Walgreens and Target

If you are out and about today, stop by your Walgreens! My Walgreens had gift wrap for 25 cents a roll and gift tag stickers for 10 cents a pack! I stocked up! I got 8 rolls! So, now I am set for next Christmas ( and maybe the christmas after that!). I also picked up the 4 rebate items from the Walgreens Monthly book, which totaled $30.

Also, Target Christmas clearance has gone to 75% off. I picked up gifts for next year, teacher gifts and easter basket stuffers. I am now all set for Easter Baskets!

Between the 2 stores I spent $100 ( including the $30 in rebate items), but I got my fathers Birthday and Christmas gifts, 15 rolls of gift wrap (some for birthdays and other events, not just Christmas), my FIL's Christmas gifts for next year, and tons of other stuff!

I have spent a lot, so now, it's time to slow down for the new year!

Did the test drive today....

I went in and did the test drive today. I should expect my $50 gift card in 6 to 8 weeks!
I also picked up my 2 free video rentals. One is a 5 day rental and one is an overnight rental which we will watch tonight. So, 2 free movies and a $50 day!

:)

Went out and grocery shopped...

I needed to get some shopping done..

Aldi's $61.03
Logli's $190.35 before coupons, $104.31 after coupons.

So, I spent $165.34, If I don't do another big shopping trip for 4 weeks, it comes to $41.34 for each week. :)

I am not going to post photos, because I have put most of it away, but some of my best buys were Holiday/Christmas items that were clearanced. Such as Holiday Toliet Paper, Paper Towels, Holday packaged Cream Cheese, Holiday Packaged Crackers, Holiday Packaged Oatmeal, etc. Since they were 30% off plus I used my double coupons, I got several items for next to nothing. :)

Sample of Coffee

Here is a link to a Don Francisco's Coffee Sample.

COFFEE SAMPLE LINK

Do you want $50.00?

Dodge Ram has a test drive offer going on!
Dodge Test Drive


Follow the directions and get a $50.00 prepaid VISA gift card! Ends Feb. 2,2009.

I am going tomorrow!!

:) I am excited! $50 in free Groceries!

NEW SWAGBUCK CODE

New swag buck code...you need to add it to your swagcode box...not the search box.

TOOLBARWIN expires 12/28

Ziploc BOGO coupon

You can print a BOGO IP coupon for Ziploc:
http://ziploc.com/coupon/2008-12/

They have these at Super Walmart.

Did you go after Christmas Shopping?

I did venture out, and it was busy! I didn't buy much, but I did get a birthday gift for my son and a gift for my father. I bought 7 rolls of gift wrap. One roll is gold with white swirls, I will use it for wedding gift wrap. One is bright plain blue. I will use it for birthdays for men. One is red with sparkling circles. I will use it for birthdays, valentines day, etc. The rest were Christmas wrap so I am set for next year. I picked up 6 boxes of LED string lights. I used my Rebate Credits from Menards, so I didn't spend anything there. I also picked up some food items, marshmellows, cookie mixes, frosting, nuts and crackers. They also had lots of camping gear on clearance at Target, so I get a few more things for our camping trips. Target also had 4 pks of batteries for 50 cents a package. I bought 4 packages. Altogher I spent a tad over $58.00. I went to 6 stores. I didn't feel I did too bad but wished prices were better. :) I wish I could have found more gift sets. I know the TV stations are saying that the prices are slashed, but I haven't found that. It's about the same prices as I found last year.

Also, it's friday! So, DH got paid. I wrote out payments to our monthly credit cards, they are paid in full again. Put another $140 into savings and $400 on the big credit card. I want to send that out, but I need to wait for the new mailing address since we did a balance transfer. :) One more step to being debt free!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I just wanted to stop by my blog today and say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

May your 2009 be happy, frugal and fun! Do you have goals for 2009? I try to make goals every year ( not new year resolutions). So, this year my goals are
1. Pay off our family Van ( Oct. 2009)
2. Pay off Large Credit card ( the one that is in the ticker at the bottom of the screen.
3. I also want to step up my cooking, refunding and recycling this year. Recycling doesn't just mean Cans and Bottles. I am talking about reusing instead of buying new. Borrowing instead of buying. AND, Use hand me downs and freecycle to keep my spending at a minimum.
4. Keep my $250 a month for my Large Shopping trips and $50 a month for my small runs!

I hope your Christmas was Merry and your New Year looks bright!

Freebie Monday..

I spent money over the weekend, not a frugal weekend at all. So, I have to watch my spending now this week!

Today has been a good day!
Redbox code for today is EC22KP.
You can rent a video for free using that code, just make sure you bring the movie back before 9pm tomorrow. My kids are watching Wall-E right now.

Also, my kids used their last Halloween Trick or Treat McDonald's Coupons. So, they got a treat!

And, a co worker gave me some hand me down clothes! YEAH!!! So, I have to go through them tonight and decide what I want to keep!

Taster's Choice Coffee Coupons

Here is IP's for Taster's Choice coffee

http://www.tasterschoice.com/Coupons.aspx?o=

New Points Program

I do many point programs to earn free gift cards.

There is a new one I was just introduced too. They have Target, Starbucks and other gift cards, so I signed up. You get "bucks" for surfing the web and reading their forums.

Here is the link
http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=272756

It's called swagbucks. You get 3 bucks for signing up and here are two more codes.
Enter code SWAGGERNAUT by Dec 21 (1 Swag Buck)
Enter code SWAG1 by Dec 25 (1 Swag Buck)


It looks like it will take awhile for you to earn enough bucks, but there also looks like there are many oppuntunites to do so!

Enjoy!

I always cash out my point programs in July and Jan. I cashed out a few points in Dec, but not many. I am planning on holding off for awhile since I did most of my christmas shopping online and I am getting lots of points/cash back on those purchases!

CVS trip...

Well, my ECB were about to expire tomorrow, so despite the 14 inches of snow, we went off to use them.

When I got there I scanned my card and got 2 more coupons. $10.00 off any gift and $5.00 any purchase. :)
I bought my hubby a $20.00 gift and I picked up a $15.00 gift card.
They wouldn't let me use the ECB on the gift card. So, I used my Shoppers Hotline Visa Debit card and I didn't spend anything out of pocket.

Then I did a second transaction. Two gifts for my hubby. After ECB's, I had $3.84 out of pocket. :)

So, 3 more gifts for him for $3.84 and I got a $15.00 gift card which I can either keep or use as a gift.

:)

Walgreens Run...

Walgreens

I ran to walgreens tonight on the way home from work. I wanted to cash in my rain check AND use up that $5.00 RR.

2 Johnson and Johnson Travel First Aid kids, One large kit and one small kit
4 boxes of cereal
2 cans of soup
1 jar of Marshmellow creme

I plan on making rice krispie squares with the marshmellows and cereal and sprinkle christmas sprinkles on them. :)

Total before coupons: $23.44
After coupons: $4.91

I also got a ROAK of coupons and a free bag of cat food coupon in the mail today!

Our Emergency fund saved us!!

Okay, We had our van break down. Both my husband and I just looked at each other, we both knew that we were so close to paying off our credit cards... UGH!

Thankfully, we found a place that will fix it for $1,600 labor and transmission and other work that needed to be done on the van. We were able to transfer $1,000 out of our emergency fund, get the other $500 from a refund on the earnest money that was returned to us on a purchase we didn't make, and $100 out of my husband's paycheck!

Now, we still choose to put the charge on credit card and just mail the CC a check! WHY? Well, we get rewards points for each dollar charged. SO, we will be getting 1,600 points and we still will have the credit card paid off. No interest and now BENEFITS! The feeling of knowing we don't have to worry about this big expense, an expense that would have broke us apart 5 years ago is now feeling of freedom! On top of that, we have gotten all our christmas shopping done and we were able to mail the credit cards another $500! So, our debt ticker is getting closer to our goal!!

Our hard work paying down our debt and starting an emergency fund has proven it's worth!!!

YEAH!!!!

A few quick stops tonight

Well, I did run to get a few deals..here is what I got...

Walgreens:
2 9pks of Toilet Paper
1 12 pack of Toilet Paper
1 pack of Energizer Hearing Aid Batteries
2 Arm and Hammer Laundry Detergents
TOtal before coupons: $31.46
After coupons: $16.96
Used Rebates CG from last month: $9.89
So, out of pocket was $7.84, and i got a $5.00 RR which I will use on the Kellogg's Cereal Deal when they restock it. I had to get a raincheck!

Next stop Sentry:
1 box of Uncrustables
1 container of Coffeemate
2 bottles of Sierra Mist
2 containers of Fruit Naturals
Total after coupons; $3.39

Walmart:
2 pks of batteries
2 packs of cat food
1 panty hose
1 gift card ( for christmas gift)
Total 14.44
After coupons: $10.90
Would have been 90 cents if I didn't have to buy that gift card as a christmas gift.

Finally Blockbuster:
2 video rentals
1 brand new disney Movie
I used the last of my coke rewards blockbuster gift cards, the $3.00 disney movie coupon and a BOGO coupon on the rentals. NOTHING out of pocket and I got a Disney Rewards Movie Code!!!

So, I spent $22.13 but $10 was the gift card. So, I really spent $12.13 on things and $10.00 on a gift.

Freecycle FIND!

I got a great freecycle find! My daughter just started getting into Barbies. But, I didn't want to spend anything until I KNOW she is going to play with them for awhile and make it worth any money I do spend.

Anyways, someone listed a Barbie Airplane on freecycle. I contacted her and picked it up! It's BIG and it has all the pieces!!! A food tray, seats with belts, a rolling cart and a working radio to make the "announcements" on.

MY DAUGHTER IS SO HAPPY!!! :)

I looked on ebay and this thing is ranging from $10 to $50! . I am not planning on ebaying it, but it's neat to see what it is selling for and to know I got it free!

If you don't do freecycle, you may want to find one in your area!

Victoria Secret Deal!

I just wanted to share a deal I just picked up.
I got a pair of jammies and a perfume gift set for $1.58. And I get my ebates percentage too. You need a Victoria Secret Credit card to do this, but if you are like me, you will write out the check and mail it before they even send you the bill!

Order Summary
9O-220436
Signature Cotton
Boxer pajama
(hot pink) L 1 In-Stock $14.99 $14.99

5H-230649
Vial Coffret
(icolor (99)) OS 1 In-Stock $0.00 $0.00

Billing Summary
OFFERS APPLIED TO THIS ORDER
$10 Off Your Order ( This was a coupon from my last order $10 off anything. If you did the last VS order you should have it. IF YOU DON"T have it from the last order, use code ORDER20 for 20% off. It won't give you $10 but it will help on the cost )
Free Fragrance Coffret with Any Sleepwear Purchase (CODE FA814233)
Dec 08 BDay $10 Off Any Angel Card Purchase (CODE FA810210)

Merchandise Subtotal $14.99
Shipping/Handling $5.99
Special Offer – $10.00
Taxable Subtotal $10.98
Sales Tax $0.60
Order Subtotal $11.58
Rebate – $10.00
ORDER TOTAL
$ 1.58

Girls n' Grace Contest

We have a Christmas contest we would like to share with you.
Pam Davis, creator of Girls ’n Grace and Authentic Books are sponsoring a contest that all moms will want to know about, just in time for Christmas.

What can you win?

Up for grabs are two character dolls from the Girls ’n Grace product line. (www.gjrlsngrace.com).

One winner will be chosen from entries from blog readers, and another will be available for the blog who has the most entries submitted.

Each blogger who posts information about the contest, can receive one copy each of the latest books in Pam Davis’ Girls ’n Grace series, Sydney Claire: A Girl ’n Grace in the 1960’s and Mesi’s Season of Change: A Friendship Story. Books will be mailed once you send the link to me at ajennings@tbbmedia.com.

To enter the contest, participants will submit a story about their best teachable grace moment with a child in their life to mystory@girlsngrace.com. They also must include the name or link to the blog that they read about the contest on. Pam Davis will read the entries and pick a winner.

The blog that has the most entries submitted also wins a doll! That means you can win a doll for yourself, or create your own contest on your blog.

***Please let other bloggers know about this too. The information to be posted on your site as well as graphics that can be used are attached.***

Below are the contest rules:
Contest begins December 9
Individual entries

All individual entries must be submitted by December 17 to mystory@girlsngrace.com

*Participants must include a story about a teachable grace moment
*Stories will be 400 words or less
*All entries must include the name of the blog site on which they saw the contest posted
*Bloggers may enter their stories as well, but may not win both dolls
*All entries may be reprinted/reposted by Girls ‘n Grace and Authentic
*Entries should include preference of Sydney Clair or Mesi doll
*Pam Davis will pick the best story and the winner of the contest and notify the winner

Blogger participation

*Each blogger posting the contest will receive 1 copy of each of the fall releases once they forward the link to ajennings@tbbmedia.com
*The blog site with the most number of contest entries will receive one Girls ’n Grace doll to keep for themselves or turn around for another contest on their site

As Economy slips, more choose to clip

Today's Green Bay Press-Gazette had a front page article in their paper. It spoke about the use of coupon clipping and the fact that as the economy gets worse, the number of people who use coupons will grow. I won't reprint the article, but I wanted to share with you these facts.

In 2007, shoppers redeemed 2.6 billion grocery coupons, but manufacturers distributed 302 billion coupons!! So, we are only redeeming a fraction of what we could!! The average value of a coupon in 2007? $1.28. Coupon distribution was up 6 percent in 2007.

Many Grocery Stores are trying to lure shoppers in with new ways to coupon shop. Internet printables, Double Daze promotions, "money boards" and other methods.

With the economy dipping the way it is, be ready for 2009 to be a good year for coupon distribution.

The newspaper article can be seen at http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/

Frugal Fun Weekend!!

This weekend, we went to visit my In Laws who are 3 hours up north. We had to keep the money spending down, due to the fact our van died this Friday ( OH THANK GOODNESS FOR THE EMERGENCY FUND!!!). So, here is our visit.

First, we went and saw Bolt (The new disney movie). Free. We didn't spend anything ( we got the free movie tickets from the SOBE LIFE water deal!!) I brought in my purse a candy bar for each kid.
Then, Gas to get there and back $21.09
Dinner at Applebee's $13.32 ( had a $25.00 gift card from my point program, the balance was $7.32 and I added a tip)

We stayed at my in laws home for the most part, but I did run to Walgreens.

$51.13 before coupons
$30.17 after coupons
$5.17 after my $25.00 gift card I got from our last Walgreens visit
ZERO after I used my shoppers hotline gift card.

SO, nothing out of pocket. Here is a photo of what I bought:


Then, We took the kids to Build a Bear at the Mall. There is no Build a Bear store anywhere near us and my daughter has always wanted one. I had coupons for $5.00 off any $10 purchase from the magazines I get free. They had an offer, buy the boy and girl Christmas Moose and get a free hard cover story book. I asked if I could do 2 seperate transactions (so I could use both coupons) for the Christmas moose (boy and girl) they have and still get the free book offer. The woman said No, but they would take BOTH coupons off in one transaction. So, we agree to let the kids get the Christmas Moose. So, total was $39.99, after coupons and discounts, I paid $14.70!!! I got 2 Build a Bear Christmas mooses (the boy and the girl), the hardcover story book that goes with them, 2 Build a Bear 2009 calendars and 2 sticker sets. My kids were sooo thrilled and I saved a bunch of money while my daughter finally got to go to Build A Bear.


Our total trip Gas, one resturant trip, movies and a little shopping: $49.11. The rest of the meals we ate at my in laws. It was a relaxing and nice trip. :) I was thrilled with my Walgreens trip. Also, my father in law had to run to the grocery store, so while he did his shopping, I looked for coupons. I got 2 winetags for Bread, several reynolds baking supply coupons, kellogg's $1.00 off peelies, and some other great coupons. It was worth the trip with him. :)

Asked to set up "Followers"

Well, I didn't know about this until one of my favorite friends told me, HEY! You gotta do this..so it's set up. Please sign up as a follower and check out my blog postings.

Thanks!! To sign up, click on the link along the right side column!

Disney Movie Coupon!

If you are a Disney Movie Rewards Member, you can print an IP coupon for $3.00 off any Disney Movie. You can print up to 10 coupons! This is a great deal if you are going to be buying any of these movies for Christmas!

http://disney.go.com/disneymovierewards/

You have to be a member.