And yet another freebie post

First- I must make a correction on my last post- I received a free bag from Earth Bound Farm (oops!). I also received a book for my daughter Katie, through the Dolly Parton reading program (an awesome program that just started up here in our area but is all over the country) They send a free book ever month, regardless of income, to encourage children to read from birth until their 5th birthday. This months book was Roar of a Snoar. I also got a $5 rebate from 7th Generation mail in rebate. I have been using their natural multi-surface cleaner and I love it! I am a skeptic by nature and not really very good about the natural, organic thing, although I feel great when I do use or feed my family something that is organic, I am just too cheap or haven't had great luck with some of those products but this one has been a winner for me! It has a funky smell, suppose to be a basil smell but it's a little unique. Once I got pass the fact that not everything has to smell like chlorine to mean that it's working I am actually kind of liking the smell. Perhaps the most exciting mail item was my Kraft box. For some reason I was really looking forward to this one. The box included 3 samples of Wheat Thins Tomatoes and Basil, 3 instant coffee samples and a coupon for a free Mayo w/olive oil and a coupon for a free Kraft Mac and Cheese dinner. I will try to use those in the next few days and I'll let you how they are. I think that's all of my exciting mail. I haven't done much shopping but maybe I will get a chance over the weekend. Have a great long weekend !!

Another Freebie Update

I haven't been doing very well with sharing any deals lately. It has been so beautiful here and the kids and I are really enjoying our break so maybe the deals will have to wait for a rainy day or maybe even fall :-). I did get some good mail this week that I wanted to share for the Freebie post... I received a $10 and $5 off Pampers coupon because I complained about Katie's diaper breaking apart and making a huge mess 3 times! The note from P&G was little annoying but that's for another post. Speaking of P&G I got my book of $100 in coupons for spending $50 and submitting the receipts a few months back. I got another sample of Pantene shampoo and conditioner, this was from vocal points- (packaged very nicely I might add!) In this sample were several coupons and 1 is worth $1.50 off of any pantene product- this will make for an almost free hairspray at Target right now- they had several on clearance at $1.67 a few days ago. I also got a reusable bad from Organic Earth (I may be wrong on the name- it's late and I will have to check tomorrow) that also had some nice coupons with it. I am hoping to get my Kraft Pack soon! I finally got signed up for Gillette's latest men's razor that they have been giving away by the 1000's. That should be here next week. My biggest score of Freebies was at Target using their by 2 or 3 and get 1 free deals they have going. I will have to review my receipt to give the actual deals but I got 4 packs of free jello, a free jello pudding, a free Oreo cookie and a free wheat thins. There were several other deals but without manufacture coupons, even the freebie wasn't a great deal so I had to pass on some things. I was also hoping to find some more deals in the health and beauty area that a lot of the lower 48 loggers have reported but no luck here. I am jealous of their deals and prices but I wouldn't trade them right now- It is so great to be in Alaska in the summer and I LOVE all the free things we are doing with the kids. I will post that in the next few days too!!

Freebie Update

With this being the last week of school, it has been much busier than I expected but I want to be sure to post my freebies from this week or I know I will forget! In the mail I received a Philosphy sample- 2 Pantene ( 1 conditioner and 1 shampoo) samples, a tone silky lotion body wash (?), 2 copies of Lego magazine for the kids, $40 in checks for the Tylenol recall- I actually feel a little bad because I know I spent less than $10 on 5 bottles and they must have been refunding $8 a bottle!! A coupon for free Chiquita banana's (1.25) but I won't count that until I use it. A free DVD with music and games from Pampers Kandoo. I used my coupon from Modern Moms review forum for a free Wood wick air freshener at Walmart- $16.99! I am still waiting for my Kraft package (hope it comes!) and a few more rebate checks. It really is more fun to get the mail when it is not just bills. I can't really put a dollar value on some of the freebies and I don't want to count the coupons until I use them- I am going to just count the Tylenol check for $30 ($40- $10 I actually paid) and the free Wood wick air thingy for $17. A total of $47!! Yippee :-) There are some more great deals to be found but with all 4 kids home and my husband is working 70 hrs a week (!!!) I don't know if I will get a chance to get out and find them but if I do I will be sure to share them here!

Carl's Jr and Hardee's Free Food Game

Carl's Jr and Hardee's facebook pages are offering a spin on the "wheel of awesome"- if you are interested in winning a free burger, drink or blu ray player then "like" them and take a spin.

kids earn FREE books this summer!

Borders and Barnes and Noble are both offering summer reading programs for kids under 12. This looks like a fun way to encourage your kids to do some summer reading. I wish they had an adult program- I would love to earn free books ;-)

My big Freebie shopping day!

I am pretty excited about my shopping trip today. I was able to get out of the house without the kids, which really helps me a lot. When I have kids in tow, I always mess up my deals or end up with much more than I planned to buy. This probably won't be much fun for most of you since I don't have links to the coupons yet but I am still learning how to do that- this is really a post about how much I was able to score for free for the contest I am doing with a local blogger, Life in my Land, but hopefully you can see how I got some of these deals and you will be inspired too! Here's a few highlights based on the stores I went to:

Walgreen's:
Purchased 2 OFF clip-ons @9.99 each = 19.98
was able to use a B1G1 (IP) - 9.99
and a $2.00/1= -2.00 (for the one I didn't get free)
Walgreen's savings book for the month $2.00 x 2 (it always takes off for all of them even though I was getting 1 free!) = -4.00
Total for 2 = $4.00 or $2 each

Walgreen's brand of Zyrtec = 12.99 x 2 = 12.99
This week sale B1G1= -$12.99

New York bagel chips= clearance for $1.69 - $1 (ip) = .69

Home Depot
B1G1 rose plant from Garden Club coupon (Garden Club Sign Up)= $6.99 savings!

Target: (spent 36.55 ... saved $43.50!)
SoBe Water 4x 1.29= 5.16 - 2 B1G1 (IP) -2.58 = $2.58 for 4 or .63 each

Tic Tacs 2x 1.19 = 2.38 - B1G1 (1.19) = or .58 each

Nabisco 100 calorie snacks 4x 2.69 (price cut this week) = 10.76 - 2 b1G1 (IP) = 5.38 (4) or $1.47 each

Windex window cleaner 12.99 (price cut) - $5 manf. coupon and - $3 target coupon + $5 target gift card back (although my cashier made a mistake and took it off the purchase, when I explained to him what he did he said it was OK ???- it didn't matter to me but I have a feeling it may not be ok with his boss :-))= Free for me

Scrubbing Bubbles toilet cleaner 2 in 1 fresh brush= $7.99 Free when you buy a toilet gel cleaner which was on clearance for 2.74 - $1 (IP) = 1.74 for gel and toilet brush!

Nivea Women's body wash 3.99 - $4.00 manf. coupon = FREE

Plus I got a $10.00 gift card for picking up a new prescription!

Fred Meyer: (spent 55.31 ...saved $41.89)
Amy's Spaghetti sauce = 7.49 = FREE (from writing to Amy's a requesting coupons!)
Dannon drinkable yogurt = 3.69 = Free " "
Welch's juice = 3.69 = FREE " "
Smart One's frozen dessert = 2.77 = Free " "
Frito Lay chips = 2 x 2.50 - B1G1
Bic 2 pk grip pen 2 x 2.69 - B1G1 store coupon and 2 x $1.00 (IP) = .69 for 2 packs!

$96.93 in FREEBIES today and it is ALL stuff that my family and I will use!!!

1/2 price Starbucks Frappucccino's

From now until May 16th between 3pm and 5pm enjoy "happy hour" with a 1/2 price Starbucks treat!! I think that means 1/2 the calories too :-).

A few basic couponing terms..

I am so eager to teach others but I must confess, I am still learning too. There are a few key ways that I get my coupons, the first is the Sunday paper. Alaska does not get as many coupons as the the lower 48 and often the value is lower as well but there are still enough that it is worth subscribing too and I even get 2 Sunday papers delivered! :-)

There are 3 inserts that you will find in the paper; Red Plum (RP), Smart Source (ss) are in most Sunday papers while the Proctor and Gamble (P&G) is always in the 1st Sunday paper of the month. Another great source is the computer, Internet prints (IP) but you have to have a decent printer and be sure to set it to back and white when your print or you will end up spending more in ink than you will save. Most IP coupons can be printed twice per computer, so it's a bonus if you have a few computers in the house.

Finally I always scan the stores for those little machines on the front of shelves with the coupons (blinkies), hang tags and stickies on the items and flyer's or ads. Pretty soon you begin to know just where to look and you might even get excited when you find a high value one :-). We do not have double coupons in AK but many stores in the lower 48 offer double coupon days, weeks etc,-- this means they will double the value of a coupon up to a certain amount (often .50 - 1.00). I am very jealous of those that get to do that!

The other basic piece of info to note is that store coupons can usually be combined with a Manufacture coupon- the coupon will state Manufacture coupon on it and the store gets reimbursed for that amount plus .08 from the company and store coupons don't get reimbursed. You can not use more than 1 manufacture coupon on an item but "stacking" the store and manf. is OK. Oh, and NEVER photo copy a coupon.

There are still many lessons to be taught but I think that's enough to leave most of you shaking your head at me already :-)!!

Great Fred Meyer Trip!

Fred Meyer is the store that I do most of my grocery shopping. This week they have some great deals! I recieved a 500 reward bonus for being an email subscriber and that equates to $5 in cash when I get my rewards bonus in 3 months. Speaking of which, I was able to use my $9.47 reward today and along with my coupons- I saved $33.62 and spent $36.09- so almost a 50% savings on items I would have spent 69.71 on just a few months ago.

My best deals were:
Free cover girl mascara with any CG purchase- I was able to find a double eye liner pack for 3.00 and used a $2.50 off 2 CG items- so 1 free mascara (8.99) and an eye liner for .50!!

Frito Lay Kettle chips 2.50 and had a coupon for $2 off of 2= so 1.50/bag!

Breyers Ice Cream $2.50 and when you buy 2-4 you get back $2-$4 on your next purchase- YUM!

$2 on produce = free red bell pepper and some banana's

And remember you can stack store coupons with manufactures coupons and that's how the savings really add up!!
(25.46 in free goods!)

Gymboree 30% Off Plus $5 Shipping

Gymboree 30% Off Plus $5 Shipping

My first entry

I have been thinking about doing a coupon blog for several months but a recent challenge from a blogger in AK has encouraged me to go for it. For the next month I am going to track all the items I recieve for free. I will be using coupons and free samples, it will be fun to see what all I get. Many of my coupons for free items come from emailing companies and sharing my opinion or even just asking them if they have coupons! I am excited to do this challenge but I also don't want to accumulate items that I can not use or donate so I may pass up on a few items as well. I haven't tracked my coupons savings but I started back in Aug. and I save an average of $30-$50 a week on groceries buy just using coupons. I also shop clearance and sale items but since I have always done that, I really only look at the savings the coupons have brought our family. It is a little work- in fact my kids call Sunday "coupon day" because I spend several hours every sunday clipping, sorting and creating list to shop at for the week. I also check about 6 blogs daily and even more some days. I stay home with my 2 youngest children and find that I have time to do this, it's not for everyone though :-). At christmas I shared some of my favorite shopping deals and will try to do that as I see great bargains along the way too.