KGB Deals - daily deals

Evidently, I'm old enough to remember why this is a terrible name. But, there is another new "daily deal" site on the block and you may just want to join so you can be notified of what deals they have in your area. They aren't in my city yet, but they do also offer National deals (typically online purchases).

As with any of the daily deals sites you do need to pay attention and check to make sure that what you are purchasing is actually a deal.

Check out KGB Deals by clicking here.

Italian Days at Publix

This week starts Publix Italian Days promotion, and there are some great coupons available to go with it from clickcallmail.com . You'll need to register then just click on the "promotions" tab to print the Publix coupons. While you are there be sure to also click the "coupons" tab and print off some great General Mills coupons that you'll be able to stack with the Publix coupons.

FREE Rental from Redbox - Today Only

Redbox wants to help you celebrate Valentines Day, and they are offering you a FREE movie rental to get the party started.  Whether you are heading out for a night on the town and just want a movie to help keep the kids happy, or you are staying in with someone you love and want to cozy up with a movie. 

Use coupon code BEMINE to snag your free rental

Sunday 2/13 Coupons

For a preview of what's to come each week in your Sunday paper, be sure to check out the Sunday Coupon Preview.

Here's what showed up in my paper this week.  There were 3 inserts; General Mills, Redplum & SmartSource.

General Mills

• $1/3 General Mills cereals listed
• .75/1 Cinnamon Burst Cheerios
• .50/1 Multipack Yoplait Delights
• $1/5 Totino's Crisp Crust Party Pizza
• .50/2 Yoplait Original or Light 4pks
• .75/2 Yoplait Gogurt or Trix yogurt
• .50/1 Yoplait Splitz yogurt
• .40/6 Yoplait cups
• .40/6 Yoplait cups
• .50/1 Yoplait FiberOne multipack
• .40/1 pouch (17.5 oz or larger) Betty Crocker cookie mix
• .60/2 Yoplait Greed yogurt cups
• .50/1 Betty Crocker Supreme Brownie or Dessert Bar mixes
• .50/1 any variety Green Giant Just For One vegetables
• .75/3 Hamburger/Tuna/Chicken helper meals
• .50/1 Yoplait Kids Cup yogurt
• .50/2 Betty Crocker boxed potatoes
• $1/1 Wanchai Ferry frozen entree
• $1/2 Romano's Macaroni Grill/ Wanchai Ferry or Good Earth dinner kit
• $1/4 cans Progresso soups
• .55/1 Pillsbury "Simply" refrigerated cookie dough
• .35/1 can refrigerated Simply buttermilk biscuits
• .35/1 can refrigerated Pillsbury Simply Rustic French bread
• $1/1 Pillsbury Refrigerated cookie dough
• .50/2 Pillsbury Toaster Strudel pastries
• $1/2 Frozen Pillsbury Grands biscuits
• .40/3 refrigerated Pillsbury Grands biscuits
• .40/2 Pillsbury Sweet Rolls or Grands! Sweet Rolls
• .75/1 Pillsbury Sweet Moments Refrigerated desserts
• .75/2 boxes Nature Valley Granola bars
• .50/1 Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix bars
• .50/2 Betty Crocker fruit snacks

Redplum

• Subway BO 6" sub with drink G1 sub of equal or lesser value
• (2) B1 drink before 11am, G1 6" breakfast sub or flatbread
• $2/1 Millstone Coffee (.5lb or larger) prepack or K-cup portion pack
• $1/1 Uncle Ben's Plain White or Brown Rice product
• $1/1 Colavita EVOO
• $1/1 Pedigree Goodbites
• $2/1 any shade L'Oreal Preference
• $1/4 Zataran's Rice mixes
• $1/2 Zataran's frozen entrees
• .35/1 Hillshire Farm deli select lunchmeat
• $1/1 40ct, 80ct or 9.8oz spoonable Truvia
• $1/1 bag 9Lives Dry cat food (3.15lb or larger)
• .75/1 12can variety pack 9Lives wet cat food (or 12 individual cans or (3) 4packs
• .50/1 Neosporin product or 1 Band-Aid brand adhesive bandage product
• $1.50/1 Neosporin product AND Band-Aid Brand Adhesive bandage product
• $3/1 120ct i-Flex
• $2/1 i-cool For Menopause
• $10/1 Crest 3D White 2-Hr Express or Professional Effects Whitestrips
• $1/1 Covergirl Eyelights product
• $3/1 Gain fabric softener sheets
• $1/1 Gain detergent

SmartSource

• $3/1 Olay Pro-X Facial Moisturizer or Facial Cleanser
• $1/1 Olay Facial Moisturizer or Facial Cleanser
• .50/3 (or 1 bundle pack) Kleenex
• $1/1 Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara or any Revlon Color Cosmetic product
• .55/1 Hormel Compleats microwave meal
• $1/3 participating Hormel Foods
• $1/1 Hormel Refrigerated entree
• $1/2 Hormel Country Crock side dishes
• $1/1 Hormel Always Tender flavored meat (any variety)
• .50/1 Gorton's item
• $2/1 Nice 'n Easy hair color product
• $4/1 Luster 1 Hour White
• $1.50/1 Luster White 7
• $1/1 Almay cosmetic item
• .40/4 Campbell's condensed soups
• $5/1 Osteo Bi-Flex
• $2.50/2 U by Kotex Pads
• $2.50/2 U by Kotex tampons
• .60/1 Pepperidge Farm cookies
• .50/1 Colgate toothpaste
• $3/1 Glade Plugins Scented Oil Lasting Impressions holder
• $1/1 Glade Plugins Scented Oil twin refill or (2) single refills
• $1/1 Pledge 12.5oz Aerosol product
• Theraflu Warming Relief Try Me FREE mail in rebate
• $3/2 Theraflu products
• $2/1 Triaminic Fever Reducer product
• $3/2 Triaminic products
• $1.50/1 Comtrex product
• $1.50/1 4-Way Nasal Spray product
• $4/1 Prevacid 24HR product
• .35/1 any variety 4Grain eggs
• .75/1 Tornados
• .75/2 PictSweet deluxe sides frozen vegetables
• $1/1 4pk or larger Better Than Ears Treats or 8oz Guilt-Free treats
• $3/1 Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap System
• $1.25/2 Ziploc brand bags
• $1.25/2 Ziploc brand slider bags
• .55/1 Ziploc Zip'n Steam bags
• $1/1 Ziploc Vacuum Bag Starter Kit or refill
• $2.50/1 6lb or larger Rachel Ray Nutrish
• BOGO 10oz package of Rachel Ray Just 6" Dog Treats
• $1/1 Welch's Grape Juice (64oz or 10oz-6pk)
• $1/6 Purina Friskies Selects
• $1/15 5.5oz cans Purina Friskies canned cat food
• $1/1 3.15lb or larger Purina Friskies dry cat food

Spending Goals: February Week 2 Report

Evidently, somewhere around the first of the year we screwed up on our budgeting schedule.  This might explain why I've been so tight on the grocery budget (I'm not really sure), whatever the case we realized that groceries got shorted $100 somewhere along the way.  That money has now been restored, which is a good thing with this Kroger Mega sale and the major stockpiling we are doing on Chunky soup for my hubby's lunches.

So how did I do this week?  I think I did ok actually.  I did very little shopping, since I'd done so much the week before there was no need. Plus, there were fewer sales that I felt the need to deal with.

Walgreens - $4.47 for $41 worth of drugstore items.  I used $11 worth of RR and got back $3 in RR

Next week's report will have a lot more too it.  I did hit Rite Aid twice yesterday (both times for money makers on Halls cough drops) and that will be on next week's report.

At the end of last week I was still right at $150 spent for the month.  With the budget "fix" we added another $150 to the grocery envelope yesterday.  I'll be spending about half that on Chunky soup, by the time the month is over.

My Rite Aid Trip $76.49 for $4.50 OOP

Still $10 away from the Winter Rewards! UGH!  For those who aren't familiar, Rite Aid has a special promo going right now and if you purchase $100 worth of participating items, you'll get a $20+UP (aka Rite Aid bucks to be used on your next purchase).  For the full list and details, click here.

I was quite excited about today's trip because I knew there were quite a few freebies and money makers going on.  Unfortunately, they didn't have one item in stock that I wanted about 6 of and there was at least one other item I had on my list that turned out to not be in the local ad.  This tidbit brings me to a small rant. While in the store I overheard the clerk telling her manager about a lady who was in there throwing a fit because an item wasn't on sale in the store but was in the "national" ad.  Rite Aid doesn't really have a national ad, their ads vary from location to location.  However, you will see preview ads posted online and various deal sites and bloggers (myself included) posting deals.  These deals may or may not work in your store.  While some deals are national, not all are.  So, if you go to a store and a deal isn't available, please don't get pissy. Don't yell at the cashier and jump up and down and tell them you are going to call their DM or corporate.  If you want to call corporate and complain and tell them you wish they'd make all their ads the same, by all means do so.  But, don't try to blame the store.

Ok, so back to my trip.  Here's what I got!

1 Aveeno lotion $9.89 (after 10% Wellness+ disc)
2 Vaseline @ $2.99
2 Colgate @$3.50
2 Maalox @$4.99
1 Blink Tears @ $7.99
2 Dove deo @ 2/$4
1 (100ct) Ferro-Sequels @ $18.89 (after Wellness+)

I probably should have held off on the Aveeno even though I had a coupon to get it for free.  It counts towards the Winter Rewards, but I probably could have gotten a better deal if I'd waited.  The Ferro-Sequels I actually need (man, those things are expensive.  Good thing I had a good stock of +UP rewards that needed to be used this week anyway).

These are the coupons I used:
(2) $2/1 Dove
(1) $1/1 Colgate
(1) .75/1 Colgate
(2) $5/1 Maalox
(2) $1/1 Vaseline
(1) FREE Aveeno (from B3G1 Free MIR) = $10.99

= $38.50 after coupons
used $34 in +UPs, paid $4.50 OOP (after tax)
(got back $15+UPs)

- had I not bought the Ferro-Sequals, this would have been a money maker trip.   I considered buying them separately just so it would have been.  Had they had the Hormel chili in stock that I wanted to buy, it would have been a better money-maker.

Start Your Engines: The Daytona Mega Begins

We headed to Kroger this morning for what I was scared would be the first of MANY trips during this Mega sale. I only had two items on my list, the problem was I needed a LOT of those items.

Gatorade G2 - .69 after MEGA discount
Campbell's Chunky soup bowls - $1.29 after MEGA discount

I have coupons that discount the soup another .50/bowl = .79

I had two major questions/ worries going in.  Was it true that Catalinas would print for an additional $3 off your next order (on top of taking $3 off your current order) when you buy 10 participating items.  AND, if I bought multiples of 10 would I get more than one Catalina coupon.

The answer to both question is YES!

On our first transaction we purchased 14 bowls of soup (because that was all the coupons I had today, more should arrive in the mail tomorrow) and 6 Gatorade.  Luck was on my side. Just as we we were heading to walk down to the Gatorade aisle I saw a guy stocking an endcap and asked if he just happened to be the grocery manager.  HE WAS!  I'd asked on WeUseCoupons.com how to go about doing a special order at Kroger and didn't get a lot of response but one person did tell me that at their store they'd been instructed to find the manager of the dept you wanted to do a special order in and put the order in with him.  So, that's what I did.  I let him know I wanted 100 bowls of soup.  I know that seems like a LOT, but my logic is that the last time we found this stuff on a Mega sale (getting it for around .75/bowl) was in Oct or Nov of last year.  That was 4 to 5 months ago.  I decided it was in our best interest to try to put together about a 6 month stock of soup, just in case.  This is what Paul eats for lunch every day and by doing so he's realized that it's saving us both a ton of money (rather than eating out of his envelope every day).

So here's what we have so far:

Transaction 1:
14 Soups @ $1.59 each
6 Gatorades @ .99 each
1 100ct box of Kroger Green Tea @ $3.59
1 Huntsville Times newspaper @ $1.50
-(7) .50/2 Campbell's Chunky Soup Qs (doubled)
= $28.23
- $6 Mega Savings
= $22.23 (after tax)
(received 2 coupons for $3 off on next order)

Transaction 2:
20 Gatorades @ .99
= $19.80 + tax
- $6 Mega Savings
=$14.90 (after tax)
(received 2 coupons for $3 off on next order)

I'm saving the catalinas to use when I go back for the big special order of 100 soups.  Right now I'm thinking we will do two transactions of 50 soups each, and save all the catalinas from today's purchases and from that first transaction to bring the second order down as low as possible.  However, I may do more transactions if the cashier doesn't mind so that the OOP on these orders is lower and I'm left with fewer catalinas to use later.  If I do two transactions, the first will come to about $40+tax and the second will be about $13 (and leave with another $15 in coupons to use later.

An Issue with Groupon's FTD deal... and Just Because they Call it a Deal, Doesn't Mean it Is.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this story, about how users who purchased the FTD deal through Groupon found themselves presented with something different than they may have expected at checkout.  Evidently, prices presented on the FTD link Groupon customers were instructed to use were higher than those presented on the FTD site, itself.  If you read the comments, you'll see a couple of different comments from business owners who state that Groupon sales people basically told them to raise their prices to cover the cost of the Groupon.

A few thoughts on this....

I've said before to check out the the deals you purchase before you purchase them.  If it's not a service or business where you are familiar with the pricing then check out what their regular pricing actually is.  Don't take it at face value that just because Groupon says it's $X, it really is.  I've seen at least one local deal (I can't recall if it was on Groupon or one of the other Daily Deal sites) that I looked at and instantly knew it wasn't worth buying because there was no real DEAL being offered.

If it's a deal that you are taking into a local business or restaurant and it's a true half off deal (ie. $10 for $20 worth of food/goods) you should be ok.  The prices are posted in the store and should not vary just because you have a what should be considered a gift certificate.

The article also references how some business owners have refused to take the Groupon certificates after they've already been sold (because they were overwhelmed by the amount that they saw coming in).  This is again a failure on the part of the salespeople.  There is a certain % that a business should expect to have redeemed.  Groupon has the numbers on how many total and what % of that overall total they will see in the first day or the first week.  Whether these numbers are being misrepresented by Groupon or by the individual sales people in an attempt to increase their sales is the question.  It may take some time for Groupon to learn and to properly train their sales people that honesty will get them more returning customers than dishonesty.

If you do find yourself in a situation where a business owner refuses to take a Groupon (or similar deal) that you've already paid for. Don't hesitate to call Groupon (or whichever company you purchased the deal from).  They want to keep their customers (and their name) intact and will take care of you.  They can afford to lose a few here and there, but if an entire deal crashes and burns and they refuse to take care of it, that would leave major marks that they would not be able to recover from.

So this is your reminder... don't assume it's really a deal just because someone tells you it is.  Even if that someone is me.

Appreciating What You Have: The Cheap Date

Yesterday, I got to thinking about how much my husband and I enjoyed cheap dates when we were young. Back then, it was all we could afford and a big night out was dinner at someplace like Chilis or Applebees.  Those were expensive to us back then.  We regularly went to the dollar movies because often it was all we could afford.  It really didn't matter if it was a movie we really wanted to see and often we saw some of the best movies purely on accident.  So, I decided.  I texted my husband and asked if he wanted to go on a "cheap date" with me.  He said yes.

So what did we do?

We went to Chili's and shared two appetizers.  Cost for dinner? $22 (after tip).  Enjoyment level: Awesome.  Heck, we forgot how much we love their Chips & Queso and their Southwestern Eggrolls. 

After dinner we went and walked around the mall to kill some time.  Granted this particular mall is half empty and it makes it sad and nostalgic since we spent so much time there when we were young. I worked there in 4 different stores, he visited often.  But, it was still fun to just see how much things have changed and to see how our perspectives have changed.  There was a huge sale at JCPenney's... but we looked at the prices and said "that's just too much".  Yes, we could afford it. We could afford it if wasn't on sale.  But, we are cheap now...lol.

Finally, we headed across the parking lot the dollar theater; the same theater that was a hot place to go 15 years ago when we were dating.  We bought our tickets and headed inside to see Harry Potter.  We haven't been going to movies as much in the last year or so. I think we had gotten fed up with the high prices and then getting inside to have distractions of babies crying, cell phones and people talking.  Why pay so much for something you aren't enjoying.  So, for us to go it had to be something we really wanted to see... or because we were going with friends.  We were finally going to see Harry Potter.  It was ok and we agreed it was worth $1.  The funny thing was that I think that most of the people who were there, paying only $1 were there also because they were fed up with paying high prices and having distractions.  It was probably the quietest I've seen a theater during a movie in a long time.  Once I heard a cell phone go off, and once we heard a guy talking on his cell phone.  However, we both agreed that those both seemed accidental.

In the end, our "cheap date" cost us about $28, for dinner and a movie.  But, I think we enjoyed it more than many of the times we've spent more than twice that much to do the very same thing.  We paid less for both movie tickets and two bottles of water than we normally pay for one movie ticket! 

I think we will be doing this more often.  It's funny how you appreciate things so much more when you aren't doing them all the time.  Suddenly, date night becomes something special again, rather than feeling like you are doing the same ole thing all the time.

You May Be Able to Cut Your Cell Phone Bill by 15%

Many companies have company discounts with the various cell phone providers.  Be sure to check with your employer and find out if yours is one of them.  We found out that my husband's was and just by linking up his work email address with our account it saved us 15%!

For Verizon: Go to their website and click on the "Phones & Devices" tab.  You should see "Employee Discounts" on the far right.