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Saturday, July 31, 2010

Grocery Shopping



Giant Eagle :

Deli-Fresh           Free  (Kraft coupon)
Ritz crackerfuls    Free  (Kraft coupon)
poptarts               Free  (rebate)
Greek yogurt       Free  (Pssst coupon)
Homestyle mac    Free  (Kraft coupon)
4 boxes cereal
2 Nestle milks
butter
______________
$6.xx  after coupons

earned .15 gas perks for the
cereal. ..update now have .80 !

CVS:

Last week??
3 Extra detergents
Milk
Celsius 4 pk.
2 pretzel M&Ms
________________
.78 after ECBS and coupons

I had Ecbs that were expiring so I lost
a couple Wcbs on this but made most
of them back from the Celsius and M&Ms.

This week:

kotex - $1 coupon
 = $1 money maker after Ecb
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My Budget Friendly Vacation and How you can do Better Part II

Traveling Pictures, Images and Photos

Go here to read:  Part I


Food:

I had a box that I started putting food items in to take
with us. I put things like tuna, mac-n-cheese, noodles,
Cereal . I also brought my rice cooker and rice.

I went on restaurant.com and found a couple restaurants
in the area...paid only $2.80! One was for The House of
Blues. We highly recommend this....Yum!

I cashed in some points from Mypoints for a $10 Subway
giftcard. I brought a couple giftcards as well that we
received as gifts. I went on their websites to see if I could
find any coupons and also checked their menus. Its good
to have a plan before going. Remember order water when
possible. This is a huge savings as drinks can cost well over
$2 ...yikes! That's a $8 savings for us.

The biggest money saver was planning a few meals at home.
The place we stayed at (Barefoot Yacht Club) had a kitchen
loaded with pans, dishes, etc. I had a couple Kroger gift
cards I was saving so we went and grabbed some groceries.
I also used the Kraft coupons I received in the mail for free
 items.

We saved money unexpectedly too ! My mother in law
surprised us with a couple 12 packs of pop, beer, chips,
poptarts!! Wasn't that nice ? My mom also packed fruit
and sandwiches for the ride.

How you can do better :

I think we did pretty well on our food budget.

You could purchase an entertainment book for
the location you are traveling to. They are
usually cheaper this time of year since they
are close to expiring in November.

Bring your coupons with you on your trip .
You never know what you may find you need.
I brought mac-n-cheese but had to go buy
butter to make it. I had to pay full price for
it.

Load up on drinks ! It was so hot and we went
through alot of water. On the way home we
stopped frequently for drinks. It would be a
good idea to bring refillable bottles.

Coming soon Part III......entertainment and shopping
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Friday, July 30, 2010

Great price for an Elle magazine subscription

    $5 for 12 issues !

Great deal on Restaurant.com Gift Certificates

Restaurant.com has a great promotion right now .

Use code PLATE to get a $25 restaurant.com gift certificate
for $2 ! That's a 80 % savings. Apply code at checkout to
receive your savings. Only 2 days left ...Hurry !

We have used these in the past and on our recent vacation.
Going on vacation? This is a great source to save you money.

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Monday, July 26, 2010

We Have a Winner !







I have just notified the winner of the Penguins of Madagascar Prize pack giveaway.
Thanks to everyone who entered !


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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Survey Peelies Quick Pay Out

Remember this deal? There was a $15 survey on each!
I just got my money in the mail today. Thats $30s!

I also had my mom and mother in law do the suveys.
My mom just got her $30 and my mother in law got $15. 

Thats $75 !!!! Woo hoo :) Thanks Kraft !

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Garage Sale Finds

Had some great finds today !

Son 's finds           $1

whoopy cusion          
Staples button  

Daughter's finds     $2   

lunch box
book bag

My finds:                $8

Build A Bear with 3 outfits
Beach tote with mat
Longaberger pins (12)
pocket dictionary
book
Nike coat
Columbia coat
Tennis shoes

The coats were .25 each !!!!!!  I couldn't believe it...what a find :)
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The Penguins of Madagascar Giveaway

General Mills is teaming up with Nickelodeon's
The Penguins of Madagascar to bring action-packed
excitement to your breakfast table.

Inside specially marked boxes of General Mills cereals
you'll find one of five characters from The Penguins of
Madagascar:

The Penguin of Madagascar, Skipper, Rico, Kowalski,
 Private or King Julien

Each character is unique and has its own specific role.
Together they make a team. Be sure to collect all 5 of them!

Thank you General Mills and Nickelodeon for providing me a prize
pack, information, and an additional prize pack (through Myblogspark) .
The additional prize pack will be awarded to one of my lucky readers!

In the prize pack:

1 box of Trix cereal, A Penguins of Madagascar launcher and the new
Penguins of Madagascar movie. (prize pack pictured above)

To enter:

1. Tell us who is your child's favorite character below.



2. For an extra entry, blog about this giveaway and leave a comment
    with your blog link.

Winner will be contacted by e-mail and have 24 hrs
to respond. A new winner will be selected if the
winner does not respond by deadline.
Winner will be drawn Sunday 7/25/2010 .

This giveaway is open to US residents who are 18 yrs of age or older.
E-mail addresses are collected solely to contact winner. The winner
 is selected randomly.  Prizes are sent directly through Myblogspark.
Disclaimer


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My Thrifty Vacation and How You Can Do Better Part I

Traveling Pictures, Images and Photos


My family and I just got back from an incredible
vacation! We went to Myrtle Beach. We had a blast!


Our trip cost us roughly $1100 for 7 days. That's for
4 of us and includes all expenses. I was trying to make
it under a $1000...so close!

Here's what I did to save money:

Accommodations:

Through ShopAtHome I went to Hotels.com.
I searched for hotels in the Myrtle Beach area.
Currently there is a  rebate on Hotels.com . I will
receive a $30 rebate for booking a 5 day stay through
them. I will get $30 back from ShopAtHome also !
Not a ShopAtHome member? Sign up here .


*I charged my accommodations on a credit card and
  will get 1% rewards per dollar spent. Paid off already!

How you can do better:
I thought we'd make the drive in one day. We couldn't! We
needed to get some sleep. I didn't plan on this expense.
Next time I would plan a couple of hotel options in advance.
Because I didn't we had to pay full price and we ended up
at a hotel that was seriously scary! We moved the dresser
in front of the door !!!

Look for every way to save when booking your trip. AAA is
great and look in your entertainment book for hotel savings.
Bring your book with you in case you need to stay overnight
unexpectedly like we did.


Transportation:

It was ALOT cheaper to drive ! We took our most gas
efficient car (Focus). Go here to figure out the cost of
your trip. We turned in Speedway points to get a $50
gas card. We also purchased additional gas cards at
Speedway and earned more points. We bought
these using a credit card that gives us rewards for gas
purchases. This will help us recoup some of the money
spent on gas.

How you can do better:

We bought gascards for the trip. When we reached Myrtle Beach
there was not a Speedway in sight . I couldn't use the gascards there!
Next time I would research what gas stations are available along the way.

....on a good note gas was about .30 cheaper per gallon there !

Part II ......Food and entertainment....coming soon .

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Monday, July 19, 2010

Good Deal on Cereal at Giant Eagle

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This is potentially a good deal if you ...
A. are in need of cereal
B. are in need of gas
C. have great cereal coupons

Any or all of the above make this a good deal.

Now may be a good time to sign up for foodperks at GE.
Watch this video and earn your first 10%. Earn another
5% if you send an e-mail to 5 friends about the program.
Sign up here and learn more about the program.

*Remember use your 10% when you are making a bigger
  purchase .


Ok back to the deal:

4/$10 on 30 favorite cereal brands.
Go here for list of select cereal brands.

Buy 4 receive   .15 off per gallon of gas
Buy 8 receive   .30 off
Buy 12 receive .45 off

Remember you can get up to 30 gallons of
gas at Getgo. Use gas cans after you fill up
to make sure you get your 30 gallons of gas!

If you bought 12 boxes of cereal without coupons
you would pay $30. You would then get .45 off
per gallon of gas. So 30 gallons x .45 = $13.50
off your gas purchase at Getgo. Plus if you spend
$50 you would get another .10 off. This will get you
 .55 off gas. Plus...don't forget about the 10% off
mentioned above to lower your out of pocket
expense.

If you need gas and cereal anyways...this is a great deal !

but : Please use coupons!!!

Check Saving in Akron's coupon match-up here 

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Back from Vacation

Traveling Pictures, Images and Photos

Sorry for the lack of posts ...just got back from vacationing with my family :)

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

IGA Doubles Coupons!

8 packs of Ball Park hotdogs = $1.92  !


Ball Park franks were on sale for .99 (great sale!)
I used the .75/2 from a recent insert. This coupon
doubled to $1.50.  IGA doubles coupons everyday.
I had no idea!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

I Signed up for Socialspark!

Socialspark_small


This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love reading blogs! I am always learning new things from all the
smart people out there in " Blogger Land ". I noticed a lot of the
blogs I frequent mention Socialspark. I was really curious about
what they were all about and why there was such a buzz .  I decided
to check it out for myself .

Socialspark is a social marketing network. It is a media where
bloggers and advertisers can connect. Advertisers can find
bloggers who write about topics relating or relevant to their venue.
In turn the blogger my get compensated for blogging or posting
advertisements as well as possibly increasing traffic to their blog.

You do need to sign up and get accepted by Socialspark. They
will review your blog and application . It usually takes a few days
to hear back from them. If your application is approved you can
start accepting offers. You can pick and choose the opportunities
that interest you and are open to you. Sometimes you are put on
a waiting list if there are a lot of people interested.

I am looking forward to becoming part of the Socialspark community.
I can make new friends as well as add some money to my pocket.
Who couldn't use a little spending money?  I'm not going to lie....
new things scare me but this seems really fun and interactive.
You can check them out for yourself  here : SocialSpark or you
can sign up here .


Visit my sponsor: I Signed Up for SocialSpark!