Thursday, May 17, 2012

Frugal Finds-Tips for re-using items and an awesome beginner-friendly deal this week

Let's start with the beginner-friendly deal about couponing.  If you have a rite aid card, run in to your local rite aid and buy 4 travel size Jergens Ultra Healing lotions (.79 each).  With the sale they're having, you will pay $2.57 (in WA with tax) and get $6 in "+UP Rewards".  In a second transaction, you can buy $6 of whatever else you want (cereal, toothpaste, etc).  Essentially you are making over $3 from buying something!!! 
Anyway, here are some other earth-friendly and wallet-friendly ideas I wanted to share:

Re-using Bags 
I did not grow up in a family where we washed and re-used ziplock bags.  Not that there's anything wrong with those that do, but for us it was just too much hassle and they lay around while air drying.  But I realized, I could at least get 1 additional use from packaging I already get.  I have my husband pack my lunches for me (he rocks btw) and I had him pack my sandwiches once in each of these bags.  They already had grain products in them already and are perfectly clean, why not? 



Wrapping Paper
We get the Sunday paper for 2 reasons: the coupons, and the comics.  We literally just recycle all the other sections without reading.  I remember once, it was my grandma I think, wrapped a gift in the comics.  I thought that was just so cute-it's colorful and gives extra entertainment too! 

Do you have other ideas where you re-use around your house?  I know I enjoy buying less disposable plastic bags and wrapping paper! 


And lastly, because I never get around to blogging anymore, just plain too busy...here's a fun project that I was going to suggest for Mother's Day but can be used whenever (I made this and gave it to my boss for her office on her birthday).  I have had this plant since the 7th grade. It's a plant that you can cut off stems and replant and it will grow new roots-great for sharing with other people.  

 I used a pop bottle and cut small ventilation holes for water to come out the bottom. From a Gatorade bottle that was larger, I use that on the bottom for the dripping water.




Then I decoupaged some newspaper around the edge for decoration.

It's kinda fun to have the see-through container too and see the roots grow.  I actually had another lady at work ask me for one of these.  I think my husband just took out all our bottles for recycling so I'll have to wait (and I need to water my plant so it grows and produces more leaves!  It's frankly quite pathetic because I don't do much for it, but it's hardy and doesn't die!).

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens!

Life is hectic, have you noticed that?  No time for blogging lately!  But I just have to get somewhat caught up on awesomeness from lately, I hope this post isn't too much of a book. 
Firstly, I've gotten approval at work to do a coupon exchange and I'm excited about it :)  We'll have boxes set up in the breakroom where people can deposit what they don't want/need.  We'll be shipping off expired coupons for overseas military members & their families. 

Second, I'm excited because I've been emailing my local food bank and mentioned how it would be fun to do a couponing course there (they have cooking classes) and the lady I talked to was super excited, turns out she's been wanting someone to do a class on coupons for 3 years!  

The downs...I've been very frustrated lately with accusations made with couponing.  Twice at a local Safeway, a particular cashier basically accused me of fraud because he didn't understand coupon and rebate policies.  Today at a different Safeway another cashier questioned 8 coupons I had, though her manager straightened her out.  Yesterday we were in a neighboring city so we tried their Walmart with these awesome coupons we had (from 4/29 paper-$2 off any 1 Purina Beneful bag dog food) and they had the $1 mini bags that our Walmart doesn't have.  We would have been handed back $5 cash and had free dog food to donate.  The cashier rudely said we couldn't do that.  She called over her manager (took about 15 minutes for her to get there), and she said they wouldn't do it either. 

The moral of the stories?  1-always carry a copy of store coupon policies (I now have Walmart's policy printed up where it specifically states I should have been handed back cold hard cash).  2-learn to get over frustration-harder for me to actually do.  I have to learn to pick my battles.  The hardest part is the accusation of fraud-I value my honesty and good name more than they know. 

Anyway, not to end on those slightly bitter notes...

Here are my goodies aside from the good news.  All of these items between Target, Safeway, and Walgreens.....I got paid $1 to buy these (before tax)...probably cost me less than $1 after tax.  I'm actually sad because the Hershey's milk wasn't scanned right, I didn't know until later that she didn't scan the 50% off clearance upc :(    Missing from the pictures: 2 more kids toothpaste, 1 more salad. 


Aside from coupons, I got the salads and other items in the 2nd picture for free from the awesome Safeway deal they had through today-buy $50 in participating gift cards and get a $10 credit to your Safeway card.  I got these 2 Michael's coupons which I know I will actually use on supplies for lovely projects like these:



A stamp for a girl's wedding invites.  The painting was done by her sister.  This was my first time carving on the whitish gray material, I'm not a fan :-/

This awesometastic stamp was carved by yours truly but the original artwork was done by my husband.  This is the simplified version of artwork and we gave the original art and stamp to my sister-in-law for her birthday :)

And one last pretty thing to end the day: my Mother's Day flowers from my sweetheart :)  Hope you have a great day, feel free to leave comments!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Out of Office....

Just scored a bunch of free and cheap goodies...but can't post about it!  We actually just dropped off my laptop (my only source of internet) at Staples for a couple days for their free PC tuneup promo.  Right now I'm at family's using their computer.  Hope to be back posting deals soon :)

3 deals, simplified

Here's a few deals I just did, some tips for those wanting to coupon but not sure of how to do it crazy-extreme style...

Target:
They have a deal running through Saturday-Buy 10 Sobe, get a $5 gift card.  On sale at 10/$10.  This makes them .50 each after the gift card.  The shirt was on sale from $10 to $8 and I went on Target.com and printed off a $3 off, so $5.  We actually decided to go back and get 10 more drinks, and have a $5 gift card for next time we shop there. 




Safeway:
2 Kikkoman marinades-on sale for $1.75 each, I printed off 2-$2 off coupons=free
2 cream cheese-BOGO Free ($2.50)
dozen eggs-Safeway.com has coupons you can load on your card.  They have a deal where you just click the button on their site to load a coupon for these free eggs!
4 boxes of Ocean Spray fruit snacks.  $1.49 each when you buy 4.  Used 2-$1 off coupons I printed off.  =$1 each
(Ocean spray and cheese were only good through tonight)


Walgreen's:--deals good through this Saturday

I had a $2 register reward (coupon that prints out after purchases of certain promotional items) from buying Special K granola bars and a $5 register reward from buying Lanacane.

Transaction 1: I used these 2 ($7 value) to buy one of the U products ($3.99, used a $1 off printed coupon), the witch hazel on the left ($4), and the Nice brand candy (on sale for .49-a filler-a cheap item you use so you have 1 coupon per item).  The U product printed out another $3 register reward and the Witch Hazel printed out a $4 register reward.  (used $7 in register rewards, paid .49 for the candy + tax, got $7 back in register rewards)

Transaction 2: I then used the $4 register reward from the witch hazel on another U product  ($3.99, used a $1 off printed coupon), and the fried onions (clearance for .99).  I reserved both the $3 register rewards from both transactions for next week's deals.  I also go this 2nd witch hazel, it had a Try Me Free sticker so I got it and will submit a rebate :)


Also a deal I didn't realize until they were wall sold out (you better believe I got a rain check!)  They have these Milano tasty cookies on sale at Walgreen's from $2.39 down to .99!  Then you can use this .75 off coupon (no size restrictions) from one of the last papers...I'm so behind in clipping that I'm not sure which Sunday paper.  From $2.39 down to .24, I'll take it! 

Monday, May 7, 2012

I just got paid to shop....and got lots of stuff for free....Just sayin'!

Today I got an awesome deal!  This was all free AND I made money at Rite Aid!  Very few coupons involved too!  Here goes:

4 Nursery Waters (used (2) .55 off 2 gallons printable coupons from their website)
4 crunchy snacks
11 2-pack baby foods (half of them had .50 off now coupons attached to the packaging)
--------------------------------------All Gerber items were BOGO 1/2 off.  Buy 2, get $3+UP.  4 +UPs per card, I had 2 cards (mine and hubby's). Also, because I spent more than $15 on Gerber products on my card, I will submit for a $5 Single Check Rebate with Rite Aid.

2 Stayfree products (used $1 off manufacturer coupon from this last Sunday's paper)
-------------------------------------On sale 2/$5, buy 2, get a $3+UP.  Submitting a $5 mail in rebate for purchasing 2 Stayfree products.

2 Revlon tweezer tools (used (2) $2 off Rite Aid video value/adperk coupons)
------------------------------------Regularly $3.00, 40% off sale.  Free with coupon.

1 Revlon Nail Polish (Used $1 off Rite Aid special promo coupon...think I got it through FB)
------------------------------------Normally $4.79, 40% off. 

I went in with $10 in +UPs from my camera deal on Saturday.  I paid $6.70 out of pocket cash and I ended up with $12 in +UPs at the end.  Not to mention $10 in rebates....Rite Aid just paid me $5.30 to take this inventory off their hands, and this includes taxes! 




On a less successful note, I then went to Walgreens and made a disaster of my transactions there. Poor planning on my part and I lost out on $3 of savings and held up a million people in line (how embarrassing!)  In the end though, the lady behind me and cashier both wanted my business card to check out this lovely blog :)  I also am so grateful for my awesome husband.  I apologized and felt bad, I don't want him to get frustrated or embarrassed but all he said is that he thought it was funny.  Well, as long as you save a few dozen dollars and can laugh about it, even a bad transaction is nice right? (FYI-Got free dishwasher detergent, witch hazel, contact solution, and anti-itch creme at Walgreens)

For those of you that wonder, I let other people do most of the research work for me.  Feel free to check out the blogs I watch (but please don't desert my blog, I like to share unique things they might not ;)

ExtremelyWild4Savings.com (local gals-they taught the class that hooked me)
TheKrazyCouponLady.com
Hip2Save.com
RakingintheSavings.com
HappyMoneySaver.com

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Today's Freebies-and a tip for making clothes last longer!

Just getting a word in while waiting for my better half to come home from a late shift at work :-/  Today was an awesome day for couponing, thought I'd share some with you.  Here is a picture of today's freebies.  Of course, this doesn't include "Buy One, Get One Free" sale items or "Buy this, get that free" sales. 

The paint and work gloves were from ACE.  The paint is a fun "just because" and "you never know when you'll want it" thing...The work gloves are nice as we're in the process of planting a garden.  We found out the men's pair is too small though for my husband's hands so I guess we can use them in a housewarming gift basket some time?  (Paint was free with a coupon/promo, gloves are free after rebate.) 

The Hot Tamales, Oreos, cameras, and Glad plugins were free from Rite Aid.  I had to use both my hubby's and my Rite Aid cards to get what we have here and I went to 2 Rite Aids.  The plugins were from a rain check I got on a deal a while ago.  I'm most proud of the cameras because I don't think it was publicly known about this awesome deal.  I follow 5 couponing blogs and on occasion, 1 has a post that the others don't and this was the case :)  Regularly $14 each, I got the cameras FREE!!! The cashier was actually shocked speechless seeing me get them for free.  I'm not sure what I will do with the cameras...something fun.  As for the plugins...add them to housewarming gift baskets? 


As I'm typing, I also remember another thing I got for free, a new Quaker oatmeal product, it'll be free after rebate.  I just remembered it because I was organizing my reciepts and rebates while I was doing laundry....thus my tip for making clothes last longer.......

Background story:  I know my boss thinks I'm crazy and I always talk about the free stuff I get, but I think she's learning how much money you can save when you put your mind to it.  She actually had a tip for me the other day that I just hadn't thought about.  She said that once a year she takes her family's black clothes and re-dyes them.  What a great way to extend the life of your clothes!!! 

I went by Walmart and picked up some Rit dye for a couple bucks and just did a load.  It can be a tad technical and messy, but it really wasn't that bad.  1 thing to note is that it is mostly recommended for cotton clothes.  Half of our batch I was considering was polyester which the dye is not recommended for so I only did the cotton bunch, which were the most faded anyway.  I'm so mad at myself that I didn't take a before picture, but it's drying right now and looks great.  I think I'll make this a yearly tradition as well-why toss out perfectly good clothes just because they're faded? 

Thursday, May 3, 2012

As if couponing couldn't get any more awesome...

One tool I have in my savings toolbelt is Swagbucks.com.  You can earn points tons of ways, but the most common ways I earn points is by 1) doing internet searches (like you would in a google or bing or other browser) and winning points at random, or 2) printing off and redeeming coupons.  If you use their link to print of manufacturer coupons (links to coupons.com), you get 10 points each time you redeem a coupon.  Get enough points and you get rewards.  Our favorite is 450 points = $5 Amazon.com gift card.  Since you're already saving money with coupons anyway, might as well earn points to save up for Christmas presents!!!  This month, they're having a promo that you get double the points for coupons printed and redeemed, 20 each!  If you haven't signed up already, go here.  It's free and honestly, doesn't require much work at all.  I don't have time to fuss with things, so this is literally easy cash, as long as you're patient enough for the reward to cash out. 




My hubby also had some fun at Khol's tonight.  We both needed some new clothes particularly for work and new sneakers for exercising in the nice weather....we were desperately in need...  I saw that Khol's had a promo that you get $10 Kohl's cash for each $50 spent.  I printed off a 20% off all items (including sale and clearance) coupon to add to the deal.  Shopping off the clearance racks for half of our goodies, we got some awesome steals!

We got 14 shirts, 3 pants, and 2 pairs of shoes (Sketchers and Nike). 
Paid: $277.48 (after sales and plus tax)  Makes it $14.60 for each item.
Savings: $468.72 + $50 Kohl's cash for next week. 
65% savings considering the $50 in freebies we'll get next week!