Harris Teeter 4/29 Adventure

I apologize for my friends out there who don't live near a Harris Teeter.  Considering moving here so we can hang out and shop together?

Wow.  Just take it in.  I got all of the stuff in the picture ABSOLUTELY FREEEEEEEEEEEE!  Thank you Harris Teeter Super Double Coupon Event!

2 jugs of syrup, 2 rolls of paper towels, 4 pre-made pasta noodles, 4 half gallons of milk, 6 jars of pasta sauce, 1 salad toppings kit, 1 spool of floss, 1 bag of cat treats and 1 can of cat food!

I had the HUGE help of my BFF...and her VIC Card.  You can only use 20 coupons a day per card, and we had more than that!  Keep in mind, we bought regular groceries too (we aren't psychos who only eat pasta, cat food and syrup - ha).  These are just the ones that I separated out, masterfully arranged, and took a picture of like a crazy person.  Unlike some of the trips I make, we will actually use ALL of this stuff.  No, we probably can't drink all that milk by ourselves, so I am going to bring one to work to share with coworkers, my BFF is going to give one to her fiancee - see - pay it forward and don't be a hoarder! (I might have to trademark that phrase!)

You can find most of the deals and coupons I used here from these amazing women that do all the work for me:

The Deal Scoop

Coupon Teacher

The Coupon Challenge

And if you are following along with my Couponing 101 - you can see why it's a must to have the Coupon Printer and to save your Sunday papers for events just like this.

I would love to hear about your success stories!  Leave a comment and make my day!

Minute to Win It - Championship Details!

I'm sure many of you have been waiting with bated breath to hear about the epic, FIRST ANNUAL, Minute to Win It tournament.  All you really need to know is that it was awesome, and I HIGHLY recommend organizing your own.  It was very easy to set up, with a small amount of supplies, and it gave us a day of fun!

If you are interested, you can find out pretty much all you need to know here: http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/how-to/

The contestants were: me, my brother (@Grennes_III), Carly (future sis-in-law), my dad, and my brother's best friend, Scotty.  The champion: SCOTTY.  When asked if the 10:00am start time would be ok, his response was "I may or may not be drunk/hungover, but I'm a beast at parlor games when I'm on the sauce".

Game: Go the Distance

Game: Stack Attack

THE CHAMPION (playing Bucket Head).

In Bucket Head, we had to get a bucket on our head, to catch bouncing ping pong balls.  While trying to figure out what we were going to use, one of my brother's suggestions was "duct tape a bucket to your face." Though, I have to give him credit.  Bobby did ALL the set up, and he was the brains behind the whole operation (rules, tie breakers, supplies, you name it).  Big ups.

And HOW does this have to do with saving money?  Well, this is a great, CHEAP, way to spend some time with family and friends and have a blast.  Good wholesome fun.  

And to wrap it up, a final thought from the Champion. 

When asked if Scotty was pumped up..."Real excited. I've been dreaming about this moment all my life."

Harris Teeter - SUPER DOUBLE COUPONS - 4.27 -5.3

 It's HARRIS TEETER SUPER DOUBLE COUPONS time again!!!!  Can you feel my excitement?

Let me give you the play by play of a text conversation between me and my mom two nights ago.

Mom: "Harris teeter!  Super double!"
Me: "What when how why? Where?!?!"
Mom: "Tomorrow for a week I think."
Me: "Hell yes! Look out cat treats!"  (reminder, I don't have a cat - haha)

In case you forgot what that means, you can read my previous post here. So head out and use those $1 coupons this week for MEGA savings!  http://www.harristeeter.com/

And to get a feel for some of the free things you might score, you can see my trip from last time here.

So it looks like maybe this promotion is now running every month, which is incredible and amazing and life changing.  Dramatic?  Yes.  Now I will be on the hunt and always collecting perfect SUPER DOUBLE coupons.  I only wish I would have known about this a day ago when I was home in Indiana.  This is a picture of our counter-top, covered with the coupons my uncle brought us at Easter.  He and my mom trade coupon inserts.  Hilarious and awesome.

Etsy - Where to go for gifts!

Now this post isn't exactly about saving money, it's just about a great website - Etsy.com. If you haven't heard of it, then you are in for a treat. Etsy is a social commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies. Every experience I've had with Etsy has just been fabulous. Each separate seller has been extremely responsive, helpful and full of creative ideas!

Often, when I'm in need for a gift, I just go on Etsy and type a word in...like "Indiana" and see what I find that matches that theme. It's fun and dangerous, because you will be sucked into a vortex and lose hours of times thinking of all the things you want to buy for yourself, and others!

Here are just a few things I have purchased (all custom orders) and would HIGHLY recommend.

These are amazing old maps that have a heart stitched around any city you want.  I got these as gifts for 3 people...and one for myself because it was too cute not to have!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/refashioned

This is a bridsemaid dress that was custom ordered to our measurements (we didn't get the petticoat).  It fits me like a glove, Diane was amazingly helpful and the price is great!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/missbrache?ref=pr_shop

I had to wait to add this - as it was for a gift for my bff - to accompany Wicked Tickets.  Very cool, and they sent me two corresponding envelopes to match - black and green.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dollfacedesign79?ref=seller_info

Carri was also amazing helping me create a custom picture frame for my boss and his family for Christmas.  She came up with all of the ideas (as I am not at all artsy) and made it look beautiful.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaintItPinkbyCarri?ref=seller_info

You are welcome for just ruining your work day productivity.  

Shopping Online - How to save money AND get CASH BACK

Now this is one of my absolute TOP recommendations for saving money.  When shopping online, I almost ALWAYS use a coupon code and/or get CASH back.  How do I do that?  I'm so glad you asked.

Now it seems complicated at first, but it's actually quite simple, and TRUST me, it's well worth the effort. Using these methods I have saved hundreds of dollars and gotten hundreds of dollars BACK.  I literally get sent a check, or money through Paypal from these websites.

First, you must sign up for Ebates and BigCrumbs.  They are my main 2 (there are others, but like I've said before, I don't want to overwhelm you!) sites for getting cash back.

Sign up for Ebates HERE

Sign up for BigCrumbs HERE

So now when you know where you want to shop, say Target, you go here: http://evreward.com/.  Then you type in Target, and you see lots of things pop up.  You can see Coupon Codes at the top that you can use when checking out to save you money, and then you see at the bottom which cash back website gives you the biggest percentage of cash back.  

Then you simply go to Ebates or Big Crumbs, log in, again type in Target, and click through their site to Target.  That's all.  They will automatically track your purchases, and then give you CASH back.  You can usually sign up to get a check, or receive it directly through Paypal.

So yes, it is a few more clicks, but ultimately WAY worth it.  It's amazing.  Give it a try, and come back and tell me how much money you are getting!  Hoot!


And in case you are really interested, here is another GREAT cash back site:

Sign up for Mr. Rebates

Easter Weekend - Home again home again...

I'm heading back to Indiana tonight and I can't WAIT.  I think this calls for a list of the reasons I'm excited.

1. Family Quality Time (obviously) and seeing my friends.

2. Tonight AND Saturday the Indiana Pacers have a playoff game that I will get to watch with my family and eat tons of chips and various dips.

3. Minute to Win It - FIRST Annual Championship.

Ok, if you haven't watched this show, um YOU'RE WELCOME for me introducing you to it.  It's amazing.  You need to find the episode called "Kids Rule Part 1 &2" - it's 2 hours, and it will induce sobbing in happy hysterics.  It was the first episode I watched, and I've been hooked ever since.  So clearly me, my brother, his fiancee', and his best friend have come up with an epic tournament that will take place Saturday morning.  I'll report back, hopefully, with a trophy.

4. Indiana Garage Sale Prep.  Due to a scheduling conflict, I won't be able to attend this two day extravaganza, and it's pretty devastating.  BUT, I am going to help organize and price and prepare for this gala.  This will call for another stop at CVS to get more free stuff to sell, and then working with my mom, organizing her MANY FREE toiletries and counting all the things we will be SELLING!

So have a very happy Easter weekend, and maybe you will be motivated to clean out your house and organize and find some things to sell or donate!

CVS Adventures 4.17.11

I headed off to CVS Sunday knowing I was going to pack a punch.  I don't usually get a TON of stuff at CVS, but the coupon gods were with me yesterday, and there were lots of things happening.

You can check out http://www.simplycvsshopping.com/ for some of the amazing deals you can get, and weekly coupon matchups!  

So I had some ExtraBucks to spend, so I figured I would pay for my items, using those, and get some ECBs back.  With all of my coupons and all of the sales...my total only came to $1.39!  And I got $6 ExtraBucks BACK!

I also got 6 packs of Adult Depends (clearanced at $1.82 - had a $2.00 off coupon!)...but that is a whole other story!

So I had a coupon for pretty much everyone of these items.  Aka...like 20 coupons.  At the counter, everything was going very smoothly and we got down to my last few coupons, and instead of taking $2 off, it ADDED $2.  Obviously, not ok with that, the manager came over, tried to fix it, failed and then announced that we had to VOID the whole transaction and start over.  At this point, there was a line of about 20 people behind me, but I didn't dare look back to see their glares of hate.  Also, mind you, this meant I had to RE-take out my 6 packs of adult diapers (I promise, they aren't for me!) in front of a large CVS mob.  Ahh the plight of a couponer.  My cashier was extremely helpful and had a great attitude and just started over.  And it went off without a hitch!

It was amazing, and one of the better CVS trips I've had in recent weeks.

Again, if you want to get in on the action and see EXACTLY what you can get with coupons, go to http://www.simplycvsshopping.com/ or IHeartCVS.