Freebie Friday!!

It's that time again!

-Mars Candybar, available every Friday through September.
-Sensible Portion's Cheating with Chocolate
-Healthy Eating for Life book
-L'Oreal RevitaLift Deep-Set Wrinkle Repair. Click on “Special Offers & Savings” in the bottom left hand corner.
-Roots of Nature Hair Care
-FlixSticks
-LACOSTE Challenge Perfume
-Your Magic Spice
-P&G Everyday Solutions, you can pick which samples you want.
-Dunkin Donuts Coffee
-o.b. Sample Pack
-Aquafresh Extreme Clean
-Minute Maid Frozen Novelties
-Fiber One Honey Clusters Cereal AND Oats and Chocolate Bar

Free After Rebate:
-Post-It, 3M Permanent Labels or Post-It Label Pad. Free after you submit this rebate form.


Free After Coupon:
-BIC pens. Stack this manufacturers coupon with this Target coupon and get two packs of pens for free! Prices vary... I took advantage of this deal last week and paid $0.04/pack, but then again, I DO live in California!
-I just read that Target has some of their toys on clearance for 75% off right now!! Use this Hasbro coupon on top of the sale and potentially get some free games!!

Practically Free:
-Jamba Juice, BOGO (Okay, so you have to actually buy something for this one, but isn't it worth it?)

-Starbucks Frappuccino. If you use this coupon or this coupon at Walgreens through tomorrow, you can score these sweet little numbers for $0.25/ea. If you go today and use this coupon, you can get an additional 15% off that and that's practically free!!

End of the Month Wrap-Up!

July is coming to an end and August is a brand new month!! The beginning of each month is almost like New Years for me. I have new ambitions, new goals, new ideas... new resolutions. But before I share any of those things, I have to wrap up July! How do I do that?

Here's a few things:

Clean out that fridge!! I have onions, bell peppers, strawberries and mangoes to chop and put away in the freezer. I'm looking forward to some end of the summer refreshing fruit smoothies! Frozen fruit is great to use instead of ice! And I'll use the bell peppers and onions for fajitas!

Make baby food. This is really one of those goals for August. However, I have some carrots that are going to go bad and some bananas that are just ripe. Don't wanna throw 'em away!! I'll probably throw in some of those yummy mangoes too!

Re-evaluate my budget for next month. This is one of those things that is consistently being fine tuned.

Reorganize my coupons. I will throw away July expired coupons and highlight August expiration dates. That way, I will be aware on any coupons that I've been wanting to use and are about to expire.

That's what I have pending on my checklist... I'm going to focus on these things before I compile my August list... I only have one day left, so I'd best be off to wrap the month up!!

Marie-Madeline Quilt Giveaway

Talk about beauty!! Marie-Madeline is giving away this amazing quilt to one lucky gal!! Interested in being a winner? Go to her blog and enter to win!! To receive one entry in the drawing, all you have to do to is leave a comment. There are also several things you can do for multiple entries, so check 'em out!! Good luck!!

Menu Monday

Today was my grocery shopping/menu planning day. I'd say it was pretty successful. I'm on a $100/week grocery budget, although I like to try and hit the $80 mark. One day, I hope to be wise enough to perfect my shopping strategy and make it on a $40/week budget. In the meantime... between three stores (Trader Joe's, Ralphs and Vons) I spent $81.62... not bad.


Here is my menu for this week:
Sticky Chicken, a crock pot recipe that I got from another blogger, Make and Takes. Rice and steamed broccoli on the side, with a touch of butter and Lemon Pepper.

Skillet Lasagna, courtesy of Food Network Magazine. Maybe a light dessert of Jello with fruit and whipped topping.

Veggie Fajitas. Red, Yellow, Orange and Green Peppers were on sale for $0.99/ea. at Ralph's this week!! Great price!! It always blows my mind how expensive peppers can be. Tortilla chips and Salsa Con Queso.


Bacon-Tomato Cheese Toasts, FNM. Tart Mango yogurt topped with Mango and Strawberry fruit.

Mini Pizzas - easiest ever! Take English Muffins, drizzle olive oil over them and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Toast them in the oven until they get nice and toasty. Toasting them first adds a nice crunch. Put marinara sauce on them, followed by pepperoni and top them off with a heaping pile of mozzarella cheese. Stick them under the broiler (low setting) until the cheese browns. Yummy!!

Bon Appetit!!

Target Trip!

I had fun at Target today!! Two transactions, and I walked away with this:

This is how it went:
Transaction#1: $28.00
I bought 4 bags of Starbucks coffee on sale for $7.00 each, which is a good deal... not a great deal, but a good deal. However, Target had a promotion this week... if you buy four 12oz. bags of Starbucks coffee, you get a $5.00 gift card, which made a good deal pretty great, in my opinion.

Transaction#2:
I bought everything else you see for a total of (drum roll please)... $4.62!!
-The single serve Kashi cereal bowls were free after using this $1/1 Target coupon. (exp. 8/8)
-The Kashi waffles were $0.69 after using the $0.25/1 Target coupon

(exp. 8/8) stacked with this $1.50/1 MFR coupon.
-The ketchup was free after a FREE coupon I received in the mail.
-The two packs of Bic pens I got for $0.08 after using the $1/2 Target coupon here stacked with this $1/2 MFR coupon.
-The Johnson's Soap Buddies was $0.07 after using the $1/1 coupon found in the 4/26 RedPlum insert.
-The baby food was regular price, but after using the $5.00 gift card from the previous transaction, my total came to $4.62!! Wow! Great feeling!!

Freebie Friday!!

We'll see how long I can keep up with this... :) Every Friday I'm going to list a bunch of freebies that you can take advantage of. Mostly samples of things, but on occasion there may be some bigger, better items!! Enjoy!!

-Free Skin Care sample set from L'OCCITANE
Get a free skin care sample set containing five different skin care samples when you sign up for the L'OCCITANE email newsletter.

-Free After Rebate: 5-Day Bushnell Weather Forecaster
Head to Walmart to pick up a 5-Day Bushnell Weather Forecaster for $50 (on clearance). Then apply for this $50 mail-in rebate to get the Bushnell Weather Forecaster completely FREE.

-True Lemon
-Boss Orange Fragrance
-Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal
-Nescafe Instant Coffee Sticks, 6-stick sample pack
-Grandma El's Diaper Rash Remedy and Prevention
-CofiCofi Coffee
-Airborne
-Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond True Delights
-Gain with Febreze Freshness
-Kotex Ultra Thin Overnight Pads
-Prilosec OTC
-Rachael Ray Nutrish Premium Dog Food
-Stayfree

Magazines:
-Get Married: Free Magazine
-Surfing: Free Subscription!!

Great Rebate Week!!

So, this week I'm really striking gold on my freebies! Here's what I got so far, and you can too... it's not too late!!
On Tuesday I went to Staples and got the following: FREE after Rebates!
-5-pack of Zebra Sarasa Retractable Gel Pens
-10-pack of Zebra Cadoozles 0.7mm Mechanical Pencils
-4-pack Pentel Handy Lines Retractable Assorted Highlighters
-Staples Slim Line Pencil Sharpener

After Staples, I headed over to Rite Aid and with coupons and Rebates, I got these things free (well... almost free)!
-Citre Shine Spray Laminator, FREE after using the $1/1 coupon from 4/26 SmartSource insert and $3 store Rebate.
-Edge ShaveGel, using $0.75/1 coupon from 5/17 SmartSource insert and $1 store Rebate. This actually cost me $0.24 after coupon and rebate.

Finally, I went to CVS and picked up a few freebies that they were offering!
-10-pack PaperMate 1.2 Pens, Free after ECBs (Extra Care Bucks)
-22-count CVS Pantiliners, Free after ECBs

There is more FREE stuff at all these stores, I just don't NEED everything!! Granted, if I really wanted to, I could collect all the freebies and donate them to charity... especially school supplies at this time.

I will also be hitting Ace Hardware for these things:
-Blue Magic Foam Upholstery Cleaner: $3.49 (free after $3.49 rebate)
-Blue Magic Upholstery Stain & Spot Lifter: $3.49 (free after $3.49 rebate)
-Polyseamseal White: $2.99 (free after $2.99 rebate)
-Totally Green G-Glass Organic Glass Cleaner: $1.99 (free after $1.99 rebate)
-Totally Green G-Wash Car Wash (64 oz): $3.99 rebate (free after $3.99 rebate)