Seriously giddy.

Look at what I picked up today for only $24.44:

Hey, did you see that?  I said, “ONLY $24.44!!” Oh, AND I earned a $10 Catalina for my next trip!!  Wahoooooooooo!

I’ll kinda break it down for ya:

I took advantage of the Frozen Food month promotion: Spend $25 in specially marked frozen foods and earn a $10 Catalina (coupon that prints out) for your next visit.

I bought:
3 Freschetta Pizzas (yum!)
2 Toaster Strudels (turns out the kids love them!)
2 El Monte Tornados (I have no idea what these things are, and they sure don’t look healthy, but they were practically free and they got me up to $25)
1 Old Orchard Cranberry juice

I used a ton of coupons, none of which could be doubled.  I also had e-coupons loaded onto my card for the Toaster Strudels.  To see some amazing match-ups (with printable coupon links) go check out this post by The Krazy Coupon Lady.  It is awesome.

I also took advantage of this week’s awesome deals on the salad dressing, mushrooms, bagged salads and bagged veggies (Buy 5, Save $5 instantly, which makes them all .99¢ each).  I used lots more coupons, which doubled, making the salad dressing a $1.50 money-maker (three $1/1 coupons, which doubled) and I was able to use the pdf printable $1.50/1 salad coupon (I only used one – didn’t want to push my luck) , so I made money on the salad, too!

And, finally, there is a promotion going with the cereal, too!  I wasn’t going to buy any cereal because the ad just shows sugar cereals, however there are a LOT more cereals included in the promotion.  My Safeway had $1/1 peelie coupons on most of the Kelloggs boxes (which coincides with the Kelloggs sugar cereals Catalina promotion if you are interested), so I ended up paying 50¢ a box for the Rice Krispies and I had a coupon for the Kix (I paid .50¢).  Oh, and you can pick up free Corn Flakes with that coupon!  I would, but I already have about 6 boxes of free Corn Flakes in my pantry . . .

I made a LOT of money by buying the Nut Clusters.  I had no idea.  They are on sale for $1.50 when you buy 4, but I just realized that, so I paid $2.50.  However, I had a $1/1 IP and $4.40 worth of e-coupons loaded onto my card.  I could have bought 4 bags for .60¢, but I missed that one, plus I already have about 10 bags in the pantry, so I’d rather have the overage!!

My total before club card and coupons was $100.60 (this was all in a single transaction).

I paid $24.44 AND earned a $10 Catalina!!

Ahhh, yes.  So much fun!!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

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Contact me to become a sponsor!

I’m not going to break everything down for you, but it was kind of a combination of things in this post at Fistful of Coupons.

The highlights:

FREE toothbrushes. (I had a BOGO, a MC, and there is a $1 rebate)

All the makeup was FREE.  I bet it is close to $75 in makeup!  I don’t usually use Cover Girl, but I needed new mascara and bronzing powder anyway, and a girl can always use a back-up eyeliner, right?  And, is there such thing as too much lipstick?  I don’t think so.  There was a BOGO coupon in this week’s paper (I buy 4 papers @ .99¢ each) and Rite Aid is having a BOGO sale, which = FREE stuff!

The travel size Renu was FREE.  We don’t wear contacts, but my BIL does, so maybe he can use it.  Otherwise, I’m sure I can find someone to donate it to!

The John Frieda Root Awakening shampoo and conditioner was FREE, and I’m making $5 on it through Rite Aid Rebates.  Hee, hee!

I paid .74¢ for the 4 big packs of Starburst.  Think Easter baskets . . .

Okay, so what did I actually pay for?  The diapers.  I bought them for a friend, and they are size 3 with 31 in each package.  So, diapers cost me $7.95 and there are 62 diapers, total, which makes the diapers 12.8¢ each.  I don’t really know how much diapers cost at Costco, but I did a little searching online and people are saying 18¢ each for the Kirkland brand (size 3).  Does that sound about right?

Um, so does that mean that I just beat Costco?  Yes, I believe it does.

Oh, but I actually kicked Costco’s butt!!  See, this little purchase today should net me a $10 Rite Aid gift card.  I’m expecting at least $16 back from Rite Aid for rebates, etc.

HA!  Oh, I love this coupon stuff.  Man, I wish I had found it when my kids were in diapers!  Think of all the money I could have saved!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

Adhering Thoughts Vinyl Lettering

Contact me to become a sponsor!

You’ll find all kinds of great deals in there, including two of my Easter Themed Templates!! (Click on the images to be taken to the store.)

And, there will be two new releases this Thursday!!  I posted a couple of sneak peeks on my Facebook Fan Page, so go check ‘em out!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

Adhering Thoughts Vinyl Lettering

Contact me to become a sponsor!

(Not so random side note: Money Saving Mom did a blog post today challenging us to use cash to pay for groceries.  It’s a wonderful post, and you’ll want to click around to her links to get some ideas on how you can make that work for your family if you are currently using plastic for your food.  Hey, we were there a few months ago, and I am still amazed at how much we are saving just by switching to cash!  Side note done.)

And now, the winner of this gorgeous wallet created by Natalie of the Etsy store Bluebonnets To Peaches:

AND, this set of “custom stamped” (and if you hate ‘em, I’ll give ‘em to my mom) cash system envelopes:

(See, Natalie!  I told you I bought that fabric! And, from an Etsy shop, too!)

IS . . .

Who just happens to be . . .

Congratulations Shana!!  I’ll be in touch!!

And, as for the rest of you, RUN over to Natalie’s shop and grab a wallet before she sells out!!  LOL!  Remember, she listed a wallet just like mine AND one just like the one for this giveaway!!

I’ve got more fun giveaways coming up soon!!  Be sure to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss out!!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

Adhering Thoughts Vinyl Lettering

Contact me to become a sponsor!

Tell you what.  I’ll go ahead and make up a batch of cute envelopes while you get in one last entry for the wallet, okay?  The winner will be picked and announced TONIGHT!  (I’d say around 9:00pm PST!!)  If the winner decides that my envelopes are not her style, then I will make a special trip “into town” (aka, Salem) to find some coordinating paper.  Walmart just isn’t cutting it right now.  And, I’ll just give the reject envies to my mom.  (Not that my mama deserves reject envies, but she just thinks that everything I touch is gorgeous, so I know she’ll be happy!)

BY THE WAY . . . did you notice that Natalie put a second wallet just like mine in her Etsy store?  Did you see that she is also selling a wallet just like the one in the giveaway?  I’m not much of a gambler, but I’d bet that you have a better shot at buying a wallet than winning one.  Eh?  LOL!  Go check out her store, Bluebonnets To Peaches!

See you back here tonight!!

PS – If you are a Facebook Fan, you’ll have to check out the sneak peeks of my two Thursday releases!  SO cute!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

Adhering Thoughts Vinyl Lettering

Contact me to become a sponsor!

Back in January, I told you all about Swagbucks and shared my goal of paying for Christmas 2010 using Amazon Gift Cards earned through Swagbucks.

In February, I shared a little more about what I have learned about Swagbucks (including adding the toolbar) and I reported that I had earned $30 worth of Amazon gift Cards from my Swagbucks.

I keep learning new things about Swagbucks: some good and some bad.

Good: Did you know that if you use the Swagbucks Toolbar you will randomly earn Swagbucks? I typically have my search engine open all day, but the couple of times that I closed it and then re-opened it, I got a message that said I earned a Swagbuck just for using the Toolbar!  Well, that was easy!

Good: One of my friends saw a Facebook Status update where I recommended adding the Toolbar as a way to increase SB earnings.  She warned me that I was allowing spyware.  Of course, that made me do a little search about Swagbucks and spyware (especially since I had never heard of an issue with SBs and spyware and had never experienced any problems myself.)  My little search led me to the Norton Antivirus site where they have given Swagbucks a “This Site Is Good” rating.  Whew!  Rest assured, you are not allowing spyware.  And, really, if there had been a problem with spyware then it would have been caught months ago and millions of users (who are racking up the free gift cards) ago.

Good: Referrals are GOOD!!  I can’t even tell you how quickly you accumulate Swagbucks when you have referrals.  This leads me to the bad …

Before I launch into the bad, please keep in mind that Swagbucks is FREE MONEY.  Money that I would not have earned if I had not switched my search engine from Google to Swagbucks.  ALL I did was install the toolbar and start searching . . . and then eventually redeem my SBs for gift cards.

Bad: I learned that you can only redeem for 2 prizes per day.

Bad: You can only redeem for 5 of the same prize per month.  That means that I can only grab Five $5 Amazon Gift Cards per month.  At that rate, the most I hope to earn (keeping in mind that I only redeemed for one in January) is $280.  Nuthin’ to sneeze at, but we need a little more than that to pay for the ENTIRE Christmas.  So, over the last few days I’ve been cashing in my Swagbucks for $5 Amazon Gift Cards, and then I can’t grab any more because I hit my limit.  It’s a pain.

I think I impulse shopped this morning, and I might regret it next month. See, I had all these Swagbucks burning a hole in my pocket.  I grabbed a $25 Gift Card.  {gasp!}  I KNOW!  I paid WAY too much!!  I could have grabbed seven $5 cards for the cost of one $25 card . . . but you see, I can’t grab seven $5 cards.  My limit is five!  Now do you forgive me?  (And Sally M, this is all your fault!  LOL!)

SO, it’s March, and I have earned another $50 in Amazon Gift Cards, bringing my total to $80!!  YAY!

Now, hopefully I’ll get more referrals and you all will install that Swagbucks Toolbar and join me on a quest to pay for Christmas 2010.

What do you think?

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

Adhering Thoughts Vinyl Lettering

Contact me to become a sponsor!

Did you know that March is National Frozen Food Month? I didn’t know this until about a week ago.  YAY!!

Now, you are well aware that we like to be weird and live on $200 a month in groceries/personal care/household items, right?  Long story short:  We used to spend a lot more and thought we were being frugal.  We switched to using cash only and Krazy couponing.  We discovered we can live on less.  We now feed our family of four for $200 a month (easily . . . this includes an occasional bottle or four of wine and meals out, if there is money left in the weekly envelope).

How’d ya like that nutshell?  Hee, hee!

Anywho!  I thought you might be interested in seeing what you can get during National Frozen Food Month.  Safeway is having a “spend $25 in specially marked frozen food items and earn $10 to use on your next purchase” (Catalina) promotion going all month long.

On Wednesday I did this:

(Feeling a bit sheepish about the Toaster Strudels, but they were SO cheap and my kids have never tried them!  LOL!)

Frozen Food items: 2 family size lasagnes, 2 Toaster Strudels, 1 Potatoes O’Brien, 4 frozen veggies.
I used a bunch of coupons.
I had a $10 Catalina left over from the Charmin/Bounty deal.
I paid $14.34 OOP and earned a $10 Cat!

Today, I rolled that Catalina into these deals:

This is two different transactions to maximize savings.

Transaction 1 - Buy 4 California Pizza Kitchen Pizzas and one Safeway Potatoes O’Brien.
No coupons.
Used the $10 Cat from above and paid $12.46 OOP
PLUS, I earned a $10 Catalina from the Frozen Food Promo AND a $3 Catalina by buying 4 California Pizza Kitchen Pizzas!

(Okay, now that I am looking at this transaction closely, it shouldn’t have worked.  I think I should have purchased 2 potatoes. When I went through the line, the $10 Catalina didn’t print, so I took the groceries to customer service to return them so I could go through and add more groceries to the purchase to get the Cat.  I didn’t know exactly what happened, but I knew it didn’t work so I needed to investigate.  Instead, the lady just gave me a $10 bill.  Hmm.  Now I’m feeling guilty.)

Anyway, Transaction 2 went like this:

Buy 4 Freschetta (my fav frozen pizza!) and 1 Birds Eye Meal (I like to “extend” these with extra veggies and pasta to make it a meal for 4!)
Use (4) $1/1 Freschetta IP
Use $1.50/1 Birds Eye IP
Use Safeway Doublers (-$2)
Pay with $3 Cat and $10 Cat
Pay $6.74 OOP and earn a $10 Catalina!

SO, I spent $18.91 on 8 pizzas, 1 meal and Potatoes O’Brien, AND, I still have a Catalina to roll!!

I’m totally doing going back for more frozen food this month.  Cross your fingers that there will be a big veggie promo next week!

By the way, did you see the couponing article I wrote over at The Daily Digi? Go check it out!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

Adhering Thoughts Vinyl Lettering

Contact me to become a sponsor!

This is what you will find in my store today!! (Click on the images to be taken to the store.)

Don’t forget to enter the Wallet Giveaway!!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!

Charming Gifts Jewelry and Charms

Adhering Thoughts Vinyl Lettering

Contact me to become a sponsor!