Paying The Debt Down :-)

I just wanted to let it be known that we have been paying on our debt....I did the total post here, and so far we have paid off:

Loan - $3223 :-) :-) :-)

Paid $20 on Dr of 480 making it 460
Paid $375 of other loan of 1875 making it 1400 

This brings our grand total of debt to $20,520.04
down from $24,138.04!!!!!! 

We also received our transcripts from PCC and are looking around and praying about which college to start in the next few months! We are going to do correspondence, and I think we've found the right one, but now we have to find the right time -and make sure it's the right one!! :-)  Life is exciting! :-)

Naptime is basically over, so now I need to go get a few more things done before church tonight :-)

Hot Coupon World - Another of my Loves!!!!

It does take a while to learn to navigate the whole site (I still don't know all of it!!!), but this is an amazing investment of your time (but, be cautious - it can become a distraction if you don't monitor yourself!!!).

Hot Coupon World is the couponing forum that I have become most familiar with and used it to trade soooo many coupons!! There are people out there who "dumpster dive" for coupons - go to their local recycling center and pull the coupons out of it each week - or get the leftovers from the gas stations, etc - they only have to turn in the front page for credit!. These people can obtain hundreds of coupons each week of the same item! I, unfortunately, am not one of those people! Our recycling centers consist of closed bins and I haven't found a gas station that sells papers in here around here - only in the boxes.

Anyway, different regions get different values of coupons also, and if there is a specific one you want a lot of, it's a great place to go.

You can trade coupons, some people take paypal for them, some take stamps, some take concealed cash, some even take Box Tops For Education. I am currently sending in 30 BTFE to a lady for (15) $1.50/1 Phili Cooking Creme coupons (I'm going to try to up my freezer meals!!! lol.

This is also where I got all of my $3/1 Gain and $3/1 Purex coupons (both moneymakers!!!) from since I haven't bought a paper in quite a few weeks. I've been trading to get the ones I really need, and it's working quite well for me right now. Btw, if anyone needs dryer sheets, just ask!!!! I'm getting 10 more in this week in a trade :-)

When you do sign up for HCW (totally free forum), get in there and comment on things that interest you - it helps build your post count up and people tend to trust you a little more. Also, if you have feedback at Ebay or Diaper Swappers or another forum, it helps to put that in your signature to show trustworthiness too until you get a higher iTrader rating :-)

Their Couponing Basics section is here, and this is the main forum section. They also urge people to keep back a reasonable amount, but not to do like some of the people they have been showing on the Extreme Couponing shows (I have yet to watch!!!). It's nice to be able to have things on hand to throw someone together a basket when needed, and know that you paid next to nothing for it! But, I also have to watch myself to not get the "hoarder" mentality of "but, I like that smell!!" There will always be another day, another week, another wonderful sale :-)

Wal-Mart: Liking it a lot better!

I was once a HUGE fan of Wal-Mart! Then, I learned how to coupon, and Wal-Mart quickly became one of my least favorite places to shop! Ours was just not very coupon friendly. Wal-Mart's advertising would even say, "So cheap, you don't have to use coupons," etc. Now, they're finally jumping on the bandwagon with the other stores, and you can get some good deals there, finally!!

Wal-Mart now has a corporate coupon policy in effect. They have changed it in a good way, and I went to ours last night to check it out (I think I went EVERYWHERE last night!!! lol). You can now use coupons to gain "overage" which is my FAVORITE part of it. I bought:
(5) Purex 3-in-1 Travel size .97 each = 4.85
and various other items.
I used (5) $3/1 Purex coupons which gave me 10.15 in overage to cover my other items!!!!

Some stores do take Register Rewards from Walgreens, but our local one does not,. and in the coupon policy, they do not have to take them since they are not for a specific item :-( But, that's ok.....at least they're doing the others!!

One thing I do encourage you to do is to print out the coupon policy and take it with you!! There are some cashiers or CSMs who may not be clued in to the new policy (or just not like it!) so they may give you a hassle about it. If they do, smile and pull out  your policy and show them, then if they still will not let you use your coupons, ask for a manager. If all else fails, call corporate! - there, in the store, in front of them, and they will do as they are supposed to a lot faster :-) 1-800-925-6278

I Really Am Back :-)

I really am back! And, that's all I have to say :-)

Re-inspired!

Hey, all! I have been re-inspired to pick up my blog where I last left off....I've still been getting hits which is a good thing, but I've had nothing new to offer!! Sorry!

Chris started his job back basically Friday, so now my life can get back in a routine (those of you that know me know I LOVE routines :-) ) I plan to pull out my notebook of ideas and get going again!

I also have a new camcorder/camera that I love!!! So, guess who I get to experiment on? Y'all! :-)


Our taxes should also be here this weekend, so y'all will get to see us start knocking out our debt :-) (lots of :-)'s, I know lol).

Bear with me, and there will be more great things coming!

Away For a While

I know I have been away for a while, but Chris has been home this whole week, and for some reason, that makes it way harder for me to get on here! He should be back in work at the end of this week or at the latest next week, and so I will pick up where I left off and this will be more or a priority! We've been helping him do metal, and of course there's always the sharing computers ;-)

Walgreens 1/23-1/29

These are my favorite deals for Walgreens the week of 1/23-1/29! Keep in mind that when I say "money maker" or "free" or "as low as", that is the price AFTER register rewards. For example, you would pay .54 + tax for the 6 Maalox using 6 $5/1 coupons, but in turn, you would get $10 RR making it a $9.46 Money Maker!

Get $5 RR WYB $20 RR, Get $10 WYB $30 RR in Participating Products:

Maalox or Liquid 12 oz. or 90 ct.($5.09 sale price!)
-$5/1 Maalox Product, any – 01-09-11 SS x3/1

= $9.46 MONEY MAKER WYB (6) MAALOX 

Get $3 RR WYB Nivea For Men Arctic Gel or After Shave 3.3 oz. $3.99
-$1/1 Nivea for Men Face or Body Care, .5 to 16.9oz, Any x6/30, Booklet at Wags
= AS LOW AS FREE!

Get $10 MIR WYB Omega Smart Ultimate Super Critical Fish Oil 30ct $10
-$2/1 Any Renew Life Omega Smart Ultimate Super Critical Fish Oil PRINT
= FREE OR BETTER!

 

Get $2.50 RR WYB Colgate Pro Clinical Toothpaste 4 oz. $3.49
-$1/1 ; $.75/1 Colgate toothpaste 4.0 oz+ – 01-09-11 SS x2/17
= AS LOW AS FREE!

 

Get $2 RR WYB Huggies Jumbo Diapers, Pull-Ups or GoodNites 12 or 50 pk $8.99
-$1.50/1 Huggies Snug & Dry Diapers PRINT
-$1/1 GoodNites Jumbo Pk+ PRINT
-$2/1 Pull-Ups Jumbo Pk+ PRINT
-$2/1 Huggies diapers (any Little Snugglers or Movers) – 01-23-11 SS x2/19
-$2/1 Huggies Pull Ups Jumbo Pk+ 01-23-11 SS x2/19
-$1.50/1 GoodNites Jumbo pack+ 01-23-11 SS x2/19
-$1.50/1 Huggies diapers (any jumbo pack+) – 01-23-11 SS x2/19
= AS LOW AS $4.99 EACH

Thanks Wild For Wags! Be sure to check out her site for all of the weekly Walgreens deals! 

 

Publix 1/19-1/25

These are my favorite deals for the week of 1/19-1/25!

Quaker Instant Oatmeal or Instant Multigrain Hot Cereal, Assorted Varieties, 10.1 to 16.2 oz box, BOGO $2.98
-$1/1 Quaker Instant Oatmeal All You Feb 2011 (exp 3/31/2011)

-$1/1 Quaker Instant Oatmeal or Oats 1/2/2011 RP Insert (exp 4/30/2011)

.50 each with either coupon!

Kraft Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, Hearty Four Cheese, American Cheddar or World Italian with Parmesan & Romano, 12.6 oz box, BOGO $2.59

-$0.50/1 Kraft Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese Dinner Rolling
-$1/1 Kraft Homestyle Mac & Cheese 1/16/2011 SS Insert (exp 2/16/2011)

.30 each with either coupon!

Taco Bell Home Originals Dinner! Assorted Varieties, 10.75 to 16.35 oz box, BOGO $2.69
-$1/1 Taco Bell Home Originals All You Feb 2011 (exp 4/30/2011)

.35 each after coupon!

Blue Diamond Almonds, Assorted Varieties, 6 oz can, BOGO $3.19
-$0.75/2 Blue Diamond Almonds 12/5/2010 SS Insert (exp 3/31/2011)
-$0.60/2 Blue Diamond Almonds 10/10/2010 SS Insert (exp 1/31/2011)

  -$0.50/1 Blue Diamond

As low as .60 with .50/1 coupon!

Yoplait YoPlus Yogurt, Assorted Varieties, 4 pack, 4 oz cup, BOGO $2
-$0.50/1 Yoplait YoPlus Yogurt (exp 2/2/2011)
-$0.50/1 Yoplait YoPlus Yogurt 1/2/2011 GM Insert (exp 2/26/2011)
-$0.50/1 Yoplait YoPlus Yogurt 1/16/2011 SS Insert
-$1/1 Yoplait YoPlus Yogurt Rolling
Free with any of these coupons!

Shedd’s Spread Country Crock, Regular or Churn Style, 15 oz tub, or twin pack, 2 pk, 7.5 oz tub, BOGO $1.89
-$0.40/1 Shedd’s Spread Country Crock Product (IE) (exp 2/1/2011) Printable (FF)

.15 each after coupon!

WholeFruit Sorbet, Assorted Varieties, 1-pt ctn, BOGO $2.89
-$0.50/1 Whole Fruit Sorbet 1/9/2011 RP Insert (exp 3/1/2011)
You pay 45¢ per pint

Colgate Toothpaste, Assorted Varieties, 8.2 oz tube, BOGO $2.75
-$0.50/1 Colgate Toothpaste 1/2/2011 SS Insert (exp 1/22/2011)
-$1/1 Colgate Toothpaste 1/2/2011 SS Insert (exp 1/22/2011)
As low as 38¢ 

Halls Cough Drops, Assorted Varieties, 30 ct bag (Excluding Halls Defense) BOGO $1.49
-$0.50/1 Halls Cough Drops All You Feb 2011 (exp 3/31/2011)
-$1/2 Halls Cough Drops 1/2/2011 SS Insert (exp 2/5/2011)
-$0.35/1 Halls Cough Drops 1/2/2011 SS Insert (exp 2/5/2011)
-$0.55/1 Halls Cough Drop Blinkie
-$1/2 Halls Cough Drops, 20 Ct. + Bag, Any (DND5) – All You, November 2010
-B1G1 Halls Cough Drops, Any Single Bags 20 Ct. Or Larger – valid up to $2.00 tearpad
As much as .25 overage!
 

 Thanks I Heart Publix! Head over to her site for all of the deals this week!
     

Sunday Coupon Preview

The Sunday Coupon Preview is up for this Sunday (1/23/11)! Be sure to check it out! And remember, some are regional so not all areas will get the same ones/same values!

Home Made Simple Booklet

A GREAT way to get P&G coupons (Dawn, Febreeze, Cascade, etc) is to request the Home Made Simple books when they are available! It is limit one per household. The best coupon I have seen in these books are the $1 off of Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay. These often go on sale at CVS for $1 or less so FREE after the coupon!

Best Of

I Will be back later tonight with the best of the stores for this coming week :-)

Kroger

Kroger used to be my absolute favorite grocery store until I met Publix......now they rival each other, yes, but I don't say "I'm going here because they have better sales this week..." No, I say, "I'm going here for this and there for that." Locally, they are right beside each other, so no wasted gas!

Kroger has a loyalty card program. If you do not have one, go to the front desk and get one! They will send you special coupons, you can get discounted gas, and this is the only way to get their sale prices!

Their rules about gas: No matter what, Kroger Plus Card members will get .03/gallon discount when they scan their card.
For every $100 of groceries, items you purchase within a month, you get .10/gallon discount.
For every $50 in gift cards purchased (and they have A TON!), you get .10/gallon
For every 2 prescriptions purchased, you get .10/gallon
Kroger has also teamed up with Shell and now you can use your card at the Shell stations and get a discount as well!

One of the things I love about Kroger is their markdowns they do every morning usually between 7 and 9. They go through and markdown the produce, meat, bread, and dairy for things that are going out of date soon. This has been a major blessing for us as we have gotten ground beef for .99/lb, bananas for .19/lb, bread for .49/loaf, and milk for 1.50/gallon before! Granted, these things do expire SOON, but I live in a house with 4 guys! We freeze the meat, eat/freeze bananas (bananas frozen are WONDERFUL for banana bread!), eat/freeze the bread, and go through a gallon of milk in less than 2 days.

Kroger has their 10/$10 sales that they do frequently, and while some things are a great price, you do have to be careful to not get excited "just because it's on sale" (yes, I have to deal with my husband on this ;-) ). One important thing about this type of sale: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY 10 TO GET EACH ITEM FOR $1! You can buy just one and it will still charge you the same price.

They also have their "Mega Events" that they have begun doing more frequently. Thy currently have a frozen mega event going on to where if you buy 10 items off of their special list (there is usually a wide assortment of items available for the sale), you will get $5 off of your order. That is essentially that each item will be .50 cheaper. This discount comes off automatically at the register at the end of your checkout. Make sure you have the required number of items or it will not give you the discount! You can do this as many times in each transaction as you want, just as long as you have it in multiples of the number. For example, this week is buy 10 get $5 off. If I bought 50 items, I would get $25 off of my order, but if I bought 58 items, I would still only get $25 off since I haven't hit the next mark yet.
****BOGO coupons are AMAZING for this type of sale!! An example recently:
Herbal essence was in the list of Buy 4, Get $4 off
You could buy:
(2) Herbal Essence shampoos @2.99 ------5.98
(2) Herbal Essence stylers @2.99 -----------5.98
Total = 11.96
Minus $4 mega even sale = 7.96
Use (2) Buy 1 shampoo/cond get 1 styler free coupons from 12/26/10 PG
These would both take off 2.99 each (not the discounted price!) - 5.98
Total would be $1.98 + tax for 2 Herbal Essence shampoos and 2 stylers!! 
OR JUST .50 each!!

Kroger also has catalina deals where if you buy a certain number of items, you get a certain amount back on your next order (OYNO). These do not run with the sales weeks nor do they advertise them in their paper. Usually they have tags hanging under the items. There is also a master list over at Southern Savers where she keeps record of it all. You do not have to wait until the next trip to use these (yes, I have forgotten about them before!!! lol). You can just divide your items into 2 transactions and use them on your 2nd. One major thing about catalinas is if it says:
Buy 3, get $1.50 oyno
Buy 4, get $2.50 oyno
Buy 5(+), get $3.50 oyno
You will not get $7 for buying 10! If you wanted 10, it would be best to split your order into 2 separate transactions.

Kroger also has eCoupons you can load at their site, Shurtcuts, and Cellfire. A lot of stores will not let you use both an eCoupon and a paper coupon, but last time I checked, our local store would let you. It something they are having to slowly transition in their system, and from what I understand, they will all eventually only take one or the other. These coupons take 2-24 hours to load onto your card, so when you're browsing the coupons, if you think you will use it, save it to your card! Your card can hold MANY coupons!

Kroger, like Publix, doubles MQs up to .50. However, there is one difference. While at Publix, they will always double the same amount no matter how much the item costs, Kroger will not. I tried it on McCormick seasonings for .89. I used a .50/1 MQ and it doubled .39. It will make the item free, but you will not get overage at Kroger. Still great though!

Discount Grocery Turkey

For everyone local, Discount Grocery currently has ground turkey on sale for .59/lb!! Yesterday when I went they had a ton of it in the refrigerated and frozen sections. It is expiring, so they are trying to move it and they have A TON! I bought some a few weeks ago for .89/lb from there and it is good! It is Butterball brand, lean 93/7 ground turkey!

I usually have my guard up when I go in there because some stuff that they sell as expired I just don't feel comfortable with, but for us, this was a HUGE blessing and I can honestly say I've tried it before and there was nothing wrong with it.

Needless to say, I filled our deep chest freezer up! :-)

Amazon

I'm taking a break from stores, and doing a rundown on an online site - a lot of you have probably been there before, but there are "inside secrets" that can make your shopping MUCH more enjoyable and cheaper!!

First and foremost, ALWAYS CHECK AMAZON before you make a purchase if it's not toooo ugent! I have saved over 50% just by buying from Amazon on almost anything I have bought. I mentioned before the clippers I bought for $25 versus $71 in store. I have also scored diapers - Luvs size 4, 180 count - for $7.50 versus about $35 for Wal-Mart brand of the same amount and size. You just have to wait, watch, and jump on it!

Amazon has a thing called Prime Membership where you can score FREE 2 Day Shipping on any order that is Prime Eligible - most of them are. This cost $79/year, but if you are going to buy a lot, it is WELL WORTH IT!! Shipping can be from about $3-$10 (rough estimate) PER ITEM, not per order.

I have not had to do this yet, because there is also a thing called Amazon Mom that will give you 3 months of Prime membership for FREE!! NO strings attached. At the end of the 3 months, they will send you an email giving you the option to renew it, but if you choose not to, it will AUTOMATICALLY cancel your membership.

For every $25 of baby products you purchase in one order (before coupons or gift cards), you will automatically extend your Amazon Mom membership by 1 month for free :-) I have done this 3 times now on 3 different boxes of diapers ($35 before everything), so now I am up to 6 months. You can do this for up to one year of free membership!

The Subscribe and Save option is also a VERY helpful tool when it comes to saving money. You can choose to have your subscription to an item come every 1 - 6 months. This saves you an extra 15% off of the item. HOWEVER, you DO NOT have to keep the Subscribe and Save membership after placing your order. Amazon even tells you this on their help page. You just have to make sure you cancel it before it renews. I always choose 6 months then when the item is delivered 2 days later, I go in and cancel it. Yes, it can be done multiple times on the same item also.

There are really neat coupons out there for Amazon, usually found in pregnancy or parent magazines. The most popular one is 20% off any diaper item. I have also seen $10 off items from the Baby store. The Great thing is: You can combine these!!!

I'll give you another Amazon deal I've gotten:
Buy (1) box 180 size 4 Luvs diapers on sale for $35 (normally $38.99) ---------automatically renews Amazon Mom membership for 1 month because order PRICE is above $25
Used Amazon Mom discount for 15% off      -$5.25
Used Subscribe and Save option for 15%      -$5.25
Used 20% off Amazon code                          -$7.00
Used $10 Baby code                                     -$10
Total         $7.50 shipped to my door in two days!!!

***You can also use gift card balances earned from Swagbucks (as I mentioned in this post) to pay for it - this was right around Christmas so my balance was nonexistent ;-)

So, now you can see why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Amazon!

Hurry! $20 Amazon GC for $10!!!

EXPIRED!!! Hurry and go get your $20 Amazon Gift Card for $10 -  today only. It is from Living Social which is a daily deals site. I have used Groupon before and been very pleased, and I have heard GREAT things about this site also! The code for your GC will be emailed tomorrow after the deal is all said and done. I am in the middle of writing a post for Amazon right now, but I'll tell you this now: IT IS VERY WORTH IT!!! I LOVE AMAZON!



Thanks Mommy Octopus!

Publix

Ok, honestly, when I first went into Publix, my thought was this: "This is a rich, snobby person's store!" Fast forward about a year when someone actually explained to me how to shop at Publix, and now it rivals Kroger for my FAVORITE grocery store!!

Publix is wonderful. That's all I have to say! No, not really, but they are WONDERFUL! Their Customer Service is fantastic! I've even written into corporate for an extremely POSITIVE experience with a CSM - that's a first for me! Which, by the way, you should do. Employees will have a greater motivation to do nice and wonderful things for you when they know you appreciate it and especially when someone higher up gives them a pat on the back for a job well done!

Publix has a few rules, but they're rules I actually LIKE to follow! ;-)

1. Publix's big sales are BOGOs. They circle through a lot of top quality products and put them BOGO. In our local area, BOGOs are really 50% off (shhh don't tell them I told you so!). I know in FL the BOGOs are like they are at the drug stores (Buy one full price get one free).

2. You can stack a MQ with a Publix Q. No restrictions!

3. Publix doubles Qs up to .50 - EVEN IF THE ITEM IS LESS THAN THE AMOUNT DOUBLED!!

4. Publix accepts competitors Qs....Our local one only accepts Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, and Food Depot, but there are ones who will accept Target, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, etc. One exception: If it is a x/x.xx of anything, they will not honor it. It has to be for a specific product.

5. Our Publix allows overage - when your coupon amount exceeds the amount of the item :-)

6. Coupon overage can be applied to tax.

7. When Publix doubles a coupon, their half takes off of the taxed amount. The same thing with store coupons.

8. Publix sales run from Wednesday - Tuesday locally.....some stores run Thursday - Wednesday.

I'll give some examples of Publix shopping trips and why they are SOOO amazing!

Bought:

10 Yakisoba noodles .79 = $7.90

1 Gallon milk 2.99 - $2.99

Total = $10.89

I used (10) .50/1 Yakisoba noddle MQs - they doubled to $1/1 which gave me overage of .21/1

My total after tax was $1.07 - less than if I had gone in to buy the milk alone which I desperately needed!

Before I have bough canned cat food on sale 3/$1 so the first rings up as .34 then .33

Buy 2 = .67

Use one BOGO MQ

They put it in as .33, so it automatically doubles up to .66

Total is .01 plus tax!

Right after Christmas I went in and bought 8 Clorox wipes 35 count @ 2/$4 (normally like $3ish) = $16

I used (4) Publix Store Coupons $2/2 (minus $8)

I also stacked with that 6 $1/1 (some from inserts, some IPs) (minus $6)

I also used (2) .75/1 IP (minus $1.50)

Total = .50 plus tax for 8 Clorox wipes cans!!! I have 3 little boys so VERY handy!

On this one, I did not know what was happening!:
Bought (2) Dove Deodorants on sale BOGO $2.49 = $2.49
Used (1) $3/2 Dove Coupon = -$3.00
After tax, my total came to -.33! The manager came over and GAVE ME .33 out of the register! How awesome is that?? Yes, they do get compensated for it, because they send that $3 MQ in and get $3 plus .08 handling fee for it :-)

Therefore, we can all thoroughly conclude that Mindy LOVES PUBLIX!!!!! You just have to work the sales, coupons, and policies all together :-)

Do The Rite Thing! (Rite Aid)

I'm not as familiar with Rite Aid, as I just don't make it over there that much! The system that has been in place for a while is a Single Rebate Check, where you send all of your receipts for qualifying products in and they send you a single check at the end of the month (think EB but in a check form, all at once, and to be used anywhere).

They still do this, but +UP Rewards are taking over....they're transitioning, I guess? I don't think there's been an official statement of this, but you know how it is! They started making CDs, so slowly the tapes left the stores (I do remember this in MY lifetime lol).

To do SCR (Single Check Rebates), first you must sign up online here, then you can browse the current SCR for the month here!

The SCR limit is usually 1, but look at the sales paper and online to see if it's more - there are limits of 2 sometimes, up to 5!

One really good thing about Rite Aid is that they have an online coupon policy you can print out here to take with you to the store (as not ALL cashiers and managers are extremely knowledgeable about certain things). They cannot argue with corporate :-)

+UP Rewards work basically like EB at CVS. You have to have a loyalty card. The limit to every +UP Reward is 1 per item. They just came out with this (at least locally) within the past year.

When you make a purchase using a +UP Reward, you must have your subtotal before tax up to the same amount of the +UP Reward. The same as Walgreens with the RR. CVS will actually adjust the EB down if it is within a few cents of your total.

BOGOs

I went back and changed the CVS post to include this info!

The stores that require you to purchase 2 of the items to get the special BOGO price (which is essentially 50% off) are the drug stores:
CVS
Walgreens
Rite Aid

However, the grocery stores (locally!) allow you to only purchase 1 item and get it for 50% off:
Kroger
Publix

I am not definite on Walgreens and Rite Aid, but I know that at CVS you can use a BOGO MQ with a BOGO sale and get both for free! I have gotten Kodak Photo Books, Cover Girl lipstick, and Sobe drinks in the past using this method :-)

Shopping the Greens (Walgreens)

You can get good deals at Walgreens, but they are far from my favorite drug store.  They are different from CVS in many ways. Our local Walgreens is usually not in stock for sale items very well, and there's just more "picky rules" to follow. But, as I said before, you can get some good deals, but if you're going to do a really good sale there, you need to go first thing in the morning (they open at 8 locally) on Sunday!

Walgreens does not have a loyalty card.

Walgreens has Register Rewards that print out if you buy the required items on a Catalina machine - sometimes other coupons print out of here also.

You CAN stack a Walgreens Coupon with a MQ.

You can only use as many coupons as items you are buying - while you can stack, you still have to have a 1:1 ratio on coupons:items in your transaction.

A Register Reward counts as a manufacturer coupon and counts towards your total coupons used, so if you have a $1, a $3, and a $5 RR and want to buy a $9 item, you will need to buy 2 "filler" items also to be able to do so.

Filler items are small, clearance or just anything cheap in the store to get your coupon:item ratio correct. Yes, you may spend an extra .50, but it enables you to use a greater value coupon and still get what you need.

Walgreens' RR expire 2 weeks after printing.

If you want to get 2 of the same item and still want to get the RR, you MUST do 2 separate transactions! If you buy 2, only 1 RR will print. Remember, they do not have a loyalty card, so this is their way to monitor the amount you purchase of sale items. They do have tests running on a loyalty card in 3 states that I know of.

To do a BOGO deal, you MUST purchase 2 items. The first will ring up as the full price and the 2nd as $0.00.

You can use 2 MQs on BOGOs.

If you get a rain check from Walgreens, you can still get the sale price, but they will not do the RR deal for you after it has ended. 

If you cannot think of anything else to use your RR on, remember: they do sell milk and other food :-)

A deal I have been trying to do (but they have been out of stock all 6 times I have been in there so far!) is to "make money" by buying Sinex (which with how my sinuses are is definitely something I can use!)

You can buy 4 Vick's Sinex on sale @ $5 each = $20
Use (4) $4/1 Sinex MQ 12/26/10 PG ($16) = $4
Pay $4 + tax
Get back a $10 RR for buying $20 worth of Vick's products

So there are good deals to be had at Walgreens and different stores are different ways, but I just have a hard time catching it at our local stores.

Enveloping It

One of the best ways I have found in budgeting our money is the cash & envelope system. Dave Ramsey talks about this in his book, Total Money Makeover. We currently have an envelope systems of just plain envelopes that I have written on: This is cheap, frugal, and fine! But, some people need motivation to use them, so you could always go to the store and purchase some cute ones :-) Or have your kids do artwork on them!

Our envelopes are divided into 2 categories: weekly and monthly
They are as follows:

Weekly:

Gas $30/wk (we live within 2.5 miles of Chris' work and our church so we can keep the miles down!)

Necessities $25/wk (this goes for shampoo, clothes, diapers, etc)

Food $75/wk

Tithes 10% of all income/wk

Faith Promise "X" amount/wk

Monthly:

WOAK "X" amount/m

Church Special "X" amount/m

Insurance $75/m

Netflix $17/m

Loan $125/m

Loan $293/m

Rent $750/m

Verizon $150/m

Electric/Propane $350/m (we just started doing this, but after February, I' m going to make it $250/m so the months when we don't run the air as much, I can put back for the months later in the year when we'll be using

Some things you may notice is: no car payment. We paid off our used car last year. We also do not have a landline, and our landlord pays for our cable.

Anyway, when you get paid each time, take out the appropriate amount and put it in your envelopes after you have set your budget for the week. When the money in the envelope is gone, STOP SPENDING! Obviously, when our loans get paid off when our taxes come back, we will adjust and make envelopes for debt, etc :-) Can't wait!

CVS'ing

CVS is my favorite drug store, so that is where I am going to start :-)

At CVS, you will want to MAKE SURE you go to their cash register if you have not already and apply for an Extra Care card. Then, go to CVS.com and register your card with an email address and they will automatically email you a $4/20 coupon!!!

You cannot get any of their sale prices or EBs without this card! VERY IMPORTANT!
*There is a limit of one card per household, so spouses, children cannot make multiple cards*

I am going to give you an example of 3 recent transactions I did at CVS to help you understand why I LOVE this store!

Bought 4 Excedrins 3 of them at $5.29 each, 1 of them at $4.99.

Total = 20.86

Used (3) FREE coupons requested from coupons.com max. 5.99 - took off $15.87.

Used (1) 3.50/1 Q requested from coupons.com

Total = 1.49

Great, you can do that at ANY store you may say.....well, you can do THAT, but, CVS had a sale that week. If you bought $20 of Excedrin products, you got $10 EB back. EVEN if you only pay $1.49, you still get your $10 EB back!!! The total they base it on is BEFORE Qs.
See, the company gets the money back from the manufacturer when they send in the Qs, the manufacturer has gotten you to try their product, and they hope you will come back for more, and you have gotten a very cheap (free or better!) product, so everyone has won!

So, on that trip, I "made" 8.51 in profit! I love it when a store pays me to shop! :-) 

Another transaction I was able to do was this:

32 load liquid Wisk detergent was on sale for $5 each (normally $8.xx there). If you bought $25 of certain products (Wisk included), you would get $10 back in EB. They also had a MQ in 1/2/11 paper (it was regional and we did NOT get it here) for 2/1 Wisk. I was able to order 5 from The Coupon Clippers.

I bought (5) Wisk @ $5  = $25

Used $4/20 CVS Q from the "Magic Coupon Machine" = $21

Used (5) $2/1 Wisk MQ ($10 total) = $11

Used $10 EB from Excedrin deal = $1 + tax

Then, I got back $10 EB for purchasing $25 worth!

So, for $1 + tax + the $1.25 I paid for the Qs (.25 each), I got 5 detergents!!!

I decided to use the $10 EB then and get some stuff we needed instead of saving it for the next sale. I bought:

1 Gillette Fusion Razor (had a rain check - they never expire and they have this sale about once a month!) for $9.99

1 CVS Thermometer on sale for $5

5 Dawn Detergents with Olay hand renewal .94 each (used rain check)

1 CVS Aluminum Foil for $1.99 (normally 3.99 but CVS brand was BOG1 50% off)

Total was $21.68

Used: $3/10 from the "Magic Coupon Machine"

$4/1 Razor MQ

(5) .50/1 Dawn MQ

$10 EB from Wisk

Total = 2.18 + tax

And, I got back $4 EB from the Gillette Rain Check

So, for $5.92 + tax I was able to get: 

4 boxes of Excedrin 

5 Wisk detergents 

1 Gillete Fusion Proglide Razor 

5 Dawn Detergents 

1 Thermometer  

75 Sq Ft of CVS Aluminum Foil

AND STILL HAVE $4 EB for later!! So, essentially, I spent $1.92 for it all!

This will not happen EVERY week, but CVS has great sales a lot of the time, and you can almost always find something!

A few more notes:

CVS is awesome because they let you stack MQ with SQs!

ALWAYS scan your Extra Care Card at the "Magic Coupon Machine" to see what coupons you get!

If they are out of a sale item, ask for a raincheck! They will make one for you and include the EB part of the sale with it!

They have "Green Bag Tags" you can buy that are located next to their reusable bags. BUY ONE and keep it on your Reusable bag. It can be scanned once each day you make a trip there and after 4 trips you automatically get $1 EB!

To get the BOGO price, you MUST buy 2 items. The first will ring up full price while the 2nd rings up as $0.00.

You can use 2 MQs on BOGO items. You can also use a BOGO Q on a BOGO sale item and get BOTH FOR FREE!! I have done this with Kodak photo books, Cover Girl lipstick and Sobe drinks in the past. I have an email from corporate stating this that I will have to pull out and post. Locally, I have only done this at the Greenwood St CVS and not tried the Sawmill, so I know the Greenwood knows the rules.

The Lingo

Before I write more posts on specifics of stores, I need to let ya know what you're going to encounter when I'm short-handing :-)
Q = Coupon
IP = Internet Printable
MQ = Manufacturer Coupon
SQ = Store Coupon
SS = Smart Source
RP = Red Plum
PG = Procter and Gamble
GM = General Mills
GC = Gift Card
OOP = Out Of Pocket
Cat = Catalina
SB = Swagbucks
EB = Extra Bucks (CVS only)
RR = Register Rewards (Walgreens only)
+ Up = + Up Rewards (Rite Aid only)
BOGO = By One Get One free
B2G1 = By 2 Get One free, and so forth

That is all that is coming to mind right now, but I will be adding more as they come to mind :-)

How Spending Money On Your Internet Saves You More Money!

When I was looking over any way to cut costs, I started thinking, "Do we really NEED our internet?" The answer to that is : NO - we don't NEED it. Is it a valuable, irreplaceable tool though? YES!!!

One way, is through Swagbucks like I mentioned earlier. Another way is through Survey sites (which are coming, I promise!). But, one very big way is through sales. Also, if it weren't for the internet, I never would have learned to coupon the way I did.

A very good example of this: We needed hair clippers because ours had giving out, and I cut all 3 boys' hair, my husband's hair, and I recently started cutting a friend's hair. Clippers in themselves are GREAT investments in my opinion, especially with how many boys we have in the house! To the heart of the story:

We went to a local Beauty Supply store to try to get better quality than Wal-Mart would carry. The ones with the trimmer included (of a good quality brand) were ON SALE for $71 after tax. I thought, well, I still need to cut Chris' hair this month, then next month when everyone needed haircuts, it would pay for itself. Took them home, but I had this gut feeling so I got on Amazon and looked up clippers. We found the same brand with the trimmer and the attachments we needed (which the other one didn't have!) ON SALE for $38! They were about 50% off! To top it off, I had $7 Swagbucks Amazon GC credit and $5.80 I cashed out of Opinion Outpost to make it less than $26!!! (Remember, Amazon does not do tax and I have Amazon Mom, so shipping is FREE on any prime items!)

Needless to say, we took the other clippers back to the store that day! The savings between the 2 was right at $45! That is a month and a half's worth of internet right there, in cash that we got back from the store. Would this have happened if we didn't have the internet? Nope, absolutely not. You just have to make sure you take the time to look for the deals (and pray hard!).

My sidebar is Kinda Messed Up-Sorry!

I know you cannot read everything on my side bar, and today is a pretty busy day, but I WILL figure it out and beat this "machine monster" soon, I promise!

One of The Ways To Earn Extra Money!

One of the EASIEST ways I have found to earn extra money is through Swagbucks. It only takes 450 Swagbucks to get a $5 Amazon gift card!!! Swagbucks is a search engine that you can earn points through to redeem for other prizes.

When you sign up, you automatically get 30 SBs, and there are many EASY ways to earn more! You can earn 20-50 a day just by searching the web to get to where you are going (something I do anyways lol). There are also videos you can watch, etc. I usually win mine sometime in the morning and in the evening and it doesn't usually take long - 6 or 7 searches at the most, but a lot of times in as few as 3.

I have earned 13 different $5 Amazon Gift Cards with them since I joined in April of 2010, and I went through periods where I did not search or use them really at all! That's $65!!! You then apply the money into your Amazon account and it can accumulate - you can use more than $5 towards a purchase on Amazon. I have fully paid for orders using the little $5 gift cards that add up :-)

So, what are you waiting for?? :-) Sign up now :-)

Our Debt List :-(

This is one that is shameful to write up! For privacy purposes, I am going to categorize each bill instead of giving out the specific business/dr/cc/whatever's name. We have thankfully over the past few years paid some off of our list already, but a lot of times that was just to get them off of our backs or to improve our credit. This time, it is because we feel it is the right thing and the most God-honoring thing to do.

Library (yes, I'm one of THOSE people!) - $60ish
DR - $112
Personal - $150
Bank - $175
Bank - $180
Business - $210
DR - $229
Business - $235
Bank - $250
Business - $250
Bank - $265
Business - $270
DR - $295
Business - $325
DR - $480
Personal - $500
Credit Card - $500ish (ONLY BORROWED $100 on it!!!!)
Credit Card - $550ish (Only borrowed $400 on it)
Bank - $578
Personal - $775
Loan - $1875
Loan - $3223 
Personal - $3346
Business - $4420.04
Personal - $4885

Grand Total : -$24,138.04!!!!!

We will be following the Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Plan. It is wonderful, I think. We bought the book about a year ago after reading about it, but we didn't really have the right situations to be able to follow through with it. Then, I started couponing and bargain shopping! We are a one income family that isn't a very high income, but God blesses and we make it only because of Him. We have completed Dave's first pre-baby step of catching up on your monthly bills. At the most, we're 2 weeks behind right now. We plan on starting our $1,000 baby emergency fund which is Baby Step 1 and completing it when we get our taxes back (hopefully in February). When we get our taxes back also, we are going to pay off our loans (the 2 listed above) as it will drastically cut the amount owed and it is a monthly bill, so we'll start using that money each month to snowball our debt.

Now that I have put my "shameful post" up, I am more motivated than ever to let everyone see us knocking it out!!

Pictures Coming Soon!

I got batteries in my camera, now I just have to find the chord to connect it to my computer! (No, I am definitely not the most organized person ever!!!! lol).
I took pics of my shopping trips to CVS and Publix today. I'll give you the preview before I find that chord!
CVS: Bought:
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide Razon
2 Satin Flosses
2 packs Orbitz gum
6 packs Puffs tissues
Total spent out of pocket including tax: $1.50ish and I still walked out of there with $4 EB

Publix: Bought:
10 Yakisoba noodles
1 Milk
Total spent oop including tax: $1.07

I had a VERY good day :-)

Sunday Coupon Preview

Just as a heads up, there will be 2 different inserts in the paper this week. A Smart Source and a Proctor & Gamble. I usually suggest getting at least 4 when the P&G is out, but this week doesn't have a large selection in their paper, so I'm personally just going to get 2.

Don't forget: if there's a really *HOT*  Coupon you need or want, you can always find more through coupon clipping services (we'll get into that later), Ebay, or forums such as Hot Coupon World.

Sunday Coupon Preview

Basics of Couponing

I will probably forget something here, but just bear with me! I'll add to it as it comes to memory :)

There are several different TYPES of coupons. The ones that everyone knows about and thinks of instantly when thinking of coupons are called inserts. They are the ones that are in the coupon inserts you get on Sundays (in some towns this days differs). For local people, it always pays to wait until Sunday and get the Columbus paper and not the LaGrange weekend paper because LaGrange only carries one type of insert....Columbus carries 4!
There are 4 different "brands" of inserts. You have Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP), Proctor and Gamble (PG), and General Mills (GM). Some weeks you get only 1 insert, some weeks up to 5! It just varies and there are previews out there to help you know which weeks you really need to be interested in!
I personally buy between 2-4 copies a week, but I also use Hot Coupon World (HCW) www.hotcouponworld(dot)com to get trades for the coupons I know my family can really use and stockpile on.

Another type of coupon is internet printable ones (IP). You have to have a printer to do this of course. There are several sites to get coupons from.
www.coupons(dot)com
www.redplum(dot)com
www.smartsource(dot)com
Then of course you get the special offers through companies on their Facebook site or company sites when they are offered.

Another type is called Blinkies. I remember these from when I was a kid :-) When you are walking through the store and you see the little machine on an isle with a little red light blinking with little cute coupons in them, that is a blinkie :-) It will typically be beside the product that it is for.

Another type is called Home Mailers. You get these either when a company sends something out to your community or when you request coupons or samples from various companies.

Another type is called catalinas. Kroger and Walgreens are the only ones in my area that I know of that have the catalina machines. They are a little machine that print out various coupons based on what you buy when your receipt prints. A lot of times Kroger will run a "Buy X amount of items, get $X.XX for on your next shopping trip". Wonderful coupons and that comes out of the catalina machines.

There are also Store Coupons which are specific for a certain store. Publix is big on this as they even have flyers in the front of their store LOADED with store coupons. Walgreens usually has coupons in their weekly sales paper, and of course the various rewards programs for each store (CVS -Extra Bucks, Walgreens - Register Rewards, Rite Aid - +Up Rewards).

I need to get my camera up and running soon so I can take pictures of all of the different types and post them :-)

Those are the main ones that I can think of right now. I know it is probably kinda confusing but it will all come together the more you read and learn :-).

My Story

In January 2004, my husband and I got married at the young ages of 19 and 20. We dropped out of college to do so :( We always said, "we can go back later....it will be easy!". Well, needless to say, life happened. We were young, racked up debt in all sorts of ways, had a child 11 1/2 months later, and then proceeded to rack up more debt. Some of the debt came about just because we didn't care, but some of it came about because we just didn't know any better.
Fast forward to the present day, with a total of 3 children (J-6, D-3, and G-2), we are finally learning to clip away at our debt. It isn't always easy, but it is always soooo worth it! My sister - in - law (who is starting her own blog over at SAHM - Chipping Away) called me one day and got me hooked! For the past 8 or so months, I have become a pretty avid couponer and deal seeker! My husband didn't know what to think at first, but now he appreciates all of the $3, $5, etc checks that come in the mail!
In the next few weeks, I will be laying the foundation for my blog down which is mainly to teach the people in my area how to be better home managers in the financial sense (and I'm sure other ways!). I will post a list of our total debt (comes to roughly $20,000) and let you see our progress along the way. It will be humbling to say the least, but if it will help someone else to avoid similar mistakes or even to get out of their past mistakes, it will be well worth it!