**HOT** High-Value Coupon for La Victoria

Update: No longer available.
Hurry, go on over here and like La Victoria so you can print a coupon for $2/1 ANY La Victoria Brand Product. This should make for some PRETTY CHEAP OR EVEN FREE SALSA!!!

Thanks Common Sense with Money!

Cheryl

$1.50/3 boxes of Lean Pockets

Just go on over here to their Facebook page and you can print a coupon for $1.50/3 (2-pack) boxes, any variety of Lean Pockets.

I LOVE these coupons. By the way, I believe this has been reset. I have printed this coupon before and was able to print it again. If you are interested in this coupon, you might wanna hurry over there and print it out as the quantities are limited.

Thanks!

Cheryl

High-Value $1/1 Lysol Cleaner

Right now, you an go on over here to Lysol's Facebook page, like them, and print a coupon out for $1/1 Lysol All Purpose Cleaner Triggers or Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaners.

Thanks Hip2Save!

Cheryl

Rite Aid Run

Well, I had to go see good ol' doc yesterday as it was time to get my annual allergy shot. I dont' know about you, but I have been miserable! :( I have been stuck inside 'cause EVERY TIME I go outside I have an attack and let me tell you that is NO FUN. Anyway, on the way back from the doc, Blakey and I stopped in at Rite Aid to score a few deals. Here's what we got.....

Crest Toothpaste $2.57
-$1/1 from P&G Everyday Savings Booklet (NLA)
=$1.57
Plus, got a $1.60 +UP Reward, making it FREE after the reward!

Veet Gel Cream $6.49 X2
-20% discount (my discount), making it $5.19 X2
-$3/1 printable (click on day #1) X2
-$2/1 in-ad coupon X2
=$0.38, making them JUST $0.19 each!!
Plus, got a $5 +UP Reward for buying two, making them a MONEYMAKER!!!

Almay Mascara $8.49 X2
-75% off clearance price, making them $2.12 each
-$3/2 Almay products RA coupon found on tearpad a while back
=$1.24, making them JUST $0.62 each!!!

Right Guard Body Wash $4.99
-Store BOGO (buy one get one free)
=$4.99, making them just $2.50 each!
Plus, I got back TWO $2 +Up rewards (one for each one), making them just $0.50 each!!!

-$7.99 in +Up Rewards, but I got $10.60 in +UP Rewards back, making $2.61 in +UP rewards profit!

TOOP before tax was $0.19! Tax was an additional $1.93. Total savings was.....$44.74! Plus, I got a survey for $3/15! Yay! ☺ Gotta love those surveys! ☺

Thanks!

Cheryl

Do you have an iPad? Here's a FREEBIE just for you.

If you have an iPad, here is a free just for you. This is only avaiable to the first 4,000 people though. So, here's the deal.....The first 4,000 people to download the FREE Circulon Cooks! app from iTunes will receive a FREE Circulon Contempo French Skillet! Wow!

Thanks Eastern Shore Mom!

Cheryl

Weight Watcher Magazine for $3.99

Here's a way to score a one-year subscription to Weight Watchers Magazine for ONLY $3.99. Go on over here, to Tanga, order the Weight Watcher Magazine and use the coupon code WEIGHT at checkout and you will be able to score this deal. I, personally, love this magazine. It is full of coupons, recipes, ideas, and inspiring stories.

**A little piece of advice is that you are more likely to score this deal if you order the magazine earlier rather than later, because as more and more people start purchasing this deal the price may increase.

Thanks Clippin' with Carie!

Cheryl

$3 off any purchase at Staples

Right now, you can score a coupon for $3 off of ANY purchase at Staples with THIS coupon (certain exclusions apply). This coupon expires on 6/1, so you have a few days and it comes directly from staples.com.

Thanks Common Sense with Money!

Cheryl

$0.50/1 ANY Frank's RedHot

Oooooh, my family LOVES Frank's RedHot Sauce! So, needless to say I'm pretty excited about this coupon. Anyway, rigiht now you can go on over here and print out a coupon for $0.50/1 ANY Frank's RedHot Original or Wings Sauces.

Thanks!

Cheryl

Some more coupon advice

Have you labled your binder, coupon bag, coupon purse, etc.? This is just another piece of advice that I offer you. Sometimes we get caught up in what a good deal we just got, the kids, etc., and may walk off without our binder, coupon bag, etc. Well, a piece of advice that I would like to offer you is to lable your "stuff."  I know that we have to rely on the honesty of others to really return something, but you never know, it may help. So, I am going to label it all with my name and my phone number, just in case anything were to happen with my "coupon stuff." It's worth a shot. Right?

I have actually walked off and left my coupon "bag" in a cart. I didn't get very far as a nice person brought it to me, I know I'm not the only one this has happened to.
Any other suggestions? I would love to hear them, as I sure everyone else would too.

Thanks!

Cheryl

Advice....

Here is another one of my past articles, just in case we have some "newbies," reading this post.

For those of you that may be new to this "coupon thing," here is a bit of advice. You will see samples and freebies being posted, and I'm sure some of you are a bit weary about sharing your e-mail with all these companies. Well, a way to get around that is to go ahead and setup a "free" e-mail account through places like yahoo.com, hotmail.com/live.com, etc., or whichever you may choose, and then use this e-mail account for all of your freebies/samples or whatever else you may choose. This really helps when it comes to your primary account, because then your primary account is not filled with all of the e-mails that come with signing up for free stuff. It is so worth it.

Just a bit of advice I thought I would share.

Thanks!

Cheryl

Quiznos 30th Anniversary

So, Quiznos is celebrating a 30th anniversary! Yay for us, 'cause that means we can print out a few of their coupons that they have released, in celebration of this......Print All 4 Coupons!


- Free Chip or Cookie and Regular Fountain Drink
- Free Sub or Regular Salad
- 2 Meals For $9.99
- $1 Off Regular Sub or $2 Off Large Sub

If you want any of these, you can go ahead and go on over here to get some or all of these printed out. Should make for some pretty inexpensive lunches. ☺

Thanks!

Cheryl

*HOT* Weight Watcher Yogurt Printables

Wow, RIGHT NOW, you can go on over here, make sure you use zip 08221, and print out THESE awesome coupons for $1 off of FIVE Weight Watcher Yogurt Cups. AND, there are THREE different ones that you can print! I printed all three TWO TIMES!! Yay!

Anyway, if you want in on these, you'd better hurry before they were gone.

FYI....I tried multiple zips on this, but this one, by far, had the most coupons I could print. All other zips, that I tried, only had one coupon available to print.

Thanks for the heads up Eastern Shore Mom!

Cheryl

Do you have an iPhone? Want FREE texting?

I, myself, do not have an iPhone, so I have NO idea what I'm talking about here. Hey, I JUST got texting a couple of months ago. I'm getting old. I am at the point in life, where I don't understand all that technology "stuff" out there. Yes, this, for me, is a higher level of technology than what I know. ☺ Well, you know that I'm all about THE FREE!! I'm guessing you might be too. ☺ Well, check this out..... If you are one of those lucky people that have an iPhone here's what Common Sense With Money shared today.....

You can score FREE texting on your iPhone. Here's how.....You can "simply" install TEXT FREE on your iPhone and you're set. She says the text will come for a number that is not your normal cell phone, but you can send pictures and texts as often as you want. She also stated that this app works form an iTouch and EVEN an iPad. She wasn't sure about an Android (what's an Android?).

She says she uses this and someone else said they use it too and are happy with it. Wow, what a great way to cut costs!!! Now, I guess I need to get myself one those "dew hickies." ☺

Thanks for sharing Common Sense with Money!

Cheryl

Some new printables.... Anyone for some chocolate?

Anyone want some chocolate? Look at these two coupons that were just released......

These are going to be on sale starting Sunday at Rite Aid. 

Nestle Crunch Single Serve Candy (1.2-2.1 oz) – $0.50 each

Nestle Crunch $0.50 X1
-$0.35/1
=$0.15!

Here is a another coupon that I, personally, have not printed yet....

Love pineapple. Yum! You can go on over here to print these coupons out.

Thanks!

Cheryl

Okay, good luck!

Cheryl

What is a Catalina?

I get asked this question a lot. So, I thought I would take the time out and explain/show you all what a Catalina is, if you are not quite sure what one is.

-A Catalina (a.k.a. CAT/Cat/cat) is a coupon put out by a manufacturer at the end of your transaction at the store for purchasing certain items. Not all stores have Catalina machines.  To my knowledge some of the stores include:  Safeway, Albertsons, Yokes (local), Target, Fred Meyer/Kroger, Kmart, just to name a few of the "bigger" stores. There are different types of Cats, usually the one we are referring to is dollars off of your next order of ANYTHING, except there are some exclusions like beer, wine, cigarettes, such things like that. You will have to check yours. But, for the most part, you can use it just like cash for dollars/cents to come off of your next order. Anyway, Catalinas are our friends, especially if we can roll them. (Roll= Use them on your next order to take money off and then get another one back if you are buying the same thing or whichever way you choose to use them).
-A Catalina is a manufacturer coupon, though many will state at the top where you got the coupon from. Like if you get it from Safeway, it is going to have the Safeway logo and name up at the top. Cats are manufacturer coupons so you "should" be able to take it ANYWHERE that accepts manufacturer coupons. Some stores have a problem if there is another store name up at the top of the coupon, so you kinda do this at "your own risk." Unless, you have a store that takes competitor coupons, like we have Yoke's.
- Cats do have an expiration date, so you need to make sure that you use them before they expire so you don't lose out on that coupon. I have done that way too many times. :(
-Cats can come in many different values. I have seen them from $0.50 up to $5.
-Another form of a Cat is a specific coupon for dollars or cents off of a specific item. I got one recently from Safeway for a FREE cleaner by the brand of Bright Green. Now, I'm not sure if that is a Safeway only brand, but they carry it and I picked it up yesterday and used my FREE Cat coupon.

So for example, here is my Cat that my husband got yesterday. Keep in mind that I had already been to Safeway earlier in the week and got a Cat from my previous purchase of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks.

He bought 6 Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups at Safeway...(There is a Catalina running from 12/27 to 1/23 for Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks from General Mills) See sample below....

So, we started out with having a $3 Cat already, in-hand. We are going to, what is called, ROLL my previous Cat.

Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups X5 at $0.99 each, which equals $4.95
Now, I have a coupon for $1 off of three ($1/3) AND I have a coupon for $0.50 off of two ($0.50/2) that I printed out from here ($1/3) and here ($0.50/3).
So, minus my $1 coupon and my $0.50, we are down to $3.45!
Now, this is where I ROLL my previous Cat. Now, I give them my $3 Cat that I got from my previous order!
Okay, so NOW my total is ONLY $0.45!!!! THAT IS HOW MUCH I PAY OOP (Out Of Pocket)! ONLY $0.45! Okay, so now I wait, while I am still at the register, for my NEXT Cat for $3 to print! Now, I have another Cat in my hot little hands to replace the one that I just paid with. Now, I can turn around and do it AGAIN and only pay $0.45 AGAIN, and then ROLL it again, and again, and again, and again..............., if I want. Of course, without clearing the shelves and doing too many transactions. ;)  Each time only paying $0.45 or EVEN only $0.40.  If you take your own bag to Safeway, they will give you a $0.05 credit toward your purchase! :) Not all stores give you credit for your own bags, but a few do. I have actually made money doing this. Yep, there have been a couple of times that I have left with an extra nickle, literally, in my pocket for bringing my own bags (not Safeway).

Click on the image to make it bigger

Sometimes there are problems and your Cat doesn't print. This may happen because you didn't purchase EXACTLY what was required in order to get the Cat. That does happen. Sometimes there is a malfunction in the system, sometimes it just doesn't print. Now, Catalinas are from a different company than what store you are at. It is actually the "Catalina" company. You can contact them with your info. They will need your name address and information from your receipt. Usually they will mail you out a Catalina in the mail if you were supposed to get one and did not. They are really good about this. You can even e-mail them.

Here is the phone number...(888) 826-8766.
Here is the e-mail.  coupon@catalinamarketing.com

Some information to include would be....

Your name
Mailing Address
Store info like:  Name, address, and store number. (This is all on your receipt)
Make sure to include the time and date of your transaction too. (This is all on your receipt)
If you are at a store that has a "store card," like your Club card, make sure you include that.
You will need to include the total amount of your purchase from your receipt.
Make sure you tell them what Catalina promo you were expecting to get back. You really do need to be specific in telling them what promo you were going for like you were expecting a certain amount back, from the specific brand/company, because you bought ......

I hope this helps explain the Catalina a little better. Good luck!

Any questions, suggestions, comments, let me know. I will do my best to help you out! :)

Thanks!

Cheryl

Learning The Art of Couponing

Well, I figured with all the newbies lately and the questions that I have had, personally, about couponing, I figured I would repost this. These are a few tips to help you get started....
1. Go slow. Don't try to get a good deal on everything at first. You will become very overwhelmed and will not know where to start.

2. Start printing your coupons. What I did was started printing everything that my family uses. Yes, you may not be able to use them right now, but there might be a sale here in the very near future. So, start printing. On most websites you are usually only permitted to print two coupons per computer. Now, there are some coupons every now and then that let you print more than one.

Here are a few sites that I use......

coupons.com
redplum.com
couponnetwork.com
bettycroker.com
eatbetteramerica.com


****THE BIG NO NO TO COUPONING......DO NOT MAKE COPIES OF YOUR COUPONS!!!!
This is considered fraud and you are not playing fair with the rest of us who are getting our coupons fair and square. 

3. Now that you have your coupons printed, try and organize them a little bit. What I did was I went out and buy a big zipup binder of some sort and then I bought some picture album inserts. Then, I organized them by category. I put the yogurts with yogurts, cereals, crackers, snacks, etc. That way when I go shopping I can just go and look in the category that I need and pick out my coupon that I need if I don't have it picked out yet.

4. Now we wait and watch for our items to go on sale, but we don't just wait for ANY sale. We want to get the best value for our money so we try to wait for when our items are at their lowest. It is hard to be patient. Remember we want this to benefit our wallet. So, we are trying to save the most amount of money that we can. Sometimes, at first, it is hard to be patient, but it will PAY off.

Look through the grocery adds, when you are at the grocery store take a look around and maybe check the prices on the items that you are interested in and make note. So, you can refer back to that in the future. One of the things to remember is to not buy something just because it's a great deal. You are not really saving money if you do that. We want to just buy what we need. Try to make a plan and stick to it.

5. Most of the time you CAN use a coupon on a clearanced item too. That is really a great way to get the best value for your money.

I also, when I am looking for good deals, check out the other bloggers out there. They are so helpful and have so many tips and hints. Remember nothing is set in stone and what may work for someone else may not work for you. There are so many different reasons as to why something may work for someone else and not you.

6. When using your coupons, here are a couple of hints/rules. So we have waited for the sales and we have coupons to use with the sale prices. We can use a manufacture coupon, which most of them say "Manufacturer Coupon" on the top or somewhere on it. You can use a manufacture coupon at just about ANY store. Well, any store that accepts coupons. Well, on top of that you can also use a store coupon with it too. A store coupon has the name of the store on the coupon. Like for instance, let's say that Fred Meyer has laundry detergent coupon in their add this week for 1.99. Well, that coupon is only good at Fred Meyer. Okay, so we also have a coupon that we either printed out off the Internet or got in the Sunday paper for $0.50. Yes, we can use them both together for one bottle of soap to make it $1.49. This is called "stacking," because you are stacking a store coupon and a manufacture coupon. This is perfectly okay. So, for every bottle of soap that you want to get at this deal, you need more coupons. Yes, one coupon per item. Sometimes the store coupons have a limit of 2 or 4, so your store coupon you only need one coupon, but you will need more of the manufacture coupons in order to get your deal.

7. Make sure you read the fine print on your coupons. You can use more than one coupon in a "transaction" if it says "one coupon per purchase." Each item that you are purchasing is a purchase. Now, if it says one coupon per "transaction" that is a different story and means you can only use one coupon per transaction, which is your whole order. Sometimes you can break up your transactions and make two or three. It all depends on the store and your cashier.

8. Remember when couponing to have fun and to be aware of those around us too. Let's try not to get too grumpy with the cashiers. They do have a job to do. If there is someone behind you that maybe only has a couple of items and you have quite a bit, plus your handy dandy coupons, let them go ahead of you. Just common courtesy. We want this to be a pleasant experience for all of us.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me..........I will do my best to get you an answer.

Good luck!

Cheryl

Savemore.com

I shared a deal with you the other day from this site and today they have ANOTHER great deal.

Have you signed up for this deal yet today? You don't know what I'm talking about? Well, there is a "new" daily deal site called Savemore.com (well....new to me), and if you go and sign up then they give you a $10 credit (at least they were this morning). Anyway, there is a deal for.......$20 worth in reusable grocery bags FOR ONLY 8 BUCKS! So, if you sign up and get the $10 credit, you can score this for FREE!!! I did it this morning and it woked just fine for me.

So, if you are interested at all  you can go on over here and get yourself signed up and get in on this deal. I am not sure how long this deal is going to last, so if you are interested I would hop on it pretty soon.

Good luck!

Cheryl

New Love Affair and his name is Mr. WalMart

Oh my goodness, as of this moment in time.......I LOVE LOVE LOVE "the" Mart. Wowzas!!! Look at what I got today.....Before I show what I got, just so you know, there was PLENTY when I left the store....so no, I did not clear the shelf. I would never do that. :(

Here's a breakdown of what I got.....

Lucky Charms $2.89 X8 (my kids' favorite)

-price match to Rosauers 13-hour cereal sale $1.69 each

-$1.50/2 printable (NLA) X2

-$1.10/2 printable

=$8.32, making them just $1.04 a box 

Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta $2-something X10
-price match to Albertsons $0.75 each
-$1/1 printable (? available) OR
-$1/1 Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta from 5/15 SS X10
=$2.50 overage!!!! That is $0.25 overage for each one!!

Wilkinson Sword Razor $0.97 X2
-$1/1 printable
=$0.06 overage!! That is $0.03 overage for each one!!

Pert Plus 3-in-1 Travel Size Shampoo $0.97 X6
-$1/1 Pert Plus 3-in-1 or 2-in-1 Products from 5/15 SS
=$0.18 overage!!! That is $0.03 overage for each one!

Bananas $0.58/ lb 7.68 lbs
-price match to Rosauers cereal 13-hour sale at $0.39/lb
=$3.00

Subtotal AFTER price matches was $31.78. I'm "guessing" before the price matches, my total wound have been "around" $48.88!!! TOOP $8.58, tax was an additional $0.68.

And, I have one happy little boy.

Oh, for those of you that are wondering....I was checking out the Points Plus difference between these Garden Delights and the wheat past from Ronzoni and there is no difference. They have the same Points Plus values. I'm pretty stoked about that. ☺

Thanks!

Cheryl

Homemade Hot Dog Buns

Well, I have been in the baking way lately. As you know, I'm cheap frugal, so I am always looking for ways to cut costs too. I didn't share with you all, but last month was a REALLY tight month in THE Frugal Life of a Mom household. I did NOT make my monthly budget the month before, and to tell you the truth I was a bit nervous. As much as I worked and worked, I still came in at $500 UNDER budget for the month! NOT GOOD. We really tried to cut costs in all aspects of our money spending ways. I still did go out and get a few deals, but had to REALLY keep a close eye on what was going out, as not much was coming in. I really debated on sharing that with you all, but I know that I am not the ONLY one that has had these issues. I still did Rite Aid, but made sure that my totals were as close to ZERO as possible. Probably the reason why you didn't see very many shops posted. I did manage to make it to Winco and get a few things from their bulk section. Golly, I love their bulk section. Anyway, so one of the ways to cut costs around here was to make homemade bread for the kids' lunches. I must tell you......I got pretty good at it, via my breadmaker. I liked doing this because I knew what was going into the bread and it was soooo fresh. The problem being is that the smell of fresh bread is a trigger for me. I smell it and my brain says let's eat. ☺ So, needless to say I struggled, personally,  with that, but it felt good to make these loaves of bread for my kiddos. Anyway, I just recently came across a recipe for homemade hot dog buns and I made them yesterday. OH MY GOODNESS, THESE WERE SOOOOOOO GOOD! My son, Trent, even suggest that we make them a little bigger next time and use them for sub sandwiches. My daughter, Faith, who cannot stand hot dogs ate her hot dog, as she REALLY REALLY liked the bun. Anyway, I found a recipe and tweaked it to work for me. Here it is.....

Homemade Hot Dog Buns

Serves 8
1 cup warm water
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
2 and 1/4 tsp. yeast
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 and 1/2 cups of wheat flour

1 and 1/2 cups of white flour
3/4 teaspoon salt

1~Warm water to at least 110º F, pour into your bread machine, add the sugar, then add yeast. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes (until it gets foamy). Then, add your oil, flour, and then salt. Turn your bread machine on the "dough" cycle.
2~Preheat oven to 350.
3~After your bread machine is done with the "dough" cycle, you will then take the dough out and divide it into 8 equal sized balls. Then, you will "stretch" the dough about 6 or so inches. I rolled it in my hands like I was playing with playdough, to make a "snake." Then, place them on a greased cookie sheet or bar pan.
4~Cover them with a towel and let them rise for an additional 20 or so minutes.
5~Now they are ready to go in the oven. Put them in the oven at 350º and let them bake for 15 minutes or so.
6~Take them out and allow them to cool a little bit and then cut a "hot dog" slit in them and you are ready to go.

Really, these were really really easy and my kids loved them. I'm thinking you could use this recipe just to make then into rolls, subs, hamburger buns, bread sticks. This is an awesome recipe, but just remember to follow the directions exact as I now that yeast can be a bit touchy for some people. So far, I have had really good luck.

Anybody have any idea on how to make this bread dough without having a bread machine? I would love to share that with those who don't have a bread machine, but I have no clue.

I am on my way to go figure out how many points these are worth. So, I will be right back with that info.

Update....these are FIVE POINTS PLUS!!! That is actually quite a bit. It did not seem to make much of a difference if I made it all with white flour, wheat flour, or a little bit of both. Actually, I lied, if you make it with all white flour, then the point plus on it is 6.

Something else I figured out is that the Bar-S Jumbo Turkey Dogs are ONLY 3 pts. I really didn't think that was too bad. You can cut them in half and have TWO hot dogs. ☺

Thanks!

Cheryl

*HOT* iTunes=40 FREE SONGS!!!

Wow, check this out.....So, right now, you can go on over here, and celebrate Southwest Airlines 40th anniversary with them. You will need put your e-mail addy in and wait for them to send you a code for 40 FREE SONGS from iTunes. I just did it and got my code a few minutes later! This is an AWESOME way to score some FREE music.

Yay!!!

Thanks For The Mommas!

Cheryl