Swag Bucks

Have you ever heard of SWAGBUCKS? It's basically a site that combines popular search engines and periodically gives you points when you search! Sometimes they also release codes which can give you extra points. Each search can give you 1-5 points and after 45 points you can get a $5 Amazon giftcard! You can also get points from entering secret codes that Swagbucks sometimes releases (look at the swidget!). Join here

Free Breakfast at IKEA (12/26- 1/3)

Free breakfast at Ikea this weekend. At my local Ikea there usually is a line, but not too ridiculously long. Plus, it goes by pretty fast because they just hand out the plates. Limit 1 per person.

* Note: Kids eat free during this period as well!

Free Sample of Arm & Hammer Toothpaste

Copy and paste http://www.ahcleanfeeling.com onto your browser and it should take you to a form. Make sure you use a legitimate email (one of those extra accounts that you do know the password for) since they send a confirmation email.

(Thanks thefreebieblogger)

Safeway -- MONEYMAKER or FREE wheat thins

Right now at Safeway (and till January 3rd I think...) wheat thins are $1 when you buy 5. That's already a great price for wheat thins, perfect for snacking or packing some on the go. The deal gets even better if you have the $1/2 Nabisco Cracker or Wheat Thin coupons which can be found here (if your store accepts printable coupons), on the Nabisco Jingles booklet found at some grocery stores (I found mine at Raleys), in past coupon inserts and in the nabisco savings calendar some people got in the mail! After the coupon it'll only be $5 for 10 boxes.

Either way, make sure you send in the rebate here for $10 wyb 10 boxes!

CVS trip 12/13

I'll upload a picture of what I got later.
Some great deals today since I got lucky and received two $5 off wyb $15 CRTs from the coupon machine. Sadly though my store didn't have any of the gift tags that were free after ecb. They would've really been useful!

Transaction #1
2 Merrybrite Tissue Paper $1.99
2 Merrybrite Bows 12ct. $2.99
1 Hallmark Card $0.99
2 Halmark Cards $1.99
-$5 coupon from Hallmark cards found in December issues of magazines (Oprah, Family Circle...)
1 M&M Peanut Butter $0.89

-$5 wyb $15 CRT
-$2 wyb $10 CVS brand items
-$2.99 in previous ECB

Subtotal = 0.83 + tax (0.90)
Total OOP = $1.73
Received $5.98 ECB for bows, $3.98 ECB for tissue paper

Transaction #2
1 Bic Soleil Razor 4ct $4.99
1 Complete Contact Solution $9.99
-$1 Coupon from insert
1 CVS Lip Balm $1.29

-$5 wyb $15
-$10 ecb

Subtotal=$0.27 + tax(0.12)
Total=0.39
Received $4 ECB for Razor, $9.99ecb for Complete Contact Solution

**Make sure to give the $ off when you spend $ coupons first when your total is the highest before you give other coupons.

SO for totals
Previous ECB used = roughly $13
Total OOP including tax = $2
ECB earned = roughly $24
So today was a money maker of about $9

And in reality it's just about $19 because the $10 ecb I used in the 2nd transaction was the one I printed from a CVS-advisor survey.

And the chapstick I actually bought for my housemate so he paid me back $1.25 which brings me to another good point. If you have friends who also need stuff from CVS or other stores that require you to bring your total to a certain amount for a deal (like $$ off wyb $$ or sale price wyb $20 ) then offer to include their stuff in your transaction. It doesn't hurt them and saves you from spending extra to bring your total up.

Other interesting things I picked up were some free Essence of Beauty samples with $1 off coupons attached to them.

CVS trip 12/6

Had a bit rushed but still great trip to CVS today. Here's what I got

Transaction 1
Essence of Beauty Bodywash $4.99
MB Mini Ornaments $1.99
MB Santa Hat $3.99
Tums Smoothie 12ct $1.99
- $2 any Tums product coupon (Flu Shot Booklet)

- $2 wyb $10 CVS products (CRT)
- $8.59 in past ECB
= 0.37 + tax

got $4ecb (Essence of Beauty), $1.99 ecb (Ornaments), $3.99 ecb (Santa Hat)

Transaction #2
Goldfish Crackers $1.50
- $1 any Pepperidge Farm product (Emailed company compliment and received coupon)
Essence of Beauty Lotion $4.99
Bayer Contour Meter $14.99
-$14.99 Coupon from insert
Snows Clams $1 x 6 = $6 (raincheck)
-$1/2 x 3 coupon from insert = $3
MB Mini Ornaments $1.99
MB Santa Hat $3.99
Tums Smoothie 12ct $1.99
- $2 any Tums product coupon (Flu Shot Booklet)

-$5 wyb $30 Coupon (medicare quiz)
-$5.99 ecb from past transaction ( $1.99 and $4)
-$2 wyb $10 in CVS products CRT
=$1.47 + tax

got $4ecb (Essence of Beauty), $1.99 ecb (Ornaments), $3.99 ecb (Santa Hat), $5 ecb (Bayer Contour Meter), $1 (green bag tag)

In my last transaction I bought some scotch tape to put up christmas decorations at my house. It was a product I needed and would've bought anyway but the fact that I did transactions before and earned ecb meant I spent almost the same amount of money I would have for the tape, but earned FREE STUFF!

I ended up with $16 in ecb and paid $1.84 + tax OOP & $8 ecb. In reality, though, I didn't make much profit because of the tax on almost everything (bayer meter, etc.).

CVS Black Friday Trip

Items Purchased (9)
Panini Maker $20
Hersheys Cookies n Cream $0.89
Hersheys Twix King Size
Herbal Essences $2.99
Colgate Toothpaste $2.88
Vaseline Sheer Infusion $7.99
Degree Pure Clean Deodorant $4
Schick Quattro Razor $9.99
Earbuds $6.99

Cost
Subtotal OOP: $3.44
Tax : $4.92
ECB started: $9
ECB ending: $13.59

$13.59-$3.44-$9 = $1.15 + TAX($4.92)
= $6.07 total

Boy is California Sales Tax ANNOYING! I spent more on tax than I did on the subtotal. But $6 for a panini maker and all those other goods is fine by me (: . If you think about it, that one bottle of Vaseline lotion would have cost more without CVS deals.

Graphic TI Skins

Most highschoolers or college students who have survived Calculus probably own a TI-[insert number]. It's a very useful and potentially entertaining tool (see Calculator games) . Anway, Texas Instruments is offering free graphic skins for your calculator. Just go here. Supplies are limited.

Thanks Hip2Save

CVS: 10/11 Deals

Many other great moneysaving blogs have already posted deals for CVS so I'm not going to bore you with this widespread info (check who said nothing in life is free for a list). But, surprisingly I spotted a deal that I didn't see written about! (yay me)

Carefree Ultra Protection Pantiliners 16ct. $3.99 get $3 ECB back
- $1 printable coupon
= $3 OOP and get $3 ECB back.
free after ecb

I don't know if this a regional, but it's a great deal since you can never have too many (I'm speaking for the ladies here).

Safeway -- Free NatureValley Nut Clusters and Free Newman's Thin-Crust Pizza!

I just came back from Safeway with an amazing and unexpected transaction, only proving that the online coupons loaded onto your safeway card is a great moneysaving tip. (You should always load all coupons whenever they become available because they'll still be there when they put up a new list of coupons and it can lead to great deals) . Anyways, here's whats written on my receipt

Naturevalley Nut Clusters - $3
-$1 ecoupon from shortcuts for NV Nutclusters
-$1 ecoupon from cellfire for NV Nutclusters
-$1 ecoupon from cellfire for NV Nutclusters
-$1 printable coupon
-$0.40 ecoupon from shortcuts NV granola
-$0.40 ecoupon from cellfire NV granola
-$0.40 ecoupon from cellfire NV granola

Newman's Thin-Crust Pizza - $4.99
- $1 ecoupon from shortcuts
- $1 ecoupon from coupons.com (which can be found here on the safeway website, click load coupons on the right)
- $1 printable coupon

= -$-0.21

For some reason the 40 cents off for what I thought was only for NV bars also applied to the NV nut clusters! It ended up creating overage making my Newman's Pizza FREE! Safeway has a policy of not paying their customers back so I just left at a balance of $0 !

**If you don't have all those coupons, don't be discouraged! Load on what coupons you have and it'll still be a great deal! For example you can still get the Nut Clusters for free by loading on 1 ecoupon each from shortcuts and cellfire and using the $1 printable coupon! You can get the Newman's Pizza for only $1.99 by loading the $1 ecoupon from shortcuts and coupons.com and using the $1 printable coupon!

CVS: Free Sally Hansen's Nail polish

At my local CVS, Sally Hansen Nail polish and supplies are $1 in the clearance bins at the front of the store! You can find a $1 coupon in the $100 Flu Shot booklet or in past coupon inserts. Use the coupon and it'll be free!

I just went to my CVS today and confirmed that this deal works! What was even better was that the Nail polish was Buy one get one 50% when using your card. So, I bought 2 nailpolishes ($1 each) and a tweezer ($1) to cover the $0.50 overage. I used the CVS coupon and a Sally Hansen coupon I had found in the October issue of Marie Claire. I paid only $0.50 + tax!

Target Trip $10 for $70 worth of goods

Details to come.

CVS: Free Kleenex Tissue Box

Till Saturday (today)

Kleenex Box $0.96 (120ct. i believe)
$1 Kleenex coupon from the flu shot booklet

= FREE

CVS $100 Coupon Book

First make sure your local CVS actually gives flu shots (use the store locater and it should say flu shot in the same section as pharmacy, store, etc.) Go up to the counter and ask for the flu shot coupon book. It is no purchase necessary so they should just hand it to you.

There are lots of great coupons like

$2 Any Tums product
$3/2 Theraflu products
$1 Total Advanced Toothpaste 5.8 oz or Total Advanced with 360 toothbrush
$1 Colgate sensistive Toothpaste or Toothbrush
$1 Dove or Degree Clinical Protection Deoderant
$2 Loreal Mens Product
$1 Schick Intuition Razor
$1 Remington Product
$2 Clairol Perfect 10 Product
$1 Head and Shoulders Shampoo or Conditioner
$1 Dove Shampoo or Conditioner
$1 Dial Bodywash
$1 Lubriderm Intense Skin Repair Lotion
$1 Softsoap liquid handsoap refills or Softsoap liquid ensembles products
$1 any Sally Hansen treatment
$1 M&Ms premium product
$1 Dove Large Bars or Premium Pouches
$2 Instore photobook
$1 Kleenex 65 - 280 ct.
$1/2 Angel Soft 4pk Double bath tissue
$1/2 Brawny Packages of 2 big roll towels

Potentially Free or Cheap Medicine! (MONEY MAKER)

One of my local Walgreens had several Tylenol Cold/Flu 4oz Bottles on sale for $1.01 ! These boxes also had peelies on them for $1.50 off!

Tylenol Multipurpose Cold $1.01 x 2
$1.50 peelie coupon x 2
= $0 (you might have to add some filler items to make up for the $1.50)

And what makes this deal even better is that $5 in RR should print out because you bought two tylenol cold,cough,etc. medicine!

So including RR makes it a $5 money maker!

Sadly my manager was throwing a fuss about me getting free products so he would only let me use one coupon. It came out to $0.58 + tax. Still not a bad deal.

Safeway -- better than FREE YOGURT

I just did this deal today at my local safeway and they PAID me $0.50 to do this transaction.

Yoplus 4pk. Yogurt - $2.50
$1 Cellfire Coupon
$1 Shortcuts Coupon
$1 mfr. coupon (9/13 GM insert)
= - $0.50

Shortcuts & Cellfire 101

I discovered Shortcuts and Cellfire from the Safeway website (same as Vons).

They are basically 'ecoupons' that can be loaded directly to your club card! To sign up for these websites make sure you have your account number handy.

Once you sign up / log on you can add coupons onto your card. They should be active in about an hour. The great thing about these ecoupons is that when you buy a product the savings will appear automatically! Also, shortcuts, cellfire, and paper manufacturer coupons can ALL BE STACKED. There's been some posts about the morality of stacking so many coupons, but if you look at the couponLINK FAQ on the safeway website, they say it's allowed! (So why not take advantage of it).

Walgreen Deals 9/14 - 9/19

Here's the best scenario I've come up with to maximize your benefits (: !

Transaction 1

True North Nut Crisps $3
use -$1 coupon here (print it up to two times per computer)

= $2 OOP (out of pocket) and get $3 Wagbucks

Transaction 2

WAG pads 2 for $1
coupon in ad

Listerine 250ml $2.99
use -$1 coupon here

use the $3 wagbuck
= $0 + tax get $2 wagbucks


Transaction 3 **

True North Nut Crisps $3
use -$1 coupon here

use the $2 wagbucks

= $0 + tax get $3 wagbucks
Transaction 4**

Colgate tooth paste 2/$5
use 2 -$1 coupon (9/14 sunday paper or in the toothpaste section of Safeway there should be a booklet)

use $3 wagbucks

=$0 + tax get $1 wagbucks
(treat yourself to some candy with that (: )

**Important Note: Only $2 OOP is too ideal of a situation. I didn't include tax and filler items, which will be necessary considering how many coupons are being used. Try to find really cheap candy and it'll cut your extra costs. I repeated the deal a few times (2 trips to walgreens) and spent $6 OOP for 2 bags of nuts, 2 pantiliners, 2 listerines, 3 assorted candies, 2 toothpastes, and 2 glade candles. AND I still have $3 in wagbucks left.

Walgreen Deals 101

Walgreens can be a little tricky and I actually find it more frustrating than CVS (contrary to some other money savers). Wagbucks are a lot like CVS ECB: they can be redeemed like cash on the next purchase and can earn you free items (: ! Here is the fine print on wagbucks

* Your subtotal (before tax) must be OVER the amount of wagbucks you're spending
* The number of coupons (wagbucks, mfr coupons, wag coupons) must not exceed the number of items you are purchasing.

So how can we solve some of these issues? The best technique I have is grabbing clearance candy ($0.20 - $0.50) as a filler. It's the cheapest stuff I've seen in Walgreens and it can help boost your subtotal without making it too much higher.

Also
* You cannot use wagbucks to purchase something from the same manufacturer and expect to get more Wagbucks. Basically wagbucks usually have "compliments of [insert company name]" This is to prevent people from just buying the free good and rebuying the same thing with wagbucks. So switch it up and you'll be good.

Best order to give coupons/wagbucks

- Wagbucks
- MFR Coupons
- Wag Coupons

This gives you the least issues.

College Freebies 101

Make sure to check events occuring at your college because they might also be offering free food or goodies!

To begin, if your college has a welcome week / fair, go to it! Lots of companies like to publicize themselves at these college events in hopes of influencing the 'college crowd'. At my college fair (Caltopia) I was able to snag 6 free t-shirts, 3 tote bags, 4 minutemaid microwave rice bowls, 6 indian prepared foods/rice, 4 mini containers of ben & jerrys, 6 cans of izze, 4 bottles of naked juice, and much more!

Also, although it is morally questionable to go to a club just for free food I would say 'why not just check it out? ' Honestly you might like it! And that's why clubs offer free food, to entice people like you (: !

Walmart Freebies

Walmart regularly offers free samples for a variety of products. Great if you want to try something new or just to have mini 'travel' items. You usually get your samples in 4-6 weeks and it's limit one per household.

Right now they're offering

• Prilosec OTC (Heartburn medecine)
  
• Scope Outlast (Mouthwash)
• Carefree Pads
• Goodnites Sleep Pants

If you're skeptical about 'freebies' and entering your info, walmart is a good place to go because it's clearly a big company and they don't send you junk mail.

Comic-Con

So not everyone is into comics. To be honest, I'm not that big on it either, but I love going to Comic-con! The atmosphere is exciting. It's not just comics; this convention is huge on pop culture. You'll find your favorite television shows and movie stars. And, best of all, you'll find your swag (aka free stuff) . If you're in the area (san diego) or feel like taking an exciting journey with some friends then consider going to Comic con. You get free admission if you volunteer (and a free t-shirt if you do it all four days). It's 3 really easy and sometimes really boring hours a day. They have so many volunteers that you usually end up sitting around , which is fine by me. Below are some freebies I got last year after attending four days. Includes tote bags, t-shirts, posters, books, and more! Sign up to volunteer here