Dollar Tree is awesome!

I can't say enough how much I really love the Dollar Tree.  I know this sounds crazy but they really do have a little bit of everything you need from tissues to toys and gardening supplies and gift bags.  As I browse the isles for what I may need each week I am amazed at what you can buy for a buck!  For example, they had Betty Crocker Muffin mixes.  These were the newer ones that came in cinnamon toast crunch or cocoa puffs cereal muffin mix flavors.  They were only $1.00!! That same week I was in Martin's and found the same mix for over $3.00!!  Pair the Dollar Tree Prices with a coupon for .75/2 and you can get two boxes for a mere .62 cents ea.!!  Even if you don't want to fool with coupons, you still save over 50% just buy shopping at the Dollar Tree.  Just another example of making sure to pay attention when you are in the store. Compare your prices and try to shop at the stores that are cheaper in addition to your favorite grocery stores to ensure the best price and most savings!

Trying some new couponing tools, "savingstar" e coupons and couponsthingsbydede !!

I'm all about new ways to save and this week I have tried two new things!  So I've been into this coupon thing now for well over a year, not EXTREME couponing just a little better than your average beginning couponer.  NO I don't have a stockpile of 500 deodorants and 250 salad dressings. However I do have a few extra condiments, toiletry items and cereal stashed in cupboards to last over a month. 
Like any new hobby it wavers with enthusiasm.  Sometimes I get annoyed with it.  Sometimes it feels like too much work. Sometimes it takes too much time to do in addition to running a house with two kids.  But sometimes I am really on my game.  Today I did very well at CVS!!!  I bought two 12 packs of Pepsi, Herbal Essences conditioner, shampoo, hairspray and hair gel, two softsoap hand soaps, one soft soap body wash and a box of Uby Kotex.  All for only 9.00!!!!!!!  I used 8 coupons! and a total of $6 in xtra care bucks to do it!  Yay!  At least it doesn't take a lot of money to make me happy! : )
So back to my point, Lately I have discovered two new couponing tactics to try that have sparked my renewed energy in couponing.  Don't get me wrong I have been using coupons through my recent lull of interest but now I am re energized with these two new ways of obtaining coupon savings.

The first is www.savingstar.com You may have already heard of this and I have been seeing it around in my favorite blogs and such but now that I have a smartphone and have added the app. I am totally into it.  Anyway this is a program that you can use on your phone or online to load your rewards cards such as CVS, Giant Eagle, Weis etc.  Then you go through and activate your available coupons and when you shop at your stores and scan your rewards card it will not take money off of your total but put in into your savingstar account to be redeemed later for money in gift cards or paypal. 

The second new thing is www.couonthingsbydede.com I have also heard of this coupon clipping service and have been skeptical to use it because it feels too EXTREME.  But there are limits to how many coupons you can order. And I only want a few at a time so, as suggested by a new friend, I tried it out and bought about 50 coupons this week for only $5.00.  This was great because when you buy a paper for $2.00 you may like only a few of the coupons in the inserts, on couponthingsbydede.com you can pick and order the exact coupons you like and know you will and can use!!   The best thing about this is that I am waiting for when I am going to combine these two new great savings strategies with a new sale!!!
For example I buy purina cat food for my cat.  I ordered $1.00 off coupons for it from the clipping service and on www.savingstar.com I activated a coupon to give me $2.00 back when I buy one! So I will get a total of $3.00 off and If I am lucky I will find it on sale for around $4.00!  And if I am even more lucky CVS will have it on sale with reward bucks on it to make it an even sweeter deal! We'll see. LOL  So I hope any of this may help anyone else currently in a "coupon slump" or just trying to vamp up their couponing style. Good Luck!!!

LOVE Charlotte Russe!!

I signed up to for the newsletter for Charlotte Russe and sometimes I get great coupons like these! 3 charlotte russe coupons here!!  One is for $5.00 off any $25.00 purchase, one is for $5.00 off a dress and last $5.00 off a pair of shoes!!  So print it out, print more than one to share with a friend or to possibly go back in to use a different one of the three options!!  And Shop, shop shop!!

Walmart and Target savings!

So we were out of just a few things today that I had to get a "coupon game plan" together and head out.  This time no more school for miss. Emma so I had both a 2 and 5 year old in tow.  I guess I should get use to it, we have a long summer ahead!  So anyway we went to target first and I did fabulous of course cause you can stack Target coupons with manufacturers coupons! yay!  So here are a few of the things I found.  (The target coupons can be found on http://www.target.com/ .)
-Beach Tote only $8.99 - Target coupon $2.00off
-Market Pantry golden squares cereal on sale $1.88. - Target coupon for $1.00/2
-Quaker granola bars $2.48ea - Target coupon $1.00/2
-Kelloggs Cereal $2.50ea - $1/3 Manufacturers coupon and $1/3 Target Coupon makes them Only $1.84ea!! PLUS there was a peelie on the fruit loops for a free CARS2 die cast car!!!  worth $3.99!! we went straight to the toys to pick that one out!! lol
-Neutrogena Men's Shave gel $3.48 - $2.00/1 Internet coupon And $1/1 Target coupon ONLY .48cents!!
-Neutrogena Men's aftershave lotion $4.19-  $2.00/1 Internet coupon And $1/1 Target coupon Only $1.19!!
-Kandoo Wipes $1.49ea I bought two with two $1.00/1 Manufacturer's coupons (www.kandoo.com) making them .49ea!
-Men's Sure Deoderant $1.97ea I bought two with two $1.00/1 Manufacturers coupns from an insert in May, making them only .97cents ea!!
Total was only $27.85!!  (I also let my kids each pick one thing from the "dollar spot" to make them happy enough to sit and chill in the cart while I did my deal hunting! : )

Walmart went great as well, I bought a whole bunch more so I will just list some of the best scores!
-A great watermelon for only $2.50!!!
And after coupons I scored 2 packs of kids yogurt for .97cents, and two more for only $1.00ea
Also Ronzoni Spaghetti, 4 boxes for $1.00ea, Capri Sun's for $1.50ea AND 2 Bryers ice cream blasts for only $2.23ea!!
Just to name a few.
This is why I love coupons!

Great Savings Strategy at JCPenney!!!

There is a great coupon in this weeks JCPenney ad. You can find the ad in the store at each entrance or in today's paper!  Also there is a  Printable Version  you can take with you in case you can't find the ad in the store.  It is only good for today and tomorrow.  I was able to score some great savings today.  So many things are on sale and when you add a coupon of $10.00 off a $25.00 or more purchase you score big! Great for Fathers day and graduations!

Great Target Coupons!!

Once again I must say how I love Target.  This is the only store that has a great variety of generic/store brand item coupons!!   That is putting a coupon to an already low price.  Right now my favorites are out to print and you can go back and print a second if you like them as much as I do!!  $1.00 off 60ct or larger up & up diapers, $1.50 off of two frozen chicken items (you can buy nuggets or frozen chicken breast tenders etc.!) , $1.00 off two market pantry refrigerated orange juice (we go through orange juice as quickly as milk and cereal around here!).  Also another great one for this time of year is the $1.00 off three greeting cards, with mother's day, birthday's and Easter this is a good one to print twice and take advantage of some great savings cause those cards can add up quickly.  The last two that I really like right now is the .50/1 toilet paper or paper towel pack and the $1.00 off 20ct or larger up & up trash bags.  Both of which are hard to find on sale plus coupon to make it cheaper than generic.  Plus even though these are store brand  I think they are of great quality, better than some of the name brands I have used in the past. 

We browsed Target today just for the fun of it, and made a small purchase of a few odds and ends and I received a FREE reusable Tote!!  Yay!  I will also be making a trip to CVS where they have their bag tags on sale for .99cents with .99cents xtra bucks back so its like FREE.  If you are not familiar with the bag tag it is a tag you put on your reusable bag, and every time you shop you have the cashier scan it, (it has a little bar code) just like your cvs extracare card.  This "bag tag" will will earn you one buck every fourth visit.  So if you shop at CVS on a weekly basis like me you will quickly earn bucks just for shopping!!   woohoo!

Some great savings today!!

So I was super excited to find some great deals at some of my favorite stores!!  I pulled off 2 free packs of yo crunch yogurt by pairing 2 manf. coupons with one store coupon, 1 free gallon of milk, large jar of smuckers for only 50cents! and some other random good finds.  Love getting what I need for super cheap!    One thing I learned today, when checking out the smuckers fruit spread/jam/jelly prices, was that the bottom shelf with the bigger jar was on sale for cheaper than the smaller item at eye level.  So definitly compare those prices! 
On another couponing note, that extreme couponing show on tlc is tonight.  I missed it last week so I plan on watching last weeks and tonights.  I did see online that there was a big controversy over one of the ladies last week using coupons in a fraudulant manner.  Supposedly she uses coupons on items that are not included or even related to the products listed on the coupon!!!!  First of all how do you live with yourself cause that is stealing, and second how does this even happen??  Sometimes I have trouble with a coupon being redeemed at the register when it is clearly for the item I am buying?!  How can she pull this off. I am still confused but I definetly have to tune in to figure that out.  Any way, I love coupons, I love to use them correctly and i hope there arent others like her out there going to ruin all of us "good couponers's" fun! lol