Thursday, December 30, 2010

End of the month – time to print! print! print! – Couponing to Disney

End of the month – time to print! print! print! – Couponing to Disney

Link to Couponing to Disney

End of the month – time to print! print! print!

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 11:35 AM PST

These are coupons from Coupons.com that may no longer be available to print in January. Some may come back, some won’t. But if they do come back, they will reset and you will be able to print them again. So print now, and possibly print again in January!


Love this offer from Yoplait…..

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 11:10 AM PST

Like Yoplait on Facebook and click on the Calcium tab for one of those knock your socks off kind of things.


Places to purchase coupons

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 11:07 AM PST

Last night on Extreme Couponing, they were talking about buying coupons online. I wanted to make a post listing just a few of the online services that I have used in the past. If you use one that isn’t posted, please let me know!

1. My Coupon Hunter

2. The Coupon Clippers

3. Coupons & Things By DeDe

Keep in mind that paying for coupons isn’t ‘crazy’. You pay $1.25 – $2 for your weekly newspaper that just contains 1 copy of each coupon. If you forgo buying the paper and just buy the coupons you know you would use, you might come out cheaper! You never know.


Amazon: Handy Manny playsets on sale for 50% off

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 10:57 AM PST

Amazon.com has a few Handy Manny sets on sale for cheap:

Fisher-Price Handy Manny Construction Site Playset — $14.99 (was $36.99)
Use the parts to build City Hall, then use the wrecking ball to knock the building down and start all over again.

Fisher-Price Manny’s Workshop Playset — $9.99 (was $19.99)
Now you can build Manny’s Workshop right from the show. Includes over 30 play pieces: Manny Figure, Turner and Pat, building parts and more. Use Turner and Pat to build the Shop and fix the window, sign, skateboard, and floor. Turner and Pat also store inside the new toolbox character, Roland.

Fisher Price Handy Manny On-The-Job Tool Belt — $7.99 (was $17.99)
With this cool item, kids can become Handy Manny by putting on all of his gear just like on the show. This item allows kids to put on Manny’s gloves, his hat, and if course his tool belt and get to work. Includes 2 tools.

Don’t forget you can sign up for Amazon Mom for FREE and get free 2 day shipping on ANY purchase.

(Thanks Janna!)


Amazon – Wireless Sensor Bar for the Wii just $4.99

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 10:22 AM PST

Amazon has the 3rd party Wireless Sensor Bar for the Wii on sale for just $4.99 (was $14.99). This is a third party accessory for the Wii, but it has pretty good reviews with an overall ranking of 4 out of 5 stars. I am going to pick one up for us since we are having issues with our sensor bar on top of our tv.

Don’t forget you can sign up for Amazon Mom for FREE and get free 2 day shipping on ANY purchase.

(Thanks Passionate Penny Pincher!)


Disney Vacation Discounts Ending Soon!

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 10:05 AM PST

If you’re planning to take your family on a Walt Disney World vacation between now and April 16 – it’s time to book!  Disney is offering discounts between 20% and 35% on select resort hotel rooms, but only if you book before December 31.  After that, the discounts reduce to 15%, 20% and 30% until they disappear on February 13.

Be sure and book the right trip for your family’s budget by working with our official Disney travel agency, Mouse Unlimited.  You can request a free quote right on their website, and be booked before the end of the year, if you act now.

Put your “couponing” to good use and let Mouse Unlimited stretch your dollar even further!


Reminder: (2) 20 packs of Duracell batters for free after Staples Rewards!

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 07:45 AM PST


Staples has a hot deal this week that will get you FREE batteries! You can get (2) 20 packs of AA or AAA Duracell batteries for FREE after Staples Rewards.

There is a coupon for $1.50 off 1 in the 11/14 RP. Use it to maximize your savings!

The packs of batteries retail for $12.99 and you receive a full refund via Staples Rewards. So basically you will pay $26 (or less) in cash for these batteries and get a check for $26 from Staples.

Just remember that Staple Rewards are in the form of a check that can be used only at Staples. It can not be deposited into your bank account. Go here for more details on the program.


Reminder – Snapfish: Spread some holiday cheer and get $5 for you and a friend!

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 07:12 AM PST

Snapfish is helping you honor those that mean the most to you this Holiday season. Just by telling someone how much they mean to you, you will both get a $5 credit to use on a photo gift in their store!

Here’s how:

  • Choose 1 person that has made a difference in your life in 2010
  • Visit Snapfish on Facebook and click on the Snappiness tab
  • Upload a picture that you took in  2010 that shows what they mean to you. Include a personal message telling them how much you cherish them.
  • Share the photo with that person and with the Snapfish family via Facebook. The photo will appear on your friend’s wall as well as in the Spread Some Snappiness photo album.
  • Both of you will receive a $5 credit towards any gift on Snapfish.com (limit 1 per person.)
  • Plus Snapfish is going to make a donation to Make A Wish on your behalf.

What a great way to spread some Snapiness this holiday season!

(Thanks Savings and Stewardship!)


Day 30 of No Dining Out December

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 05:19 AM PST

Can you go an entire month without going out to eat? What about a week or a day? Can you cut your dining bill by 20%, 50% , 75% or more? That is what I challenge you to do!

At the end of the 30 days, I will choose one winner who will get $50 to spend however they choose!

The rules:

1. You must challenge yourself. Try to spend less than you spend now. If you don’t go out to eat at all, challenge yourself to try new meals this month. As long as you are challenging yourself when it comes to your family’s eating habits, you can participate!
2. You must comment on at least 10 days worth of the discussion posts in order to be eligible to win the gift card.
3. The winner will be chosen at random. It won’t matter if you have been 100% successful or not.
4. You are allowed 1 freebie meal that you don’t have to count or report back to us about. Please report on everything else though so we can encourage and support one another!
5. Free meals do not count against you. This is a challenge to spend less money going out to eat than you usually spend. If someone else is paying for the meal or you have a coupon to make it free, great!
6. Here is a thought… consider keeping a tally of what you would of spent this month. For example, if you really want to go out for breakfast this morning and you resist… write that down! You could then donate that money to a food bank or deposit it into your fund!
7. Be sure to check out our list of casserole recipes here and the crock pot recipes here and the under 6 ingredient recipes here.

My progress:

No dining out for us yesterday! Hubby took his lunch to work and then sat in his truck and listened to the radio after he finished.

How are you doing?


Extreme Couponing – Did you watch it?

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 05:06 AM PST

Before I say anything, I want to remind you that the four people on the show are fellow couponers and might very well be reading this blog. I personally have spoken to two of them since I started blogging.

Last night, TLC had a new one hour special called Extreme Couponing. It was about 4 coupon obsessed people who take their hobby to the extreme. They featured 4 different people. The lady with 40 years of toilet paper, the lady who jumps in dumpsters for coupons, the lady who hasn’t paid for toothpaste in 34 years and the man who hitches a trailer onto his car to go shopping. And of course the show made them look like crazy people to the average person. To me, they looked like pros.

Everyone is capable of doing what they did on the show. They just have to be dedicated. That is what I love about couponing. It’s not like someone has some super human strength that you can never achieve. You are capable of doing everything those people did. But do you want to?

The first lady who has $35,000 insurance on her stockpile made my mouth drop open. I had never heard of insuring your stockpile. Imagine the look on your agent’s face when you told him what you wanted to insure…… I couldn’t help but chuckle over that.

The second lady who jumped in the dumpster. Now she’s my kind of girl. I would totally do that (and I have)! It’s insane the amount of coupons that people throw away. Of course you can’t just go jump in any dumpster. You do have to know if it’s allowed by law and get permission from the people that own the land it’s on, but it is worth it if you can do it.

The third lady just tickled me. I’d love to spend a few hours talking to her. It sounds to me that she makes a difference in her community. She even took a newbie with her on the televised shopping spree. I love that she shouts from the rooftops about the savings she gets and that she isn’t worried about the ‘competition’ by training her friends and neighbors to shop like she does.

Nathan. I love Nathan. He is one of the people that I have spoken to in the past. Nathan loves a great deal. But he also shares his great deals with all his local food banks. So while shopping is a high for him, he doesn’t keep the rewards for himself. He shares the wealth. I loved his Total cereal pyramid.

So what can you take away from the show?

First, never let a deal consume you. When I first started I was like that. If I missed a deal I was sick to my stomach over it. But the longer you do it, the more you realize that the deals are going to come around again and again and again. The average product goes on sale about every 12 weeks. So just getting enough for 12 weeks is sufficient. You don’t NEED 40 years of toilet paper. You don’t NEED 200 boxes of pasta. You could get by with just enough to last you 3 months because it is going to come around again.

Second, don’t let the show fool you. This takes time. Lots and lots of time. But you have to think of the time you spend as your hourly wage. If you spent 10 hours preparing for a shopping trip and actually doing the shopping and you saved $2000, that is like making $200 an hour! Cha-Ching!

Third, know your store and know your cashiers. It’s important to build a relationship with them. Let them know that you are an honest person and they have nothing to fear by checking you out. A lot of cashiers and managers will swoop on an extreme couponer like hawk on prey because they feel that we are stealing from them. There are dishonest couponers out there that try to use more coupons then they should, copy printable coupons (which is illegal), and just ruin it for the rest of us. By building a relationship with your store and cashiers, it will get to where they welcome the site of you because they know they have nothing to worry about. I love when I reach that point with a store. It is like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

So what did you think of the show? Do you think you are extreme enough to be on the next episode?

If you missed the show, here is when you can catch it again:

Jan 04, 10:00 pm
Jan 05, 1:00 am


Touring the parks with my tip sheets

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 04:36 PM PST

I wanted to put all my tips in one location to make it easy for me to pull them up while we are in the parks. I thought you might like to take a look at them for yourself as well. Feel free to add tips, opinions or corrections to the posts. After my trip they will become permanent fixtures in the Disney World Training Series.

Magic Kingdom

Epcot

Animal Kingdom

Hollywood Studios


Disney Trip: Plans and advice needed on day 1 and 2

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 04:00 PM PST

I would love your opinion and advice on my Disney trip plans for the weekend.

Saturday

Saturday morning we are going to wake up the kids at about 5 am (we are early risers) and surprise them with the trip. We are going to get a big Mickey balloon and put it in a wrapped box and let them open it. They will FREAK. (Yes I plan to video tape it.)

We will then drive straight from Birmingham to Orlando. It’s about an 8-9 hour drive. We just get so excited we can’t stop for the night anywhere.

Saturday night we are looking at going to The Boardwalk and taking a boat over to the Swan and Dolphin to have dinner at Garden Grove. It is a character meal and one of my readers sent me a $25 Restaurants.com gift certificate. I figured it would be a great place to try.

I have booked us a room at one of the hotels at Downtown Disney since our reservations don’t start until Sunday night and staying on property is $$.

Sunday

I booked us a reservation at O’hanas for breakfast. We ate there in 2009 and LOVED it. We aren’t doing many sit down meals this trip, but this is one that I would love to do again.

After breakfast, we are going to resort hop. Which ones do you suggest visiting?

At 1 pm we are going to Downtown Disney to meet my readers friends at Earl of Sandwich. If you are going to be in the area, please let me know! I’d love to meet you.

My husband has his ride experience from 3-5 pm at the speedway. I figured he could take the van and drive over there. We will stay in the Downtown Disney area and play and shop.

When he returns, we will head over to Hollywood Studios to see the Osborne lights before they take them down. I would love to have dinner at Pizza Planet.

If you have any tips or advice for me, please let me know!


Reminder – Couponing to Disney meet up at Downtown Disney on Sunday at 1 pm

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 03:30 PM PST

Are you going to be in Orlando this Sunday? If so, I’d love to meet you! I’ll be meeting with my friends at 1 pm at the patio in front of Earl of Sandwich. If you can make it, send me an email and let me know!


Win 30 free tickets from Chuck E Cheese!

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 03:05 PM PST

Chuck E Cheese has a online Ticket Blaster game and after playing, you can print a voucher good for 30 free TICKETS (not tokens) at Chuck E Cheese.

You can also learn how to get More Bang For Your Buck at Chuck E Cheese.

(Thanks Savings and Stewardship!)


Rebate of the Day – FREE Spot Shot wyb Cats & Dogs on DVD/Blu-ray

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 09:30 AM PST

Rebate of the Day is a series that will showcase a different rebate Monday – Friday. It is brought to you by my friend Tabitha who blogs at Saving Towards A Better Life.

When you buy the new movie Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore on DVD or Blu-Ray and a Spot Shot product, you can get a full rebate on the Spot Shot product! Go here for more details.

Be sure to read about all the previous rebates of the day here. Plus don’t forget to check out My Rebate Database!


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