Why I Love Rebates

I have a confession--I am a total rebate fan. While most people avoid them because they think they are a hassle to do--save receipts, fill out forms, cut UPCs, mail in everything, and wait...and wait for the check to arrive--I love them. Let me tell you why...

When I find something that I will use that has a rebate with it, I will buy the item. Now I do have to spend some money to get it. I just figure that cost into my monthly food/household budget so I don't overspend. Then when I get home, I directly sit down and fill out the paperwork and get it in it's envelope, sealed, stamped and ready to go. (If you say you'll do it later, most times you will just forget about it, that's why I like to do mine right away). Now here's the part I love...getting those checks in the mail. Yes, some may only be for $1-$2, but others can be $10 or $20. Since I had already budgeted for the cost of buying those items, the rebate is sort of like free money. I put all my rebate money in a special drawer, saving it up until I have enough for a big-ticket item that I've had my eye on.

That brings me to my oh-so-exciting news. I did it--I saved and saved all those rebate checks since the beginning of 2009 when I started doing rebates more actively, and finally had enough to go get a small chest freezer that I have been wanting for quite some time. It is small, but the perfect size for us and our small apartment right now. I've already put it to good use making double or triple amounts of meals and freezing portions of it to have on hand for those days that I don't have a lot of time to cook. It is already making life a little easier. (and did I mention that it also came with a $10 mail in rebate to get me started on my next round of saving?!)

Thank you Mail-in-Rebates!! You are worth the time and cost of the stamp to me.

(Hmm...what to save for next...how about a wheat grinder. Yep, sounds like a good plan to me!)

Disney Movie Rewards Double Points Day

For any of you who have signed up with Disney Movie Rewards and have some new dvds whose codes you haven't inputted yet, this Thursday (Dec. 10) is double points day--the perfect day to redeem some of those codes and earn lots of points. They indicated that there would be 2 double points day during these last few months of this year, and this is their second one, so I don't know if and when there will be this opportunity again.

If you don't know what Disney Movie Rewards is, you can read more about it in my post here.

Hallmark $5 coupon

There is a new printable coupon out there for $5 off a $5 purchase or more at a Hallmark Gold Crown Store. If you need a couple Christmas, birthday, or other occasion cards this would make for a close to free purchase. Go here to print off your coupon (you can print it twice too!)

Coupon expires Dec. 24, 2009

thanks Mojo Savings

Black Friday Shopping

Hello fellow shoppers. I hope that if you decided to face the crowds this morning that you had a very successful shopping trip. If you decided to stay home and skip the chaos, then I hope you had a very relaxful and wonderful morning home with your family.

I didn't try waking up at the insanely early hour that a lot of shoppers do on this day. I waited until my daughter woke up, got her dressed and fed, and then we went out, just hitting a couple stores. I had one of those $10 off a $20 purchase or more Kohls coupon, and you know me, I can't pass those up, so off we went. They had an early bird special on their playskool toys--50% off until 1pm. I still had all of my coupons that I printed off last month and I wanted to see what they had and what great deals I could find. I was pleasantly surprised to find both the Playskool Sit 'n Spin and Walk 'n Ride in stock. I picked those up plus a little shirt for her, used my Kohls and Playskool coupons with the early bird 50% off deal, and got everything for about $11. Successful trip!--There is my daughter's Christmas toy and next birthday present all bought and ready to go.

How was your Black Friday shopping trip? Feel free to leave a comment telling us how you did. I'd love to hear.

Free Movie Tickets

Who doesn't love to see a movie during the holidays. It seems to be many families' tradition to go on Thanksgiving. Well, you can get free movie tickets when you purchase specially marked boxes of General Mills cereal. When you purchase 2 boxes and enter in the codes found inside the box on the website here, you can print out a voucher for a free ticket. That can make for a cheap ticket and cheap cereal.

This promotion will probably be running for awhile, and I will update you when I find good deals on the cereal. If you are looking to get some for this week since Thanksgiving is coming up, I know that Albertsons have their boxes of cereal on sale for 2 for $5 through tomorrow. They are the 16-19oz. size boxes too. That means you can get 2 medium size boxes of cereal and a movie ticket for only $5. And, if you happen to have any cereal coupons saved up, it could be even cheaper (I had 2 $1 off 1 HoneyNut Cheerios coupons so all in all I spent $3)

Each voucher is good towards 1 ticket (up to $12) at participating theaters (to find a participating theater, go here) and can be used even if a show is considered a "no pass/no coupon" show.

Free Holiday Cards

If you are getting ready to do your annual Christmas card, then you may want to check out this deal. You can get 50 free cards from SeeHere Photo Sharing. Just sign up for an account for them, pick a card you want, add your pictures and such, and then add 50 copies to your shopping cart. When checking out use the promo code newbaby and you will get your 50 cards (and envelopes!) for free. All you pay is $3.19 for shipping.

I am excited to get ours in the mail in a few days. I did one of their 4x8 cards, but actually designed my own card in photoshop and uploaded that as my picture, then enlarged it to cover their entire card. That is always an option if you don't like any of their designs.

thanks Money Saving Mom

Target Chinet Deal

Target is having one of their gift card deals this week: purchase 2 packs of Chinet 9" plates (72 count) or 10" plates (32 count) at $4.74 each, get a $5 gift card.

Use 2 $1 off coupons found here

Total spent after coupons and gift card = $2.48 + tax (only $1.24 per pack--and these are the big packs!)

I was really excited to do this deal. I really like the chinet brand of plates. They are very durable and sturdy. They will be perfect for our annual pie night coming up!

I have found that reserving the $5 gift card for my next gift card deal makes things a lot easier and cheaper--I always have a gift card to use in the transaction that gives me another one. That way I really do keep my out of pocket expense to a minimum. Just food for thought.

Dole Canned Pineapple

There is a great printable coupon out there for Dole Pineapple. If you go here to the Dole website and play their Flip and Win game you will be able to print a coupon for $0.50 off one 20 oz. can. After printing your coupon, if you push the back button a time or 2 you should be able to print it a second time.

I've seen some pretty good sale prices on the pineapple this week. Starting tomorrow they are on sale at Food 4 Less for $0.98 (making them only $0.50 after coupon), and tonight I found them at my local Walmart Neighborhood Market on rollback for only $0.75 per can. That makes them only $0.25 for a 20 oz. can--that is an amazing price. I love to have these on hand when I want to make frog eye salad-Yum!

"Try Me Free"

Have you ever been strolling down an aisle at the grocery store and seen stickers similar to these? I love finding offers like this when I am shopping. It is an offer for a free product. You just purchase the product and send in the mail in rebate to get a refund for the purchase price. You essentially get to try the product for the price of a postage stamp. Keep you eye open for these offers when you are out shopping.

1-800-Flowers Free $40 Gift Certificate

1-800-Flowers is running a great deal/promotion right now that you might want to take advantage of (or pass along to your husband for him to take advantage of, if you like to receive flowers from him :).

Go over to their website HERE and sign up for their Fresh Rewards Program. Then add 10 event reminders to your account calendar. You will get 40 points for each reminder you input, up to 10 events. That will give you 400 points which qualify you for a $40 savings pass that they will email to you. This can be used on their website to order something.

It is as simple as that. It might take them up to 2 weeks to update your account, so be patient.

Once you have your savings pass, you might want to order your flowers from them by going through Ebates to get 10% cash back, or another website like Cashbaq that have other coupon offers for 1-800-Flowers (such as 15% off their birthday bouquets).

thanks Surviving the Stores

'Tis the Season--Toy and Game deals for the Holidays

The toy deals are starting, and well before Black Friday arrives. Here are a few that I noticed while going through my ads yesterday:

1. Walmart has some of their Playskool toys on sale in their weekly ad. The Walk and Ride or Ball Popper are only $17 this week (down from $20 normally). Use the $5 off coupons that you printed last month from coupons.com (or if you didn't print them, just head over to the side bar and click on the "see all coupons" icon to find them and print them now). This makes either toy only $12

2. Toys R Us is having a great game deal this week. They have a bunch of their Hasbro Games on Sale for $3.99 each, as well as others for $7.99 and $9.99. Here is where the deal gets sweet:

• there is a $2 mail in rebate offer per game on the $3.99 games, and a $3 mail in rebate on a few of the $9.99 games (you just need to do one rebate entry for all of them)


• You can get a $10 gift card in addition to the rebates when you purchase $25 or more of Hasbro games.

The Thrify Mama posted a great scenerio for the games:

• Buy 4 $3.99 games


• Buy 1 $9.99 game (either Scrabble or Connect 4 since it appears these are the only 2 in this price range that have the rebate offer)


• Spend $25.95 OOP


• Get $10 gift card and submit for $11 of rebates


• Essentially only spend $4.95 for 5 games

Here is a list of the different games on sale, with the link here for information on the rebate (games must be purchased at Toys R Us for rebate):

$3.99: Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Memory, HiHo CherryO, Don't Break the Ice, Ants in the Pants

$7.99: Monopoly Jr., Boogle Jr., Scrabble Jr., Yahtzee, Monopoly Dial, Rubik’s Cube, Rubik’s 360, Rubik’s Magic

$9.99: Mouse Trap, Scrabble, Perfection, Connect 4, Boggle, Scrabble Up Words, Hullabaloo, Guess Who

Date Night Deals

I almost forgot to post a date night deal for this week. Here is one for those of you who are kids at heart--head on over to the Circus Circus hotel to see different circus acts. New acts perform every half hour from 11 am to midnight daily. Cost is free. My brother-in-law and nephews went a few weeks ago and had a blast. Hope you enjoy it too.

Disney Movie Rewards

The past couple of days I have been searching for printable coupons for the upcoming release of Disney's Up and Monsters Inc. For awhile there I wasn't having much luck, but I recently stumbled onto 2 potential deals:

1. It is possible that at some retailers there will be a sticker on certain DVDs for $10 off when you purchase both Up and Monsters. Someone spotted them on DVDs locked behind the counter at Frys, just waiting the release date next week. If anyone knows anymore about this potential deal, please leave a comment.

2. If you haven't joined Disney's Movie Rewards, then I recommend you do so, especially if you are Disney fans like we are. When you buy Disney DVDs with the movie rewards icon (all new releases have this I believe), there is a code inside the DVD container that you plug in online to earn points. You can redeem these points for a variety of Disney merchandise. Here are 2 more reasons to sign up TODAY

• today (11/5) is double points day, so if you have a bunch of dvds with codes never redeemed, then plug them all in today to get a whole slew of points.


• you can get an $8 off coupon for the new release of Monsters Inc. blue ray combo pack if you enter the UPC code in from your old DVD or VHS copy of this movie before 11/29/09. There should be a message about it in the message board when you first log in to your account.

Mailbox Goodies

Like I've mentioned before, my daily trip to my mailbox is something I really look forward to (I know--it sounds like I have no life, right?). I just get excited to see what freebies, coupons, or rebates I am getting. Sometimes there are one or two goodies for me, or sometimes there is nothing at all, which is a huge let down. I prefer the days when there is at least something.

The past couple of days have been marvelous mailbox days. It's either feast or famine, and this weekend it has been a feast of freebies. I got my 2 $10 gift cards from Emergency Essentials (one for trying their food storage analyzer and blogging about it like I mentioned here, and the other for putting their button on my blog), a $5 gift card to Paneras (for doing a survey for them), a coupon for a free can of ReddiWhip (perfect for our annual Pie Night coming up), a coupon for a free California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza (an offer from the Kraft First Taste program for their members), and a $10 off a $10 or more purchase at Kohls (that should make for a free item or two when I check out their clearance racks). Not bad for 2 trips to the mailbox.

I definately recommend signing up for the Kraft First Taste program if you haven't yet. It's similar to VocalPoint that I've mentioned before, but you need to periodically log on to see what free offers are waiting for you. They usually don't automatically mail you coupons out like vocalpoint does. You either have to claim them and then they will mail them to you, or they are just printable coupons.

Date Night Deals

There are many Halloween events to participate in this weekend--probably more geared toward a family outing instead of just a date night, but still fun anyways. Here are some local trunk or treats going on:

1. The District at Green Valley Ranch is having a "GhostWalk" on 10/31 from 5-8pm. This is what their website says about it: "Bring your little ghosts and goblins to The District for trick or treating fun at the 4th Anual GhostWalk on Main Street! We've got more than 500,000 pieces of candy! And new this year: Audi of Henderson presents "Trunk or Treat", with additional trick or treating from the trunks of several Audi cars parked along Main Street. We'll have a DJ playing fun music, and the kids will marvel at 'The Big Guy', a ghost towering 20 feet over Main Street! "

2. Metro's Trunk-or-Treat events on 10/31 from 5-7pm. There are 2 locations: Convention Center Area Command, located at 750 Sierra Vista near Swenson, and Southeast Area Command, located at 3675 E. Harmon Ave near Pearl. Children can trunk or treat to the different squad cars and interact with the different officers. There is also a costume contest for those 12 and under. This event is free.

Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure

If you were planning on purchasing the new Disney movie Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, you may want to head over to Smiths this week to do so. The movie is on sale for $19.99. Use the $10 off coupon found here to get your price down to $9.99.

Plus, Smiths is deal this week includes a free box of Kelloggs Rice Krispies or Froot Loops and a free free box of Kelloggs Fruit Snacks. You get a movie, box of cereal, and box of fruit snacks for $9.99.

If you have any Kelloggs coupons for those cereals and fruit snacks you might be able to use them too to get your price down. I don't know if Smiths will accept them or not considering that the cereal and fruit snacks are "free" with purchase of the DVD.

There is also a $5 mail in rebate when you purchase the DVD and a Leap Frog Tinkerbell product. The rebate can be found here. If you hear about any good deals on the leap frog product, let me know.

Weekly Shopping Trip

I've been sort of MIA this weekend with posting deals. I've had a busy time making cakes (my other hobby). If you want to see what I've been up to, check out my other blog here.

I finally did a little shopping today. Smiths was having a great deal on their Nature Valley products and I had some great coupons. There are some great little tricks with Smiths shopping that I will post about later this week, but I just wanted to post a quick picture with my savings for this week.

I went to Smiths, CVS, and a quick stop at our local Walmart Neighborhood Market for some price matching while picking up a prescription. This is what I came away with today (plus another banana that got eaten before the picture was taken :)

Total spent: $22.46

Total value: $72.16

Total saved: 69%

Date Night Deals

Here is a free event this weekend that would be perfect for an evening out. The Henderson Symphony Orchestra is having a free concert tomorrow evening (Friday Oct 23) at 8pm at the Henderson Pavillion (200 South Green Valley Parkway). There is also a pre-show discussion from 7:15-7:45.

Some of the songs they will be performing are J. Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine," Copland's jazz-inspired "Clarinet Concerto," and Schumann's "Symphony #3." It should be a great performance!

Emergency Essentials Food Storage Analyzer and free $10 gift card

I have been working little by little to accumulate what we need for our short-term and long-term food storage. There are many resources out there to help with this goal. A new one that I came across today, thanks to Utah Deal Diva, is the Emergency Essentials Food Storage Analyzer. It is a free program to use. Once you set up an account and log in you can input the different food items that you already have as well as the different ages of everyone in your family. It calculates the caloric value needed per day for your family and then how many days your food would last given the caloric need of your family.

I tried it this morning and enjoyed trying this out. It was interesting to see just how long/far our current food storage would last. My only frustration with it is that most of the items they list for you to check off as having are their different canned food in their sizes. I had estimate some things that I have since some of my food is packaged in smaller quantities or weights. There was one section for grocery store canned food which helped, but not for other normal grocery-store-purchased items. With my estimations that I made, for our family of 3, it says that our food storage would last 69.6 days. Not quite where we need to be, but we are well on our way to our goal.

You can try it out for free and even earn a free $10 gift card for trying it out. Details can be found here.

My Walgreens Trip 10-17-09

I usually don't wait until the last day of their ad date to do my Walgreens shopping, but this past week just worked out that way, so at 9pm last night I headed out to snag some diapers and pick up a few more deals (the sippy cup was clearance for $0.10 at my Walgreens, so I couldn't pass up picking up one to see if my daughter liked it).

Here is my trip in a nutshell:

Invested $2 Register Rewards from previous week's purchases

Used $26.50 in manufacturer's coupons

Used $9.60 in Walgreens coupons

Spent $9.64 pretax out of pocket ($12.16 with tax)

Got $59.09 worth of items ("MSRP"--but let's be honest, would we actually spend the retail value to get these items--probably not--we wait for a sale.)

Saved 79%

Earned $6 Register Rewards for next time

Can submit for a $1.50 mail in rebate on the diapers

I was happy with that considering it was the last day of the sale and some of the things that I wanted were already sold out.

Build-A-Bear Coupon

Go here to get a coupon good for $5 off a $10 or more purchase at Build-A-Bear. Coupon is valid through 10/31/09.

Thanks, The Thrifty Mama

Homemade Jam

Albertsons had a great 3-day sale on strawberries last week, and I figured this might be the last sale on strawberries of the season, so I probably should make more homemade jam for the next few months (growing up on homemade has made me really picky about jam and I just don't like the store bought stuff).

If you think making homemade freezer jam is probably too complicated, well, it's not. You can totally do it. The key to freezer jam is to simply follow the directions and measurements to the T (although they aren't really complicated and don't have many steps). If you change the measurements then it won't set up.

All you need is a few pounds of strawberries (or whatever fruit you want to use), a pkg. of pectin, sugar, and maybe lemon juice. I am partial to the Certo (blue box) type of pectin, but lately I have been buying the Sure-Jell in the pink box. It makes a lower sugar version of freezer jam and still tastes great (one box usually requires about 2.5-3lbs of strawberries). The Certo doesn't have any stovetop steps while the low-sugar Sure-Jell does. If this is your first time trying, then I recommend the Certo pectin.

If you can't find strawberries for a descent price then check out the $0.99 Store. Ours here on Marks in Henderson frequently carries frozen bags of strawberries (usually 12 oz) for $0.99. You can just thaw those and use them since they are purely frozen strawberries--no syrup.


Mmmmm...there's nothing quite like homemade jam on a piece of homemade bread...I'll have to make some of that too soon.

Cheap Mac n Cheese

Vons is having a great sale tomorrow only (Saturday) on their Kraft Macaroni and Cheese--3 for $1.00. If you are partial to the name brand on this, then now is when you want to stock up. There is a limit of 15. If you don't have a Vons close by, then take your ad over to Walmart to price match.

Diaper and other Baby Deals

1. There is a great printable coupon here for $3 off 1 Comforts for Baby Diapers (Kroger brand). You can find these at your local Smiths. You should be able to pick up a pack of diapers for $3-4 after using this coupon, or even lower if you wait for a good sale (they don't expire until 12/31/09). I was able to print mine twice.

2. Also, there is a pretty good deal at Walgreens this week (ends tomorrow) on Huggies diapers:
Buy 2 packs of Huggies diapers at $9 each, get a $4 RR.

Here's a scenario:
Buy 2 packs = $18
Use 2 $2/1 coupons found here
Use $1/1 Walgreens coupon found in the Children's Activity Book (will take $2 off total)
Pay $12 out of pocket and submit for the Caregiver's Marketplace Rebate (get $1.50 back total)
Pay $3.25 per jumbo pack after coupons, rebate, and RR earned.

3. There is a printable coupon here for a free Happy Baby Organic Product

Thanks Money Saving Mom

Date Night (or Day) Deals

There are 2 different activities you might want to consider for your date night/day or family time this weekend:

1. To get in you the Halloween mood, head on over to the FunTown Frightfest located at either the Galleria Mall in Henderson (across the street) or at Boca Park Shopping Center in Summerlin. Tickets seem reasonably priced: $4 for adults, $2 for kids 12 and under, $12 for a family fun pack, and children with disabilities get in free (Summerlin rates are slightly different). Proceeds benefit the Peoples Autism Foundation

Here is a list of activities from their website:
"10 acres of spooky fun, food and frights!
Carnival Rides
Midway Games
Haunted Houses
Inflatable Bouncy Rides
Bungee Jumping
Scary-As-Heck Adult Rides (I may have edited that a bit :)
Not-So-Scary FunTown Kids Park
Runaway Train
Haunted Hayride
Pumpkin Patch
Pony Rides
Live Entertainment
Creature Feature Movies for Kids
Spooky-oke (Karaoke)
Spirits & Boos Bar
Local Food Vendors
Raffles and Much More!

For more information and to print off a coupon good for $1 off any child admission go here.

2. If Halloween isn't your thing, then you may want to head over to the Black Mountain Recreation Center for their annual Holiday Craft Show. Admission is free and the show runs from 9am to 4pm. Tis the Season. Happy shopping.

Kraft Foods First Taste Program

Have you joined Kraft Foods First Taste yet? If not, I urge you to do so. Periodically they have special offers for members offering high value coupons or even coupons for free products. I just logged into my account this evening and there was a $2/1 Wheat Thin coupon waiting for me (printable) as well as one for a Free California Pizza Kitchen pizza (that coupon will be mailed to me).

There's no charge for joining. They just give you great offers and then ask for you to fill out short surveys on the products you try to help them find out if people like their products or not (sort of their research and development). Go ahead and give it a try.

Del Monte Peaches Deal

Big Lots is having a really good buy on their Del Monte Peaches this week. Select varieties are 5 for $1.00 of the 8.25 oz variety. They usually run around $1.00 at Walmart, so this is a steal of a deal. These have the pop can type top that you can open easily without a can opener, making them perfect for a husband's or kid's lunches, or to throw in your diaper bag with a plastic spoon in case your toddler gets hungry.

If your Big Lots is already sold out of them, you can always try price matching them at Walmart if you have an ad from Big Lots (it was in Sunday's paper). I have a couple of extra if someone needs one for price matching. I don't know if all Walmarts will price match Big Lots ads, but the few that I go to have never given me any problems.

This sale ends Saturday October 17.

Free 8x8 Photobook from Shutterfly

Now through Nov 15, 2009 you can get a free 8x8 hard cover 20 page photobook from Shutterfly. Here is how to get it:

1. Log into your facebook account

2. Go here, then scroll to the bottom of the page to where there are ads.

3. Keep refreshing your screen until the ad for the free Shutterfly book pops up, then click on it and follow their instructions

4. You will get a unique code to you. Just log into your shutterfly account and enter in this code to save this promo to your account.

You can then make a photobook and use it to get a free book (you still pay shipping). Offer expires November 15.

Note: you do not need to sign friends up for the Family Tree on Facebook to get the code. If you have an ad blocker you may need to disable it temporarily to have the ad appear.

Thank you, Money Saving Madness, for the info on this deal

Lehi Roller Mills Wheat

My friend Stephanie told me about this deal last week. The Costco on Marks St. in Henderson has 45 lb buckets of Hard White Wheat that they discounted from $18 to $14.99 last week. I picked us up one last week and they still had a bunch left (it was located way in the back left corner when I went there). This is a great price for the wheat and bucket and a great item for your long term food storage.

New Kohl's Coupon

I hope that you didn't miss the Kohl's coupon on the front page of yesterday's paper. It is another $10 off $20 or more purchase. These coupons are like gold to me (I'm a big Kohls fan). This coupon is good through the end of this week.

They are having some great sales this week that you can combine this offer with. Their sales/ad change on Wednesdays, but right now their toy section is having some great deals (30-40% off). (I was excited about this--I got a birthday present for my little girl plus a couple outfits for less than $10 after my coupon and a 15% off coupon I had).

Date Night Deals

Another weekend is fast approaching, and there are a few great activities you can do this weekend for free.

If you are a BYU fan (we sure are--Go Cougars!), then you don't want to miss the tailgate party taking place Saturday Oct 10th at 4pm at Sam Boyd Stadium. The cost is free, although there will be food there for purchase if you like (meal ticket is $10). Wear your blue and white and come on out for a fun afternoon.

There is also a pre-game fireside put on by the BYU football team Friday night at 7pm at the Green Valley Stake Center, located 410 N. Valle Verde in Henderson. Sunday dress please.

If football is not your thing, then you may want to head over to Lake Las Vegas instead. This weekend is the St. Rose Regatta Dragon Boat Festival, raising money for breast cancer. It is free to watch, although donations will be accepted. The festivities begin at 10am Saturday Oct 10 and go until 4pm. There will be entertainment running all day and venues set up where food and drinks can be purchased.

The info on the races says, "Each 44 foot, solid teak, Chinese war canoe accommodates a full 22-person crew, consisting of 20 paddlers, a drummer, & a steersperson. Don’t miss the excitement as each crew competes in three 500-meter race heats. The competition is friendly & should prove to be a great time for everyone." Sounds like a fun event to watch.

Printable Playskool Coupons

There are some great high-value printable coupons at coupons.com right now for a variety of Playskool toys. The best part is that these don't expire until January, so they are bound to go on sale sometime in the next 3 months before Christmas (any day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers out there?!). I recommend printing all of them up and hanging on to them until you come across a sale.

For your convenience, you can go over to my coupons.com side bar and scroll through them until you come across the toys and then do a quick print.

Here are the different coupons they have. I was at Target today and priced a few of them that I could find. I've put these prices in paratheses next to the coupon value:

Save $10 on 1 DinoRoars Stompers toy
Save $5 on 1 DinoRoars Hatchlings toy
Save $10 on 1 Dance Cam toy
Save $5 on 1 Swing 'n Score Baseball toy
Save $5 on 1 Tumble 'n Twirl Top toy ($15.99)
Save $3 on 1 Lullaby Gloworm toy ($9.99)
Save $10 on 1 Musical Sit and Spin toy ($21.99)
Save $5 on 1 Busy Ball Popper toy ($19.99)
Save $5 on 1 Step Start Walk 'n Ride toy ($19.99)
Save $5 on 1 Activity Ball toy ($19.99)
Save $2 on 1 Mr. Potato Head or Mrs. Potato Head toy
Save $5 on 1 Mr. Potato Head Spud Buds toy
Save $5 on 1 Mr. Potato Head Silly Suitcase toy

Free Redbox Code

It's the first Monday of the month which means it's free Redbox movie day. The code for today is QNGJ7KD. This code expires at midnight tonight.

Printable Coupons

Here are a few great printable coupons to get some great deals this week:

$1.00/2 Campell's Tomato or Chicken Noodle Soup coupon -- use with in-ad coupon (2 for $1.00) at Walgreens this week to get these for free, or use them at Smiths through Tuesday (10/6) to also get them for free (there are also $0.40/4 coupons in the 10/4 SS or 9/13 SS--Direct TV issue to get some others for $0.40 each)

$0.75/1 Trident Layers Gum -- use this all month long at Walgreens with their monthly register rewards deal of buy 2 get $1 RR -- use 2 coupons and essentially make $0.50 after coupons and register rewards (You should be able to print this coupon a total of 5 times instead of the normal 2, so you can do this deal a few times, just make sure you only buy 2 per transaction because only 1 register reward will print up per transaction).

$0.50/2 Jell-O Gelatin -- use this with in-ad coupon (2 for $1.00) at Walgreens this week to get boxes of Jell-O for $0.25 each.

Target Weekly Gift Card Deal

One of Target's gift card deals this week is for Mott's Apple Juice or 6-pack Applesauce. They are priced at $1.75 each and when you buy 5 you get a $5 gift card essentially making these just $0.75 each. The applesauce tubs are great for putting in lunches.

There might still be coupons for Mott's Applesauce available here at the Lunchbox builder. I already printed mine last month, so I am unsure if it is still working for others, but it's worth a shot. If they are still printing, and you can print 2 per computer then you can buy 5 items, use 2 coupons, and only spend $1.75 total after coupons and gift card.

Date Night Deals

I decided to try doing a new weekly post on cheap or free things you can do for a date night or family night on the weekends. My goal is to post my Date Night Deals on Thursday every week, sharing at least one thing that you can do. Most things will be mainly for those of you down here in the Las Vegas/Henderson area, although at times I will give suggestions of things you can do that can be done in whatever city you live in. I feel it is very important to have some time each week to spend with your husband/wife, and I hope that these posts will help some of you out there to make that time each week to go out with your spouse. It doesn't have to cost a lot to have a fun evening out!

Here is my suggestion for a free date night for this weekend:

The City of Henderson is putting on their annual Shakespeare in the Park with performances of Taming of the Shrew. Admission and Parking are free, and this event is suitable for the entire family.

Location: Henderson Events Plaza: 200 Water Street
Time: 7pm
Dates: Friday and Saturday Oct 2-3

Grab some pillows and blankets and head on over this weekend.

Snow White DVD for $4.96

My friend Lisa emailed me today asking me if I knew of any deals to get Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for a good deal when it comes out next week. I looked into it and this is what I was able to find to get it for a great deal:

The DVD combo pack will be on sale for $19.96 during the release week (next week) at Walmart

Use the $10 printable coupon found here to get your price down to $9.96 (this is a limited time coupon so print yours soon)

Also purchase 1 Hefty Plate, Easy Grip Cup or Baggies product and submit for the $5 Snow White/Hefty rebate using the rebate form found here taking your price down to $4.96 after rebate.

You can also use the Hefty coupons found in the 8/30 or 9/27 Red Plum Insert to get that cost down too.

Free Greeting Card

Get a free greeting card from Snapfish by using the coupon code FALLCARD09 at checkout. Offer expires 10/6

Red Box Free Rental Code

This code came out last weekend, but appears to still be working today: 9HB6MP22

Go snag yourself a free movie rental tonight for a family night activity.

CVS deals 9/27 - 10/3

I LOVE the CVS deals this week. They have an awesome P&G promotion--buy $25 of participating P&G products get $10ECBs. With some great coupon out there (including the $5 off $25 purchase for doing a flu survey here) I was able to get a great deal.

Here are 2 potential scenarios for the P&G promotion (I did the 2nd--although the first makes everything potentially free, I wanted some of the Tide detergent)

Scenario 1

Buy 3 Bounce Dryer Bars at $4 each

Buy 3 Tide Stain Release Liquid or Duo pack at $4 each

Buy 1 Dawn plus Hand Renewal Soap (11oz) at $1

Use 3 $1.50/1 Bounce Dryer Bars from VocalPoint Mailer

Use 3 $1.50/1 Tide Stain Release from Mailer (I can't remember which one it was, but it was the one that had the Gymboree coupon too that came out in the mail a couple of weeks ago--I found extra in our trash can from other tenants)

Use $1 off 1 Dawn Hand Renewal Soap from the Home Made Simple mailer

Use $5/$25 CVS coupon for doing the flu survey

Spend $10 oop, get $10 ECB making it free

Scenario 2

Buy 2 Tide Liquid Detergents at $6 each

Buy 3 of the Tide Stain Release or Bounce Dryer Bars (whatever combo you want) at $4 each

Buy1 Dawn Hand Renewal

Use Tide Stain Release, Bounce Dryer Bars, and Dawn Hand Renewal coupons stated above

Use 2 $1.00 Tide Detergent coupons from the 8/30 PG insert (exp 9/30)

Use $5/25 CVS coupon for flu survey

(If you don't have the coupons from the vocal point mailer or the other for the tide stain release, there are $0.75/1 Tide stain release and $1/1 Bounce dryer bar coupons in the 8/30 PG insert (both expire 9/30) )

Spend $12.50 OOP, get $10 ECB (essentially spending only $2.50 for everything)

There is also a good Covergirl deal this week: Buy $15 of Covergirl products get $5ECB.

Buy 1 foundation/powder for $6-7 and get another Covergirl product priced over $8-9 (whatever it takes to get over the $15 mark)

Use the Buy one Covergirl Foundation get Face Product Free Coupon from the 8/30 PG (exp 9/30).

Use $1/1 Covergirl product from 8/30 PG

Spend $5-6 OOP, get $5 ECB making it essentially free or close to it

Other deals I liked this week:

Buy 1 Vaseline Sheer Infusion Body Lotion at $7.99, Get $7 ECBs (3-day deal only: Sun-Tues)

Use $1.50/1 printable here, here, here or here

Free plus overage after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 Gillette Fusion, Embrace, or Spa Breeze Razor at $9.99, Get $5 ECBs

Use $4/1 coupon from the 9/27 P&G insert

$0.99 after coupons and ECBs

During my trip I did 3 transactions, made use of the $5/25 flu survey coupon as well as a $5/$20 coupon that CVS emailed me as a reward for joining their email list and came out with this:

Invested $11 ECB from previous weeks

Spent $3.47 OOP subtotal ($7.19 with the tax--I'm not a huge fan of the tax :)

Saved 91% over the $77.10 retail value

Earned $15 ECB to use for my next visit

Walgreens Trip 9/28

Even though Walgreens is having some pretty good deals this week (go here to see them), I limited what I got there and only picked up a few things and only did 1 transaction (I usually do multiple to roll over RR and get lots of deals but I was ready to be done shopping after just finishing my CVS shopping--Go here to see those deals). It was still a good trip though, and I picked up some things my husband loves:

1 pack Dentek

1 pkg Halls Refresh Sugar Free Drops

2 Listerine Smart Rinse (plus added bonus of a free travel size bottle with each normal bottle)

The Dentek and Halls had RR deals and coupons associated with them (go here to see them)

I had bought a couple things of the Listerine Smart Rinse a few weeks ago when there was a RR deal associated with it and found out that I really like this product (it is a flouride rinse for kids, but my husband and I love it--hey, we're kids at heart!), so I wanted to get more. It is priced at $4.99 each, but I found these ones with a travel size bottle bonus pack with them. Plus, I had a $1 catalina coupon from when I bought these previously, as well as a BOGOF coupon from the 8/2SS and $1 WAGS coupon from the Walgreens Childrens Activity book they had available last month (takes $2 off of 2). With all those deals together, my price dropped down to $1.99 for both packages.

Overall for all items purchased:

Invested $2.50RR from last week's deals

Spent OOP $1.13 pretax ($2.02 with tax)

Saved 88% over retail value of $16.64

Earned $3RR

Walgreens Deals 9/27-10/3

Here are some of the great deals at Walgreens this week. Thanks to Common Sense with Money for compiling these

WEEKLY REGISTER REWARDS DEALS

Buy 1 Oral-B Advantage 1-2-3 Toothbrush at $3, Get $3 Register Rewards
Free after Register Rewards

Buy 1 Dentek Tooth Picks at $2, Get $2 Register Rewards
Use $1/1 printable here
Free plus $1 in overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Herbal Essence Hair Care at $2.99, Get $2 Register Rewards
Use $1/1 coupon from the 9/13 RedPlum insert
Free after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 3 Theraflu (8.3 oz.) Liquid at $4 each, Get $8 Register Rewards
Use $2/1 coupon from Walgreens Healthy Savings coupon booklet (will deduct $6)
Free plus $2 overage after coupons and Register Rewards (I haven't tried this deal, and in the ad it is buy 2 Theraflus get $4RR back, but the word on the street is that if you buy 3 you can get the $8RR and work this deal out).

Buy 1 Venus Embrace or Breeze Razor at $7.99, Get $4 Register Rewards
Use $2/1 coupon from 9/27 P&G or 8/16 RP insert
$1.99 for one after coupon and Register Rewards

MONTHLY REGISTER REWARDS DEALS (9/27-10/31 unless otherwise noted)

Buy 1 Vaseline Sheer Infusion Lotion (6.8 oz.) at $6.99, Get $6.99 Register Rewards
Use $1.50/1 coupon from the 8/2 RedPlum insert or $1.50/1 printable coupon (IE Link or FF Link)
Free plus $1.50 in overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Gillette Fusion MVP Manual or Power Razor System at $8.99, Get $6 Register Rewards (ends on 10/24)
Use $4/1 coupon from the 9/27 P&G insert
Free plus $1.01 in overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Halls Refresh Sugar-Free (20-count) at $1, Get $1 Register Rewards
Use $0.75/1 coupon from the 9/27 insert or $0.50/1 from October All You magazine
Free plus $0.75 overage after coupon and Register Rewards

Buy 1 Chapstick Fresh Effects at $2.99, Get $2.99 Register Rewards

Buy 1 Robitussin DM To Go (2-pack), Get $2.49 Register Rewards

Buy 1 Emergen-C Booster at $3.49, Get $3.49 Register Rewards

JCPenny Deal

If you use the promo code ENJOY10 at JCPenny.com you will get $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. If you can find something you like in the clearance section, then this could make for a good deal. If you shop through Ebates or Upromise you can also get 3% back on your order.

Thanks Thrifty Mama

I was able to find a shirt for me and a little baby gift for only $0.98 after promo code. Shipping was $4.50, making it a total cost with tax of $5.92. Not too bad I'd say.

Kohls Sale

It was kind of hard to miss Kohl's ad and coupon in yesterday's paper. Usually it is just a little sticky note, but yesterday it was a big half page ad. I love these coupons that they periodically put out. It is for $10 off a $20 purchase or more. If you also have a Kohls card you should have gotten a mailing this week with a 15%, 20%, or 30% off your entire purchase coupon (I lucked out and got the 30% off coupon this time). Combine these two deals together to make for some great deals. Even if you don't have the %off coupon, the one from the paper is great. This coupon is good through Sep 22.

This is one that I did last month when they had one of these $10 off $20 purchase coupons and I had a 15% off coupon. I only spent $12.31 out of pocket, an 84% savings over the retail value of $78.92 and got something for each person in our family.

Walgreens deals for 9/13-9/19

It's a good week at Walgreens. Here are some of their best register rewards deals that they have this week:

• Buy 1 Murine Ear Wax Removal Kit for $6, get $6 RR making it free


• Buy 1 True North Nut Crisps or Clusters for $3, get $3RR (there is also a $1 printable coupon here making it a $1 money maker)


• Buy 1 Listerine Mouthwash (250 ml) for $2.99, get $2RR (there is also a $1 printable coupon here to make it free)


• Buy 2 Triaminic Allergy, Sinus or Cold Relief for 2 for $10, get $5RR---if you buy 2 of the Night Time Cold and Cough you actually will get 2 $5RR that print out. There is also a $2/1Triaminic coupon in the Walgreens $30 in Savings booklet (I found it at the front register) that will take $4 off when you buy 2 making this deal a $4 money maker
  
  
• Buy 2 Bandaid products ($2.50 each) or Neosporin products ($4 each) get $3RR. If you buy 1 neosporin and use the printable coupon here combined with the $2 Walgreens coupon from the Children's Activity Book that was available last month, and buy 1 bandaid product using the $0.50 coupon from the 8/2 Smart Source, you spend $3 and get $3RR making it free

There is also a deal that when you buy 3 participating products (select Ciracal, One a Day Multivitamin, Alka Seltzer, Aleve or Bayer products) get $5RR. Common Sense with Money reported that if you purchase 3 of the $0.99 One a Day Multivitamin drink mixes you also get the deal. Spend $2.97 out of pocket, and get $5RR making it a $2 money maker. I haven't tried that one yet, so I'm not sure if it works, but it's worth a shot.

I made a quick stop at Walgreens yesterday and was very happy with the deals I got. (The candy was clearanced down and I used it to get my purchase prices for my transactions up enough to be able to utilize RR that I had). I invested $6RR that I had previously earned, did 5 transactions rolling over RR earned, spent $2.50 out of pocket ($1.75 of which was tax), and came away with $10RR essentially making $1.50 overall. Total retail value of items: $46.66; Total savings: 95%.

Target Deal of the Week

After I did my Kashi deal at Albertsons, I realized that there is an even better one at Target this week. Buy 5 participating Kashi items, get a $5 gift card. If you have a $5 gift card from the Fiber One deal last week that I talked about, you can roll this over and use coupons to get these for next to nothing.

Here is an example:

Buy 5 Honey Sunshine Kashi Cereals (hoping your Target carries this flavor) at $2.88 each

Use your Vocal Point coupons--4 $1.50/1 coupons and one Free Box coupon

Use a $5 gift card from previous week (or invest $5 if you need to)

Spend $0.52 out of pocket ($0.10 per box!) and get a $5 gift card too!

(Wow, that is tons better than my Albertsons deal that I thought was so great.)

If you don't have the VocalPoint coupons, then there are some printable coupons here, here, here, and here for Kashi cereal and granola bars that you can also use in this deal. Also, you can go here to sign up to receive coupons from VocalPoint in the future.

Albertson's Kashi Deal

For those of you who get mailers for VocalPoint, Albertsons is running a great deal that ends Tuesday on their Kashi Cereal. It is 2 for $6.00, but you get $4 off instantly when you purchase 4 boxes. If you pick up 4 boxes of the Kashi Honey Sunshine and use 4 of your $1.50 coupons from the last VocalPoint mailing, then you pick up these boxes of cereal for only $0.50 each. That is well within my target of <$1 per box of cereal.

For those of you who aren't signed up with VocalPoint yet, I highly recommend it. They send coupons (usually high value ones compared to those in the paper) and sometimes samples about once a month. Some of their most recent include Rice Crispies, Bounce Dryer Bar, and the Kashi Honey Sunshine. Go here to sign up to receive their mailings.

Case Lot Sale and More

Did you all get your packed of ads in the mail yesterday? If so I hope that you carefully looked through them because there were 2 surprises:

1. There were 2 Red Plum inserts. There were 2 coupons that I was especially excited for. First is the $0.55/1 box of Poptarts coupon. Combine that with the $0.75 Target coupon found here to get boxes of Poptarts for around $0.22 each. Next is the $0.50/1 bag Nestle tollhouse morsels. We are out of chocolate chips, and I'm pretty sure that these will go on sale before this coupon expires so we can stock up again (yes, I did go through the trash can again and get out all the inserts that others had thrown away so I have many coupons to use).

2. It's CASE LOT SALE time at Smiths starting today. There are several items that seem to be pretty good deals. I'm hoping that it is like last time in that you don't need to buy a whole case to get the good price. If that's the case (no pun intended) then use these printable coupons I found to get some cans for next to nothing:

Libby's Vegetables 2 for $1.00
Get $1.00/3 cans printable coupon here (print twice)

Final cost = $0.17 per can

Bumble Bee Chunk Light Tuna 2 for $1.00

Get $1.00/5 cans printable coupon here (print twice)

Final cost = $0.30 per can

Hunts Snack Pack Pudding $0.90/4-pack

Get $1.00/4 4-packs printable coupon here (click on "Get Special Savings" and print twice)

Final cost = $0.65 per 4-pack

Target deals 09/06 - 09/12

One of my favorite deals is back again at Target this week. Buy 5 participating Fiber One products get a $5 gift card (unfortunately the Fiber One Yogurt is not part of this deal). I put to good use those coupons that I just got in the mail, but if you haven't gotten yours yet, you can print some coupons for Fiber One items

There are $0.40/1 and $1/2 Fiber One Cereal Bar coupons here, here, and here.

There are $0.50/1 Fiber One Muffin Mix coupons here and here.

There are $0.75/1 Fiber One cereal coupons here, here, and here.

There are also $1/1 General Mills Cereal Target coupon that can be combined with the above manufacturers coupon here for the Fiber One cereal.

Here is a potential scenerio:

Buy 5 boxes of Fiber One cereal at $2.50 each

Use 5 $0.75/1 coupons

Use 5 $1/1 Target General Mills cereal coupons (if your store allows you to use multiple Target coupons in one transaction)

Spend $3.75 plus tax out of pocket, Get a $5 gift card back

Free plus $1.25 overage after coupons and gift card!

I picked up a couple of other deals while I was there, invested a $5 gift card from a previous deal a few weeks ago, and came out with a $5 gift card.

Total spent: $2.41 Total value: $21.55 Total Saved: 89%

Redbox Free Rental Code

It's the first Monday of the month, so that means it's free Redbox code day. The code today is T46T3Q7. It is good until midnight CST tonight. You can get a free movie rental per credit card, so you can potentially get several DVDs today to watch. Grab some popcorn and enjoy movie night tonight.

Mailbox Goodies

I love my daily trip to the mailbox with my daughter. I get so excited to see what freebies and coupons the mailman brought to me that day. Sometimes it is a really great day, while other times we open the mailbox only to be totally disappointed when we see that it is empty.

Today was one of those great days. I was pleased to find 3 different coupon booklets there. There was a booklet from Pampers and Huggies, both full of coupons, as well as a box from Fiber One, also full of coupons as well as a free sample of their granola bar and cereal. You too can sign up online with Pampers (here) and Huggies (here) to get these periodical mailers full of coupons (which really come in handy with a baby in the house). Also, Fiber One is still running their free sample + coupons promotion. You can sign up here for your own sample.

Free Blue Bunny Sedona or Aspen Frozen Yogurt Granola Novelty

Purchase a box of Blue Bunny Sedona or Aspen Frozen Yogurt Granola Novelty this Labor Day weekend (between Sep 5-7) and submit for a full rebate using the form here and you essentially get these for free (they did this same promotion over Memorial Day weekend too, and I tried out the Sedona variety--all I can say is Yum!).

You can also upload the Upromise ecoupon here to have $1 deposited to your Upromise education account when you buy this product, but that's if you can find these at a participating Upromise store. They didn't have them at my Albertsons or Smiths, so I had to pick them up for $3.50 at Walmart and miss out on the Upromise bonus.

Free Scrubbing Bubbles Gift Pack

The first 10,000 people to register here will receive a free Scrubbing Bubbles gift pack. I am a big fan of the Scrubbing Bubbles brand. We have their automatic shower cleaner and toilet cleaning gel, and they are great. Hurry quick because these will go fast.

Albertson's Trip and Grocery Smarts

I just wanted to drop a quick post on my successful trip to Albertsons, making use of 3 of my double coupon deals from the paper that I posted about here. Using those three matched with manufacturer's coupons, as well as having coupons on some of my other items I was able to walk away with $40.10 worth of food for $8.94--a 78% savings. (That's an average of $0.69 per item). It looks like we will be having some Mexican-inspired food this week (my favorite--must be from my days as a missionary along the Texas-Mexico border)

The best part was having the cashier stand there with her jaw dropped, then pulling me aside and whispering, "How do you do that? I want to be able to do that to." I referred her to Grocery Smarts. It is a great way to get into couponing and start learning the ins and outs of it. That is how I get a lot of my grocery lists for my trips to Albertsons and Smiths. Here is a list of their diffferent codes for each region to be able to get into the area-specific grocery store deals:

Southern Nevada--g89ccb

Utah--g84rcm

Southern California--g92ro1

Arizona--g85ro1

Eastern Washington--g99ro1

Idaho--g83ro1