Scoping Out The Deals - My Favorite Coupon Blogs

Watching for deals and matching up coupons can save you a ton of money. It saves this family a ton of money. The biggest savings I find are on toiletry items. By playing the drug store games I get almost all of our shampoo, toothpaste, feminine items, and more for super cheap and often free. I can't remember the last time I bought a retail item with out and coupon and/or a sale. There are also grocery savings to be had. Those however, are less used by us because we cook with a lot of homegrown foods and basic ingredients.

Probably the most frequent reason I hear that people don't shop with coupons or look for the deals is time. Everyone wants to save money, but time is a precious commodity. A commodity I don't have a lot of either. I don't have time to look through all the sales ads and match up coupons either online or in print form. Thankfully there are a plethora of bloggers and websites that do the work for us. Here are some of my favorite places to check out the deals, in no particular order.

Blogs
Money Saving Mom
Mommy Snacks
Deal Seeking Mom
Pinching Your Pennies
Want Not
Stretching a Buck
Proverbs Wife
Making Life Sweet One Deal at a Time

These blogs help find deals at the drugs stores, grocery stores and retail, but even keeping up with all the posts they put out can be overwhelming. This is how I manage them. I created a folder in Google Reader just for these kind of blogs. I look at them in the list format. In this view, only the title of the post and a little of the text shows. I "star" the posts that have deal matches that I'm interested in, and then mark the rest as read. When I am ready to go shopping, I pull up the starred posts and gather my coupons, and head out the door.

A couple other sites that I use:

Hot Coupon World
In their forums there are deal scenarios and coupon matches for what seems like 100's of stores. Coupons can also be found and printed from this site.

Ebates
Here you can find coupon codes and earn rebates when you shop online.

Coupons.com
This is a site for printable (mostly grocery) coupons.


Matching coupons and finding deals does take time, but it does not have to be an overwhelming amount of time. Using the resources available will help you save money on the things you need without eating up all your precious time. What are your favorite deal finding blogs and sites?




Photo Credit: Rich Seattle

Black Friday Week at Amazon

Amazon is helping you get a jump on your Black Friday shopping this week. They are offering fantastic deals all week long. These are lightning deals, on a time limit. To see what is currently being offered click Black Friday Week Lightning Deals. I'm just leaving the window up on my computer through the day.

Curious what items will be offered through week? Check the Black Friday Deals Calendar to see if any items on your shopping list will be offered this week. The calendar does not list the prices these items will be listed at though.

With all the great early deals this year I already have almost all my Christmas shopping done. I'm so excited!

Tofurky and Gravy Soda?!

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

I recently was asked to sample Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda , and let you know what I thought. Tofurky and Gravy Soda?! Sounds bizarre doesn't it? But I am a brave soul who enjoys trying new thing. I said bring it on.

These fine folks not only sent me a bottle of liquid Thanksgiving, they also sent this turkey hat just for kicks. The kids, of course, loved the hat, and the eleven year old claimed it as his own. He even wore it to church on Sunday. (I was not seen with him.) But would the kids be as excited about the soda? There was only one way to fine out.

We set up the glasses, cracked open the bottle, and had ourselves a taste. I have to admit my expectations weren't too high. I imagined the soda to be a carbonated gravy. I have to agree with what my eleven year old expressed upon tasting it, "That is better than I expected." Though better than expected, none of us were overly impressed by the soda. To me it was too salty and didn't have a lot of flavor.

Now, the "dessert" choices they are offering with this Tofurky and Gravy Soda sound much more appealing. Black Cherry, Pom, or Vanilla Bean in a carbonated form sound down right mouth watering. Tofurky and Gravy Soda, not so much.

I made Fabric Bags with Ties

My 7 year old, Lydia, has a birthday party to attend this evening. The present we had, but a look to our bag and paper stash revealed that appropriate wrapping materials we did not. This was the motivation for a rare occurrence in this house; breaking out the sewing machine.

Ever since Heather posted a tutorial on Make it from Scratch for Homemade Fabric Bags with Ties I've loved the idea of making my own gift bags instead of buying bags and paper. Today, it was time to put up, or shut up.


Luckily, my daughter had some fun fabric left in the stash she was given last year. Thanks, Aunt Delilah! Lydia liked the jean fabric in there. You can't really tell from the photo, but it has a silver sparkle to it. Together we made two gift bags from that material for the presents she had.

I was having so much fun that I decided to make a few more, including the super adorable bug and butterfly bag at the top. And since the sewing machine was already out, I decided to tackle a couple other sewing projects that I had been thinking about. You are sure to see those soon here or at Make it from Scratch.

These bags were incredibly easy, even for a sewing novice like myself. I will admit to not following the directions the first time (um and the second) and not quite getting the ties right. I did eventually read a little closer and get them right though. Now, I just need to happen across a cheap bunch of Christmas paper so I can make some fabric bags for Christmas.

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On an entirely different subject......

Have you seen the giveaway over at Scribbit? She is giving away an HP Touchsmart 600. I'm just drooling. Pick me! Pick me oh random number generator!

Old Navy Deals

Old Navy has a couple of promotions going on right now that I thought were worth passing along.

Free Shipping on orders over $50. No coupon required. (They have a flat rate for shipping of $7 on orders under $50)

15% off orders or $75 or or 25% off orders of $100 or more with code ONSAVE15

And earn a 10% rebate when you shop through Ebates!

Strawberries Gone Wild

Last spring we planted our first strawberry patch. We planted 50 plants all nice and neat in rows. We mulched them, and dutifully picked off the flowers and trained the runners through the spring and early summer. The plants thrived in this year's cool, wet summer. We glowed with pride while looking at our beautiful strawberry patch, anticipating the harvest of 2010.

Then the rest of the garden began producing, and the harvesting and preserving began. The strawberry patch was left to its own devices. It continued to thrive, but not in the neat and orderly way it had under our careful tending.

The picture here is what those strawberries look like now. Can you see the rows? Once upon a time there were four row among those plants.

Now my question to you, fellow gardeners, is what shall we do with this patch of strawberries gone wild? Should we mow or till in our rows again, or should we allow the strawberries to continue on their merry way and somehow pick our way through next spring when it is time to harvest?

Frugally Healthy this Cold & Flu Season

The signs are everywhere. There are boxes of Kleenex readily available around the house. More people are absent at group events. Hand sanitizer is conspicuously displayed in public areas. This year, many people are walking around with masks, and reports are all over the media. Yes, cold and flu season is officially here.

Cold and flu season does not just take a toll on your health, it can also take a toll on your wallet. Getting sick is expensive. It can cost you in productivity, time off work, and medical expenses.

The best way to minimize the hit to your wallet this season is to not get sick. Take care of yourself. Get rest. Drink lots of water. Eat lots of healthy foods and vegetables, especially those rich in vitamin C. Of course, wash your hands frequently. But sometimes even the greatest attempts at prevention fail, and you find yourself sick.

If you find yourself with the flu or a cold, consider trying some natural, frugal home remedies. I am obviously not a doctor, and am still very much in the learning stages as far as home remedies are concerned, but below are a few things that have worked well for us, and that I am interested in.

Again you need to take care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Drink a lot of water. Be sure you are getting your vitamins.

Garlic is full of anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties. I use a lot of garlic in our cooking, but garlic's health benefits are most effective when the garlic is raw. The last time I had a head cold, I chomped down a few raw cloves of garlic. It was a lot to swallow, even for a garlic lover like me, but it was helpful to the healing process.

Apple Cider Vinegar has also been effective in our family. Unpasteurized cider vinegar is the most effective, but we have also used it in the pasteurized form. A teaspoon or two of vinegar everyday can be taken everyday as a preventive. We have had success with apple cider vinegar by taking it at the first signs of a cold. It helps thin mucus, is an anti-bacterial, and contains trace minerals. All these benefits help you to get rid of your cold quickly.

Homeopathic medicine is something else that I am interested in learning about. These medicines use small amounts of natural substances to help your body fight off what is making you sick. Traditional medicines most often only help you feel better by treating symptoms. They do not actually fight off the sickness. Homeopaths are available for a large variety of conditions, including the cold and flu. Boiron, a manufacturer of homeopathic medicines, has cold flu products just for children: Boiron Children's Products. Currently on their website there is also $1 off coupon: Boiron Children's Medicines $1 off Coupon. I like that homeopaths are natural and do not cause side effects.

The cold and flu season may be here, but you can minimize the hit to your wallet by first and foremost doing what you can to avoid getting sick. If you do get sick, consider some natural and frugal home remedies to help you recover quickly. Your body and your wallet will thank you.


Photo credit: baalands

3 for $12 Hair Accessories

2 Sisters Hair Garden is offering winter and holiday themed hair accessories at 3 for $12. This Etsy shop owner is a homeschooling momma to four and a personal friend of mine. Her bows are adorable. The holiday collection includes the adorable penguin you see here, Santa hats, Christmas trees, turkeys and more. Go check out her shop!

Sweet Deal at Bath & Body Works!

This week I have been doing quite a bit of online Christmas shopping. There are a lot of good deals out there right now!

One of the sweetest deals was found today. Thanks to Deal Seeking Mom for posting this! Bath & Body Works is currently offering a Buy Three Get Three Free promotion on their Signature Collection Body Care Products. Plus, use code TENTHIRTY to get $10 off your $30 purchase. And shipping for orders under $50 is $5.95 and only $3 for orders over $50. Shopping through Ebates will also earn you a 3% rebate on your purchase.

Now the really sweet part for me personally is that I had a $25 gift card that I recently got from redeeming some points. I had planned to use the card as a gift, but could certainly stretch it a lot further using this promotion. Today I ordered six items, including body washes and lotions, and paid only a little over $7! (That doesn't include the rebate that will be credited back to my Ebates account!) Those six things will make nice gifts for two people on my list! Loving it!