Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly re-cap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received in the mail.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past TWO weeks, 12/13/09 - 12/26/09.  Christmas and all the festivities to go with it have been keeping us busy, so this is a special two week edition of my Weekly Recap. 

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received

$28.50..... Amazon.com gift card from Opinion Outpost surveys
$0.06....... YouData (Get paid to view ads... paid every Friday, no minimums!)
$10.00..... Magazines.com (Got a free GC from them by email, but opted for the cash instead!)
$450.00... Cash (I won a $600 Dick's Sporting Goods GC but sold it to my brother for $450!)
$15.00..... Amazon.com gift cards from using the Swagbucks search engine

Total: $503.56

Coupon Savings

$32.84... Kohl's (30% off coupon!)

Total: $32.84

Freebies

Kotex sample pack (Samples still available! Get yours here.)
Shape magazine


Total 2009 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $2,614.65
Total 2009 Coupon Savings: $2,644.49

Find my previous weekly re-caps here.

Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)

Swag Code Alert!

Did you get the latest Swagbucks newsletter?

Mine just popped into my inbox a few minutes ago and I wanted to be sure you checked for it.  As you know, there is always a sweet surprise at the end of each newsletter!

Not receiving the Swagbucks newsletter?  Sign up by clicking the newsletter link on the left side of their homepage.  The newsletters contain the latest Swag news as well as swagcodes!

By the way... since we are talking about swagcode alerts... have you noticed my new Swagbucks widget on my sidebar?  Scroll down a bit and you will see it with the heading "Search & Win." 

I loooove this new widget because it will flash "Code Alert" whenever there is a new code out!  Then it will give a little clue so you know where that code can be found.  Such a handy little gadget! 

Just the other day there was a code out that was only available for 15 minutes and it was worth 3 swags.  I happened to see the "Code Alert" on that widget on my site and was lucky enough to grab the code just as the last few seconds of time were ticking by.

So be sure to check that widget whenever you stop by.  You wouldn't wanna miss out on free swagbucks!

New to Swagbucks?  Sign up here.  It's free.  And you'll earn free gift cards and other things just for using their search engine.

Swag Code Alert!

Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly re-cap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received in the mail.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past week, 12/6/09 - 12/12/09.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received

$20.00... Target gift cards ($5 for Luvs diapers promo and $15 free w/purchase coupon!)
$10.00... Friendly's gift cards (Two free $5 cards from purchasing two $25 cards.)
$0.12..... YouData (Get paid to view ads... paid every Friday, no minimums!)
$5.00..... Smart Mobile Shopper Panel surveys
$1.00..... Diapers.com referral (Use code:  NOWSAVE5 to take $10 off your 1st order!)

Total: $36.12

Coupon Savings

$10.15... Target
$2.00..... Soprano's Pizza
$1.00..... Acme

Total: $13.15

Freebies

Mr. Rebates mini referral cards in a case


Total 2009 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $2,111.09
Total 2009 Coupon Savings: $2,611.65

Find my previous weekly re-caps here.

Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)

Party City $10 off $30 purchase coupon!

This is a great coupon if you're planning a holiday party in the next few weeks... especially if you're in the need for decorations or other party supplies.

You can print this coupon for $10 off any purchase of $30 or more at Party City.  Looking to shop online?  Simply use coupon code:  PCHOL102 at checkout.

Offer good through 12/14/09.

Party City $10 off $30 purchase coupon!

20 Personalized photo cards for just $1.99

Have you sent out your Christmas cards yet?  We haven't gotten to that yet, but I did manage to take a pretty decent pic of my kids (ages 3.5 and almost 2)  that will go into each card.  And that is a big enough accomplishment for now...

Anyway, here's a great opportunity to score some super cheap photo cards. You can get 20 for just $1.99!!! What a great price! (They normally sell for around $12.99.)

You can choose from regular 5" x 7" cards, 5" x 7" photo cards, 4" x 8" photo cards and caricature cards.  They have lots of designs and styles to choose from.   And they are so stinkin cute!

No coupon code is needed, but you do need to go through that link, which activates the special pricing.

20 Personalized photo cards for just $1.99

ANOTHER free bag of Stacy's Pita Chips!!!

Yesterday I posted about a free bag of Stacy's Pita Chips when you became a Facebook fan.  Well here's another opportunity to try a free bag!!!

All You magazine is offering a free bag.  Sign up for that one here. 

So if you missed out on the last free bag offer, make sure you go quickly for this one.  Oh, and while you're there, you can also print a coupon for $1.00 off.

ANOTHER free bag of Stacy's Pita Chips!!!

Super cheap books, $5 off and free shipping!

Have you heard of Books-A-Million? They are my new favorite bookstore.  Why?  They offer the best prices around, coupon codes and free shipping!  Really, there's nothing else to ask for.

For all holidays I make sure my kids get a few new books to love.  I'm a big reader and they seem to really enjoy reading as well, so I'll do anything to encourage that.

Anyway, I happened to find Books-A-Million and browsed their children's books and found some great prices.  But then.... here's the best part.... I found their Bargain Books. This section has many, many children's books starting at just $1.77!  Seriously, that's awesome. 

Then I noticed that you get free shipping on all orders of $25 or more!  Even better.  So I bought 12 books!  Some are for my kids' Christmas gifts and some are put away for birthdays and even next Halloween.  (Yes, my kids get books for Halloween. LOL.)

Oh and I made the deal even better with coupon code:  MCCRENEW.  So I scored $5.00 off my purchase of atleast $25.00. 

My 12 books came to $26.32, including tax, the $5 coupon and free shipping.  What a deal!

Happy reading!

Super cheap books, $5 off and free shipping!

Try Stacy's Pita Chips FREE

Would you like to try Stacy's Pita Chips absolutely free?  Yea, me too!

The first 65,000 people to become a facebook fan of Stacy's Pita Chips will receive a coupon for a free bag!  Yay!

Your coupon will be for a value of up to $3.99 and will arrive within 2-4 weeks.  Coupon expires 2/28/10.

Hurry... these will go quickly.

Try Stacy's Pita Chips FREE

I just signed up. Will you?

On December 14th, The Frugal Housewife is hosting a Decorating for the Holidays Blog Hop!  And I just signed up!

Will you?  You can write about anything and everything having to do with decorating for the holidays.  It's a great way to get some new decorating ideas and some extra traffic to your blog!

Tomorrow 12/9/09 is the last day to sign up.

I just signed up. Will you?

Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly re-cap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received in the mail.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past week, 11/29/09 - 12/5/09.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received

$4.18..... Quick Rewards (Paid to check email/view ads.)
$0.53..... YouData (Get paid to view ads.)
$5.00..... Walmart gift card (free in the mail!)
$3.00..... PineCone Research survey
$40.00... Amazon.com promotional credit
$10.00... Chili's gift card from MyPoints (Paid to check email!)

Total: $62.71

Coupon Savings

$28.99.... Acme
$11.00.... JCPenney

Total: $39.99

Freebies

Seventh Generation laundry detergent sample
Free boat toy from redeeming Pampers Gifts to Grow points (This will be a great Christmas gift for my son!)
Calendar and coupons from Nestle


Total 2009 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $2,074.97
Total 2009 Coupon Savings: $2,598.50

Find my previous weekly re-caps here.

Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)

$5 off any purchase at Hallmark!

Gotta love the great deals popping up everywhere this time of year!  And here's another one I found to share with you...

Print this coupon for $5.00 of ANY purchase at Hallmark!  Great for getting a card or two or even a small gift for free or almost free!

Coupon valid through 12/24/09.

Oh and you can find more printable coupons here...

$5 off any purchase at Hallmark!

Bath & Body Works: 20% off your entire purchase!

Here's a great coupon for ya.  Bath & Body Works is offering 20% off your entire purchase!  Offer valid online and in stores.

If you're shopping in store, you can print your coupon here.

If you're shopping online, use coupon code:  20PERCENT.

Oh and if you're shopping online, be sure to shop through one of the cash back sites.  Both Mr.Rebates and Shop At Home are offering 4% cash back for Bath & Body Works!  Oh and both sites also have a $5.00 sign-up bonus if you're new to their site.

This coupon is only good through the rest of today 12/6/09 so act fast on this one!

Bath & Body Works: 20% off your entire purchase!

New Huggies Enjoy the Ride codes!!

If you buy Pampers or Huggies diapers, I hope you're taking advantage of their rewards programs.  If you are going to be buying diapers, you might as well get rewarded for it.

You simply collect codes from product packages and occasionally from other places as well.  You enter the codes on the sites and earn points for sweepstakes entries, gift cards and other goodies! 

If you're participating in the Huggies Enjoy the Ride rewards program, you'll be thrilled with this new list of codes!  They're worth a total of 10 points!

BCSQDDNXQFBBPGB (5 pts)
BCFRHSDWLPXFPGB (1 pt)
BCJHPHBTLLKDPGB (1 pt)
BCMJGGKLMJKJPGB (1 pt)
BCNTPWXTNLXKPGB (1 pt)
BBRGXFHMMDHGPGB (1 pt)

There's also a new (short) video you can watch to earn 2 bonus points as well as a quick, one question poll worth 1 point.  So go ahead and grab yourself a total of 13 points!

If you're new to this rewards program, you can sign up here.  You can also sign up for a similar program, Pampers Gifts to Grow.  Both are free to join and will earn you great rewards!

Thanks to Bargain is the New Black for sharing these codes.

New Huggies Enjoy the Ride codes!!

A fantastic resource for printable coupons...

I love when I'm checking out various sites and I find a great printable coupon for a grocery item we need.  But you know what's even better?  A big list of hundreds of available coupons.

A Full Cup has a huge master list of many of the printable coupons that are out at any given time.  And even though it's quite a large list, they have tools to make it very easy to search for what you need.

This site has Target coupons (my fav since they combine with manufacturer coupons!), grocery coupons, coupons for baby items and many, many other things... all in one place.  What an asset!

A fantastic resource for printable coupons...

Barnes & Noble coupon for 15% off

I love this time of year when there are coupon codes a-plenty!  Be sure to always look for a coupon for all of your gift purchases... you are sure to find lots of them.  Why pay extra if you don't have to?

Doing some shopping at Barnes & Noble? Click here to find your coupon for 15% off any one item!

Coupon good through 12/9/09.

Barnes & Noble coupon for 15% off

Ditching the disposables

So we've been making a real effort to stitch to natural cleaners for our home.  Many of them clean just as well as our old cleaners, but without all the nasty chemicals that are no good for us or our water supplies.

And at the same time, we've also been trying to limit our use of disposable products.  Paper towels we hardly ever use.  We just keep them around for the nasty clean-ups, like dog messes or puke and such. 

We use rags for cleaning, dusting and wiping up spills.  We use washcloths for wiping the kids' faces, hands and tables after meals.  We use cloth napkins for our meals.  And we only use paper plates or paper napkins if we're having a big barbeque or party.

But the one area where we've still been using the disposables is with the Swiffer.  I LOVE the Swiffer.  But I did not love the waste of those refill cleaning pads. 

We just got new laminate flooring in our kitchen, living room and hall.  This calls for alot more swiffering than before.  And in turn, alot more of those refills were needed.  It would have resulted in alot more trash waste and alot more cash wasted.

Sooo... I searched for a solution.  On Etsy (love that site!) I found these great reusable cleaning pads that fit right onto my Swiffer!  They pick up dirt, hair and dust just like the Swiffer pads do.  But when we're done cleaning, we take the pad off and toss it in the laundry. 

Oh and they are very reasonably priced.  I paid $8.00 for a set of two!  (Looks like they are now 2 for $9.)  Sooo much cheaper than buying boxes of disposables since these can be used again and again.

I worried about how well they would work and how well they would wash up.  But really, they fit on the Swiffer just right and they work soooo well.  And they wash up perfectly.  I'm really pleased with them.

And really pleased that we're ditching the disposables and keeping the cash in our pockets.

*I did not receive any compensation for this post. Just wanted to share this since I was so happy with it!

Ditching the disposables

Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly re-cap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received in the mail.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for last week, 11/22/09 - 11/28/09.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received

$10.00.... Toys R Us gift card (Free w/$75 purchase and coupon from the ad.)
$0.11...... YouData (Get paid to view ads!)

$11.00.... MindField Online surveys
$3.00...... PineCone Research survey
$20.00.... JuicyBrains Community surveys
$9.90...... Amazon.com gift card from Opinion Outpost surveys

Total: $54.01

Coupon Savings

$5.00..... Friendly's
$7.29..... Target (Includes $0.25 for using my own bags.)
$1.50..... Walmart
$10.00... Fashion Bug
$5.00..... Chuck E Cheese

Total: $28.79

Freebies

No freebies received this week.


Total 2009 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $2,012.26
Total 2009 Coupon Savings: $2,558.51

Find my previous weekly re-caps here.

Show me the money... (Weekly Recap)