Hi all.
I have been quite busy lately with planning my wedding so have neglected this blog. :( Anyway...on to the updates.
Well, since I last wrote, Rite Aid has started a new rewards program with +Up Rewards! I love these! You can usually find some good moneymakers each week where you might initially pay a dollar or two and end up with at least the amount you paid back in rewards. I usually end up with at least half of what I pay back in rewards. You do need to sign up for their rewards program, but it is free and it really really pays off! I was able to get quite a few Christmas gifts over the holidays with these rewards, plus I am able to get some fun stuff for me or for Chas with them when they are going to expire before I have a shopping trip to make. They even help out with normal needs like toilet paper or tissues or paper towels. It is nice because they are like gift cards (except you have to use the whole thing in one transaction and the transaction has to be over the total rewards amount) and you can use as many as you want in one transaction.
Some good rewards items to keep an eye out for is anything that you get the same amount back in rewards or more back in rewards for.
For instance, a few weeks ago there were folders at Rite Aid that were 99 cents. When you purchased them you got a 2 dollar reward back. I bought two of them each at two different stores and ended up with eight dollars in rewards though I only spent four dollars. I also got a package of pencils that cost 99 cents and I got 2 dollars back in rewards. I plan to donate these items when they do back to school drives for school supplies in the area. Then I was able to turn around and roll my rewards by purchasing things I needed (laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc.) that had rewards on them and I ended up with even more rewards.
This is the fun part of couponing. It is nice to know that though you may not be able to donate time or money to different places you can donate things that are needed that you barely paid anything for (if you even pay anything for them).
I have been able to make diaper cakes for friends for under twenty dollars cost to me, I have been able to make some awesome baby shower bags, and I was able to purchase all my gifts for Christmas for everyone in my family and Chas for under a hundred dollars all because of coupons.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday, April 30, 2010
Sorry, it has been awhile.
Hey guys, sorry it has been awhile. Life has been a little hectic while I adjusted to my new job as a nanny for two kids. :) It's been fun though, but now that I'm getting used to it, hopefully I will be updating this more often. :p
For this post I just wanted to talk about money making opportunities online. I know there are a lot of hoaxes out there, so I'm not at all encouraging that you just go out there and google search money making opportunities, but the ones I will talk about today are totally legitimate, and personally tested and approved by me.
The first one I would like to talk about is mypoints.com. I have been a part of the mypoints community for about three years, and it definitely pays off. It is a wonderful site where once you sign up, you begin to earn points toward gift cards and/or online gift codes (they e-mail some of them to you, like some of the ones for Amazon.com and such). There are many ways to earn points, but some of my favorites are daily e-mails and printing coupons. I have talked about coupons.com before on this site, as one of my favorite coupon sites. Smartsource is another one I have talked about before as well. The great thing about mypoints is that you can earn points for printing the coupons you would be printing anyway! Both coupons.com and smartsource.com are linked to this site, and you can earn bonus points if you print and redeem more than ten in a month. (This is usually easy to do once you are used to couponing.) The daily e-mails can be overwhelming, but as long as you check your e-mail regularly, it's not bad. This is the way I earned my first gift card. It took me a year, but it was still worth it. You get five points for each e-mail you read just by clicking on the link to whatever the e-mail is advertising. The e-mails and links are always legitimate and there are not viruses as a result. $10 gift cards are usually somewhere around 1500 points, so it would take awhile to get there just by reading e-mails, but it's fairly quick and easy if you are also printing coupons. :) You can also earn points by shopping online, so if you are an online shopper (I'm not), you will earn points much more quickly.
The second one is opinionoutpost.com. This site is wonderful. Once you sign up, you fill out profiles, and they send surveys to an online members area where you can go in and take ones that are ready. You just sign in and there is a list of surveys that are available for you. I earned a ten dollar check within two weeks of signing up, which, compared to other survey sites is so quick! I am almost to another ten dollar check, but you can request them starting at five dollars earned. The point value per survey varies, and the point values stand for dollar amounts, such as, 15 points= 1.50, etc. It is a really quick way to make some small amounts of extra money here and there, and the checks are mailed from Utah. I got my check within a week of requesting it, even though they say to allow 4-6 weeks. :)
Check these sites out, they are awesome. :)
For this post I just wanted to talk about money making opportunities online. I know there are a lot of hoaxes out there, so I'm not at all encouraging that you just go out there and google search money making opportunities, but the ones I will talk about today are totally legitimate, and personally tested and approved by me.
The first one I would like to talk about is mypoints.com. I have been a part of the mypoints community for about three years, and it definitely pays off. It is a wonderful site where once you sign up, you begin to earn points toward gift cards and/or online gift codes (they e-mail some of them to you, like some of the ones for Amazon.com and such). There are many ways to earn points, but some of my favorites are daily e-mails and printing coupons. I have talked about coupons.com before on this site, as one of my favorite coupon sites. Smartsource is another one I have talked about before as well. The great thing about mypoints is that you can earn points for printing the coupons you would be printing anyway! Both coupons.com and smartsource.com are linked to this site, and you can earn bonus points if you print and redeem more than ten in a month. (This is usually easy to do once you are used to couponing.) The daily e-mails can be overwhelming, but as long as you check your e-mail regularly, it's not bad. This is the way I earned my first gift card. It took me a year, but it was still worth it. You get five points for each e-mail you read just by clicking on the link to whatever the e-mail is advertising. The e-mails and links are always legitimate and there are not viruses as a result. $10 gift cards are usually somewhere around 1500 points, so it would take awhile to get there just by reading e-mails, but it's fairly quick and easy if you are also printing coupons. :) You can also earn points by shopping online, so if you are an online shopper (I'm not), you will earn points much more quickly.
The second one is opinionoutpost.com. This site is wonderful. Once you sign up, you fill out profiles, and they send surveys to an online members area where you can go in and take ones that are ready. You just sign in and there is a list of surveys that are available for you. I earned a ten dollar check within two weeks of signing up, which, compared to other survey sites is so quick! I am almost to another ten dollar check, but you can request them starting at five dollars earned. The point value per survey varies, and the point values stand for dollar amounts, such as, 15 points= 1.50, etc. It is a really quick way to make some small amounts of extra money here and there, and the checks are mailed from Utah. I got my check within a week of requesting it, even though they say to allow 4-6 weeks. :)
Check these sites out, they are awesome. :)
Monday, April 5, 2010
K Mart doublers
Let me start by saying that unfortunately, as far as I know the Salem store is not participating in this event.
However, if you are up in Everett, the Everett store is participating. A few stores run doubler events. In the Salem area Safeway has doubler coupons in their ads, and up here Albertsons does the same thing. Apparently K Mart does the same type of thing once a year or so. You have to have a rewards card, and you can double up to five coupons per card per day. (Some people are reporting that you can do more than one transaction per day per card and it still doubles them.) Now, K mart will not double over the price of the item, so you cannot earn overage on the items normally. You can, however, score some sweet deals for free! Getting a rewards card is easy, just head over to the K mart website and sign up for one. You can even print it right from the website right after you sign up and go in and use it today!
Happy Shopping to you!
However, if you are up in Everett, the Everett store is participating. A few stores run doubler events. In the Salem area Safeway has doubler coupons in their ads, and up here Albertsons does the same thing. Apparently K Mart does the same type of thing once a year or so. You have to have a rewards card, and you can double up to five coupons per card per day. (Some people are reporting that you can do more than one transaction per day per card and it still doubles them.) Now, K mart will not double over the price of the item, so you cannot earn overage on the items normally. You can, however, score some sweet deals for free! Getting a rewards card is easy, just head over to the K mart website and sign up for one. You can even print it right from the website right after you sign up and go in and use it today!
Happy Shopping to you!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Travel Size and Clearance-"Money Makers"
Now, for the most part, unless you live near a store that pays you back overage, you can't actually make money with coupons. (Sans rebates, etc.) However, something you can do to be creative at Target is use travel sizes and clearance items to your advantage to get you a bigger discount off other items.
Note: You DO have to pick the right cashier for this one. Today my cashier was a very nice young man who pushed all my coupons through.
ALWAYS look at clearance end panels. Today there were a ton of diapers, laundry detergent, cat food, and feminine hygiene products on clearance. I got a laundry booster that was normally 6.99 for 1.88 with a coupon I had saved from awhile ago. There was also a dog food package for 1.27 but I had a three dollar off coupon, making me 1.73 to spend on other items. Then I had a coupon that did not exclude travel sizes and got some toothpaste, which make me .50 to use on other items. So my total came to .62 because I had to buy a filler item to absorb the extra. :)
This is a great way to get "extra discounts" on things, however, it does take the right cashier, and I can't stress that enough. :p
Okay, so look at clearance. :)
Also, always check to see if coupons for health and beauty items exclude travel sizes. If they don't, this is a great way to get items for free! Most deodorants, shampoos and conditioners can be found in travel sizes. Toothpaste and Johnson and Johnson stuff is also easy to find in travel sizes. Coupons for these items are usually for a dollar off, and most of the stuff is priced at a dollar, so it makes it free. Sometimes you'll even get a few extra cents off your other items because the travel size item is .97 or so. It's a fun way to fill up baby shower baskets, decorate diaper cakes, or fill up stockings or easter baskets. :) Most coupons say (excludes trial sizes) like that or have a size restriction, but a lot of them don't, even ones that come in the paper! A TON of printables lately haven't had size restrictions, and those are the most common coupons to not have size restrictions, but occasionally you will get that lucky smartsource coupon.
Just remember, Target is really the only place you can do this because while they are supposed to adjust the coupons down, they don't, so if you pick the right cashier, you can get an extra discount on your other items there. :) Other places will just adjust the price down for you. So if you have coupons that make items free, it's still a good deal, just fun if you can get an extra discount at Target. :)
Note: You DO have to pick the right cashier for this one. Today my cashier was a very nice young man who pushed all my coupons through.
ALWAYS look at clearance end panels. Today there were a ton of diapers, laundry detergent, cat food, and feminine hygiene products on clearance. I got a laundry booster that was normally 6.99 for 1.88 with a coupon I had saved from awhile ago. There was also a dog food package for 1.27 but I had a three dollar off coupon, making me 1.73 to spend on other items. Then I had a coupon that did not exclude travel sizes and got some toothpaste, which make me .50 to use on other items. So my total came to .62 because I had to buy a filler item to absorb the extra. :)
This is a great way to get "extra discounts" on things, however, it does take the right cashier, and I can't stress that enough. :p
Okay, so look at clearance. :)
Also, always check to see if coupons for health and beauty items exclude travel sizes. If they don't, this is a great way to get items for free! Most deodorants, shampoos and conditioners can be found in travel sizes. Toothpaste and Johnson and Johnson stuff is also easy to find in travel sizes. Coupons for these items are usually for a dollar off, and most of the stuff is priced at a dollar, so it makes it free. Sometimes you'll even get a few extra cents off your other items because the travel size item is .97 or so. It's a fun way to fill up baby shower baskets, decorate diaper cakes, or fill up stockings or easter baskets. :) Most coupons say (excludes trial sizes) like that or have a size restriction, but a lot of them don't, even ones that come in the paper! A TON of printables lately haven't had size restrictions, and those are the most common coupons to not have size restrictions, but occasionally you will get that lucky smartsource coupon.
Just remember, Target is really the only place you can do this because while they are supposed to adjust the coupons down, they don't, so if you pick the right cashier, you can get an extra discount on your other items there. :) Other places will just adjust the price down for you. So if you have coupons that make items free, it's still a good deal, just fun if you can get an extra discount at Target. :)
Monday, March 29, 2010
If you missed the Sunday Paper yesterday...
Check your local Walgreens. I forgot to get a paper yesterday (We were running errands all day and playing video games, oops) but I remembered that I had seen the Sunday paper at Walgreens with a sign that said it is sold there all week. So I made a quick trip to my Walgreens and to my delight they had both the Seattle Times Sunday and the Everett Herald Sunday papers! :)
Just another tip I hope you find helpful. :)
Just another tip I hope you find helpful. :)
Steals outside of stores
There are multiple ways to also save money outside of stores. Often, the online branch of a store will have a better sale than the store itself. For instance, often online at Old Navy, they will have free shipping or something in addition to sale prices on the site that are not available in store. In that case, even if you end up spending more than you would in store to reach the $50 free shipping total, you would save more money, because you would be getting more product for that $50 than you would have in store. The only thing I have to say about this is just to make sure you can return the items in store or it will not be convenient for you at all. Be sure to check other sites before you shop to see if you can get the items cheaper by waiting a week or so to get them. :)
One of my favorite sites to visit daily is www.babysteals.com. Every day they offer a different name brand baby item at about 60% of a discount. It's wonderful if you have baby showers to shop for or if you have a baby yourself! They even have baby carriers and diaper bags on sale usually once a week! It's a great place to look for organic clothing and good baby music, etc.
Sometimes store coupons can be used online as well, using a little discount code that is usually found at the bottom of the coupon. Usually these coupons are coupons you are handed in store, when you check out or buy a certain amount of items at retailers like Kohls, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, etc. Most store coupons from Target or Wal Mart or Kmart can not be used online, but Target does have the occasional coupon on their site you can use online. Target sometimes has special deals on beauty products if you order them from online as well.
Shopping online does take patience, as you can't be shopping for something you desperately need this week, but if you are willing to wait a bit, you can often save more money than if you bought it in store.
Be sure to factor in shipping when you shop online though, because sometimes with the shipping cost included, even sale prices turn out to not be any better than store prices.
One of my favorite sites to visit daily is www.babysteals.com. Every day they offer a different name brand baby item at about 60% of a discount. It's wonderful if you have baby showers to shop for or if you have a baby yourself! They even have baby carriers and diaper bags on sale usually once a week! It's a great place to look for organic clothing and good baby music, etc.
Sometimes store coupons can be used online as well, using a little discount code that is usually found at the bottom of the coupon. Usually these coupons are coupons you are handed in store, when you check out or buy a certain amount of items at retailers like Kohls, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, etc. Most store coupons from Target or Wal Mart or Kmart can not be used online, but Target does have the occasional coupon on their site you can use online. Target sometimes has special deals on beauty products if you order them from online as well.
Shopping online does take patience, as you can't be shopping for something you desperately need this week, but if you are willing to wait a bit, you can often save more money than if you bought it in store.
Be sure to factor in shipping when you shop online though, because sometimes with the shipping cost included, even sale prices turn out to not be any better than store prices.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Paper day!
I have become quite excited on Sundays lately. :) Why Sundays? It's when the Sunday paper comes out! And the Sunday paper has coupons in it!
There are a few ways you can get the Sunday paper. Newspaper offices do offer the option to have just the Sunday paper delivered for a year at a time at a discounted price, but since I live in an apartment and will be moving before the year is over, I choose to just pick them up at the grocery store at some point during the day. :)
Sundays are also when the ads come out, and when I spend my time matching ads and coupons so I can plan my shopping trips! It's just easiest to do right away on Sunday, Sundays are usually my lazy days. :)
Anyway, run out and get a paper today! Consider it your first step to becoming obsessed with couponing!
There are a few ways you can get the Sunday paper. Newspaper offices do offer the option to have just the Sunday paper delivered for a year at a time at a discounted price, but since I live in an apartment and will be moving before the year is over, I choose to just pick them up at the grocery store at some point during the day. :)
Sundays are also when the ads come out, and when I spend my time matching ads and coupons so I can plan my shopping trips! It's just easiest to do right away on Sunday, Sundays are usually my lazy days. :)
Anyway, run out and get a paper today! Consider it your first step to becoming obsessed with couponing!
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