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Shared Jun 9, 2010 comment

Freebies in my mailbox

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 9, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

If any of you are doubting whether signing up for freebies is worth it or not, take a look at what was in my mailbox a few days ago:

Free Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor plus coupons

Free Old Spice Odor Blocker Body Wash sample

Coupon for a free bottle of Tropicana Juice

2 coupons for free Yoplait Simply Gogurt Yogurt

$10 off $10 coupon for both Kohl’s and JCPenney (I wish I could tell you how to sign up for these as they’ve been sending me one about every 3-4 weeks. I have no idea other than that we live close to both stores and I always use the coupons that they send!)

Want to start having fun freebies fill up your mailbox, too? Just start signing up for the freebies I post which interest you and within 4-6 weeks, you should start seeing them arrive!

Shared Jun 8, 2010 comment

Q&A Tuesday: How to Avoid Irritating Others When Using Coupons

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 8, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I have learned a lot about responsible coupon use in the last year from visiting your site. You have told us how to use coupons ethically and legally, but what do you do when people in line behind you get grouchy? -Jackie

We live in a fast-paced society where patience is often a long-lost virtue. Most people are in a hurry when going through the checkout lanes and less than thrilled if they get hung up for 15 minutes due to another shopper’s stack of coupons.

Here are a few suggestions for streamlining the checkout process and avoiding irritating other shoppers:

1. Shop During Off-Hours — If you can, try to hit the stores when few others are shopping — usually earlier in the morning or late at night. I’ve found that rush-hour shoppers are notoriously impatient.

2. Be Organized — Before you even get in line, make sure you have all of your coupons together and in order and your store cards and cash at the ready. Spending three minutes fishing through your coupon box or purse for a missing coupon is likely going to frustrate everyone. This is why I recommend double-checking all your coupons before getting in line to pay to make sure you’re not missing any.

3. Choose an Efficient Cashier — I always “scout out” cashiers before picking a checkout line to go through. Choosing an efficient cashier not only saves you a lot of time, but it usually makes for a much smoother checkout.

4. Be Courteous and Confident — Invariably, you’ll have some shopping trips where the cash register or cashier is refusing to accept some of your coupons. Politely and quickly explain the store’s coupon policy or why they should accept the coupon. If a cashier is unwilling to budge, don’t become frustrated; it’s not worth having a fight over a few dollars. Just ask them to remove the item from your transaction and give the coupon back to you. In most cases, so long as you are polite and courteous, it’s not a big deal.

5. Let Others Know You Have Coupons — If you have a lot of coupons and think there’s a possibility that your checkout might be a bit tedious, don’t hesitate to politely tell anyone who gets in line behind you, “I have a stack of coupons I’m using today, so it might take me awhile to checkout.” If you’ve warned them of this upfront, it’s their decision if things ended up taking awhile.

Those are a few of my suggestions on how to avoid irritating others when you use coupons. I’d love to hear your ideas, as well!

Shared Jun 8, 2010 comment

Fifteen Favorite Children’s Read-Alouds – Part 1

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 8, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Summer is here and you might be looking for some fun and frugal ways to occupy your children without just sitting them in front of the computer or television.

Reading is a wonderful way to stimulate your children’s minds, teach them great lessons, open up new worlds to them and give them a life-long interest in learning. If your children are young, reading aloud also provides a great opportunity to spend quality time with your children. Plus, if you get most of your books free, reading is an incredibly frugal pastime.

We love books at our house. We don’t have a lot of children’s toys, but oh do we enjoy books! Our children never tire of being read to.

And since I’m often asked for children’s book recommendations, I’m going to be sharing fifteen of our very favorite children’s read-alouds over the next four weeks. These are books which — in most cases — we’ve read over and over and over again. Many of them might already be on your own shelves, but I hope you’ll discover a few new ones, too.

1. Goodnight Moon— Hands down, this is Kaitlynn’s (almost 3) favorite book. In fact, I’m pretty sure every single one of us have this entire book memorized by heart. We also can pretty much tell you every little detail on every square inch of every page. But that’s perfectly okay, because it’s such a great classic book.

2. The Seven Silly Eaters — This book was sent to our family by a blog reader and it’s become one of the most-requested read-alouds by our girls. It’s a fun — and sometimes a bit over-the-top — book about life in a bustling household. We don’t quite have every word memorized yet, but we’re quickly getting there! 🙂

3. Because I Love You— If I had to pick a favorite book from all the children’s books we own, I’m pretty sure this book would be it. It’s a beautiful story of God’s love for us — even when we were yet sinners. It touches me every time I read it to the girls and opens up lots of opportunities for me to explain truths about God.

4. The Bear That Heard Crying (Picture Puffins) — This is a true and fascinating story which happened in 1783. A 3-year-old girl gets lost in the woods and is saved by a bear — yes, I said a bear. The girls are always in awe and ask dozens of questions when we read this one.

Part 2 of Fifteen Favorite Read-Alouds is coming next Monday.

This post is brought to you in part by HarperCollins and the Borders Double Dog Dare You Reading program. Kids 12 and under can join the Borders Double Dog Dare You Reading program and earn a free book when they read 10 books. Just fill out this form and bring it in to any Borders, Waldenbooks, or Borders express store by August 26, 2010 to participate in this program. Find more Summer Reading Programs here.

photo credit: Washington State Library

Shared Jun 7, 2010 comment

See why I don’t pay for coupons?

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 7, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I wrote not too long ago about how I never pay for the newspaper or coupons. When a quick stop at the recycling bin always reaps a stack of inserts like is shown above, it’s hard to justify, wouldn’t you say?

Plus, if I end up not having time to clip them all, I don’t have any guilt in just chucking them back into the recycling bin because I didn’t pay a penny for them!

(And yes, I really do throw out coupons sometimes. My mantra is, “Do what you can do, with what you’ve got, where you are.” Sometimes, that means I just have to let coupon-clipping go for a week or two or four, because much more important things need my attention — like my precious children!)

Shared Jun 5, 2010 comment

Super Savings Saturday: Dillon’s, Target, Walmart, Walgreens

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 5, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I tried out a new shopping schedule this past week and it worked well. Instead of trying to do all our shopping in one big trip, I’m splitting it up into two smaller trips. Here’s what I bought this week:

I spent $1.81 at Walgreens and got back $2 in Register Rewards. Read more about this shopping trip here.

I spent $7.83 at Walmart. Read more about this shopping trip here.

I spent $22.07 at Target and saved $52.45. Read more about this shopping trip here.

I also stopped by Dillons and got two bunches of flowers (reduced to $0.99 each), 3 boxes of Tony’s pizza (used 3 free coupons), 1 loaf of bread (used free coupon), 1 box Kraft Mac & Cheese (used free coupon — donating this), 2 bottles of Kraft salad dressing (1.99 each, used $1/1 coupons, plus got a $1 catalina for buying 2 — $0.50 each), 2 bags of peas ($1 each, used $0.50/2 coupon).

After coupons and a $1 catalina from my last shopping trip, my total was $3.03 at Dillon’s, plus I got a $1 catalina for my next shopping trip.

________________________

Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

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Shared Jun 5, 2010 comment

6 Tips for Becoming a Successful Mystery Shopper

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 5, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post by Tanya

I’m sure you’ve heard the ads that tell you how great mystery shopping can be: “Get paid to buy stuff and eat out!”

When I first heard about mystery shopping, I actually thought the whole idea sounded too good to be true — basically like a big scam. I decided to do some research because mystery shopping sounded like the perfect way to add a little extra money to our budget and I had to know for sure whether or not it was legit!

I did a lot of reading on the internet and found some legitimate companies who were actually paying people to shop for them.

What would you think if I told you that during my first two years of mystery shopping, I made over $10,000 (between paid compensation and being reimbursed for merchandise or food purchases that were required by the shops)?

My husband and I are living proof that it is possible to make a reasonable extra income through mystery shopping. It’s taken a lot of work and quite a bit of learning, but it’s been a worthwhile venture for us.

Before you start out on your own mystery shopping venture, I’d like to share some of what we’ve learned over the past 5+ years of mystery shopping:

1. Watch Out For Scams

I found this to be crucial when searching for companies to work with. You’ve probably heard about them and it’s true — there really are mystery shopping scams out there. A couple of things I’ve done to avoid the scammers are:

Don’t pay anyone to become a mystery shopper. Would you pay the local retail store to hire you? Mystery shopping is a job and we don’t pay to get jobs anywhere else. If they’re asking for your money in order to allow you to shop with them, beware!
Sign up with companies that offer a secure sign-up form. I have the policy that I will not sign up with a website whose registration form is not on a secure site. I figure that if they can’t go to the trouble to keep my information secure on the internet, they might not be the highest quality company to work for.

2. Prepare to Work

Like anything else in life, mystery shopping takes work. Each shop assignment will have specific instructions that need to be followed in order for the shop to be acceptable. And once the fun part of shopping is done, there is a report to complete. The effort that you put into the quality of your shops will help determine whether or not the company will assign you shops in the future.

3. Weigh the Costs

This point ties in with the previous one. When searching for mystery shopping assignments, carefully weigh the costs. Remember to take into account the time you will spend both completing the shop and filling out the report afterward. Remember to calculate your gas costs too — these days those can add up pretty quickly!

4. Save for Taxes

You’ll have to record your mystery shopping income as self-employment income when you file taxes each year. The amount of taxes that we have had taken out each year has varied. Sometimes we’ve saved too much and had a “bonus” at the end of the year. Other years, we haven’t set aside enough and have had to scrounge up more money to cover our self-employment taxes. I have found that setting aside 30-40% of my mystery shopping earnings to save toward paying taxes at the end of the year is a good amount.

5. Track Your Earnings

I keep a spreadsheet in Excel of all the shops that I complete, the company I complete them with, the shop fee amount, the amount I spend and will be reimbursed for my purchase and the date that I actually receive payment.

Most mystery shopping companies pay 30-60 days after the shop has been completed so it’s important to be able to know if you’re missing any payments or not. This spreadsheet is also key when it comes time to prepare our tax forms. I can tell at a quick glance how much we earned that year.

6. Know the Companies

As you work with different mystery shopping companies, you will find the ones that you like the best. Some are very strict with their requirements and will absolutely not pay you if any condition is unmet. Others are a bit more flexible and will try to work with your schedule and needs.

Some require lengthy survey forms to be completed after shops are completed, others only want a short description of your visit. Some companies specialize in upper class shops (like the Coach shop I completed or the $200 meal at an upscale restaurant), others are more ordinary (and less stressful — like gas stations and fast food chains).

Whichever mystery shopping companies you choose to go with, learn their requirements and strive to meet or exceed them. This will help you build a good reputation with that company and it improves your ability to receive future shops.

Is mystery shopping right for you?

I don’t think mystery shopping is a good fit for everyone. You have to decide how well it will fit into your own lifestyle.

My husband and I now have two little ones and we really don’t do a lot of mystery shopping these days because a lot of the shops require you to complete them alone, with no children in tow.

We have had to weigh how willing we are to give up the precious time that my husband has at home for me to go out and complete mystery shops while he watches the kids. We haven’t stopped mystery shopping altogether, we’ve just gotten more choosy about which shops we accept.

Tanya is the blessed wife of a very loving husband and mommy to two toddlers. She loves finding ways to improve the life of her family by budgeting, finding tips and tricks for around the house and looking for fun frugal ways to spend time together.

Interested in Becoming a Mystery Shopper?

If you’re interested in becoming a mystery shopper, be sure to read all about my experiences as a mystery shopper. -Crystal

Shared Jun 4, 2010 comment

28 “Extreme” Measures We Took to Stay Out of Debt

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 4, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

After reading Frugal Granola’s post on the extreme measures they took to get out of debt, I thought it would be fun to think of a few “extreme” measures our family took to stay out of debt. Now, for many of you, probably none of these things are very extreme, but compared to the average American, they are pretty counter-cultural.

The 28 items listed below each saved us at least $100 per year — if not much more! And it’s because of being willing to make sacrifices like this that, by the grace of God, we stayed out of debt while Jesse was in law school and lived on around $12,000 per year.

As our income has increased, we’ve relaxed a bit on how extreme we are (I think there’s plenty of room for occasional “splurging” if you’re out of debt and living below your means!), but we still do many of these things.

1. We lived on a very strict zero-based budget.

2. We were almost 100% cash-only.

3. We lived in a small apartment.

4. We didn’t go out to eat, except a few times per year — and then it was usually a fast food restaurant where we’d use coupons and eat for less than $7!

5. We cooked from scratch.

6. We had one car – an older, used car.

7. We readily accepted hand-me-downs.

8. We shopped at thrift stores.

9. We got books and DVDs at the library.

10. We stayed home alot.

11. We didn’t pay for a cell phone.

12. I cut my own hair.

13. We used cloth diapers.

14. We used coupons to get the majority of our food and household items for pennies on the dollar — feeding our small family all 21 meals per week for $30-$35 each week.

15. We played the Drugstore Game.

16. We bartered — from car repair work to clothes, we weren’t ashamed to ask if an individual would be willing to barter with us.

17. We negotiated discounts on necessary purchases and regular bills.

18).We used a birth center, instead of a hospital to have our first baby thus significantly lowering our out-of-pocket costs.

19. We reused and made-do as much as we could.

20. We pretty much didn’t buy anything for our baby for the first entire year.

21. We stopped worrying about what other people think.

22. We worked really, really hard — constantly looking for more ways to pinch pennies and creative ways to bring in a little extra money.

23. We only ate meat a few times per week — and only then as a “condiment”.

24. We didn’t pay for internet — we got a free AOL three-month trial and when we called to cancel, they kept voluntarily extending our subscription!

25. We kept our home pared down to the basics and sold anything we didn’t use.

26. We didn’t use a babysitter. Since we weren’t living close to family, the first time we left our daughter was when she was over two and a half years old!

27. We didn’t exchange Christmas or birthday gifts of any sort until about four years into our marriage.

28. We prayed a lot. And God was always and has always been faithful!

What about you? What “extreme” things do you do or have you done in order to get out of debt and/or stay out of debt?

Shared Jun 4, 2010 comment

Money Saving Mom® Has Gone Mobile!

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 4, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

You asked for it, and it’s finally here. MoneySavingMom.com is now mobile-friendly!

When you view this site on your mobile device, you’ll notice a few things are different.

Loading time is much faster.
Content is now sized and organized so that it’s easy-to-read on your phone.
You can easily search for posts tags or categories from the navigation menu.
When you visit the Store Deals section of MoneySavingMom, you’ll now be able to choose your store on the home page and then go directly to the posts for that store. This should make it much easier for those of you who want to access your store’s posts while you’re out shopping.

If you don’t see the mobile site on your phone at first, you can turn on mobile view by scrolling to the bottom of the homepage and clicking the ON button for the Mobile Theme.

Shared Jun 3, 2010 comment

A quick Walmart shopping trip

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 3, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I wasn’t planning on going to Walmart today when I was out doing some errands and shopping while Grandma was here watching the children, but I was right by it and had my coupons with me, so I popped in. Here’s what I purchased:

2 packs of strawberries — price-matched them to Aldi — $0.99 each

5 lbs. of bananas — price-matched them to a local store which has bananas for $0.18/lb. on Thursdays

Nivea Body Wash — $3.97, used $3/1 coupon –$0.97 after coupon

Bic Soleil Razors — $3.97 each, used $3/1 coupons — $0.97 each after coupons

2 YoPlus Yogurt 4-packs — $1.68 each, used $1/1 coupons — $0.68 each after coupons

2 Taco Bell Taco Seasonings — $0.50 each, used $1/2 coupon — Free after coupon

My total after coupons was $7.83 for everything pictured above.

See more deals at Walmart this week here. Did you get any great deals at Walmart this week?

Shared Jun 3, 2010 comment

Getting Out of Debt Can Require Extreme Measures

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 3, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I really enjoyed the guest post by Frugal Granola which was posted on Getting Freedom this week. I think you’ll be inspired by it, too. Here’s a snippet:

During the early years of our marriage, we had our share of debt. It started with school loans, then the addition of medical bills, followed by the expense of a car, a mortgage, and the cost of having a baby.

Through those years, feeling the burden of debt, I would often hear financial suggestions, such as “Skip the cup of coffee,” or “Entertain at home instead of going out.” These are certainly wise suggestions, but I would shake my head in dismay; we were already doing these things!

We were meeting our daily expenses and bill payments, but were exhausted by the amount of time working and our lack of family time. It certainly didn’t feel like we had the freedom to live out our values. We were “living to work” instead of “working to live.”

We finally realized the steps to our financial freedom needed to be more extreme.

Read the full post and ways that this family decided to become more extreme in their measures to get out of debt.

Tomorrow, I’ll share some of the “extreme measures” we’ve taken to stay out of debt.

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Shared Jun 2, 2010 comment

31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget: How To Get Started Playing the Drugstore Game

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 2, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Last week, I talked about how playing the Drugstore Game had helped to significantly lower our grocery budget. If you’re new to the Drugstore Game, here are some basic steps to help you get started:

1. Pick One Store to Start With

If you have more than one drugstore chain in your area, please do me a huge favor and don’t try to learn the ins and outs of CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid all at once. Start with one drugstore chain and learn the ropes of it before adding in another.

I’d suggest beginning with CVS as it requires the least outlay of cash. You’ll likely make some mistakes in the beginning, so the less outlay of cash, the better.

2. Read, Read, Read

Before you jump in with both feet, it’s highly important that you take time to read up on how the drugstore rewards programs work and what their coupon policies are. It is vital to be well-informed and well-versed. Plus, it greatly increases your confidence level — and you need confidence in order to work the drugstore deals successfully.

Depending upon which drugstore you chose to begin with (see point #1), here are some articles for you to read: CVS 101 and Walgreens 101. I also encourage you to look at the scenarios and deals posted in the weekly CVS Deals and Walgreens Deals and review them until you really feel like you have a handle on how it works.

3. Start Small

I know that it’s easy to want to have some incredible transactions right out of the shoot where you get $80 worth of items for $0.22, but don’t even think about going there yet. Start with a handful of items and work your way up.

I’d suggest an initial Drugstore Game scenario of around $10 to $15. This is enough that you can learn the ropes, but not too much that you’re out a bunch of money if you have some failed transactions.

4. Don’t Expect to Do It Perfectly

Notice I keep mentioning making mistakes? That’s because pretty much everyone makes them when they are first learning.

Even once you’ve armed yourself with lots of information and have reviewed deals incessantly before planning your own, you will very likely make some mistakes. It’s okay. If you’ve never ridden a bike before, you usually don’t just jump on and ride it flawlessly from the beginning. It takes practice and patience.

The same is true with the Drugstore game: you’ll probably not have flawless transactions from the very get-go. But practice and patience will pay off in big dividends. So accept the mistakes you make as part of the learning process.

5. Be Prepared With a Backup Plan

Oftentimes, drug stores will be out of an item that’s part of the rewards offer or they won’t even stock it. A backup plan is key. I often work out 2-3 different scenario ideas and then make my final game plan once I’m in the store and able to see what they have on hand.

I also would suggest finding out when a store restocks their shelves and planning your shopping trip somewhere near those times. It’s frustrating to go in and find that they are completely out of everything that is free after rewards that week. You have a better chance of finding everything on your list if you shop right after they restock the shelves. In addition, if you don’t see something in stock, be sure to ask if they might have extras in the back which they’ve not put on the shelves yet.

6. Commit to Sticking With It For Three Months

While the Drugstore Game can save you a tremendous amount of money on household and bath and beauty products, it’s certainly not for everyone. It takes time and effort and you might find it’s just not worth the time and effort for your family.

However, can I caution you not to give up too soon? If you want to really see if it’s worth, commit to sticking with it for three months. Do at least one transaction every two weeks for three months and then evaluate at the end of the trial period whether you feel like this money-saving idea is worth the return on investment for you.

What are your best tips and tricks for someone who is a newbie to the Drugstore Game? What do you wish someone had told you when you were first starting out?

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Shared Jun 2, 2010 comment

Freezer Cooking in June

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 2, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

FishMama is hosting Freezer Cooking Days this weekend over at her blog. You can follow along over there and join in and link up if you’d like.

I’d love to be participating but we’re attending a homeschool conference this weekend. Plus, we’re in the process of trying to empty out the freezer. Any guesses as to why that would be the case?! 🙂

Shared Jun 2, 2010 comment

Q&A Tuesday: Is it frugal to shop at Wholesale Clubs?

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 2, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

(I was off the computer much of yesterday so I didn’t get this posted like I’d planned. Enjoy a Q&A Tuesday on Wednesday!)

Today’s Q&A Tuesday question is from Melissa:

I’m curious to know if you think wholesale clubs like Sam’s, Costco, etc. are helpful for saving money? -Melissa

My friend Tammy tackled a similar question on her blog last week on why shopping only at Costco is the frugal choice for their family — as opposed to using coupons and shopping at more than one grocery store.

While I thought she had some great points, I would disagree with her — at least when it comes to our family and our current situation.

Our family has had a Sam’s Club membership in the past thanks to one of our businesses having a merchant service with them. After extensive research and trial and error, I’ve come to the conclusion that a Sam’s Club membership is just not worth it for our family. The quantities are too big, the prices are too high and shopping there was too time-consuming with young children (the store is so big and requires much more time to navigate than a quick trip into Aldi, Dillon’s or the health food store requires.

There are a few items which we found to be cheaper at Sam’s Club than what we’d usually pay at Aldi or the grocery store including: yeast, vanilla, honey, chocolate chips, dry beans and cheese. However, the Cheddar cheese has food coloring in it (something we try to avoid completely at our house) unlike the cheese we usually buy at Aldi or Dillon’s which is colored with Annatto — a non-artificial coloring.

With the exception of yeast, the savings on the few items we found to be less expensive at Sam’s Club was very minimal — usually in the vicinity of $0.10 per pound cheaper. When I did the math, including the cost of a Sam’s Club membership, it would result in a savings of about $10 per year, maximum. But it would require making at least 4-6 trips per year there in order to buy the items. And each of those trips would likely take 1 hour at a minimum when you factor in the time to drive to the store and back, get three children out of the car, and navigate a huge store.

Since I always decide whether or not something is frugal based upon how much money I’m saving per hour, a savings of around $2.50 per hour to shop at Sam’s Club is definitely not worth it.

However, this is just my current conclusion based upon our family size and location. I think that Wholesale Clubs actually can be a frugal choice for many families who are in different situations, like Tammy outlined in her post.

What do you think? Is shopping at wholesale clubs a frugal option for your family or not? I’d love to hear!

Shared Jun 2, 2010 comment

Can you feed your family for $25 per member or less each week?

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 2, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

ALL YOU is running another Grocery Challenge this year. They are challenging the public to spend $25 or less per family member per week on groceries during a four-week period (June 20th – July 17th, 2010).

The winning family will receive a $1,000 grocery card and the opportunity to appear in the November issue of ALL YOU magazine.

Shared Jun 1, 2010 comment

Today’s Target Trip: Spent $22.07, Saved $52.45

Published: by Crystal Paine on June 1, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I stopped by Target today and was able to get some great deals:

5 lbs. of strawberries — $0.99 per lb.

1 carton of blueberries — $1.99

1 carton of Dannon yogurt — on sale for $1.67

2 SoBe Lifewaters (20 oz.) at $1 each — used 2 $0.50/1 printable (some Target stores will allow you to use more than one of these coupons; it’s up to their discretion since it’s a store coupon) — $0.50 each after coupons

2 GE Reveal Light Bulbs (4-pack) – on sale for $2 per pack — used $1/1 printable (no longer available), stacked with $1/1 Target printable — Free after coupons!

1 Wish-Bone Dressing (16 oz.) — price cut to $1.49 through 6/12 — $0.75/1 Wish-bone Target coupon from 4/25 insert — $0.75 after coupon (should have used $0.50/1 Wishbone coupon (IE) (FF Link) but I somehow didn’t get that one printed!)

2 Eggo Waffles – price cut to $1.75 used $1/1 printable — $0.75 each after coupon

2 Shout Stain Remover — regularly priced at $1.97 — used $0.55/1 from 5/2 SmartSource insert (there were $0.55/1 peelie coupons on all the bottles at our store, too), stacked with $1/1 Target Printable — $0.42 each after coupons (Make sure and see this post for an even better deal!)

2 Dannon Activia yogurt (4 pack) – on sale for $1.67 — use $1/1 printable here (IE) or here (FF) — $0.67 each after coupons

5 Fiber One Cereal/Bars – on sale for $2.50 each, used 4 $0.75/1 printables and 1 $0.40/1 printable , got a $5 Target gift card — $0.82 each after coupons and gift card

1 Bic pens — $0.99 — used $1/1 coupon — free after coupon

2 Carefree liners — $0.94 — used $1/1 coupons — free after coupons

1 Nexcare (20 ct.) Strawberry Shortcake Bandages — $1.87 — used $0.50/1 Target coupon, stacked with $1/1 Nexcare printable — $0.37 after coupon

1 Band-Aid (25-count) — $1.69 — Used $0.75/1 Target coupon, stacked with $0.50/1 manufacturer’s coupon — $0.44 after coupon

1 Motrin PM — $3.99 — used $3/1 coupon — $0.99 after coupon

2 Armor All — $2.49 each, used $2/1 manufacturer’s coupon — $0.49 after coupons

After coupons and a $5 gift card I’d earned from my last Target trip, I spent $22.07 out of pocket and earned a $5 gift card back which I’ll use on my next transaction.

See all the deals at Target this week here.

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

FREE Summer Bucket List!!

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

1. Watch Out For Scams

2. Prepare to Work

3. Weigh the Costs

4. Save for Taxes

5. Track Your Earnings

6. Know the Companies

Is mystery shopping right for you?

Interested in Becoming a Mystery Shopper?

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

1. Pick One Store to Start With

2. Read, Read, Read

3. Start Small

4. Don’t Expect to Do It Perfectly

5. Be Prepared With a Backup Plan

6. Commit to Sticking With It For Three Months

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