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.