Great Deals on Books!

There was a great post this morning by the Thrifty Mama on books 80-90% off at Christianbook.com.

I've already loaded up my cart, but here is a really great find for you:





The Scholastic First Dictionary is only $0.99!!! This is a great book I've seen at my son's school.

Happy book hunting!

Something yummy and a coupon too!

Have you tried this Giant Cinnamon-Cheese Danish recipe from Pillsbury? Oh, it is so good! The recipe is here.

A coupon for $1.00 off of one Pillsbury Grands Sweet Rolls is here.

Enjoy!

CVS Info and Walgreens Goodbye

Jenny at Southern Savers has written a pretty complete list of CVS sale items and coupon matchups along with scenarios
here. I may come up with a smaller scenario for those of you just starting out and I'll post it here if I do.

Also, just to vent, I went to Walgreens today and they have a "new" coupon rule. They actually said that they can only accept one coupon per transaction. Yes, they said only one coupon no matter how many items I bought. So, all of you with good Walgreens stores should be thankful. Walgreens of Cape Carteret, I am done with you.

Cool Giveaway!

There's a great giveaway going on over at Our Blessed Arrows, just click here. If you have boys, and I do, this is a great gift. It's a customizable RC car. Click on the above link for details. I urge you to enter, there's very few entries so far.

Walgreen's 4 Day Sale Plan

Here's a plan for you for the 4 day sale going on now at Walgreens.

3 Walgreens Brand Ibuprofen w/coupon $3 (reg. $10.50)
oop $3
2 Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent w/coupon $3.98 (reg. $13.98)
printable $1 coupon here
oop $1.98
1 Sure Deodorant w/Easy Saver Coupon $1.49 (reg. $2.99)
printable $1 coupon here
oop $.49
That makes your total oop $5.47 plus tax
the price before coupons is over $25
You recieve a $5 Register Reward
Total$5.47 - $5RR = .47 actual oop.

I was excited about the ibuprofen! I'm going to go back for more tomorrow. I plan to buy the cough drops from the ad for $.39 instead of the Sure next time.

Did you figure out a better deal?

Passing the Blessing

Our church was holding a food drive for the Baptist Children's Homes of NC. My boys were supposed to take food to their AWANAs meeting last night. My youngest went through our pantry to pick out food to pass along to the "poor children". He gave a box of his cereal (Trix) and the last box of his favorite PopTarts along with the canned vegetables I helped select. So my husband and I dropped off the boys with their food and headed out to do some quick Christmas shopping and grab some supper. After using all of our time at WalMart we rushed to Arby's and ordered in the drive thru. (I whined the entire time about how much it cost) At the window the young teenager said "Merry Christmas, it's free! Our registers are all down and dinner's on us. Just don't go tell everyone." Do you see the pattern here? We gave and in return we recieved. Just a mini lesson in how we can pass along our blessings and how we will be blessed in return. (Although not always so obvious).

How to get started with CVS

I've really been happy with all my experiences at CVS since I've started shopping there. Nothing like the Walgreens where they treat you terrible if you are holding coupons. So I thought you might want to find out how you can get started without putting out a lot of up front cash.
First read MoneySavingMom's CVS 101 post.
Then check out Alyssa's (from Keeping the Kingdom First) CVS Challenge. The challenge is to spend only $5 out of pocket and see if you can end up with that amount in Extra Care Bucks to spend the next week. I check this out every week.
I had a really good week at CVS this week! Today I left the store with a bag of Glad nightlights, refills and $1 more than I went in with! They really know how to make me happy....

Free Photo Calendar

I love these VistaPrint Calendars and right now you can get one for free. I bought these last year and the quality is great! Click here for the details. I love that you can input your family birthdays and anniversaries too. Great gift for the grandparents too (Yes mom, I know you want another one...)

Black Friday website

You really should check out this website if you plan to shop on Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday. There are tons of ad scans and you can start your planning now! I just had time to check out the CVS ad (they are open Thanksgiving day) and they have an entire page of free items!!! Wahoo!
Thanks to Southern Deals and Frugal Steals. Check out her blog here.

CVS and Duracell

Sorry my posts have been few and far between lately. I will try to do a more elaborate post tomorrow.
But I just wanted to mention, for those of you who may have missed it, CVS has Duracell batteries for practically nothing! Just in time for Christmas!!!
Here's the deal:
Buy $20 in Duracell batteries
Recieve a $15 Extra Care Bucks
That equals $5 for $20 in batteries!

Better yet you can take that $15 ECB and put it towards another $20 of batteries to recieve another $15 ECB and THEN do it one more time.

FYI if you spend $23.00 on your first order the $3.00 carries over to the next $20 requirement.

And better yet, there were Duracell coupons in the paper today.

If that was confusing just leave me your questions or email me and I'll be glad to help you out!

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday I'd like to share with you an article my mom wrote and posted on her blog. It is the story of my nephew Jordan and the miracles God has performed in his life.

Read the story here.

Jordan with his mommy and daddy (aka Brad and Sharon)

My CVS Plan for 11/9

My CVS plan

I have a $3.49 ECB and $6.98 ECB from last weeks Crest deals.
I should end up with $12 ECB for next week and only spend $4.70 oop

Transaction #1
L’Oreal Advanced RevitaLift Anti-wrinkle serum $11.99
-1.00 coupon
10.99
(11.99 ECB = 1.00 profit)
2 Palmolive Dish Liquid 2@$1.49 $2.98
-0.25 coupon
$2.73
(2.00 ECB)
Total: $13.72 (plus tax)
-10.47 ECB from last week
3.25 oop
$13.99 ECBs (11.99 + 2.00)

Transaction #2

2 Agent Cool Blue 2@$3.99
$7.98
-1.00 coupon
-0.50 coupon
$6.48
($6 ECB)

2 Garnier Fructis 2@2.99
$5.98
-1.00 Coupon
-1.00 coupon
$3.98
($4 ECB)

2 Palmolive
$2.98
($2 ECB)
Total: $13.44
-11.99 ECB from 1st transaction
$1.45 oop

$12 ECB for next week

What I discovered at the grocery store...

I made my monthly trip to the commissary (military grocery store) this morning. Oh such happiness - the moment I entered the door they had a seasonal baking section. I scanned the items looking for my favorite hard to find treat - Hershey's cinnamon chips. They only sell them in the fall and it is very hard to find them! I nearly cried when I discovered an entire box full. Yes, I bought six bags. Before our sugar free days, I'd have bought the box full. Six bags will last us the next year. If you find them, buy them!!!! If you haven't had them, you don't know what you're missing. They are great in oatmeal cookies.

Here's my own special recipe using Hershey's Cinnamon chips.
Apple Cinnamon Pancakes:

Your favorite pancake recipe (I use Aunt Jemima's pancake mix)
Add 1/2 cup of apple sauce
Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Add 1/2 cup Hershey's cinnamon chips.

Cook as usual.
These are divine!!! They are our special occasion breakfast pancakes.


I also stopped at the Lowe's Food Store for a quick couple double coupon items. They had a promotion where you buy a bag of groceries for $8 and it is donated to a local family. That bag consisted of only Lowe's brand foods and a small amount of food at that. I was a little peeved at them. This was not really for charity - this was for their pockets! This got me thinking of what I could buy for a needy family for $8 using coupons and sales. I'm sure I could double that, and now that is my own personal challenge. Between now and Thanksgiving I will see how many grocery bags I can fill for $8. Thanks Lowe's for giving me a push!

Halloween

We were pretty thrifty this Halloween. I made the boys costumes and believe it or not it is cheaper than buying plastic ones in the stores. Here they are:



Josh is Elliott Sadler (NASCAR) and Jacob is a penguin. It cost about $20 to make the costumes total. And they will last a long time. I made a dinosaur costume for Josh when he was 3 and Jacob wore it last year. He plays dress up in it all the time. It was worth the $10 and time I put into it.

So that explains where I was last week. I can't believe I put it off that long. Now I have time to make a couple new coupon bags for my etsy store.

My Walgreens Plan for 11/2

Here's my well laid plan - Let's hope my Walgreens will cooperate...

2 Celestial Season Tea on sale 2/$3
ES Coupon $1.00/2
(2) $1/1 Coupon (SS 10/5) oop 0.00

2 Ricola
In ad coupon $.99
$½ Coupon (SS 10/5) oop 0.98

2 Schick Quattro 2 @ $5.99 = 11.98
B1G1 (SS 10/19) -5.99
ES Coupon -$3 oop 2.99

Wisp Flameless Candle 5.99
$3 /1 (SS 11/2) -3
MIR (-2) oop 2.99 (after rebate .99)

2 Oral B Cross Action Toothbrush 2 @ 5.99 = 11.98
B1G1 (11/2 PG) -5.99
Get $2 Register Rewards oop $5.99 (after RR $3.99)

Total oop: $12.95 plus tax
$2 RR
$2 ESRebate
Actual: $8.95

UPDATE: On the Schick Quatro the Easy Saver Coupon worked for both and you actual end up with .01 overage, so that is a great freebie. If you don't need them, get them for a charity, homeless shelter, etc.

Sorry

Sorry for the post on the gas card, geez, I'm a whole week behind!!!! and I'm sleepy.
Sorry
Dani

Walgreens Info

Looking for the scoop on next weeks Walgreens and CVS deals?
Jaycie over at Coupon Geek (one of my favorite blogs) has them all ready for us. I love it when I don't have to do any work. Thanks Jaycie. Click here for Walgreens and here for CVS.

What are you planning to buy next week?

My favorite (easy) holiday cookie

Saturday morning is candy shopping time - All the Halloween candy will be clearanced and this is a great time to get some generic candy for the next holiday. Here's how I love to use little Milky Ways! (That I bought yesterday at CVS for $1 a bag)

The Peanut Butter Milky Way Cookie!!!!!

Oh how I love this cookie. Most people have never had it, yet it is one of the best cookies in the world!
Here's the recipe - are you ready?
One package of peanut butter cookie dough
One package of Milky Ways
Cut the Milky Ways into 1/2 inch size pieces
Wrap the candy with enough cookie dough to cover all sides.
Cook according to package directions.
The only hard part is letting them cool! (Which you want to do for a couple minutes before you remove them from the pan)

And the winner is....

Here are your random numbers:12
Timestamp: 2008-10-26 10:17:24 UTC

The twelfth comment is from: Amber
I've emailed you, so if you haven't heard from me please contact me.

Well guys, thanks so much for you support! It was completely unexpected and has been very encouraging. I hope you'll stop by my shop at byfaith sometime.

Thanks again for all of your support!

Walgreens Coupon

Just in time for the new Easy Saver Catalog - Walgreens has a new coupon out. $5 off a $20 purchase. I just realized it was there while I was scanning through the coupons.com box on your right. You can print it here!

I'm planning to use it on some rebate items...

Stocking Stuffers: Part 5 Button Magnets

Here's a great gift you (or your child) can make!
Fabric button magnets:

Here's what you'll need:

I bought the buttons at WalMart.

Step One:
Remove the metal U from the back of the flat piece.

Step Two:
Place your fabric over the button "cup"

Step Three:
Place the rounded side of button inside the "cup"

Step Four:
Trim the extra fabric

Step Five:
Place the flat back in the cup and press with the included plastic thingy.

Step Six:
Stick a magnet on the back. I like the ones with the adhesive already on the back. (These came from Michael's but Walmart probably has them)
Voila! Ain't it great?

The boys are making these for their teachers for Christmas.
I'm making these for just about everyone, because I love them. They look so good on the fridge.
These are for Sharon.

CVS Deal

I'm relatively new to the CVS/Walgreen game. I found out this week that there is a CVS only 15 minutes from our house (Duh!) Today I made my third CVS purchase, and I finally feel like I've got the hang of it. This was much more fun than Walgreens.

Cheese Crackers 1.00 (saved .69)
Excedrin Migraine 1.99 (saved 3.30)
Excedrin Migraine 1.99 (saved 3.30)
Colgate MaxFresh 2.99 (saved .30)
1 Coupon -1.50 Colgate (from All You)
2 Coupons -4.00 Excedrin
ECB used -1.98 (from pumpkin pails)
cash - .85
recieved a $2 ECB from the Colgate
So I saved $15.07 and recieved $2 towards my next purchase.
I've been converted - Sorry Walgreens!

The Coupon Bag Giveaway!

It’s finally here - The Coupon Bag giveaway.
I’d like to introduce you to my new etsy shop - ByFaith. Home of my original design: The Coupon Bag.


Tired of lugging your coupons in the store in that box or file, all the while getting those looks from the other customers and staff? Here’s your answer! I hand make each bag to hold a 4x6 file box with room for a wallet, diaper and/or checkbook. (Need a different size? I’ll custom design one for you!)

This giveaway is for one of the three bag designs in my etsy store.

How do you win one?

1. Go to my etsy store.
2. Decide which bag you like the best…
3. Leave me a comment here stating the item name of which bag you like the best (That’s the one you’ll win) and leaving a form of contact, so I can let you know you won.
4. Have a blog? Link to my giveaway and leave me an additional comment saying that you did. You’ll have an extra chance to win!

The email addresses that I receive for this giveaway will only be used to contact the winner.

This giveaway starts now and will end on Sunday, October 26 at 1:00 AM.

I'll announce the winner Sunday afternoon. The winner will be determined by random using Random.org. You’ll have 2 days to contact me or I’ll randomly select another winner.

Don't forget - You'll have to name the specific bag you want to win from ByFaith.

Cereal Stockpile

Did I mention the Kellogg's cereal coupon that is out now? Here's Jacob with his enormous boxes of cereal (low sugar too!) After the $1 off coupon they were $1.50 per box. I think because of the size of the box this was a great deal at Walmart.

It's Thursday!

It's Thursday again! Where did this week go? There's one thing I do every Thursday morning - check out LL Beans Thursday Morning Markdown here. They pick one item and drastically mark it down. Sometimes the deals are amazing, not so much today though. Don't forget to add it to your to do list!

Get it while it lasts! Kellogg's cereal coupons!

It looks like everyone is as excited about the Kellogg's $1 off any box coupon that you can print at the box on your right. Yesterday at Walmart I bought the giant boxes of Fruit Loops Reduced Sugar on sale for $2.50. With the $1 off coupon it was $1.50 per box. So get on the bandwagon and print you some Kellogg's coupons!

PRINTING TIP: If you clip on the see all coupons tab it will list the coupons and you can put a check mark next to the ones you want to print!

Another Magazine Deal

Here's another great magazine deal. I go here Best Deal Magazines almost everyday to see what the special of the day is. Today it is Cabela's for $3.97/year! My hubby will love this! What about yours? My boys will love to look at it too. It's great to introduce non-fiction literature to your kids. I also ordered a year subscription to Alaska magazine for my 6 year old. He loves geography/maps/history and Alaska is his favorite subject.

Stocking Stuffers: Part 4

Here's a couple great ideas for those young gals in your life:

I recently purchased the "french manicure set" from ELF for $3 for my oldest neice. As a new teen she is gonna love this. (As a grown up I kinda liked it too.)

Walgreens has BonneBell on sale 40% off this week and you can get a $1 off coupon here.

What girl doesn't love lipgloss and nail polish? And don't we love to see them smile?

Walgreens Deals Week of 10-12

I'm not too crazy about Walgreens this week, but I am very excited about the Dimatapp deal! Dimatapp is on sale for $3.99 and if you buy 3 you get $10 Register Rewards! Use the coupon here and you will get $2 off each bottle. (HINT: print multiple copies at one time by changing the number of copies from 1 to however many you need.) This will end up being a $4 money maker. I'm going to take the $10 RR and buy the Hershey's Halloween Candy that is on sale for 4/$10 with a $5 rebate.
What are you planning to do?

Stocking Stuffer Part 3

One of my favorite things to give at Christmas is a magazine subscription. This is a gift that keeps on giving all year long. I love getting magazines in the mail - I love getting anything in the mail (except bills).

For those of you who have a Upromise account there's a great deal going on!

Magazines.com has a list of magazines that are an additional $5 off with the coupon code UPMAG08. My husband is getting a couple of magazines for Christmas. I love to collect them in the mail and then wrap them in boxes, so it is a surprise on Christmas morning. Outdoor Life and Field and Stream are two on the list! And you know - Men are the hardest to buy for at Christmas.

Wait there's more - Magazines.com is going to put 25% of your purchase into your child's Upromise account!

So go log into your Upromise account and check out Magazines.com!

Walgreens Update

I went in to our local Walgreens on Monday and was surprised to find out that they are treating customers with coupons suspiciously. According to the Manager (who reviewed each coupon I had with due diligence) Walgreens sent out an email on Friday that warned that they were having problems with coupon scammers. Unfortunately the clerk at the front was confused and thought I could only use one coupon for anything. The manager explained that we can still use the Walgreen coupon with the Manufactured coupon. They are especially watching for buy one get one free coupons and transactions with buy one get one free. Also they refused to let me use more than one Register Reward. The manager said I should split my transactions up so I could use more than one.
Anyway - I didn't like being treated like a criminal - even though they accepted every coupon I had (with the exception of the Reg. Rewards).
So if you were planning to use buy one get one free coupons at Walgreens, just be sure you're not using more than one coupon for the two items.

Commissary Savings

Just made a quick trip to the commissary and here's the great deals I found there:

1. Orville Redenbacher's Natural Popcorn - $1.14 a box - $1.00 coupon from recent ad =$.14
2. 32oz. Yoplait yogurt $1.68 - $1.00 printable coupon = $.68
3. Yoplait kids' yogurt $1.89 - $1.50 printable coupon = $.39
4. Pillsbury brownie mixes are $.75
5. Surf $2.50 (32 loads)

That's about it though.. I have seen better sales.

The Yoplait coupon came from: http://www.yoplait.com/products_yoplaitkids.aspx

"Stocking Stuffers" Part 2

Ok, this is not really a stocking stuffer per se.

Today Jacob brought home his Scholastic order forms from preschool. I always buy books from Scholastic because they are cheaper and because the classroom recieves books because of my purchase. I always buy the $1 book located on the cover page. Today it occured to me that this is the perfect classroom gift! Every year I buy candy and pencils for Josh's classmates and end up spending about $1 each on the kids. This year I plan to buy a copy of the $1 book from the October flier for each child. Why not consider doing the same for your child's classmates?

Here's a couple reasons why:

1. It's cheap

2. Books last longer than candy

3. The classroom will earn additional books because of your purchase

4. There are children in your child's class who do not own a single book. We assume because we provide for our children that other parents do as well. But it is simply not true. Make a child's day and give them their first book.

Happy giving!

Coupon Bag

I've spent a few days planning this bag out in my mind, a few hours on paper and a few more hours putting it together. But here it is. This is my very own design. If there is another out there, I haven't seen it anyhow.





So who's gonna look stylish at the store now? Me and my one of a kind coupon bag.


I'm so happy.





The fabric is by Chez Moi - Moda. I fell in love with it at the quilting store.

Stocking Stuffers : Part One

I think I enjoy opening my stocking at Christmas just as much as the rest of the presents. Mom always has it full of my favorite little things. There's always a little box of Whoppers and some Chapstick and some other knick knacks. Michael always gets a bag of his favorite, Maple Nut Goodies.
So with that in mind I'm going to start posting on Stocking Stuffers - when I find them really cheap or when I have an idea for a small gift to make.

So this is a late post, but here goes:
Today at Walgreens you can buy Altoids 2/$2 with the coupon in this weeks sale paper. Every box had $1 off coupons stuck to them at the two Walgreens here. Yep, that makes them free. (There's a limit of 4 on the store coupon).

I start Christmas shopping the day after Christmas, so I have a box started with small items that I have found on sale or clearance throughout this year. This is where the Altoids are going. I plan to make 5 totes for the boys' teachers and fill them with this type of goody. As I put away things for them I will post it here to give you some ideas for your Christmas gifts.

I'm Moving My Money Saving Info Here

I'm moving my money saving activity to this blog and saving the family blog for just family info.