Friday Savings

Today at Walmart, I spent $72.37, and had $8.48 in coupons. My best 2 coupons were for free items. From a Kraft Summer Pack, I received a coupon for free lunchmeat, which was $3, and I had a free coupon for Kashi crackers(charity), which was $2.98. I also had a coupon for a free travel size Downy wrinkle releaser, but I couldn't find it.

At Vons today, I spent $10.96 and saved $13.56, which is 55%. Oscar Meyer hot dogs were $.99 + 2 coupons for $1 off 2 hot dogs, Gerber Graduate toddler meals for $1, and Lucerne Novelties ice cream for $2.50. The ice cream was supposed to be $1.49, but I realized the price I paid after I checked out(the savings doesn't always show until you get your receipt), but it was too late to fix it because I needed a coupon to get the extra savings. I had the coupon, but of course it was still inside the flier, not clipped with my other coupons where it should have been! Oh well! I learned my lesson there, to make sure when I'm looking through the fliers to cut out the coupons when I see them, rather than wait until I'm shopping, because I will obviously forget about them.

At Ralphs today, I spent $9.71 and saved $16.19! That was the best deal of the day. Peaches were only $.88/pound and Nabisco crackers were $1.88 + $1 off 2 crackers.

New Covergirl Blast Makeup

I love to try out new products, especially when I get them for free. So, I joined this site: http://www.bzzagent.com. It's a great site and it's also tied to another site I'm part of: http://www.mypoints.com. As I complete various tasks at the Bzzagent site, I earn points that go to the Mypoints site, which I redeem for Walmart gift cards, which I use when I go grocery shopping.

So, anyway, back to the topic. One of the Bzzagent campaigns is for Covergirl's new Blast Makeup. I received a purple plume SmokyShadow blast. The eyeshadow is convenient because everything you need to apply the eyeshadow and eyeliner is just in one container. I had to put a lot of eyeshadow on in order for it to be seen behind my glasses, but it did look nice. Here is the link about the product:http://www.covergirl.com/products/collections/blast/, so you can see it for yourself.

I also received a sparkler(shade of pink) ShineBlast lipgloss, which I really love! It's easy to apply because it has a shaped applicator, and it made my lips sparkle. It also helped ease my chapped lips. I would definitely buy this for myself. Here is the link to the product: http://www.covergirl.com/products/product.jsp?productId=shineblast_lipgloss, so you can see it for yourself.

Let me know if you've tried either of these products, and what you think about them.

Monday Savings

On Saturday at CVS, I spent $3.39 and saved $12.86! Now that's a great deal! Too bad I can't figure out how to do that every time at every store. Del Monte ketchup was on sale for $1(us and charity), Lady Speed Stick for $2.99 + $2 extra bucks for next time(charity), Dial Soap for $1.88 + $1 extra bucks + $.35 coupon(charity), and VO5 shampoo and conditioner for $.77(us and charity). I also used 2 $4 extra bucks that I earned last week. I learned something new this week: they also give out rain checks for items that are on sale and have extra bucks rewards. I knew they gave them for sale prices, but I never knew they gave them for extra bucks. That's why "it never hurts to ask."

At Smart & Final today, I spent $5.70 and saved $3.92. Broccoli was on sale for $.69/pound, First Street 8 oz. shredded cheese for $1.49, and First Street salad dressing for $.99(us and charity). They also had Oscar Meyer hot dogs buy one get one free, but one package is $3.49 and 2 packages at Walmart are $3, so it's cheaper to just buy them at Walmart.

At Albetsons I spent $21.92 and saved $16.03. Lunchables were on sale for $1, celery for $.99 each, Shopper's value ice cream cups for $2.49, Shopper's Value ice cream for $1.99, and sweet onions for $.99/pound. It always pays to check your receipts because I noticed I was charged $1.69/pound for the onions. I went to the customer service desk and pointed it out. They found out I was charged for the wrong onions and they refunded my money. I asked if I should pay there or get back in line to pay the right price for the onions and she told me it was their error, so the onions were mine to keep for free!

Friday Savings

Today at Walmart, I spent $72.78. I had $6.25 worth of coupons. I also had a $25 gift card that I redeemed with some of my credit card rewards program points. So, I only had to pay $47.78. Not bad! A couple of items that had "rolled back" prices were 1 pound of Great Value noodles for $.88(charity), and their Bakery cookies were only $1.77.

At Vons today, I spent $$25.29 and saved $23.11, which is 48%. Vons can fruit was on sale for $.88(charity), cream cheese $.99, boneless and skinless chicken breasts $1.97/pound, $.99 Fresh Express salad + $.55 coupon + doubled for $.44 making the salad free, Trix and Gogurt for $2 + $.80 ecoupon + $.35 coupon, Dryers for $2.49, Toaster Strudels for $1.88 + 1.00 coupon, and sliced olives for $.99.

At Ralphs today I spent $5.99 and saved $14.16! That was the best deal of the day, but it almost wasn't - I'll explain in a minute. Doritos were on sale for $1.25 and raspberries for $.99. After I checked out, I looked at the receipt and noticed 2 of the Doritos were $3.79 each. So, the cashier and I looked at the ad and it was 4 for $5 and in small print it stated "Limit 4." So, I returned those 2 Doritos for a refund. You really have to read the ads carefully because that small print can get you every time; and always check your receipt to make sure you really received the sale price.

My Daughter's Creations

My 11 year old daughter loves to make things for me for my birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, anything. She crocheted this basket cover for me because she didn't want me to get poked and hurt by the pieces of wicker sticking out of the basket anymore. She chose purple because it's my favorite color. Amazingly, she did this all by herself, without a pattern or anything. She just started crocheting, and kept measuring it around the basket(without my knowledge of course, so it would be a surprise), and then crocheted on handles so it would attach to the basket. I wish I knew how to make things without a pattern, like she does! Some other time I will share with you more of the things she's made.

Teacher Apple and Chalkboard Bookmark

I just listed this bookmark in my Etsy shop. It is a perfect practical end of the year gift for your child's teacher - including p.e., speech, music or Sunday School teacher. I also have several other teacher items, like keychains, magnets, buttons, and a tissue box. You can see them for yourself by clicking on the link to my Etsy shop on the right sidebar.

I also have several similar items for Father's Day and graduation, including a Precious Moments photo album.

Monday Savings

On Saturday at CVS, I spent $19.39 and saved $21.27! Bumble Bee tuna was $.49(charity), Gold Emblem vegetables were $.49(us and charity), Gold Emblem potato chips were $1, and Crest Pro Health rinse and toothpaste were $2.75. The Crest was supposed to be on sale for $3.50 with $3.50 in Extra Bucks. Lucky for me, they rang up at $2.75. I showed the price difference to the clerk and also asked her for my Extra Bucks because they hadn't printed up. She told me the price was fine, since it was in the computer, and when she printed up my Extra Bucks they came up as $4! She said sometimes the computer rounds up, so I "made" $2.50 on the Crest! I also used Extra Bucks coupons earned last week for $2 and $6, and because I also paid for my son's prescription, I was able to use a $4 coupon off $20. That was a pretty good deal!

At Smart & Final today, I spent $8.66 and saved $6.48. Trix yogurt was on sale for $1.99 + $.75 coupon, red grapes were $.89/pound, asparagus was $1.99/pound and it was the thin asparagus that we like, and navel oranges were $.89/pound. I was going to buy oranges at Albertsons, but they were on sale for $.99/pound. So, when I saw the price here, I bought it here instead. That's why it's good to have some of your prices memorized.

At Albertsons, I spent $5.15, and saved $5.50. Cantaloupe was on sale for $.69/pound, pears for $.99/pound, and Michelina's for $.50 + $1 coupon. Unfortunately 2 of my Michelina's rang up for $1 but it was still a good deal and since my son had a cold and we still had one more place to go, and he already had to go to the bathroom in the store, I decided I would just let it go.

Friday Savings

O.K., now don't fall over when you read how much I had to spend at Walmart today. I spent $87.77, but there's a few very good reasons. My 3 year old son was sick this week, so he ate all of our "sick food," like soup, saltines, graham crackers, etc., and drank the Pedialyte. So, I had to replace all of that, and Pedialyte is expensive even with a $1.50 coupon, because I always like to have it on hand. He also threw up on the bath mat and I washed it, but it totally fell apart in the washer. So, I had to replace that, which was $10. I also had to buy a few grocery items that I would normally buy at Costco because I didn't have time to go there this week. Then my older son's band performance pants have to be dry cleaned, and it's cheaper to do it at home, but the Bounce dry cleaning sheets, still cost almost $9 for the box. So, all of that added at least $35 to my normal trip.

I didn't go to Vons today because I either didn't need anything that they had on sale, or Walmart's prices beat it.

I did go to Ralphs and spent $12.10 and saved $13.80, more than 50%! Gatorade was on sale for $.79, Hostess twinkies and cupcakes for $1.77, and Lunchables for $1.25. I know you can buy Little Debbies or Mrs. Freshleys sometimes at the Dollar Store, but once in awhile, when there's a good sale of course, I like to get the kids something different, like Hostess.

Blog Makeover Giveaway


WAHMaholic is giving away a blog makeover. It's up to $100 worth of WordPress or Blogger Makeover. The contest runs from now until May 31. Here's the link to her site: http://wahmaholic.com/. I joined the contest as soon as I heard about it because I would love to win a blog makeover. I have no idea how to do it myself, so this would be great for me. Good luck to all of you!



Coupon Chief.Com

CouponChief.com invited me to peruse their vast supply of coupons in the end of April. I've spent the past couple of weeks reviewing their site, and I really like what I found. I mean, of course I do, because I love coupons. http://www.couponchief.com/ is a great place to get discounts on what you buy online. There's a great video tutorial that explains the site to you. It's a great explanation of how their site works, and is very quick. It's great for someone like me who isn't so "tech savvy." It shows you step by step how the site works. I registered for the site, and you can add a profile and get e-mail alerts for any new added coupons. You can also follow them on Facebook. I really like having both options, e-mail and Facebook, because then I can see the new coupon alert no matter which one I happen to be on. You can also receive e-mail newsletters to keep you up to date on the site.

A couple of features I really like is you can send coupons to your friends and you can add an online store. Since I sell online on Etsy, I'm definitely going to look into this more about how I can offer coupons to my Etsy store. It would be a great way to bring in more business.

I know a lot of you that blog, post online coupon codes, and now you can get paid for doing that!
http://www.couponchief.com/pays2share shows you how to upload coupons(http://www.couponchief.com/coupons/submit), and every time someone uses that coupon code, you get 2% of the sales by check or Paypal. This is a great feature that a lot of you can use. I know I look forward to doing this the next time I see a coupon code from the dance store, or anywhere else.

My favorite feature is http://www.couponchief.com/coupons4causes. 20% of your purchase goes to your favorite charity, school, or church. You know how I love giving to charity, so of course this is my favorite feature! Neither my kids' school or our church are on this site, but one of my favorite charities is, so I signed up to give to them. If I wanted to, I could e-mail the site and ask them to add a charity.

Here's an example of how to find a coupon if you don't know the exact store you're looking for, but you know what you're shopping for. I wanted to look up dance apparel, so I looked for that in a tag and I found:http://www.couponchief.com/tags/dance_apparel. I found several coupons for Danskin:http://www.couponchief.com/danskin. Next time I need to buy some dance clothes or shoes for my daughter, I know where to go.

I also found a ton of great coupons for Toys R Us:http://www.couponchief.com/toysrus. The next holiday or birthday I need to buy for, I will definitely look here first. They have great coupons for outdoor play, Legos, video games, baby and toddler items, Barbies, and just general percent off coupons.

So, this is a site I really like and I will definitely be using it to find coupons, get paid for finding coupons, and advertising my store. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

Monday Savings

At CVS, I spent $27.48, and saved $9.92. That doesn't sound like much, but as you'll see, I earned extra bucks that I can use next time. Prilosec 42 tablets was $24.99+ $8 extra bucks + $3 coupon, Colgate Total was $2.99 + $2 extra bucks + $.75 coupon (charity), and Dawn $.9 + $.25 coupon.

I didn't go to Smart & Final today because the only sale item they had that I needed was $.99/pound green beans. The distance to the store wasn't worth it for that one purchase.

At Albertson's today, I spent $19.94 and saved $12.44. Hot Pockets were $1.88 + $.40 coupon, Lunchables $1.50, Danimals yogurt $1.99 + $.75 coupon, and Pepperidge Farms cookies $1.99.

Friday Savings

Today at Walmart, I spent $53.92, which isn't bad, especially since included in that is a $10 pork roast. This time I only had $1.45 in coupons. We also needed 24 mechanical pencils for $5, which is a pretty good price, and my husband was with us, so he also bought athletic tape for $2. At least that's all he bought, usually when he's with us he also buys fishing stuff.

At Vons today, I got some pretty good deals. I spent $13.83, and saved $14.20, which is 51%! Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios were on sale for $1.49 + $1 coupon + 3 -$.55 coupons(2 paper and 1 e-coupon), + one of the $.55 coupons was doubled, Sure for Men was $2.29 + $1.50 coupon(charity), and regular Sure $2.29 + $1 coupon. I also had to buy ice cream cups and cake decorating gel, which weren't on sale, but Walmart doesn't have them. I wanted to buy Sara Lee bread for $1.99, but they didn't have the kind I wanted, whole grain white, so I saw a kid's whole wheat and decided to try that because it didn't look too "grainy." The cashier was not very nice(first time I've run into a rude Vons employee, usually they're super friendly), and she just grabbed the bread and put it under the counter, while telling me it wasn't the right bread. I told her the coupon specified whole wheat, which that was, but she told me the coupon would never work and she was the only cashier and she could get a manger for me, but the coupon would never work no matter what. So, she wrote "rain check" on my coupon and proceeded to finish my transaction. I wanted to know the regular price of the bread, to see if it was worth buying, but she just wouldn't listen and kept telling me she was the only cashier, so I gave up. Good thing that wasn't my first experience with Vons, because otherwise I might not want to go back.

At Ralphs I spent $7.99 and saved $7.20, almost 50%. A container of strawberries was on sale for $.99, eggs for $.99, cauliflower and broccoli for $.99/pound, and Van de Kamps English muffins for $1.00. Thankfully, I encountered a very nice employee here and she showed me how to do the U-Scan(because only one regular line was open and everyone in it was buying a lot of groceries) for my vegetables. She even took my basket to put away for me, and noticed my flier was still inside, and handed it back to me. Now, that was a much better experience.

Dance Competition this Weekend - Follow Up

Well, things certainly didn't go as planned this past weekend. I got a call from the school nurse on Friday at lunch, because my 13 year old son wasn't feeling good. He thought it was because he didn't get to eat his snack or drink anything for several hours because the band played for several assemblies. So, I brought him home and he had some Gatorade and then took a nap. Unfortunately he still wasn't feeling better, so my daughter and I had to head off to the dance competition alone. It took us 2 hours to get there, and of course, I missed the turn to the hotel, and ended up at the Universal Studios parking entrance. I was crying and luckily the parking attendant was kind and told me how to turn around and find our hotel. We finally found it and parked at the first spot I found. We checked in, saw some other dance friends, and got settled in our room.

The next morning, we woke up early and had to do part of my daughter's hair, because after 6 hours of dance classes, she would only have a few minutes to get ready for competition. I dropped her off at her classes, and took a walk around the hotel. I went back to the room and refilled the ice chest with ice. I decided to call and see how my son was doing. My husband and younger son had left him there with no breakfast. Luckily he can make his own toast, so I told him to do that, and then called my husband. They headed home and soon after that my husband called to tell me they were on their way to the emergency room! When he went home and tried to get my son to drink something, he refused, so off they went to the ER. I begged him to wait until the afternoon until my daughter had a chance to compete, but he refused. So, I had to go down to the ballroom, and pull my daughter out of class. I first found other dance moms, who were very concerned with me, because by this point I was sobbing. I was so sad for my daughter to miss this weekend, I was concerned about my son, and frustrated with my husband. Another mom found our dance teacher, and some moms were willing to keep my daughter there with them, but she wanted to come with me. So, we packed everything up and checked out, and drove 3 hours to the ER. I stayed there with my son and everyone else went home. Five hours, 3 iv bags of fluid, and 2 medications later, we headed home.
So, although this weekend didn't turn out the way we wanted, I did end up having some positive experiences. First, I never knew any of the dance moms actually liked us, and was happy to find out they do - one mom even told me she knows I think I'm all alone, but I'm really not. Second, the hotel check-out lady didn't charge me for the second night since it was an emergency and she wanted to pray for my son by name. Third, the dance teacher wasn't mad and isn't going to charge us a re-staging fee, and my daughter is still free to try out again next year. God is good!

Monday Savings

My CVS savings for last week: I spent $3.52 and saved $9.63! Van Camps pork and beans were $.50, Palmolive dish liquid $.88 + $.70 coupon(even the cashier commented on the great savings, so I told her about using my savings for charity - hopefully it will make her do the same), Irish spring soap $.99(charity), and Kraft parmesan cheese $2.99. I also had $1.80 Extra Bucks from last week's shopping trip.

At Smart & Final today I spent $10.39 and saved $13.98. General Mills cereal was on sale for $1.99 + two $.55, and $1 off coupons, white corn for $.33 each, oranges $.33 per pound, and Wishbone salad dressing $1.00. You don't need to have a card there anymore for their savings; it's deducted automatically at the cash register.

At Albertson's today, not too much was on sale that I needed. I spent $7.07 and saved $4.70. Cheezits were $3.79 each, which isn't much of a savings, but the store had a coupon for $2 off, and it said it would make them $1.50 each. Obviously, if you do the math, that wasn't the case, but I didn't have the coupon anymore, the cash register did, so I didn't bother to dispute it. Also, cream cheese was $1.49.