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My very first giveaway! Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy

Posted on 11:21 PM comments (39)

I am happy to announce that I am hosting my very first giveaway! Hopefully the first of many more in the future.

I am a fairly new blogger, without even 2 months under my belt yet. But in the short amount of time that this blog has been active, I have had an enormous amount of support and encouragement from my readers, and I wanted to give back to you all.

This week, I had my 10,000th unique visit to my blog, and to celebrate (and hopefully drive even more traffic my way!), I'm giving away a copy of Jonni McCoy's bestselling book, Miserly Moms. This is a good resource for anyone looking to live a more frugal lifestyle, but is especially helpful for those starting out and just getting their feet wet. It is a fun, insightful book filled with a ton of helpful tips.

For more info about the book, visit Jonni McCoy's website, or look at the first few pages on Amazon.

To enter to win this great giveaway, leave a comment on this post (with your email address or link to your blog) and tell me what your favorite CVS filler items are. If you don't shop at CVS, comment with another helpful shopping tip!
My favorite filler item (if I plan in advance and know I'm going to need one) is a roll of the CVS 1000-sheet toilet paper for $.89. It's only one-ply, which I hated at first but got used to because one roll lasts us a long time. And because I use it as a filler, I always have some stocked up, so I never have to work toilet paper into my deals.
When I don't plan ahead, my filler is- you guessed it- candy for the husband and kids (and I have been known to eat some myself every once in a while... shh!).

The winner of the Miserly Moms book will be chosen randomly on Sunday, June 1st!

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A GREAT week at CVS!

Posted on 10:30 PM comments (1)
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Just look at it all! Isn't it beautiful??

This was a great week at CVS. I had 5 scenarios planned, and for a change, they all pretty much went as planned! Usually, there are a few items out of stock and I have to rework my deals right there in the store, but this week, the only item I couldn't find was the Colgate 360 toothbrush, but I substituted an Adidas deodorant and my deal came out to be exactly the same.

I did the five transactions on each of my 2 cards, so altogether I brought home about $210 worth of items for under $3 after ECBs. And tons of new shampoo (which I love) and new make-up to try (which I love even more!).


*To see how other people saved this week, visit Super Savings Saturday over at Money Saving Mom!
*To see more CVS savings, visit CVS Superstars at the Centsible Sawyer!

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Tagged! I'm it!

Posted on 11:40 AM comments (1)
Niki from Free 2 Be Frugal tagged me to participate in this fun getting-to-know-you game. So, here is a little bit about me:

4 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:
1. My daughter, my first of three, was 6 months old, and I was busy caring for her and learning about motherhood.
2. My job was as a photographer at Sears Portrait Studio
3. I was living in an apartment with my oldest daughter's dad, who is now my ex.
4. I was twenty-one years old, so I was struggling with being a good mom, still being young and trying to "have fun", and being accountable to my God (which was a source of anxiety for me at that time in my life.)

4 Things I Was Doing 5 Years Ago:
1. I was enjoying my daughter's first year of school, and all that kindergarten entails.
2. My job was working as a travel coordinator in a busy travel office.
3. I was single and had been for a long time, so I was dreaming of that knight in shining armor (the Armor of God!).
4. I was going to a college-aged bible study weekly at a church I loved (which is where I met the man who is now my husband).

4 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Changed about 6 diapers and 4 pull-ups, between my 2 1/2 month old and my just-over-2-years old daughters.
2. Cleaned the house and loaded the dishwasher once.
3. Tried a new way to cook Stroganoff in the crockpot. It turned out pretty good, but not as good as my old way.
4. Took my oldest daughter to spend the weekend at her dad's house, and stopped at CVS on the way home (addicted? who, me?).

4 Shows I Like to Watch:
1. General Hospital, but I'm about 10 days behind and my DVR is getting full... anyone want to catch me up to speed?
2. LOST
3. House
4. Law & Order SVU


4 Things I Love to Do:
1. Spending time with my husband, watching movies or tv, or just talking.
2. Dancing to old-school Michael Jackson with my 10 year old daughter in her room with the cd player turned all the way up.
3. Patty cake, reading books, and building block towers with my 2 year old daughter.
4. Snuggling with my 2 1/2 month old daughter, finding new ways to make her smile, and watching her grow and change almost daily.

Thanks for tagging me, Niki!

Now, I tag:

Andrea from Mommy Snacks
Denise at the Centsible Sawyer
Amy at Goo Goo Buy Buy
Jennifer at iMommies


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Free Kahlua cocktail shaker

Posted on 5:54 PM No Comments
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Thanks to Freebies 4 Mom for the info on this great freebie!

Sign up for Kahlua's "Everyday Exotic Experience", and recieve a free cocktail shaker!

*for more freebies, visit MomAdvice.com for Freebie Friday!


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Free movie tickets to Indiana Jones!

Posted on 2:08 PM comments (2)
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Thanks to the Centsible Sawyer for the heads-up on yet another great deal!

My Hubs and I have been looking forward to the new Indy movie for MONTHS, so I was way excited to stumble across this deal!

If you buy 4 2-liters of Dr. Pepper at K-Mart before the end of the day tomorrow (Saturday, May 24), a redemption code will print at checkout for you to redeem online for a free ticket to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The limit is 4 free tickets per customer, and the maximum retail value of the ticket is $7. If your ticket price is more that $7, you pay the difference.

Are there actually movie theaters in America right now that have ticket prices of $7 for new releases? My local theaters are all over $9. It's rare for us to go to the movies at all, unless we get gift cards as gifts or find a great deal. But for Indiana Jones, we were going to make an exception. Nice to know that for the $18+ that we were already planning to spend for the ticket, we'll have 8 bottles of Dr. Pepper stocked up in the pantry, too!

~ Indiana Jones theme song playing in my head ~

Read about the free movie ticket details here.

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Arby's printable coupons

Posted on 12:55 PM No Comments
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Arby's is one of the few fast food restaurants that our whole family enjoys. They're something different than the same old burgers and fries, and I think the kids meal seems like a healthier choice (turkey and cheese on whole grain bread, and a fruit cup), and the kids love them.

Unfortunately, our meals typically cost more there than if we were to go to another fast food restaurant, so I'm always on the lookout for good coupons.

I thought I'd post the few that I have available so you all can enjoy them, as well!
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Walgreens $5 off $20 printable coupon, good tomorrow, May 23, only!

Posted on 10:39 AM comments (1)
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Walgreens is getting in on the stimulus check incentives by offering this $5/$20 Walgreens coupon, good one day only, tomorrow, Friday May 23.

*Tip if you haven't used these coupons before: Your total can fall below $20 after manufacturers coupons, but not other Walgreen's coupons. If you're using another Walgreen's coupon that brings your total below $20, the $5/$20 coupon will automatically void itself off of your order. So keep that in mind when planning your purchases. :)

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Kitchen 101 Pasta Set for $8 shipped, from Linens 'n Things

Posted on 10:23 AM No Comments
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I don't know how long this will last, since it's on the SlickDeals home page, but I thought it was a great deal worth mentioning for those who take advantage of it before it's gone!

Linens 'n Things has the Kitchen 101 Pasta Set on sale right now for $9.99, with free shipping. Use code 26620000008 to save $2, making your total $7.99 shipped!

Set includes everything shown in the picture above:

  • Stainless Steel 8 Quart Stockpot

  • Stainless Steel Pasta Insert

  • Tempered Glass Lid

  • Stainless Steel Tongs

  • Pasta Measurer

  • Nylon Pasta Fork

  • Nylon Ladle

This would make a great gift!


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27 Cent burgers at White Castle

Posted on 10:05 AM No Comments
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Did you know that May is National Hambrger Month? Neither did I! But White Castle, being the official sponsor of National Hamburger Month, is celebrating their 87th anniversary by turning back the clocks for 87 minutes of vintage-priced hamburgers.

For 87 minutes only, on one day only, May 27th, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:27 p.m., White Castle is offering burgers for 27 cents (limit 10).

Read more about it at the Newswire post here.


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Get paid to review my post at Pay Per Post

Posted on 9:53 PM No Comments
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Last week, I posted about being accepted to earn money for blogging at Pay Per Post. Today, while looking further into their site and money-making opportunities there, I came across a what I think will potentially be a great way for me to make money - while you, my readers, make the same amount of money at the same time!

Here's how:

Click my link below to sign up for Pay Per Post and submit your blog for approval. Once approved, you can click the other link below that says "Get paid to review my post". This button will be at the bottom of all my posts for the forseeable future, so you can choose a post that you're interested in reviewing. Then you'll write a post on your blog reviewing my post, and when it's approved by Pay Per Post, we'll both get paid $7.50! How much easier could it be??

Then you can add a button to your blog, and get paid when others review your posts.
I'm loving Pay Per Post so far. I can't think of a better way to make money than by doing something that I already love doing - blogging!
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Free movie screenings from FilmMetro

Posted on 2:25 PM No Comments
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I just happened across this site today while surfing the web and it seems like it could be a great resource for seeing new movies for free.

FilmMetro has listings of movie screenings across the country, and registered members (membership is free) can print free tickets to the movies as they are available. I haven't used the site yet, but have read good things about it. Currently, in my Metro Detroit area, there is one movie screening available. The Fall is showing tomorrow night. After researching the movie on IMDB.com, it actually looks like a movie I'd enjoy seeing. But Thursdays would never work for me, with three kids to care for. I suspect that most of the screenings are showing on weekdays.

If you love movies, this may be something worth looking in to!

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Loading automatic coupons onto your Kroger Card

Posted on 9:53 AM comments (4)
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I have been meaning to post about this for a while now, and was reminded when I visited MommySnacks this morning and read Andrea's similar post.

Did you know that you can go to three different websites online, enter your store card number, and load your card with electronic coupons that will be applied automatically to your grocery order when you purchase the items that the coupons are for? A great perk to using electronic coupons is that, currently, they can be stacked with paper coupons to save you even more!

Here are the links!
  • Shortcuts (Kroger, Ralphs, Smith's, King Soopers, Dillons, Fry's, and more)

Here's an example of making e-coupons work for you:

This week, Wisk laundry detergent is on sale for $3.49 at Kroger. If you add the P&G eSaver coupon to your card for $1.50 off 1 Wisk, and use a paper manufacturers coupon from this week's newspaper inserts, also for $1.50 off 1 Wisk, you save $3 - making your total $0.49 for the bottle!

Here are some points worth noting:
-You can only have 25 e-coupons loaded on your Kroger card at a time (not 25 per site, but 25 total). I don't know if this is correct for the other stores on the Shortcuts list.
-You can only use each e-coupon once, so you can't really use them to stockpile.

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Free CD from Zantac

Posted on 9:35 AM No Comments
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I was reading up on my favorite blogs this morning, and this caught my eye over at The Centsible Sawyer:

Free CD when you purchase a Zantac product
(Choose from a series of "Best of" CDs featuring original recordings by these famous artists: Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Teddy Pendergrass, Marvin Gaye, Juice Newton, Robert Goulet, Glenn Miller, and Aaron Neville).

Earlier this month, Zantac was free after a printable coupon, and earning $3 RR at Walgreens, so I stocked up on this money-maker and got about 6 boxes. If you did the same, then go to the Zantac website and enter the UPC code from one of your boxes and you'll receive a free CD of your choice from those listed! I was torn between Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, and Teddy Pendergrass (I love the old-school R&B), but Hubs was the deciding factor, voting for Ray Charles.


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My CVS scenarios for the week of May 18, 2008

Posted on 1:28 PM comments (2)
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There aren't any real money-makers this week that I can see, but there are quite a few things that are generating ECBs that I need/want, so I was able to come up with 5 transactions to work them all in and spend as little oop as possible. If you do all five transactions, you'll be getting more than $105 worth of merchandise, and you'll only be spending $1.41 after ECBs! LOVE that!!

Here's what I came up with:

$19.99 K-Y Yours-Mine (earns $10 ECBs)
$4.69 Tums Quik Pack (earns $4.69 ECBs, monthly deal)
$.30 pencil

Total before coupons: $24.99 +tax

-$5/$25 CVS printable*
-$5 K-Y printable
-$1 Tums printable from this week's newspaper inserts (plus send the rebate form that was also in this week's inserts!)

Total after coupons: $13.99, earns $14.69 ECBs
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$2.99 Garnier shampoo (earns $1 ECB)
$2.99 Garnier conditioner (earns $1 ECB)
$1.99 Dial multi-pack soap (earns $1 ECB)
$3.99 Colgate 360 toothbrush (earns $3.99 ECBs, monthly deal)
$6.99 Almay Intense i-color (earns $5 ECBs)
$1 Sobe Life Water
$1 Sobe Life Water (earns $1 ECB, monthly deal)

Total before coupons: $20.95 +tax

-$4/$20 printable*
-$1 Garnier Fructis shampoo (from 5/4 V)
-$1 Garnier Fructis conditioner (from 5/4 V)
-$0.60 Dial Multi-Pack (from 5/18 SS)
-$1 Almay Cosmetic, any (from 3/9 SS)
-$1 B1G1 Sobe printable

$12.35 after coupons, earns $12.99 ECBs
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$10 Freestyle Lite or Freedom Lite glucose monitor (earns $10 ECBs, monthly deal)
$7.99 Cristophe 10 oz Shampoo
$2.19 Rolaids 3-pack (earns $2 ECBs, monthly deal)

$20.18 before coupons

-$4/$20 CVS printable*
-$1 CVS Christophe printable*

Total after coupons: $15.18, earns $12 ECBs
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Do the above Christophe transaction a second time (substitute a conditioner for the shampoo, if you like) and you'll get $17 back in ECBs the second time.
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$6.99 Almay Intense i-color (earns $5 ECBs)
$6.79 Banana Boat Suncare
$6.79 Banana Boat Suncare (earns $7 ECBs)

$20.57 before coupons

-$4/$20 CVS printable*
-$1 Almay Cosmetic, any (from 3/9 SS)
-$1 Banana Boat product, any (from 4/13 SS)
-$1 Banana Boat product, any (from 4/13 SS)


Total after coupons: $13.57, earns $12 ECBs

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*CVS printable coupons are distributed through email to select customers. They state that they are to be used only by the intended recipients, and may be card-specific, causing them to beep at the register if attempted to be used by a different card-holder than whom they are intended for.


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My CVS loot for last week

Posted on 10:46 PM No Comments
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:: I have 5 new CVS scenarios for the week of May 18th posted already, click here to check them out! ::

Here's how I did at CVS last week. I have a 2 year old in Pull-Ups and Goodnights, and a 2 month old in diapers, so this was a great week for me to stock up!



I did four transactions, 2 on each of our 2 cards. To see my scenarios, click here. I spent $6 more in ECBs than I got back, but for 6 packs of diapers, I consider that to be a VERY good deal. Oop was about $1 for all 4 transactions. :)

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*For more awesome savings stories, visit Super Saver Saturday!
*For more CVS Superstars, hop on over to The Centsible Sawyer!
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