Free Touch of Grey for Men

I just became aware of this offer. It is an offer for a free box of Touch of Grey for Men. Just click here, and print your rebate. This is a great opportunity to try a product for free!

Also, Home Solution News has some wonderful printable coupons available. Just go here, and you can print out some fabulous coupons right now.

Free South Beach stuff at WalMart

I wanted to come back and let you know that the drink mixes really are on sale at WalMart for 2.00 a box, and with the 2.00 coupon here, they really are free. I was able to print two. I used them both earlier today and got them for FREE!!! The pizzas were 2.76, I think. They would end up being only 76 cents...not bad!!



Oh, and I would love to report that Dillons has some great deals this week...............but I can't, cause they don't.

Hopefully NEXT week!

A few great deals for today!

I found a few freebies/samples available today.

Free recycled 3M Post-it notes here
Free Benefiber "stick" here (looks like the powders you pour in your water bottles)
Free Wholesome Goodness cat food here
Free Pantene hair care sample here

Sign up for the Home Made Simple coupon booklet here
It's a great coupon booklet that has over $27.00 in coupons. I have gotten this booklet previously, and there are some great coupons included. It's definitely worth requesting!

Also, there a couple of great deals that you can do at WalMart right now.
Go to the South Beach Diet website and you can print off a few $2.00 coupons for their drink mixes and their frozen pizza. I know that their drink mixes go on sale for 2.00 a box, so you could get one for free. I'm not sure about the pizza, but "the online blog buzz" is that they will be free too!

Have you stocked up on school supplies yet ??

The school supplies are already beginning to leave the store shelves, being replaced with Halloween, autumn, and YIKES, even Christmas stuff! (yep, I saw Christmas stuff today, can you believe it?!?!?) Make sure that you have fully stocked your student and your "school supply closet" with all the school supplies that you need, and more. This is the time of year when the paper, pencils, and notebooks are available for pennies. Does your child need 2 notebooks for school? Get 10! That way when the ones he have become broken, used up, or lost, you don't have to go out and pay 2.00 for something you could have bought this month for 10 cents. ( that's just an example, but that stuff is super-duper cheap right now.

The other thing you might want to think about is this: If you participate in Operation Christmas Child, they are always looking for small school supplies to have in the boxes. This is the time to stock up on those things too!!

Just think what a hero you will be in January, when your hubby asks if you have any paper, and you can present him with a notebook that you bought this month for 10 cents!!!

Some great deals at Walgreens this week

There are some wonderful deals going on at Walgreens this week. My last few days have been pretty hectic, but I wanted to make sure you knew "what the deals were".
So check here for the deals of the week. It will take you to another blog (Money Saving Mom) that has it all broken down.

Just a reminder, this is the last week to get your Free After Rebate items at Walgreens. There are some great ones this month, so don't miss out!!

Isn't the "blog-o-sphere" a wonderful place?

A few websites worth checking out!!

I know that I have these listed over in the margin, but I want to make sure that everyone knows just how valuable these sites are:

www.frugalvillage.com
This is a great blog...but even better than blog are the forums that you will find over there. There is a whole community of people over there that encourage each other in living frugally. It's wonderful have a group of like minded people to support each other. It has become my "home away from home". If you head on over to "the village", you will find me posting under the name "IntlMom".....I look forward to seeing you over there!

www.hillbillyhousewife.com
This site is really about living simply. She has amazing ideas for economical meals, gift ideas, and how to subsitute just about anything. She has a recipe for "homemade rice a roni"~my kids love it! It's definitely worth checking out!

www.hotcouponworld.com
I love this site for the grocery boards. You will find nearly every grocery chain listed at this site. Each grocery store chain has a spot where people report the weekly specials and what deals they are finding there. You can always bet that if you miss a deal, some at HCW (Hot Coupon World) will find it and report on it so you can go out and do it too!! (I'm IntlMom over there too)

Can I brag here for just a minute?

I have had the most fun this morning shopping. I went to Walgreens, the bread store, and Dillons. I HAVE to tell you what I got and how much I saved!!! I was having a bit of trouble figuring out what my actual out of pocket was after rebates and such, so I'll just have to try and be as clear as I can.

Store #1 - Walgreens: I got 3 hydrogen peroxides @.39, 2 hair care items that will be free after rebate, and 4 jars of Ragu, and 2 jars of Skippy. After all of my coupons, I spent 17.27. I will get
$13.18 back on rebate and I got a $4.00 Register Reward for my next purchase. If I figured it right, I spent .09.

Store #2 - The bread store, I bought 2 loaves of wheat bread for a total of 2.68.

Store #3 - Dillons: I transferred a prescription that I needed filled and got $20.00 for transferring it. (I had a coupon from a while back and was just waiting till I needed to fill a prescription). Anyway, I bought canned veggies, milk, soup, bananas, peaches, TGI fridays frozen appetizers, eggs, lettuce, the .49 box of Cheerios.....pretty normal stuff. (Ok, the frozen appetizers were not exactly normal....but I had a REALLY good coupon!!) :) My total before was about $36.85 and my total that I paid was......are you ready for this one????? $1.49!!! Most of that was tax!!!

I figured that my before total was $56.80, and my after total was $3.48 (2.68 of which was bread!).....that's a 94% savings!!!

I love this "hobby"!!!!!

Walgreens deal alert: $5.00 off $20.00 purchase Friday and Saturday only!

I just found out that Walgreens will be having a $5.00 off of $20.00 purchase coupon that will be valid for Friday and Saturday only. Print the coupon here.

Have fun!!

FREE Chicken Nuggets at Dillons!!

First of all, let me say "SHAME ON ME!"...I cannot believe that I missed this!! However, my wonderful online friends at Hot Coupon World did not miss this deal. Here's the scoop:

Fast Fixin Chicken is 10 for $10.00 . No you do not have to buy 10, but the store would like you to! You can go to the Fast Fixin's website here and print coupons. You should be able to print $1.00 of any item coupons.....yes, this makes them free! BUT WAIT! They also have a deal where if you send them the UPCs off of 10 packages, they will send you a coupon for a free product (any size). You can find all of this information at their website http://www.fastfixin.com/.

This product is the chicken nuggets/patties that are on the little yellow styrofoam "boards" and are wrapped in clear wrap. I think you will find them in the freezer section. The last time they were on the end of the freezer section back by the milk in our Newton Dillons.

Good Luck!

Some free stuff for today!

Free sample of Neutrogena's Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub here .

Free sample of Fiber One cereal here .

Free sample of Playtex Sport tampons here .

Free sample of Scott Toilet Paper (full size roll) here .

Free sample of Sunsilk hair care products (and coupons) here

I thought it might be fun for everyone to start to get some fun freebies in their mailboxes instead of only getting bills! I love getting free samples in the mail. They really do come....

$ .49 Cheerios at Dillons

Starting tomorrow, August 20th, at Dillions, Cheerios will be on sale for 1.99 a box.
Here's how to get a box of them for .49. First go here (shortcuts.com) and load the .55 coupon onto your Dillons card. Shortcuts is a site where you can add electronic coupons onto your Dillons card. When you swipe your Dillons card, it automatically takes the e-coupon off. The best part is that you can combine them with paper coupons. Next, go here and print off a 1.00 off a box of cereal (Thanks Money Saving Mom).
Have fun!

Here are a few things that I noticed that will be worth getting next week:

Eggs will be .99 a dozen - can you believe that .99/doz is a "good" price???
Kroger canned beans, tomatoes, and veggies will be .50 each, this is as low as they get any more.

Unfortunately nothing else really jumps out as a good price. If I see or find anything else, I'll let you know.

Let's Talk (cheap) School Lunches

With school starting, moms everywhere are faced with the issue of how to make an affordable boxed lunch that their kids will actually eat.
I know that there are kids that eat school lunches every day. However, at the price of school lunches, it will probably come as no surprise to you that MY kids are not one of them! My boys get to pick one school lunch a week, at most, to eat, the rest are all brought from home. They don’t even question this rule, as me and my frugal ways are all they have ever known. So I thought I’d give you some frugal, yet (relatively) healthy suggestions on what to put in your kids lunch this year.

My kids’ lunch consists of 3 basic parts, the sandwich, the snack, and the drink.

The Sandwich
This is usually a pb&j, cause quite frankly, it’s cheap, easy, and they like it. Some other suggestions for this part of the lunch are: warm leftovers in a thermos, ramen noodles in a thermos (this is my oldest son’s favourite), peanut butter on (generic) Ritz crackers, cold grilled chicken legs (leftover), chunks of ham, cold chicken nuggets….you get the idea.

The Snack
Homemade cookies, rice krispie treat, popcorn (this is super cheap…..my oldest actually has it in his lunch today!), piece of cake in a saved margarine or yogurt type container, yogurt, pudding, etc….. I need to say a few things here. Sometimes I can get packaged treats cheaper than I can make them. For example, a few weeks ago I got 10 boxes of individually packaged Kellogs Rice Krispie treats for the price of tax and one stamp. (Dillons had a great sale and there was a great rebate at the time….I promise I’ll let you know when this happens again!). So while homemade is best, I cannot past up a bargain!! The other thing I’ll say is that I don’t put fruit in my kids’ lunch….(with the exception of grapes in my oldest sons’) cause they usually just get thrown away. So I make sure that fruit is offered either at breakfast, or after school. I want to see it actually being eaten, and not wasted.

The Drink
If I can get a box of juice (Capri Sun, juice, etc…. ) for less than about 1.50, they get juice, otherwise, they drink water in a reused and washed out water bottle. I aim for the pouch/box of juice to cost no more than .15 each.

Obviously you’ll have to adjust the amount that you send for your children based on their appetite. For example, one boy only gets a half a sandwich, the other gets a whole sandwich, they each get one or two snack type items, and a drink.

~ps.....I make them bring home their baggies and I wash them and reuse them, but that's just me!! :) :)

Healthy and Natural vs. Cheap and Packaged

I struggle with this every time I shop or plan my shopping trips.

There's no denying it, there are just more and better coupons for the packaged, over-processed , ready to eat foods. That;s not to say that there are NO coupons for natural, organic food, they are just fewer and further between. Every Sunday the paper is filled with coupons for Hamburger Helper, frozen TGIFridays appetizers, and Campbells Cream of whatever soup. But I've begun to see some positive changes lately. In the past few months, I have seen all of these in the Sunday paper: $1.00 of any Cascadian Farms, $1.00 of any Muir Glen, Annies coupons, and lots of Fresh Express coupons.

I have had great success emailing companies, complimenting them on their products, and asking for coupons. Kashi, Horizon, Organic Valley, Boca, Vans, and Eggslands Best have all responded to my emails with great coupons. Kashi even sent me a few free coupons for any size product!!

The other thing that I do is walk through the organic section of Dillons each and every time I go in the store. If Horizon cottage cheese is marked down, then we will eat lasagne in the next day or so. I got a few Boca frozen meals that we marked down to .49 because they were about a week away from their "best by date". They were delicious!!

I have come to decide that it is all about balance. No, I will never EVER buy hamburger helper (though I make my own from scratch!), but a box of Pillsbury brownie mix for .49 or less will definitely find it's way into my cart!

What about you?

A few great Walgreens deals for Aug 17-23

Over at the blog Money Saving Mom, there is a complete list of the current Walgreens deals. I wanted to point a few excellent ones that you don't want to miss!

Skippy Peanut Butter 3/$5 Buy 3 get $1.50 Register Reward back, buy 6 get $4 register reward back
Use $0.60/1 from 8/17 inserts
$0.40 cents a Jar after Register reward and manufacturer coupons if you buy six items and use 6 coupons

Ragu Pasta Sauce 3/$5Buy 3 get $1.50 Register Reward back, buy 6 get $4 register reward back
Use $1.00/2 from 8/17 inserts
$0.50 cents a jar after Register reward and manufacturer coupons if you buy six items and use 6 coupons

What??? You don't understand any of this? You think it's some foreign language?? It's not..let me try and make it clear.
The peanut butter (16.3 oz) is on sale for 3/$5.00, that is $1.67 each. There were coupons in the paper (8/17) for .60 a jar. If you buy 6, you get a Register reward (I'll explain that) for $4.00. Here's the math: buy 6 jars=$10.00, minus $3.60 (6 - .60 coupons) minus $4.00 Register reward, that makes 6 jars a total of $2.40 (.40 a jar). Even if you didn't go and get 6 papers on Sunday (like I did) and you don't have any coupons, it will still make the jars 1.00 each which is a GREAT price.

The register reward works like this: you receive a coupon after you check out for the amount of the promotion (in this case $4.00 when you purchase 6) that you can use on your next purchase. I would then take this coupon and buy the items that are free after rebate for the month, thus making your money go farther and farther and farther.....

This may sound confusing, but really it's not, just give it a try. It's fun!!

My Coupon Organizer

This is my current and wonderful coupon box!

I've been a seriuos couponer for about 15 years now. Over the years I have had quite a few different organizers. I started small, like most people do, with envelopes. I quickly advanced to a small velcro one. That one last a year or so. About that time, I found a large, cumbersome one that held all my coupons with lots of room to spare. I loved that box, although it was akward, and not very durable. It last about 5 or 6 years. It finally got stepped one too many times by my boys and I knew it was time to find another solution, as that box was no longer available. I had heard alot of talk about "the binder method". It's essentially a 3-ring binder with baseball card sleeves for holding coupons. There are lots of people that love this system....I am NOT one of those people. I always have way to many duplicates of coupons and they would not fit in the sleeves. That, and I was tired of always having to fold the coupons to fit them in. After just a few months of trying that, I knew that I had to find another solution.....AND FAST!!

I ordered my current box from Refund Cents. I love, Love, LOVE it!! I highly recommend it!

Having your coupons organized in a way that makes sense for your really is key to big savings at the store. I have mine organized by category (baby, beverage, canned, cereal, etc...). Some people organize them by the aisle of their favourite store, still others alphbetically. The point is, to organize them so that you will know where to look when you are looking for, say a coupon for bacon.

How do you have yours organized? What?? They aren;t organized yet?????
Well what are you waiting for? Hop to it!!! :)

~~Vocalpoint~~

What??? You haven't joined Vocalpoint yet?? You haven't even heard of it??

Well, now you have, and anyone who is interested in saving should definitely be on their mailing list. It's super easy to join. Go to Vocalpoint and sign up. It won't take long, but you will get on their mailing list for some fabulous coupons and samples that will come right to your mailbox. I have received free coupons for Special K, Vive! (a new cereal) and Coke Zero. I've also gotten lots of very high value coupons from them (over $1.00). They also send great samples too. Just the other day I got a nice sized sample of Oatmeal Crisp cereal.

Their website has other things like surveys and message boards, I'm sure those are nice too, but I love them for their great coupons!

ENJOY!

A couple of VERY random thoughts:

Do you know about Pepsistuff.com? It's a great website where you can put in Pepsi codes and earn free music for your mp3 player and other great stuff. It's easy too. You just go to www.pepsistuff.com and enter your codes from the caps of the pepsi bottles, or from inside the boxes of pop cans. Every 5 points earns you a free download of a song. Every 20 oz bottle is one point, and every 12 pack is 2 points. I love this program and use it lots! Gotta love free music!

When you are at the store getting ready to put that bottle of shampoo, or box of cereal, or tube of toothpaste in your cart, bend down and look into the back of the shelf. Why? Because hiding in the back of the shelf you may just find boxes with "2 free ounces", or the "20" crossed out and "24" (4 more free) listed on the box. I did this just the other day with Electrosol. I had some great coupons and lo and behold, in the back of the shelf was a few "bonus" boxes. SCORE!

More Walgreens info from another great blog!

I talked about how to get free stuff and even make a bit of money from Walgreens in my last post. There is a great article here about Walgreens and how it works. It's a good read if you are still looking to gain some confidence with the Walgreens rebating program. She is very detailed in her explaination of how the program works.....enjoy!

Walgreens Easy Saver Catalog = FREE STUFF

Is everyone aware of this great deal?
It's a great way to fill your bathroom with free toothpaste, hair care products, toothbrushes, make-up and other goodies. It's Walgreens' monthy rebate program. Take a look here, it's their current Easy Saver Catalog online. Every month they have several items that are free after rebate.

But wait, the deal gets even better.

For example, the Pert Plus 2in1, which is #7, works like this: The purchase price for the shampoo is $4.29. However, there is currently a coupon for $2.00 off of Pert Plus ( that was in the Sunday paper on 8/3 that expires on 9/30. Ok so, $4.29- $2.00 = a purchase price of $2.29. BUT WAIT!! You will get the rebate amount on the price the reciept shows that you paid which is $4.29, so you make a PROFIT of $2.29 on this bottle of shampoo. BUT WAIT!! When you submit your rebate, you have the option to have them send you a gift card. When you select the gift card option (as opposed to a check back in the mail), you get a bonus of an extra 10%. So, 10% of $4.29 is .043 cents. So, you paid $2.29, but you will get back, $4.72 (4.29+.43). So you just got paid $2.43 to take that bottle of Pert Plus out of the store!!!!!

This month you can also get Jane makeup, bioINFUSION organic shampoo, light bulbs, just to name a few for free. Each month it changes, so make sure you check out Walgreens Rebate Saver Program each and every month.

A few other things to remember:
~You can enter your rebate info. on their website http://www.walgreens.com/, and save a stamp!
~Each month do this over and over, and just keep reusing the same gift card, you can get free stuff every month
~HAVE FUN!!

Plan your menus based on what's on sale!

Yep, that's my mantra that I preach to people that want to know how to start saving at the grocery store, but don't know where to start.
If you never cut a single coupon in your life (*gasp* ~ I could NEVER do that!!), you need to plan your menu based on what's on sale.

If even that seems overwhelming, here is what it looks like:

I sit down with a spiral notebook, my coupons, some recipe books (allrecipes.com), and the grocery sales ads. First, glance through the ads. What's on sale this week? Chicken breasts? Ground beef? Bagged lettuce? Look for things that your family likes and you enjoy preparing.
Ok, now begin writing some basic menus. If ground beef is on sale, this would be a good week to make meatloaf, tacos, or spegetti. If the ground beef is on a really good sale, buy extra to last for a while until it is on sale again. This is called stockpiling, and developing a good stockpile in your kitchen is one of the keys to being able to see some serious reductions in your grocery budget. If chicken is NOT on sale,.......you're not eating chicken this week, unless you bought extra last time. The other thing is to try to not plan meals with expensive ingredients.

I typically plan 4 sit down meals a week. The other 3 nights usually consist of leftovers, sandwiches on the run, or quesadillas, cereal, or something like that. I also am loose with my menu. I don't say "Monday we will eat this, Tuesday we will eat this......". Mine is more like "we will try to eat these four main courses this week, and here are my side dish options that I can mix and match with the main courses." The other thing is, sometimes I change my mind, or my family requests something different, or we just didn't get around to eating everything I had planned. I just bump it to the next week.......or not! :)

So much to share, I'm not sure where to start!

For me, living frugally is just business as usual. I don't even think about it anymore, it just comes naturally. I just instinctively know how to be a frugal, thrifty shopper and homemaker. Actually, I suppose it's not that I always knew how to live this way, as much as I have enjoyed the journey and the process of learning.
I suppose everyone has something that they do well naturally.
What is your area of expertise?
Do you sew? quilt?
Are you a great organizer of your home and/or life?
Do you cook? bake?
Craft? Scrapbook?
Do what you can to live "green"?
Maybe you are what I call a "Disneyland Mom" - that great mom that always doing fun kid stuff with your kids. Always playing, making playdoh, or crafts, or going to the pool or park.
My point is, we all excel at something........living frugally is my "something".

I thought I'd start with this simple question.

"Do you know what's for dinner tonight?"

This simple little question can be considered a cornerstone to battling the food budget.
Too many people wait too long to even consider what they are making for dinner, and by the time that they need to start dinner, they are looking at a bunch of frozen blocks of hamburger or frozen chicken. So when they are asked "What's for dinner?", it's just way to easy to say "Let's order pizza", or "Let's go out". Neither of those are very frugal options, and while neither one is wrong occastionally, relying regularly on pizza delivery or eating out will kill your food budget and prevent you from being able to get seriously frugal in the kitchen.
So the thing to do is, plan ahead. I'll talk later about menu planning, and how that really begins to help control how much you are spending for food, but for now, just plan ahead. If it's still early in the day, decide what's for dinner. Take out that hamburger or that chicken that you are planning on for dinner. Don't fall victim of the dreaded "What's for dinner?" question. Be ready for them, know what you are making before they ask!!

Tomorrow I'll talk more about menu planning. A (loosely) planned menu really is key to becomming frugal in the kitchen. I can't wait to share it with you!

I'm new here!

Hi! My name is Traci. I am happily a SAHM of 3 kiddos. I have two 10 year old boys (more on that to come!), and a 2 year old daughter. My husband and I have been married for 16 years. Sometimes it feels like we just got married yesterday, and other times it feels like "forever-ago", KWIM? We have moved several times because of job changes/transfers, and right now we live in a small, conservative, south central Kansas town. We have no idea if the Lord will have us here 10 years or 2 years, but I'd kinda like to keep my feet on the ground for awhile, Lord willing.

This is my first ever attempt at a blog. I may be new to blogging, but I have been going down the frugal road for about 25 years. I am only 38, and yes, that means I have been scouting out the deals since I was 13!! (seriously!!!)
I am one of those crazy people that love to search out the best deal. I have been a coupon shopper since before I was married. Long before the days of the internet I was combing through couponing and refunding magazines and newsletters looking to trade my upc's or my scavanged ciggy miles for envelopes of coupons from my wish list. I hope that through this blog you can catch some of my excitement and enthusiasm for the simple, frugal lifestyle that I live by choice.

I'm off to learn more about blogging.....see ya in a day or so!