Vacation Baby!!!

Just wanted to let you know I am taking a short (but jam packed with fun) end-of-the-summer vacation with the family.  I won't be posting until I return late Tuesday.  I'll be back just in time for the grocery store sale ads!!

Feel free to check out some of my favorite blogs with TONS of money saving tips.  You will find a list on my right side bar...  OR, take some time to get your coupons collected and organized.  You can find some great coupons from coupons.com (links on my right side bar and bottom of this web page). 

Walgreens Weekly Deals 8/30 - 9/5

OK, so it's getting late, I'm really tired and I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and I still have a zillion things to do, so for this one I'm just going to link you to another blog :)

Common Sense with Money has a fabulous list of great deals and FREEBIES at Walgreens this week.  Now, Walgreens has something similar to ECBs at CVS- except they call them "Register Rewards" or RRs as you see them posted on many blogs.  Please note that the prices you see on Common Sense with Money may vary slightly from pricing in our local stores.

CVS Weekly Deals 8/30 - 9/5

For those of you who aren't familiar with wheelin' and dealin' at CVS...  Make sure you get an "ExtraCare card".  This card is used at CVS to get their weekly sales.  Some of these sales will give you "ECBs" - which is basically a paper gift card that prints up with your receipt that can be used towards ANY future purchase.  Remember to use your ECBs towards a purchase that is equal to or greater than the value of your ECBs, because any overage is lost (you do not get change back).  In the sale scenarios, any ECBs earned are considered the same as getting cash back because you can use the ECBs at CVS as just that.  Once you have some ECBs earned, you can use them towards further purchases.  Ex - This week you purchase a Glade Soy Candle at $6.99 and use a $4/1 coupon.  You pay $2.99 for the candle, but you get $6.99 in ECBs that you can use towards a future purchase, so you make $4 off of this deal!!

Here are my favorite CVS deals for this week (unless otherwise noted, all coupons mentioned are from past Sunday papers)...

Clairol Loving Care Hair Color $4.99 Earn $2 ECBs - Limit 1
-$4/1 coupon
=FREE + $1 overage after coupons and ECBs!

Glade Scented Reed Diffuser or Soy Candle $6.99 Earn $6.99 ECBs - Limit 1
-$4/1 coupon
=FREE + $4 overage after coupon and ECBs!

Sensodyne Toothpaste $4.99 Get $3 ECBs - Limit 1
-$1/1 Sensodyne iso-active printable coupon HERE
$0.99 ea. after coupon and ECBs!

Bounce Dryer Bar $3.99 Get $1 ECB - Limit 2
-$1/1 coupon or $1.50/1 coupon
=$1.49-$1.99 each after coupon and ECBs

Revlon Face, Eye or Lip Makeup Buy 1 Get 1 FREE - Limit 6

Softsoap NutriSerus Body Wash (price may vary, not advertised) get $2 ECBs with any purchase - Limit 1
-$1/1 coupon from this Sunday's paper
= Final price will vary, but with coupon and ECBs it's like saving $3 on this

Want to know more about how all this ECB stuff works?  Deal Seeking Mom has a fabulous post on CVS 101 For Newbies: The Drugstore Game.  Check it out to learn everything you ever wanted to know about earning FREE stuff at CVS!

Awesome Crocs sale - BOGO + Free Shipping + 25% Off!!

Thanks to Deal Seeking Mom for posting this fabulous sale on Crocs... check out her post HERE. 

There are a ton of Crocs on sale for buy one get one FREE - plus they are offering FREE shipping and there is a 25% off code (enter the code slx8797 at check out). 

Some of the kid's Crocs are as low as $14.99 - so you could score 2 pairs of Crocs for as low as $11.24!  Better hop on this deal quickly, they will sell out of the BOGO styles really quickly.

Have a bambino? Beech-Nut Freebies/Coupons

If you have a baby or are having one soon, you should definitely check this out...
Beech-Nut is offfering a FREE "Starter Kit" when you sign up for their e-newsletter.  Click HERE to sign up.

From what I can tell, looks like your starter kit will come with Beech-Nut food samples and coupons.  If you're not familiar with the Beech-Nut brand, I know that it is sold at Harris Teeter.

Old Navy Coupon

Still have some last minue back-to-school shopping to do?  Well, if you're planning to hit up Old Navy make sure you take a coupon with you!  Coupons were updated last night and of course all the good ones are long gone, but there are still some $10 off $50 purchase coupons left.  Just click HERE to go to OldNavyWeekly.com - then look at the bottom right corner of the screen where it says "Get text updates" - this will change to "special offers" - when it does, click on it.  Then, click on "cargo pants" just above it. This will pull up a window for you to download your $10 off $50 purchase coupon! 

The women's jeans are on sale this week for $19, so maybe you can sneak in a purchase for yourself :) 

Happy shopping!

*If you're new to Old Navy's coupon hunting website, click HERE for details/instructions.

FREE CHOCOLATE - What could be better???

You can register for a coupon for FREE M&M Mars chocolate HERE today and every Friday morning at 9:00am EST through Friday, September 25th. You can claim one coupon per email each Friday, for a total of up to four coupons per household. They come via regular mail.



Once you have your coupons, keep an eye out for BOGO sales at your local grocery stores and drugstores. 

So, "free" may be my favorite word...  but FREE chocolate?!?  Doesn't get much better than that!

$5 MP3 Credit from Amazon

Need to add some new tunes to your iPod? 

Get $5 Amazon MP3 credits when you order the FREE game Big Kahuna Reef! You don’t even have to download it – you’ll receive an instant credit to your account.  Simply "buy" the FREE game and after checkout choose "download later".  You can choose to have a link to the download emailed to you.  Immediately after purchase, you will receive an email with the details of your promotional credit for $5 in MP3 downloads! 

This whole process took me about 1 minute.  Now I'm going to go find me some fabulously FREE music!

Thanks Deal Seeking Mom!

Coupon 101 - Part 3 - The Coupons!!

There are several places that I get my coupons from, so first I'm just going to list them for you...

• Sunday paper – I used to be skimpy about which coupons I’d cut out. Now I cut out just about every coupon unless it’s for something I’d never, ever buy (like Depends… but who knows, I may be cutting those out too one day!). Every time I pass on a coupon I end up with an opportunity where I could have gotten an item for free if I had cut it out – this is a lesson I learned the hard way. I have actually lost sleep over a freebe deal that I missed out on because of a stupid coupon that I didn’t cut out (told you I was OCD).
• Family members – If you have family members who don’t use coupons, have them save them and give them to you! My mom (in MD) and my mother-in-law (in NC) both save their coupons from their Sunday papers and mail them to me. This has been an amazing help as there are usually some different coupons – or BETTER coupons. I’ve noticed that some of the coupons that we get might be for “$1 off when you buy 2” whereas the coupons from MD or NC may be for “$1 off when you by 1”!
• Free samples – When you see an offer online for a free sample don’t pass it up (unless it’s for something you’d absolutely never use). This has helped me in many ways. First, I get to try something without having to buy it and find out I don’t like it. Second, if I do like the item, the free samples almost always come with great coupons.
• Printable coupons that I get online.  There are quite a few sites that offer printable coupons (you will see some on my side bar).  My favorite sites are Coupons.com (allow the ad-on to my site to run and you will see their coupons at the bottom of this webpage!), AFullCup.com (they have printable coupons for Target!), RedPlum.com and SmartSource.com.  Some printable coupons come straight from the manufacturer's websites.  Note that most of these sites have a limit for how many of each coupon you can print, so if you see a good one you better print as many as you can.  Also, some sites make you download a program in order to be able to print their coupons (fyi, I have never encountered a problem with any of these progams - I know some people are weary about what they download).

I cut out my coupons as soon as I get them so I can get them organized into my binder.  Like I said before...  I cut out everything unless it's for an item I know I absolutely wouldn't buy (even if it was free).  After cutting coupons for a while, you will remember which ones you have as soon as you see them on sale in an ad or in the store. 

Make sure your coupons are available to you for use!!  This is important - don't just cut out the coupons and leave them at home.  I keep my binder in my car...  and when I go into the grocery store, Target, Walmart, etc I take it in with me.  If I don't there's a 99.9% chance that I'll see something I need/want and I'll have a coupon for it out in the car.

I think that's about it on the coupons.  Feel free to post a note if I missed something or if you have a question.

UPDATE - One important thing I forgot to mention...  When using coupons, the standard rule is that you can only use 1 coupon per item.  However, you can combine 2 coupons for 1 item IF you have both a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon.  ex - If you have a Target printable coupon for $1 off 1 box of Cheerio's and a manufacturer's coupon from the Sunday paper for $1.50 off 1 box of Cheerio's, you can use both coupons together and get $2.50 of 1 box of Cheerio's.  You can get some really, really good deals this way!  (Thanks Hyacinth for your question!)

Famous Dave's officially declares August 30, 2009 DAVE'S DAY!

Another fablous FREEBIE sent in by my girl Amy!  My friends ROCK - thanks for your support gals!

FREE ENTRÉE For Anyone Named Dave at Famous Dave's this Sunday, Aug 30!


Here's what they have to say about their promo...  Every Dave's a Famous Dave to us, but to celebrate Dave's 15th, we're giving a free entrée - up to $15 - to every Dave, David or Davy in the house!* And on Dave's Day, close counts! If your middle name is Dave, David or Davy you'll get your entrée for half price! Up to $7.50*.

*Offers available only at participating locations with a valid picture ID.

My hubster's name is David, but we'll be out of town - just might have to search and see if I can find a location in Williamsburg!
Click HERE to search for a location near you.

FREE Chick-fil-a Sandwich on 9/7!

First, a FABULOUS shout-out to my girls Stacey & Angela for sending me this deal - GO GIRLS!!

Labor Day only (Monday, Sept 7), wear your sports team logo to Chick-fil-A from 10:30a.m. to close, and get a FREE Chick-fil-A Original Chicken Sandwich!  No purchase necessary, limit one per person.

So you better get your Redskins shirts ready!  I have quite a few if any of you crazy Cowboy's fans want to borrow a real shirt :)  xoxo

Grocery Sale Ads out today

For those of you that don't know, the grocery store sale ads come out in the Wednesday paper.  I'm not a big sale ad shopper for my groceries, but if I see something that I think is a really good deal I will definitely go for it.  NOTE:  Even though the ads come out on Wednesday, different stores start their sales on different dates so be sure to check that when you're going thru the ads.

Here are my favorite deals this week...

SAFEWAY (8/6  - 9/1 Don't forget your club card - you need it to get their sale prices)

• There is a coupon in the sale ad for a $30 gift card when you transfer a prescription to Safeway.  RUN to Safeway and grab one of the sale ads while they're out (you can usually find them right inside the door).  Get it soon because Safeway usually puts out 2 sale ads during the week - one on Wednesday and one for the weekend.  This is an awesome deal - and remember, you can use this coupon at CVS too since they accept competitor coupons!
• Thomas Twin Pack English Muffins $1.99
• Fresh Express bagged salad $1 each
• Oscar Meyer basic Lunchables $0.99 (I'm going to have to stock up for the first week of school!)
• Chef Boyardee $1

HARRIS TEETER (8/26 - 9/1 You'll need your VIC card here)

• E-VIC Special of the week - Pop Tarts for $0.77!!!  If you're not an E-VIC member, click HERE to sign up.
• Southern Savers posts the most AMAZING list of Harris Teeter deals for super coupons week.  Check out her list for this week HERE.  She even gives you links to printable coupons to match up!
• Don't forget to check out the deals I scored today in my post below!

Sale ads also came out for Giant and Shoppers but I don't usually shop at either store...  I'm trying to work my way into posting the best deals for you (or finding another blog that does so I can post a link to it).  I'll get there - I'm still new to this :)

Harris Teeter deals

OK, so I made my first trip to Harris Teeter this morning for super double coupons and here's everything I got for a grand total of about $25!  I did realize once I got home that only 15 of the 20 coupons that I used had doubled.  So, I called the store and they told me that it is probably because some coupons had the "not subject to doubling" or "do not double" on them.  I've never had that problem in the past so I hadn't paid any attention when I originally went thru my coupons...  So, I went thru them again this afternoon and totally pulled out the high dollar coupons that do not have that caviat from my binder and have them separated out to shop with tomorrow.  Even so, I think I got quite a bit of goodies for a great price - not as great as I usually do but I'm hoping to do better tomorrow :) 

Some HOT deals to take note of...

• Danimals yogurt & crush cups are 3 for $6 - there have been a lot of $1 off coupons in the paper lately, so you can use them to get these absolutely FREE!
• Use the recent $1 off 2 candy bar coupons for Twix, Milky Way, Snickers or 3 Musketeers to get 2 candy bars FREE!
• Fiber One yogurt is on sale for BOGO, use 2 coupons for $1 off and get these for better than free!!

Here's my receipt.  You can see that my total was $25.62 - I saved $48.76, $14.76 of which was from my VIC card (store sales) so I got $34 in savings from my coupons!!

Cheap dinner out at Logan's Roadhouse

I plan on doing a post in the future about eating out -- which places serve free kids meals, places that have special family or kid nights and things of that sort.  But for now I want to let you know about one on of my family's favorite places to get a cheap dinner out...

Logan's has a special on Mondays and Tuesdays ONLY where you can choose from a special menu and get 2 dinners for $14.99 - the catch is that they no longer advertise it and you have to ask for the special menu.  Kids meals are also only $2.99 on Mondays and Tuesdays (they choose from the regular kid's menu)!  A family of 4 can get a great meal out for under $25!

Coupon 101 - Part 2 - Getting organized

Some of you have seen my amazing, handy-dandy coupon binder (which I have learned to carry in the car with me at ALL times). For those of you who haven’t been as privileged, I’m including some pictures. I keep my coupons in an ordinary 3-ring binder with one of those clear covers that you can slide pages into (or in my case, slide coupons into). Inside the binder is a zippered pencil pouch and lots of baseball card protector pages.

The pencil pouch is mainly for restaurant coupons. If we’re having trouble deciding where to go out to eat I just whip out my coupons and we let them help us decide. I do have some restaurant coupons shoved in my front cover, mostly because they’re too big for the zipper pouch. There are also some random coupons in the front cover – free coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts (so I’ll remember to use it before it expires), 40% off coupons for Michaels and AC Moore (since they’re only good for a week I try to keep current ones in there).

Now for the baseball card protectors… I have all of my coupons categorized in the slots, which are labeled by my good ‘ol label maker (Yes, I am a bit OCD. Go ahead, poke fun I don’t mind!). The first page is for coupons that are specific to one store (some could be from the Sunday flyer, mailings, or that machine that prints them out at the checkout) – so there are slots for Target, Safeway, Harris Teeter, Rite Aid, Walgreen’s & CVS (Note that CVS takes ALL competitors coupons!). The next 2 pages are for personal items like toothpaste, deodorant, make-up, hair products… you get the picture. The other pages are for grocery items. I basically tried to mentally walk myself thru the grocery store so they would be in order or at least somewhat together in the way that you’d find them at the store (cereal on the same page as granola bars, yogurt on the same page as butter). I have had to go back thru my binder and get a bit more specific with my categories, but that’s only because I had so many coupons that some of the categories were just holding way too many coupons (“dental products” got broken down into “toothpaste” and “tooth brushes & floss”).

I do use the inside pocket of the binder for some random things that are too large to put anywhere else – Costco booklet of coupons, Wegmans booklet of coupons.

The only other thing to address here is where I get my coupons…. Well, that will be in my next post on this topic – probably Thursday because tomorrow I’ll be busy shopping super doubles at Harris Teeter :)

$10 in FREE food to new Schwan's customers

Have you ever ordered food from Schwan's before?  If not, you can get $10 in free food from Schwan's by signing up as a new customer!  I did this and I scored a 2 lb. bag of three cheese tortellini for only $1 - that was the delivery fee.  I was really tempted to use it towards ice cream...  but I decided to go the practical route :)

To sign up for your $10 in FREE food from Schwan's click HERE.

If you order something, put a note on here so we can see what you got for free!

FREE Beef 'n Cheddar sandwich with drink purchase at Arby's on WEDNESDAY

Thanks to one of my favorite blogs Coupon Cravings for this reminder...
Tomorrow, 8/26, is free Wednesday at Arby's.  You can get a FREE Beef 'n Cheddar sandwich with any purchase of a soft drink! 

*This deal is good on Wednesday, 8/26 ONLY.

FREE Benevia at Rite Aid

*UPDATE - They did not have Benevia at the Rite Aid in Gainesville.  I will update again if I find it at another location - or if you find it, post a note :)

Thanks to For the Mommas for this awesome freebie deal...
This week Benevia is on sale BOGO (buy one get one FREE). Here how to get it free with possible overage.


Buy (2) Benevia @ $7.99 (some have reported pricing to be $8.99)

use (2) Rite Aid printable coupons for $2 off HERE from Ad Perk

use (1) $5 off manufacturer printable coupon HERE

FREE or $1.00 overage!

*Some Rite Aids won’t let you use two coupons on a BOGO, you can still get both of these for $.99.

Harris Teeter Double Coupon Days coming this week...

FABULOUS news... I just found out that Harris Teeter will be doing their super double coupon days starting on Wednesday, 8/26. They double any coupon up to $1.98 and you can use up to 20 coupons per day (I will be there several times over the week to use up all my biggie coupons). Harris Teeter runs their sales Wednesday - Tuesday, so this will be ongoing until Tuesday, Sept 1.

Whenever they do this, I take all of my $1 and $1.50 coupons and go crazy! I end up getting lots of things for free or super cheap. You can bet I'll be there Wednesday and will post a note to let you all know what I found and how much I saved & spent!

*Just a tip - I always go thru my coupons before I get to the store and move all of my high value coupons to the front so I know what to look for when I get there without having to flip thru a ton of coupons in the aisles. I'll elaborate more on this tomorrow when I tell you how I keep my coupons organized.

More couponing tips coming tomorrow!

Just wanted to let you know that I will be posting my tips for getting started with couponing. I will include what has worked best for me to stay organized and my coupon cutting tips. I actually started to put it together tonight, but I'm not feeling so great... ended up hitting a wrong button on the computer by accident and lost everything. I'll redo it tomorrow -- after I get myself to the doctor's office :)

Back to school clothes shopping? Don't pay full price!!!

Doing some back to school shopping but don't want to pay full price? Here are some great coupons to help you out...

My daughter love, love, loves Justice... but I'm not the biggest fan of their prices. We do all of our shopping there when we have a 40% off discount (last time we got 7 summer outfits for under $100!!).
Sneak on over to one of my favorite blogs, "Mommy Saves Big" to find this 40% off coupon (good thru 9/7)...
http://www.mommysavesbig.com/printable-coupons/justice-40.jpg

Did you know that Old Navy has a website you can go to for printable coupons? Check out http://www.oldnavyweekly.com/. They have coupons from 10% off up to $75 off $100 purchase! You have to search around the site and hunt for the hidden coupons. Coupons are refreshed randomly, but the really good ones go really quickly!

Have little ones? Both Carter's and Oshkosh email out coupons pretty much every week. Just go to their websites to register for email updates. They both have stores at the Leesburg outlets and at Potomac Mills.

If you have other specific stores in mind, remember to google them (ex: The Children's Place printable coupons) before you go shopping - you will almost always find something. Just remember to make sure you read the fine print and check the expiration date.

Oh, one more tip about printing up coupons. I have my printer set to print in black and white only. This saves me a LOT of money in colored ink.

Happy shopping! NEVER PAY FULL PRICE :)

Coupon 101 - part 1 of many

For all you coupon newbies (and those of you who want to start using coupons, but think you don't have the time) I'm going to be posting some of my favorite coupon tips to try to help get you going. I thought the best thing to do is to start simply with a list of tips, so here goes...

1. Change your perception of coupons. I know a lot of you think of coupons as being something for "cheap people", "broke people" or "people with too much time on their hands". You need to start thinking of coupons as FREE MONEY. As I've said before -- If I gave you a wad of cash, you'd take it, right??? Well, coupons are just that. They're a way to get thing things you need or want for less than what they normally sell for!
2. Couponing doesn't take as much time as you think! When you first start couponing, there is a decent amount of time that you need to invest to get yourself organized. However, once you're organized and have been using coupons for a bit (I'd say a few shopping trips) you get used to it. After a while you'll find yourself lost without your coupons!
3. Don't be embarassed!!! I used to be SO embarassed to whip out a stack of coupons at the check-out. Well, if you haven't noticed our economy stinks and just about everyone will do just about anything to save a buck these days. The first time the person behind you in line hears your total before coupons and your total after coupons and asks "How in the world did you do that?!?!" you will no longer be embarassed -- you'll be doing the happy dance the whole way to your car.

Think about it, you'd brag to your girlfriends if you find an amazing purse for $20 so why not be proud of EVERY deal you get?

Stay tuned...... tips on getting started and organizing your coupons are coming soon :)

Freebie Candles at Target!

A few weeks ago there was a coupon in the paper for a free The Fragrance Collection soy based candle by Glade (2 oz.). I have been searching for these candles everywhere because I had 2 coupons and didn't want them to expire before I got my free candles. I finally found them at Target!! I haven't seen them at all Targets, but they did have 2 different fragrances at the Target in Nokesville (the new one off of Route 28!). The candles are really nice ones that come in a glass jar that will be totally reusable.

If you have a coupon... QUICK, go get yours while they're still in stock!

Hi, I'm Jen... And I'm a Couponaholic!

Hi, my name is Jen and I’m a coupon-aholic (that's me in the upper right hand corner). My husband and friends used to laugh at and make fun of me, but recently everyone wants in on my money saving tips. So, I figured putting everything online was the way to go – that way everyone can find it in one easy to get to place.

A little bit about me… I am a thirty-something “work my tush off at home” mamma. I am married to the love of my life and we have 3 amazing children. My hubster (as I like to call him) works his tush off so we can live what I call the “fabulous life”. We like what we like and end up kicking ourselves every time we cheap out or settle, which usually ends up costing us more money in the long run.

This brings me to my couponing escapades. I spent a lot of time thinking about where I could save our family some money (so we can splurge on the things that we want to) and found that my easiest bet would be to start using coupons. Little by little I started using more coupons… and more coupons… and, well, now I’m just a full blown addict! There aren’t many places that I go without a coupon. I consider coupons FREE MONEY! If I were to hand you $50 to help pay for your groceries, you’d take it wouldn’t you??? Heck ya’ you would! So why not use coupons? Over time (and with a lot of research and organizing) I’ve finally gotten to the point where I have cut our grocery bill to around a third of what I used to spend (cha-ching!).

With all that said… If I can help you save a little (or a LOT) of money I think my life will be even more fabulous! I hope you can learn from my tips and start living your own fabulously frugle life – one great deal at a time.