Las Vegas Coupon Mom

A few final thoughts

2010-06-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

This post is very long overdue, and I'm sorry I've been away for so long. Life has gotten busier and busier, as it tends to do, and with everything going on, I have decided to take an indefinite leave of absense from my couponing blog. I still love to coupon, but find I don't have the time to sit down and blog about all the deals. I feel my time is better spent at this point being the best wife and mother that I can be. I hope you all understand.

As I've mentioned before, if you need grocery deals in the area, I highly recommend using GrocerySmarts. In addition to this, you might enjoy Money Saving Mom for other deals and freebies.

For those of you that know me on facebook, I will try to leave brief messages here and there if a great deal comes along. I hope that will help. Good luck to all of you with your adventures in saving money.

I do want to leave you with one last thought--a quote I read on a friend's blog that I love and hope you will too:

Learn to live with less. Learn to shun envy. Appreciate what you have. If you have less, you will appreciate what you have more.

High Value Huggies Coupons

2010-03-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

There are some awesome $3/1 Huggies coupons out there right now. Go to the link here to print of your coupons (print 2 per computer). These were just added yesterday, but I'm guessing their print limit will be reached soon, so I would recommend printing these off soon.

You can also become a fan of Huggies on facebook and get access to print another 2 coupons for $3/1 pack of Huggies.

From what I hear there may be a good diaper deal with Huggies at Walgreens this coming week that these coupons would go great with. I'll update you on this when I find out more.

update: There is a deal this week at Walgreens--buy 3 packs of Huggies diapers at $8.99 each, get $5RR. Use 3 of your $3/1 coupons plus the $1/1 WAGS coupon from the Children's Activity Book put out last fall if you still have it to get your total out of pocket down to $14.97. If you factor in the $5 RR you earn, you have spent essentially $3.32 per pack of diapers.

There is also another link for another $3/1 Huggies coupon (I know--can you believe all these awesome coupons they are putting out right now?!) Go here to print your 2 coupons per computer.

Princess and the Frog

2010-03-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

If any of you are gearing up to purchase Disney's The Princess and the Frog blue ray or dvd when it comes out March 16, head over here to find out how to possibly get the blue ray/dvd combo pack for only $6.99 after coupon and rebates.

If you just want the $10 off coupon, you can print it from here.

Enjoy your movie!

Albertson's Double Coupons

2010-03-08T11:28:00.001-08:00

In Sunday's paper yesterday there was a one-page Albertson's ad that had 3 "double your manufacturer's coupon" coupons on the bottom. You can pair these with coupons you currently have to get twice as much off. The most they will match per coupon is $1.00, so if you have a MFC worth $1.00 and you use it with one of these Albertson's coupons, you will get a total of $2.00 off.

Since the Las Vegas area seldom has stores that will double manufacturer's coupons, this is a great find for us couponers (other store chains, not found here, double MFC almost always--so sad we don't have these stores here :(

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

2010-02-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Saturday Feb. 27, from 11am to 3pm Lakeshore Learning Store is throwing a birthday party for Dr. Seuss. They will be doing quite a few things during this time:

Free Crafts for kids
Storytime every hour
Face painting
Games

It should be a fun outing to take your kids too.

Also, while you are there, if you see anything you are planning on buying, make sure to make use of their "Buy one get one at 50% off" coupon found on fliers in the store.

And if you can't make this event, they have free crafts for kids every Saturday from 11am to 3pm

The Price is Right

2010-02-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

These days I seem to save all my shopping to one day, and on that day I drag my little girl with me to several stores, getting all our deals in a marathon shopping trip. Today happened to be that day. I usually set everything up, take a picture for blogging purposes or just for my own pleasure, then make my husband guess how much I spent when he get home. I decided to do something a little more fun tonight when he got home. I made him play "the Price is Right."

I arranged it all by store and put a tag under each group with the store name and the retail price of all the items on it. As in the Showcase showdown where the closest price without going over wins, my husband had to guess the right price of what I actually spent, without going under. His prize--whatever store he came closest too without going under, he got to pick a prize from that group of stuff. He's become pretty good at guessing, so I wanted to give him a real challenge. I don't think the Wipes or tuna from CVS or mascara from Target were really calling his name, so he was more interested in getting the oreos from Smiths or gum from Walgreens.

Here are the results:

Smiths:
Total Retail Value--$33.99
Total Spent--$11.34
Chris' Guess--$12.68
% Saved--67%

CVS:
Total Retail Value--$27.96
Total Spent-- $1.46
Chris' Guess--$10.38
% Saved--95%

Target:
Total Retail Value--$34.15
Total Spent-- $14.38
Chris' Guess--$18.35
% Saved--58%

Walgreens:
Total Retail Value--$17.12
Total Spent-- $0.63
Chris' Guess--$4.73
% Saved--96%

and the prize is . . . the Double Stuffed Golden Oreos (compliments of the coupon for a free package I got from Oreo's facebook account). Yum. I hope he shares with me.

Here is a breakdown of some of the deals with details of where to get the coupons if any of these things are things you want or need.

Walgreens: (I had a $3RR that was about to expire and I needed to quickly use it, so this is what I ended up getting with it)

Hunts tomato sauce--on sale for $0.39 each after in-ad-coupon. Use the $1.00/3 cans manufacturer's coupon found here (must play the game) to get these for $0.06 each. (Can print it twice but have to play the game twice to do so)
Mentos gum--on sale for $0.99 each. Use the $0.55 MFC from the 2/21 Smart Source to get these for $0.44 each
Goody Hair bands--on sale for $2.99 with $2RR earned on purchase. Final price essentially $0.99
Packets of Seeds--on sale for $0.20 each with in-ad coupon--a great filler item if you need one (to understand why you need filler items, go to my post here)
Select Movie Candy boxes--on sale for $0.49 each--also pretty good if you have a sweet tooth (like me!) and need a filler item.

Target:

Kraft cheese--use the $1.00/2 MFC from the 1/24 Smart Source with the $1.00/1 Target printable coupon to get these for $1.34 each--ok deal (usually you can print the Target coupons twice but for some reason I couldn't. That would have made these $0.84 each it would have let me--maybe you'll have better luck).
Kraft Parmesean Cheese--on sale for $3.55 this week--use the $1.00/1 MFC printable coupon found here (print twice) with the $1.00/2 Target printable coupon making them $2.05 each
Rimmel Mascara--Use the $3/1 coupon from the March All You Magazine making it free.
Swiffer Sweeper and Refill Pack--On sale for $8.99 this week--Use the $2/1 Target coupon found in the 2/21 Red Plum and the "Buy a Swiffer Starter kit get a refill free" MFC from the 2/7 P/G making it only $6.99 for both the Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kit and the Refill Pack.

CVS:

(I did invest a $7ECB from my shopping from last week, but I had gotten that from shopping using a $10ECB that I earned by simply doing an online survey for CVS--it seriously pays to register on their website--they periodically email you ways to earn ECBs!)

Huggies Refill Wipes (184+ count)--ringing up as $2.50 this week--hidden deal! If you have any huggies wipes coupons from home mailers (I had a $0.50/1) use them, getting them for $2.00. You can also log on to your Upromise account and click on the huggies wipes coupon to get $1.00 deposited in your child's upromise education account when you buy 2 packs. Update 2/24/10--Huggies refill wipes are no longer ringing up at $2.50 anymore, only the small packs are.
Bumble Bee Tuna--on sale for $0.49 this week--buy 5 and use the $1.00/5 printable coupon to get them for $0.29 each.
Softsoap--on sale for $0.88 this week--use the $0.35/1 printable coupon to get them for $0.53 each.

Smiths: I'm not going to spend much time on this one since their deals end tonight. Sorry. I'm late in getting out this week to Smiths and saved my shopping trip to their final day. Just be aware of the BOGO Purex coupon in the 2/21 Red Plum that you may want to use when they go on sale again (I ended up spending $0.95 each--making it about $0.03 per load of laundry)

I am most excited for my swiffer sweeper. I've gotten these a couple of times, but used them as part of bridal shower "cleaning supply" gifts. Now I have my own...and it's red (it's a limited edition one--and I like it so much better than the green! :)

Old Navy V-Neck Shirts

2010-02-20T16:19:00.001-08:00

Old Navy has their V-neck shirts on sale this week for $5 each, down from $14.50, as well as some tank tops and other children's clothing and Men's tees. If you are ready for spring like we are here in Las Vegas, then this is a perfect opportunity to pick up some shirts for the nice weather. (They are kind of hidden in the store I go to, so if you don't see the ones for $5 at first, ask an employee--don't get confused with the $10 V-neck tees)

To make your shopping trips at Old Navy more worthwhile, make sure to head on over to Old Navy Weekly to get printable coupons. They refresh every week, usually sometime on Thursday. The really good ones (like $50 or $75 off $100 purchase) usually go fast (like within minutes), but you can find others still there throughout the week. They make you work for the coupons, though. You have to click on different things to find the hidden coupons.

Example for this week:

To get the 15% off coupon do this: click on the blue stripped tank, then the pants below it (a 10% off coupon will pop up) but then click on Amy's face that appears in the blue box for the 15% off coupon to appear.

My total for the 2 shirts: $8.50 plus tax--a 71% savings over the retail total of $29.00.

How to shop Walgreens

2010-02-20T11:09:00.001-08:00

My friend Maren recently asked me how to do the whole Walgreens deal shopping. This is in answer to that, and my hope is it will help others of you out there too!

Here is the jist of Walgreens: A Register Reward is a coupon that prints out of their machine (called a Catalina machine) when you purchase a certain item. Every week Walgreens has selected items that when purchased will print out a Register Reward. If you look in their ad, you will see some of them. Example from the other week: Buy Huggies diapers at $8.99/pack, earn $3 Register Reward. So essentially you buy the Huggies, spending the full amount, but then get a coupon back for $3 that can be used just like money at Walgreens.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, there are other tricks to make this work even better--essentially making money at Walgreens. Frequently they have items that earn you the same amount of RR as spent (i.e. spend $4 for the item, earn $4RR). If you can find manufacturer's coupons on the item, then you will "make money" (ex. same item for $4--you have a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off the item--you spend $3 out of pocket, and earn $4 RR). The next week you can use your $4RR to buy another item that earns you register rewards, so you are spending a minimal amount out of pocket, but keep RR on hand and current. So theoretically at first you invest a little of your own money, but if you can keep rolling over your RR every week, you get all these items, but only pay tax and maybe a few more dimes and nickels a week.

There are a few "rules" about Walgreens system that you need to know about:

You can only use as many manufacturer's coupons as items you are purchasing (3 items, 3 MFC). They consider RR as MFC too, so if you want to use any RR you have from previous purchases and already have a MFC for every item in your cart, you will need a filler item (any additional item) to include in your purchase. You will find your favorite filler items if you shop a lot at Walgreens. My favorite is the small boxes of Royal chocolate or vanilla pudding--$0.39 each and something we will use.
Every month Walgreens puts out a little Savings booklet, commonly found up front with their ads or by the registers. These are full of Walgreens coupons ("Wags")on items in their store. These are not the same as MFC and you can use them in combination with MFC on a given item. They do not count toward your coupon total when figuring out the # of MFC you have to items being purchased, so they are GREAT. They will also have Wags coupons in their ad each week so be sure to check those out. There may be an item in their ad with one of these that would make for a great filler item since the Wags coupon doesn't count toward your coupon count. Don't forget to have the cashier scan the Wags coupons from the ad or savings booklet, or you won't get the deal.
RR can not be used to pay for tax. So you need to calculate your purchase out, subtracting your MFC and Wags. If your pre-tax after all of those is less than the RR, the register will not accept your RR, even if the total after tax is more than the RR. You will need a filler item. Simplified example: you want to buy an item priced at $7.99. With tax it is $8.49. You have an $8RR. You can't use it to get that single item since it wasn't over $8 pre-tax (even if it is only off by $0.01). You will need a filler item.
The best way I have found for giving the cashier my coupons to avoid beeps is this: MFC first, then Wags coupons, then RR.
You can only earn 1RR on a given item per transaction, but different items in the same transaction can all earn RR potentially. (sound confusing? let me explain...). If crest toothpaste has a $2RR you can earn on it, even if you buy 2 or 3 in one transaction, you will only earn 1 $2RR; but say if Nyquil also has a RR deal where you can earn $4RR for buying their product, and you buy 1 Crest and 1 Nyquil in the same transaction, you will get a $2RR and a $4RR.
You can not roll over RR that you earned from purchasing "item A" to buy another "item A" and still get another RR printed out, but you can use it to buy "item B" which earns another RR, then use "item B's" RR to buy another "item A", and so on and so forth. Ex: you can't use that Crest RR to buy another Crest toothpaste and expect a RR to print out again. It won't. Instead alternate transactions with something else which earns RR, like Nyquil. Transaction 1-Crest; Transaction 2-Nyquil, Transaction 3-crest, etc.
Sign up for their e-letter--they occassionally send out coupons and other deals.
Take a calculator with you. It helps out immensly!
Above all else, start out small. It takes some practice to get the hang of everything at Walgreens. I would start with one or two items per week until you get the hang of all the coupon stuff there and how their system works. You will tend to do a lot of transactions at times, but the more you do it, the better you get at calculating everything, and being able to put more things together in transactions to make the most with your RR.

Good luck, Maren! (and everyone else). Let me know if you have any questions (which you might, because my explanation above might be totally confusing!)

Free Fresco Taco

2010-02-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

Hurry on over to the link here to print off a coupon for a free fresco taco from Taco Bell. No purchase necessary. Coupon expires 7 days from when you print it. Only the first 1 million to try and print it will be able to get a coupon, so you may want to print your out quick (and you can print 2 per computer like other printable coupons).

Thanks, Adventures in Savings!

Paying Attention to Utilities

2010-02-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

Have you paid attention to your different utility bills lately? There are many articles out there giving suggestions on how to get your electric or gas bill down by conserving energy different ways, such as using high efficiency light bulbs, but this post isn't about those things. It is about Internet/phone/cable bills.

If you have any or all of these services, it may be worth your time to call up the company you have these through to see what the going rates are for their services. They just might be lower than what you are currently paying. This happened to us this past month. We have our internet through Cox. We had signed up with them when we moved in to our place Fall 2008 with a 6-month promo deal--$19.99/month for 6 months for 1.5mb speed--but after that it jumped to $39.99. Last month my husband heard a deal on the radio for 3mb speed for $32.99. It wasn't a 6-month promo or anything like that. It was their standard price. To be honest, I have no idea how long their prices have been this, and how long we have been overpaying for a slower speed, but we didn't let it go on any longer. We called up Cox, and told them we wanted to switch to the 3mb speed. They were very nice and helpful, and the switch only took a couple of minutes. Now we have twice as fast internet speed and pay $7 less per month.

Moral of this story--call your internet/cable company every 6 months or so, just to find out what the current rates are. They might be lower than you are actually paying.

Huggies Deal at Walgreens

2010-02-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Walgreens is having an amazing register reward deal this week on Huggies diapers. Here is the jist of the deal:

They are on sale for $8.99 each with a $3RR earned on each pack (only 1 per transaction)
Use $2/1 Huggies printable coupon here
If you have the Children's Coupon Booklet that came out last fall, use the $1/1 Walgreens huggies coupon in it too.
Pay as little as $2.99 after coupons and register rewards
Submit for the Caregiver's Marketplace Rebate ($0.75 per huggies pack)
Essentially spend only $2.24/pack of diapers

Here is where it gets even better . . .

Usually at Walgreens you can't roll over a Register Reward from one transaction on a certain product to get the same product in a new transaction and earn another RR (ex. can't buy a huggies pack, earn $3RR, then buy another huggies pack, use the $3RR to buy it, then earn another $3RR). You usually have to alternate transactions with another product that earns register rewards. HOWEVER...I heard from Common Sense With Money that for some reason, the huggies deal is allowing rolling over. It might just be some glitch in Walgreen's system, but I tried it out today, and they were right! I could buy a pack, roll over the RR to buy another pack, and still earn another RR. Happy Day! I don't know if this will last all week, or if Walgreens will switch it back to how they normally do things, so jump on this deal quick.

If you stop in you might want to take advantage of a couple other deals:

Unadvertised deal: Orbit 3 pack gum is on sale for 2 for $3.00. Use $1/1 printable coupon here (print twice) to get them for $0.50 each

Dove Men Care Body and Face Wash is on sale for $5.99 with a $5.99RR earned making it essentially free after RR earned.

Note: remember that you can't have more manufacturer's coupons than items being purchased, and RR count as manufacturer's coupons. Walgreens coupons don't count though. You will need a filler item if you use both manufacturer's coupon and RR. There are Valentine's pencils on sale for $0.20 with Walgreens in ad coupon that could work (or I use the boxes of pudding for $0.39)

My trip was a success. I had those printable coupons plus one I got in a mailer on Saturday (perfect timing!) and 2 $1.50/1 coupons I printed last month. I had to do 6 transactions, but here is the summary of my trip:

Invested $16RR from last week's earnings/came away with $3RR

Total Spent: $7.30 (subtotal)/ $11.50 (with tax)

Total Value: $76.08

Total Saved: 85%

High Value Diaper Coupon

2010-02-02T20:14:00.001-08:00

There is a great new printable coupon here for $4 off 1 pack of Baby Basic Diapers. This brand can be found in Albertsons here in Nevada. Make sure you print it twice!

thanks, She Saved

Baby Deals

2010-02-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

I stopped over at the $0.99 Store on Marks St. in Henderson today and found some great deals on Gerber and Earth's Best items. Up along the front they had the Gerber Mini Fruits, Gerber Preschool granola bars, Earth's Best Tots crackers, and other such items, all for $0.99. This is a great deal for these items. If you have a youngester at home, you may want to stop by if you are around that area.

Smith's Buy 10 Save $5 Deal

2010-02-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

Bought 26 items
Total Spent: $20.46
Total Value: $64.49
Total Savings: 68%
Price per item: $0.79

Smiths is running their "Buy 10 Participating Items, Save $5 instantly" deals. I got a late start on my shopping, so this deal actually ends tomorrow. If you want to pick up a few things with it, you'll have to go tomorrow (Tuesday). There are some pretty good deals on this, especially if you combine them with coupons out there. You can find where a lot of the coupons are (and all the participating items) by going to Grocery Smarts here, but here are my favorites, a few of which they don't have the links to:

$1.00/2 Capri Sun boxes printable here = $0.99/box after coupon and "buy 10" deal

$1.00/2 Kraft Cheese printable from my sidebar (click on "see all coupons") or in the 1/24 Smart Source = $0.99/8oz block or shredded after coupon and "buy 10" deal

$1.00/2 Quaker granola bars printable here = $0.99/box after coupon and "buy 10" deal

I was also excited for the goldfish crackers that are on this deal and are $0.88 without any coupons (after I got some last week at Vons my husband asked me why I hadn't gotten more, so here was my chance to get him a few more packages).

There are also a bunch of other great Kraft coupons at the same link as the Capri Sun that you may want to print out to have on hand. These don't come around too often.

$1/4 Philadelphia Cream Cheese
$1/1 Velveeta Cheese
$1/2 Planters Mixed Nuts
$1/2 Capri Suns
$1/1 Grated Parm Cheese
$1/1 Oscar Mayer Meats
$1/1 Oscar Mayer Bologna
$1/1 Claussen Pickles
$1/2 Kraft Deluxe or Velveeta Shells and Cheese

Great Deals at Vons 1/23

2010-01-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

While I tend not to make the effort to shop at Vons since there isn't one too close to me, I did make a trip over there today because of a great promo they have going on this week: Buy 4 save $4 mix and match sale (ends 1/26)

The reason I was so interested in this one is because of some great coupons that are out there (and a way to pick up a few more things for my husband's lunches)

Here are the things I picked up with the coupon links for them:

Betty Crocker Fruit snacks, fruit rollups, and fruit gushers: $1.00/2 printables here and here--you can print them twice and there is a coupon for just the fruit snacks and one for the rollups/gushers) Final price: $0.50/box

Honey nut Cheerios: $1.00/1 printable here (there is also a $1.00/2 that prints out with it, and if you just push your back button a few times after printing it once it should print another set out too). Final price: $0.50/box

Capn' Crunch: I didn't have any coupons, but they were only $1.00 with the promo and they are my husband's favorite cereal, so I picked up a couple.

They were also having a Saturday/Sunday only deal on the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers--$0.88 each so I picked up a few.

and last but not least--their blueberries were on sale for $0.99 for 6oz. Since our freezer stash is almost gone I picked up a couple.

Total spent: $12.00

Total value: $55.82

Total saved: 79%

Average price/item: $0.67

Here is where the above deal even got sweeter. After purchasing everything a catalina printed out for $3.50 off my next purchase. Sweet!! Come to find out there is another deal going on by General Mills on their Fruit Shapes, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups or Fruit Roll-Ups Fruit Stickerz:
Buy 3 and get $1.50 off your next order coupon
Buy 4 and get $2.50 off your next order coupon

Buy 5 or more and get $3.50 off your next order coupon

I totally lucked out. I looked online when I got home and I believe this offer ends tomorrow 1/24.

Since I don't usually go to Vons, I decided to go pick up 4 more things of blueberries to use my coupon, thus only spending $0.46 for them = 98% savings with catalina and sale discount.

All Laundry Detergent

2010-01-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

If you still have your Big Lots ad from Sundays paper you can use it to price match All Laundry detergent (32 load) for 2 for $5 through this Saturday (1/23). Use that along with the coupon for $3 off 2 All Laundry detergents from the 1/3 Red Plum to get these for only $1 each.

Hmmm...$1 each...32 loads...that means each load only costs me $0.03 each. Not bad.

And if you ever wonder if you really get as many loads out of a bottle as they say, try this technique I learned from Shop Smart in Vegas. Keep a sharpie in your laundry room and put a tally mark on the bottle everytime you do a load. Then you'll know how many loads you have gotten from a bottle.

High value Knox coupon

2010-01-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

I hope none of you threw away your RedPlum coupon booklet that came in the mail yesterday. Inside there is a $4 off any Knox product coupon. You can use this to get packages of Knoxx gelatin for free! The 4 pouch boxes are definitely less than $4 (at least when I've gone to buy them). Your cashier may need to adjust down the coupon amount to the acual sale price.

I scored this morning by finding 10 more inserts in the garbage can by our apartment's mailboxes (yes, I do lower myself to digging through garbage cans sometimes :). I should be well stocked up on Knox gelatin by the end of this month for sure.

Excuses for my Absence

2010-01-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

I'm back...I know, it's been a long time. Sorry for the long delay. I had a wonderful December, and did almost no deal shopping--I had most of my Christmas shopping done well before December, and we were gone visiting family and friends a lot of the time, so I took a little break. Because of all the deal shopping I had done during the months before, we were well stocked up on the things that we needed, so I really didn't need to do much shopping at all. It was a relaxful December.

I also have been inspired by some fellow bloggers out there to try and eat from our pantry this month, utilizing food items that we already have on hand, and mainly only grocery shopping for milk, bread, and other perishable items. It's been a fun challenge, and I've taken the opportunity to try new recipes out and realize that I can take my food storage and turn it into some wonderful meals--even using our whole wheat without a grinder. I did pick up a bunch of canned items at the Smith's caselot sale last week, but besides that I haven't bought much more food besides the milk, bread, fruits and veggies and yogurt.

I guess my third excuse for slacking on this blog is due to focusing on activities in my other 2 blogs. If interested, check them out here:

http://www.pattycakesbakery.blogspot.com/
http://www.ourscoutingchronicles.blogspot.com/

I did snag a good deal today, worthy of posting. I went to CVS today to pick up some Huggies diapers with a raincheck I had from a few weeks ago. I utilized 2 $2 off Huggies supreme coupons (you can get them on my sidebar--just click on "see all coupons"), a BOGOF Oust coupon from the 1/3 SS, as well as a $5 ECB I had earned during an earlier week and $4 left on a CVS gift card I earned from filling a prescription there. All in all I spent out of pocket $4.40, an 86% savings. I am also getting my Caregivers Marketplace rebate together which will give me $1.50 more back for these 2 packs of diapers.

Why I Love Rebates

2009-12-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

I have a confession--I am a total rebate fan. While most people avoid them because they think they are a hassle to do--save receipts, fill out forms, cut UPCs, mail in everything, and wait...and wait for the check to arrive--I love them. Let me tell you why...

When I find something that I will use that has a rebate with it, I will buy the item. Now I do have to spend some money to get it. I just figure that cost into my monthly food/household budget so I don't overspend. Then when I get home, I directly sit down and fill out the paperwork and get it in it's envelope, sealed, stamped and ready to go. (If you say you'll do it later, most times you will just forget about it, that's why I like to do mine right away). Now here's the part I love...getting those checks in the mail. Yes, some may only be for $1-$2, but others can be $10 or $20. Since I had already budgeted for the cost of buying those items, the rebate is sort of like free money. I put all my rebate money in a special drawer, saving it up until I have enough for a big-ticket item that I've had my eye on.

That brings me to my oh-so-exciting news. I did it--I saved and saved all those rebate checks since the beginning of 2009 when I started doing rebates more actively, and finally had enough to go get a small chest freezer that I have been wanting for quite some time. It is small, but the perfect size for us and our small apartment right now. I've already put it to good use making double or triple amounts of meals and freezing portions of it to have on hand for those days that I don't have a lot of time to cook. It is already making life a little easier. (and did I mention that it also came with a $10 mail in rebate to get me started on my next round of saving?!)

Thank you Mail-in-Rebates!! You are worth the time and cost of the stamp to me.

(Hmm...what to save for next...how about a wheat grinder. Yep, sounds like a good plan to me!)

Disney Movie Rewards Double Points Day

2009-12-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

For any of you who have signed up with Disney Movie Rewards and have some new dvds whose codes you haven't inputted yet, this Thursday (Dec. 10) is double points day--the perfect day to redeem some of those codes and earn lots of points. They indicated that there would be 2 double points day during these last few months of this year, and this is their second one, so I don't know if and when there will be this opportunity again.

If you don't know what Disney Movie Rewards is, you can read more about it in my post here.

Hallmark $5 coupon

2009-12-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

There is a new printable coupon out there for $5 off a $5 purchase or more at a Hallmark Gold Crown Store. If you need a couple Christmas, birthday, or other occasion cards this would make for a close to free purchase. Go here to print off your coupon (you can print it twice too!)

Coupon expires Dec. 24, 2009

thanks Mojo Savings

Black Friday Shopping

2009-11-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow shoppers. I hope that if you decided to face the crowds this morning that you had a very successful shopping trip. If you decided to stay home and skip the chaos, then I hope you had a very relaxful and wonderful morning home with your family.

I didn't try waking up at the insanely early hour that a lot of shoppers do on this day. I waited until my daughter woke up, got her dressed and fed, and then we went out, just hitting a couple stores. I had one of those $10 off a $20 purchase or more Kohls coupon, and you know me, I can't pass those up, so off we went. They had an early bird special on their playskool toys--50% off until 1pm. I still had all of my coupons that I printed off last month and I wanted to see what they had and what great deals I could find. I was pleasantly surprised to find both the Playskool Sit 'n Spin and Walk 'n Ride in stock. I picked those up plus a little shirt for her, used my Kohls and Playskool coupons with the early bird 50% off deal, and got everything for about $11. Successful trip!--There is my daughter's Christmas toy and next birthday present all bought and ready to go.

How was your Black Friday shopping trip? Feel free to leave a comment telling us how you did. I'd love to hear.

Free Movie Tickets

2009-11-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love to see a movie during the holidays. It seems to be many families' tradition to go on Thanksgiving. Well, you can get free movie tickets when you purchase specially marked boxes of General Mills cereal. When you purchase 2 boxes and enter in the codes found inside the box on the website here, you can print out a voucher for a free ticket. That can make for a cheap ticket and cheap cereal.

This promotion will probably be running for awhile, and I will update you when I find good deals on the cereal. If you are looking to get some for this week since Thanksgiving is coming up, I know that Albertsons have their boxes of cereal on sale for 2 for $5 through tomorrow. They are the 16-19oz. size boxes too. That means you can get 2 medium size boxes of cereal and a movie ticket for only $5. And, if you happen to have any cereal coupons saved up, it could be even cheaper (I had 2 $1 off 1 HoneyNut Cheerios coupons so all in all I spent $3)

Each voucher is good towards 1 ticket (up to $12) at participating theaters (to find a participating theater, go here) and can be used even if a show is considered a "no pass/no coupon" show.

Free Holiday Cards

2009-11-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

If you are getting ready to do your annual Christmas card, then you may want to check out this deal. You can get 50 free cards from SeeHere Photo Sharing. Just sign up for an account for them, pick a card you want, add your pictures and such, and then add 50 copies to your shopping cart. When checking out use the promo code newbaby and you will get your 50 cards (and envelopes!) for free. All you pay is $3.19 for shipping.

I am excited to get ours in the mail in a few days. I did one of their 4x8 cards, but actually designed my own card in photoshop and uploaded that as my picture, then enlarged it to cover their entire card. That is always an option if you don't like any of their designs.

thanks Money Saving Mom

Target Chinet Deal

2009-11-18T22:29:00.001-08:00

Target is having one of their gift card deals this week: purchase 2 packs of Chinet 9" plates (72 count) or 10" plates (32 count) at $4.74 each, get a $5 gift card.

Use 2 $1 off coupons found here

Total spent after coupons and gift card = $2.48 + tax (only $1.24 per pack--and these are the big packs!)

I was really excited to do this deal. I really like the chinet brand of plates. They are very durable and sturdy. They will be perfect for our annual pie night coming up!

I have found that reserving the $5 gift card for my next gift card deal makes things a lot easier and cheaper--I always have a gift card to use in the transaction that gives me another one. That way I really do keep my out of pocket expense to a minimum. Just food for thought.

Dole Canned Pineapple

2009-11-10T20:20:00.001-08:00

There is a great printable coupon out there for Dole Pineapple. If you go here to the Dole website and play their Flip and Win game you will be able to print a coupon for $0.50 off one 20 oz. can. After printing your coupon, if you push the back button a time or 2 you should be able to print it a second time.

I've seen some pretty good sale prices on the pineapple this week. Starting tomorrow they are on sale at Food 4 Less for $0.98 (making them only $0.50 after coupon), and tonight I found them at my local Walmart Neighborhood Market on rollback for only $0.75 per can. That makes them only $0.25 for a 20 oz. can--that is an amazing price. I love to have these on hand when I want to make frog eye salad-Yum!

"Try Me Free"

2009-11-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been strolling down an aisle at the grocery store and seen stickers similar to these? I love finding offers like this when I am shopping. It is an offer for a free product. You just purchase the product and send in the mail in rebate to get a refund for the purchase price. You essentially get to try the product for the price of a postage stamp. Keep you eye open for these offers when you are out shopping.

1-800-Flowers Free $40 Gift Certificate

2009-11-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

1-800-Flowers is running a great deal/promotion right now that you might want to take advantage of (or pass along to your husband for him to take advantage of, if you like to receive flowers from him :).

Go over to their website HERE and sign up for their Fresh Rewards Program. Then add 10 event reminders to your account calendar. You will get 40 points for each reminder you input, up to 10 events. That will give you 400 points which qualify you for a $40 savings pass that they will email to you. This can be used on their website to order something.

It is as simple as that. It might take them up to 2 weeks to update your account, so be patient.

Once you have your savings pass, you might want to order your flowers from them by going through Ebates to get 10% cash back, or another website like Cashbaq that have other coupon offers for 1-800-Flowers (such as 15% off their birthday bouquets).

thanks Surviving the Stores

'Tis the Season--Toy and Game deals for the Holidays

2009-11-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

The toy deals are starting, and well before Black Friday arrives. Here are a few that I noticed while going through my ads yesterday:

1. Walmart has some of their Playskool toys on sale in their weekly ad. The Walk and Ride or Ball Popper are only $17 this week (down from $20 normally). Use the $5 off coupons that you printed last month from coupons.com (or if you didn't print them, just head over to the side bar and click on the "see all coupons" icon to find them and print them now). This makes either toy only $12

2. Toys R Us is having a great game deal this week. They have a bunch of their Hasbro Games on Sale for $3.99 each, as well as others for $7.99 and $9.99. Here is where the deal gets sweet:

there is a $2 mail in rebate offer per game on the $3.99 games, and a $3 mail in rebate on a few of the $9.99 games (you just need to do one rebate entry for all of them)

You can get a $10 gift card in addition to the rebates when you purchase $25 or more of Hasbro games.

The Thrify Mama posted a great scenerio for the games:

Buy 4 $3.99 games

Buy 1 $9.99 game (either Scrabble or Connect 4 since it appears these are the only 2 in this price range that have the rebate offer)

Spend $25.95 OOP

Get $10 gift card and submit for $11 of rebates

Essentially only spend $4.95 for 5 games

Here is a list of the different games on sale, with the link here for information on the rebate (games must be purchased at Toys R Us for rebate):

$3.99: Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Memory, HiHo CherryO, Don't Break the Ice, Ants in the Pants

$7.99: Monopoly Jr., Boogle Jr., Scrabble Jr., Yahtzee, Monopoly Dial, Rubik’s Cube, Rubik’s 360, Rubik’s Magic

$9.99: Mouse Trap, Scrabble, Perfection, Connect 4, Boggle, Scrabble Up Words, Hullabaloo, Guess Who

Date Night Deals

2009-11-05T21:32:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to post a date night deal for this week. Here is one for those of you who are kids at heart--head on over to the Circus Circus hotel to see different circus acts. New acts perform every half hour from 11 am to midnight daily. Cost is free. My brother-in-law and nephews went a few weeks ago and had a blast. Hope you enjoy it too.

Disney Movie Rewards

2009-11-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

The past couple of days I have been searching for printable coupons for the upcoming release of Disney's Up and Monsters Inc. For awhile there I wasn't having much luck, but I recently stumbled onto 2 potential deals:

1. It is possible that at some retailers there will be a sticker on certain DVDs for $10 off when you purchase both Up and Monsters. Someone spotted them on DVDs locked behind the counter at Frys, just waiting the release date next week. If anyone knows anymore about this potential deal, please leave a comment.

2. If you haven't joined Disney's Movie Rewards, then I recommend you do so, especially if you are Disney fans like we are. When you buy Disney DVDs with the movie rewards icon (all new releases have this I believe), there is a code inside the DVD container that you plug in online to earn points. You can redeem these points for a variety of Disney merchandise. Here are 2 more reasons to sign up TODAY

today (11/5) is double points day, so if you have a bunch of dvds with codes never redeemed, then plug them all in today to get a whole slew of points.

you can get an $8 off coupon for the new release of Monsters Inc. blue ray combo pack if you enter the UPC code in from your old DVD or VHS copy of this movie before 11/29/09. There should be a message about it in the message board when you first log in to your account.

Mailbox Goodies

2009-11-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

Like I've mentioned before, my daily trip to my mailbox is something I really look forward to (I know--it sounds like I have no life, right?). I just get excited to see what freebies, coupons, or rebates I am getting. Sometimes there are one or two goodies for me, or sometimes there is nothing at all, which is a huge let down. I prefer the days when there is at least something.

The past couple of days have been marvelous mailbox days. It's either feast or famine, and this weekend it has been a feast of freebies. I got my 2 $10 gift cards from Emergency Essentials (one for trying their food storage analyzer and blogging about it like I mentioned here, and the other for putting their button on my blog), a $5 gift card to Paneras (for doing a survey for them), a coupon for a free can of ReddiWhip (perfect for our annual Pie Night coming up), a coupon for a free California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza (an offer from the Kraft First Taste program for their members), and a $10 off a $10 or more purchase at Kohls (that should make for a free item or two when I check out their clearance racks). Not bad for 2 trips to the mailbox.

I definately recommend signing up for the Kraft First Taste program if you haven't yet. It's similar to VocalPoint that I've mentioned before, but you need to periodically log on to see what free offers are waiting for you. They usually don't automatically mail you coupons out like vocalpoint does. You either have to claim them and then they will mail them to you, or they are just printable coupons.

Date Night Deals

2009-10-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

There are many Halloween events to participate in this weekend--probably more geared toward a family outing instead of just a date night, but still fun anyways. Here are some local trunk or treats going on:

1. The District at Green Valley Ranch is having a "GhostWalk" on 10/31 from 5-8pm. This is what their website says about it: "Bring your little ghosts and goblins to The District for trick or treating fun at the 4th Anual GhostWalk on Main Street! We've got more than 500,000 pieces of candy! And new this year: Audi of Henderson presents "Trunk or Treat", with additional trick or treating from the trunks of several Audi cars parked along Main Street. We'll have a DJ playing fun music, and the kids will marvel at 'The Big Guy', a ghost towering 20 feet over Main Street! "

2. Metro's Trunk-or-Treat events on 10/31 from 5-7pm. There are 2 locations: Convention Center Area Command, located at 750 Sierra Vista near Swenson, and Southeast Area Command, located at 3675 E. Harmon Ave near Pearl. Children can trunk or treat to the different squad cars and interact with the different officers. There is also a costume contest for those 12 and under. This event is free.

Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure

2009-10-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

If you were planning on purchasing the new Disney movie Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, you may want to head over to Smiths this week to do so. The movie is on sale for $19.99. Use the $10 off coupon found here to get your price down to $9.99.

Plus, Smiths is deal this week includes a free box of Kelloggs Rice Krispies or Froot Loops and a free free box of Kelloggs Fruit Snacks. You get a movie, box of cereal, and box of fruit snacks for $9.99.

If you have any Kelloggs coupons for those cereals and fruit snacks you might be able to use them too to get your price down. I don't know if Smiths will accept them or not considering that the cereal and fruit snacks are "free" with purchase of the DVD.

There is also a $5 mail in rebate when you purchase the DVD and a Leap Frog Tinkerbell product. The rebate can be found here. If you hear about any good deals on the leap frog product, let me know.

Weekly Shopping Trip

2009-10-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

I've been sort of MIA this weekend with posting deals. I've had a busy time making cakes (my other hobby). If you want to see what I've been up to, check out my other blog here.

I finally did a little shopping today. Smiths was having a great deal on their Nature Valley products and I had some great coupons. There are some great little tricks with Smiths shopping that I will post about later this week, but I just wanted to post a quick picture with my savings for this week.

I went to Smiths, CVS, and a quick stop at our local Walmart Neighborhood Market for some price matching while picking up a prescription. This is what I came away with today (plus another banana that got eaten before the picture was taken :)

Total spent: $22.46

Total value: $72.16

Total saved: 69%

Date Night Deals

2009-10-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a free event this weekend that would be perfect for an evening out. The Henderson Symphony Orchestra is having a free concert tomorrow evening (Friday Oct 23) at 8pm at the Henderson Pavillion (200 South Green Valley Parkway). There is also a pre-show discussion from 7:15-7:45.

Some of the songs they will be performing are J. Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine," Copland's jazz-inspired "Clarinet Concerto," and Schumann's "Symphony #3." It should be a great performance!

Emergency Essentials Food Storage Analyzer and free $10 gift card

2009-10-21T15:12:00.001-07:00

I have been working little by little to accumulate what we need for our short-term and long-term food storage. There are many resources out there to help with this goal. A new one that I came across today, thanks to Utah Deal Diva, is the Emergency Essentials Food Storage Analyzer. It is a free program to use. Once you set up an account and log in you can input the different food items that you already have as well as the different ages of everyone in your family. It calculates the caloric value needed per day for your family and then how many days your food would last given the caloric need of your family.

I tried it this morning and enjoyed trying this out. It was interesting to see just how long/far our current food storage would last. My only frustration with it is that most of the items they list for you to check off as having are their different canned food in their sizes. I had estimate some things that I have since some of my food is packaged in smaller quantities or weights. There was one section for grocery store canned food which helped, but not for other normal grocery-store-purchased items. With my estimations that I made, for our family of 3, it says that our food storage would last 69.6 days. Not quite where we need to be, but we are well on our way to our goal.

You can try it out for free and even earn a free $10 gift card for trying it out. Details can be found here.

My Walgreens Trip 10-17-09

2009-10-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

I usually don't wait until the last day of their ad date to do my Walgreens shopping, but this past week just worked out that way, so at 9pm last night I headed out to snag some diapers and pick up a few more deals (the sippy cup was clearance for $0.10 at my Walgreens, so I couldn't pass up picking up one to see if my daughter liked it).

Here is my trip in a nutshell:

Invested $2 Register Rewards from previous week's purchases

Used $26.50 in manufacturer's coupons

Used $9.60 in Walgreens coupons

Spent $9.64 pretax out of pocket ($12.16 with tax)

Got $59.09 worth of items ("MSRP"--but let's be honest, would we actually spend the retail value to get these items--probably not--we wait for a sale.)

Saved 79%

Earned $6 Register Rewards for next time

Can submit for a $1.50 mail in rebate on the diapers

I was happy with that considering it was the last day of the sale and some of the things that I wanted were already sold out.

Build-A-Bear Coupon

2009-10-16T18:50:00.001-07:00

Go here to get a coupon good for $5 off a $10 or more purchase at Build-A-Bear. Coupon is valid through 10/31/09.

Thanks, The Thrifty Mama

Homemade Jam

2009-10-16T12:50:00.001-07:00

Albertsons had a great 3-day sale on strawberries last week, and I figured this might be the last sale on strawberries of the season, so I probably should make more homemade jam for the next few months (growing up on homemade has made me really picky about jam and I just don't like the store bought stuff).

If you think making homemade freezer jam is probably too complicated, well, it's not. You can totally do it. The key to freezer jam is to simply follow the directions and measurements to the T (although they aren't really complicated and don't have many steps). If you change the measurements then it won't set up.

All you need is a few pounds of strawberries (or whatever fruit you want to use), a pkg. of pectin, sugar, and maybe lemon juice. I am partial to the Certo (blue box) type of pectin, but lately I have been buying the Sure-Jell in the pink box. It makes a lower sugar version of freezer jam and still tastes great (one box usually requires about 2.5-3lbs of strawberries). The Certo doesn't have any stovetop steps while the low-sugar Sure-Jell does. If this is your first time trying, then I recommend the Certo pectin.

If you can't find strawberries for a descent price then check out the $0.99 Store. Ours here on Marks in Henderson frequently carries frozen bags of strawberries (usually 12 oz) for $0.99. You can just thaw those and use them since they are purely frozen strawberries--no syrup.

Mmmmm...there's nothing quite like homemade jam on a piece of homemade bread...I'll have to make some of that too soon.

Cheap Mac n Cheese

2009-10-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

Vons is having a great sale tomorrow only (Saturday) on their Kraft Macaroni and Cheese--3 for $1.00. If you are partial to the name brand on this, then now is when you want to stock up. There is a limit of 15. If you don't have a Vons close by, then take your ad over to Walmart to price match.

Diaper and other Baby Deals

2009-10-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

1. There is a great printable coupon here for $3 off 1 Comforts for Baby Diapers (Kroger brand). You can find these at your local Smiths. You should be able to pick up a pack of diapers for $3-4 after using this coupon, or even lower if you wait for a good sale (they don't expire until 12/31/09). I was able to print mine twice.

2. Also, there is a pretty good deal at Walgreens this week (ends tomorrow) on Huggies diapers:
Buy 2 packs of Huggies diapers at $9 each, get a $4 RR.

Here's a scenario:
Buy 2 packs = $18
Use 2 $2/1 coupons found here
Use $1/1 Walgreens coupon found in the Children's Activity Book (will take $2 off total)
Pay $12 out of pocket and submit for the Caregiver's Marketplace Rebate (get $1.50 back total)
Pay $3.25 per jumbo pack after coupons, rebate, and RR earned.

3. There is a printable coupon here for a free Happy Baby Organic Product

Thanks Money Saving Mom

Date Night (or Day) Deals

2009-10-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

There are 2 different activities you might want to consider for your date night/day or family time this weekend:

1. To get in you the Halloween mood, head on over to the FunTown Frightfest located at either the Galleria Mall in Henderson (across the street) or at Boca Park Shopping Center in Summerlin. Tickets seem reasonably priced: $4 for adults, $2 for kids 12 and under, $12 for a family fun pack, and children with disabilities get in free (Summerlin rates are slightly different). Proceeds benefit the Peoples Autism Foundation

Here is a list of activities from their website:
"10 acres of spooky fun, food and frights!
Carnival Rides
Midway Games
Haunted Houses
Inflatable Bouncy Rides
Bungee Jumping
Scary-As-Heck Adult Rides (I may have edited that a bit :)
Not-So-Scary FunTown Kids Park
Runaway Train
Haunted Hayride
Pumpkin Patch
Pony Rides
Live Entertainment
Creature Feature Movies for Kids
Spooky-oke (Karaoke)
Spirits & Boos Bar
Local Food Vendors
Raffles and Much More!

For more information and to print off a coupon good for $1 off any child admission go here.

2. If Halloween isn't your thing, then you may want to head over to the Black Mountain Recreation Center for their annual Holiday Craft Show. Admission is free and the show runs from 9am to 4pm. Tis the Season. Happy shopping.

Kraft Foods First Taste Program

2009-10-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

Have you joined Kraft Foods First Taste yet? If not, I urge you to do so. Periodically they have special offers for members offering high value coupons or even coupons for free products. I just logged into my account this evening and there was a $2/1 Wheat Thin coupon waiting for me (printable) as well as one for a Free California Pizza Kitchen pizza (that coupon will be mailed to me).

There's no charge for joining. They just give you great offers and then ask for you to fill out short surveys on the products you try to help them find out if people like their products or not (sort of their research and development). Go ahead and give it a try.

Del Monte Peaches Deal

2009-10-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Big Lots is having a really good buy on their Del Monte Peaches this week. Select varieties are 5 for $1.00 of the 8.25 oz variety. They usually run around $1.00 at Walmart, so this is a steal of a deal. These have the pop can type top that you can open easily without a can opener, making them perfect for a husband's or kid's lunches, or to throw in your diaper bag with a plastic spoon in case your toddler gets hungry.

If your Big Lots is already sold out of them, you can always try price matching them at Walmart if you have an ad from Big Lots (it was in Sunday's paper). I have a couple of extra if someone needs one for price matching. I don't know if all Walmarts will price match Big Lots ads, but the few that I go to have never given me any problems.

This sale ends Saturday October 17.

Free 8x8 Photobook from Shutterfly

2009-10-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Now through Nov 15, 2009 you can get a free 8x8 hard cover 20 page photobook from Shutterfly. Here is how to get it:

1. Log into your facebook account

2. Go here, then scroll to the bottom of the page to where there are ads.

3. Keep refreshing your screen until the ad for the free Shutterfly book pops up, then click on it and follow their instructions

4. You will get a unique code to you. Just log into your shutterfly account and enter in this code to save this promo to your account.

You can then make a photobook and use it to get a free book (you still pay shipping). Offer expires November 15.

Note: you do not need to sign friends up for the Family Tree on Facebook to get the code. If you have an ad blocker you may need to disable it temporarily to have the ad appear.

Thank you, Money Saving Madness, for the info on this deal

Lehi Roller Mills Wheat

2009-10-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Stephanie told me about this deal last week. The Costco on Marks St. in Henderson has 45 lb buckets of Hard White Wheat that they discounted from $18 to $14.99 last week. I picked us up one last week and they still had a bunch left (it was located way in the back left corner when I went there). This is a great price for the wheat and bucket and a great item for your long term food storage.

New Kohl's Coupon

2009-10-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

I hope that you didn't miss the Kohl's coupon on the front page of yesterday's paper. It is another $10 off $20 or more purchase. These coupons are like gold to me (I'm a big Kohls fan). This coupon is good through the end of this week.

They are having some great sales this week that you can combine this offer with. Their sales/ad change on Wednesdays, but right now their toy section is having some great deals (30-40% off). (I was excited about this--I got a birthday present for my little girl plus a couple outfits for less than $10 after my coupon and a 15% off coupon I had).

Date Night Deals

2009-10-08T09:43:00.001-07:00

Another weekend is fast approaching, and there are a few great activities you can do this weekend for free.

If you are a BYU fan (we sure are--Go Cougars!), then you don't want to miss the tailgate party taking place Saturday Oct 10th at 4pm at Sam Boyd Stadium. The cost is free, although there will be food there for purchase if you like (meal ticket is $10). Wear your blue and white and come on out for a fun afternoon.

There is also a pre-game fireside put on by the BYU football team Friday night at 7pm at the Green Valley Stake Center, located 410 N. Valle Verde in Henderson. Sunday dress please.

If football is not your thing, then you may want to head over to Lake Las Vegas instead. This weekend is the St. Rose Regatta Dragon Boat Festival, raising money for breast cancer. It is free to watch, although donations will be accepted. The festivities begin at 10am Saturday Oct 10 and go until 4pm. There will be entertainment running all day and venues set up where food and drinks can be purchased.

The info on the races says, "Each 44 foot, solid teak, Chinese war canoe accommodates a full 22-person crew, consisting of 20 paddlers, a drummer, & a steersperson. Don’t miss the excitement as each crew competes in three 500-meter race heats. The competition is friendly & should prove to be a great time for everyone." Sounds like a fun event to watch.

Printable Playskool Coupons

2009-10-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

There are some great high-value printable coupons at coupons.com right now for a variety of Playskool toys. The best part is that these don't expire until January, so they are bound to go on sale sometime in the next 3 months before Christmas (any day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers out there?!). I recommend printing all of them up and hanging on to them until you come across a sale.

For your convenience, you can go over to my coupons.com side bar and scroll through them until you come across the toys and then do a quick print.

Here are the different coupons they have. I was at Target today and priced a few of them that I could find. I've put these prices in paratheses next to the coupon value:

Save $10 on 1 DinoRoars Stompers toy
Save $5 on 1 DinoRoars Hatchlings toy
Save $10 on 1 Dance Cam toy
Save $5 on 1 Swing 'n Score Baseball toy
Save $5 on 1 Tumble 'n Twirl Top toy ($15.99)
Save $3 on 1 Lullaby Gloworm toy ($9.99)
Save $10 on 1 Musical Sit and Spin toy ($21.99)
Save $5 on 1 Busy Ball Popper toy ($19.99)
Save $5 on 1 Step Start Walk 'n Ride toy ($19.99)
Save $5 on 1 Activity Ball toy ($19.99)
Save $2 on 1 Mr. Potato Head or Mrs. Potato Head toy
Save $5 on 1 Mr. Potato Head Spud Buds toy
Save $5 on 1 Mr. Potato Head Silly Suitcase toy

Free Redbox Code

2009-10-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

It's the first Monday of the month which means it's free Redbox movie day. The code for today is QNGJ7KD. This code expires at midnight tonight.

Printable Coupons

2009-10-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a few great printable coupons to get some great deals this week:

$1.00/2 Campell's Tomato or Chicken Noodle Soup coupon -- use with in-ad coupon (2 for $1.00) at Walgreens this week to get these for free, or use them at Smiths through Tuesday (10/6) to also get them for free (there are also $0.40/4 coupons in the 10/4 SS or 9/13 SS--Direct TV issue to get some others for $0.40 each)

$0.75/1 Trident Layers Gum -- use this all month long at Walgreens with their monthly register rewards deal of buy 2 get $1 RR -- use 2 coupons and essentially make $0.50 after coupons and register rewards (You should be able to print this coupon a total of 5 times instead of the normal 2, so you can do this deal a few times, just make sure you only buy 2 per transaction because only 1 register reward will print up per transaction).

$0.50/2 Jell-O Gelatin -- use this with in-ad coupon (2 for $1.00) at Walgreens this week to get boxes of Jell-O for $0.25 each.

Target Weekly Gift Card Deal

2009-10-04T20:29:00.001-07:00

One of Target's gift card deals this week is for Mott's Apple Juice or 6-pack Applesauce. They are priced at $1.75 each and when you buy 5 you get a $5 gift card essentially making these just $0.75 each. The applesauce tubs are great for putting in lunches.

There might still be coupons for Mott's Applesauce available here at the Lunchbox builder. I already printed mine last month, so I am unsure if it is still working for others, but it's worth a shot. If they are still printing, and you can print 2 per computer then you can buy 5 items, use 2 coupons, and only spend $1.75 total after coupons and gift card.

Date Night Deals

2009-10-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

I decided to try doing a new weekly post on cheap or free things you can do for a date night or family night on the weekends. My goal is to post my Date Night Deals on Thursday every week, sharing at least one thing that you can do. Most things will be mainly for those of you down here in the Las Vegas/Henderson area, although at times I will give suggestions of things you can do that can be done in whatever city you live in. I feel it is very important to have some time each week to spend with your husband/wife, and I hope that these posts will help some of you out there to make that time each week to go out with your spouse. It doesn't have to cost a lot to have a fun evening out!

Here is my suggestion for a free date night for this weekend:

The City of Henderson is putting on their annual Shakespeare in the Park with performances of Taming of the Shrew. Admission and Parking are free, and this event is suitable for the entire family.

Location: Henderson Events Plaza: 200 Water Street
Time: 7pm
Dates: Friday and Saturday Oct 2-3

Grab some pillows and blankets and head on over this weekend.

Snow White DVD for $4.96

2009-10-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Lisa emailed me today asking me if I knew of any deals to get Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for a good deal when it comes out next week. I looked into it and this is what I was able to find to get it for a great deal:

The DVD combo pack will be on sale for $19.96 during the release week (next week) at Walmart

Use the $10 printable coupon found here to get your price down to $9.96 (this is a limited time coupon so print yours soon)

Also purchase 1 Hefty Plate, Easy Grip Cup or Baggies product and submit for the $5 Snow White/Hefty rebate using the rebate form found here taking your price down to $4.96 after rebate.

You can also use the Hefty coupons found in the 8/30 or 9/27 Red Plum Insert to get that cost down too.

Free Greeting Card

2009-09-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

Get a free greeting card from Snapfish by using the coupon code FALLCARD09 at checkout. Offer expires 10/6

Red Box Free Rental Code

2009-09-28T15:23:00.001-07:00

This code came out last weekend, but appears to still be working today: 9HB6MP22

Go snag yourself a free movie rental tonight for a family night activity.

CVS deals 9/27 - 10/3

2009-09-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

I LOVE the CVS deals this week. They have an awesome P&G promotion--buy $25 of participating P&G products get $10ECBs. With some great coupon out there (including the $5 off $25 purchase for doing a flu survey here) I was able to get a great deal.

Here are 2 potential scenarios for the P&G promotion (I did the 2nd--although the first makes everything potentially free, I wanted some of the Tide detergent)

Scenario 1

Buy 3 Bounce Dryer Bars at $4 each

Buy 3 Tide Stain Release Liquid or Duo pack at $4 each

Buy 1 Dawn plus Hand Renewal Soap (11oz) at $1

Use 3 $1.50/1 Bounce Dryer Bars from VocalPoint Mailer

Use 3 $1.50/1 Tide Stain Release from Mailer (I can't remember which one it was, but it was the one that had the Gymboree coupon too that came out in the mail a couple of weeks ago--I found extra in our trash can from other tenants)

Use $1 off 1 Dawn Hand Renewal Soap from the Home Made Simple mailer

Use $5/$25 CVS coupon for doing the flu survey

Spend $10 oop, get $10 ECB making it free

Scenario 2

Buy 2 Tide Liquid Detergents at $6 each

Buy 3 of the Tide Stain Release or Bounce Dryer Bars (whatever combo you want) at $4 each

Buy1 Dawn Hand Renewal

Use Tide Stain Release, Bounce Dryer Bars, and Dawn Hand Renewal coupons stated above

Use 2 $1.00 Tide Detergent coupons from the 8/30 PG insert (exp 9/30)

Use $5/25 CVS coupon for flu survey

(If you don't have the coupons from the vocal point mailer or the other for the tide stain release, there are $0.75/1 Tide stain release and $1/1 Bounce dryer bar coupons in the 8/30 PG insert (both expire 9/30) )

Spend $12.50 OOP, get $10 ECB (essentially spending only $2.50 for everything)

There is also a good Covergirl deal this week: Buy $15 of Covergirl products get $5ECB.

Buy 1 foundation/powder for $6-7 and get another Covergirl product priced over $8-9 (whatever it takes to get over the $15 mark)

Use the Buy one Covergirl Foundation get Face Product Free Coupon from the 8/30 PG (exp 9/30).

Use $1/1 Covergirl product from 8/30 PG

Spend $5-6 OOP, get $5 ECB making it essentially free or close to it

Other deals I liked this week:

Buy 1 Vaseline Sheer Infusion Body Lotion at $7.99, Get $7 ECBs (3-day deal only: Sun-Tues)

Use $1.50/1 printable here, here, here or here

Free plus overage after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 Gillette Fusion, Embrace, or Spa Breeze Razor at $9.99, Get $5 ECBs

Use $4/1 coupon from the 9/27 P&G insert

$0.99 after coupons and ECBs

During my trip I did 3 transactions, made use of the $5/25 flu survey coupon as well as a $5/$20 coupon that CVS emailed me as a reward for joining their email list and came out with this:

Invested $11 ECB from previous weeks

Spent $3.47 OOP subtotal ($7.19 with the tax--I'm not a huge fan of the tax :)

Saved 91% over the $77.10 retail value

Earned $15 ECB to use for my next visit

Walgreens Trip 9/28

2009-09-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Even though Walgreens is having some pretty good deals this week (go here to see them), I limited what I got there and only picked up a few things and only did 1 transaction (I usually do multiple to roll over RR and get lots of deals but I was ready to be done shopping after just finishing my CVS shopping--Go here to see those deals). It was still a good trip though, and I picked up some things my husband loves:

1 pack Dentek

1 pkg Halls Refresh Sugar Free Drops

2 Listerine Smart Rinse (plus added bonus of a free travel size bottle with each normal bottle)

The Dentek and Halls had RR deals and coupons associated with them (go here to see them)

I had bought a couple things of the Listerine Smart Rinse a few weeks ago when there was a RR deal associated with it and found out that I really like this product (it is a flouride rinse for kids, but my husband and I love it--hey, we're kids at heart!), so I wanted to get more. It is priced at $4.99 each, but I found these ones with a travel size bottle bonus pack with them. Plus, I had a $1 catalina coupon from when I bought these previously, as well as a BOGOF coupon from the 8/2SS and $1 WAGS coupon from the Walgreens Childrens Activity book they had available last month (takes $2 off of 2). With all those deals together, my price dropped down to $1.99 for both packages.

Overall for all items purchased:

Invested $2.50RR from last week's deals

Spent OOP $1.13 pretax ($2.02 with tax)

Saved 88% over retail value of $16.64

Earned $3RR

Walgreens Deals 9/27-10/3

2009-09-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the great deals at Walgreens this week. Thanks to Common Sense with Money for compiling these

WEEKLY REGISTER REWARDS DEALS

Buy 1 Oral-B Advantage 1-2-3 Toothbrush at $3, Get $3 Register Rewards
Free after Register Rewards

Buy 1 Dentek Tooth Picks at $2, Get $2 Register Rewards
Use $1/1 printable here
Free plus $1 in overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Herbal Essence Hair Care at $2.99, Get $2 Register Rewards
Use $1/1 coupon from the 9/13 RedPlum insert
Free after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 3 Theraflu (8.3 oz.) Liquid at $4 each, Get $8 Register Rewards
Use $2/1 coupon from Walgreens Healthy Savings coupon booklet (will deduct $6)
Free plus $2 overage after coupons and Register Rewards (I haven't tried this deal, and in the ad it is buy 2 Theraflus get $4RR back, but the word on the street is that if you buy 3 you can get the $8RR and work this deal out).

Buy 1 Venus Embrace or Breeze Razor at $7.99, Get $4 Register Rewards
Use $2/1 coupon from 9/27 P&G or 8/16 RP insert
$1.99 for one after coupon and Register Rewards

MONTHLY REGISTER REWARDS DEALS (9/27-10/31 unless otherwise noted)

Buy 1 Vaseline Sheer Infusion Lotion (6.8 oz.) at $6.99, Get $6.99 Register Rewards
Use $1.50/1 coupon from the 8/2 RedPlum insert or $1.50/1 printable coupon (IE Link or FF Link)
Free plus $1.50 in overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Gillette Fusion MVP Manual or Power Razor System at $8.99, Get $6 Register Rewards (ends on 10/24)
Use $4/1 coupon from the 9/27 P&G insert
Free plus $1.01 in overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Halls Refresh Sugar-Free (20-count) at $1, Get $1 Register Rewards
Use $0.75/1 coupon from the 9/27 insert or $0.50/1 from October All You magazine
Free plus $0.75 overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Chapstick Fresh Effects at $2.99, Get $2.99 Register Rewards

Buy 1 Robitussin DM To Go (2-pack), Get $2.49 Register Rewards

Buy 1 Emergen-C Booster at $3.49, Get $3.49 Register Rewards

JCPenny Deal

2009-09-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

If you use the promo code ENJOY10 at JCPenny.com you will get $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. If you can find something you like in the clearance section, then this could make for a good deal. If you shop through Ebates or Upromise you can also get 3% back on your order.

Thanks Thrifty Mama

I was able to find a shirt for me and a little baby gift for only $0.98 after promo code. Shipping was $4.50, making it a total cost with tax of $5.92. Not too bad I'd say.

Kohls Sale

2009-09-16T10:39:00.001-07:00

It was kind of hard to miss Kohl's ad and coupon in yesterday's paper. Usually it is just a little sticky note, but yesterday it was a big half page ad. I love these coupons that they periodically put out. It is for $10 off a $20 purchase or more. If you also have a Kohls card you should have gotten a mailing this week with a 15%, 20%, or 30% off your entire purchase coupon (I lucked out and got the 30% off coupon this time). Combine these two deals together to make for some great deals. Even if you don't have the %off coupon, the one from the paper is great. This coupon is good through Sep 22.

This is one that I did last month when they had one of these $10 off $20 purchase coupons and I had a 15% off coupon. I only spent $12.31 out of pocket, an 84% savings over the retail value of $78.92 and got something for each person in our family.

Walgreens deals for 9/13-9/19

2009-09-15T08:06:00.001-07:00

It's a good week at Walgreens. Here are some of their best register rewards deals that they have this week:

Buy 1 Murine Ear Wax Removal Kit for $6, get $6 RR making it free

Buy 1 True North Nut Crisps or Clusters for $3, get $3RR (there is also a $1 printable coupon here making it a $1 money maker)

Buy 1 Listerine Mouthwash (250 ml) for $2.99, get $2RR (there is also a $1 printable coupon here to make it free)

Buy 2 Triaminic Allergy, Sinus or Cold Relief for 2 for $10, get $5RR---if you buy 2 of the Night Time Cold and Cough you actually will get 2 $5RR that print out. There is also a $2/1Triaminic coupon in the Walgreens $30 in Savings booklet (I found it at the front register) that will take $4 off when you buy 2 making this deal a $4 money maker
Buy 2 Bandaid products ($2.50 each) or Neosporin products ($4 each) get $3RR. If you buy 1 neosporin and use the printable coupon here combined with the $2 Walgreens coupon from the Children's Activity Book that was available last month, and buy 1 bandaid product using the $0.50 coupon from the 8/2 Smart Source, you spend $3 and get $3RR making it free

There is also a deal that when you buy 3 participating products (select Ciracal, One a Day Multivitamin, Alka Seltzer, Aleve or Bayer products) get $5RR. Common Sense with Money reported that if you purchase 3 of the $0.99 One a Day Multivitamin drink mixes you also get the deal. Spend $2.97 out of pocket, and get $5RR making it a $2 money maker. I haven't tried that one yet, so I'm not sure if it works, but it's worth a shot.

I made a quick stop at Walgreens yesterday and was very happy with the deals I got. (The candy was clearanced down and I used it to get my purchase prices for my transactions up enough to be able to utilize RR that I had). I invested $6RR that I had previously earned, did 5 transactions rolling over RR earned, spent $2.50 out of pocket ($1.75 of which was tax), and came away with $10RR essentially making $1.50 overall. Total retail value of items: $46.66; Total savings: 95%.

Target Deal of the Week

2009-09-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

After I did my Kashi deal at Albertsons, I realized that there is an even better one at Target this week. Buy 5 participating Kashi items, get a $5 gift card. If you have a $5 gift card from the Fiber One deal last week that I talked about, you can roll this over and use coupons to get these for next to nothing.

Here is an example:

Buy 5 Honey Sunshine Kashi Cereals (hoping your Target carries this flavor) at $2.88 each

Use your Vocal Point coupons--4 $1.50/1 coupons and one Free Box coupon

Use a $5 gift card from previous week (or invest $5 if you need to)

Spend $0.52 out of pocket ($0.10 per box!) and get a $5 gift card too!

(Wow, that is tons better than my Albertsons deal that I thought was so great.)

If you don't have the VocalPoint coupons, then there are some printable coupons here, here, here, and here for Kashi cereal and granola bars that you can also use in this deal. Also, you can go here to sign up to receive coupons from VocalPoint in the future.

Albertson's Kashi Deal

2009-09-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you who get mailers for VocalPoint, Albertsons is running a great deal that ends Tuesday on their Kashi Cereal. It is 2 for $6.00, but you get $4 off instantly when you purchase 4 boxes. If you pick up 4 boxes of the Kashi Honey Sunshine and use 4 of your $1.50 coupons from the last VocalPoint mailing, then you pick up these boxes of cereal for only $0.50 each. That is well within my target of <$1 per box of cereal.

For those of you who aren't signed up with VocalPoint yet, I highly recommend it. They send coupons (usually high value ones compared to those in the paper) and sometimes samples about once a month. Some of their most recent include Rice Crispies, Bounce Dryer Bar, and the Kashi Honey Sunshine. Go here to sign up to receive their mailings.

Case Lot Sale and More

2009-09-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Did you all get your packed of ads in the mail yesterday? If so I hope that you carefully looked through them because there were 2 surprises:

1. There were 2 Red Plum inserts. There were 2 coupons that I was especially excited for. First is the $0.55/1 box of Poptarts coupon. Combine that with the $0.75 Target coupon found here to get boxes of Poptarts for around $0.22 each. Next is the $0.50/1 bag Nestle tollhouse morsels. We are out of chocolate chips, and I'm pretty sure that these will go on sale before this coupon expires so we can stock up again (yes, I did go through the trash can again and get out all the inserts that others had thrown away so I have many coupons to use).

2. It's CASE LOT SALE time at Smiths starting today. There are several items that seem to be pretty good deals. I'm hoping that it is like last time in that you don't need to buy a whole case to get the good price. If that's the case (no pun intended) then use these printable coupons I found to get some cans for next to nothing:

Libby's Vegetables 2 for $1.00
Get $1.00/3 cans printable coupon here (print twice)

Final cost = $0.17 per can

Bumble Bee Chunk Light Tuna 2 for $1.00

Get $1.00/5 cans printable coupon here (print twice)

Final cost = $0.30 per can

Hunts Snack Pack Pudding $0.90/4-pack

Get $1.00/4 4-packs printable coupon here (click on "Get Special Savings" and print twice)

Final cost = $0.65 per 4-pack

Target deals 09/06 - 09/12

2009-09-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite deals is back again at Target this week. Buy 5 participating Fiber One products get a $5 gift card (unfortunately the Fiber One Yogurt is not part of this deal). I put to good use those coupons that I just got in the mail, but if you haven't gotten yours yet, you can print some coupons for Fiber One items

There are $0.40/1 and $1/2 Fiber One Cereal Bar coupons here, here, and here.

There are $0.50/1 Fiber One Muffin Mix coupons here and here.

There are $0.75/1 Fiber One cereal coupons here, here, and here.

There are also $1/1 General Mills Cereal Target coupon that can be combined with the above manufacturers coupon here for the Fiber One cereal.

Here is a potential scenerio:

Buy 5 boxes of Fiber One cereal at $2.50 each

Use 5 $0.75/1 coupons

Use 5 $1/1 Target General Mills cereal coupons (if your store allows you to use multiple Target coupons in one transaction)

Spend $3.75 plus tax out of pocket, Get a $5 gift card back

Free plus $1.25 overage after coupons and gift card!

I picked up a couple of other deals while I was there, invested a $5 gift card from a previous deal a few weeks ago, and came out with a $5 gift card.

Total spent: $2.41 Total value: $21.55 Total Saved: 89%

Redbox Free Rental Code

2009-09-07T10:51:00.001-07:00

It's the first Monday of the month, so that means it's free Redbox code day. The code today is T46T3Q7. It is good until midnight CST tonight. You can get a free movie rental per credit card, so you can potentially get several DVDs today to watch. Grab some popcorn and enjoy movie night tonight.

Mailbox Goodies

2009-09-04T20:47:00.001-07:00

I love my daily trip to the mailbox with my daughter. I get so excited to see what freebies and coupons the mailman brought to me that day. Sometimes it is a really great day, while other times we open the mailbox only to be totally disappointed when we see that it is empty.

Today was one of those great days. I was pleased to find 3 different coupon booklets there. There was a booklet from Pampers and Huggies, both full of coupons, as well as a box from Fiber One, also full of coupons as well as a free sample of their granola bar and cereal. You too can sign up online with Pampers (here) and Huggies (here) to get these periodical mailers full of coupons (which really come in handy with a baby in the house). Also, Fiber One is still running their free sample + coupons promotion. You can sign up here for your own sample.

Free Blue Bunny Sedona or Aspen Frozen Yogurt Granola Novelty

2009-09-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

Purchase a box of Blue Bunny Sedona or Aspen Frozen Yogurt Granola Novelty this Labor Day weekend (between Sep 5-7) and submit for a full rebate using the form here and you essentially get these for free (they did this same promotion over Memorial Day weekend too, and I tried out the Sedona variety--all I can say is Yum!).

You can also upload the Upromise ecoupon here to have $1 deposited to your Upromise education account when you buy this product, but that's if you can find these at a participating Upromise store. They didn't have them at my Albertsons or Smiths, so I had to pick them up for $3.50 at Walmart and miss out on the Upromise bonus.

Free Scrubbing Bubbles Gift Pack

2009-09-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

The first 10,000 people to register here will receive a free Scrubbing Bubbles gift pack. I am a big fan of the Scrubbing Bubbles brand. We have their automatic shower cleaner and toilet cleaning gel, and they are great. Hurry quick because these will go fast.

Albertson's Trip and Grocery Smarts

2009-09-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to drop a quick post on my successful trip to Albertsons, making use of 3 of my double coupon deals from the paper that I posted about here. Using those three matched with manufacturer's coupons, as well as having coupons on some of my other items I was able to walk away with $40.10 worth of food for $8.94--a 78% savings. (That's an average of $0.69 per item). It looks like we will be having some Mexican-inspired food this week (my favorite--must be from my days as a missionary along the Texas-Mexico border)

The best part was having the cashier stand there with her jaw dropped, then pulling me aside and whispering, "How do you do that? I want to be able to do that to." I referred her to Grocery Smarts. It is a great way to get into couponing and start learning the ins and outs of it. That is how I get a lot of my grocery lists for my trips to Albertsons and Smiths. Here is a list of their diffferent codes for each region to be able to get into the area-specific grocery store deals:

Southern Nevada--g89ccb

Utah--g84rcm

Southern California--g92ro1

Arizona--g85ro1

Eastern Washington--g99ro1

Idaho--g83ro1

Double Coupons at Albertsons

2009-08-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Although ads were a little sparce yesterday in the Sunday paper here, I hope that you saw the one page Albertsons coupon ad. There were 3 Albertson's coupons at the bottom that can be used to double a manufacturer's coupon you bring in, up to $1. For example, if I brought in my $1 off Blue Bunny ice cream coupon and use this coupon too, Albertson's will take off $2 total ($1 from manufacturer's coupon and one from Albertsons). You can pick up a few pretty cheap things this way (I'm really excited about the ice cream--you know where my priorities are--the junk food :)

Borders Reward Club

2009-08-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

If you are a book-lover and aren't already a Borders Reward Club member, I recommend signing up for it. You can do it in store and they give you one of those little key chain cards to carry with you. Periodically they send out emails with coupons in them that you can use online or in store. I usually wait for the 40% off coupons (I tend to get one of these every month or so). We are really in to board books right now because my 10-month old LOVES books--not only to read them but also to chew on them--and a 40% off coupon makes for a cheap board book.

I just got an email with their deals this weekend, and they are great. There are several different coupons you can use. My favorite is the $5 off 2 childrens books (I'm thinking maybe Mercer Mayer this time--her paperback kids books are usually only $3-4). Check out their other coupons and deals here.

I have a confession...

2009-08-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. I am a "dumpster diver." It's time that I let everyone know that. Okay, it's not as bad as you think. Let me explain...

You know those packets you get in the mail on Tuesdays--the ones with all the ads for the different grocery stores? Well, most times, hidden between the pages of ads there will be one of those priceless RedPlum inserts (alright, maybe not "priceless" but still usually worth about $50 in savings). Most people just toss the entire packet, not realizing what they have.

Come Tuesday evenings or Wednesday mornings when I go to pick up my mail at my apartment complex I can't help but look in the garbage can that sits by all the mailboxes. There are dozens of those packets just sitting in there, waiting for some adventurous soul like me to pick through them and find their "diamond in the rough." I usually end up with at least half a dozen of these inserts. Happy day!

Now I know all of you up in Utah who have mulitple Sunday newspaper subscriptions and are mad that the RedPlum just got switched from being delivered in your Sunday paper to now coming in your mail during the week like down here, don't stress too much. I'm sure if you head over to your nearest apartment complex the day after the insert is mailed out, you will discover dozens of them in the trash. Maybe then you too will become a "dumpster diver."

(PS-did any of you notice this week's mailing? We scored big with both a RedPlum and P&G Savers booklet)

Walgreens $5 off $25 coupon

2009-08-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

There is a new $5 off $25 purchase coupon for Walgreens on their website here you can print off and use in store. It is valid instore from Aug 26-Aug 29. It can really nhelp with some of those deals I posted here.

Free PC Tuneup at Staples

2009-08-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

Now through September 19 you can get a free tune-up for your computer in-store at Staples. For more information, go here

Rite Aid $5 off $25 coupons

2009-08-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

There are a few places to snag those $5 off $25 coupons for Rite Aid:

Go here and sign up for their online weight loss program. Not only will you get the $5/$25 coupon, but you will also get $50 in Rite Aid brand coupons.

You can also snag one or two coupons here

Unfortunately we don't have a Rite Aid in Las Vegas, but hopefully this helps all you up north in Utah (i.e. Katy :)

Restaurant.com 80% off sale

2009-08-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

Restaurant.com is having their 80% off sale again through Aug. 31. You can snag $10 or $25 gift certificates for a couple of dollars or less. If you like to eat out, this is definately the way to go. The promo code for this deal is TASTE.

In addition to using Ebates or Borders Rewards that I talked about last month with this deal to get money back, you can also go through Upromise. You can get 15% of what you spend at Restaurant.com put into a college savings account for one of your dependents. It's never too early to start saving, especially in this economy. There are many other ways to earn money through Upromise for college. Check them out here.

$0.99 Store Baby deals

2009-08-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

For any of you with babies, you may be interested in knowing that the $0.99 store on Marks and Sunset in Henderson has Earth's Best Organic baby food for 3 for $0.99. There are 2 fruit flavors and 2 vegetables. The Winter Squash expires in the next couple of weeks but the others have longer expiration dates. They are located in the back right corner.

Also, as of Saturday morning when I stopped by, they had Beech Nut Let's Grow Yogurt Nibbles, Banana Puffs, and Crackers for $0.99. They are usually price at $2.49-$3.49 at other stores. If any are left, they should be located up at the front of the store.

Best deals for CVS and Walgreens 8/23-8/30

2009-08-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

CVS and Walgreens are having some pretty great deals this week. Here are some of the best deals they have:

Walgreens

Reach Toothbrush--$0.99 after in ad coupon

Use $3/3 coupon from 8/2 SmartSource insert

Free after coupons

Scotch mailing envelope--$0.79 after in-ad coupon

Use $0.50/1 coupon from the 7/26 RedPlum insert

$0.29 each after coupons

Chinet Paper Plates--2 for $2.99 after in-ad coupon

Use 2 $1/1 coupons from the 8/23 SS

$0.50 each after coupons

REGISTER REWARDS DEALS

Buy two Listerine Products at $4 each, Get $3 Register Rewards

Buy two and use B1G1 manufacturer's coupon from the 8/2 SmartSource insert

Use $1/1 manufacturer coupon from 3/15 SS

Use $1/1 Walgreens coupon from Walgreens Children's Activity Book (should take $2 off total)Spend $1 out of pocket, Get $3 Register Rewards

Buy 2 Kellogg's cereal at $2.50 each, Get a $2 Register Reward

Use $1/2 coupon from the 8/2 RedPlum insert insert or $1/1 and FREE Rice Krispies coupon from Vocalpoint Homemailer

Free to $1 each after coupons and Register Rewards

Buy two Children's Benadryl at $4.99 each, Get $5 Register Rewards

Use two $1/1 manufacturer's coupons from the 8/2 SS insert

Use $1/1 coupon from Walgreens Children's Activity Book (should take $2 off)

Spend $5.98 plus tax out of pocket, Get $5 Register Rewards

$0.49 each after coupons and Register Rewards

Buy two Sudafed products at $4.99 each, Get $5 Register Rewards

Use two $2/1 manufacturer's coupons from the 8/2 SS insert
Spend $5.98 plus tax out of pocket, Get $5 Register Rewards

$0.49 each after coupons and Register Rewards

Buy 4 Keebler Cookies or Club Crackers at $2.50 each, Get a $5 Register Reward

Use 2 $1/2 Keebler cookie coupon from the 8/2 RedPlum

Spend $8 plus tax out of pocket, get $5 Register Rewards

$3 for four packs after coupons and Register Reward

Buy 1 Goody Ouchless Hair Accessory at $2.99, Get $2 Register Rewards

$0.99 each after Register Rewards

CVS

3 day sale (Sunday-Tuesday)

Buy 1 Skittles or Starburst at $0.89, get $0.89 ECB (limit 2)

Buy 1 Paper Mate 1.2 pens 10ct at $0.99, get $0.99 ECB (limit 2)

Buy 1 Efferdent 40 ct at $2.99, get $2.99 ECB (limit 2)

Buy 1 CVS Ibuprofen 24 ct for $3.49, get $3.49 ECB (limit 1)

Week long deals

Buy $10 worth of Glade Products, Get $3 ECBs (Limit 3)

Use 2 $3/1 coupon from the 8/2 SS (for the Lasting Impressions kit)

$1 after coupons and ECBs

Buy $25 worth of Aveeno Skin, Sun, or Hair Care products, Get $10 ECBs (Limit 1)

Use $2/1 coupons from the 5/31 RedPlum insert or here, here, here, here, or here

Use $4/20 from the CVS ReadyFill Booklet (at the Pharmacy Counter) or the $5/$25 coupon from doing a survey here

Spend as little as $0.50 for each item after coupons and ECBs

My Trip

Although my shopping trip today took longer than I would have liked it too, I was very happy with the deals I got and what I came away with for so little. Overall between the 2 stores I spent out of pocket $7.18 ($5.28 of it was tax!! so only $1.90 was pretax money spent on the items), saving 93% overall the retail value of $110.28. I did have RR and ECBs from last week to help me, but I came away from my shopping trip today with the same amount of RR and more ECBs than I had going into it.

I still need to go back this week when they get more toothbrushes to get 6 more (I have 2 more $3/3 coupons) and get my chinet plates that I forgot. Although we have electric toothbrushes and don't even use manual ones, I like to get them if I can get them for free to donate to humanitarian hygiene kit projects. I also forgot to pick up some vanilla pudding. It is pretty cheap there (3 for $1.00) and I use it a bunch for Amish Friendship Bread.

Back to School Clothes Shopping

2009-08-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Back to school time not only means trying to find deals on backpacks, pens, paper, and other office supplies, but it also means shopping for clothes. That in and of itself can put a family with only 1 or 2 children back several hundreds of dollars. Here are a couple of things that I have used to help cut that cost of clothing shopping:

If you live in the Las Vegas area, you are probably very familiar with the Premium Outlets we have here. Did you know that if you go here and sign up for their VIP club you can gain access to many coupons to use at some of your favorite stores at any of their outlets (the Chelsea Premium outlets aren't specific to Las Vegas--go here to see if there is one close to your city). You can also print out a voucher for a free VIP coupon book that you can pick up at one of the outlets, full of hundreds of dollars in savings.

Another place to snag great coupons is at Old Navy Weekly which you can use online or instore to snag savings anywhere from 10%-25% off your entire purchase to coupons for $50-$75 off a $100 purchase or more. This website refreshes every 1-2 weeks at random times, and their are a limited number of the high value coupons, so those go quickly when the refresh happens, but I find that Old Navy tends to have really good deals in store anyways, and if I am going in to snag a couple of things, I go here to see what coupons I can get to lower my out of pocket expense even more.

Possible Free Photobook

2009-08-22T23:35:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if this offer will work for others, but Shutterfly is offering a free 20 page 8x8 photobook using the promo code SUMMERBOOK. My email stated that this code was specific for my account, but my husband got the same email with the same code for his account, so my thinking is that this code will work for anybody who already has an account through Shutterfly. It might be worth a shot. Remember, Christmas is just around the corner, and these photobooks make great gifts. Offer expires Aug. 26, 2009 so you must hurry.

Free Nestle Calendar full of coupons

2009-08-22T23:06:00.001-07:00

It's the weekend before public school starts here. If you are looking for ways to save this school year go here to get your free calendar from Nestle full of coupons and other ideas for saving money. Good luck with the new school year.

Almost Free Huggies Wipes--No Manufacturer coupons needed

2009-08-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Through Saturday you can snag some pretty cheap Huggies wipes at you local Walgreens. There are a couple of things that make this deal so sweet:

1. Wednesday Aug 19-Saturday Aug 22 Walgreens is running a deal in store where if you spend $25 in one transaction you get a $5 register reward that prints up to use on your next purchase. (If the cost before coupons is greater than $25 and you use coupons to get the price down, you still should get the $5 RR, although some managers may say it won't work--I tried at 2 different Walgreens at it worked both times).

2. In their Back to School Savings Booklet located at the front of the stores there is a Walgreens coupon for $2 off any Huggies wipes. Since this is a Walgreens coupon and not manufacturer's coupon, you only need one to take off $2 for every Huggies wipe in your purchase.

3. If you have other RR from previous purchases to use it helps. You can't use a previous $5RR from the deal in my #1 point because their system is set up not to give a new RR if one is used from purchasing the same item, but you can use others (ex. I had a 10RR I got from their Dr. Scholl's deal they have this week--buy $20 in Dr. Scholls items get $10RR--there are online coupons here for these items). If I want a deal more than once I alternate what deal I am getting each transaction using another deals RR for that purchase.

Here is an example of a deal you can snag:

Buy 8 Huggies wipes priced $2.79 at many Walgreens

Buy 1 Softsoap Nutriserums body wash priced $3.99

Total: $26.31

Use Huggies $2 off coupon from the Walgreens Back to school booklet

$26.31-$16.00 = $10.61

Use previous RR if you have any (ex. my $10 from Dr. Scholls)

$10.61-$10 = $0.61

Grand total = $0.61 plus tax

Earn $5 RR for a >$25 purchase

Earn $4 RR for the Soft soap body wash

Total: Invested $10RR, spent $0.61 plus tax out of pocket, Earned $9 RR

There are other scenarios that you can do too; this one just worked out the best for me. I actually tried a few and ended up with 24 Huggies wipes, 2 softsoaps, and a chapstick investing $15RR from previous purchases, spending less than $8 out of pocket, and ending up with $10RR. Needless to say we are well stocked with wipes for the next year or so!

Sidenote: For my fellow Las Vegans--many stores are low on their Huggies wipes because of people going and doing this deal, but I tried the Walgreens on Boulder and Flamingo and they still had a bunch left as of today. The one on Boulder and Lake Mead in Henderson should be getting more in on Saturday morning. The one on Warm Springs and Arroyo Grande has a few but they are priced at $3.29. Hope this helps.

Kraft $25 in Free Groceries Rebate

2009-08-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Kraft has an awesome rebate going on right now through August 23. Purchase $25 of participating items in a single transaction and a $5 off coupon prints off good towards your next purchase plus a $20 rebate form prints off that you can fill out and mail in to Kraft. So essentially you are getting $25 worth of groceries for free. Participating stores include:

Acme, Albertsons, Bigg's, Cub, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's Star, Shop'nSave, and Shoppers.

For those of you here in Las Vegas it looks like Albertsons is the store you have to go to.

Participating items include (but not inclusive):

Capri Sun Juice Drink
Kraft Natural Shredded or Chunk Cheese, Kraft Singles, or Kraft String Cheese
Maxwell House coffee
Starbucks Coffee
Chips Ahoy cookies, Ritz crackers, Wheat Thins, Triscuit, Nabisco Toasted Chips, and other Nabisco crackers
Kraft Easy Mac or Velveeta Cups or Macaroni and Cheese
Kraft Mayo, Miracle Whip, or salad dressings
Jell-O gelatin snacks
Oscar Mayer Deli creations, Lunchables, or deli-shaved meats
Planters Trail Mix
Teddy Grahams or Nilla Wafers
A1 steak marinades or steak sauce
Crystal Light sugar free drink mix
California Pizza Kitchen and Digiorno for one, flat bread melts, or 12" pizza

I just did my shopping for this rebate tonight, and using coupons that I had, I only spent $15.44 for my items, got a $5 voucher that I used for my next transaction (getting my detergent, dryer sheets, 5 bottles of salad dressing, and 3 bottles of marinade for only $2.67!), and got the $20 rebate form, essentially making $10 on this purchase! Also, at Albertsons, a $1 catalina is also printing up everytime you purchase 2 Velveeta Shells and Cheese cups to use toward your next purchase.

CVS Deals 8-16 through 8-22

2009-08-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

I finally back in town again after another quick trip down to San Diego, this time for my brother-in-law's wedding (go to my other blog here to see pictures of the wedding cake I made). I got a late start on the CVS deals for the week since many of them are 3 day only deals that end today (8/18), but I was able to find everything that I wanted at one of my CVS stores nearby and actually made money/ECBs off of this shopping trip.

All in all I did 3 transactions, rolling over ECBs earned. I spent a total of $12.08 out of pocket, a 78% savings over the normal retail value of $54.00, but I also came away with $20.27 in ECBs to use next week, meaning that overall I actually made $8.19 today on my shopping trip!

I was able to get:

1 Extra Laundry Detergent (cost 2.99, earn 2.99 ECB)

1 Loreal Revitalift deep set wrinkle cream and 1 Revitalift cream cleanser (cost $14.99 and $5.99, earn $10ECB)

1 Physicians Formula mascara (cost 9.99, earn 9.99ECB)

2 Papermate packs of pens (cost 0.99 each, earn 0.99ECB each)

4 Johnson and Johnson First Aid to Go packs (cost 4.00, earn 4.00ECB)

1 Hagen Daaz bar (cost 2.00, earn 2.00 ECB)

1 Ice Breakers Gum (cost 1.29 , earn 1.29 ECB)

1 sharpener (cost 0.29)

Here are some of the things that helped get the cost down:

$5 off $25 CVS purchase coupon from the CVS website after doing a survey here

$5 off $15 purchase coupon from the Red CVS coupon scanner at the front of the store

4 $1 off J&J coupons from the 8/2 SS

$5 off Revitalift coupon from the Loreal website here

$1 off Revitalift cleanser coupon from the 8/9RP

I could have also gotten a $4 off $20 makeup purchase coupon from the CVS ReadyFill booklet to help with the Loreal purchase, but I forgot to ask the cashier for one. Oops.

Some of these deals end today, but the Loreal and Johnson and Johnson kits are week long.

I am really excited to try the Revitalift eye cream. I have been getting bad bags under my eyes from working a few graveyard shifts here and there at the hospital. We'll see if this helps. The first aid to go kits are great. I have one in the car, diaper bag, husband's backpack, etc. They are small enough not to get in the way. Happy shopping.

Restaurant.com 80% off sale

2009-08-08T22:53:00.001-07:00

July was our vacation month before my husband started back up in medical school the beginning of August. While I didn't do too much bargain shopping and couponing, we did find great deals for eating out. One of our favorite things to use is Restaurant.com. You can purchase vouchers for different restaurants for a fraction of the cost. For example, you can purchase a $25 voucher for only $10. Usually you have to spend at least $35 at the restaurant to use the voucher, but you still save $15 over what you would have spent if you went there without anything.

We usually wait for Restaurant.com's sales. About once a month or so they will make things 80% off their normal price, so instead of paying $10 for a $25 voucher, you only pay $2. They are having one of these sales right now through August 13. If you use the code PORTION, you can get 80% off. If you have Borders Rewards Perks, you can use these towards your purchase, or you can go through Ebates to get 15% back. Either way, you're in for a great deal.

Something that we discovered last month getting some certificates--some restaurants don't have the minimum purchase requirement over the voucher amount. We found several in the San Diego area that only required that we have $25 worth of food to use a $25 certificate (tax and tip are not included), so essentially we only payed $2 for a $25 meal plus tip. I don't know what other cities have these, but if you are in the San Diego area, there are several. Here is a picture of us at one last month. It was a fun little barbeque roadhouse that had my daughter's name (Abby/Abbey) and my favorite state (Texas) in the title. I just couldn't pass it up.

Free food from Schwan's

2009-08-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

I saw this deal today on Money Saving Mom and gave it a try and was very happy when it worked for me. Schwan's is giving away $10 worth of food to the first 500,000 new customers who sign up. No purchase is necessary and you don't need to continue getting food from them if you don't want to. Just go here and enter in your zip code to see if they have a truck running in your area then pick a product that is $10 or less. I snagged a 2lb bag of chicken nuggets for my husband--one of his favorites--and is was totally free, even the delivery. You really can't beat that. You'd better hurry since this offer is only good for the first 500,000 new customers.

Kellogg's Fuel for School Rebate Offer

2009-08-04T22:05:00.001-07:00

I'm back! I appologize for not posting anything this past month, but I was literally out of town all but a handful of days, and the days that I was in town I was working. But I'm back now and hitting the ground running when it comes to deal shopping.

I made a late night run to Albertsons tonight before their deals for this week expired. I was excited to combine their sales with coupons I have. I was able to get all pictured here for $7.97, saving a total of $47.20 ($17.24 of which was from manufacturer coupons).

The deal gets even better than that. Kellogg's is running their Fuel for School rebate offer between now and 9/30/09 that when you purchase 10 participating products in one transaction, you can submit for a $10 rebate. There are a number of different Kelloggs products as well as Eggo, Keebler, Austin, Morningstar, or Sunshine products. After I submit and receive my rebate I will have made $2.03 on this purchase. I love getting paid to shop! Go here to read more about the rebate offer or pick up a form from your grocery store (Albertson's had them sitting up at the register).

$1 T-shirts at Old Navy

2009-07-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

Update: It sounds like Old Navy has pulled this deal last minute, so check with your store before going out. I know that mine is no longer doing it. Too bad. I was really looking forward to this deal.

This Friday only, July 3rd, Old Navy will be selling these patriotic t-shirts for $1 each. You can outfit your whole family for less than it would cost to take them to McDonalds!

Thanks Centsible Sawyer

Free Veggie Tales DVD

2009-06-29T13:45:00.001-07:00

While supplies last you can get a free Veggie Tales DVD by signing up for their e-newsletter here. You do have to pay the $2.99 shipping/handling fee, but it still makes for a great deal and a great birthday or Christmas present for your kids. There are 3 different ones to pick from.

Thanks Pocket Your Dollars!

Freebies

2009-06-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of freebies you might be interested in:

Go here to get a free nursing cover from uddercovers.com. It is for one of their basic covers. Supplies are limited, and I think that only the pink and blue ones are left. They usually cost $32, but if you use the promo code planning all you have to pay is the shipping and handling. I made one for myself before my baby was born and I spent more than the s/h cost on just the fabric, so this is a pretty good deal.

Also, from now unti July 12 you can get a free Jamba Juice with purchase of another one by using the coupon found here. That's a nice refreshing treat for a hot day (and believe me, we are having some very hot days here in Vegas!)

CVS bargains

2009-06-22T21:24:00.001-07:00

I have just recently gotten into the CVS deals. It is very similar to Walgreens, but better. Not only can you make "money" on your purchases (called easy saver bucks--similar to Walgreen's register rewards), but you can also use your CVS card to get additional coupons everytime you go into the store (sometimes I get $5 off a $15 purchase or other great ones).

I was able to get some great deals today when I went in. They were out of a couple things already that I wanted (their SoyJoy bars are on sale 4 for $4, but you make $4 in ECBs when you buy them, so essentially they are free), but I still did pretty well. I was able to get everything here and only spend $0.26 out of pocket! I had a $5 off $15 coupon that I was going to use, but when I got up to the register I realized that it had expired yesterday :( so I used a $5ECB I had earned a couple of weeks ago and $11.25 in manufacturers' coupons. The more I get into couponing the more excited I get about the awesome deals that are out there. It just takes a little bit of research and planning to get them.

Walgreens weekly wrap up

2009-06-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

I know that this post is a little late in getting out since these sales ended tonight. I've been pretty busy with my little one starting swim lessons, working extra at the hospital, and working on a secret project for Father's day for my husband (check out my other blog here in a couple of days to see it). I apologize that it is late, but it was such a great week that I just had to do a post on it. I was most excited to be able to get some more makeup (Loreal), using my register rewards earned on the St. Ives body wash and manufacturer coupons (plus the buy one get one free offer). I only spent $3.05 for the makeup and everything else you see here (4 deodorants, 4 toothbrushes, 2 packs of floss, 1 St. Ives body wash, 4 pkgs. vanilla pudding, and the 2 containers of makeup). That is a 94% savings over the $48.21 original value. I used $21 in manufacturer coupons, $11.20 in Walgreens coupons (in their weekly ad), and saved an additional $12.99 from sale prices. Great week :)

I have mentioned in a previous post the need for filler items when combining RR and manufacturer coupons. I really like using their puddings for this. Not only are they one of the cheapest things that you'll find there, but the vanilla ones come in really handy since I am now making 2-3 batches of Amish friendship bread every 10 days and each recipe needs one (can I just say YUM--I love that stuff!).

Free Sundiwear Stickers

2009-06-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

This is a new item that I just learned about. They are stickers that you put on your kids that turn a different color when it is time to reapply sunscreen. Sounds like a cool idea. You can sign up on their website for a free pack. I just ordered mine, so we'll see how good they are in a few weeks when they get here.

2 more freebies for June 19th

2009-06-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

Besides a free Orange Julius tomorrow, you can also put on your flip flops and head on over to Tropical Smoothie cafe for a free Jetty Punch Smoothie. Offer is good to the first 500 customers who wear flip flops there tomorrow in honor of National Flip Flop Day. More details here.

Also, A&W is offering free small rootbeer floats tomorrow in honor of their 90th birthday. Offer is good from 2-8pm and I do recommend calling your nearest store to make sure that they are participating. More details can be found here.

Free Orange Julius

2009-06-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Orange Julius is offering free 20 oz. light smoothies on Friday June 19. Flavors include Strawberry Delight, Tropical Sunlight, and Berry-Pom Twilight. You have to have a coupon for this promotion though. Go here to print off enough for each person in your family. Rumor has it that they will be pulling the coupon off their website in the next day, so I would print them off sooner than later so you don't miss you freebie. For my fellow Las Vegans, there is an Orange Julius at the Galleria Mall. Enjoy! Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Albertson's cereal deals 6/4-6/9

2009-06-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything--I've been gone on vacation having a fun time with family in Minnesota. When I got back I had to do two graveyard shifts at the hospital, and what did my sweet husband do while I was gone--he organized one of our closets better, so there was more room on our "cereal shelf" for more storage. I took advantage of the extra room and went out and bought more cereal. Don't worry--I didn't even break my cereal rule of not spending more than a dollar for a box of cereal. Here's how:

Albertson's is having a great deal this week. Some of their Kellogg's cereal is 2 for $5, but if you buy 8 boxes you get $5 off instantly. If you printed off any of those great $1 off Kellogg's cereal coupons last month online, then you can essentially get a box of cereal for $0.88, or you can use the $1 coupons that came in the RedPlum coupon booklet during this past week with the ads in your mailbox.

I also scored big by getting my cereal during their 8 hour sale on Thursday. Their Mini Wheats were on sale for 3 for $5. Using $1 off per box coupons that I had received from VocalPoint, I was able to get these for $0.67. (If you sign up on VocalPoint they will send you free samples and coupons periodically). If you missed the 8 hour sale you can still get the MiniWheats with the other Kelloggs deal of $5 off instantly when you purchase 8 boxes.

So, combining the different deals I was able to get 14 boxes of cereal for $10.96. Now for the bonus savings--on the back of the MiniWheats boxes are tokens to earn free movies. Each box has 2 tokens, and you need 5 tokens to get a free movie. All you do is mail in the tokens with a form printed on the inside of the box. That's it--and they'll send you a free movie (they have 8 different ones to pick from). You don't even have to pay shipping and handling.

For a double bonus the same boxes of cereal have a form for a $4 mail in rebate when you purchase the movie Marley and Me. If you were planning on getting that movie anyway, here's a way to save a little more.

Price Matching Shopping

2009-05-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

I usually don't do too much price matching shopping at Walmart, but this week I found a few "stock up" priced items in the Albertsons, Smiths, and Vons ads and didn't really want to go to each store just for a couple of items, so I got all my ads and my coupons together and headed over to the Walmart Neighborhood Market (I like this place SO much more than the regular super Walmart). I was really excited with the deals that I got. The normal Walmart price for all these items would have been $27.10, but with coupons I saved $12.50 and with price matching an additional $5.10, bringing my grand total down to $9.50--a 65% savings on the already low Walmart prices! You can get these deals too--the Albertsons, Vons, and Smiths ads all run through Tuesday May 26th. Go to Grocery Smarts (this is the Nevada link only) to look up the good deals and find where the coupons are at (some were in the Sunday papers and some were printable). Have a happy Memorial Day!