Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Time To Go Back to School!


Now that the kids are back in school, it's time for you to go back to school as well....
Coupon School!

I am now scheduling fall couponing classes in King and Snohomish Counties. The class will focus on couponing basics and how to save the most money in the least amount of time. This would be a great opportunity to get together a group of girlfriends, your book club, your moms group, or a church group to learn the fundamentals of couponing.

Please contact me at couponnewbieblog @ gmail . com if you are interested in getting more information and scheduling a class. I look forward to hearing from you!

FREEBIE Coupon Winner!


The winner of over $50 in FREEBIE coupons is comment #14:

L.M. "I follow you on FB"

Congrats! Look for more giveaways in the coming weeks.

Winner was chosen by random.org.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Rite-Aid Newbie (9/4-9/10)

Welcome to this weeks' installment of "Rite-Aid Newbie". Each week I will giving you a scenario for shopping at Rite-Aid that will be easy to follow and will score you some great deals. These deals will be put together for the Newbie shopper. I will not use more than 2 like coupons in any scenario and will (generally) keep it to one or two transactions.


As always, a HUGE thank you to Melody from This Beautifual Frugal Life and Angela from Frugal Living NW for giving me permission to use the match-ups that Melody posts on Frugal Living NW each week in order to put together these scenarios. See the full match-up for this week here.


You will want to familiarize yourself with the various Rite-Aid coupon programs before you get started. Make sure you are a Wellness+ member. Sign up here if you aren't a member yet. Then check out my posts about +UP Rewards and Single Check Rebates. You will also want to create an account here to access the Video Values coupons.

If you need contact solution, do Transactions 1 & 2. If you are blessed with better eyes than me, skip straight to Transaction 2.

Transaction #1

(1) Bausch & Lomb Renu Sensitive Multipurpose Solution (12 oz.), $8.99
- $2/1 Renu printable

= $6.99
Receive $7 +UP Rewards

Transaction #2

(1) Crest Complete Extra White Toothpaste (5.4 oz.), $3.99
(1) Colgate Optic White Toothpaste, $3.99
(2) Carefree Pantiliners (18-20 ct.), 2/$2
(2) M&M's (9.9-12.6 oz.), 2/$5
- $1/1 Crest Toothpaste or Liquid Gel Excl Cavity, Baking Soda, Tartar (P&G 08/28/11)
- (2) $0.50/1 Carefree Product (SS 08/21/11)
- $1/2 Carefree Product Aug. RA printable (must have watched by 8/27)
- $1/1 Colgate Optic White Toothpaste (SS 08/28/11)
- $1/2 Mars Bags Of M&M's or Dove Chocolate, 7 Varieties (RP 08/28/11)
- $1/1 M&M's Product Sept. RA printable
- $7 +UP Rewards from Transaction #1

= $1.98
Receive $3 +UP (Crest), $1 +UP (Carefree), $2 +UP (Colgate), and $1 +UP (M&M)

Grand Total = $1.97

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Garden Update and Suggestions Needed

We have had a pretty dreary summer here in Seattle and it is definitely reflected in my gardening efforts. But we finally got some sunny days and things started to grow.

Eggplants. This little plant has taken off and has a ton of eggplants on it. I can't wait until they are ready to pick. I'm going to make some marinated eggplant which goes amazing on pizza!

Two acorn squash. I have no idea whether or not these are ready to be picked. Or what to do with them once I pick them. But I grew them....and that's what counts.

Tomatoes! Still lots and lots of green tomatoes on the vines but more and more are rippening up. They are so delicious. They taste nothing like tomatoes from the store so even though my cost isn't going to justify the amount of tomatoes I end up getting, the project was definitely worth it.

And suggestions for all those green tomatoes?

Our two biggest crops are ones we didn't plant. Blackberries that grow along our driveaway (look for an upcoming post on my adventures in making blackberry jam for the first time) and these grapes that grow along our fence. I don't know what kind they are, but they are full of small seeds and not edible in their current form. I would love to turn them into something (jelly? raisins?) so I'm doing some research on them. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

We also have a decent crop of yellow squash and zucchinis. The cucumbers were a total bust and the corn appears to be as well. I've convinced my husband to build some raised beds over the winter, so I can expand my food growing next year. Nothing tastes better than food grown by your own two hands.

How did your gardens do this year?

You can see my previous garden updates here and here.

Friday, September 2, 2011

My FREEBIE Target Shopping Trip

I had some free coupons that were expiring soon, so I ran to Target and picked up everything in the picture for just $0.58. 


The freebie coupons were either ones I picked up at the BlogHer'11 conference or received from a giveaway on the products' Facebook page. The only thing I paid for was the marshmallows, which were $0.29 each after a $1/1 from Vocalpoint (another great source for freebie coupons).

I generally hold onto freebie coupons until close to their expiration dates and try and leverage them into bigger savings. For example, a Buy One, Get One Free sale plus a free coupon would equal two products for free.

Want to go on your own FREEBIE shopping spree? Don't forget to enter to win my current giveaway with over $50 in FREE coupons.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Daily Double (9/1)


Are you joining my Reusable Bag Challenge? If you need some bags to get you started, head over to SaveMore today for a great deal. There are two options from reusablebags.tv to choose from:

$9 for $18 worth of reusable bags (or FREE for new members after $10 new customer sign up credit)
$22 for $50 worth of reusable bags (or $12 for new members after $10 new customer sign up credit)

Go here to get this deal!

Fine Print: Expires March 6, 2012. Limit one voucher per person, and full amount of voucher must be used in one purchase.  Shipping is not included.  Voucher will be ready for redemption on 9/6.


Eversave is offering $14 of cell phone accessories for just $7. If you are a new Eversave member, you will get a $3 credit and pay just $4 for this deal. Best of all, this deal included FREE shipping.

Go here to get this deal.

The Fine Print
May buy up to 3 Saves
•
Use one Save per purchase at www.CellPig.com
•
Save is valid sitewide at www.CellPig.com, however, it cannot be combined with other coupon codes
•
Free shipping is included
•
Code available immediately after purchase on Eversave
•
Promotional value expires
on Aug 31, 2012

Join me in a Challenge: No More Plastic Bags!



I currently own about 20 reusable shopping bags. And can you guess how many of them I use on a regular basis?

If you guessed zero, you are pretty close. I use one to carry my coupon box in, but other than that I am an utter failure at the reusable bag movement.

But that is going to change! See that pile of bags below....


This month I am challenging myself (and you) to use these bags. No paper or plastic bags for the whole month of September. Sounds simple enough, but I have a feeling this is going to be a big challenge.

Which is why I'm telling you about it. I'm hoping that by inviting you to join me in this challenge and posting regular updates, I'll keep myself accountable to using reusable bags. And I'm hoping that by mindfully focusing it this for a month, it will become a habit that I can carry forward.

So, are you in? Leave me a comment and let me know if you are joining the challenge. Or if you are already a dedicated reusable bag user, leave a comment with tips on remembering the darn things.

And Day 1...I forget the bags at home after bring them in to take the picture last night. So if you see a crazy lady leaving Fred Meyer carrying an armful of groceries just to avoid using a plastic bag....stop and say Hi!