Free Food Friday!

Hurry to http://www.chickenwave.com/ to sign up for a FREE Chic-fi-la chicken sandwich. You can also get free food from Chic-fi-la on Lador Day. Take the whole family and don't forget to wear your favorite team's jersey! For more info go here http://chick-fil-a.com/CFA_LaborDay_WebVersion.html

Don't forget to sign up for your FREE chocolate today. Use the link to your right and your coupon for a free Mars candy bar will be mailed to you soon. YUM!

I got your Real Housewife!

Darn Real Housewives of Atlanta sucked me in again! I love me some NeNe. That chick is crazy and a pot-stirrer if I ever saw one. It's amazing how the other women on the show are oblivious to it all. But I digress...
I sat down last night to work on my plan for Publix, Bi-Lo, and Food Lion this weekend, but that didn't happen as soon as the TV came on. All three stores are having some good deals on meat and I just so happen to need me some meat! I'm pretty well stocked on just about everything else. Food Lion has a GREAT FLIP out right now for $5 off $20 purchase of meat. That will really help me out since the cost adds up quickly. I can use the FLIP at Publix as well, so my primary focus will be Publix and Food Lion. Don't forget this coupon is valid on prepackage meat like lunch meat, hot dogs, sausages, etc. Make sure you pull out your coupons for those to save mucho dinero!

Q Strat STAT!

Each couponer develops their own way to stay organized and I have tried many myself, but you have to develop your own strategy or tweek someone else's. My preference is to review the ads online each week and then copy and paste the items into a word doc on my computer. My memory is terrible so this helps me keep straight the exact item that is on sale and the price. Then I go thru my qs and add them onto the list I created and this helps me have an idea of how much I going to spend over all before tax. No major surprises at the register! I keep my qs two different ways. Every Sunday, I clip the ones I know I am going to use and then leave the rest of the flyer intact. Clipping every q is too much to organize and not clipping any, for me at least, is too time consuming to rummage thru the flyers to get the one I want. So I have my list and I have my q's - time to shop! To save time in the store, I pull out the qs I'm planning on using and put those in my purse before I go to the store. No need to rifle thru them in the store since I already have them printed out on my paper! I still bring my binder with me on the off chance there is an in-store special I can take advantage of. These techniques also help me stay focused if the dreaded kiddos have to tag along. I make this a rarity because they can add to your OOP with impulse buys. If you have to bring the little ones, do yourself a favor - bring them a snack and small toy from home to help keep them entertained. My older DD really likes to help collect the blinkies as we go thru the store!
Good luck and happy savings!

Get paid to Swiffer

Swiffer is offering a promotion for a $5 reward card when you spend $10 in Swiffer refill products and $10 wyb $20 in refill products. Ya know I've been trying to work this to my advantage, right? I use Swiffer frequently. There are several qs out there right now for free Swiffer refills wyb a starter kit, vacuum, or wetjet. This won't be a MM rebate but they are also offering a satisfaction guarantee on the starter units. I believe the rewards rebate exp on 9/15 and I hope Target has them on sale next week. Even better if they throw in a gift card deal!



swiffer.com for more info

Learning the ropes of Kmart Super Doubles

All in all I did very well, but I realized later that I could have done a little bit better. I also have a strongly worded letter to send Kmarts way. I signed up to receive emails from Kmart and in return I was supposed to receive a $5 off $50 printable coupon in my email. I got my email very quickly and saw the coupon link in it, but I didn't open the link until right before I left the house to go to Kmart. Guess what? The email said the coupon didn't expire until 9/05/09, but the pdf that opened said it expired on 8/29/09!!!! I was really counting on that extra $5 off to help bring my overall total down. Then I was so frustrated running around trying to find the items on my list that I did my first 2 transactions in the wrong order! I meant to do the larger tranny first in order to get the $5 catalina to use on the next tranny. Oh well! I can always use my other $5/$50 from the Kmart ad at Publix since they accept competitors Qs. I also thought my $2 off wyb 1 Chips Ahoy and 1 Caprisuns should have doubled somehow and made both of these items free...

My Freebies and Cheapies:
FREE (3) Hartz Crunch n Clean boxes dog biscuits
FREE (4) Ceasar Bistro single serve dog food
FREE (4) Fancy Feast single serve cat food
FREE (4) Bags of Lifesavers candy
FREE (2) 20oz Sierra Mist
FREE (1) Sally Hansen Crystal Nail file
FREE (1) Revlon emory boards
FREE (1) Revlon Nail clippers
FREE (2) Oral B manual indicator toothbrushes
FREE (2) Easy Mac single serve cups
FREE (2) Vaseline 200ml Lotion
FREE (1) Dry Idea roll on
FREE (1) Tabasco
FREE (2) Success Rice boil in a bag
FREE (2) Scotch pop-tape
FREE (1) 16ct box Lipton tea bags
FREE (4) 8oz Chips Ahoy cookies
FREE (2) Arm and Hammer essentials cleaners
**FREE (4) Caprisuns (went back for adjustment)
$0.50 (1) Suave body wash - money maker rebate available!
$0.19 (1) 24ct Tylenol rapid release
$0.29 (1) 24ct Tylenol
$1.00 (1) Magic Eraser - money maker rebate at mrclean.com
$2.99 (1) Cascade dishwasher detergent
$2.99 (1) 8ct AA Duracell batteries w/ 2 free AAA's
$2.79 (2) Listerine Agent cool kids mouthwash
$1.38 (2) Neutrogena facial bars
$1.29 (1) Neutrogena mascara w/ bonus eye makeup remover
$1.99 (1) Neutrogena lipgloss
$2.79 (2) Arm & Hammer bathroom scrub free cleaner
$3.00 (3) Easy Mac single serve cups - to finish off the $20 Nabisco rebate - MM!
$3.38 (2) G2 Low Calorie 8ct powder packs - for my DH
$2.14ea (2) Dryel refills
$1.66ea (4) Aussie shampoo and conditioner

Filler items used to reach my $50 limit - I needed these items anyways:
$2.99 Mission tortilla chips
$1.69 Hormel Chili

During our visit to my Papaw this same day he gave us some Hunts pudding packs that he didn't care for and some cheese! Love FREE no matter how I acquire it!

**I emailed Kmart on monday and received a very quick response from corporate customer service. They emailed me a valid $5/$50 coupon and confirmed that my coupons for $2 off chips ahoy and caprisuns should have made both items free. So I went back for my adjustments, and Edwina at the customer service desk was a pleasure to work with!
After my adjustments I spent $40.97 but saved $75.37 - a lot of that was tax!