29 March 2011

cvs fun!

Here is what I bought at CVS this morning:


Total money out of my pocket? $9.12 + tax. Here is how I did it:

Transaction #1
Stuffing-.77 each. Used two .50/1 (.50 off 1 item) coupons. .27 each.
Axe Shower Gels-3.79 ea. Used two B1G1 coupons,+ got $5 ECB for spending $15 (before coupons) on Dove products. .65 ea.
1 Colgate Toothbrush-2.99. Used 1/1 coupon + got 2 ECB. FREE
Cadbury Minis .87 ea. Store promo B1G1. .44 ea.
Cadbury Egg Singles .87 ea. Store promo B1G1. .44 ea.
Subtotal: $12.13
Minus my ECBs from my last trip, $11.99
Total out of pocket: $.14 + tax. Also got a bonus ECB that printed off for $4!

Transaction #2
1 Colgate Toothbrush-2.99. Used 1/1 coupon. Got $2 ECBs. FREE
6 Snickers Egg Singles-.50 ea. Used three 1/2 coupons. FREE
Total out of pocket: $1.99 + tax.

Transaction #3
Tangled DVD on sale for $19.99 plus got 3 ECBs. $16.99
Subtotal: $19.99
Used all my ECBs from Transaction #1 - $13
Total out of pocket: $6.99 + tax!

On a side note, it pays to stick to your guns when it comes to couponing! If a coupon does not specify a size, you can use it on ANY size of that item! Here is the coupon I used on those Snickers Egg Singles:

As commonly happens, the cashier told me that I could not use this coupon on the eggs b/c it is only for those bags of candy in the picture. I kindly pointed out to her that the coupon says, "$1 off ANY 2 Mars candy" and it does not specify a size. She then tried saying that the eggs were only .50 each and the coupons were for a dollar off. I let her know they are a dollar off 2. (And even so, they will usually either mark the coupon down to the price or give you overage into the rest of your purchase, but that's beside the point.) She called her manager over, asked him, and after briefly glancing at the coupon told me the same thing. This coupon actually saved me by putting all that tiny print on it, because I was able to find in that tiny print where it listed Snickers Cream Egg Singles. He looked at the coupon for a good, full minute before he finally conceded that they had to let me use the coupon. I'm not a fighter, but if I know I'm right, you're gonna give me my dag-gum free Snickers eggs!! =D

popcorn reminiscence


Growing up in a family of boys, you learn to hold your own. Granted, I am quite a bit younger than my brothers, but this did not stop me from inheriting the trait of food inhalation. I love popcorn. Whenever I pop a bowl, I always remember my brothers and I being scrunched into the center of the brown couch in the tv room. The big, green bowl of popcorn (doused in salt and butter, if we were lucky), usually being guarded ferociously by the biggest and oldest (never me, by the way). We would glue our eyes to whatever special show we had gathered to watch, our robotic hands moving from bowl to mouth constantly. And we weren't the only ones. Our dog, Heidi, was a three legged, full blood collie. She looked like Lassie...well, except for the whole missing leg thing. She loved popcorn too. She would sit patiently in front of us all, just watching. Never annoying, never whining or begging. We would throw her a piece here and there and she would catch it in mid air. I loved that dog. And I love popcorn. The end.

20 March 2011

daisy's birthday

My little girl will be turning TWO in just a few weeks! She is pretty obsessed with Elmo right now so I thought an Elmo birthday party is definitely in order. I have some ideas as to what yummy treats to have at the party. I would love to do THIS, however I don't think it would be smart to attempt that kind of time-consuming project at this time in my life! However, my other ideas are just as yummy! I'll post about those later. Here's a pic of my Elmo-lovin' princess...

14 March 2011

yes, please!

Peppermint patties are most definitely one of my favorite things! Check this out!

11 March 2011

what the heck is swagbucks?

If you're like me, you see a few of your friends getting into this Swagbucks thing and you are mildly interested. You may have even signed up to see what it's all about. After all, it's free, right? Can't hurt. I signed up with Swagbucks...I think about a year ago or so. I would use Swagbucks as my search engine here and there, if I remembered to. I didn't realize until recently how easy it was to earn swagbucks! I would get bucks when I searched for things every once in a while, but it was taking forever to rack up the bucks so I wasn't that excited about it. Then I started looking into ways you can earn bucks and this whole new world opened up before me! Okay, that's a little dramatic, but when I was able to use two of my Amazon gift cards that I had gotten with Swagbucks to score a really sweet deal on some diapers and wipes, I was hooked. I am no teacher, but I will attempt to explain it...somewhat. There's a lot to learn and really the best way to learn is to just get on their site and play around, but here is what I have learned so far...

Who can put it better than Swagbucks themselves? I got this from their website:

Swagbucks.com is an online portal dedicated to helping you earn digital dollars called "Swag Bucks", which can be redeemed for exclusive Swagbucks.com merchandise.


You get 30 swagbucks just for signing up. There are several different ways you can earn bucks, but I will only talk about the ones I have used so far:

*Searching the web ~ The most commonly used, I think, is by using their site for your search engine. I used to use Google all the time, but now I use Swagbucks anytime I need to search for something. You don't get bucks with every single search, but the more you search, the more you earn!

*Trusted Surveys ~ There is a list of surveys on their site that you can participate in. I just did one a few minutes ago that took about 10 minutes to complete, and it got me 10 bucks and put me over the top for another Amazon gift card! (a $5 Amazon gift card costs 450 swagbucks)

*Voting in the Daily Polls ~ This is pretty self explanatory. Every day they put up a new question and you just answer it. This will get you 1 buck.

*Inviting your friends to join =D ~ If you get friends to join through your link, then every time that they earn bucks (through searching the web) in their account, you get rewarded too!

*NOSO (No Obligation Special Offers) ~ These are special offers from third parties. You have the option to sign up for the special offer, or skip it. I usually go in every day and skip through them all (there are about 5). This will get you 2 bucks just for looking.

*Finding Swag Codes ~ I think this is the most fun! There is a box on the right hand side of the homepage underneath "Enter your swag code". When you have a code you just enter it in that box and then click "gimme". A swag code can be anything. Here is an example of one from a while ago: BTh3reBSquarE. Sometimes the code can be found on Swagbucks' blog, sometimes in the news feed on Facebook, earlier today there was one in a picture on their Facebook page. The easiest way to find out about them is to subscribe to their blog and "like" them on Facebook. It's a fun little community too. I get a kick out of being a part of it.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good deal. I'm one of those crazy people you see in the checkout lane at Target with a big coupon binder and a bunch of very random items in my cart that I usually walk out paying very little money for. I started getting into couponing about a year ago. It seems like we are always just trying to "get by" from paycheck to paycheck. I am a stay at home mom. I have very strong convictions about staying home with my kids and so we have had to get a little creative with our living style. Me becoming a coupon fanatic has been one of those creative changes. I can't tell you how many times it has helped us out.

Getting crazy about Swagbucks is along the same vein. I redeem the swagbucks I earn for Amazon gift cards. I take advantage of the savings I can get on Amazon for a wide variety of things that we need.

If you have been thinking about joining Swagbucks but just really didn't understand what it is all about I hope that I've helped you a little. Here is a link to sign up. I have shamelessly inserted it in various places throughout this post as well. =) Also, if you click on the link, but decide to quit and come back to it later, please come back to my blog and enter through my link again. If you shut your browser and then later just go back to swagbucks and sign up, I won't get you as a referral. If you sign up, thanks and I hope you have fun! If not, I still like you. ;)

09 March 2011

there was a time

There was a time when I never thought my kitchen table would be laden with the fresh clean laundry belonging to children.



Now I just might need a bigger table.