The Children's Place, Great Savings

I'm very excited about this one especially since I have a little boy.  The Children's Place is having a 4th of July extravaganza.  They are running clearance on lots of items and they have a 15% off code you can apply to the clearance items making them up to 75% off!!!  The code to use is W2E2011.  A lot of the items on clearance happen to be summer clothing too!

Here is another great thing about The Children's Place, if you order $75 worth you get free shipping.  Even if you don't order this much they have $5 flat rate shipping on all orders in the United States.  So that is GREAT!

But, wait there's more...go through Ebates and you get 4% cash back on your entire order!!!  If you are unfamiliar with Ebates read my blog post about it here.  If you haven't yet signed up for Ebates do so through my link here and you will receive $5 dollars when you make a purchase of $25 at a store through Ebates.  This $5 dollars would pay for the shipping on your Children's Place order!  Add that $5 with your 4% cash back and you could get some really cute kids clothes very cheap!

This is worth a look guys!  Check it out

My Lovely Giveaway!

Ok everybody, I have decided to do my very first giveaway!  My Lovely Coupon Life now has a Facebook page and it is in need of some "Likes".

I set large goals so I want 1,000 "Likes".  If I can reach 1,000 "Likes" on the My Lovely Coupon Life Facebook page one lucky man and one lucky woman will receive a gift basket.  If you have already liked the page, don't worry, you are still entered into the giveaway.  Please make sure to promote the page through your own Facebook, by word of mouth, e-mail, your own blogs, or Twitter (follow me on Twitter @LuvlyCouponLife).  I have also set a date to reach this goal, which is Sunday July 10th 2011 at midnight.  If I don't have 1,000 "Likes" by then, nobody gets the gift baskets...and that's no fun because I really wanna give the gift baskets away!  If I have 1,000 or more likes by this date all who have like the page will be entered to win.

The winner will be chosen at random on Monday July 11th and will be notified via the My Lovely Coupon Life Facebook page.  Gift basket will be mailed to winner at no cost to them...it's all totally free!

Here are the goodies that will be inside the gift baskets:

Women's Gift Basket

Contents of the Women's Basket are: (1) Secret deodorant, (1) Dial NutriSkin Lotion 12 oz, (1) Dial Yogurt and Honey Nourishing Body Wash 16 oz, (1) Veet Ready-To-Use Wax Strips 20 count, (1) Oral B Pulsar electric toothbrush, (1) Colgate Total Advanced Whitening toothpaste, and (1) travel package of Band-Aid bandages.

Men's Gift Basket

Contents of the Men's Basket are: (1) Dove Men+Care deodorant, (1) Dove Men+Care Body and Face wash 13 oz, (1) Oral B Pulsar electric tooth brush, (1) Colgate Total Advanced Whitening toothpaste, (1) Schick Hydro 3 Razor, and (1) travel pack of Band-Aid bandages.

Both baskets are valued around $30 dollars each!  Click here for the Facebook page and "Like" away!!

Food Lion Fun....Again

**Don't forget to "Like" my facebook page to be entered into a giveaway!  Details here**

Every Sunday we have downtime between leaving CVS and waiting for Rite Aid to open (aka Coupon Halftime).   This past Sunday we decided to hit up Food Lion and do the "Big Deal" one more time.  For those of you who missed what we did at Food Lion last week, click here.  (hint: we saved 71% that trip!)

I had one $1 off All detergent coupon left and the Sunday paper brought some great Milo's Kitchen dog treat coupons.  Dog treats are difficult to get on a good sale so we were super excited as I'm sure the dogs are excited as well.  We used some Kraft dressings as a filler item to get ten total items.

In total we got one 32 oz All Free & Clear detergent (our favorite brand), five Milo's Kitchen dog treats, and 4 Kraft dressings.  The big deal took $5 dollars off the total purchase automatically.  Combined with coupons I got all this for $7.03 (that is with tax included).  Just to give you an idea of how much we saved the Milo's Kitchen dog treats are regularly $2.99, if we had purchased 5 of those without coupons, the dog treats alone would have been $14.95 before tax. 

The idea is to stock up where you can.  Our dogs love treats.  There was a time and we would just run into Wal-Mart when the treats were out and pick up some more, hardly even looking at the price and we certainlyy didn't have a coupon.  Makes me sick to think of all the money we were throwing away. 

Always look at the coupons you have and see if any of them match up with current sale prices.  A good rule of thumb I use is this:  If I can get a name brand cheaper than the equivalent store brand and it is an item I need, I get it.  If I absolutely need it now and the store brand is the cheapest that is what I go with and I save the coupon for another day.  Even if that coupon is about to expire go with the cheaper price, I promise you will get that coupon again.

When you are out and about shopping, don't forget to look at unit price.  If your coupon does not specify size, the better deal may be to buy 2 small boxes rather than one large box (note: this is where multiples of a coupon come in handy).  

The discussion of unit price brings me to my third and final tip, ALWAYS bring your calculator (a little $1 dollar calculator will do - you just need the 4 basic functions).  Please don't ever be embarrassed to walk around with your coupon notebook and calculator, people are usually intrigued by a couponer and want to know how you save so much!

Happy couponing!

Listia FREE Auctions

The blog has been a little quiet.  I have been promising to explain Listia more so here it is!  Think Ebay minus the money.  Listia is a totally free auction site.  There is no money involved, you use credits to bid on items (you get 400+ credits to start).  If you sign up through my link you will get an additional 100 credits.

Here is how to get the max number of credits to start:

1) Sign up through my link here
2) Once signed up, complete the Listia tutorial
3) You can link your Facebook account and Twitter account if you have them for an extra 50 points each
4) List your first auction.  The easiest thing to list as your first auction is a My Coke Rewards code.  You can find these on bottle caps or on the box of a 12 pack from any Coca Cola product.  This is easy to do for a first auction because it is something you most likely have laying around your house and you can simply e-mail the code to the winner without worrying about shipping.

This site is totally legit and I use it, you can find me - my user name is Kim051185.  Once signed up and you have your free credits you can look for things to bid on.  Before you bid you do have to verify your account.  To do this you will need to give Listia a valid phone number, they will make an automated call and give you a pin number to type in.  I have done this and I have not received any further calls from Listia nor have I gotten any telemarketing calls as a result of doing this.  The reason your account is verified to to prevent fraudulent activity.

Most auctions have free shipping when you bid on something that will be shipped. If you want something that needs to be mailed/shipped just pick an auction that has free shipping.  If you are going to list something that you plan to mail or ship you can decide if you would like to eat the shipping cost or if you would like the buyer to pay shipping.  I would suggest you pick something that wouldn't be to expensive to ship and pay shipping costs yourself until you gain some experience (the more you use Listia the more experience you gain and you will also gain the trust of the buyers).  Once you gain some experience you can ask the buyer to pick up the shipping tab if you want.

Listia does have rules and they are very fair, if you do not receive an item or if there is a dispute you can get your credits back.  Just skim over their rules if you sign up so you know what they are all about.

You can bid on or list just about anything through Listia, even coupons!  Listia only allows free coupons (not cents or dollars off, not buy one get one free...the coupon can only be for a totally free item that requires no purchase).  There are gift cards, clothes, movies, DVDs, books, baby items, purses, and jewelry to name a few.  Think super high end, upscale yard sale online.

My favorite thing to bid on is Pampers Gifts to Grow rewards codes.  I have probably gotten 1,000 Pampers points from Lista that I will put towards getting prizes at pampers.com.  If you want to know more about Pampers Gifts to Grow you can see my post about it here.  That post also contains lots of free promotional codes to get you started in the Gifts to Grow program.

Just give Listia a look, its totally worth it!  Happy bidding!

High Value Coupons Mailed to You!

As I was flipping through my coupon binder and I saw one of my "favorite" coupons which inspired this post.  It is for FREE Huggies wipes.  I received this by sending an e-mail to Huggies.  I actually complained because I swear the Huggies wipes always tear!  Anyway, a few weeks later this little gem arrived in the mail along with another $1 off any Huggies product.  I can't wait to use them.

I thought this would be a good place to post the companies that I have had success getting coupons from by sending e-mails.  I always send nice "I like your product" e-mails (with the exception of the Huggies e-mail above).  They will usually send you high value coupons and coupons that are good for a long time, sometimes they don't expire until 2012 or 2013!!

Here is the list of companies I have received coupons from:

-Beiersdorf (makers of Nivea, Eucerin, Aquaphor) -Got a number coupons (i.e. $2 off any one Nivea shave gel and $3 off any Eucerin or Aquaphor product)

-Glaxo Smith Klein - I wrote about Aquafresh and got a few coupons and a coupon book with $10 of GSK products!

-Kimberly Clark - see the Huggies coupon above

I will continue to add to this list as I find more companies that send coupons.  I think I will start working on getting some grocery coupons next.  Make sure to mention the specific product you like, if the company makes several products, so they can send you the right coupon.  Don't be afraid to ask for coupons, most companies like to reward loyal customers with coupons.

Have fun and hopefully you will get some good coupons in the mail!

The Couponing Community

This post comes off the heels of the Harris Teeter super doubles shop.  When I arrived at Harris Teeter yesterday morning I was amongst my people.  By "my people" I mean most of the people there had the giant coupon binder on top of the grocery cart just like me!  Above is a picture of my personal coupon binder.  It has all the bells and whistles - zippered sides, pockets, dividers, and dual three ring binders. 

I got there a little before 9 am, which is late by couponing standards, but I had to run to Food Lion for my ten laundry detergents (see post about that trip here), get my 12 week old over to the in-laws house, and then drive out of town to the nearest Harris Teeter.  I did miss the Hungry Jack pancake mix for $0.07 but I got everything else I set out to get.  My husband was a little sad I forgot to bring the Wholly Guacamole coupon which would have made for free guacamole, but we may go back later this week for more dog food so there is still hope for the pancake mix and guacamole.

Not only did I get some great deals at Harris Teeter but I made coupon friends too!  The coupon binder gives you and the others a common ground.  If you are nice they might even tell you about a deal you missed or share a coupon.  A fellow couponing friend told us about the 8-packs of Gatorade having $1 coupons attached (which would double to $2 off) making them $2.88 or $0.36 each.  When we were on the cleaning aisle we picked up a few Lysol toilet bowl cleaners and another couponer realized her Lysol coupon had expired.  I have at least 4 of every coupon so my husband gave her one so she could get some too.  Our good deed must have given me some good coupon karma because later another couponer gave me some coupons for Totino's Pizza Rolls, which I will use at a later date.

Nobody was buying up 175 bottles of mustard or anything ridiculous like you see on the TLC show "Extreme Couponing".  That is just excessive and I really question if it could even be done in real couponing life.  Most stores have limits to how many like coupons you can use and some coupons even state "only 4 like coupons per transaction".  Even if the store didn't have a limit, they probably would not let you buy 175 bottles of mustard with a coupon for each one.  Stores managers have the right to not allow you to use a coupon based on supply of the item and other factors. 

Please understand that this is TV and the stores are probably breaking their own couponing policy for the entertainment of it all.  Notice that the entire staff of the store is at the end of the check out line applauding the "extreme" couponer.  The people they show are real couponers but in everyday life sans cameras I am sure they have multiple store cards and do multiple trips and transactions to get those 175 bottles of mustard rather than buying it all at once.

That show is entertaining and there are small glimpses of real couponing involved, but for the most part it is hurting the couponing community.  Stores have started changing their coupon policies (my favorite drugstore, Rite Aid, just changed their policy) and the cashiers at Target have started reading my coupons as if each one were a novel.  It is just a mainstream fad right now that will eventually die out.  I plan to continue couponing and blogging about it long after the TLC show is gone.

Super Doubles = Super Fun!

In the above pictures you see: 1 carton of milk, 1 dozen eggs (we bought 2 but gave one dozen to the in-laws), 3 Philadelphia Cooking Creams, 2 boxes cereal, 1 package croutons, 1 Lea & Perrins marinade, 2 Hefty storage bags, 2 Kraft ranch dressings, 2 Bounty napkins, 2 packages of rice, 3 8-packs of Gatorade, 4 Lysol toilet bowl cleaners and 2 20 lb bags of Pedigree dog food.  Not pictured: 1 bottle Franks Red Hot Sauce which we gave to my in-laws.

Harris Teeter super doubles are always good  for couponing.  My total with tax included for everything above was $37.53!!!  For those of you not familiar with purchasing dog food, this is a huge chunk of your grocery bill and if I were to pay full price for both those bags of dog food it would have been equal to or a little more than that $37.53 I paid.  Before coupons and sale prices our total was at $129.  This was a really fun shop, especially since I got some good staples like the rice, cereal, eggs, and milk.

The trick is to buy only sale items that you have a coupon for.  With super doubles (doubling coupons that are $1.98 or less) you can find some regular price items very cheap, for example the Bounty napkins I purchased were priced $2.57 (not on sale) but I had a $1 off coupon that doubled so I got them for $0.57 each.

Couponing is such a great hobby and it also saves you lots and lots of money.  I cannot believe all the years that I just threw away money going to the store when I needed something.  Now I go to my cabinet and it's there!

This site is still very young and I am currently working on a beginner's page and a few other fun tools (i.e. spreadsheets to help you plan your shops).  I really do enjoy blogging about couponing and I hope you enjoy reading about it.  Please keep checking back!

You CAN Save at Food Lion!

Even though Food Lion doesn't double coupons, you can still save there if you have the coupon base for it.  Last week and this week they are doing a "Big Deal" event.  If you purchase 10 qualifying items you get $5 off your total bill, 20 times gets $10 off, and 30 items will take $15 dollars off.  This figures out to $0.50 off each item purchased and it is taken off instantly at checkout.  Combine that with coupons and you are talking some good deals.

The trick is to get the items you have coupons for and need that are praticipating in the big deal.  Then throw in some cheap filler items that are participating as well.  They had canned tomatos for $0.99 and SoBe Lifewater for $1 participating in the big deal.  These are great fillers to get either the $10 off or $15 off.  I chose the SoBe Lifewater because I already have a lot of canned tomatos from previous shopping trips.

I got ten....yes, TEN All Free & Clear laundry detergents.  This is the brand we use.  Many times in couponing you will sacrafice brand and I have yet to be dissapointed and have found some great new items I would have otherwise passed up.  Since this was our brand and it was on such a good price we stocked up!  The detergent was part of the "Big Deal."  50 oz for 2.99 and I had ten $1 off coupons.  Food Lion will allow up to ten like coupons.  With the coupons that made it $1.99 and combined with the big deal it was $1.49 each!!  I was stoked about this.  

KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce was on sale for $1.50, I had two $1 off coupons and with the "Big Deal" it was FREE.  I got four boxes of cereal for 2.00 each after "Big Deal".  And to complete my 20 items I thew in four SoBe Life Waters, didn't have a coupon for those but needed them for filler.

Not part of the "Big Deal" was the paper towels.  I stumbled upon this last night when I was scouting out Food Lion (yes, I often scout the stores before hand so there are less surprises or disapointments on shop day).  I found the Marcal single rolls for $1.19 and I had eight $1 off coupons.  I also had a Food Lion store coupon for $1 off your next purchase of any brand paper towels.  With my coupons and this store coupon that made each paper towel roll around $0.06 each!  Are these the best paper towels in the world?  No, but I sure will use them!!!

To finish out I had a $3 off your next purchase of $35 dollars or more.  Before any coupons were applied the final bill was eighty some dollars.  In total I spent $25.37 (that's with the tax included)  Not too bad for my first Food Lion couponing experience!

A Little Wal-Mart Fun

I just walked out of Wal-Mart with some toothpaste and hairspray and I am $0.14 in the positive!  That's right, in the positive.  Here is how I did it.  I had two $1 off coupons for Aquafresh Extreme Clean Toothpaste.  This coupon does not specify size, it simply says "Any Aquafresh Extreme Clean".  This is something to keep an eye out for, any coupon that doesn't specify size or have exclusions.  Wal-Mart will allow for overages.  These trial size toothpastes are $0.97 each.  So I had a $0.06 overage.  This will take come off your total bill.  (See receipt below).  The Finesse Hairspray was $2.57 and I had a $1 off coupon for any Finesse product.  With the overage my subtotal came to $1.51 and with tax it was $1.86.

Here is how I made $0.14.  I have a mail in rebate for up to $2.00 for purchasing a Finesse product.  The purchase price was $2.57 so I should receive the whole $2.00 rebate.   $2.00 minus the $1.86 I paid is $0.14.

I did this little deal for fun and to give you an idea of what you can do with overages.  If you can find enough coupons that will allow for overages you can use them and buy items that you rarely see coupons for like meats, fruits, and vegetables.  The overage will take money off the whole bill therefore giving you a discount on the things you didn't have coupons for.

Wanna do this deal too? 
Print the Aquafresh coupon here (It will allow you 2 prints per computer)
The Finesse coupon and rebate came in the Smart Source insert on 5/08/11 or you can print the rebate here

Have Fun!!

Have You Heard about Tanga?



If you can't tell yet, I am a big fan of shopping online.  It is just so fun to get a package on your doorstep!  Tanga is one of the webs best kept little secrets and I am going to share it with you.  It is a really fun daily deal site.  They will run a super great price on an item for a 24 hour period, then its gone.  But don't worry if you miss it, there is always another great deal the next day.

Some deals are better than others and if I come across a great deal on Tanga I will be sure to post it up here as a DEAL ALERT!  They run deals on designer clothing, jewlery, toys, and electronics to name a few.  They also have special deals for members only and it is free to join their site!

You can browse Tanga by clicking on the banner box above or by clicking here.

51% Cash Back Today Only @ Magazines.com

Ok guys.  I posed earlier about going to magazines.com via Ebates to order your "All You" magazine.  Well for today only Ebates is giving 51% cash back at magazines.com!!!  That means when you order a magazine subscription you will get over half the money back in the form of a check sent to your house!!!! 

That being said, I just looked and it says All You is currently unavailable.  I was going to order a second subscription at this great price so I would have double the coupons.  So here is what I am going to do.  Gift cards qualify for the 51% cash back.  I am going to purchase a gift card get my 51% cash back and then use the gift card to later purchase the second All You subscription.

Still 51% back is great, so if there is any magazine you like, now is the time to order it!  You can sign up for Ebates by clicking here or by going to the link in my sidebar to the right.  If you want to know more about Ebates see my earlier post about it by clicking here

P.S.  By signing up through my link you will receive $5 dollars for making a $25 dollar purchase via Ebates.  This $5 dollars and your 51% back from magazines.com will make for a very nice little check in the mail!!!

New Target Code! Great for Father's Day!!

I came across this code for 15% off on Select Coleman, Aero & Stearns Camping or Aquatics items at Target.  The code to use at checkout is TGTYJCQ7 (Code expires 07/03/2011).

With Father's Day fast approaching I thought everyone might enjoy this.  Remember at Target most orders over $50 qualify for Bullseye FREE SHIPPING!  If you have a Target Visa and use it at checkout you get an additional 5% off.   Just something to think about.  You can shop for lots of great Father's Day gifts at Target by clicking here.

Building A Good Coupon Base

The most important part of getting started in couponing is having a good stash of coupons to pull from.  One of the best sources for coupons is the newspaper.  I have a subscription to the Sunday edition of the Raleigh News and Observer.  You can order additional copies of the Sunday N&O for just one dollar each.  This is the best and cheapest way to get multiple copies of the inserts in the paper.  We currently get 4 copies delivered to our house each Sunday.  I would suggest getting the papers from the gas station for a few weeks just to see if couponing is for you and that you are going to stick with it before making the commitment of a subscription.

Another great source for coupons is a magazine called "All You".  This is a really fun magazine and each issue has between $50-$90 worth of coupons!!!  It has some really great articles, savings tips, and recipes as well.  You can purchase this using magazines.com, but go through Ebates to do so!  For a two year subscription, which is 24 issues, you will pay $34.00.  By going through Ebates you will get 26% ($8.84) back at magazines.com which makes it $1.05 an issue.  There are some great coupons in this magazine and it will pay for itself.  You can sign up for Ebates by clicking here.  If you want to know more about Ebates or have reservations about using the site read my blog post about it here.

Another way to get coupons is to collect them while you are out and about.  In many stores you will see "take one" coupons jutting out from the shelves.  In the coupon world these are called blinkies, usually because there is a little red blinking light on the dispenser to catch your eye.  If it is a really good coupon it is ok to take two, but please don't go crazy and empty the dispenser for yourself.  Take two and walk away, the next person that comes along would like to have an opportunity at that coupon.  You may also see coupon booklets on a display, taking two of these is ok but no more than that.  Always be on the lookout for these things.  Another coupon you may see is one attached to the product which is known as a peelie.  Do NOT take these off the product unless you are actually going to purchase that product.  There is an ethical side to the couponing world and these peelies were meant for the customer buying that product.

The internet has a lot of printable coupons.  Some safe sites for printing coupons are Red Plum and Smart Source.  You can also go the the websites of your favorite brands to look for additional coupons.  If you sign up for Proctor and Gamble Everyday Solutions you can get coupons and even samples! 

Lastly, writing companies can get you some great and high value coupons that are not always available to the general public.  I have had success in getting coupons from Biersdorf (makers of Nivea, Eucerin, and Aquaphor) and Glaxo Smith Klein (makers of Aquafresh and other products).  I'm sure many other companies would be happy to send their loyal consumers coupons.  It's really trial and error.  Worst that can happen is they send you a nice thank you letter and tell you there are not coupons available at this time.  Just sit down, think of products you love or use often and send that company a nice little email.  Don't be afraid to ask for the coupons.  Tell them why you love their product so much and ask if there are any coupons available for them to send.  Its really that simple.

Good luck building your coupon base!

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Our CVS Savings

Here is our CVS loot.  In the picture is John Frieda shampoo and conditioner, 3 Motrin PM, 1 Zyrtec, 2 Maybelline mascaras, 1 Maybelline lipstick, 1 Cover Girl mascara, 1 Cover Girl lipstick, 8 bars of soap, and as always a boatload of toothbrushes.

This trip was not mind blowing like our Rite Aid trip, but we got some good products for a great price.  We always can use bar soap and its nice to have some of those meds in the cabinet.  I don't normally even wear makeup but I have started since I get so much of it now.

You will have to forgive me because I cannot find all the receipts from the trip so I can't give exact retail values and what we exactly paid.  We did 4 transactions in all and I know the combined  subtotals before taxes was less than 10 dollars.  We also will have $10 in Extra Care Bucks to use for next week (This is CVS store credit like +UP Bucks at Rite Aid).  You can barely get one of the makeup products or one of the medications we purchased for less than that.

If you use a lot of makeup CVS is totally for you!  They always have makeup deals which print Extra Bucks but as with Rite Aid you will need to begin by doing small little deals before you attempt the larger transactions like we do.  You need a good stash of coupons and store credits to do big multiple transaction trips.

I have already started on my next blog which will focus on how to work up to the bigger deals so check it out soon!

Walgreens Quickie Deal

It is a great week to pick up Lysol cleaning products.  I don't normally shop at Walgreens because their rewards program is a bit more tricky and it has more rules than CVS or Rite Aid.  I will occasionally run in before we hit up CVS and today was a good day.  I picked up these Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaners on a good little deal.  I had two $1 off coupons and also an in ad coupon to Buy One and Get One Free.  You are allowed to stack store and manufacturer coupons so that is always something I am looking out for.  This made both 0.99 so I picked up both for less than $0.50 each. 

I'll post the CVS deals soon, so keep checking back!

100% Savings at Rite Aid!!!!

In the photos above what you see is one of my transactions at Rite Aid today.  Thats right, the subtotal is $0.00!!!!  That is 100% savings on 7 Lysol items!  And I received $5 +UP Bucks for my next purchase (+UP Bucks are store credits, so basically they paid me to take this stuff out of the store).   I do multiple transactions for maximum savings.  This is a great example of everything going right! 

You can maximize photos my clicking on them.  Please don't try to duplicate this transaction because you probably will not be able to and will wind up spending more money than you intend to.  I had some manufactures coupons for Lysol that have been burning a hole in my coupon binder.  I received a ton of $1 off one Lysol item coupons in a home mailer.  Most out there now are $1 off any two Lysol products.  Also I had  +UP Bucks from the previous Sundays transactions to apply and a $3 off $15 purchase.  This takes a lot of planning and calculations, but trust me...it's worth it!

Today at Rite Aid we did 3 different transactions.  Below is a photo of everything we purchased at Rite Aid.  Our combined subtotals before tax was $0.82.  Retail value of all this at Rite Aid is  $91.70!!!!  And we left the store with $14.99 in +UP Bucks to use next week! 

This is the 7 Lysol products, 2 Axe deodorants, 2 Axe body sprays, 2 Oral-B toothbrushes, 2 Arm & Hammer toothpastes, 1 Bayer Advanced Aspirin, 2 Dial bodywashes, and 2 Dial lotions!

P.S. I also went to CVS and did a little deal at Walgreens too!  Check back later today to see my savings at those stores.

Pampers Gifts to Grow

Pampers has a GREAT rewards program that anyone can take advantage of.  You don't even have to purchase the diapers to participate.  It's called Gifts to Grow.  You collect points to redeem for prizes which are then shipped free to you!  To join click here

The prizes range from kids items (like wagons, tricycles, electronic toys and such) to things for adults.  Some of the options for adults are gift cards ($25 Macy's card, $25 Zappos card. $15-25 SpaWish card), codes for free items on Shutterfly, Bounce dryer bar, Venus razor,  and free magazine subscriptions.  Check back every few weeks as they update their rewards list.

If you do purchase Pampers diapers/wipes the codes are 15 characters in length (comprised of both numbers and letters) and can be found on the inside of the packaging.  The codes are presented in various ways depending on the product and are either on stickers, etched into the wipes box, or printed on the side of the wipes refill.  These codes cannot be shared as they are only good for one use and points vary by product.

If you don't purchase Pampers here is how you can still participate.  Pampers releases promotional codes all the time, these can vary from 5 points - 200 points.  The value of the promo code just depends on the occasion.  If you are on facebook, "like" the Pampers page and also the Pampers Latino page.  Pampers releases the promo codes via facebook for holidays or when they reach certain milestones.  They have also released codes on their Twitter account.  In the past promo codes have been sent out via home mailers or you could earn them by taking a quiz on the internet.  Trust me these promo codes really add up, I had 800 points before my child was even born simply from promo codes.  I now have 1700 points!!!

Here is a list of promo codes to get you started (I can not promise that each of these will work as the promo codes do have expiration dates, most should work, but still give all of them a try):

10 Points
WELCOME2VILLAGE
GETSTARTEDNOW
PAMPERS4MOMJFM1
GTGWELCOME10PTS
CONGRATS2NEWMOM
PAMPERSGTG10PTS
WELCOMEGTGPTS10
GTGREWARDS4MOMS
GTGCOUPONPOINTS
CAREFORNEWBORNS
PUNTOSPARAMI123
PAMPERS4MOMSOND
10PTSFREECODE4U

50 Points
2BEGINEARNING50
GIFTSTOGROW4MOM
JOINNOW4REWARDS
WELCOME2PAMPERS

New Codes
FXHMWY4WKHU47JD - 10 Points (Exp 6/24/11)
TWITTERSPLASHER -10 Points (Exp 6/24/11)
WELLCABABYEMAIL - 10 points (unknown Exp date)
FAC711PHWGNXRD7 - 10 points (Exp 7/10/11)
BABYISDUEANYDAY - 5 pts

I will post more of these promo codes as I find them so check back often.  Let me know if any are expired and I will remove them.

P.S. - There is a free auction site called Listia where people post unused Pampers codes for you to bid on.  Read my post about it here.  If you would like to explore the site you can do so by clicking here or by using the link in my sidebar to the right.

My Big Fat Check!!!

That's right, this check came in the mail to me.  No tricks, no gimmicks, nothing fishy...just a check for $8.84!  The picture of the check is missing some info that I erased, like the check number at the top and routing number at the bottom.  Didn't want anybody doing anything crazy with my check!  Other than that the check has not been altered.  That is from one single purchase that I made through the online rebate site Ebates.  It is really very simple how Ebates works, sites pay them to direct traffic and consumers their way.  They use a portion of this money to pay you for going to a site via Ebates.

The percentage back varies from store to store.  I purchased a two year subscription to my favorite magazine via Ebates and this is what I got in return.  I was going to make that purchase anyway so it was nice to get a little money back and it will go in my special savings piggy bank!

If you do a lot of online shopping this is the way to do it.  Ebates also provides you with checkout codes to get an extra percentage off or even free shipping!  What's not to love?

You can sign up by clicking here or by using the link in my side bar to the right.

The Stock Pile

This used to be where our towels were kept, they got the boot.  Every couponer has their stock pile trophy.  This is mine, well some of it.  Some we have used and I would estimate that about half of it has gone to family and friends.  Some of what you see is 17 toothpastes, 10 toothbrushes (some battery operated), 18 deodorants, 7 razors...you get the idea.  You can click on the photos for a more up close view.  I am going to suspend giving it away for awhile, just to see how much I really can stock up.

I created this blog so that people can see how much you can get for very little.  I go couponing with my husband every Sunday morning.  I will post pictures of our loot and pictures of the receipts.  We have had several subtotals of zero, meaning all items were free.  However, in North Carolina you still have to pay sales tax on the price of the item before coupons and store vouchers.  Store vouchers do NOT cover sales tax.  Also 99% of stores do NOT give cash back.  I just wanted to clear some of this up because TLC has a show called "Extreme Couponing" and it misrepresents couponing in a very big way.  I will explain all the ways that show is not reality in another post.

Keep checking back because as the blog continues I will be posting my tips, tricks, other ways I save money and how I get things for free!