FREE 4 Pack of Energizer Recharge Batteries

Energizer Batteries Facebok Page is giving away a FREE 4-pack of AA Energizer Recharge Batteries - a $13 value to the first 30,000 'Likers'. HURRY this will be gone before you know it. GO HERE and 'Sign Up Now' which will take you to sign up and will ask you to 'like' Energizer Batteries before they confirm your entry. You'll receive a coupon for your FREE Batteries in 3-4 weeks :)

FREE Pledge of Allegiance Poster

Another great FREEBIE for my homeschooling Moms, Teachers or anyone else that is interested. Gateways is giving away one FREE Pledge of Allegiance Poster per family while supplies last through 9/30/10. GO HERE and scroll down the page till you see the poster and click to redeem your FREE poster. Another great addition to the Johnson School Room :)

FREE Pocket Size Declaration of Independence and Constitution

To all my homeschooling Moms, Teachers and anyone else interested. Ask Heritage is giving away FREE Pocket Size Declarations of Independence and Constitutions. What a great learning tool for your kiddo. GO HERE and fill out the order form and receive your FREE Pocket Size Declaration of Independence and Constitution in 3-4 wks. Sapphire's is on the way :)

FREE BIC Highlighters @ Staples

This week Staples has BIC Bright Liner 5 pack of highlighters on sale for $0.50/limit 2. This is a steal - the regular price of these highlighters are approx $3.00-$3.50 per pack. But wait I've got an even better deal for you :) If you GO HERE and print off the $1/2 BIC Stationary Coupon (Note: you should be able to print these twice..unless you've printed them once before..I had a ton of these coupons because I got some last month and they reset the coupon for this month and I print from both of our computers to double up on the savings). With the coupon you can get 2 packs of these highlighters for FREE plus tax. I had 4 BIC coupons left and decided this would be a great way to finish off these coupons. Sapphire and I both made a purchase on Sunday and again today while we were out running errands. We scored (8) 5pks of highlighters for a total cost of $0.20 tax :)

Pasta Sweepstakes

Enter HERE for a chance to win FREE groceries for a year!!

The New World Pasta Family of brands proudly presents: It Pays To Eat Pasta Sweepstakes!!
Enter for a chance to win FREE groceries for a year!
Over $50,000 in groceries will be given away!
- Grand Prize (1) - FREE Groceries for a year ($5,200 sent in the form of a check)
- First Prize (450) - Mini Grocery Shopping Spree ($100 sent in the form of a check)
Sweepstakes begins 8/17/10, ends 10/30/10. Open to legal residents of the 50 US & DC, 18 and over.

Share the link you are given after registering on FB, Twitter, Blog, etc and receive an extra entry (up to 30) for each person to register off of your link :)

I sure could use some extra grocery money and I bet you could too - it's worth a try :)

Catching Up...

I've been so busy this past week with school orientations, school registrations, doctors appointments, you name it we've pretty much had to do it this past week. With that said, there has been very little time to sit down and blog. But, ahh as I sit here in a hotel room at 3:38am awake not because of my children but instead because of our neighbors in room 211 who are extremely loud I thought I my as well take a moment to blog. I've got nothing better to do, except for maybe sleep but that's not happening. This past week I've found a few deals around town and I apologize because by the time you get around to reading this these deals will most likely be expired :(

Payless Shoes: Otis and Reagan were in need of some new tennis shoes for school. Payless has a Buy One Get One 1/2 off Sale going on through 9/6/10 and I received a flyer in the mail from Payless for 20% off my total purchase that could be combined with the B1G1 1/2 off Sale. Monday we made a trip to Payless with $20 in hand - my mission was $20/2 pairs of shoes. Well I knocked this one out of the park. Reagan found a pair of Dora Tennis Shoes regular price $17.99 marked down to $11.99 and Otis found a pair of Nickelodeon Slime Tennis Shoes regular price $22.99 marked down to $7.00. Otis' shoes were then marked down to $3.50 with the B1G1 1/2 off sale and on top of that 20% was taken off our total purchase. With tax I paid $13.01 for TWO pairs of NEW shoes :) Based on the regular prices of these shoes I saved 70%!!
Reagan's Dora Shoes
Otis' Nickelodeon Slime Shoes

Dollar General: I've stepped foot inside one 3 times in my life. There is one located in Lomira which is about 1/2 way between Oshkosh and Milwaukee. This exit is often the 1/2 way meeting place I meet my family when my youngest sister or my nephews come to stay with us. My family is never on time so we've burned time walking around the Dollar General a few times.
Anyways, every Sunday there is an ad in the paper for Dollar General and I never bother looking at it, the closest ones to Oshkosh are either Omro or Appleton. This week the Wisk or ALL detergent on the front page of it for $3 (orig price $5.50) DID catch my eye. Especially when I knew I had $1/1 coupons for ALL. I did some searching online to see if I couldn't find a few more printable coupons for either Wisk or ALL to make it worth my trip for detergent. Who am I kidding I would have made the trip either way - $3 is a steal, you can't even get generic detergent for that price and we were down to just a 1/2 bottle left and we're a family of 7...who does a lot of laundry. Yes, I've thought about making our own but honestly I just don't have the time :( Not only did I find myself 3 printable coupons I also found out that Dollar General had a $5 off $25 purchase 2 day coupon featured on Facebook if you 'liked' them. Before I continue on with my shopping trip I'll share with you that there are many ways to search for coupons/discounts online. My favorite way and personally I think the easiest way is using Coupon Database and you can find access to it HERE @ Money Saving Mom's Blog. With coupons in hand we made a trip to Appleton (Omro is closer but we killed two birds with one stone and shopped at CVS too while we were out there).


(2) 60oz ALL (3) 50oz Wisk @ $3/each = $15
Training Pants (Generic Pull Ups) = $7.75
(2) 6pk of Diet Dr Pepper @ $1.50/each = $3
Total before tax = $25.75

Coupons I used:
$5/$25 Dollar General FB Coupon
(2) $1/1 ALL coupons found HERE
(3) $1/1 Wisk coupons found HERE and/or HERE

Final Cost $15.75 +tax Savings of 58% off the regular prices :)
The breakdown cost for each item after coupons...ALL & Wisk $1.42/each, Training Pants $6.25 and Dr Pepper $1.21/each

CVS: Ahh, I love this store and can't wait till we get one in Oshkosh :) Here's what I got...I think we have 6 of these Gillette Shavers already...but buying a new shaver for $0.99/after coupons and ECB's is WAY cheaper than buying the refills for these things :)

Gillette Fusion Proglide Shaver $9.99 (receive a $5 ECB with purchase)
Used $4/1 coupon from 8/1 P&G Coupon Insert
Final Cost = $0.99 after ECB

(4) Right Guard (2) Dry Idea $4.49/each
On sale for B1G1 FREE and paired this sale with (3) B1G1 FREE Right Guard or Dry Idea coupons found in the 7/25 RedPlum Coupon Insert
Final Cost = 6 for FREE

I paid $5.99 before tax out of pocket and walked out with a $5 ECB to use towards my next purchase at CVS :)

Target: More FREE pens :)

(8) BIC Pens $0.99/each
Used (4) $1/2 coupons from Target's Website (no longer available) and stacked those with (4) $1/2 manufacturer coupons found HERE
Final Cost: 8 pkgs for FREE (the register automatically adjusted the price of these coupons and didn't allow overage)

(2) Shout Wipe & Go Travel Size $0.97/each
Used $2/2 coupon from the 8/8 Smartsource Coupon Insert
Final Cost: 2 FREE (the register automatically adjusted the price of this coupon and didn't allow overage)

Target Total: FREE!!

What kind of deals have you found this week?

FREE World Map

Calling all my homeschooling buddies, teachers and anyone else who's interested. World Vision is giving away 15,000 World Maps for FREE. GO HERE and enter your information and in 4-6 wks you'll receive your map. I just ordered one for Sapphire and can't wait to get it. I'm not sure how large it is but I ordered a Presidential Time Line from a similar site for FREE a few months ago and we just got it the other day and it's HUGE (fits one entire wall in her bedroom LOL!!) These will be great learning/teaching tools for her and the other kiddos.

80% Savings at Walmart

I'd have to say Back To School shopping is like Christmas to me :) I loved it as a kid and still do today as an adult. I've been picking up school supplies here and there over the past few weeks as they've come on sale. All I had left to get were disinfectant wipes and a 3 ring binder. Being that these are not typical 'sale' items I decided I'd finish up school supply shopping today. I also had a HUGE stack of coupons just waiting for a trip to Walmart. My purchases today consisted of 43 items..subtotal of $44.72..after coupons I paid $8.96 out of pocket for a total of 80% savings on this shopping trip :)
I tried to upload a pic of my receipt but it's too fuzzy and you can't read the numbers...but I've got it if you really wanted to see it :)

Here's what I got...


Seventh Generation Disinfectant Wipes
$2.97 - Used a $1/1 coupon I received from a Healthy Baby Home Party
Final Cost...$1.97

(10) Super Sticky Post-It Notes
$1/each - Used (10) $1/1 coupons found HERE
Final Cost...FREE

(6) Johnson & Johnson First Aid Travel Kits
$0.97/each - Used (2) $3/3 coupons featured in select markets newspapers..I found them in the Milwaukee Journal coupons I received from my Mom :)
Final Cost...Money Maker of $0.18!!

(3) Clean & Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser (Travel Size)
$0.97/each - Used (3) $1/1 from 8/1 P&G Sunday Coupon Insert
Final Cost...Money Maker of $0.09!!

White 3 Ring Binder
$1.78 (Does this seem EXTREMELY expensive to anyone else? It was the cheapest 'white' binder I could find and YES the supply list specified must be 'white')

(12) Rayovac Coupons
$0.97/each - Used (4) $1/1 and (4) $1/2 that I've collected over the past month from several different Sunday Coupon Inserts
Final Cost...(4) at Money Maker of $0.12 and (8) at $0.47/each OR (12) at $0.30/each (adds up the same either way you look at it - my kids go through AA batteries like they're candy)

(10) Nexcare Bandages
$0.96/each - Used (10) $1/1 coupons found HERE
Final Cost...Money Maker of $0.40!!

I think we're set on bandages, post-it notes and batteries for awhile. I've got a tote to keep all these extra items I can't fit in my cupboards. But how can you pass up a FREE or Money Maker deal!?! I'm think I might start looking at buying a cute basket from the Dollar Store and make some 'Household Baskets' to use as Christmas gifts :)

FREE Nexcare Bandages

I was searching for a few coupons online this morning and I came across the $1/1 Nexcare Product coupon again. Prices vary per store/market but Oshkosh Walmart has the Basic Style Nexcare Bandages priced at $0.96. If you GO HERE first and print a coupon you'll get FREE bandages PLUS $0.04 overage!! Note: Walmart will NOT pay you the $0.04 so you'll need to purchase additional item(s) to absorb the overage. This coupon is another PDF style by 3M which means UNLIMITED prints :) I'm stocking up again but hurry coupon expires 9/1.

Black Bean Burgers

As part of our mission to become a healthier family I've decided that we need to eat out less and cook at home more. I bought a family friendly cookbook from Weight Watchers 'Eat! Move! Play! A Parent's Guide for Raising Healthy, Happy Kids' a few months back and decided I better dust the dust off of it and start using it :) For dinner last night I made Black Bean Burgers and they turned out wonderful!!

Black Beans Burgers

1 14oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1lb 93/7 lean ground beef
1/4 cup mild salsa
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 tsp salt
6 Arnold's Select Whole Wheat Thins

Preheat the broiler; spray the broiler pan with nonstick spray. Place the beans in a large bowl and mash them coarsely with a potato masher or large fork; some of the beans should remain whole for texture. Add the beef, salsa, parsley and salt and mix with a spoon or your hands until blended. Shape the mixture into 6 patties and place the patties on the broiler pan. Broil, turning once, until cooked through and browned, about 10 minutes. Serve on the buns.

Note: I'd skip the parsley next time, I didn't taste it what so ever. Doesn't pay for me to buy a HUGE bunch of parsley for $0.80 to use about 4-5 stalks - that's $0.80 I could spend elsewhere and now I have a HUGE bunch of leftover parsley in my fridge that will probably go to waste. Also after 5 mins of cooking I went to turn the burgers and the first one started to fall apart so I decided not to flip them. They turned out awesome and fully cooked on both sides after the 10 mins so I'll continue to skip that step myself.

Black Bean Burger topped w/muenster cheese, avocado slices, fat free sour cream and salsa with a side of corn and grapes

Nutrition Information (per burger w/ bun)
Calories 282
Calories from Fat 62.5
Total Fat 6.94g
Saturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 43.33mg
Sodium 707.67mg
Total Carbohydrate 33.24g
Dietary Fiber 6.08g
Sugars 2.69g
Protein 20.41g

I topped my black bean burger with muenster cheese (cheese seems to be a weakness of mine LOVE IT but hate the calories - again I'd recommend a 2% cheese which once again we did not have in the house) for 80 calories, 1 TBSP fat free sour cream for 10 calories, 1 TBSP salsa for 5 calories and 3 slices of avocado for 33 calories. My burger was quite exciting and I chose to pair it with yummy but not so exciting sides. I had 40 calories worth of corn and 100 calories worth of grapes. Total for my entire plate 550 calories!! My family gave this recipe a thumbs up :)

Let me know if you decide to give this a try. I'd like to know what you thought of it and if you made any alterations

Double Double Coupon Day @ Pick N Save

Yesterday was Double Double Coupon Day @ Pick N Save. Which means you were able to double up to 10 coupons (verses the standard 5) that have a original face value of up to $1.00 with a $25 purchase (before coupons). I saved $41.05 and payed $21.54 out of pocket after coupons for about a 66% savings on my order. This was not a FULL shopping trip just picked up a few things we needed, a few items on sale and then a few items that I couldn't pass up for nearly free once I applied a double coupon to it.

Here's what I got for $21.54!!

Parsley $0.79

(2) Dannon Light & Fit 4pk Yogurt
2/$4.00 used a $1/2 coupon (doubled)
Final Cost $1/each 4 pack or $0.25/per yogurt

Dan-o-nino 6pk Yogurt
$2.19 used a $1/1 coupon (doubled)
Final Cost $0.19/6pk or $0.03/per yogurt

Danimal Crush 4pk Yogurt
$2.35 used a $1/1 coupon (doubled)
Final Cost $0.35/4pk or $0.08/per yogurt

(2) Ban Deodorants
$2.17/each used (2) $1/1 coupons (doubled)
Final Cost $0.17/per deodorant

(2) Nesquick Chocolate Milk
$1.69/each used $1/2 coupon (doubled)
Final Cost $1.38 for 2 or $0.69/each
This is not a GREAT deal but it's the only way I can get Otis to drink milk so at least I got it cheaper than normal

Arnold Select Whole Wheat Thins $2.50

(2) Mentos Pure Gum
$1.49/each used $1/2 coupon (doubled)
Final Cost $0.49/each

(4) Hormel Extra Lean Pork Center Cut Loin Fillet
(2)Mesquite BBQ Flavor (2) Honey Mustard Flavor
Cost $5.99/lb...they are approx 1.5lb pkgs costing $9.34, $9.40, $9.46, $9.58
On sale for B1G1 (-$9.38 & -$9.40 w/ PNS Card)
used (3) $1/1 coupon (doubled)
Final Cost For ALL 4 $13.04 or $2.06/lb after B1G1 and coupons
We love these because they are only 140 calories per 4oz and are very tasty

What kind of deals have you found this week? I'd love to hear about any deals you find with or without coupons :)

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

What's for dinner? I didn't take anything out for dinner tonight and had no clue what to make. I find myself starring in the pantry and tapping my fingers on the counter top. Hmmm... What can I do with a can of refried beans cause we've only got like 8 cans in the pantry. That's when I remembered the leftover tortillas from tacos this weekend and what do you know we've got a can of chicken and enchilada sauce. I can pair that with some cheese...I bet I can whip up some Chicken Enchiladas. *Crossing my fingers* for a tasty dinner.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

12.5oz can Chunk Chicken Breast in Water (drained)
16oz can Fat Free Refried Beans
10oz can Enchilada Sauce
28 corn tortillas
1 2/3 cup Colby & Monterey Jack shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350' and spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl combine chicken, refried beans and 1/2 can of enchilada sauce. Stir well. Corn tortillas are super thin and often fall apart easily so I doubled up each enchilada. Take 2 corn tortillas and put 1/14th of the mixture on it. Now if you know me well you know I'm meticulous when it comes to portion sizes. I personally weighed out the mixture and divided it by 14 and made sure EACH enchilada had the exact same amount of filling. This is not necessary but I would recommend it if you're a calorie counting fool like me :) Anyways, place the mixture on the tortillas and fold the tortilla like a burrito. Place the seam side down on the pan. When all tortillas are filled and in the pan spread the remaining enchilada sauce over them. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 mins. Enjoy with a dollop of sour cream and/or salsa. You may want to reduce the this recipe in 1/2 if you're a smaller family...this recipe feed our family of 7 and we have 3 enchiladas left over.

The 3 left over enchiladas :)

Nutrition Information (per Enchilada)
Calories: 174
Calories from Fat: 44.6
Total Fat: 4.96g
Saturated Fat: 2.79g
Cholesterol: 21.79mg
Sodium: 456.43mg
Total Carbohydrate: 20.82g
Dietary Fiber: 3.25g
Sugars: 1.45g
Protein: 12.71g

*Note: I would recommend using 2% shredded cheese which will reduce the calories in this quite a bit :) regular shredded cheese is all we had in the house this evening :(

In my calorie counting adventures of weight loss (which by the way I lost 4.2lbs this week for a total of 105.2lbs LOST since July 2008) I currently only pay attention to nutrition numbers in the follow categories: calories, dietary fiber and protein. With that said, this was an awesome dinner and VERY filling. I had 2 enchiladas for 348 calories topped with 1 serving of Fat Free Sour Cream 20 calories and 2 Tablespoons of Salsa for 10 calories. 378 calorie dinner...that means there's room for dessert :) And it was VERY tasty...even my anti-diet food husband had seconds!!

Let me know if you decide to give this a try. I'd like to know what you thought of it and if you made any alterations.

FREE Post-It Sticky Notes

Who doesn't need Post-It Sticky Notes around their house? We're always looking for a small piece of paper to jot a few notes onto and end up using printer paper that's NOT so cheap. Not anymore in this house!! This week Target has Post-It Sticky Notes on sale for $1 each. But wait, if you go HERE you can get an UNLIMITED amount of prints on a $1/1 coupon for Post-It Sticky Notes. That means and UNLIMITED amount of FREE Post-It Sticky Notes for your house!! Come to think of it our walls could REALLY use a paint job...maybe the kids can use all the FREE Post-It Sticky Notes and give it a new look LOL!!

And, here's what my shopping trip looked like today at Target. I only started with 10 but I'm sure I'll be back to Target at least one or two more times before the week is over. Note: These coupons state you still have to pay tax. 10 packs of Post-It Notes for $0.50/tax that's $0.05 a pkg!!

Bathroom Giveaway Winner

Let's get us a winner here :) There were 14 comments left on this giveaway HOWEVER 2 of them were not tips. So, I used 1-12 in the www.random.org generator. Drum roll please...and the winner is Bathroom Cleaning Tip #11 - Amanda!! Congrats Amanda!! I met Amanda via the Blogging World about 3 yrs ago. We've only met 3 times and oddly the 3rd time was today - we just happened to run into eachother at the Zoo this afternoon. I'm excited for another oppertunity to meet! Amanda you have 24hrs to contact me via email at dj101602@yahoo.com to confirm your winnings and we can set up delivery. If Amanda does not contact me within 24hrs (7:15pm Sunday) a new winner will be picked.

Thank you for participating and I encourage you to become a follower because another giveaway is just around the corner :)

Extra Gum Freebie

Sorry this promotion has ended.

Wrigley Gum is introducing NEW Extra Dessert Delight Gum! It's sugar free gum that tastes like the real dessert! GO HERE enter your information and chose from the 3 flavors available (Key Lime Pie, Mint Chocolate Chip and Strawberry Shortcake) and receive a free sample in 2-4 wks!! Use Promo Code 353637. I chose Strawberry Shortcake and can't wait to try it!

Target Shopping Trip 8/5

Did you know that Target has store issued coupons available for you to print on their website? Did you also know that they allow you to stack those store coupons with a manufacturer coupon for the same item for double the savings? If you play your coupons right you can score some really awesome deals!!

A few weeks ago they had Papermate coupons available for print $0.50/off one Papermate item. I printed myself two (should have printed more..they seem to have unlimited prints) and decided I'd wait until the back to school sales started before I used them. Guess what's on sale this week...Papermate 10pk pens are $0.50/each. I picked myself up 2 pkgs of those today. Target also sent me a HUGE coupon book in the mail last week that had another Papermate $0.50/1 coupon and a BIC $1/1 coupon. So I snagged 1 more set of Papermate pens and BIC Pens were on sale for $0.99 this week. Note: Some coupons 'beep' at the register and don't allow you to receive overage. Most stores will adjust the coupon down to the sale price allowing you to still use the coupon. My $1 coupon beeped and was adjusted to a $0.99 coupon. Total for this shopping trip..100% FREE the cashier had no clue what to do. I had to explain that with my coupons my purchase came to zero and if she hit the 'cash' button then the register will close the sale and print my receipt. She was still mumbling about my order as she started the next order LOL!!

Bathroom Giveaway

I've got just about everything you'd need in your bathroom in this giveaway. In the past month or two I've struck 101 deals that included many, many, many bathroom items. I've got body wash and deodorant falling out of the cupboards. All items in this package were either FREE after coupon, Money Makers after coupon or Freebies by mail. Matter a fact the cost of the ENTIRE package to me was -$0.16!!! Yep, you got it I was paid $0.16 to remove these wonderful items from stores shelves. Ha, I just love it! Because these items cost me nothing and I'm addicted to saving money I'm NOT willing to ship these items. With that said you must live in the surrounding areas of Oshkosh, WI where I am located or Milwaukee area where I frequently visit family and friends. If you're not sure if you'd qualify as a 'surrounding area' just ask and I'd be happy to let you know :)

So, you ask...How can I win this? It's simple leave a comment on this post (NOT on FB..messages left on FB will not count) with your best tip for keeping your bathroom clean! We all hate cleaning out bathrooms so lets give each other a hand with some tips. I'll allow 2 entries per person but each entry MUST be a different tip. Entries will be accept for 48hrs and this giveaway will end at Saturday August 7th @ 5pm Central Time. Any entries after that time will not be included in the giveaway. After the giveaway closes I will use www.random.org to pick a random winner. I'll contact you via email and you'll have 24hrs to respond. If you fail to respond to my email in 24hrs a new winner will be chosen.

Here's what you can win...



Mellow Nutrient Watermelon Scented Shampoo 10.14oz
Mellow Moisturizing Watermelon Scented Conditioner 10.14oz
Cost 2/$5...FREE after Morton Pharmacy $5 off $5 coupon

Gillette Hydrating Body Wash Dry Skin Relief 8.4oz
Cost $0.99...Money Maker of $0.01 after $1/1 coupon

Dove Extra Hold Hairspray 2oz Travel Size
Cost $0.97...Money Maker of $0.03 after $1/1 coupon

Nexcare Sheer Bandages 60ct
Cost $0.96...Money Maker of $0.04 after $1/1 coupon

Right Guard Sport 3D Oder Defense Fresh Scent 0.5oz Travel Size
Cost $0.97...Money Maker of $0.03 after $1/1 coupon

Degree Woman Ultra Clear Pure Satin Scent 0.5oz Travel Size
Cost $0.97...Money Maker of $0.03 after $1/1 coupon

Sesame Street Fizzy Tub Colors 6 Tablets
Cost $0.98...Money Maker of $0.02 after $1/1 coupon

Sample Freebies via mail:

Crest Cavity Protection
John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo/Conditioner/Lotion
John Frieda Sheer Blonde Shampoo/Conditioner/$1 off coupon
Dove Hair Care Shampoo/Conditioner
Head & Shoulders 2in1 Hair Endurance for Men

Good Luck To All!!

CVS Shopping Trip 8/4

I LOVE CVS!! I personally believe they have better deals than Walgreen's and I prefer their employees to Walgreen's employees. But that's just me. I'm super stoked to have read in the paper on Sunday that CVS is looking to build RIGHT NEXT to the Walgreen's on Koeller in the very near future :)

I usually make a trip once a week to Appleton to shop at CVS. Sometimes I dread the 20 min drive there and back but then I get home and see my bag of goodies and know it was totally worth it.

Look what I walked away with this evening for $3.52 out of pocket!!



How you ask: I often have several transactions when shopping at CVS or Walgreen's which are stores that offer ECB's (Extra Care Bucks) or RR's (Register Rewards). For those of you who are unfamiliar with ECB's & RR's this is money the store gives you back for purchasing a product except it's not in the form of cash. It's a piece of paper the register prints out and is like a store credit and they are usually valid for about 2 weeks after your purchase.

I had two transactions last night:

Transaction #1
Gillette Fusion Power Glide Shaver $9.79 (get $5 in ECB's w/purchase)
Used $4/1 coupon from the 8/1 P&G insert
(price of shaver after coupon & ECB is ONLY $0.79 What a steal!)
I also used $2.98 in ECB's from a previous week towards this purchase
$9.79 - $4.00 coupon - $2.98 ECB = $2.81 plus tax

I paid $3.30 out of pocket and received a $5 ECB back for purchasing the shaver

Transaction #2
(2) Dove Milk Chocolate Bars 2/$1
Used $0.50/2 coupon CVS's Red Box printed
$0.25/each after coupon

(2) Dawn Ultra $0.97/each
Used (2) $0.25/1 coupons from 8/1 P&G Sunday Newspaper Coupon Insert
$0.72/each after coupon

(1) Dawn Hand Renewal $0.97
Used $1/1 coupon I received from P&G via mail
*Money Maker* -$0.03 after coupon

(3) Clean & Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser (Travel Size) $0.99/each
Used (2) $1/1 online printable coupon (no longer available)
Used (1) $1/1 from 8/1 P&G Sunday Newspaper Coupon Insert
Note: These specific coupons did NOT say 'Excludes Travel Size' which is why I was able to use them on the Travel Size
*Money Maker* -$0.03 after coupons

CVS Baby Wipes $1.99
Used $1/1 coupon CVS's Red Box printed
$0.99 after coupon

Dentyne Pure Gum $1.29
Used $1/1 coupon received by mail via a FB promotion Dentyne was having
$0.29 after coupon

Total $10.16 (before coupons)
-$ 7.00 (coupons)
______________________
$ 3.16 Total

I wanted to use my $5 ECB from the previous transaction to pay for this order so I needed to come up with an additional $1.84 or so. I grabbed 3 pkgs of M&M's for the kids at $0.50/each.

$3.16 + $1.50 = $4.66 plus tax came to $5.22 used my $5 ECB from my 1st transaction and paid $0.22 out of pocket :)

I also wanted to take advantage of the SoBe Drink deal they have going on right now which is B1G1 (Buy One Get One). I have (4) B1G1 coupons that I won off of www.sobe.com Head or Tails Game that you can play daily (no game piece needed). CVS's coupon policy says that you CAN use a B1G1 coupon on a item that is advertised as B1G1. I wanted to get 8 SoBe's for FREE after CVS's sale and my coupons BUT the shelves were wiped clean of SoBe :(

It's about time...

Welcome to The Motherlode of Meals, Deals and Steals! I'm Jenny and I'm addicted to saving MONEY! I also love to cook when I'm not mentally and physically drained from taking care of our kids. After posting several of my deals and steals on Facebook over the past few months I started to think I needed a blog. At which point a few friends made the same suggestions. Presto..here's my blog FINALLY!!

A bit about me...My husband David and I have been married 5 1/2 yrs. We have 5 children together (Sapphire 10 1/2 yrs old, Otis 4 1/2 yrs old, Reagan 3 yrs old, Elliot 2 yrs old and Willow 6 mons old). I'm a stay at home Mom and in order for us to survive on one income as a family of seven I need to find every deal and steal out there to make David's hard earned dollar stretch. Our biggest hurdles in life right now are learning to eat healthier and become debt free.

I hope to provide you with some great meals, deals and steals through this blog. Please be patient with me as I set out on this journey. It's going to take some time to make sure I've got all my bases covered and please don't hesitate to ask questions if you've got one.

I'd also like to say, Thank You to my friends and family who helped me think of my blog title.