Oh my!

So where did the month go? It went to the baseball fields, piano recitals, and work. I went back to work 5 days a week the same month 2 of my kids started baseball. Time has flown by and I apologize for not keeping you up to date on savings. I have been following the deals using the links to the right. You should check out Coupon Geeks' new site. It is awesome. I highly suggest you bookmark her as I will most likely not be posting again until early June when my schedule goes back to 2 work days and the kids are out of school.

Keep saving those pennies!!
d

Deals for the week of April 12-18

Money Saving Mom has the Walgreens scoop for the week here

and CVS here

and Bargin Brianna has the Meijer deals here

The Scoop on Jewel

Click here to check out all the deals at Jewel this week. Thanks Mummy Deals!!

April Fools - NOT

Hot Buy for today only at Jewel:
eggs are 57cents a dozen and all types of Jewel cheese is 99 cents. There were other items that were today only, but these were the 2 that caught my eye.

Here's the deals this week!

Check out the deals for 3/29 - 4/4 for CVS here from the Centsible Sawyer

Walgreens is here from Deal Seeking Mom

KMart is here from Bargin Briana

and Jewel is here from Coupon Geek

Earth Hour

EARTH HOUR
Turn out. Take action.

Be part of this historic event.
March 28, 2009

8:30 pm local time

World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Coliseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community - A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.

We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.

VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.

Say it isn't so!!

Deal Seeking Mom has a post here with the news we all have been dreading. I have seen internet rumors of Walgreens cancelling their Easy Saver Program and now it has been confirmed as true. This is a real disappointment to me since I have gotten back over $50.00 in rebates from Walgreens in the first quarter of 2009. I hope their new program is as good to us loyal Wags customers as Easy Saver was.

Something to consider

Currently Jewel is offering 10% back if you buy a gift card. For example if you buy a $250.00 gift card you would get an additional $25.00, or $30.00 additional for $300.00. I am purchasing one to encourage me to stick to my budget for groceries. You would just use the gift card instead of cash everytime you went to Jewel and once it is gone, you are out of Jewel until you meet what should have been your target date. If you make it to your target date and there is money left, take that cash from your checking account and move it into savings because you would be that much under budget. For example, $275.00 at Jewel would last me about 6 weeks. With that in mind, I would budget my weekly spending based on $43.00 per week. If I go over one week, I need to be under the next. Once I have the card for 6 weeks, I would make a deposit into my savings account of the balance left of the gift card and obviously still use the gift card until it runs out. I am confident I will be making a deposit into savings and I am getting $25.00 of "free" money from Jewel to buy more food.

Jewel Clearance Alert!

So we stopped by Jewel today to pick up my last free milk and as we went down the frozen aisle my little shopper spied FieldCrest half gallon ice cream on clearance for .99 cents!!!! Many of the flavors were gone, but our household favorite Mint Chocolate Chip and our second favorite Neopolitan were available. We picked up 4 of each. They also had Orange Sherbert and Vanilla were still left too. Spending $8.00 on ice cream felt great when right next it was Breyers for $6.99 for 1 half gallon. Get there quickly as I think these will go fast. For more Jewel savings be sure to check with Jaycee here.

Redbox Wednesday

Redbox is also giving out FREE codes on Wednesdays as part of their March Madness!

Today's (3/25/09) code is: MMM325. Enter this code today only at any Redbox location to get your FREE one day rental!

Walgreens Deals

I went to Wags on Sunday and scored all of my Easter candy, 2 razors, Trail Mix, and gum for $16.00! Here are the deals thanks to Deal Seeking Mom!

Bath & Body Works Coupon

I love Bath & Body Works and can never have enough of it around the house. Here's a coupon for you to snag some too! Get a free full-size Bath & Body Works Body Care Item from their Signature Collection with any $10 purchase.

This is available in stores only!

Expires 4/12/09.

Redbox Monday

Today's (3/23/09) code is: HG7W56. Enter this code today only at any Redbox location to get your FREE one day rental!

Friday Savings

I went to Jewel this afternoon and bought 6 boxes of cereal, 4 boxes of poptarts, and 2 gallons of milk for $9.20 before tax! Here's how I did it: Kelloggs products are 10 for $25.00 then you get an instant $10.00 off making them $15.00. I had $1.00 of 2 boxes of poptarts (x2), 1.00 off Apple Jacks, 1.00 off Frosted Flakes, and $1.00 off Rasin Bran and .70 off selected cereals. I also scored big because someone had left a free milk catalina in the machine.....Lucky me! So I spent 10.03 and had a savings of $30.05 plus I still have a free milk coupon. This deal is good thru Sunday I believe. I am thankful to Jaycee for alerting me to this deal.

Swagbucks

Have you heard about swagbucks? It is a search engine powered by google and ask that gives you free points for something you probably do everyday....search the web. I joined swagbucks a little while ago and have already accumulated many points. My goal is to have enough points to give each of the kids lots of Barnes & Noble gift cards for Christmas. Click on the picture above and you will be directed on how to start earning your own points.

E-Books

Money Saving Mom has many e-books combined for a price of $17.00 total. I have read many of these and if your are just getting started with couponing, money saving, menu planning and organizing your home, then these books are a fantastic place to start. Check out the deal here.

Jewel - Free Milk

Jaycee has the scoop here on how to get free milk when you buy Kellogg's cereal this week. Trust me-I will be there on Friday for this.....my kids could eat cereal morning noon and night-at this price, I might let them. :)

Redbox Wednesday

Redbox is also giving out FREE codes on Wednesdays as part of their March Madness!

Today's (3/18/09) code is: GTL456. Enter this code today only at any Redbox location to get your FREE one day rental!

Redbox Monday

Here is the code for Redbox-go get your free rental now!
The code for 3/16 only is: 2GR4N8. Just enter this code at your nearest Redbox location and get a FREE one-day rental. The code expires at midnight.

Deal matchups for the week

Here are the matchups for the week:

CVS is here

Walgreens is here

Jewel is here

Give a hand when you can.

Jaycie has a heartfelt written post here about the Salvation Army and all that they do. Some of it I knew and some of it was a surprise to find out.

Many of us CVS'er have bins of shampoo, soap, razors and whatever just waiting for our own families to use-I am planning on donating half of my bin next week because I know I can restock it for the next to nothing it cost me to fill it-I hope you feel the same.

Thank you Jaycie for this information. It really touched my heart.

Things to do in Chicago this weekend

Check out here for a bunch of free things to do in Chicago this weekend, and have some fun!!

Menards Freebie Deals

Go here to check out the details on seven freebies you can get at Menards this week.

Thanks Megan

Bath & Body Works

If you're planning to head to Bath and Body Works by March 15, 2009, you can use this coupon here to get any True Blue Spa travel item for free with any purchase of any amount.

Thanks, Freebies 4 Mom!

Redbox Monday

The code for 3/9 only is: F3T9L6. Just enter this code at your nearest Redbox location and get a FREE one-day rental. The code expires at midnight.

Get ALL YOU Magazine for $17.99

ALL YOU is a great source for coupons, interesting articles, and all around general info that we all can use. Check out HERE to sign up for 2 years of ALL YOU delivered right to your door. Thanks ladies for this fantastic offer!

Huggies Coupons

I am sure you all are tired of hearing about the Huggies coupons on the coupon bar to the right. Well I will make this brief and tell you that they have been reset so go and print 2 more. Remember to use them tomorrow at Walgreens to get 3 packs of diapers for about 5.00.

Smoking Hot Jewel Deals!

If you missed out on last Sundays' sale for Jewel - you need to get there tomorrow. Here are the deals all spelled out for you. Plus the 4/19.00 meat deal is available too!

Check this out

Check out this newsflash that I just found at Sisterly Savings (Thanks, Jennifer!):

Starting Friday, March 6th and through April 24,2009, you can get a hamburger for only $.49 or a cheesburger for $.59! (Note: Fridays only!) Tax is not included and there is NO LIMIT to how many you can get at this price!

Also, while you're there, ask them if they participate in the Free Latte Mondays!

Guess what is going to be for dinner at my house on Fridays!!

Huggies scenario for Walgreens

The week of 3/8, Huggies diapers will be on sale at Walgreens for $10 a pack. There is also a deal of Spend $25 in Huggies, Get $10 back in Register Rewards. Scroll down to previous post and get your $5.00 off coupons. Buy 3 packs of diapers for $30.00 then use 3 coupons for 15.00 off and you will get 10.00 in register rewards so you will have 3 packs of diapers for $5.oo. Get to Walgreens early as these will fly off the shelf-this is an amazing price for diapers and 3 packs will last me a month!

Is there a Redbox near you?

Redbox is a great way to rent movies for FREE, and we use it frequently, so I thought I'd start sharing the Monday code with you.

The code for 3/2 only is: MS72K3. It is only good for today and you need to return it by tomorrow by 9:00 or it is $1.00 for each day until you return it.
Enjoy!

50.00 Meals

Here's something I haven't posted in awhile: whats for dinner this week for 50.00!

Tostadas, beans and rice
Chicken Fettucini Alfredo
Lasagna, salad, bread
Chicken scampi
Lemon Pepper pork roast & potatoes
leftover ham w/eggs
baked spaghetti

All ingredients were purchased for 54.25 this weekend. Happy Eating!

Jewel

I am not done setting up my trip to Jewel, but have to mention the progresso soups on sale for .99 cents. There was also a $1.00 off 4 a few weeks ago which makes this a great deal.

Huggies Coupons

For the rest of you who have children in diapers or who will soon have children in diapers, run over here and print your Huggies coupons.

There is a coupon for $5/1 Huggies Gentle Care product and $3/1 Huggies Natural Fit product. You can print each twice per computer.

I can promise you these will not last long. Get 'em while you can!

Combined with a sale, these coupons would make a very sweet deal on diapers at almost any store. However, if you have a Walgreens, I'd highly suggest you print them and hang onto them for a week because starting March 8, 2009, it is reported that Walgreens will have a Register Reward promotion on Huggies diapers that could net you three jumbo packs of diapers for $5 after these coupons and the Register Reward.

Tracking your spending

My husband and I sat down and made a budget for the first time in our married life in January. We didn't have a clue where our money had been going since I cut back my hours and he moved into management in January of 2007. Once we got our W-2's and saw our income and how we both felt we should have saved more, improved our house more, and definitely should have paid down more debt. We had a business meeting where I filled him in on interest rates on our debt, how much we still owed and presented a reasonable budget. Well, we blew that out of the water in January. Not to say that we both didn't try, we just didn't think of the simple unexpected things like meeting medication deductables and eye exams, dental visits and such. So we have re-evaluated this month and hope to be able to stick to this one. Our goal is to pay off 1 small loan and pay down 1 big charge card. We have 2 worksheets we are using. The first one is from Mommysnacks for tracking your grocery savings and it is here. The second is a budget from shopping for two and it is here. Thanks to both of these ladies for their great sheets! I hope you too can use them to get your money on track.

Around the blogosphere....

This week Caputo's in Lake in the Hills is celebrating 44 years of business (all together-not at that location), and they are having a 44 cent sale. Apples, eggs, and many other things are 44 cents/lb or each. I am going on Wednesday because you can't beat 1 dozen eggs for 44 cents!

Also moneysavingmom has the dealio on Pop Tarts-I LOVE poptarts. Check it out here

And here is the weekly deals for Walgreens from Bargin Briana here

Plus IHOP has free pancakes tomorrow! Who doesn't love free cakes. Check out the deal here I think all the kids and I are going after basketball practice!

Jewel

So more and more I find myself saving big bucks at Jewel. As I have said before, it is not my favorite store, but in order to save one has to sacrifice right? I went on Friday and took advantage of the 4 for $20 meat sale. I bought 3 sets of 4 meats so we are well stocked for awhile on meat since I also took advantage last time they did this (about 3 weeks ago.) This deal really worked out to be 18.10 a set of 4 so I feel I saved even more.....just look for the packs of meat that are almost 6.00. Another deal at Jewel this week is butter-only 1.88 a package. These deals are thru Wednesday and listed here are more deals. I will be going back this Wednesday for General Mills products. If you buy 20.00 worth, you get 10.00 for your next shopping trip, or in my case, whatever other deals are still in my cart (in other words, do 2 transactions). There are may printable coupons for GM products on the link at the right------>
Happy shopping!!

Jewel Savings

Here's the best deal on cereal I have seen in awhile: All Kelloggs cereal is 50% off this week. I bought 9 boxes and with coupons (see them over there on the sidebar?) I spent 15.28. That is 1.69 per box. The sale runs thru Wednesday of next week so happy shopping!

Weekly matchups

In an effort to really get this out to you, I am going to give you one link to the matchups for the week. Many thanks to mommysnacks for all her hard work on these. Go here for the best deals at your local stores!

Just in time!

This coupon came just in time for Valentine's Day! Go here to the American Greetings website, and click on the Special Offer button in the bottom right hand corner. Your coupon will automatically begin printing as soon as you click the button. Don't forget you can print two coupons by using your browser's back button and refreshing the page. American Greetings are sold at Walgreens, Jewel and CVS so go get your cards!

Weekly Matchups

Well, if you haven't been to Jewel to take advantage of the 4/$20 meat sale, today is the last day. I have been 4 times! Our freezer is getting pretty full. To me, the chicken, hamburger, and pork roasts are the best deal.

Here are the matchups for local stores!

CVS-Coupon Cravings has the deals here and Centsible Sawyer has more here

Meijer- Briana has the scoop here

Walgreens- The Centsible Sawyer has the deals for Wags here

That's all I've got for now......Happy Shopping!

Bath & Body Works

Click HERE for a fabulous coupon on Bath and Body Works signature products. You can even buy something for $1.00 to get a FREE $12.00 item. I am going on Friday because we all deserve a little pick me up this time of year don't we??!!??

Weeekly Scoops!

Here are some links to deals for the week of 1/19...

Target: Check out here for the best deals at Target this week

Jewel: The weekly ad is here. Ground beef at 2.00/lb is pretty good and be sure to take advantage of the General Mills sale. There are coupons on the left for most of the products - so click away! and get money back too!

Meijer: Brianna has the scoop here


CVS: Here are the CVS deals for the week

Walgreens: Check out the deals here

I am sure that I will be going to Jewel for a few items and to Walgreens as well. Happy shopping to all of you!

Yummy!!

In honor of Inauguration Day, Krispy Kreme is offering one free doughnut of your choice at the store near you. No purchase necessary, one per customer.

Thru January 20th you can get a free photo book ( $34+) for free from Hooray. You will pay s&h of approx. $7.99. Use code bzzalbum at checkout. I love these free photo books and what a better way to get your Christmas memories in book form!

Store Matchups!

Every week I am hoping to post coupon matching with local stores in my area. I am in Illinois, just outside of Chicago so we have Meijer, CVS, Walgreens, Jewel, and KMart. No Kroger or Rite-Aid though.

So here we go:

Meijer: Sara has the matchups for this week here

CVS: The Centsible Sawyer has the deals at CVS here

KMart: Super Doubling this week-check out CommonSense with Money here

And last but not least is Walgreens at BeCentsible here

I am hoping to find a good Jewel matchup for you all, but I may just do it myself, yes I have become a Jewelie the last few weeks and took most advantage of their recent spend 30 and get 15 back which I figured all on my own. I did it 3 times!! and since pampers were included, we are good for diapers for a little bit!

Free Suave Shampoo!

Today only (January 14th)- Register here for a coupon for a free bottle of Suave Shampoo. The girls especially like the Waterfall scent!

Hello All!

Hi! How are your savings going? Me-pretty good. I have not been blogging because my computer flatlined!! What a Christmas gift for me.....

So thanks to my really smart neighbor, I am back up and running and will be blogging even more than before. I also intend to keep better records for my savings, budget, and figuring out just where all our money went. Based on our budget, we should have more in savings, when instead it feels like we have more stuff around here. One of our large projects during break was to go thru every room and gather things for a garage sale. My husbands side of the garage is PACKED! We are hoping to sell enough stuff to go to the waterpark in Rockford this summer. I'll keep you updated.

Here are some things I am using to help keep me on track for a maximum saving year:

This is a great spreadsheet for entering your receipts and knowing your savings thanks to Mommy Snacks here
Also Kendra has a great budget worksheet here
and as always, keep clicking on those coupons over there on the right.....see them??? I have saved a lot by stacking these up with sale prices. You may not think that a few cents here and there help, but they do! You'll see when you start using these 2 worksheets! Well I am off to find you all some freebies!! Have a good day!