Goldstar Events

We love to go see plays and go to other events nearby, but this can really bust your budget. I want to share this wonderful site with you. We use Goldstar to get tickets for really cheap. When you sign up for Goldstar, you put in what city or cities you would like to search and you'll get e-mails when new events are close to you. Usually, everything is half price and sometimes, there are free events. There is a small service fee per ticket, but we have gone to a few already and with free tickets, have only paid around 5.00 for 2 tickets. Try it out! There are tickets for concerts, plays, sporting events, and this week there were even haunted houses.

$10 off of $10 at JCPenney

JCPenney Deal (This is from Southern Savers)

This is a great deal! It can only be used online and expires on Saturday. It looks like some people are having problems with this working with toys, but so far everything else is good. There are a lot of good deals in the JCPenney outlet section. There's specifically a $9.99 and less section too. If you want to start using ebates, you can earn money back from your online purchases. For JCPenney, it is 4%,

More Fun Giveaways

So I have been looking at a lot of giveaways, and thought some were really worth sharing. Check some of these out:

Personalized Kids Pack from Olive Kids

Sock Grams Giveaway

Classic Toy Giveaway

$20 Gift Card

Fabric Baby Block Giveaway

Land's End Diaper Bag Giveaway

Target or Walmart Gift Card

Lazy Spoon Giveaway

Danskin Trainer Tank

Fall Decorations Giveaway

Journaling Guide

Fabkins Giveaway

Bib Giveaway

This is all I've got for you right now. I can't believe how many there are. Enjoy!

Found a Few More

Check out the Bloggy Giveaways. There's more than 1000 on here. Some others that are great are:

Tupperware Giveaway

$15 Starbucks Gift Card

Soda Machine

$50 Amazon Gift Card

Fabkins Giveaway

Sweet Valley Candle Giveaway

$25 Target Gift Card

Dyson Vacuum Giveaway

Amazon Gift Card

Laptop Case

$10 CVS Gift Card

Baby Shoes Giveaway

Cookbook Stand

Herb Garden Giveaway

Photo Tote Bag

Fabric and Patterns Giveaway

Build a Bear Gift Card

Found Giveaways

Here are some great giveaways on other blogs:

Starbucks Gift Card

Barnes and Noble Gift Card

Build a Bear Gift Card

Another Build a Bear Gift Card

Amazon Gift Card

Hometown Cookbook Giveaway

Cuddle Up With a Good Book Giveaway

Free Wallet


Check it out!

Some of My Fav Sites

I just wanted to put out a few of my favorite sites. I love to check these for other deals and see if I missed anything while going over the ads.

The Thrifty Mama (Great explanations for all deals! Other tips and tricks)

CouponMom (Great ebooks, forums, ect.)

Hillbilly Housewife (I love the recipes on here)

I Heart CVS (for everything CVS)

I Heart WAGS (for everything Walgreens)

Money Saving Mom (More deals and other tips)

CVS 10/27

Here's our two seperate transactions tonight.

Brian:
1 Crest Spin pro Series Toothbrush
7.99 - 3.00 sale - 2.00 man. Q = 2.99
1 Butane lighter (we need these to hand light our oven)
1.00

Total before discounts: 8.99
Total after savings: 3.99 ( used 2.99 ECB, so 1.00 oop) this is without tax
Saved: 7.99......89%
Got Back: 2.00 ECB on the toothbrush


My transaction:
5 SoyJoy Bars
6.45 - 1.45 sale - 3.00 man. Q = 2.00
1 Crest Spin Pro Series Toothbrush
7.99 - 3.00 sale - 2.00 man. Q = 2.99
1 Advil PM LiquidGels 8 ct.
.99 - 1.00 man Q = .01 profit
2 Palmolive Dish Soap
3.38 - 1.69 BOGO sale - (2) .25 man Q = 1.19

Total before discounts: 18.81
Total after discounts: 6.17 (used 2.99 ECB and 2.00 ECB, so 1.18 oop) this is without tax
Saved: 17.63......94%
Got Back: 4.00 ECB on the SoyJoy bars and 2.00 ECB on the toothbrush


Brian was going to have the Bic razors from the ad on his transaction, but they were out so we had to get a rain check.
To get the toothbrush coupon, go here.
There were SoyJoy coupons from the inserts 10/26, and you can get this 3.00 off 5 bars here.
Advil coupons can be found here.
The palmolive coupons were in the inserts 10/26, I haven't been able to find any others online.
Be sure to print the coupons twice. If this is possible, the site will let you hit the back button and print again. When I use Firefox, I only have to hit back once. With Internet Explorer, its more like 3 or 4 times. These are just the deals I decided were worth it, there are quite a few more.

10/24 Haul WAGS and Jewel

I think we got some great deals last night! We took advantage of the double dippin' days at Walgreens and our 5 off of 20 coupon. Here's what we got:

WAGS trip:
1 Black Ink Cartridge Refill
10.00 - 2.50 WAGS Q = 7.50
1 Color Ink Cartridge
15.00 - 3.75 WAGS Q = 11.25
4 pack Schick Quatro Women's Razors
8.49 - 8.49 man. BOBO Q = FREE
1 Airwick Freshmatic Starter Kit
13.49 - 7.50 sale - 4.00 man Q = 1.99 oop - 3.30 ESR = 1.31 profit!
10 pack Schick Xtreme3 Men's Razors
12.99 - 2.00 oct. ESQ - 3.00 nov. ESQ = 7.99
1 small bag of Doritos
.99
1 Small Pocket Calculator (Perfect for my binder)
2.00 - 1.00 clearance = 1.00
6 Colgate MaxFresh (Like I need more toothpaste...lol)
17.94 - 12.30 clearance - (6) 1.00 man Q. = .36 profit!
Also Used the 5.00 off 20.00

Total before discounts: 80.90

Total after savings: 25.36 oop this is without tax

Got back 3.30 ESR.

Saved: 55.54.....69%

Here's our Jewel trip:
1 Jewel Mustard
1.59 -.59 sale = 1.00
2 Barber Chicken Kiev
11.98 - 5.99 sale - (2) 1.00 man. Q = 3.99
1 Cheese Ravioli
6.29 - 1.57 sale - 1.00 man Q. = 3.72
9 Yoplait
7.20 - 4.20 sale - 1.00 man Q = 2.00
10 Progresso Soups
23.00 - 13.00 sale -(2) 2.00 man Q - 1.00 man Q. = 5.00
2 Simply Potatoes
6.34 - 3.17 sale = 3.17
5 Michelina's frozen "entrees"
10.50 - 5.50 sale - 1.00 man Q = 4.00
2 Imperial Spread Margarine
3.00 - 1.00 sale = 2.00
3 Total Raisin Bran
13.95 - 7.95 sale - 1.00 man Q - (2) .75 man Q. = 3.50
1 Ragu
2.98 - 1.99 sale = .99
1 Onion
.78
1 loaf of Jewel Bread
1.89 - .64 sale = 1.25
2 McCormick Spices
2.66 - 1.33 sale = 1.33

Total before discounts: 92.16

Total after savings: 32.73oop this is without tax

Saved: 59.43.....64%

Target Goodies

We made a quick run to Target tonight and came home pleased with what we bought, but I am a little frustrated. I have a hard time coming up with a "plan" for Target and we spent way too much time in there tonight. So far, we just walk basically the entire store and look for deals that we have coupons to go along with or clearance items that are great prices and/or we have coupons. The downside to this is lugging all of the coupons with us, well that and buying items because we think they're good deals and we have no idea what we really want to buy anyways. Well, here's what we got tonight:

1 Bag of Doritos

3.29 - 1.29sale = 2.00

1 Box of Kashi Cookies

2.69 - .19 sale - 2.00 man. Q = .50

2 Coke Zero 2 liters

3.38 - 1.38 sale = 2.00

1 bag Simply Potatoes

1.67 - .17 sale = 1.50

4 Yoplait Light

2.36 - .16 sale - 1.00 man. Q = 1.20

1 box Cookie Dough bites (Brian wanted something to eat in the store...lol)

1.52 - .76 clearance = .76

1 Shoe Size Storage Container (this came with no lid, but I was looking for something I can throw all my receipts in)

2.29 - 1.72 clearance = .57

1 Lunch Container

2.99 - .91 clearance = 2.08

1 small water bottle

2.29 - .69 clearance = 1.60

1 box of Corn Butter Boats (2)

3.29 - 2.47 clearance = .82

Total before discounts: 25.77

Total after savings: 13.03 oop - this is without tax

Saved: 12.74.....49%

I'm really liking some of this....just not so happy with some poor clearance choices and the chips. Oh well, I guess. Target is bound to become easier.

WAGS Trip 10/22

I didn't get a chance to post this one yesterday, but I think this is my highest savings amount so far.

1 Lysol Neutra Air Starter Kit

13.49 - 7.50 sale - 4.00 man. Q = 1.99

1 AirWick Freshmatic Starter Kit

13.49 - 7.50 sale - 4.00 man. Q = 1.99

2 Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaners

5.98 - 3.19 sale - (2) .50 man. Q = 1.79

2 Pert Plus

7.98 - 1.00 sale - 5.00 esc Q - (2) 1.00 man. Q = .02 profit

1 Snickers bar (I needed one more item so I could use my RR and this isn't in the pic since it got eaten right away lol)

.89

Total before discounts: 41.83
Total after savings: 6.64 (used 5RR, so 1.64 oop) this is without tax
Saved: 40.19.....96%

CVS Trip Tonight

So we went to CVS tonight and I was so happy to see the Welch's Light Grape Juice on the shelf. I had heard about this deal last week and have looked at the shelf everytime we go in there and all of a sudden today, there were two! Just my luck too because you need to buy two to get the ebc. We made a very small trip, but I think it was worth it. And we'll be back in there on Saturday to get a few more things. Anyways, we made two transactions, mine and Brian's and here's the breakdown.

Transacation #1:

1 Powerade (32 oz.)

1.69

1 Colgate MaxFresh

3.29 - .30 sale - 1.00 man Q

2 Hershey's bars

1.78 - .78 sale

Total before discounts: 6.76

Total after savings: 4.68 (used 2 ECB, so 2.68 oop) this is without tax

Got back 1.69 ecb on the Powerade and 2.00 ecb on the toothpaste.

Saved: 4.08.....60%

Transaction #2:

1 Powerade (32 oz.)

1.69

2 Welch's Light Grape Juice

9.38 - 7.04 clearance

Total before discounts: 11.07
Total after savings: 4.03 (used 2.58 ECB, so 1.45 oop) this is without tax
Got back 1.69 ecb on the Powerade and 3.00 ecb on the grape juice.
Saved: 9.62.....87%

Grape Juice is a great profit, but only the light grape juice is on sale!!

Can't wait to use all my ecbs on pop this weekend!

Walgreens Trip Last Night

Our walgreens trip last night was great! This is one of the first trips where I have felt like we really knew the system. (Usually we make more than one trip per week. That way we don't have to carry as much home with us and its more exercise for us.)
I like to keep track of the original price of the item, that way I know how much I am saving from the retail price, not just the sale price.

2 bags of ChexMix (8.75 oz)
6.58 -3.58 sale discount - .60 man. Q = 2.40 (1.20 each not bad)
1 Lysol NeutraAir Starter Kit
13.49 -7.50 sale discount - 5.00 man. Q =.99
1 box of Alka-Seltzer (20 ct.)
5.99 - 1.00 sale discount = 4.99
3 Pert Plus
11.97 - 1.50 sale discount - 7.50 ESC Q - 1.00 man Q - 2.00 Man Q = .03 profit
1 WAGS Kleenex pocket pack (I ran out in my purse)
.29

Total before discounts: 38.32
Total after savings: 8.64 (used 3 RR, so 5.64 oop) this is without tax
Got back 5RR on the Alka-Seltzer.
Saved: 32.68.....85%

Just a little background info....

I am a college student here in Chicago, living with my fiancee and trying to survive on a very tight budget. As I attempt to finish school, I've had a hard time finding a part time job, so we are managing on only one income. With our expenses, we try to cut corners as much as possible. Neither of us have a car, we rely on public transportation and good old fashioned walking. We survive without cable (yes, it is possible) and we watch movies at home and find free or discounted entertainment events. I am just learning the fine art of couponing and I hope that many of these tricks will help others.

First Post

I've never done a blog before, but I thought this was worth sharing with anyone interested. I am just learning a new system for shopping and it is saving me tons of money. I was keeping a journal with all of my savings, but I thought it would be more fun to share this with others. Plus I won't need to buy a new notebook every month. So bear with me please, I'm still learning.