CVS Black Friday Starts Today!

This week is always my favorite at CVS!

Check out the ad today to see 19 items that you can get for FREE after extrabucks rewards!  This means that you buy the item and get the amount of the item back printed on your receipt as rewards to use on your next purchase.  I spent mine on a transaction immediately following this one on breathe right strips and nasal spray.

Check out my previous post about shopping at CVS here:

Pay attention to the limits per household.  Each item can only be redeemed for extrabucks once, except for the canned food, which has a limit of 2.  

This ad is good for the next 4 days!  Last year, CVS ran a second sale starting on Black Friday with a whole new set of offers.  Hopefully that will happen this year too!  

Happy savings, and enjoy your free scavenger hunt around CVS.  I know I did!  :)

~Coral

Super Cheap Board Games!

Candyland is on sale at Target for $4.99!

Use $2/1 Cootie, Memory, Chutes and Ladders, or Candyland Hasbro games from SS 11/9 and pay just $2.99!

Chutes and Ladders is $5.66 on Amazon.com.  Target will match this price, so just take the game to customer service and they will make the adjustment.  Use the coupon mentioned above and pay just $3.66!

Download the free Amazon app to scan anything in the store and see if Amazon is selling it at a better price and Target will match it.  I love Target!!  

Happy savings! 

~Coral

Freebies!

Today's Staples ad has a coupon for a free 12'x5'x5.5' mailing box!  We get two papers, and the coupon specifies that it is good for one box per person, not household.  So my husband and I each used a coupon to get two total.

If you have a CVS card (they are free and really awesome), swipe it at their magic red box at the front of the store and it will print out a coupon for a free roll of CVS paper towels.  This offer is good this whole week. 

Also...today is my birthday and it's been a great one!  My sister is in town, which means lots of laughing and lots of help with the little one.  I have also been taking advantage of some freebies and you all know how much I LOVE free!   I ate a free sub from Firehouse subs, had a free entree at First Watch last weekend, have a free beverage offer on my Starbucks card, a free pastry on my Panera card, a $3 coupon emailed from CVS, and free windshield wiper blades from Mazda.

Look into birthday offers in your area the month before your birthday so you can take advantage of some freebies as well!

Happy Saving!
~Coral

Holiday Grocery Shopping

I cannot believe that the holiday season is upon us!  As we plan to enjoy family time and all of the magic that accompanies the months of November and December, let's also get super excited about the possibilities of savings that occur at this time.  Grocery stores want you to do your holiday meal shopping with them, which means they will compete to have the best advertised deals on holiday meal staples.  This turns into amazing deal opportunities.  Here are my tips for successful and stress free holiday grocery shopping:

Tip 1.  Shop the sale and not before.  The sale will start the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukah, so wait to shop for those meals until then!  My daughter was still in the mightfreakoutintheshoppingcart phase last year so I shopped for non perishables weeks beforehand at Target to get it over with.  I thought I was saving money because they had 5% off cartwheel offers on everything I needed.  The next week, most of those items were BOGO at Publix.  Lesson learned!  I will be waiting this year, unless I see what I know is an incredible deal before that.

Tip 2. Plan!  Plan your meals now!  Have a list of all the ingredients and kitchen items you need to purchase on hand.  Add to the list when you think of something you forgot to write down instead of having to get it at a convenience store last minute, at three times the cost it would have been at a grocery store.  A little planning will go along way, believe me!  

Tip 3.  Collect your coupons now.  Remember that while stores will compete for your business, so will companies and brands.  You will see all kinds of coupons for canned vegetables, cookie dough, dinner rolls, etc., so keep your eyes open for the best deals and match them with coupons to save even more!  

4.  Stockpile if you can.  Finally, think about your stockpile when you shop for your holiday meals.  If something that you use year round is available now at an amazing price, grab extra.  I love having canned pumpkin year round for random pumpkin pancakes, but I don't love paying for it out of season, so I always get extra in November. :) 

I'll post the very best Thanksgiving and Christmas grocery deals that I snag for myself when it happens, so stay tuned!

Happy Savings!

~Coral

Holiday Gift Shopping: Creating and Sticking to Your Budget

It's my favorite time of year!!  The holidays are the season of giving and spending time with family and friends...but sometimes they can turn into times of stress and spending too much money.  Here are my tips for a successful and practical holiday gift giving season:

1.  Come up with a total budget you plan to spend on gifts.  This budget should be reasonable and NOT a stress on your life and/or and bank account.  Remember, this is the season of giving, not debt.  

2.  Write down exactly what you want to give to each person on your list.  Try to be as specific as possible.  This means "miter saw" instead of "power tools" and "puzzles, blocks, and books" instead of "toys."

 3.  Split your total budget into individual dollar amounts and list those amounts next to each person.

4.   Revise your list and budget.  Miter saws don't cost $10, and you don't need to spend $200 on your 6 month old nephew who will enjoy unwrapping the present more than playing with what's inside.  Move the dollar amounts around to make sense for what you plan to give, but do NOT increase your budget.  You came up with this dollar amount because it works for you and your family, so don't change your mind now!

5.  Research and investigate.  This is the best part!  I look at this step as a game, and last year I started it back in July (but not this year, unfortunately).  Find out what stores in your area or online carry the gift you are looking for and compare prices.  You could buy the one with the lowest price and stop there.  Since you are a savvy shopper, you will probably want to investigate a little more.  Look into store incentives that will be offered during the holidays.  A lot of times a store will sneak their Black Friday prices weeks before the sale, so check for those online.  Also look into coupons, dollars back for spending a certain amount, and shipping costs, if you are buying online.  Many online retailers will offer free shipping and super low prices the Monday after Black Friday, so keep that in mind.     

6.  Keep your receipts, get gift receipts, and ask about return policies.  It's possible you will find a better price before you give your gift, so keep researching after you have made your purchase.  Return the pricey one and buy the new one at a lower price. 

7.  Track your spending and reassess your budget.  How did you do?  Be proud if you stuck to your guns and didn't go over budget.  Were you under budget?  Awesome!  You spent time finding thoughtful and useful gifts that your friends and family will love, and you didn't break the bank to do so.  What will you do with that hypothetical cash that you didn't spend?  I recommend saving it, of course, or adding it to next year's holiday budget.

That's it for today, but stay tuned!  I'll post more about specific store and gift deals as well as outside-the-box gift ideas that won't break the bank.

Happy Saving!
~Coral

Target's Daily Toy Deals

Target is offering 50% off a specific toy on cartwheel every day until Christmas Eve this year!

If you haven't yet used Cartwheel and you shop at Target, you're missing out!  It's a free app that allows you to add offers to your account from your phone.  Ask the cashier to scan your barcode from your phone at checkout and your savings will be deducted from your total. The best part about Cartwheel is it's used in addition to any other savings you have, including manufacture coupons, Target coupons, Target mobile coupons, and sales.  I recommend scanning the items in your cart with your phone right before checking out to see if they qualify for any cartwheel offers.  I've saved a LOT just by taking a few minutes to do this every time I go to Target, and I've also gotten items for free or better this way.

So, open the app, click on "collections" then "hot deals for kids" and the first item on the list should be the toy that is offered at 50% off using cartwheel.  It's a one day offer, and the toys go fast!  Today's is a Minnie Mouse toy that would have cost $9 after cartwheel...but my store was all out when I checked at 1pm.  Oh well!  If you have the Target toy booklet from the newspaper, there is a 25% off one toy coupon that you can combine with the 50% off offer.  :)

Happy Savings!
~Coral

Target Halloween Clearance Finds!

Target has some Halloween merchandise on sale for 90% off!  I paid $2.67 total for these animal toys and a pumpkin carving kit for next year.  My pets don't mind if their toys are season appropriate...and neither do I!  There was also a ton of candy at my store, but we don't need anymore in this house.  :)  Share your clearance finds! 

Happy Saving!

~Coral

Free Classico and Case of Water!

I love free, and I know you do too! 

Go to Staples.com, click on coupons, and print your coupon for a free case of water, no purchase necessary!  This coupon expires tomorrow (10.19.14).  I suggest calling ahead to be sure this item is in stock at your local store.  

Use 2 $2/2 Classico items printable from Target.com (make sure your store accepts Target competitor coupons) and 2 $.75/2 Classico sauces from SS 9/14 to get 4 for FREE!

Happy Savings!

~Coral

How I Saved $630 on My Cable Bill!

Blogging about savings has pushed me even further to hold myself accountable for my own spending.  It's been a pleasant surprise, in that my goal was to help others!  So, in this quest to help others save money for their families, I have been working on my own budget and have been thinking of new ways to cut costs.  I admit that while I have the grocery savings down to a science that works for me, our household bills are pretty high.  I'm pretending our last electric bill was some fluke and that we will be reimbursed for the mistake, but I know we should have turned out more lights and invested in a proper doggie door.  But, I digress.  I managed to save $630 dollars this year on our cable/internet/cell phone bill and I cannot wait any longer to tell you how I did it and how you can save too!!!  Here is my advice:
  
Call your cable, internet, and phone providers right now and ask them what can be done to lower your current bill.  Seriously.  Drop everything and do it right now.

I did it yesterday.  Fifteen minutes later, I cancelled my premium channels (we barely watched them anyway), and added on another gig or megabyte or whatever it's called of data onto the phone plan, and lowered my bill by $50 per month.  I then asked if there were any other discounts or promotions happening, and she credited my account a one time amount of $30.  That's $630 I will save this year after making a 15 minute phone call.  Please do this yourself!  Right now!  Some things to consider:

1.  Lowering your package.  Do you need all the channels or unlimited texting, etc. that you are signed up for right now?  If not, ditch them.  You may have signed up for a premium package at a low cost for a trial period, but if that period is up, you could be getting charged a very high amount now.  If you find that you miss what you give up, simply call back and get them back.  They won't object.

2.  Switching providers.  Companies compete for new customers and offer very low rates for the first year of service.  Some will even buy out your existing contracts to get you on board.  Also, when you call to cancel your current service, your former service will sometimes lower the cost of your subscription considerably just to keep you as a customer.

3.  Canceling your cable completely.  I know, scary, but there are other options out there.  Netflix and Hulu subscriptions are a fraction of what the premium channels cost.  RedBox movies are $1 per day.  DVDs from the library are free.  Plus...you might not miss it.  My friend cancelled her cable for the summer just to save money and ended up going without it for a whole year and a half.  She saved $1,080 dollars for her family!  Think about what you could do with that kind of savings.

4.  Asking about any current promotions or discounts available right now.  If you like the service, if you always pay your bill, remind them of if.  They should appreciate your business and may do something for you.  

If you have other ways to save on cable, internet, or cell phone plans, please let me know by commenting below!  I would love to hear from you!  I would also LOVE to hear from anyone who calls and saves after reading this.  I'm already on a high from yesterday's phone call, so knowing this helped someone else will just tip me over the edge.  :)

Happy savings!
~Coral

Money Saving Apps: A Video Tutorial!

Here are the links to my favorite FREE money saving apps: 

Ibotta:  Click the highlighted link OR use referral code fshnxq!  Thank you!!

Shopmium:   Please use referral code HFMMCFVU to get your free Lindt chocolate bar:  .  :)

Checkout51 

Enjoy!

~Coral

*The final app I will discuss later is ShopKick.  :)*

*It turns out that the apple Glade fragrance didn't qualify for the Ibotta rebate because it didn't say "fall" on it.  Be sure to get the fall specific candles for the deal discussed in the video to work for you!*