Updates!

Hello all! I have been so busy with the Holiday that I have not had time to finish my new posts. I apologize for my lack of posting. I do have some new posts in the works that just need some fine tuning and fact checking, I like to make sure the information I share with you is accurate. These will be out sometime this week.

 I had some people say that they were having trouble leaving comments because they did not have an account, I changed the setting and you can leave a comment anonymously now.

I want to hear from you! How did your Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday shopping go? Get any spectacular deals? Please leave a comment and let me know what great deals you got!

Happy Couponing! : )

Free Oil, Gas, and Electricity?

With cold weather and Christmas on the horizon now is a great time to start shopping and earning yourself free Oil, Propane, or Electricity to keep you and your wallet happy. 


There is a website www.neighboroil.com which started a rewards program, similar to Stop & Shop gas reward points, that rewards you with free oil when you shop online. They have also recently expanded to include Gas and Electricity.

The basis of the program works a lot like Ebates where retailers partner up with the company and offer you a certain reward value. With Neighbor Oil each retailer offers points instead of cash back so, for example, PBS.org offers 1 Point for every $1.76 spent in their store. They have a lot of different retailers to choose from so take a look around to see who offers the best point to $ spent ratio. They are working on a program so that you can shop in store and earn points but it is not available just yet.

Are you not totally sold yet? Well there are other ways you can earn points. After you create your free account you will receive 10 points! Hey, that was easy! After that, you can download the  Neighbor Oil toolbar. This is basically the same thing as the Ebates toolbar, when you are on a site that is partnered with Neighbor Oil it will notify you there are points available to earn. For installing the toolbar you will get 10 points. Share the current oil price near you on your Facebook and you will earn 10 points! Right now they are holding a promotion; for every friend you invite and registers you will earn 10 points!

*WARNING* In case you had the same thought process I did I wanted to warn you that you cannot combine Ebates CB (cash back) with Neighbor Oil points. I tried to have both toolbars installed and went to the Wal-mart site (as it is partnered with both) to see what would happen. One toolbar cancels out the other, so you can only use either CB or points.

Neighbor Oil also lets you use your points towards propane purchases as well. I have oil, so I am not up on the propane end of the site. There is a sister site www.neighborpower.com that allows you to shop online AND in stores to save money on your electric bill. When you sign up you automatically get $3.00 in credit. You can register your store cards and add offers to your account that will earn you cash credits when you buy them and scan your registered store card!

Christmas, Birthday, or everyday shopping these sites can help you cut down your bills! I will leave you with a quote from Kathy Spencer, "More money isn't the answer. Saving money is."

Are you already using Neighbor Oil or Power? Let me know the best deal you have gotten on a fill up!

DEAL! 60 FREE Prints from York

I got this tip from a blog that I follow How To Shop For Free. Right now you can get 60 Photo Prints for FREE! from York. Get some photos printed and use them around your home or for Christmas presents! 

Click Here and use COUPON CODE: 60PRINTS to get your free prints! Shipping is not included, $3.74. Thanks again to How To Shop For Free for this find!

Let me know if you cashed in on the deal and how you plan on using it! Happy Couponing! : )

Christmas Shopping

I have a poll listed at the top of my blog wondering what everyone is more interested in learning about. Seems that Christmas shopping a topic you want to learn more about.

What I Do

When Christmas time comes around I make a spreadsheet and I list out the following by column: Recipient, What gift(s) I bought them, My budget, What I actually spent, and a check mark if I have purchased it. I have all the columns total at the bottom and make sure that my Actual spending total is subtracted from my Budgeted total to show me how much money I have left to spend on gifts. I also include my Ebates cash back that I have earned and add that to my total budget left to spend.

My goal when doing this is to have in mind the amount a gift should cost and plan to spend half of that. So, If I have budgeted $50 for Mary and I find a sweatshirt that is $50 but on sale for $25, that is perfect! By creating the spreadsheet I feel in control of my spending. Also it helps me keep track of what presents I got for everyone as I wrap my presents as I get them!

Online Shopping

Well, if you have been following along so far you know that I have a few favorite sites that can almost guarantee my Christmas budget get cut in half. We will start with online shopping and then move on to some actual store shopping:

• Ebates.com- Offers you a % of cash back on purchases made with partnered stores through their website. This is a good overall tool to have in your back pocket no matter what purchases you are making. When you first sign up it gives you the option of choosing a gift card. When you get your gift card you can use it as a gift or stocking stuffer (free!). I opted for the $10 Target gift card. I added $10 to it and will use it as a Yankee Swap gift (1/2 Price!).
  
• Groupon.com- Offers you local deals and goods for a limited time, most for 1/2 price! I love Groupon Goods. I think it is perfect for Christmas shopping. Most items are 50% off or more and have free shipping. They also offer vouchers for Restaurants or other businesses. The only thing about gifting a voucher is that the amount you paid for it is shown. So it depends on who you are giving it to and if you are ok with that. I have also thought to just black out the price. I know that they have great customer service and any problems are resolved very quickly and easily.
• Living Social.com- Pretty much the same as Groupon but I feel they have more vouchers than they do goods. I do buy things here and there and so far I have had no issues. A neat feature they offer is the opportunity to get your purchse for free. After you buy something it will give you a special link to share with your friends. If 3 of your friends buy the product through the link you will get yours for free!
• Totsy.com- Again, a lot like Groupon but it is geared towards children and moms. They have a wide variety of items clothes, toys, decor, ect... The prices are good. A lot of times I go on there and start to look at something and it is sold out which is annoying but they have some good deals on there.
• Woot.com- Same idea except they have 8 categories; woot!, tech!, home!, sport!, kids!, shirt!, wine!, sellout!. Every day each category has a new deal and it will only last for 24 hours. I usually find higher priced deals than what I have budgeted. You will find a lot of appliances and electronics that are refurbished and marked down 50%- 70%. I saw a Dyson upright vacuum once for $299 retail $499.
• Buy.com- This is like Walmart and Amazon combined. Through Ebates I get 6% CB (Cash Back) where I get 1% with Walmart and pretty much nothing with Amazon. I have ordered a few gifts through here already and have had no problems.

Store Shopping Tips

There are a few things you can do when shopping the stores for presents this year:

1. In most stores the sale racks are in the back of the store. Make it your priority to work back to front. It is an easy way to start saving money.
   
2. If you find something you like but feel you can't justify the price as a cashier if there are any coupons or store promotions going on. I was in Payless with my friend and she needed shoes. She found a cute pair for $30 but didn't want to spend the money so I politely asked the cashier if there were any coupons or promotions going on. Without even looking at me she said, "No, sorry." I replied, "Oh really? There are a pair of shoes that I would really like to buy but I just don't have the budget for them right now." She looked up and asked, "How much?" I said, "$30." She then handed me a coupon for $5.00 off $25 coupon. SO! It definitely pays to ask and let them know you want to buy something! The economy is bad and everyone is fighting for your business, take advantage.
3. Make sure that you get a Sunday paper every week, it has coupons. Around the holidays they offer discounts on the subscription price and if it saves you 1/2 of your Christmas budget then it's worth it. There will be a ton of coupons that come in during this time plus all the flyers so you will never miss a sale.
4. Look for coupons that say things like, "Buy Any Item, Get a $15 item free!" Try and find something small that you could use as a stocking stuffer and then get a $15 item to use as another present. The key, I think, is to look at a coupon and say, "How can I make this work so that I get it for close to nothing?" The goal with this kind of coupon is to get you to buy a $30 item and then get a $15 item for free. If you don't spend that $30 then you are saving.
5. Coupons that say things like, "$10 off any purchase of $10 or more." They want you to spend "the more". Try and find something you can give for $10 and then you will get it for free.
6. Black Friday shopping...will be a post all it's own.
7. The last thing is, what I think, the most fun...after Christmas shopping. I will take my Christmas savings, that I have worked so hard to get, and go stock up on all the holiday supplies I need to make my holiday complete. You can get everything for cheap, it lasts for a couple of weeks and the longer you wait the more you save! I think the best part about after Christmas shopping is the next year when you take out all your wrapping and decorating supplies, it feels like a pre-Christmas just for me!

With money being so tight in the economy now Christmas shopping seems more like a burden and tends to take the fun out of shopping for gifts. There are a lot of ways to save on your Christmas shopping this year. I hope that this list gives you some good tips on how you too can save money.

 Leave a comment with any questions. Happy couponing! : )

**UPDATE** DEAL! 40" Flat Screen $299!

***UPDATE*** This groupon price has changed!! It is no longer $389 it is $299! Plus FREE SHIPPING!! This is such a good deal!

Wow! A great groupon deal! Right now they have a 40" Colby LED 1080p Flat screen TV for $389 $299! It retails for $800! If you use Ebates with it, you will get $11.67 $8.97 Cash Back!!

Check out the link below, if it sends you to the homepage click on Goods and it will be the first deal you see listed:

Groupon- 40" Colby LED 1080p Flat screen TV


Leave a comment with any questions. Happy couponing! : ) 

Buying Gifts with Groupon.com

I absolutely love Groupon for gift shopping. I can usually cut my gift budget in half, and earn money back through Ebates! 

When I first told my husband about some items I wanted to buy off Groupon for Christmas presents he replied, "I don't want to give everyone cheap gifts!" Listen, these are not cheap gifts, these are smart gifts! When you look at something on the website it will tell you what it retails for. If you buy a pair of earrings, let's say, for $9.00 but they retail for $100.00 you are giving someone a $100.00 present (see below, the deal is going on now!). Just because you paid $9.00 does not make you cheap, it makes you smart or as I like to call it, Savvy!

Here are a list of some current good deals going on right now on Groupon.com. All of these gifts are UNDER $30!

• **White Topaz Stud Earrings- $9.00**
• Value- $100.00! | Ebates CB- $0.27

• Ultra Thin Wallets - $12.00
• Value-$25.00 | Ebates CB- $0.36
• Coffee For Less- $10.00
• Value- $20.00 | Ebates CB- $0.30
• Christmas Cookies- $15.00
• Value- $40.00 | Ebates CB- $0.45
• BenchPrep- $25.00
• Value- $150.00 | Ebates CB- $0.75
• eMeals.com- $29.00
• Value- $58.00 | Ebates CB- $0.87
• Lash Extender Mascara- $20.00
• Value- $55.00 | Ebates CB- $0.60

• Motorola T325 Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone- $25.00
• Value- $50.00 | Ebates CB- $0.75
• Case and Stand for iPad- $14.00
• Value- $45.00 | Ebates CB- $0.42
• Picaboo.com- $29.00
• Value- $75.00 | Ebates CB- $0.87
• ScoreBig.com- $9.00
• Value- $40.00 | Ebates CB- $0.27  

There are a lot more groupons on the site under $30.00. Pair up Groupon.com with Ebates.com and you will be on the fast track to saving money on your gift shopping all year round!

Leave a comment with any questions. Happy couponing! : ) 

Ebates.com, Cash back for shopping!

Ebates.com pays you cash back every time you shop online as well as provide you with coupons and deals online.

How Does it Work for the Stores:

My understanding is that Ebates.com partners up with business and they agree to give you a certain % cash back. What does the business get in return? Well, if you are looking to buy a product and it is sold at 10 different online stores but 1 store offers cash back, you will most likely buy it from them. The businesses get more traffic, and you are more likely to shop them again. Free advertising, take advantage!

How Does it Work for You:

Go to the website, I have the link all over my page but here it is again, Ebates.com, sign up for a free account, pick a gift card you would like to receive, and you're done! Well, you are just beginning.

Go to the top right search box and start typing in some of your favorite retail stores to see how much cash back they offer. A lot of times I will look at a list of all the stores and order them by cash back % to see what stores offer the highest % cash back. Most of the time I find new stores that offer a lot more cash back. I spend some time checking them out, and there are a lot of neat stores that I may have never known about.

Once you click on a store it will show you a page that says “creating a tracking ticket” and then you will land on the homepage of whatever site you wanted. That's it, just start browsing the site like you normally would, do your check out, and Ebates will do the rest. Most of the time I see the money go into my Ebates account that day or the next. It depends on the store and how fast they process the orders.

Getting Your Check:

They send out checks quarterly, only if your account balance is higher than $5. According to the sites FAQ the $5 cannot include any refer-a-friend bonus. My first check was for $5.20, I earned $5.00 on a refer-a-friend bonus and $.20 from buying diapers. So I am not sure if it was just because it was my first check and they were being nice, or if it doesn't matter.

Ebates will send you the gift card that you picked when you signed up after you have made your first $25 purchase. I did notice that it took a while to get my gift card, so be patient. A good idea for your free gift card, is to use it as a present for someone!

Refer-A-Friend:

Through Ebates you can refer a friend. If a friend of yours clicks on your referral link, signs up, and makes a purchase of $25.00 or more you get a cash bonus. The bonus depends on how many people you refer, the more you refer the more money you earn per referral. They also run specials for a limited time. When I first signed up they had a special that if you referred (something like) 50 people you would get an iPad. Currently they are running a special where you will earn $25.00 for the first friend you refer now through 12/31/12.

Ebates Tool Bar:

Initially I paid no attention to the Ebates tool bar for your browser. I hate having tool bars, it makes the browser look cluttered and it bothers me. However, I started reading about it and decided to give it a try and I love it! It makes getting cash back a lot easier.

When I first signed up for Ebates I found that I would forget about going through Ebates before making a purchase. With the tool bar anytime you are on a site that offers cash back it will tell you. Sometimes it activates the cash back automatically other times it will make you go through the site to create the tracking ticket. Another neat feature it has is when you are doing a search for something it will show a little Ebates logo next to a store link that offers cash back.

My Favorite Stores:

I start my Christmas shopping early and try to shop year round, this year I am shopping with Ebates. You can make Ebates work in a couple of different ways. I have heard a lot of people say that they don't like the idea of shopping online because they have to pay shipping. (1) Most of the time sites will offer a special on shipping and/or during the holidays a lot of sites will offer free shipping all together. So keep an eye out for that. (2) Another way to get around the shipping is to find stores that offer “Site to store” or “Free store pick-up”.

So far I have earned $16.83. That amount of money (plus whatever more I earn) will knock down my Christmas bill, even if just by $16.83, that is $16.83 that you didn't have before. Also a nice perk, the next check will be coming right before or after Christmas so that will be a nice bonus!

• Groupon.com- 3% CB (Cash back), most goods they sell offer free shipping!
• Livingsocial.com- 2% CB
• Buy.com- 6% CB, Very much like a Walmart or Amazon but offers more CB
  Walmart.com- 1% CB, Offer pick up in store.
• Toys R' Us/ Babies R' Us- 1% CB, Also offer pick up in the store
• Snapfish.com- 20% CB
• Target- 2% CB
• JCPenny- 8% CB

I hope that you find as much happiness with Ebates as I have!

Leave a comment with any questions. Happy couponing! : )

Coupon 101: Vocabulary

I will use some shorthand in my posts. These are commonly used when you read other blogs about couponing. I wanted to put this together to help those who are new to couponing have a better understanding of what these mean. Most of the time I will explain what each of them means but it is helpful if you are browsing other blogs or websites for couponing tips.
 
Q- Coupon
MQ- Manufacture Coupon
SQ- Store Coupon
CAT- Catalina (The long coupons printed at the register)
OOP- Out of pocket
ONYO- On you're next order
BOGO- Buy one get one
WYB- When you buy
RP- Red Plum Insert
SS- Smart Source Insert
P&G- Proctor & gamble Insert
ECB- Extra Care Bucks (CVS)
WAGS- Wallgreens
RA- Rite Aide
Wine Tag- A tag that hangs from alcohol containing a coupon. Some even say "No Wine Purchase Necessary" and are often good for buying fresh produce or meats.
Peelies- Sticker coupons found on a product that you can tear off
Blinkies- Little red machines in grocery store aisles that have a blinking red light
Tear Pads- Pad of coupons near an item that you can tear off

I first learned of the complete list through a book that I read when I was starting out called, "How To Shop For Free" by Kathy Spencer. I bought the book at B&N for $14.95 and felt that it was a great guide to get me started. A lot of of my couponing methods came from reading her book. 

Her book is geared towards finding a great deal, buying as much as possible, and stockpiling. Personally I live in a 1000sqft apartment at the moment and don't feel that it would be good for me to stockpile. If you have a deep freezer that you use already or extra space to store dry goods/hygiene products than this is a great method to the madness. My approach is more of, what I feel, a realistic one; get great deals and save where you can. My goal is not to get everything for free (just yet) but to not pay full price anymore. 

Leave a comment with any questions. Happy couponing! : )

K-Mart Deals!

This week at K-mart you can get $10 Catalina when you spend $30 on certain P&G products. A few things to remember about K-Mart (1) They will double up to 5 MQ (manufacture coupon) on like items with a value up to AND INCLUDING $1.00. (2) The $10 WYB (when you buy) $30 is calculated before coupons.
 



Included in the list of items is Gain Fabric Softener and Downy Fabric Softener. So here is one way you can work it:

You Buy:
- 5 Gain Fabric Softener

- 5 Downy Fabric Softener
Your Total: $30

Use Coupons:
- Five $1/1 Gain in RP 9/16 (Red Plum insert from 9/16)
- Five $1/1 Downy in pg 9/30 (Proctor & Gamble insert from 9/30)
You Spend: $10

***You MUST use your SYW (Save your way) Rewards card. These are easy to sign up for, they are like grocery store cards.***

You will get $10 back good to use instantly. So... rinse and repeat.

If you do not have 20 or so inserts sitting around you can use a coupon clipping service or Ebay. I have used both a couple of times to get some hot coupons! Like when I scored 6 bottles of nail polish for $0.12. I believe I paid a $0.40 handling fee, so it ended up being $0.09 a bottle. You can't complain. I usually do the math before I go ahead and pay a handling and postage for coupons to make sure that it is still worth it. I usually use Coupon Dede. I get my coupons about 2 days after I place my order so I don't run into the trouble of missing the sale before I get the coupons. Right now you could get each coupon for a $0.12 handling fee.

If you bought 20 of each @ $0.12 =  $4.80 + $0.95 (postage)= $5.75

With the initial $10.00 you will spend plus the amount for the coupons. Your total for 40 bottles of fabric softener would be $15.75 which is $0.40 a bottle. You will be set for a year (maybe longer!) and only spend $15.75.

Leave a comment with any questions. Happy couponing! : )