Thrifty Thursday - Other Savings

Target
Check your recent magazines because I have found two "20% off any Merona brand item" coupons in Parents Magazine and also in Real Simple Magazine.  It expires July 15, 2010.

Kohls
I just received ANOTHER "$10 off any purchase" card in the mail yesterday that is good from Wednesday, May 12-Saturday, May 22, 2010.

CVS
I just received my $15 extra bucks certificate for participating in a CVS survey as a CVS advisor member.  The survey took all of 10 minutes and I got an email with my $15 voucher the other day.  If you are interested, go here and sign up.  I can't remember where I heard about this program but, thanks to whomever you are! 

Don't Get Lost

I am one of those people who tends to purchase for my family before I purchase for myself, but I have made a deal with myself this year: all rebates/free money should be used on me.

This might seem selfish but what it means is, after I spend all the time entering my pampers points, I will be the one using the Starbucks gift card and when I get the Kohl's $10 off card in the mail, I will look to see if there is anything that I want or need (before buying my children socks and underwear). All my SC Johnson rebates, 7th Generation rebates, etc. go into an envelope and if I want to go get my nails done or grab an overpriced coffee with a girlfriend, I raid "my" envelope.

All my savings and smart shopping benefit my whole family and if they need something, I'll certainly prioritize it, but I'm trying to make sure I don't get lost in taking care of everyone else and this is my small way of taking care of myself without feeling like I am taking away from my family. 

Think about it.

Free Money In Your Inbox (check your junk mail)

Magazines.com sends out emails a few times a week.  I almost always delete them but I do look to see if the email title has anything about a gift card in the subject.  Most of the time, the subject title involves a "discount" or "savings" and I hit delete but, sometimes, a few times a year, the subject says, "gift card" and I do NOT delete that email.  The reason I don't delete that email is that you are given the option of using your gift card code or cashing it in for a check!!!  The current email that I just received had "$5 Gift Card Enclosed for Mother's Day Deals" as the subject.  If you do receive this email, look down at the bottom and it will tell you that you can go here to request a check instead of using your gift card code on a magazine subscription.‏  If you want or need a magazine subscription, go for it, but I'll take my $5 check instead.  You might think, what's the big deal about getting $5?  Well, they offer gift cards at least 5 or 6 times a year so that is $25 or $30, assuming you catch all the emails and request all the checks - not bad for doing nothing.  If you haven't signed up for their emails, go ahead because they are sure to send out another offer sometime soon. 

Why I Love Kohls

Kohls is almost giving away clothing right now.  There are tons of items marked down 80-90% off on their clearance racks.  I got some Chaps by Ralph Lauren cardigans (one black, one white) for $4.00 each!  I actually needed new cardigans so it was really a great deal but even if you don't need anything for yourself, go take a look for gifts for other people.  Also, pay attention to your mailbox because they just sent out another $10 off your total purchase card.  This can be used on anything and if your purchase doesn't come up to $10, you just forefit the remaining amount but I bet you can find a few things on the clearance rack to bring you up to $10 dollars.

My total Kohl's purchase included the two aforementioned cardigans, a black turtleneck sweater, a black cowl neck sweater, a dressier tank top, a flowing top that I"m going to use as a beach cover up, and a mandarin collered dress all for $21 out of pocket.  I used my $10 off card, my mother's and my neighbors and really only paid for the cover up and the dress but even they were marked down over 70%!!!!!

My Weekly Savings Strategy Sunday

I don't really NEED too much this week but there are a few things that I plan to pick up at some of the stores that are on my route.  I plan to hit Staples, Michael's, Target, Costco and CVS.  I will also hit some combination of grocery stores but I haven't created my menu plan yet.  Check back tomorrow for my Manic Monday - Menu Edition posting.

Staples - Toner, paper towels, mesh index card box
The toner is for work and I will be reimbursed for it, the mesh card box is to store my seed packets in it in the back of the refrigerator for next year (I read an article that this is the best way to ensure germination for the following year) and the paper towels are for home.  This will all (except the toner) be paid for with staples reward money that they send me for every purchase I make.  I will also drop off 10 ink cartridges which will ensure that Staples will send me another $30 check next month for my ink exchange ($3/per up to 10 a month).

Michael's - Lamp Oil
I always cut out the Michael's and AC Moore coupons because there is a Michael's on the way to my children's school and they take competitor's coupons.  They sell a bunch of things besides craft supplies and fake flowers that you can pick up - cupcake papers, baking sheets, candles, plain t-shirts, crayons, etc. - that you can always use and I'd rather get it for half off than full price.  I keep a running Michael's list in my coupon folder under my Michael's tab and each time I am going to be near there I check my list and grab a coupon and get the next thing on my list.  This week it happens to be lamp oil for some oil lamps that I picked up at an antique store to use around our outside dining area.

Target - luvs diapers (2 packs), schick intuition razor (2 packs), gillette mach 3 cartridges (2 packs), gillette mach 3 disposables (4 packs), tide detergent travel samples (2 packs)
The luvs are on sale for $6.99 and I've got 2 $1 coupons, the intuition razors are on sale for $6.99, buy 2 and get a $5 Target gift card and I have 2 $4 off coupons, the mach 3 cartridges I have 2 $4 off coupons, the mach 3 disposables I have 2 BOGO free coupons, and I have 2 $1 off any size tide coupons that my Target allows me to use for the travel size detergents.

Costco - beer, butter and toilet paper - need I say more?

CVS - always pads, cheerios (4), kandoo wipes refills (2)
The cereal is BOGO free and I have some $1 off coupons for cheerios, the wipes refills I have 2 $1 coupons for, and the pads will be purchased with some assortment of coupons from always, I'm just not sure which coupon provides the best deal so I'll sort it out in the aisle.  All of this will be paid for with a few extra bucks I have and a gift card that I received for transferring a prescription.

This might seem like a lot of stops but I am lucky, on good traffic days, to live really close to a ton of different stores.  I'll probably be able to swing by all these stores on Monday morning after I drop my children off at school at 9, and hopefully be home before 11.  Wish me luck!
  

New Me, New Plan, New Posts

I've decided to get my act together and start posting regularly.  I was having a hard time for a while but now I've decided just to share the things here that I share with my girlfriends in the real world - nothing earth shattering, but fun and probably money saving.  I also think that having a theme for posting tends to help keep me on track. 

I'm thinking of the following: (please let me know if they sound ridiculous)

Savings Sunday (stores and sales I'm going to hit this week)
Manic Monday (an overview of what my week contains - meals/food prep)
Mama Tuesday (what my daughter calls it since she doesn't go to school T/Th - a fun "mommy" tip or activity to do with munchkins)
Wild Wednesday (the day my husband and I have together with no kids - either involves a very cheap date or home improvement - probably a rundown of something totally mundane with a tip to make it easier
Thrifty Thursday - some fun way to save money/stretch a buck
Take Five Friday - a link, story, antecdote to make you take 5 and enjoy life - also mandating I tell you how I took 5 over the week - trying to work in my own 5 is hard so I'm hoping to be accountable here
Family Saturday - suggestion for something to do all together whether your family is just one or 100

Also I will throw in additional posts that may not fit the schedule but this will at least give me some structure and guidance and also provide a regular posting routine for any readers that I might someday get :-)

Free Dinners Out This Month

A while back I posted about Boston Market having a Kids Eat Free event whereby you could purchase one meal for yourself and get up to two kids meals free.  Well, they are doing it again!  The current promotion can be found here and it is valid Saturdays and Sundays through the end of the month.  You just have to have the children present to get the children's meals.  They do say that you must have at least a $6 purchase to get the kids meals free but, I'm all for dinner out for $2 per person. 

I prefer to get the three sides meal for myself and order two 1/4 chicken meals for my children.  I bring a drink in a sippy cup for my little one and then I use the cup provided for him to get myself a soda and we all share the chicken.  That way I keep the cost of dinner right at the cost of a meal.  If I happen to bring my husband, I have him order separately and use a coupon for his meal so our out of pocket is as low as possible.

Enjoy!

Rebates - Worth it?

Today, as I was filling out a few rebate forms, I decided to share my thoughts on rebates and let you know the system that works for me.  I will submit for some rebates, but I am not willing to jump through a thousand hoops just to get $1.00 back. 

I have three file folders within one hanging folder that I use for rebates:  Rebates - To Do, Rebates - In Process, and Rebates - Pending.  Whenever I print off a rebate form or find a rebate program that I will participate in, I fill out the informational part of the form, name, address, etc. and drop it in my Rebates - To Do folder. 

I then put the name of the item on an index card that is on my bulletin board.  Currently the card has, "glade candles, huggies diapers, organic pet food, olay stuff" written on it.  These are the products that I currently have "Rebates - To Do" for.  The index card just reminds me not to throw away a receipt that contains a purchase for any of these items before checking to see if it works with the rebate.

When I have a receipt that applies to a rebate, I go ahead and pull the rebate form from the "To Do" folder, fill it out completely, copy it all, place the date sent at the top of the copy and put the copy in my "Rebates - Pending" folder and go drop it in my mailbox for pickup.  This works most of the time unless it requires more action, then I use the "In Process" folder.

My "Rebates - In Process" folder contains those rebates that need more than one purchase to send in.  Right now it has my Caregivers Marketplace information ($.75 back per pack for Huggies), organic pet food forms (buy 10, get 1 bag free) and the DVD circles from the backs of Raisin Bran (need 5 for a free DVD). With Caregivers Marketplace, you need to purchase at least 5 items before sending in the form so I just keep paperclipping my receipts to the form until I have what I need and then I follow the above steps for copying and mailing.  The pet food requres UPCs from the bags of food so as I clip those, I attach them to the form and as I finish a box of cereal, I cut the circle and clip it to the form. 

None of this is rocket science but this is what keeps it quick and simple for me.  With this system, I know exactly what I need to save, where it is in the process and then I don't lose track of what should be coming in the mail.  Today, all I had to do was sit down for about 10 minutes and finish off some rebates to get them ready to mail tomorrow.  For 10 minutes time, I will receive: 1 DVD (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) from Raisin Bran, two $5 checks from Glade candle purchases, $13.48 from Olay quench purchases, and $5.25 from Caregivers Marketplace = $28.73 + a DVD! 

The icing on the cake is that the cereal was free using double coupons and a killer sale, the candles were $.99 each after sale/coupon, the olay was BOGO and the diapers were bought on sale with a coupon and all of these items are ones that I WOULD HAVE PURCHASED ANYWAY. 

I'm not going to purchase a product that I don't/won't use just to use a coupon to get a rebate to almost cover the cost of the item that I wouldn't have purchased in the first place :-)  I'm not that girl.

   

Earth's Best Diapers - $5 Per Pack!!!!!

Check your mail for the latest Babies R Us sale/coupon flyer.  It appears that Babies R Us and Toys R Us are having a January "Free for All" Sale.  It includes some Super Buys that are good January 1-3 only.  The one that caught my eye was ALL Earth's Best jumbos are $5, with a limit of 3 per guest.  I've got to be honest and say that I've never tried these diapers before but I'm willing to try them for $5 a pack.  I might even be willing to drag along my husband to purchase another 3 for $5 a pack :-)  Also, if you have any of the coupons that Earth's Best sent out along with their rebate items that are still good, you could make this an even better deal - mine all expire 12/31/09 - bummer!

Also, there are a few additional coupons that would be good to use during the same trip including one that, with ANY baby purchase, you can get a free pampers sensitive touch wipes travel case.  I always grab these when they are free because they are great for my car box (post about that forthcoming in January) and also as an add on shower gift. The other coupon I might use is for $1 off all diaper rash items because, combined with a manufacturer coupon for specific brands, which I'm sure we all have, would result in very cheap diaper cream. And, last but not least, all clearance clothing is buy one, get one for .99 which makes it worth a look at the clearance racks for next year, donations or gifts.

Recycle Bank Update!

For anyone who follows Money Saving Mom and took advantage of her post about the Recycle Bank program here, please be advised that the $5 off a pack of Huggies coupon is now available again so if you haven't used all your points, go sign up and get the free kitchen cleaner and diaper coupon!!!

FYI if you are in the NoVa area, AAA Trash participates in the Recycle Bank program and their trash service is competitively priced so, if the Recycle Bank program interests you and you get to choose your trash provider, you might be interested in AAA Trash. We have used them before and will be switching back since our promotional period with our current provider is almost up.

Organized for Savings

I have found that the more organized I am, the better I can find something for myself, husband or children, the better I can tell how much of something we have or need and generally, the better I feel. When you are organized, you can find things; when you can find things, you know that you don't need to go buy them again; when you don't buy them again, you save A LOT of money!

I am a HUGE fan of The Container Store and, while some of their products cost more than Target or Walmart, I have found that the quality far exceeds the difference in price. They have these clear storage boxes in all different sizes that we use at our house to contain just about everything. They also have really great (and reasonably priced) boxes and jars for putting home made mixes and baked goods in. We have an older home with no storage space and we have used their elfa closet system in all our closets, in our garrage, in our pantry . . . In short, I absolutely love The Container Store!

Right now they have a promotion going on here where you receive a $25 gift card when you purchase $100 worth of gift cards. The limit is $500 on one gift card at a time, netting you $625 in credit per transaction. While I don't necessarily advocate purchasing $500 worth of gift cards if you don't need to, this is a great deal if you were planning on purchasing some things to keep you organized in the new year.

I went to ebates, where The Container Store offers 4% cash back, clicked through to The Container Store, figured out what I wanted, put it in the shopping cart, figured out how much it would be, then opened up a new window, purchsed enough gift cards to pay for my purchase, received my bonus gift cards, then went back to my original window and paid with my gift cards.

While this may not seem like a super steal to some bargain hunters, The Container Store rarely has coupons or sales so, for any of you who shop there anyway, taking a few minutes to purchase the gift cards ahead of making your purchase to save at least 25% off makes good financial sense to me!