Friday, February 25, 2011

Coupon: Nivea Lip Care (free next week)


Nivea has some great coupons on their Facebook page. One of which is a $2/2 Lip care product coupon. It looks like both Rite Aid & Walgreens will have these on sale for $1 next week, so you'll be able to pick them up for free!

They also have coupons for $1/1  Body Lotion and
$1/1 Body Wash for Women.

Go to their Facebook page and like them to get the coupons.

COUPON: Polaner All Fruit w/ Fiber

I personally love Polaner All Fruit. It's just sweet enough and doesn't have any of that after-taste that some sugar-free fruit spreads have (because it's sweetened with juice).  So, I was quite glad to come across this coupon on the frugallivingandhavingfun blog, for $1/1 jar of Polaner All Fruit w/ Fiber.

I haven't decided if I'm thrilled about the way that fiber is being added to everything lately, but I do need to get more, so I guess I'll take it.

Click here for the coupon (look for it on the bottom right of the page).

Spending Goals: February Spending Report

I missed a week on reporting my goals. To be honest, I didn't feel much like doing anything to do with couponing (including blogging) after the debacle last week at Kroger.

The short version is that after they called to tell me the second half of my special order was in, when we tried to ring out with it the cashier told me we could only use (1) of the $3 Daytona coupons per transaction. There's nothing in those coupons that limit them and I'd used 4 at a time without a problem earlier in the week.  After a lot of hassles from the cashier, the CS desk and the floor supervisor and basically being made to feel like we were shoplifting for wanting to do what we knew was allowed, we finally got to the store manager.  He ended up calling corporate and called me back on Tuesday to tell me that yes we could use more than 1 per transaction, that there was no limit placed at corporate and the limits were only placed by the store and as far as he was concerned there was no problem.  The end result is that we decided we wouldn't be back to that store. While the manager was great and we really appreciated the grocery manager's efforts on the special order, we just don't want to deal with those types of attitudes when we are checking out (and it's the cashier's we'd have to deal with every time we go in).  There are several other Kroger's in town so we'll go to a different one.  We still need to go and use the rest of our Daytona coupons (we have 8 left, after using 1 at Publix last weekend).

All in all, we spent too much this month; for several reasons.  We spent more than I'd intended at Kroger (mainly because of not being allowed to use multiple $3 Qs when picking up the second half of our special order).  Somewhere along the last few months (according to my accountant husband) we shorted the grocery fund so that shortage came back to us this month giving us more than we normally schedule for groceries.

In the end, we spent $351.45 this month

Here's the breakdown since my last update:
  • Target - paid $9.13 for $12.16 worth of groceries (2/12)
  • Rite Aid - paid $1.87 for $17.90 worth of items (2/12)
  • Rite Aid - paid $4.50 for $76.49 worth of items (2/13)
  • Kroger - paid $37.13 for $67.45 worth of groceries (2/13) - first Mega trip - got (4) $3 Daytona Qs
  • Kroger - paid $43.26 for $143.46 worth of groceries (2/15) - first 1/2 of special order, used (4) $3 Daytona Qs, got back 5 more.
  • Walgreen - paid $4.10 for $19.96 worth of items (2/17)
  • Publix - paid $22.52 for $85.18 worth of items (2/17)
  • Kroger - paid $40.47 for $129.50 worth of groceries (2/19) -the bad trip, only used (1) $3 Daytona Q, got back 5.
  • Publix - paid $1.04 for $7.98 worth of groceries (2/20) - used 1 of my $3 Kroger Qs
  • Walgreens - paid $13.64 for $32.92 worth of items (2/22) - used personal money
  • Publix - paid .71 for $31.75 worth of groceries (2/24)
  • Rite Aid - paid $1.49 for $18.97 worth of items (2/24) - hit Winter Reward goal and received $20+UP
So for the month, we've spent $351.54 for a total of $1091.12 in grocery & drugstore items.  For a total savings of $786.07, or 72%

Overall a pretty good return.  I only took out $20 for grocery spending for the next 2 weeks and that's really all I want/intend to spend.  Our stockpile is pretty well stocked and we have plenty of the basics, as well as $24 in Kroger coupons to spend (it will be interesting to see how that ends up working out).

Paid .71 for $31.75 Worth of Groceries

I'm not proud of this picture. We really didn't need more pasta, I'm actually trying to cut back on pasta and we have at least 6 boxes on shelves already, but when I realized that it was a money maker and that if I bought 10 boxes the pasta would pay for my milk, I couldn't resist. Especially, after last weeks debacle at Kroger.



So, here's what I got...
(3) Silk Soy Milk @ 2/$5
(1) Mueller's pasta @ $1.49 BOGO
(2) Sargento Extra Sharp Cheddar (rainchecked from last week @ 2/$4)

Used
(10) $1/1 Meuller's pasta
(3) $1/1 Silk Soy Milk
(3) .75/1 Silk Soy Milk (Publix store Q)
(1) .50/2 Sargento chesse (doubled)

(2) $1.50/1 Sargento Extra Sharp Cheddar (Publix store Q).

Paid .71 OOP

The actual tax on this transaction was $1.01, so I paid .30 less than the tax.  This was a great shopping moment, and made me feel a lot better about couponing again.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Redbox: Free Rental Tonight



Head over to Facebook and "Like" Redbox .  Then click on the "FREEBIE" tab to get the code for your free 1 night rental.  Don't forget this is only good for tonight, so don't delay!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tax Tidbit: You Can Write That Off?

In talking with the new accountant yesterday we were discussing various things that could be written off.  We knew that medical bills could be written off if they reach a certain percentage of your income, but what surprised us both was finding out that you can also write off mileage of driving to and from Drs. appointments.  This was a nice surprise for us since I drive 200 miles round trip on a monthly basis for Drs appointments.

FWIW, you can't write off your pets.

Code on the Swagbucks Blog & 50 Extra Swagbucks for New Signups!

Search & Win


There is a code on the Swagbucks blog good for 15 Swagbucks until 4pmEST

If you aren't a member of Swagbucks, right now is a perfect time to join. In celebration of their 3rd birthday they are giving away and additional 50 Swagbucks to any new signups (that's on top of the 30 you normally get on signup). So if you haven't already joined Swagbucks, click here and be sure to enter the code HipBirthday.

Also, on February 28 they will be giving away lots of Swagbucks codes for their birthday, so be sure to friend them on Facebook & Twitter and watch the blog regularly throughout that day for new codes.

Why Swagbucks?
Simple.  Because Swagbucks gives you points for doing stuff online that you'd do anyway (like searches) and even for trading in used video games, cell phones and books.  They give you points for no reason at all (like the 15 Swagbucks they are giving away today).  Then you can take those Swagbucks and trade them in for real stuff like electronics and gift cards.  I like to get the Amazon gift cards (it only takes 450 Swagbucks to earn a $5 Amazon gift card).  If you join today and grab the 2 codes I just told you about, you'll be almost a quarter of the way to your first gift card!





Search & Win

Publix Sale Matchups

Be sure to check Passionate Penny Pincher for details of the new Publix ad (starting today) and coupon matchups!

We are shopping light this week, and buying lots of Silk Soy Milk at .75-$1 per half gallon. We'll probably be using our $3 Kroger coupons to buy it too!

3 Inserts Sunday (including Proctor & Gamble)

Proctor & Gamble is by far my favorite insert as they put out some really good coupons for products I know we'll use, so it makes me happy that this week is a Proctor & Gamble week.  We should also be seeing a Smartsource insert & a Redplum insert this week.

Just a little preview of what to expect in the P&G insert....

  • $4/1 Vicks Sinex product
  • $2/1 Gillette body wash
  • $1/1 Head & Shoulders
  • $1/1 Pantene
  • Buy Vicks product, Get Puffs FREE
  • Buy Old Spice Antiperspirant/ deodorant GET bodywash FREE

For the full preview of what to expect in this insert as well as the others, check out the Sunday Coupon Preview.


2/$20 Candles @ Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works has their 4oz candles on sale 2/$20 both online and in the store. Also, when we were in the store I noticed quite a few of these candles had a peelie coupon that allowed you to get $10 off on the large 3-wick candles (up to 3 per coupon).

If you are ordering online, you will want to go through Ebates and get a little cash back (3%) to cover some of the shipping fees.