My Memories Suite Online Code and Giveaway!

Hello Frugal Friends!  I know that there are many of you out there that are crafty as well as frugal.  There aren't too many things that we can't find a great deal on, right?  Right!  Here's a great deal that I want to share with you.  You can get the #1 rated digital scrapbook software in America with an awesome discount right now.

Head over to My Memories Suite and use the code: STMMMS95032 to get a $10 discount on the digital software and $10 coupon for the My Memories online store.  This code is specifically just for Saving Money: 101 frugal friends! 

I have been given an opportunity to "test drive" this software so that I can let you all know what it's like, before you buy it.  I have to say, it's super easy to use and there is an abundance of different themes to choose from.  You can pick a designer template already created, or design your own project with really cute backgrounds, adorable embellishments and different fonts and shapes. Even though I have only played around on this software a short time, I can tell that the possibilities are endless!  This can not only be used for scrap booking, but I could see some awesome paper craft projects come together with this software.  Head over to the My Memories website and take a look around.  If you are a seasoned scrapper or a creative new paper crafter, I think you will be impressed. 

My Memories have offered a giveaway for one lucky Saving Money: 101 frugal friend.  I am hosting a giveaway for one free download of their really awesome software!  You can enter as many times as there are options.  Please make sure to leave your e-mail address in each entry so I can contact you with the code and instructions to download your software once I choose a winner.  Winner will be chosen at random (most likely by my husband or son picking a number) on Saturday, 10/8/11.

Here's the many ways how you can enter:

1.  Get one friend to "like" Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money 101 on Facebook.  Once they have, come back here and leave a comment with their name.

2.  Post a deal (free, cheap, match-up, price match, whatever!) on the Sharing the Wealth Facebook wall and come back here and leave a comment.

3.  Leave a comment stating what your favorite digital scrapbooking kit over at My Memories is.

4.  Leave a comment stating how long you have been scrapbooking/paper crafting.

5.  Leave a comment on how long you have been couponing.

There you have it, 5 different ways to enter!  You have a week to check out this creative software and get your entries in....GO!  

Join Us On Facebook!

Head on over to Facebook and "like" Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101.  Going forward all the regular deals posts have been transferred over there.  Feel free to share with your friends and have them "like" us too!  The more the merrier!  If you have some great finds, please share them.....post your deals on our wall so everyone can benefit.  See you there!

Two New Money Saving Blogs

Hello Frugal Friends!  I just wanted to point out to you that I have added two new money saving blogs under our list of favorites.  For my frugal friends who like to shop organically, you are going to LOVE these!  There aren't too many money saving blogs that are centered toward organic deals so I was super excited to find these.

The first one is Your Green Helper and this site offers tons of tips on getting started with being more "green" and shopping organically.  There are deal scenarios for places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, two stores in our area that are really centered toward organic/healthy eating.  I know a couple of my frugal friends are planning trips to these stores soon, so I was super happy to find this one for them.  By the looks of these scenarios, shopping organically can be affordable!  You can like them on facebook here.

The other is a forum called Organic Grocery Deals.  You have to sign up for this one, and log in every time you want to check in on deals.  It's a format similar to Couponers Wanted, so if you use that site a lot, you will feel comfortable here.  There's lots of info at this site too, not only on deals but getting started and ideas for many ways to "green" your life.  You can like them on facebook here.

I was surprised at the number of my frugal friends who shop organically, I had no idea!  Had I known, I would have incorporated more money saving blogs ages ago!  And for those that don't shop organically, don't worry, this blog is not turning into an organic only blog....I promise there will be lots of deals to share that are not for organic products still, right now I am concentrating on that area in my own life so I just happen to be finding lots of new info in that area.  In the meantime, "like" Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101 on facebook and share some of your own great finds on the wall.

All Natural "Green" Cleaning Products

In my efforts to make our diet and  home healthier, I discovered the importance of ridding our environment of harmful chemicals.  These toxins actually accumulate in your plasma and make you feel miserable.  I am the kind of person who has to see things to believe them, and I saw first hand through my own live blood analysis the effects of toxins in your plasma.

While we were renovating our rental house for our frugal adventure I spent A LOT of time at Menards.  Of course the deal seeker in me had me always making my way through the grocery and cleaning products aisles (probably why I spent way more time than I should have in the store!) to see if there was something I couldn't pass up.  It was there that I did find something that I couldn't pass up; all natural "green" cleaning products, made in the USA that were REALLY affordable, even without coupons!!

The company name is Resolution and is distributed through Menards.  They have TONS of products from laundry detergent to dish soaps.  There's a natural degreaser, window wash, tub & tile cleaner, and many more.  These are all plant based products that have no bleach, phosphates, harsh fumes or residues.  They are not tested on animals and are all totally biodegradable.  The list of ingredients includes things like purified water, natural plant based oils and organic salts, just to name a few.  Sounds great, right?  Sounds expensive, right?  WRONG!  The regular prices on these products are amazing!  A large 32 oz. bottle spray bottle of cleaners ranges from $1.50 to $3.00 each.  That's cheaper than the original price on many of the name brand toxic products out there, and almost cheaper than what you can get lots of those products for with coupons.  The great thing is that when Menards had them on sale it was even better!

I have tried a couple of these products already and I think they work great!  The one that I would NOT recommend is the dish soap.  It just doesn't hold any suds whatsoever, and a couple minutes into washing dishes you are left with a sink of just water.  Everything else so far passes with flying colors!  So, if you are looking for a very cost effective way to clean with less toxic chemicals, I highly recommend checking out Resolution products at Menards.  It's easy on your environment and your pocket book!

Time for Change

A lot is changing in my life and around our house.  Life has been extremely busy lately, and I just feel like I can't get ahead or even keep up any more.  Summer seems like it's passing me by and I have not yet had a chance to enjoy it.  I talked with several of my frugal friends this morning and it seems as if no one has had time for much deal seeking or coupon shopping.  I am so thankful for my stockpile now more than ever.  I have a stack of inserts to look through from 5/1 thru present!!!  In the midst of all this busy-ness, I am making lots of changes in our lifestyle, habits and routines.

Due to some recent health issues, I have become very interested in what I am putting into my body and on my family dinner table.  I starting seeing a N.D. (Naturpathic Doctor) and I love it!  The first change I am making is our eating habits.  I have been very interested in eating better lately and trying to feed my family better.  A few sources that I learned a lot from are the documentary Food Matters and the book The China Study.  I highly recommend both of these to anyone that is interested in the quality and value (by value, I mean nutritional, not dollars and cents) of your food.  Food Matters is available on Netflix and you could probably get it through your local library also.  You can check out more info on the documentary here, and even catch a snippet of the film.  The book The China Study can also come from the local library or book store.  I picked mine up on Kindle for iPad through Amazon.  This book offers hard evidence and many years of studies and research to back up it's nutritional information.  There is a documentary based on this book just being released now that I would love to see, it's called Forks Over Knives.   You can check out release dates and info about it here.  I also learned quite a bit from my neighbor, friend and farmer, Jim Evans of Ready Jam Farms.  Jim runs a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture co-op that offers locally grown, non genetically modified, totally organic produce to his customers each week through the co-op and our local farmer's market.  He's an individual farmer with respect for the environment and land, and most of all his customers.  


With that being said, I have made a commitment to do two things to start out.  One is to buy organic when I can get it.  Sometimes it's just not convenient and I won't be able to, but if it's available I will buy all my fruits and veggies organically grown, or grow them myself.  Two, is to eat AT LEAST 50% of each meal as raw, whole foods, from plant based sources.  That means fresh fruits, veggies, nuts with every meal, and 50% of what I am consuming.  Yes, I am starting out slow.  That is because if I try to do too much at once I will get overwhelmed and give up.  I am trying to make changes to last a lifetime, and trying to do it right.  Does this mean I am going to throw away everything in my stockpile and start new, no.  Another reason I am starting out slow.  We will use up as much from our pantry as we can first and then replace with better products as we run out.  I don't want to be wasteful and if I make these subtle changes gradually over time rather than overnight, my family will be less resistant to the change also.  Does this mean I won't be deal shopping any longer, no!  I will be seeking out deals on organic items, and still getting the best deals that I can.  It will change the deals that I blog...more about that a little later.  


You are probably thinking right now, how much more expensive this is going to be on our family food budget.  Organic foods are generally higher priced than the more readily available foods.  You are right, it is going to be more costly up front, right now.  But I am thinking into the future.  If I put forth the extra efforts now, I will save on health care costs in the future.  It's a balancing act and one that I think is a very good investment.  


So, with the time it takes to change habits and learn new ones, grow a garden, learn new recipes and educate myself even more, there's been less and less time for me to coupon shop or post deals on this blog.  That brings me to the next change.  I am changing up the platform for sharing deals with my frugal pals and I think that you will enjoy it.  I have created a Facebook page for deals and frugal finds.  You can "like" the page Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101 here and YOU can share your frugal finds on the wall also.  This means there is a potential to find MORE deals if we all start to share our shopping successes.  This blog and all it's info will still be here.  You can still print coupons from here, find links to great money saving blogs, see the Sunday Coupon Preview and have all The Basics right at your finger tips.  I would never take all that great info away!  


So, take this as your personal invitation to join Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101 and start sharing YOUR great finds! I just ask that you only post deals that are tried and true, and you make sure to include as much info as you can in your post.  Make sure to be specific and give inserts or links of where the coupons needed for the deal can be found.  If you are posting about finding coupons such as WT's, peelies, blinkies, etc, make sure to give store names and locations so others can take advantage of them too!  Links to money saving blogs with deal write ups or scenarios for local stores are also welcome.  I am looking forward to interacting with all my frugal friends through Facebook!  See you there! 

John Frieda MM @ Wags

There's some good deals at Wags this week, I found one in particular that I wanted to share with you.

John Frieda products (one of my favorites) are on sale B1G150% OFF.  Most of the products I found were priced around $6.49 each, which means the second product would be $3.25 each; or $9.74 for two.  In the 6/5 SS insert there's some good John Frieda coupons.  There's one for $5.00 off any one Full Repair product.  If you have two inserts, pick up two of these products (pictured above) and use two of the coupons for a .26 MM and some nice FREE salon type products.  Even if you only have one insert, using any combination of those John Frieda product coupons would make for an awesome deal.

Don't Miss This One!

I love Tuesday's for my mail.  We get the weekly RedPlum advertisements in our mail, and usually included are ads for Jewel, Farm & Fleet, and our little local mom and pop grocery store, Wisted's (Centrella).  I browse through all the flyers, even if I have no intension of shopping at the stores.  I check out prices and scope out extra coupons.  I always find lots of interesting extra coupons like this one that came today.  It's for one free gallon of milk (up to $3.75) with the purchase of 4 Dannon multi-packs.  It's a manny Q so it can be used anywhere.  Well, guess what?!?  I was planning on buying some yogurt when I went to Walmart for some necessities tomorrow!!  Bonus!!  Make sure you check your local ads for lots of good coupons like this one.  I know some of the other smaller stores (Valli, Pacemaker, etc) put these same coupons in their ads too.

There are some Dannon coupons in the 6/5 RP & 6/5 SS to make this deal even sweeter!  Use those coupons on your 4 multi-packs and you have yourself some cheap milk and yogurts!

Frugal Adventure Update

Renovations are done!  Well, 99.9% done anyway.  The inside is completely done,and the tenants moved in over Memorial Day weekend.  There are just a few minor projects outside that we need to wrap up, but those are small and will take no time at all to complete.  I am just SO happy the inside is done, and was completed on time for our renters.  WHEW! We have come a long way!!  Our renters happen to be one of my frugal friends, Corinne, and her family.  I wish them many years of happiness in their new home!

I have lots of photos to share with you, all of the completed project.  If you would like to start by checking out what it looked like before we started, check here, here and here.

Let me take you on a tour!

We will start upstairs with the Master Bedroom......

Lovely large closet!! 

 Next, one of the other two bedrooms....

refinished existing wood floor

new closet doors, when we started there was no door or framing for one

 The other bedroom.....

 The Hallway....

 looking up

looking down

 The upstairs bath....

 The living room (that is the doorway to go upstairs)...

new wood floors (see comment below)

new front door

 The dining room...

replaced ugly light with a nice ceiling fan

The kitchen.... (my favorite part of the project)

all new: cabinets, appliances, flooring - you name it, it's new!

that is the door that goes to the basement

extra cabinet space in an open area that we didn't know what to do with

cabinets open on both sides on the peninsula with an overhang for a breakfast area

a new addition...a large pantry

(I was sure to make it nice and large since Corinne is a couponer!!)

 The main bath (downstairs).  This did not exist before.

 The outside....(not much changed there, cleaned up and put up the shutters)

The carpet upstairs and the wood floors in the living room and dining rooms were installed by my frugal friend, Nicole's husband.  Chris Vincent of Vincent Carpeting, Inc. did a great job!  He was very reasonably priced and worked quickly.  He was able to get us scheduled right away when we requested it and was very professional about the entire project.  I highly recommend Vincent Carpeting, Inc.  You can reach Chris at 815-978-6911 if you need any kind of flooring work done, you won't be disappointed!

I love how light everything is now, one of the things that I just could not stand in this house is that everything...every room, every nook and cranny, was SO dark.  I had to do everything I could to lighten up the house and make it more cheery and airy.

I haven't tallied up any figures to know where we are at in our challenge, but I do know with the work that we decided to do it will take a little longer than expected!  Property taxes are higher than we expected as well as the insurance policy needed on a rental property.

Our next step is to have our "Estate Sale" or "Resale" to sell off some of the items that we obtained from the inside of the house.  We have begun setting up in our barn for this sale, but it's still going to be a little while to sort through all the stuff.  Man that guy had A LOT of stuff!  As soon as we have a date set in stone I will post about it so if anyone wants to come check it out they can.

FREE Wilkinson Disposable Razors @ Walmart

It seems as if I have been at Walmart everyday for the past few days!  With opening our pool and needing chemicals, unexpected prescriptions to pick up and a few necessities I think I have been there for three days in a row.  I hope to have a break tomorrow.

Anyway, I have a money making FREEBIE for you!  The 4 pack of Wilkinson Classic Twin disposable razors for men or women are .97 each.  Use the $1.00 off coupon from Coupons.com at zip code 62946 to get these FREE with .03 overage to do with as you please.  These may be a little hard to find, look on the bottom row of the razor aisle, in the bins, not on pegs with the expensive razors.  There is a men's version in a blue bag, and the women's version is pictured above.  My store had plenty of stock on both of these.

While I was there I noticed they restocked the Nexcare bandages, so I grabbed a few more of these also.  At least now if I cut myself shaving with these FREE razors, I have plenty of bandages to use!  :)

FREE Nexcare Bandages @ Walmart and an Update

Just in time for all those summertime cuts and scrapes we have FREE bandages!  Use this $1.00 off coupon at Walmart for these Nexcare $1.00 bandages. This is a .pdf coupon so print as many as you think you need for the summer, and think back-to-school too! You might want to save this one to your computer for future use, it has a nice long expiry date.   (note: if you are shopping at MY Walmart there's only two left on the shelf)

And then an update on the $1  blackberries I posted about yesterday;  they are gone!  The new shipment came in and now they are $2.48.  I wanted to get a few more packages because they were delish...I missed the boat on that one.  :-(

I did, however price match some more soda for 4/$8.  Even with no coupons that is a great sale!  We are stocked for most of the summer now with all types of soda.

Good Deal Alert - Berries and Soda @ Walmart

My Walmart (Belvidere, IL) had 1 pound packages of Dole strawberries and 12 oz. packages of blackberries for $1.00 each today.  This is an awesome price for berries, in season or not!  If you happen to be at Walmart grab a few packages and make a yogurt parfait....YUM!  Report back if you find them at other Walmart stores so everyone can benefit from this great price.

By the way, these berries look spectacular too!  Sometimes when you see them this cheap they are over ripe and mushy or even sometimes starting to get moldy.  Not these, they are firm and vibrant in color!

Next, if you can get your hands on a Jewel ad you can price match for an awesome deal on soda through the end of the day on Wednesday (tomorrow).  Jewel has Coke and Pepsi products on sale for 4/$8 with a $20 purchase.  Today I price matched 8 - 12 packs of both products with no problems.  They weren't  even concerned about looking closely at the ad so I am guessing they would not notice that a $20 grocery purchase is part of the sale.  If you have coupons this is an even sweeter deal!  I had a $3 Pepsi coupon from a local grocers ad and a $2 Coke coupon from a Jewel coupon booklet.  In the end I paid $11 for 8 - 12 packs.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Walgreens Super Hero

Today I stopped in at "my" Walgreens to scope out some deals. It felt great to get back into the swing of deal seeking! Our house project (photos to come soon!) is just about complete. There's just a few more outside things that need to be finished up then we are done. Our tenants moved in yesterday because the inside is all finished.

So, in trying to catch up and replenish my stockpile, I hit Walgreens and Walmart today. While I was wandering the aisles at Walgreens I turned from deal seeking coupon shopper to Walgreens Super Hero.

I was standing at the back of the store by the end of aisle 8 checking my list and organizing coupons when I looked up to witness a woman open boxes of cold medicines and dump them into her purse and throw the empty boxes down on the shelf. At first I was really caught off guard, and had a hard time believing what my eyes had just seen. I watched her walk away, grab a 6 pack of Coke and head toward the registers. My quick thinking kicked in so I grabbed the empty boxes and started searching for the manager who I had just had a conversation with minutes before. I swiftly handed them off to him and told him what I saw. By the time he got up to the front of the store, she was already in the parking lot, and had also stuffed the 6 pack in her very large purse. He was able to get her license plate # and watched her blow through a red light to get the heck out of dodge. He came back into the store and immediately contacted the police department. By the time I checked out and got out to my van the police were pulling up.

Fast forward a couple hours later, after the rest of my errands, I was home and the phone rang. An officer was calling to get my side of the story, which I politely explained in detail. He then reported to me that they caught her, and she admitted the whole thing. It's hard to deny it when there's an eye witness and camera footage!

Does't this woman know that theft doesn't pay, but coupon shopping does? ;-)


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Printable Hormel Coupons

Here's a link to some printable coupons for Hormel products.  This is what you will find:

 - Save $1.00 on any one Hormel Completes KIDS microwave meal
 - Save $1.00 on any one Hormel Always Tender product. Any variety.
 - Save $.55 on any two Hormel Pepperoni products. Any variety.
 - Save $1.00 on any three Hormel Completes microwave meals. Any variety.

We don't see coupons for these products too often, so get them now while you can!  I don't know the price of the kids meals, but that has got to make them in the range of 50% off to FREE. 

Come and report back if you find a great sale to use these on!

Crimson Ridge Clearance - Today ONLY

**UPDATE**  This is also continuing on Sunday, May 22 - last day!

My frugal pal Melissa just texted me about this HOT, HOT clearance sale.  Crimson Ridge has a clearance store on Perryville in Rockford, IL right next door to their regular store.  Today ONLY everything in the clearance store is only $1.00 each.  Melissa reports that there are thousands of items in the store.  The store is open until 5 PM today so get over there quick! 

For those of you who don't know, Crimson Ridge is a gift shop with many items like jewelry, flowers, trinkets, knick-knacks, Vera Bradley bags, etc.  If you have gifts to get, or just want to treat yourself to something special today would be the day to get out and get it!   

Come back and report all your great finds!  I would love to hear what you got. 

I am going to try real hard to get over there before they close, but I can't get there until later, which means everything may be picked over by then.

In the Home Stretch

WOW, it's been a busy couple weeks.  We are in the home stretch of our frugal adventure!!  If you want to see the progression so far, start here, then look here, and here.  Our renters are moving in over Memorial Day weekend and I think all will be complete and ready for them by then, maybe with the exception of a few last outdoor projects to finish up. 

Watch for final photos real soon, I hope to get them up as soon as I have the last little ends pulled together.  Someday in the distant future I will sit down and look at all the numbers so far and see just where we stand in our frugal adventure.  We are no where near our goal yet, but we also ended up doing a lot more to the house than we originally planned on.   

Since I have been putting in lots of hours working on various things there, I haven't been in the stores at all.  The only place I have set foot in, aside from Menards, is Wal-mart to just grab some of the essentials like milk and bananas.  I think this is the first week since I started couponing that I haven't walked into the door of a Walgreens store!  I miss my deal seeking adventures and hope to be back at it soon.  And when I do you can rest assured that I will be passing along the great deals to you again too! 

I think it is going to take me a week to organize, clean out and clip several weeks of inserts, but I am looking forward to getting back on track, especially with summertime right around the corner.  Time to stock up on all things summer!  I also think it's going to take me some time to get everything at my own house back on track, I may be slow in getting back to deal seeking, but I will get back at it! 

All I have to say is, a week without Walgreens is like a whole week without sunshine!  ;-)

Clearance Finds at Wags

My frugal pal, Danielle, texted me today to alert me of some awesome clearance finds at our Wags. Danielle found tons of kids games and toys on clearance for $1.74 and less! Time to stock up for gifts, goodies and special treats because it doesn't get much better than that!

She also found the Crayola on the go Color Wonder packs clearanced at .99 each. If you picked up one of those calendars that I previously mentioned with coupons inside, these end up being .50 each because there's a couple coupons inside for $1 off 2.

It's worth a stroll down the toy and clearance aisles at your store to see if you can find some of these good deals too!

Great finds Danielle - thanks for reporting and sharing with us!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Easter Clearance @ Shopko

For those of you who live near a ShopKo store, my frugal pal Natalie sent me this alert:

"I was at Shopko today and they have a huge clearance on Easter items.  1.5 oz. bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs are on sale for .07 a bag and so are the Creme Eggs.  Whoppers Robin Eggs are on sale for .24 for a 10 oz bag. Raspberry "Yogurt" pretzels are .39 for a small bag (they also have blueberry) and mini egg gum is on sale for .14 a container.

They also had baskets and some other items, but I didn't have time to look them over."

Thanks for sharing your clearance find with us, Natalie!

Clean & Clear Price Match @ Walmart

The new Clean & Clear body wash is on sale for $5.99/BOGO this week at Wags. There's a BOGO coupon in the 3/27 SS insert so if you use it in conjunction with the sale you get TWO free. The problem is, Wags doesn't usually have enough stock, so if you find that your Wags doesn't have any of the Clean & Clear body wash in stock this week you can still get two free bottles before the sale ends on Saturday. Take your sale flyer and coupons to Walmart where they price match competitor's sales. You shouldn't have any problems getting TWO free there, it worked great for me today. YAY! More FREE body wash! ;-D

Since you are heading there for FREE body wash, why not grab some other deals too?

Bring along your $5.00 off any Just My Size coupon from page 14 of the May All You magazine to get some good overage. I found some JMS items on clearance for under $5. I didn't have a lot of time to search the clearance racks because I had two antsy kiddos, but I did find several shirts priced at $3 each. It's being reported on the blogs that $1 items are being found, so if you have some time to really search, there's some good overage to be had!

You will also want to keep your eyes open for WT's while you are there. My Walmart has been restocking good WT's every week. These have been $1 off produce, $1 off deli purchases and $1 off your total grocery purchase. These tags are awesome since produce and deli are things we don't see a lot of coupons for.

I saw lots of hang tags, peelies and tear pads while I was there so if you have time, there's lots of good coupons to be had. When you are collecting them, think of your frugal friend and grab a feW extras! :-)

Super Bread Deal - No Coupon Needed! Local Frugal Friends Only

I have an awesome, ongoing deal to report to all my local frugal friends.  It's not too often that deals are great just by them self, with no coupons needed. 

In our small town we have a butcher.  It's Wayne's Country Market at 801 W. Grant Hwy, Marengo, IL.  Their # is (815) 568-2728 .  EVERYDAY their bread is only .50 a loaf, yep that's the regular price for ALL bread with the exception of raisin or cinnamon raisin which is $1.00 a loaf and some packages of Hawaiian breads that were only .15 each.  This includes hamburger buns, hot dog buns and whole loaves of name brand breads like Healthy Life and Cinnabon.  What a deal!  I stopped for bread today and walked out with 1-Cinnabon, 1-Healthy Life hot dog buns and 1-Healthy Life whole grain bread for $2.03.  WOW!!!  The shelves were not super full, but there was plenty there.  They told me that they get shipments on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday around 1-2 in the afternoon.  The expiration dates weren't too bad, they were close on some of the loaves, but I searched around and got some that were about 4-5 days out.  The only thing that would make this better is if they take coupons (I forgot to ask) because there are usually Healthy Life coupons pretty regularly.

Look for these at Wags - Coupon Calendars

Kudos to my 6 year old son for spotting these on clearance at my store! It just so happens that he's got a thing for light-houses right now, so when he saw this calendar on clearance for $2.50 he asked for it.  How can I resist when I see that there is $20 in coupons inside!?!?!  These are all manufacturer coupons, but they state "Redeemable exclusively at Walgreens" on them, so YMMV using them at other stores like Walmart. 

There were several different calendars to choose from and they all had coupons inside.  Some of the coupons are expired because this is a 2011 calendar and each month has coupons on the page.  The second photo shows all the unexpired coupons that I cut out of it.  Mostly school supplies and Hefty bags, but still good coupons if you can grab one of these calendars. 

I got this last week (sorry so late in posting!) so you may or may not still have luck finding these. 

Thanks, Dylan! :)

Coupon Inserts 5/1

This week is a great one to get out and grab some extra copies of the Chicago Tribune.  There's loads of great coupons in the inserts this week, and lots of inserts!  There's two that I wanted to point out so that you don't over look them.  Make sure you don't toss these in the recycle bin thinking they are just ads. 

There was an extra insert called "Moments to Save" with manufacturer coupon in it, and here's a pic of it:

Then, to my surprise I received ONE of these Target store coupon inserts in the 5 papers that I got inserts from this weekend:

All of these are store coupons, great for stacking, which it advertises right on the front of the insert.  I am just really perplexed that I only got one of these, with 5 papers.  Anyone else get these? 

All Good Things Must Come to an End

I am in mourning......deal seekers, super-couponers and extreme couponers - it's a sad, sad day. 

According to the Super-Couponing Blog, Jewel stores have made some BIG changes to the way Catalina promos are running at their stores.  For those of you that have had the wonderful experience of shopping at Jewel you will know what I am talking about when I tell you that there are no longer going to be ANY price spreads on the threshold amounts for meeting the required purchase for Catalina promos.  Yes, I feel your pain. 

You can read the original post here at the Super-Couponing site.  Here it is in a nutshell:

"Corporate has confirmed that the big Catalina update (in which the deals were totally down on Monday) also fixed the price "spread" in Catalina deals that many of us have enjoyed for quite some time. (And honestly... who didn't think that "someday," this would be fixed?)

Rest assured that we'll still continue to see great deals - the current $30/$10 diapers deal runs on regular prices and is still fabulous. But for anyone who had trouble with the ice cream deal after Monday of this week - this is why. Thanks to Tracey for confirming with corporate."

This is also being slowly confirmed over at CW by trial and error.  It appears that some stores have already downloaded the new software and this is already working.  If the store has not downloaded the new software, the Catalina's are still printing on the price spread between preferred and shelf price. 

R.I.P. Jewel

Mother's Day Gift Idea

I just want to remind you that the Silver Jewelry Club offers FREE jewelry!  These are really nice quality items, you can see my personal review here.  These items make great gifts, especially for all the Mom's in your life.  Mom's always like jewels!!  :) 

If you see something that you like, why not drop a hint to your husband or kids?  My husband always needs ideas for gifts.  Go here to browse around!  The link is always on the right sidebar, toward the bottom.  Keep it in mind for gift ideas throughout the year. 

Walgreens 4/24 thru 4/30

Happy Easter!  It's a rare occasion that I shop on a Sunday, but since I was out and about for church this morning and I had some RR's that were expiring I decided to stop for a couple quick transactions.  It's a slow week again at Wags, not a whole lot to get excited about.  There is one good MM that you will be interested in, especially if you are a Splenda user. 

Splenda is on sale for $2.99 each this week.  My store had the granulated in a box and the boxes of 100 count packets.  These are FREE when you use the $3 off coupon from the 4/17 SS.  FREE is always good, but you can turn this into a MM if you have multiple coupons.  If you purchase 3 Splenda products in one transaction, your Splenda will be FREE and you will get a $4 RR in return.  If you purchase 2 Splenda products in one transaction, out pops a $3 RR.  A good MM either way!  :)

The Luster toothpaste is on sale for $4.99 each with a $4 RR in return.  Use the $1.50 coupon from the 4/3 SS to get this FREE with .51 overage after RR.  Just be careful not to use the $4 RR from the same toothpaste deal two weeks ago (like I did) in your transaction or your RR won't print.  :(

Select Stayfree products are on sale for $2.99 each with a $3 RR in return.  Use the $1 off coupon from the 3/27 RP to turn this into a $1 MM. 

Lastly, Nexcare bandages are on sale for $2.99 each and they all have a peelie rebate on them to "Try Me Free".  These were not on the regular shelf at my store, they were on an overhead shelf above where all the bandages are.  You can max this out at 3 rebates per receipt if you purchase one of each kind they have.  There is waterproof, active and soft 'n flex to choose from.  Use as many .55 off coupons that you have from the 4/3 SS to turn this into a MM also.  Just remember to separate out into different transactions if you are sending in for more than one, and only get one of each kind in your transactions. 

That's all I've got for this week!

It's Back! Sample Showcase

Just about a year ago I posted about a new program that the USPS was sponsoring with boxes of sample products and coupons that you could sign up for.  You can see my original post here.

If you are a regular reader you will remember that relatively quickly I received the box that I signed up for.  You can see what was included in that box here. 

Well, it's back again!  Go here to sign up to see if you qualify for a box.  I just logged in today to find out that I qualified again.  If it's anything like last time, in about 20 days I should be receiving my loot.  I will be sure to post all that is included. 

Last year, my blog was featured on the Start Sampling website for my review of the samples.  Check out my post and link to that feature here.

Good Luck, I hope you qualify too!

TLC Extreme Couponing

I will have to admit, I have only watched TLC's Extreme Couponing once last season (not even a full episode) and once last night.  I generally don't watch much television, so I have only caught this show when I happen to be flipping channels at the time it's on.  Even then, I watch it only for mindless entertainment.  I consider this show pretty much a waste of time.  The only thing it's good for is the shock factor.  What it's not good for is legitimate couponers like myself and my frugal friends.  I just cringe when I see these women on this show and what they will do for their 15 minutes of fame. 

I truly wonder what these women are thinking when they dump 100+ bottles of Excedrin into their cart.  I am all for a MM deal, and shopping deals to help feed your family, I do it all the time, BUT there's a line that most of us would not cross over.  Isn't 5000 coupon inserts a week just a little bit over that line?!?  I thought that the 3 papers that I have delivered and the few extra inserts that I get from family and friends to total 8-10 (on a good week) was pushing the envelope!  Yes, I have "bought" things that my family doesn't use or need just to gain the overage, but I do it with the intention of using that overage for things that we DO need and use and I do not do it in excess.  I don't clear shelves, unless there's not much on the shelf when I get there.  I am ALWAYS very conscious of leaving stock for others. 

The other thing that I have been thinking about with this show and these shoppers is the time commitment this takes.  Some of these women said they spend 45-60 hours a week just on deal seeking and couponing.  Yes, they are saving their families huge amounts of money, but at what "expense"?   I would never trade quality time with my family for the extreme couponing that these women do.  Somethings you just can't put a price on. 

Another thing that makes this really bad for legitimate couponers is that manufacturers are only going to take this mis-use of coupons so long and things are going to start to change.  There's a lot of buzz on many of the money saving blogs about fraudulent coupon usage by these extreme coupon shoppers on the show.  The manufacturers are not going to sit on their hands and just let this happen. 

For those of my friends that are not couponers, please don't get the wrong impression of couponers from this show.  I can guarantee that NO ONE that I know shops like this.  I am guessing here, but I think that this show does not properly represent the other 99.99% of coupon shoppers appropriately. 

If you haven't had a chance to see the show, you can catch a few snippets here.

I am interested in hearing what your opinion is about this show.  Comment or send me private message, I'd love to see how my frugal friends feel about it!

Woodman's 4/20

I was on a coupon collecting expedition yesterday at Woodman's, they always have the best coupons out!  There's still WT's in the liquor department too!

I found a couple good deals that I wanted to share.  Nothing worth running over there, but if you are going you may want to bring along these coupons. 

The 4/10 SS insert has a .50 off ANY Creamette pasta coupon.  Woodman's has these nice 16 oz. boxes of specialty pastas for .75 each.  With the coupon you get these for .25!  They had Acini Di Pepe, stars, cut spaghetti, etc.  These are great for soups or little kids.

I also noticed that the Marzetti dressing is again on sale for .99 a bottle (check the salad dressing aisle, not the refrigerated produce aisle).  In the 4/3 SS insert there is a $1.00 off coupon.  These will be FREE with the possibility of .01 in overage for each one that you have. 

Marcal products are cheap at Woodman's with the $1.00 or FREE item coupon from the 4/17 RP insert.  I always grab the napkins since we seem to use a lot of them.  They are priced at $1.99 for 250 napkins.  Makes them .99! Good deal in my book. 

Walgreens 4/17 thru 4/23

There's not a whole lot of fantastic deals at Wags this week.  Here's what I shopped for:

Goody hair accessories are priced at $3.00 each with a $3 RR in return.  These make a great "filler" item because there are no current manufacturer coupons available right now.  You get the free item, and you can roll a RR from a previous deal.  I found packages of barrettes with 5 bonus hair ties included. 

Scotch Magic Tape is on sale for $1.99 each, B1G2F!  There's an in ad coupon that you have to use to get the 2 FREE.  Use this .pdf coupon (save it to your computer for future use too!) to get these dirt cheap.  If your store allows overage you will get these FREE, but if your store, like most Wags, doesn't allow overage, you will pay about .33 each for these.  Remember back to school is just a few months away and the kids ALWAYS need/use lots of tape!

Softsoap is on sale for .99 each with the in-ad coupon.  If you have the coupon booklet from the boxes of Huggies diapers there's a $1 off TWO manufacturer coupon in there.  That coupon makes these .49 each. 

Dove chocolate candy bars are on sale for .39 each with the in-ad coupon.  If you scored some of these .35 off coupons from a tearpad you can get these for .04 each. 

My store was out of the other items on my list, so if I get out to another Wags this week I will post my other goodies.  (Air Wick, Splenda, NasoGel, Captain Crunch). 

Walmart Deals - 4/20

There's a couple good deals with coupons at Wal-mart this week that I wanted to share with you. 

First we have the Nivea men's and women's body washes priced at $3.00 each.  In the 4/17 RP insert there are two $3.00 off coupons, one for men's and one for women's.  Body wash is something that you rarely have to pay for!

Next, these B1G1F packages of Lysol wipes are $2.92.  Use the $1.50 off coupon from Facebook to get these for $1.45 or .72 each.  Remember you can hit the "back" button and print it twice!  Pretty good deal.

My store has the individual packages of cheddar, string and pepper jack Frigo cheese for .33 each.  You can gain some overage with this if you use the .50 off any Frigo product coupon from the 4/17 SS insert.  Each one will get you .17 back. 

White Cloud 4 double roll packs are $2.00 each.  Use the $1.00 off any White Cloud coupon from the May AY magazine to get these for .25 a double roll, my target price for TP.  This coupon is a thicker card type coupon that you can pull out of the magazine.

Purex Complete softener crystals are $3.97 each, so if you use the $2.00 off coupon from the 3/13 RP to get these for $1.97. 

Lastly, my store has had Dole strawberries priced at either $1.00 or $1.50 per container for quite some time now.  The price varies from week to week.  I suggest grabbing these and making some strawberry shortcake!  They also freeze really well.