $4.99 ECB’s (limit 1)
Use $1.00/1 printable coupon.
FREE plus overage after ECBs

Pampers Baby Dry, Swaddlers or Cruisers Diapers 48-96 ct. $21.99 –  $10 Ecb (actually limit 2)
Get back $10.00 ECB’s

Use the $2.00/1 coupon from 6/20 RP or 7/4 PG
$9.99 after coupon and ECB’s

Renuzit Crystal Elements – $3.99
Use $2.00/1 coupon from 7/25 RP insert
$1.99 after coupon

For Atlanta readers: Super cheap deal on Sunday AJC today on Groupon!

Just opened my daily deal email from Groupon and it is a great deal for couponers!!

A 6 month subscription to the Atlanta Journal Constitution for $36.00 (reg. price 71.94!) 

That is 26 weeks for $36 or $1.35 each!  The paper costs $2.50 in the store or $3.00 for a double stack so this is definitely cheaper.

Go here to join Groupon or to see this deal.

7/25 Sunday coupon preview

Go here to preview the coupons that will be in the 7/25 Sunday paper. 

There should be a SmartSource and Redplum insert.

Lots of FREE samples!

Freefly’s has some new FREE sample offers! 

Go here to request a FREE sample of Sun Crystals all-natural sweetener, Starbucks via Ready Brew, Redken clean spice, and Natura Advantage.

8 reasons why you SHOULD use coupons

Some of you might have seen an article that was posted on Yahoo - “8 reasons why you shouldn’t use coupons”

I am not sure if the person who wrote it has ever used coupons or not, but some of her information was just plain false!  So I thought I would share her arguments against couponing and my arguments for couponing! :)  (Her reasons are in the boxes – mine are posted directly below.)

 

You have to buy a newspaper.

Actually, no you don’t! 

You see my pictures from my shopping trips and know that I use more than 1 of each coupon.  (Example: Pampers wipes -  I have bought over 20 packages of Pampers wipes and counting and had 20+ coupons for them.)  But I have only EVER bought 1 paper each week.  I subscribe to my local paper (which is actually cheaper than buying it at the store AND it gets delivered to my door!)

I get my other coupons out of FREE newspapers in my area, dumpster diving in recycle bins, and from friends and family.

Even if you did buy a newspaper each week (we have them for sale for $1.00 on street corners) you can easily make that $1.00 back by using just ONE $0.50 COUPON that doubles.  Then every other coupon that you use is OVERAGE! :)

Not to mention the fact that there are printable coupons, peelies, store dispensers, store coupon books, etc. that never require you to buy a newspaper.

 

Clipping coupons takes time.

So does cooking, doing laundry, cleaning the house, taking care of your children, etc.  But we all do these things don’t we?  But who gets to pay themselves $40 (or MORE!) an hour to clean your house, do laundry, etc.?  I can spend an hour (or less!) researching printing my shopping lists online, then cutting the coupons to save $40 or more at the store.  Basically paying myself $40 or more for that hour of work!  In fact, not many people can work a job that will pay them $40 an hour!

Also, I DON’T CLIP COUPONS until and IF I need them!  I use the whole insert method and only cut coupons when I need them.  And I clip coupons on our long drives to church, and while resting in the evening, times when there is not much else I could do.

 

Getting a newspaper invites lots of additional advertising into your home.

So does watching TV, viewing billboards/store signs while driving down the road!  Coupons are a form of advertising, but we all have the right to resist and say, “No” too.  Honestly, I have gotten many deals just by perusing the store flyers (advertisements!) and buying something we needed when it was on a really good sale.

 

Many of the coupons will be for things you neither need nor want.

So don’t use them!  Or if the item comes around for pennies or even FREE, buy it and then donate it or give it to someone who can use it.  If a store is going to give you overage to buy an item (even if you don’t need it), it only makes sense to buy it to save money off of your meat or produce and then just donate the item!

I don’t need all the wipes I have been buying at Kroger at this time in my life, but they have helped me get my total up so I could use $5/$60 purchase coupons I got from Kroger.  That allowed to me to get $5.00 off of the things that I DID NEED!  And I had a friend that DID NEED the wipes and was able to pass some on to her to use!  We both benefit – I get $5.00 off my bill, she gets free wipes, and we both are happy!

Even if you eat totally organic, do you use toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, razors, toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc.?  Because there are coupons for those products offered again and again! :)

 

Coupons can tempt you to spend your grocery dollars on things you shouldn't.

Once again, we have the right to say “no!”  You don’t have to use every coupon!  And honestly, I have never seen a coupon for twinkies or moon pies!  But I do see coupons for organic and whole grain items all the time. :)

Plus, we all have to and need to practice self control in all areas of our life.  Do you buy everything you see at the mall just because you are tempted?  No, because you practice self control and wisdom!  A child in the store with you can most certainly “tempt” you to buy things, doesn’t mean you have to or will!

She says, “Plus, if you have a monthly grocery budget that you stick to no matter what, coupons will only get you more food or different food - they won't truly save you any money.” 

Getting MORE FOOD for the SAME amount money by using coupons isn’t saving money?  Hmmm…in my book it is!  Then maybe next week you won’t have to buy as much and don’t even have to spend your whole budget!

 

The same coupons tend to be offered over and over again.

And this is a bad thing, why??  I guess we are only supposed to eat a type/brand of food once and then never eat it again? 

If I can get great deals on products that I use by combining coupons and sales, I will want the coupons to be offered again and again!  Plus, if you only buy 1-2 papers, you will want the coupons you need to come out again so you can have more (even if the older coupons haven’t expired yet!)

She says, “After a few months of coupon clipping, you'll realize that you're repeatedly clipping the same coupons. This might work for you if you use the same products repeatedly, but it's not so great if you prefer variety and experimentation.” 

Once again, has she ever played the drugstore game?  You will get to experiment and try many varieties of things that you never tried before just because they were FREE or you “made” ECB’s to buy them! :)  My husband loves when I come home with a new product and most of the time we end up liking it (sometimes even better than our old brand.)  One of the biggest ways a company promotes a new product is to offer a coupon for it – so we get to try all the newest items to hit the market!

 

You might become a slave to coupons.

Once again, do you not have self control?  Are you not able to make decisions for yourself and do you allow a piece of paper to do that for you?  I don’t think so!

She says, “It can be very difficult to buy something without a coupon once you get used to using coupons. Knowing that you can get ice cream for $2.50 might make it difficult for you to spend $4 on it even though many times, it would be worth it to spend the extra $1.50 rather than pine for ice cream and cast longing glances at your freezer every night for three weeks until your next coupon arrives.”

Ummmm… it would be difficult for me to EVER spend $4.00 on ice cream!  Plus you don’t HAVE to have ice cream.  I am sure there is no coupon shopper out there that is letting her family starve or go without just because she doesn’t have a coupon for it!  Maybe she could take the time she is spending “pining and casting longing glances at the freezer” and CUT COME COUPONS or research some of the great blogs out there that do all the work for you except the shopping! :)

 

Shopping takes longer.

Not necessarily!  Maybe when you are first starting to learn to use coupons it make take a little longer (as does anything - learning to drive or ride a bike, etc.)  But I actually find that using coupons causes me to do all of my preparation at home and be ready when I get to the store.  I have a stockpile of things at home that I am basing my menu off, so each week I am only buying the super sale items that week allowing me to be in and out of the store in less than 30 minutes.

 

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I could go on and on but I know that many of you already know why you use coupons – you save your family A LOT OF MONEY! 

But I would love to hear what you think!   Do you agree with her? 

FREE + overage deal on Crayola this week at Kroger!

 

Basically this is how it is working:

24 count Crayola crayons on sale for $0.25

Buy 5 packs ($1.25)  – get back $2.00 catalina.

Buy 9 packs ($2.25) - get back $4.00 catalina.

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10 count Crayola markers on sale for $1.00 each

Buy 5 packs ($5.00) – get back $4.00 catalina

This catalina is running from  7/11/10- 8/21/10.

Heather over at Thrifty Stories has the rundown on all the details of this deal and why it is working this way.  Thanks, Heather for the great tip!

$2.99 Quiznos coupon still available!

Wow, the Quiznos coupon is STILL AVAILABLE! But I don’t think that it will be much longer.

Go here to print your coupon.

I LOVE coupons!

Do you ever have those days when you literally want to call every number saved in your cell phone to share how much you saved?  When you just can’t stop smiling all the way home because you still can’t believe you saved as much as you did?

Well, today was one of those days for me.  And since I refrained myself from calling everyone in my phone book, I will share it with all of you! :)

It started out as any normal day.  But at lunch I met a contractor to pay for some materials for a big home remodel project we are doing.  I was able to find a coupon for Home Depot and saved $152 with it!!  That was enough to make me giddy for the rest of the day but it didn’t end there.  :)

Many people have found $10/$20 purchase peelie coupons for Kohl’s on their paper this weekend.  I did and got quite a few copies of the paper too!  I also had a 20% coupon for Kohl’s.  So I headed to the mall and checked out 5 times using my 20% coupon and a $10/20 coupon each time.  I got several clothing items my husband and I needed and a few household needs (one of which didn’t work and I will return later this week.)

This is the total sale price (not regular price) of all of my transactions - $114.57

- (5) $10 coupons

- 20 % coupon

I paid: $48.44 (a savings of $66.13)

(The bottom of my receipts state that I saved $164.95, but who are they kidding?  I would never pay full price in Kohls!  I only buy things when they are at least 50% off there.)

But here is the best part!  With each transaction (regardless of how much I spent or how many items I bought) I received $10 Kohl’s cash valid on children’s apparel!  So I earned back $50 in Kohl’s cash – $1.56 more than I had spent!  I plan to go back next week to use the Kohl’s cash and hope to do all my nephews and nieces Christmas shopping for FREE or very, very cheap!   Ok, I was skipping out of the store at this point and yes, I did call a few people in my cell phone! :)

Then, I headed to Kroger to take advantage of the FREE toothpaste and toothbrushes this week and the $5.00 catalina on Kraft products.  My total was $62.60 - $5.00 mega event savings.  I saved $44.00 in coupons and paid $13.60.  But I got back a $5.00 coupon off my next purchase!

Oh, and we also got a FREE smoothie and a FREE frappe at McDonald’s with the coupons from yesterday’s paper – a savings of 5.00!

So total savings of the day (not counting regular prices to sale prices, just what I actually saved with coupons) is $272.13!!

And the best part is I still have CVS, maybe Rite Aid, and another Kroger trip to do tomorrow and I am so excited!

How about you?  Are you having a mega savings week?  I would love to hear about some of your deals!

2 great coupon offers

I have mentioned Groupon here before.  You sign up for their emails, and hey send you a daily offer up to 90% off on something in your town from restaurants to attractions to services.  Once a “group” (certain number) of people purchase that offer it becomes a “Groupon”.  You can sign up here.

I just got a $10.00 gift certificate to Cold Stone Creamery for $5.00 from Groupon last week!  Yummy – can’t wait to use it on a date with my husband!

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There is another site that it is a lot like Groupon, but will have different offers than Groupon.  It is called BuyWithMe.

BuyWithMe offers deals up to 90% off on things for the best restaurants, spas, and retailers in your area. 

It is currently available in the following cities: Boston, New York City, San Diego, Washington DC, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Vegas, Chicago. 

Since it is not available in Atlanta yet, I can’t tell you about the good deals available. :) You will have to share them with me!

Go here to sign up for BuyWithMe!

Hot Quiznos coupon: Sub, chips, and drink for $2.99!!

Go here to print a coupon for any small sub, chips and regular fountain drink from Quiznos for $2.99.

This coupon went extremely fast last time, so hurry and print it if you want it!

What’s for dinner : cheap pork chops, Crockpot recipe, and a whole meal bought with coupons!

Kroger has boneless pork loin on sale for $1.99/lb. this week. Boneless pork chops usually cost $3.99/lb.  But did you know that you can just buy a loin and get it cut into pork chops, saving yourself 50% off the price of pork chops?

 

You can get the butcher to cut it in store for you (they should do this for free) or you can cut it at home into thick pork chops.  This will allow you to get boneless pork chops for $1.99/lb. instead of $3.99/lb!  That is 50% savings!

I bought one a few weeks ago and the butcher was unable to cut it for me since their machine was broken.  So I cut it into about 1 inch chops when I got home.  My pork loin cost  $9.63 but I had a $1.50 Kroger mailer coupon off fresh meat so I only paid $8.13.  And I got 12-13 pork chops out of it!

I put the ones that I was not going to use for dinner that night in freezer bags and labeled them.  I used about 1/2 of the pork chops that night.

Then we had this Crockpot recipe for dinner that night.

Chicken Fried Chops

Combine in a bowl:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. ground mustard

1/2 tsp or garlic powder

 

Dredge pork chops in the mixture.

Brown the chops on both sides over medium high heat until lightly brown.

 

Place chops in crockpot.  Combine 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup with 1/2 cup of milk and pour over chops.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or I have also done them on high for 3 1/2 – 4 hours.)  Once it is done, you can use the soup and drippings as a gravy, thickening them with some cornstarch if you want.  The pork chops will be so tender they will just fall apart!  Yummy!

Everything we ate that night, I had bought with coupons at various times (which, honestly is most of our meals now!)  We had enough for 2 servings at dinner and my husband had 2 meals of leftovers so it was 4 servings total.

Here’s the totals:

Pork chops: $4.07

Cream of chicken soup - $0.89

Betty Crocker Potatoes - $0.30 after coupon

Steamfresh peas – FREE after coupon

Crescent rolls: $0.70 after markdown and coupon

$5.96 for 4 servings or $1.49 each!

(Thanks, Judy for sharing this recipe with us!  We have enjoyed it many times! :)

More CVS deals

Here’s a few more deals I saw in my ad today.

Milk, gallon - $3.59

Get back $1.00 ECB

$2.59 after ECB

(not the best deal for milk but if you were going to spend ECB’s to buy it anyways, it would be nice to get some ECB’s back!)

Ivory Bar Soap 3 pk. - $0.99
Use $0.50/1 coupon from 6/6 PG
$0.49 after coupon

Tide 2X Ultra Laundry Detergent 48-64 loads - $10.97

Get $2.00 ECB (Limit 2)
Use $1.00/1 coupon from 7/4 PG
$7.97 after coupon and ECB

Xtra 2X Detergent  - $1.99
Use $1.00/1 coupon from 6/6 SS
$0.99 after coupon

Check your parade or USA weekend magazine: FREE McDonald’s smoothie coupon

Make sure to check your Parade or USA weekend magazine from today’s paper.  There is a coupon inside for a FREE smoothie (or frappucino) coupon from McDonald’s!  Yummy!

Guess a FREE regular sized smoothie is better than a sample anyways!

CVS deals: July 18 – 24 – Free chocolate, cheap diapers!

Celsius Green Tea 4 pk. - $7.99
Get $7.99 ECB (Limit 1 )
Use $2.00 printable coupon
or $3.00 coupon from 5/23 SS
FREE after coupon and ECB


Bayer Contour - $14.99
Get $5.00 ECB (Limit1)
Use $10 coupon from 4/25
FREE after coupon and ECB


Huggies Diapers, Pull-Ups, GoodNites or Overnights, jumbo pk  - $8.99
Get $3.00 ECB (Limit 1)
Use $2.50/1 printable
Or use $1.50 coupon from 7/11 SS
$3.49 after coupon and ECB


M&M’s Pretzel Chocolate Candies 1.1 oz., - 50¢
Get $1.00 ECB when you buy 2 (Limit 1)
Use BOGO coupon from 6/27 RP
FREE plus $0.50 moneymaker after coupon and ECB


Gillette ProGlide power or manual razor - $9.97
Get $5.00 ECB (Limit 1)
Use $4.00 coupon from 6/06 PG
97¢ after coupon and ECB

Dial Body Wash 16-18oz or bar soap 8pk  - $3.88
Get $1.00 ECB (Limit 1)
$2.88 after ECB


Paper Mate Pens, 8 ct. bag  - 33¢


Also Jenny over at Southern Savers has some great scenarios planned out to get FREE diapers and get back $4.00 ECB’s.  Page down to where it says Scenario idea.

Biotrue now a moneymaker at CVS!

Have you bought your Bio True solution yet at CVS? 

It was in the ad the first week of June, but it is actually a monthly deal.  I didn’t know that it was a monthly deal and actually have a raincheck for it.

But now it is not only FREE after ECB’s – it is a moneymaker! Coupons.com has released a $2.00 coupon for it!

BioTrue contact solution – $2.99
Get $2.99 ECB (limit 2)
Use $2.00/1 printable coupon
FREE plus $2.00 moneymaker

New printable coupons!

There are several new printable coupons you might want to print:

$0.75/1 Goldfish Grahams - (I am so addicted to the chocolate variety of these!:)  Kroger will have these on sale for $1.00 - $1.25 quite often.

$2.00/1 Smart Balance milk

$0.50/1 Softsoap -   Kroger runs these $10/$10 all the time so would be FREE after coupon!

$3.00/1 Chef’s requested coupon  (Walmart sells the bacon wrapped varieties of these steaks for only $3.28, making them $0.28 after this coupon!)

Super cheap Kraft cheese products starting 7/19 at Kroger

 

I purchased a few packages of cheese at Kroger this week since I had Kroger mailer coupons for them and they were part of the mega event sale (after mega event discount Kraft cheese packages $1.88, Philadelphia cream cheese - $0.99.) 

When I checked out the catalina machine printed this announcement:

Buy 5 participating Kraft products, get a coupon (catalina) for $5.00 off your next purchase!

So that means:

Kraft block or shredded cheese on sale for $1.88 w/ mega event = $0.88 after catalina

Philly Cream Cheese on sale for $0.99 w/ mega event = FREE after catalina.

You do still need to buy 10 items to get the mega price but I plan to split my transactions up – 5 cheese + 5 other mega items in each.  Then I will use my $5.00 catalina to pay for the next order and so on. 

Better go, need to go make some room in the freezer for lots of cheese! :)

You can check out all the mega event items and Kroger sale prices starting July 18 here.

Crazy Coupon Caper: Below budget in groceries and got overage of $5.01 in ECB’s this week!

I love mega events at Kroger but sometimes they can tend to blow my budget!  Not this time though!  There didn’t seem to be as many freebies or really cheap deals in this mega event so I only bought 20 items this week.  I do plan to do buy more next week because there will be super cheap cheese next week (read about that in a post in a little bit.)

Kroger

Sale price: $103.16

- $5/$45 purchase coupon (from Kroger mailer)

-$10 in mega event savings

-$61.95 in coupons

I paid: $26.21

The kitten chow and toothbrushes were free after coupon, the wipes were $0.19 each after coupon, and the batteries were free with an e-coupon from playing the Kroger summer of savings game and were part of the mega event!

Publix

Not much to get at Publix but I did stock up on a few of the really cheap items.

Sale price: $20.63

- $17 in coupons

I paid: $3.63

The razors gave me $0.25 overage, the Hershey’s syrups were $0.50 after coupon, the Lea Perrins Worcestshire sauce were $0.29 after coupon and the Kraft Mayo was FREE after coupon.

You can view all these deals and more with coupon matchups at Southern Savers.

So my total for the week for groceries was $29.84, $10 under my $40 budget!  But I will probably use that $10 next week to buy some more mega items since cheese will be cheaper next week, and make an extra trip to Aldi.

CVS

Transaction #1

Sale price: $20.31

Use $2.00 coupon on Complete

Used (2) $3.00 coupons on John Frieda

Paid with $10.98 ECB

Subtotal: $0.00!  (I will explain how to do this in my new series: CVS shopping tips)

I paid: $1.33 (in tax)

Got back $13.98 in ECB’s 

Profit of $3.00 in ECB’s!

Transaction #2

The John Frieda had to be purchased in separate transactions for the ECB to print.  So I broke up my transactions – 2 on one day and 1 on another.

Sales price: $22.76

Used (2) $3.00 coupon for John Frieda

Paid with $5.00 ECB

Subtotal: $–0.01

I paid: $0.76 in tax

Got back $6.00 in ECB’s

Profit of $1.00 in ECB’s

Transaction #3

I had a raincheck from the last time that CVS had Electrasol on sale with an ECB deal.  (Buy $20 worth of Electrasol – on sale for $4.50 each, get back $10.  So had to buy 5 to get to the $20 total.) But I was waiting until the $2.50 Electrasol coupons came out again.  (I will also explain how to effectively use CVS non-expiring rainchecks to your advantage in my new series: CVS shopping tips)

Sales price: $34.78

Used (5) $2.50 Electrasol coupons

Used (2) $3.00 John Frieda coupons

Paid with $13.99 in ECB’s

Subtotal: $0.01

I paid $2.29 in tax

Got back $15.00 in ECB’s

Profit of $1.01 in ECB’s

No FREE Smoothies at McDonald’s July 22 - 24th

****Update****

McDonald's has now said that they are cancelling their FREE smoothie sampling days.  They have had such high demand for the smoothies this week, their production cannot keep up with the demand.  At least they are telling us this know instead of repeating another KFC fiasco from a while back!

But there is a coupon on their site here for $1.00 off a smoothie or a frappe.  I saw an advertisement stating the smoothies cost $2.29 each so this would make them $1.29 after coupon.

McDonald's is giving away FREE 5 oz. Fruit Smoothie Samples July 22nd - 24th from 7am to 7pm! This is a new item they are adding to their menu and are made with non fat yogurt and real fruit! Yummy and healthy!

Make sure to check your local store to see if they are participating.

Our frugal date night!

My husband and I strive to have regular date nights every other week or so. 

Here is the plan for our date tonight! :)

We will enjoy a movie and pizza at home.  We plan to watch the new family movie, The Jensen Project (airing at 8/7c), on NBC and enjoy a $0.49 Tombstone pizza!  Then we might have hot Nestle chocolate chip cookies ($0.50) and Breyer’s vanilla icecream ($2.00) - bought with coupons of course!

How is that for a frugal date? Under $3.00! :)

What dates have you done in the past that were frugal?

7/18 Sunday coupon preview

Go here to preview the coupons that will be in the 7/18 Sunday paper. 

There should be just one SmartSource insert.

FREE online money management!

Here is a great freebie for you that might actually help you save more money!!

Sign up today with Mint.  It is FREE to sign up!  Mint is an online program that helps you manage and organize your money and budget.  We all need help with that and what better than a FREE program to help us do that!  There are many programs that will help you with managing your money, but you can pay $100 or more for them!  Mint comes highly recommended as the best FREE program that will help you manage your money.

I am actually starting to use it too.  I know that we can save more money by just managing the money that we have better! 

Have you tried it?  And what was your thoughts about it?

Get 50% off at Coldstone Creamery

Have you signed up with Groupon yet? 

Groupon can be thought of as a “group coupon.”  You get a daily email with an offer for a restaurant or service in your area at 90% retail price!  Once a certain number of people agree to buy that deal, it becomes a “groupon”.

Today’s deal is 50% off at Coldstone Creamery.  You can get a $10 giftcard for $5!!  Yummy!!  Sounds like a perfect summer date to me! 

The gift certificates can also be bought as gifts!  So you might find you can start doing some of your Christmas shopping early – spa day at 75% off would be a great present for someone.

Sign up today to access today’s deal and a new one each day!  There have been some really good deals recently

Have you joined MySavings?

Ever wonder where myself and other bloggers find about the deals we share with you?  It is from people like you who post deals in a online forum or community.  MySavings is one of those online coupon forums or communities.

There are many things you can do at MySavings.  You can chat with others or read what others are saying about deals they are finding at the stores.  This is how we all find about unadvertised deals! 

You can also get access to many printable coupons and sign up for lots of FREE samples!

Check out MySavings today!  You might find some great deals even I have missed! :)  If you do, I’d love for you to share with me!

Coupons in the News

Here are 2 more great articles written about coupons:

7 steps to an organized and ant free pantry

How to have a stockpile but not let it take over your entire house! :)

Save big by AVOIDING the “Every day low prices” stores

My favorite!  It really can be cheaper to avoid (for the most part) stores like Wal-mart and stick with the grocery stores.  Two main reasons: supermarkets double coupons, Wal-mart does not,  and Supermarkets have more rock bottom price sales that beat Wal-mart’s everyday low prices.

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I would love to hear your opinion after you read the articles!  Are you a supermarket shopper or “Every day low price” store shopper?

Join Centsible Savings on facebook!

Are you on facebook?  It seems like everyone is nowadays! :)

If so, join Centsible Savings on facebook!

I sometimes publish “facebook only” posts right to my facebook page and even offer facebook only giveaways from time to time.

(In fact, I am having a facebook only coupon insert giveaway over there right now!)

So go “friend” me there now and enter the giveaway!