Chili's Email Club

This is for my brother :) ...


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Inspirational Moments

A friend of mine sent me this picture of her latest coupon run. Spent $5.37, saved $41.91, and left with $4 RR!! Way to go!

Here's another run. She saved $80.12 on diapers, wipes, and formula! Again that's $80.12 worth of FREE products! These are real life stories friends. You can do it too!

More Retail Coupons

One of my favorite website has links to new retail coupons up! Don't get caught shopping at the mall without one! Click here.

Help Raise Support for Japan

This is a fantastic deal that livingsocial.com is doing. Right now for every $5 donation to the Red Cross through their website they will match you and donate $5 as well. Funds raised will go to Japan to help them rebuild and recover from recent disasters. They will only be doing this for another 4 hours so jump on this before it ends! Click here to donate.

Homemade Play-Doh Recipe

This isn't my normal couponing post, but it can save you money! In my house Play-Doh doesn't last long. My daughter's Play-Doh hardly ever stays on the craft table and usually ends up in little pieces, dried up on the floor. Yes, Play-Doh is messy but oh so fun! Today I decided it would be fun to try and make our own Play-Doh! Here's a good recipe for homemade Play-Doh that I found. My daughter had so much fun cooking it (very easy), as well as playing with it, so be sure you get the kids in the kitchen with you to help you make it. The best part is, it's ready to go in minutes!   


Play-Doh 

• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of salt
• 1 tbsp of oil - any oil will do
• 2 tbsp of cream of tartar
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of food coloring

Mix all the ingredients into a pan and blend with a whisk. When all ingredients are blended, place the pan on the stove on medium to medium-high heat. You will need to mix continually until the mixture thickens. It may take 3 to 4 minutes. When the mixture starts to clump and is difficult to mix, take the pan off the stove. Pour the dough on a floured surface and when it is cool enough to handle start kneading like bread dough. Remove from the floured surface when the dough is no longer sticky. Knead away from the floured surface until all the flour on the dough is absorbed and the dough is smooth and pliable. You're done! To store keep in plastic wrap, a plastic bag, or Tupperware.

Excuse the ugly color. That "green" is the result of all the food coloring colors mixed together. My daughter wanted ALL the colors in there. Anyway, hope you try out this fun activity with the kids. They'll love it and you'll end up saving yourself some money! I personally will never waste money buying Play-Doh again. I'll just make it from home! However, I will insist on a better color next time. ;) 


Thanks to Recipes From Home for the Play-Doh recipe!

Carter's Birthday Sale

Carter's.com is celebrating their birthday by offering a coupon for $5 creepers. Click on the link below to print out a in-store coupon or use code HAPPYLUV at checkout to use online.

Carter's Sale

Run Like a Mother

I've been reading this book called "Run Like a Mother". It's funny and inspiring. If you have kids and enjoy running ... or if you've always wanted to enjoy running but need some motivation to get started, then I think you'll like this book! Here's a funny part from the book to give you a sneak peek:


"Ultra-stud Dean Karnazes may be able to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, but can he do this?


1. Give birth.

2. Continue running, shoving in workouts whenever there’s a sliver of time: during a soccer practice; in between breastfeeding sessions; hours before the sun rises; after jamming on a work deadline; before volunteering for the school auction.
(Our bet: We probably would’ve already lost him by now.)

3. Write a book.

4. Decorate a minivan.

5. Organize a house schedule—fill the fridge; organize the sitters; arrange for playdates; make sure laundry is done (extra points for it being folded); make lists of what goes in whose lunch; re-arrange the carpool— so that he can extricate himself for a night or two to go on tour.

6. Shave legs and pits, pluck eyebrows, don’t forget the under-eye concealer, put together a few outfits that aren’t stretched out, stained, or bought in a previous century, and hit the road.

Suddenly, 1,310 nearly consecutive miles sounds kinda easy, right?

Okay, maybe not."

Anyway, I love her. There's the link to the right. Good read!

Win a Walgreens Gift Card!

Click here to try a win a Walgreens gift card! The Spring has sprung giveaway.

T.G.I. Friday's 25% OFF coupon!

Print this out 25% OFF Coupon and head on over to T.G.I Friday's for 25% off your entire food purchase! May I just say, that I love Jack Daniel's burgers.

HOT TIP!!! Jack Daniel's Burgers are only $5 for military with ID!

Give & Get

Here's a Give & Get Coupon 30% off at GAP, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Banana Republic Factory Store, and GAP Outlet in-store. Not 30% off one item friends. 30% off your entire purchase! It's 4 days only, March 17-20. Best part is, 5% of what you spend is donated to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So tell your husband you are supporting a good cause donating to a good charity and get your shopping on!

CVS basics

CVS is a gold mine if you know how to work it. It is one of my favorite place to shop and get deals. In order to really take advantage of sales and CVS Extra Bucks it can get pretty complicated, but well worth the mental effort walking out with a cart full of free stuff! If you don't have a CVS card yet you are missing out on some good deals so first things first, sign up for a CVS card. On your next trip in stop by the register, fill out your information, and get your card. They may say to you, "You can take this home, fill it out, and bring it back in the next time if you'd like." You'll forget, take the time to do it now.


What's an "Extra Buck"? Extra Bucks is CVS's rewards program. They will advertise, "Get $4 Extra Bucks if you buy a ProGlide razor," or something. If the razor is $7.99 it's like buying the razor for $3.99 because you are getting back $4 Extra Bucks. $1 CVS Extra Buck equal $1 dollar in-store so your rewards are as good as cash! Your EB print out at the bottom of your receipt and you can use it on your next transaction. 

Here are the advantages to shopping with a CVS card:

• You get 2% back on all purchases, given out quarterly.
• You earn $1 Extra Buck for every 2 prescriptions purchased. 
• You can take advantage of the special deals CVS runs each week earning more Extra Bucks on select items. They also do a lot of "Buy $25 worth of these specific products (for instance baby stuff or Proctor & Gamble product) and get $10 EB". These are great because it's $25 worth of products before coupons. So if you can match coupons with those specific items in the deal (which are usually also on sale) you not only get a great price for them, but you get $10 EB back to spend on your next transaction! 

Here's how you put it all together for big savings. 

Example:

You see Crest toothpaste on sale for $3.49 and they are offering $2 Extra Bucks after you purchase. Say I have a $2.00 coupon for Crest toothpaste. So you end up getting the toothpaste for FREE plus you make $0.51 off your buy. Matching coupons with sales and getting Extra Bucks back is how you work it. 

Here's where it get's complicated though. The Extra Bucks don't print out until after you pay. I had to sit there and really think about this the first time because, I'm still paying for it you know? On the example above I would still be paying $1.50 at the register. I would get $2 back after my purchase, but $1.50 is still coming out of my pocket right then and there. So am I really saving money? When I first began my CVS scheming I was expecting to pay a penny out of pocket and walk away with all this free stuff. That's why you need to sit down and make a good plan before you go in to shop. 

TIP: Extra Bucks (EB) also print out in the amount that they were issued. For instance, if you were getting $10 EB back on one item it will print out as $10 EB on one piece of paper. If you are using it on your next transaction make sure the total amount of that transaction is at least $10 because they don't give you change with your Extra Bucks. If your total is only $8 and you use your $10 EB slip to pay, then you will miss out on $2 because they can't give you change.

They do allow you to make a couple transactions in a row in order to use your Extra Bucks so you need to figure out in what order to purchase your items. Here's another example of a run I did last night and how I planned out using my Extra Bucks. 

My Strategy ...

I bought my Extra Bucks things first. Tena pads, Crest rinse and floss, and Dial lotion. By the way, every item I purchased was on sale and I also had a coupon for so it ended up coming out to FREE or next to nothing after my Extra Bucks. Here's a link to my full post on that run in case you want to see exactly how the numbers worked out. I paid $17.25 out of pocket, but that gave me $17.99 in Extra Bucks to go towards my next transaction. My next transaction I did Lansinoh pads and a box of diapers. Using my $17.99 Extra Bucks that printed after my first transaction I ended up only paying $11.04 plus I got another $10 in Extra Bucks back from buying the diapers and Lansinoh pads together (a special deal they were running). My final transaction I bought Purex laundry detergent and Hefty bags. For 8 boxes of Purex plus the Hefty bags my bill would have been somewhere around $10 and I could use my remaining $10 Extra Bucks to pay for that. My total spending $28.29 and I saved over $100.00. So yes I did pay some out of pocket but I walked out of there with over $100.00 of FREE product! 

* You may see a different saving amount then in the link I posted. I added in what I would of saved had they had the 8 boxes of Purex in stock that I was planning on buying.

Now it is possible to do even better than that. With practice I am going to try to get my out of pocket spending down even more. So there's the trick to CVS, hopefully it made sense. Feel free to post any questions you have and I will do my best to answer!

Inspirational Moments

Went on a CVS run tonight! I had a minor set back with the Purex. They didn't have as many as I was planning on purchasing so it threw off my well thought through plan slightly. I ended up spending $34.51 and saved $73.32, with $10 in ECB left over. Let me say that a different way to get you really pumped about shopping with coupons. What should have cost me $117.83 only cost me $34.51. Or how about this: what WOULD HAVE (because this is all stuff I need and would have eventually bought) cost me $117.83 only a few weeks ago, before I started clipping coupons, only cost me $34.51 tonight. I got $73.32 of FREE merchandise! Excited yet? :) My plan was actually to only spend $24.51 and use the ECB towards the Purex but like I said, foiled. Oh well, so here's how I did it ...

Purex 3 in 1 laundry detergent sheets

- on sale for $3.99 and I had many $3 off coupons from 2/27 Redplum so, $0.99 each! One box does 20 loads of laundry, that's your laundry detergent AND dryer sheets in one!

Pampers Diapers

- on sale for $20 and I had a $2.00 coupon from 2/27 P&G

Lansinoh pads

- on sale for $9

* They had a deal, spend $25 get $10 ECB (extra care bucks) when you buy select baby products so I got $10 back from the Pampers and the Lansinoh pads. These are sweet little deals especially when you combine them with coupons, take advantage of them when you can!

Hefty Bags

- on sale for $1.00, I had a $1 off 2 boxes from ... honestly I have no idea where from so, $1/2.

Crest Pro-Health Rinse

- on sale for $3.49, you get $2.50 ECB back, and I had a $1.00 coupon from 2/27 P&G so, FREE!

Crest Pro-Health floss

- on sale for $3.49, you get $2.50 in ECB back, and I had a $0.75 coupon from 2.27 P&G so, $0.25.

Dial NutriSkin Lotion

- on sale for $4.99, you get $3 ECB back, and I had a $2.00 MFR coupon from 3/13 RP so, FREE! And technically a $0.01 MM (money maker). Hey, a penny earned is a penny saved!

Tena panty liners

- on sale for $9.99, you get back $9.99 ECB, and I had a $2.50 MFR coupon from here Tena so, $2.50 MM (money maker)!! Limit 1 per customer.

My Strategy ...

I bought my ECB rewards things first. The Tena pads, Crest rinse and floss, and the Dial lotion. I paid $17.25 but that gave me $17.99 in ECB to go towards my diapers. My next transaction I did the Lansinoh pads and diapers. Using my $17.99 ECB I ended up only paying $11.04. Last I did the Purex and Hefty bags I was going to use my ECB but that's when everything messed up. I found out you have to use them (ECB) all at the same time and I only had a $10 ECB slip left so I had to pay $3.68 in cash and held on to my ECB for later. My total spending $34.51 and I saved $73.32 + I have $10 to spend on my next CVS shopping trip. BOO-YA.

For basically what I was previously spending on a box of diapers and a thing of dental floss I got, the same box of diapers and dental floss PLUS lots of laundry detergent, mouthwash, lotion, hefty bags, Lansinoh pads, and panty liners. FOR THE SAME PRICE people. Get you some inserts and some weekly ads and you can do this too! 

• For those of you who aren't familiar with CVS here is how the Extra Care Bucks work. You sign up for a CVS card and scan that before each transaction. On select items you can get Extra Care Bucks back with purchase. You can find these deals in their weekly ads. You'll see, buy this item at $3.99 and you'll get $3 in ECB. One ECB equals one dollar, so they're as good as money. They print out beneath your receipt and you can use them on your next transaction. So far no one has given me a hard time about doing a couple transactions in a row. Some times you'll see deals that end up equalling the price of the item so in a round about way you end up getting that item for free! Now, if you can combine these deals with coupons you have automatic money makers!