My Litter: December 2009

12/31/2009

Free movie screening in Houston!

For those of you in the Houston area, I just got 2 tickets to the screening of Extraordinary Measures. Go HERE to get yours ( you will have to have registered) and enter 43KIXCQX6 as your RSVP code. The show is Janruary 5th at 7:30pm at the Edwards theatre on 1-10.

** Check your area to see what is being previewed at anytime by going to Gofobo HERE. You will need a RSVP code to get the tickets. They are usually given out on the radio and websites. You can google "gofobo rsvp code" and then the movie name and see if you can find one. They also are on twitter and give you the codes there.

5 Coupon Inserts this week!

This weekend there will be 5 coupon inserts in the Sunday paper! Look for 3 Smart Source and 2 Red Plum! If you want to take a look at what coupons will be offered you can take a look HERE.

I have been super slacking this December. I usually get behind during the Holiday's and don't get my coupons cut out. Honestly, it is nice to take a little bit of a break every now and then. But, I also need to get it back under control because we are getting low on my "staples" and I refuse to pay full price for anything.

Part of the reason that I love "couponing" is that I have such a stock of things that if I want to take a month off and only buy milk, bread and perishables, I can without it breaking my budget. I have a chance to use up many of the things in my "stockplie", thin it out a little, take a bit of an inventory and start again fresh.

Most of my coupons are expiring today. I am going to use this weekend to go through my binder and get rid of everything expired, trash all my inserts that are expired and that I haven't cut out yet, and really start over. This is really a great weekend to do it too because we are getting SO MANY coupons this week!

Where are you at with your organization? Did you take a break in December?

Target, time to stock up! Free Lip Smackers!

Target has some really great clearance items! Right now they have over 150 toys that are being clearanced, plus all their Christmas items.

The Holiday Lip Smackers are reduced to only $.99, go HERE and print a $1/1 coupon to get some free! I have so many girls that I stock up on these to give out for goody bags when they have a Birthday Party!

Other Clearance Finds:

Coffee Mate holiday creamer $1.57
Use $1/1 coupon from here
Final cost $0.57!

Welchs Sparkling Red Grape juice 50% off–priced at $1.65
Use the $1/1 coupon from the 11/15 or 12/13SS
Final cost $0.65!
(Thanks, Desiree!)

Ziploc holiday containers $1.49
Use the $1.50/2 coupon from the 12/6SS
Final cost $0.74!

Playskool Musical Sit & Spin Toy on clearance for $15.09
Use the $10/1 coupon from here or from the 10/18SS
Final cost $5.09!

Here’s a super *HOT* deal scenario reader, Kristin, emailed about to go along with the Keebler holiday cookie clearance! Thanks HIP!

Deal Scenario:
Buy 5 packages of keebler holiday cookies now ONLY $0.75 each
Total=$3.75
Use the $1/3 Target manufacturer coupon from here
Pay $2.75

(Photo Credit: The Bargain Jargon)

Christy over at The Bargain Jargon, found a great deal on cheese! It’s 75% off–marked down to just $1.24! Plus, you can use the $1/1 coupon from the 11/15 or 12/6RP to snag the cheese for just $0.24!

FINALLY...
There is a $5 Target gift card promotion available when you purchase 2 Axe Body Wash Gift Sets! Make sure to scan the gift sets to see if they are in fact part of the $5 gift card promotion at your local Target. The gift sets are also on sale for $5 each.

Buy 2 packs of Axe Body Wash Gift Sets $5 each
Total=$10
Use 2 $1/1 coupons from here
Pay $8
Get back a $5 Target gift card
Final cost $3 for 2 gift sets! Each gift set contains 2 body washes, so just $0.75 per body wash!
(Thanks, ForTheMommas!)

$17 coupon book from Con Agra!

Go HERE for a really nice book of coupons from Con Agra. These coupon books that you can get in the mail have some of the best coupons out there.

Try copying and pasting this link...
http://startsampling.com/sm/101044/captureAddress.iphtml?item=101044

I am not sure why it isn't working as a direct link?

Coupon reset! Chef Request Product!

Rumor has it that the $3.00/1 Chef Requested Product coupon has been reset HERE! If you were able to print these last time, heads up that the two-pack Bacon Wrapped Filets are just $3.28-$3.89 at Walmart. They were $3.89 at my Walmart and only $.89 after coupon! Great Deal!

TIGI free $60 sample!

TIGI has 3 freebies right now! In addition to the free TIGI Lip Palette, TIGI is offering 2 more freebies on their site right now: Dream Experience Perfum Sample ($6 shipping charge) and a Wonderful Tonight 1 oz Sample (NO shipping charge)!

The Wonderful Tonight is a $60 value. I have not had perfume this expensive since I have been married! Beware the site is running slow and it might take a few try's to get through, but I really want to try this perfume...

12/30/2009

Obedient Children!

The other day we left to see a movie and left the kids babysitting during the day. We gave them specific instructions to NOT let ANYONE in the house for any reason, including their aunt Katie (my husband was trying to be funny!) and to not answer the phone unless it was us.

Well, my Mom stopped by to hang out with the grandkids...

This is the note they held up to the window as she was banging on the door for them to let her in!

You can stop by her blog HERE to read her account. She has a very cool picture of police dogs learning obedience and likened it unto her grandchildren.

This is what my Mom had to say, ( still stop over to her blog it is a cool picture!)

"Another example of self discipline and obedience. The other day the parents of all my grandchildren decided to see a matinee. Leaving the oldest three in charge of their younger siblings with strict instructions they headed to the movies. I was invited to go to the movies with them but at the last moment I decided it would be better to stay with the grandchildren. When I arrived, the doors were locked. I knocked. I knocked again. I heard them saying, "It's Grandma!"

There was a loud rapping on the window and when I turned to look I saw a note they were holding to the glass. It read, "Sorry, Grandma, the Parents told us not to open the door for Anyone. Love, the kids"

A call to the Parents and I was granted entrance. Sure, I was annoyed standing outside in the cold, but having obedient grandchildren is a wonderful thing. They were trusted with an important job and they showed they had the self discipline to do the job right. The little ones were all for opening the door, the older ones who had been entrusted and given instructions did not give in to the "temptation" even though they knew me best."

FREE movie screening of The Spy Next Door!

We went to an advance screening of a baseball movies once and it was a blast! They had all kinds of free t-shirts and fun promo stuff for the crowd. Click HERE to sign up for a FREE Movie Screening of "The Spy Next Door"! This offer is available in select cities only!

The screening for Houston is on a Sunday morning so we won't make it but it looks like a cute movie! Thanks Deal Finding Chik!

Khol's clearance deals!

Khol's has a ton of clearance deals right now. They have marked down lots of holiday bath & body sets! Some sets are as low as $2.40 (lots of items are sold out, so HURRY)! Plus, you can use coupon code NOCHARGE to score FREE shipping! …And Kohl’s Cardholders can save an additional 15% with coupon code: MVCPRFCT4U!

Also, the Carter’s Fleece Sleep Bag pajamas for little babies are marked down to just $4 (originally $20)! Plus, you can use coupon code Extra20 to get an additional 20% off and you can stack that coupon code with the code NOCHARGE to score FREE shipping! Final cost ONLY $3.20 (+ tax) shipped! Thanks Hip!

Don't forget to hit the clearance button to check out all the clearance clothing!

**Also, remember to go thru Ebates! You’ll get a $5 sign up bonus if you’re a new member and 4% Cash back from your Kohl’s purchase! Just go on over here and login or register, then in the store drop down menu find kohl’s.

L'Oreal coupons! Print them now!

There are print limits on these coupons so print them now! All the drugstores are always having deals on L'Oreal products, lately the coupons have been few and far in between. I suggest printing them and hanging onto them and I will be on the lookout for deals!

Click here to get the following coupons:

$2 off L’Oreal EverPure Shampoo, Conditioner or Treatment

$1 off L’Oreal Eye Product

$2 off L’Oreal Makeup, Powder, Blush or Concealer Product

$2 off L’Oreal Hair Color

$2 off L’Oreal Lip Product

$1 off L’Oreal Skincare Product

$1 off L’Oreal Vive Pro Product

Amazon Prime Membership $1 for three months!!

Money Saving Mom spells out how to do this deal very easily. It is sooo worth it! I ordered gifts up until 3 days before Christmas and with prime they got here on Christmas Eve for FREE!

I'm so excited about this deal! You can get a three-month membership to Amazon Prime for only $1 right now. My free one-month subscription to Amazon Prime just ended so this is perfect timing!

For those of you (like me!) who earn free Amazon gift cards through Swagbucks, I think this is every bit worth $1. Amazon Prime is a program which gives you free 2-day shipping on all orders. So not only will you be able to get your purchases much faster, you'll also be able to get free shipping on an order of any size--no need to reach the $25 minimum like usual.

To set up your three-month membership, go here and carefully follow the directions listed.

Trouble printing coupons? Help is here!

Have you ever gone to print a coupons and it says, "Please wait" so you wait and wait and wait? Or you get a message that says you have already printed the coupon, and you know that you haven't? Or, you have been asked to install the coupon printer over and over again? These are very common problems and they can be very frustrating.

It happens to me a bunch. One of the reasons why is that I am on a Mac, but it can happen to you even if you are using a PC. It is SUPER SIMPLE to fix.

Install coupon printing software. Some printable coupons require a small software download in order to print. This download is free, and I have never heard of any viruses associated with it. It could be possible that your browser settings are not configured properly to allow ActiveX items like the coupon printer to install. If you are using Windows XP, SP2, or Vista, a yellow information bar should appear at the top of your window. That bar can only appear if your security levels are set to “medium” and all ActiveX items are set to “prompt” or “enable”.
Print coupons as quickly as possible. Many coupons have a print limit. Once that limit is reached, no more coupons will print, even if you haven't yet printed any from your computer. Other coupons are limited to two prints per computer. To get a coupon to print twice simply hit the back arrow on your browser and the coupon should print again.

**The solution below happened to me today when I tried to print the Steam Fresh vegetable coupon in the post earlier. All I did was switch the 2 little letters and I was able to print! If you are on a MAC you must learn to do this!
If your settings look right, it may be that a past encounter with another product has irreparably shut the prompt down for downloads like the coupon printer. When this is the case, switching to a new browser will give you a clean slate. This happened to me in Internet Explorer- so I downloaded Firefox- and now I have no problem printing coupons. www.mozilla.com/firefox. It will not replace Internet Explorer as your default browser if you don’t want it to. You can run both browsers on your computer (even at the same time).

Troubleshoot bricks coupons. A bricks coupon has a url that begins with "http://bricks.coupons.com/." If you have issues printing bricks coupons, try changing a few letters in the url.

This is an example of a bricks coupon:

http://bricks.coupons.com/TAF.asp?tqnm=qhlsfqd69034230&bt=vg&o=57362&ci=1&c=GM&p=XpvIaUYe&tqnm=qhlsfqd69034230&cista=201.

The highlighted letters in the url are the letters you'll need to change depending on the browser you use in order to make the coupon print.

Here are the letters you should use instead:

Firefox: wg or vg

Internet Explorer: vi or wi

Safari: xs

This is a screen shot I took of the steamers coupon I wanted to print, sorry I wish I could have made it larger, but if I had hit "print coupons" it would have given me the "please wait" notification.

All I did was change the 2 little letters in the browser, located where I wrote "Right Here" to xs for Safari the browser I use, and I was able to print it.

I hope this helps!

12/28/2009

Slow posting!

I have been slow posting and not really doing any deal research the last few days. My kids are all home and I am spending all day with them. I will be back to regular all day long posting after this weekend! In fact, I didn't even sit down at my computer yesterday... yes, my hands were shaking and I had to breath into a brown paper bag a few times but at the end of the day it felt really good!

My husband and I went shopping today for a date and I didn't even look at the after Christmas sales. Take my temperature... I am not really in the mood. I know that will be changing though, I have not been to the grocery store in a week, and as soon as I walk out without having saved alteast 40%, my stomache will hurt and I will snap out of it!

I am working on a few new longer posts for Couponing 101, I have a coupon class coming up Jan 14th ( I believe, I have to reconfirm) in Conroe, TX and I am working on a data base of sorts for healthy eating coupons. So check back and have a wonderful New Year!!

P.S. I will still be posting every day just only a few things!

Yankee Candle coupon!

I am so bummed I didn't have this coupon with me today at the mall! I wandered by the Yankee candle store and they had all their Christmas candles on clearance for $15 or 2/$25. With the coupon I could have gotten 2 for $15! Great deal! It doesn't expire until Jan. 26th.