CVS Adventure - 3/21 - How to get stuff for FREE

Now this is a week or so late, forgive me!
So I thought I would show a simple of example of exactly "how" you can get things for free at CVS.

Last week at CVS, a bunch of Reach items were free (toothbrushes, floss, etc).

I bought 5 toothbrushes, marked at $1.00 each.

Then I used 3 coupons I've been carrying around for awhile from my coupon holder, a few of which you can still print here:  Reach Coupons

  

The coupons equaled to $5.00, so all I had to pay was $.30 in tax.

And this year at our yard sale, I will sell each toothbrush for (at least!) $1.00.  So if I sold them all for $1.00, I would make back in CASH $4.70.  Not to shabby for a day at CVS!

Glorious Pre-Birthday Weekend

Two weekends ago, I went down to FL for a few days to visit my mom, and get tan freckles. 

These were my two items of NECESSITY.  I read 2.5 books on my Kindle, all while wearing my new sunglasses that I am obsessed with.

Here are the two books I finished, both I would highly recommend.  Really fun and adorable.

This is a second book in a series, but you don't really need to read the first one to get this one:

• The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Novel

(I have this on Kindle, so first person to call dibs, I can "Kindle loan" it to you for 2 weeks.  That's a standing invite to any Kindle book I have)

• The Sugar Queen (Random House Reader's Circle)

This was my view all week.  It was only interrupted with watching my NCAA Bracket get destroyed (GO BUTLER!), trips to CVS and Walgreens with my mom, and sleeping.  It was glorious.

 

Couponing 101 - Loyalty Cards

A lot of people think that couponing and saving money is overwhelming.  And granted it CAN be overwhelming if you want it to be.  But it definitely doesn't have to be.  And you don't have to be like me driving around town trying to get 50 free Sobe LifeWater's (this happened...another story for another time).

After you sign up for a new couponing-dedicated email address - you MUST get the "loyalty" cards.  These are almost like fake discounts.  I think that stores jack up the prices for those chumps  unfortunate people who forget to get them or use them.  Remember they are usually FREE (HOOT for a DOLLAR!).

My favorites (obviously partial to where I live) are:

CVS ExtraCare Card

Safeway Club Card

Harris Teeter VIC Card 

(only shop there when HT has SUPER DOUBLE coupons every few months)

But remember, it doesn't hurt to sign up for as many as you want.  I recently signed up for a Toys R Us Card. And as usual, I got a little flack, but think about it - in the next 30 years, how many people I know, will have children?  I don't know 100?!  So if I can get a few free baby shower gifts, rock on.  And, now with all this spiffy technology, a lot of times you don't even have to carry a big stack of these around.  There are apps (specifically CardStar) that let you aggregate all of your cards, so you can just flash your phone at a store!

Next up: Coupons, where to start...

FREE Samples - Are they worth it?

Quick answer, YES.

Now, I am not going to post free samples on here that you have to sign up on 8 forms to get an e-book download for free.  I only sign up for freebies that I think are worth it, considering the effort, and the actual sample.  I just got this in the mail today.

I've heard that each load of laundry cost about $.20 worth of detergent.  BUT this also came with $1.50 coupon, which is pretty big!  And again, I get so excited using this to do a load of laundry, and I think - FREE!

And this is a perfect way to use your new coupon-dedicated email account that I talked about here: Couponing 101: Separate Email Account

I would also HIGHLY recommend Google Chrome.  I just switched over from Firefox, as it was wreaking havoc on my laptop, and it's awesome.  For free samples, it's especially awesome as there are sweet auto fill features, so it just fills in my information, rather than me typing in my address every time.  Even MORE efficient!

Here are a few samples I'll be signing up for today:
Aveeno Hair Care Sample
Fred's Diaper Sample (again, friends with babies...I once gave a friend of mine a whole shopping bag of diapers full that I got from free samples!)

Happy Freebie-ing!

Giveaways - The Scribble Pad

A good friend of mine is hosting a few amazing giveaways this week on her blog.  These are all so easy to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment.  AND you can get extra entries by blogging, retweeting, etc.

Here is where you go to enter!  These are great gift opportunities too.  Well worth your time to check this out, and the rest of her adorable blog!

The Scribble Pad

Couponing 101: Separate Email Account

My friends always ask me "where do I start?"  Well, if you are even remotely interested in starting to consciously save money or using coupons with more purpose - this is it!

Boy, I wish someone told me about this years ago.  I have to give credit to my BFF (and soon to be guest blogger!) for coming up with this idea first: setting up a separate email account.  One of the problems/side effects of signing up for tons of couponing, money saving, daily deals, freebie sites, is all of the emails you get.  No one (probably) wants to get daily emails from a bunch of companies that fill up your inbox.

And yes, when you sign up, they will sell your stats (names, ages, etc) to other companies (but I'm not too worried about getting extra coupons in the mail!)

So I started a separate couponing account - (very original - cegcoups@gmail.com) to use to sign up for anything I wanted to, without worrying about it filling up my usual inbox.  I don't even check this account every day.  Just whenever I want to look up some deals. And if you do find something you would like to read everyday, you can just transfer that to your regular account.

I LOVE everything Google.  So I would recommend just signing up for another gmail account and use this when signing up for all of the freebies I will be posting!  So, what are you waiting for?  Go start your new account!



And because I find any post without pictures boring....GO BUTLER! (I am a Hoosier, therefore, root for all things Indiana, even if that includes me jumping on bandwagons.)

Harris Teeter 3/24 Adventure

As I already posted today, Harris Teeter is hosting SUPER DOUBLES right now.  So I headed off today, full of my stack of coupons for all of the free items I wanted to get.  The picture below is all of the stuff I got for FREE!  It's almost sad how excited I got for this.  I called my mom to tell her about it the minute I pulled out of the parking garage.

How good is Wholly Guacamole?  And no, I don't have a cat, but I know plenty of folks that do, so I will just give them a little treat.  The best part is I will actually use most of this stuff - paper towels, bandaids, gum, dish soap, etc!

My bill went from over $40 to $4.78!  Look at the bottom - coupons tendered - $38.81!

So yes, I did what some might consider "a lot" of work to hunt down all of these coupons (in actuality, I maybe spent 30 minutes total collecting and cutting coupons).

BUT, I'm going to show you how a "normal" grocery shopper can capitalize on this awesome Super Double event. I knew I needed some frozen meals for lunch, so I had $1.00 off coupons (that doubled up to $2.00 each) from a Safeway book for each of the meals below.  They were each priced at about $3.50 each, so $2.00 off is a great deal.  This is a perfect example of how even simple couponing for things you are ALREADY going to buy, can save you tons of money.  So just those 3 coupons saved me $6.00 in one day!

Ok, I couldn't wait for lunch, I just ate one of the pizzas for dinner!

You have 5 more days for this great deal!  So look for any "high value" coupons ($1.00 or $1.50) and use those during this event, because they won't be doubled for long!  And of course, in the coming posts, I will explain how and where to find all of these coupons!

Check out The Coupon Challenge for where I found most of my free deals!

Harris Teeter - SUPER DOUBLE COUPONS

About every 6-8 weeks Harris Teeter hosts a Super Double coupon event, and it is amazing. While they usually double coupons (up to $.99), March 23 - 29 coupons with a face value of up to $1.98 will be doubled, with a limit of 20 per household per day. Which means coupons for $1.00 will be worth $2.00 or even the gems of $1.50 will be worth $3.00!

Now I don't usually shop at Harris Teeter, as I think they are more expensive than Safeway, but these weeks are absolutely the exceptions. Whether you go (as I usually do) for strictly free items (see below), or just need to go on your regular weekly grocery run, it is a GREAT time to go.

You can go here, to my Harris Teeter savior, to see all of the amazing things you can get for free, and where exactly to get those coupons.
The Deal Scoop - Harris Teeter Coupon Matchups

To see other specials this week at Harris Teeter: http://www.harristeeter.com/

I'm off to clip and print coupons and salivate over all of the free things I will be getting this week!

My Life's Ambition

If you know me at all, you know that I love coupons and the "hunt" more than anything else. I will gladly drive miles across town just to get a free men's deodorant (that I clearly don't use). And you wonder, where does this drive/passion/obsession/insanity come from? Obviously, I get it honestly. This is my mother's cabinet (and this isn't even all of it!).

People always wonder, what are you going to do with 87 toothbrushes? Well, there are a couple of options of what to do with your "un-needed" items.

1. Use it. I haven't bought toothpaste, a toothbrush, floss, mouthwash, lotion, shampoo/conditioner, aspirin, lady products, etc in at least a year. And I get a little jolt of adrenalin every time I use something and think "yeah, this was free."

2. Sell it at yard sales. And YES to those questioning, people will buy NEW toiletries at yard/garage sales. You wouldn't believe what people will buy. I have experience, and have watched the toiletries tables get cleaned out immediately the past couple of years.

3. Be generous to your friends. I had a friend recently mention that her boyfriend took their toothpaste on his trip with him, so I brought one to her, (as I may, or may not, currently have about 12 toothpastes in my possession), and I'd like to think that it made her day. And even if it's not saving money for me, I love saving money for anyone.

4. Donate it. The picture below is of all of the treasures that my mom took to a shelter this past winter. LOOK at this picture. How amazing is it to take a load like that to a shelter to people who need it?

Just another reason my life's ambition is to be more like my mom.