The Biggest Way I Saved Money This Week

The biggest way I saved money this week was by using things that I already purchased on sale, clearance or with coupons and not having to go shopping and spend money. 

I wanted to send a sympathy card to family friend who lost her husband.  I just went to my card box and pulled one out.  I purchased the card using a coupon and ECBs at CVS and got it for FREE a few months ago.

I also needed a little girls birthday gift for a party today for a classmate of Payton's.  I already had a gift in my gift closet along with a gift bag, tissue paper and a card.  No money spent for a gift.  This gift was actually purchased on clearance at Target.

Lastly, I wanted know of 2 baby showers that I will be getting invitations to in the next couple of months.  I knew I already had gifts so I went ahead and pulled out their gifts to make sure I had everything needed.  I still have gift bags from my baby showers for both of my kids so I pulled a couple of those out along with cards that I purchased for almost nothing using a coupon and reward certificates at the Hallmark store a few months ago.   All I need to do is add the tissue paper.

Ways I Saved/Earned Money this Week

- I read all of my MyPoints emails daily for my account and my husband's to add points to receive FREE gift cards.

- Cleaned out my coupon binder.

- Continued to use my FREE samples this week including - lotion, shampoo, conditioner and lip conditioner.

- Only used my dishwasher once this week.

- Requested a couple of FREE samples.

- Stuck to my menu plan this week. No eating out.

- Compared gas prices before filling up.

- Continued to cut my dryer sheets in half to save.

-  Planned my grocery shopping using sales and coupons. 

- Entered Coke Reward Points and Huggies Rewards point to each account for FREE gift cards, coupons and gifts.

- Cashed Swagbucks for a $5 Amazon gift card. 

- I did some yard work this week instead of hiring someone else to do it.  Free labor = sore muscles.

-  Watched a movie I had recorded when Directv offered FREE Movie Package weekend.  I refuse to pay for movies. :)

- Payton was out of school this week for spring.  We definitely did not have spring weather so I tried to come up with some inexpensive activities to enjoy our week.  

     - went to Chucky Cheese one day and use a coupon for lunch and an afternoon of fun

     - went to McDonalds play place to play and purchase lunch with a gift card for the kids

     - she went to a couple of sleepovers at memas and a friends house

     - went to an Easter egg hunt

     - invited a friend over for the day to play

     - splurged and went to a movie but we did go during the day and didn't pay as much and evening prices

  

What did you do to save/earn money this week?  Link up and share your savings.

Thought of the Day

Wherever you go no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

Lowes Foods - Fresh Rewards Exclusive eOffers

These offers are good through Tuesday!

Charmin Bath Tissue 18 double rolls - $8.99
Use .25 coupon P&G 3/31 insert
Final Price - 8.74
Limit 2

Lowes Foods Hotdog or Hamburger Buns - .79 each
Limit 2

Ball Park Franks - Buy 1 Get 1 FREE - $1.85 each
Buy 2 and Use .75/2 coupon 3/10 RP - Expires 4/7
Final Price -$1.10 each
No Limit

Hampton Farms Roasted Peanuts - $1
No Limit

Heinz Squeeze Ketchup - $1.99
Limit 2

Heniz Squeeze Mustard - .99
Limit 2

Heinz Mayonnaise - $1.99
Limit 2

Lowes Foods Disposable Plates - 2/$3
Limit 2

My Favorite Deals at Lowes Foods This Week 4/3-4/9

Here is a list of my favorite deals at Lowes Foods this week. Remember, Lowes Foods doubles coupons up to .99. You can use 20 coupons per transaction. They will accept 4 "like" coupons and 2 "like" internet coupons.

Also, you can earn .05 per gallon fuel rewards with every $100 spent.

Fresh Rewards e-Offer
Charmin Bath Tissue - $8.99
Use .25 coupon  P&G 3/31
Final Price - $8.74
Limit 2

Boneless Chicken Breast - $1.99/lb.

Red Delicious Apples - .98/lb.

Green Bell Peppers - .98 each

Peeled Baby Carrots 1lb. - .98

Navel Oranges - 2 for .98

Russet Baking Potatoes - 2 for .98

Buy 10, Get .10 off Per Gallon
See sales ad for complete list but here is my favorites

French Bread from Bakery - $1

Buddy Fruits - $1

Hampton Farms Peanuts - $1

Bar S Franks - $1

Lowes Foods Paper Towels - 1 big roll - $1

Angel Soft Bathroom Tissue - 4 rolls - $1
Use .25 printable coupon
Final Price - .50 each

Mondo Fruit Squeezers - 6 pack - $1



You can find this weeks sales ad here!

NEW Coupons Available

Here is a list of of new coupons available.  Print them while you can.

$1.00 off 1 PLANTERS NUTrition Sustaining Energy

Buy any 2 Dial or Tone Body Washes, get 1 free

$0.75 off 1 PLANTERS Honey BBQ or Multipack Peanut

Buy any TWO (2) Dial For Men BW, get 1 free

Sunday Coupon Preview

There will be 2 coupon inserts in this Sundays paper - 1 - Smartsource, and 2 - RedPlum inserts

Here is a few of my favorites:

Claritin $2/1 4oz or 20ct+ children’s
Claritin $3/1 4oz children’s syrup
Claritin $4/1 15ct+ D product
Claritin $5/1 20ct+ children’s chewables
Soft Soap $1/1 12oz+ body wash or bar soap
Softsoap $.35/1 8oz+ antibacterial or premium liquid handsoap pumps
Softsoap $.50/1 28oz+ liquid hand soap refills


You can find a complete list here!


You can also find lots of great printable coupons available from Coupons.com, RedPlum, and Coupon Network.

Mega Swagbucks Day

If you haven't signed up with Swagbucks, you definitely need to. It is a great search engine where you can earn swagbucks every time you search. I average 20-30 swagbucks a day. You can also download the Swagbucks Toolbar and Swagbucks will give you FREE swagcodes occasionally.

You can redeem your swagbucks for great prizes. My favorite prize is Amazon gift cards. With 450 swagbucks you can earn a $5 Amazon gift card. I apply my gift cards to my Amazon account and save them to use at Christmas.

You can sign up for Swagbucks here and earn 30 swagbucks just by signing up!

Carmex Healing Cream and Carmex Hydrating Lotion Review and Giveaway

As a member of the Carmex Blog Squad, I recently received an awesome prize pack to review.  With summer just around the corner, it is almost time to bring out the shorts, capris, and flip flops.   No one likes to have or even see dry scaly legs and feet or at least I don't.  Carmex definitely has the products to take care of this problem.  The Carmex Hydrating Lotion and Healing Cream will definitely get your ready for summer.  Both products are specially formulated to heal and repair even the driest skin - no matter what the weather has in store.

With increased levels of lanolin, the Carmex Healing Cream mimics your skin's natural lipid layer to maximize healing, while petrolatum and allantoin soften rough skin and aid in moisturization.  Perfect for everyday use, Carmex Hydrating Lotion is loaded with vitamin E and ultra-concentrated aloe vera to soothe skin and deliver serious hydration, without any greasiness.

GIVEAWAY

Carmex has provided me with 1 gift pack to give away.  The Carmex gift pack includes (1) Carmex Hydration Cream and (1) Carmex Healing Cream.  A great gift for yourself or someone else.

How to enter: (5 entries per person)

-  Leave a comment telling me your favorite Carmex product.  (Required)

4 Extra Entries: 

- Follow/Subscribe to my blog (1 extra entry) and leave me a comment telling me you did.

- Follow me on twitter - and leave me a comment telling me you did.

- Tweet about this giveaway (@mariathriftyWAI) and leave me a comment telling me you did.

- "Like" me on Facebook and leave me a comment telling me you did.

 

This giveaway will close on Wednesday, April 10 at midnight (EST). The winner will emailed and announced on Thursday morning .  You will have 48 hours to respond or a

new winner will be chosen.

Disclaimer:  Carmex sponsored this giveaway.  I did receive a FREE gift pack to review and one to give away. No other compensation was provided.  All opinions are my own.

Thought of the Day

" To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often."

Sir Winston Churchill

JCP Coupon - $10 off $50 Purchase

Are you going shopping this weekend?  If so, this coupon may come in handy.  Click here to print your coupon for $10 off $50 purchase at JCP.  Coupon Expires 4/7

Belk Coupon - $10 off $30 Purchase

Click here to print your coupon for $10 off $30 purchase.  Coupon expires 4/7.

Rosetta Translation

With my blog growing daily, my stats are showing more and more readers from other parts of the world.  I think it is amazing that people all over the world are trying to find ways to save money.   I hope they find it easy to translate my savings and thrifty ways to ways to work for them where they live.

By living in other parts of the world and speaking different languages, you may possible need a translation agency at some point and time.  If so, maybe Rosetta Translation can help you.

Rosetta Translation is an integrated, multilingual language solution specialist.  Rosetta is headquartered in London but has global officces in London, Shanghai, Paris, New York and Luxembourg.  They offer a great selection of services including document translation, transcription, interpreting, subtitling and localisation services for over 150 languages.  They have particular expertise in legal, financial, technical and life sciences translation.  They offer clarity in what could be a world of confusion for you.  They provide a high quality translation service.  They offer client reviews for any prospective client who is interested in their translation company.

If you translation services, check out Rosetta Translation and request a quote for their services.  They may be able to help you!

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post by Rosetta Translation.  I will receive compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Walgreens - FREE 25 4 x 6 Prints TODAY ONLY!!

Today ONLY, April 4, you can 25 FREE 4 x 6 prints at Walgreens.com using coupon code PICTURES25.  Be sure to choose in-store pick up so you don't have to pay shipping.

NEW Coupons Available

 Here is a list of new coupons available. Print them while you can.

  $5.00 off any Non-Drowsy Claritin 24ct or larger

$0.50 off two (2) TWIX Brand 4 to go Cookie Bars

$2.00 off Non-Drowsy Children's Claritin Syrup

$3.00 off Non-Drowsy Children's Claritin Chewables

$1.00 off 2 BAND-AID Brand Adhesive Bandages

  $0.50 off two (2) Softsoap brand Liquid Hand Soap

  $0.55 off Nexcare™ Sensitive Skin Tape

$3.50 off HTH SUPER EXTENDED Algae Guard

FREE Eagle One Product w Valvoline Oil purchase

$5.00 off any ACE™ Brand Custom Dial Support

$1.50 off any one Marzetti Caramel Dip product

$0.75 off 3 LARABAR, UBER OR JOCALAT bars

$1.00 off any 2 Kellogg's Special K cereal bars

$1.00 off any One A Day Multivitamin product

$2.00 off ONE Vidal Sassoon Pro Series Hair Color

$1.50 off any Burt's Bees Lip Color Product

$1.00 off Kiss Nail Dress

Thought of the Day

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better."

Maya Angelou

3 of My Favorite Thrifty Pins This Week

Here is a list of 3 of my favorite thrifty pins this week:

32 Random Acts of Kindness - I would love to do something like this with my kids this summer. 

Cleaning a Glasstop Stove - I tried this and it worked great!

Birthday 20 Questions - Make a book on each childs birthday.  I would love to do this.

FREE Sample of Clear Shampoo Scalp and Hair Beauty Therapy

Click here to request your FREE sample of Clear Shampoo Scalp and Hair Beauty Therapy.

Ways to Use Up Easter Candy

My kids got way too much candy for Easter.  They both received 4 baskets each.  Between the Easter bunny, grandparents and an aunt they received way too much, and will never be able to eat it all.  Every year I try to come up with useful ways to use up all the candy so nothing goes to waste.

Here is a list of the ideas that I came up with:

- Use the peeps and the chocolate bunnies to make smores.

- Melt the chocolate and use it to make chocolate covered strawberries.

- Melt the chocolate to use when making ice cream sundaes.

- Add a little bit to yogurt for a special treat - m&ms, reese pieces etc.

- Make cookies with the chocolate.

- Save and use the candy in goody bags for birthday parties if you have any coming up soon.  Suckers, gum, or individual pieces will work great.

- Donate it.  My local food pantry will accept candy. 

- Make chocolate fondue as dessert one evening.  Dip an assortment of fruits.

- Jelly beans can be used for childrens artwork.  We often think of the macaroni pictures, how about jelly bean pictures?

What ways do you use up all of your Easter candy?

Previously Post April 2012

New Coupons Available

 

Here is a list of new coupons available.  Print them while you can.

$0.55 off Nexcare™ Sensitive Skin Tape

$3.50 off HTH SUPER EXTENDED Algae Guard

FREE Eagle One Product w Valvoline Oil purchase

$0.50 off TWO BOXES Fruit Flavored Snacks

$1.00 off 1 Weight Watchers Frozen Novelty Carton

$0.75 off ONE BOX Fiber One cereal

$2.00 off John Frieda Luxurious Volume Hair Care

$0.55 off any pepper sauce from TABASCO brand

$1.00 off any 2 Cranberry Naturals™ juice drinks

$1.00 off Kiss Nail Dress

$1.00 off ONE (1) bottle of Greased Lightning

$2.00 off Burt's Bees Sensitive Face Care Product

$1.00 off 1 Flintstones™ Multivitamin Product