Usually anymore I share THIS kind of info with my Facebook  fan-page friends instead of posting it here. I just figure there are already bloggers doing an excellent job of that particular thing and sometimes those kind of deals seem to be happening too fast and furious for me to worry about posting to my blog.  But I can quickly share a link to those deals on my Facebook page as I see them happening. {hint-hint…thats a good reason to join me on Facebook HERE}.

So, why today? Well, I’ll tell you. Today my baby Jack (who will be 4 on Sunday) and I went “shopping” with a bunch of coupons I’ve been collecting.

*I have him signed up on the Build-A-Bear birthday club and he has received a couple emailed gift certificate/coupons to use.

*I’m also on Victoria Secret’s mailing list and have had a coupon for a free pair of underwear (possibly my 3rd this year) waiting to be redeemed.

*On top of all that- and this is probably the biggest motivator… Aeropostale has a $10 off minimum $10 purchase that is only good THIS weekend!  But I DO want you to know about the Birthday Club too!-(btw- he also got a $5 off a purchase coupon too which we haven’t used yet).

I rarely buy anything from that store (Aeropostale)  but I found some C-U-T-E totes/bags on sale for $9.99  and up. I picked out the white denim-type front pocket tote (100% cotton) on sale for $12.99 (reg. price was $29.50) and paid $3.17 (w/ tax) for it. I’m thinking this may make a GREAT bag for carrying my discipleship notebooks and bible in.

Before coupons:  Victoria Secret’s PINK (brand) undies $7.50, Build-A-Bear “free” stuffed animal of choice up to $12.00 value,  Aeropostale tote bag  on sale for $12.99 = $32.49 value…BUT

This trip to the mall cost me $3.17 and I walked away with something from VS, a very nice tote bag, and a happy little birthday boy who got to stuff another bear 

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Build-A-Bear. You might have to go to the physical store to sign up for the birthday club.

Aeropostale $10 coupon-ONLY GOOD 4/23-4/25/10.

Have you heard of ZenniOptical?  I haven’t bought glasses through them…yet, but I just may be doing it soon. My husband, my kindergartner and myself all wear glasses for different reasons. Our insurance covers one free pair a year. My son was effective in getting his cracked and maybe scratched in less than 2 months  maybe.  Mine appear to have a scratch in them and I would not be surprised if my husband’s have a problem or two (because of the way he sets them down and where he leaves them unprotected).  I know that because I’ve never bought prescription eyeglasses like this before I’ve been reluctant to try it. However, after reading THIS article about one person’s experience using ZenniOptical I am encouraged to step out of my comfort zone and consider purchasing extra frames from them.

I just checked out their site and they have complete eyeglasses starting at $8.00 and shipping and handling is ONLY $4.95 per order, regardless of how many pairs you order!  They have women’s fashion frames, men’s classic, sunshade models and pure titanium- just to name a few.

The economy is bad enough without having to struggle to see or read clearly because you can’t afford eyeglasses! If you need eyeglasses, do yourself a favor and check out how ZenniOptical can save you money. Search their frames and prices, get your prescription AND measurements from your eye exam provider and then order your glasses from ZenniOptical.

I hope this post helps someone. Have you used ZenniOptical before or could you use a service like this?

Today I stopped in Walgreens to pick up my .50 bottle of Excedrin and see if  a Register Reward would pop out! Nope. I guess it wasn’t the right type of Excedrin but it was $2.50 and I had a $2 off coupon. While there I spotted Purex on sale for $2.99 and I knew I had some buy one get one free coupons at home. I paid for my Excedrin and a .49cent Reese’s Cup for Jack and…

…went back home for my coupons

Then we went back to Walgreens and I bought 6 bottles of 32 loads each Purex for about $9.00 total before tax. Which comes out to about .05 cents or less a load! Whoo-hoo! My kind of savings

I appreciate my sponsors!

Tiny Dimples, Work At Home United-Brandy, Kirsten’s Tupperware, Melody’s Watkins, DIYShoppe Designer

I almost missed out on this deal.  Last minute I did my homework by reading what other people were saying about how they made out on this past week’s Target specials. Target  was offering $5 Target gift cards for certain purchases. I literally went to Target Saturday night- a couple hours or so before they closed armed with the knowledge of what I was looking for and coupons I thought I could use.  I didn’t know how it was going to pan out.  Here’s how it went…

Note: by using those price-checkers (self scanners) I could tell which bottles of Olay worked to get the $5 gift card. The scanner told me. I bought the biggest bottle I found that worked with the deal.

I bought 3 bottles of Olay Body Wash plus the bonus bottle (total 25.6 fl.oz. each) for $5.50 each.  Minus $1.00 off coupons for each… Received a $5 Target gift card at checkout  AND will send in for a $15 Olay Mail In Rebate… $16.50 (before tax) – $3 coupons- $5 gift card- $15 MIL (yet to submit) =  $6.50 MONEYMAKER

Next transaction (*see why, below) , I bought 3 of those razors at $4.99 each and used 3 “buy a razor get the olay free” coupons and got my other 3 FREE bottles of Olay which got me another $5 Target gift card at checkout!   $4.99 (before tax) x3 = $14.97 -$5.00 gift card = $9.97

$9.97 – 6.50 =  $3.47 (before tax) will be my cost for all the above.

The Stacy’s chips were FREE (coupon for free product).

Another way to look at this is that I paid about $28.50 out of pocket  for these items, picked up $10 in gift cards (to use later) at checkout and will get back $15 by rebate.  $28.50 – $10.00 -$15.00 =  $3.50.

*The reason and justification for the razor/body wash purchase is that I want to earn that $100 in P&G coupon booklet. I must buy $50 worth of P&G products. My first order of Olay receipt will go to get my $15 rebate.  The 2nd receipt will go towards my coupon booklet.

Any questions about stacking the deals? Just ask and I’ll try to help make it clear.

Thanks to Hey Its Free! for sharing these. They said some are from last year so you may have already used them. But HIF netted 160 points with these. So, doesn’t hurt to try, right?

Click to read more about Pampers Gifts to Grow -its free too and you redeem the points you earn with these codes for gifts. In the past I’ve earned toys and Starbucks gift cards (my favorite!).

Normally I don’t post this kind of stuff on my website. If this were one code, I may have just told my Facebook Fans about it.  Since there are so many codes I figured this was the best way to share. So enjoy! Now I need to go see if they work for me…

GTGPLAY2USA2010
GRATUIT89102009
GROWWITHVILLAGE
JOINTHEFUNGTG09
JUSTBECAUSE2009
OHAMANDAAWGTG08
STARTEARNINGNOW
THRIFTYMOMMYGTG
WELCOME2GTG0809
WELCOME2VILLAGE
WELCOMEBONUS089
XKCMYXFVD96VXVK

And while you’re at it, how about joining me on Facebook or Twitter! You can also subscribe to my free email or rss updates. All the links for these options are in my sidebar to the right. Say hi when you do!

I want to revisit a post or 2 of mine from the past.  Every now and then I share how I save money by using these free sites! I know learning something new isn’t always fun or easy. Believe, I know! I had to teach myself basically how to blog, how to blog with WordPress, how to get around the code, how to… (fill in the blank). But the following three sites I tell you about are not hard to use. Trust me. Be sure to click on the links to my past posts on these sites so you can learn a little more.

Swagbucks.

Swagbucks is a search engine -  like Google or Yahoo, except they reward you for using them to search the internet. I drug my feet for awhile using them and then I got “smart” and downloaded their toolbar. It wasn’t hard to do. Hello, I’m ‘Miss Technically Challenged” here! If I can do it,  you can do it   After I downloaded the toolbar the points were coming naturally and without any real effort at times on my part… I mean, I’d get points for not really trying. It seems like you are rewarded for just having it , plus you get alerts to special codes you claim for more points in addition to the points you get for just doing your natural internet searching.

The TAKEHOME:  I’ve earned $20 in Amazon egift-certificates already! (I have a friend who may be earning $10-$15 a month in these gift cards.)

They have lots of prizes and they have gift cards to choose from. You don’t have to take Amazon’s. Oh yeah…and its FREE to sign up to use. So what are you waiting for ? And Amazon offers dirt cheap deals on popular magazines at times too…I got a $5 subscription to Country Living for someone as a gift once. Want to see what else Amazon offers for cheap? Check the search box in my sidebar.

Ebates & Cashbaq.

These are separate shopping sites that pay you a $5 bonus for signing up (free sign up too!) AND you earn a % of your purchase price back- it comes back to your pocket. And you can use coupon codes to save even more money. All you have to do is sign into your account and then pick your store – in the past I have shopped for Dell ink and The Children’s Place for my sons.  You are buying through your store of choice but you earn $$ back from your purchase. Cashbaq or Ebates will pay you that money. You can sign up for both Cashbaq and Ebates.

The TAKEHOME:   Depending on the site you use you make money off  your purchases plus off your friends you sign up through your link.  Only use when you need it…I don’t do a ton of online shopping but I do some and I’ve earned over $85 in cash and gift card between these sites in the past year. And again, they are free to sign up.

Click here to  see how I saved money on My Son’s Shoes or to read about My Money Saving Ways.

These sites can only be beneficial if you use them. If you don’t do any online shopping at least sign up with Swagbucks and earn gifts cards for free- pay for magazine subscriptions you can’t afford or use them to pay for Christmas!

Happy Savings!