Banzai Wigglin' Waterpillar Sprinkler Only $5 With Free In-Store Pickup

Walmart has the Banzai Wigglin' Waterpiller Sprinkler for $5.00 right now, marked down from $13.00! Also, you can choose FREE in-store pickup. If you choose to have it shipped to you, you'll only pay $0.97, which is still a great deal. Use it for the last few weeks left in the summer, or pack it away till next year and you've got a great surprise waiting for the kids when the weather gets warm again. 

* Remember to shop through your Ebates account to earn an extra 1% cash back.

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Potty Training a Cloth Diapered Baby

There is quite an abundance of cloth training pants available on the market today. Unfortunately, the price can be a bit steep, considering you don't know how well they work. With my oldest son, we tried everything from cloth training pants to Pull-Ups. We finally found the perfect combination, and got him 100% potty trained in less than a week.

Gerber Training Pants

When he was finally ready to sit and attempt to pee on the potty, we picked up some Gerber Training Pants from Walmart for about $8, and he loved the designs of little cars and footballs. He thought they were the coolest big boy underwear in the world. They are great, because they are thicker than underwear, but not too thick that your child won't feel wet if they pee themselves. 

We also bought some Gerber All-in-One Training Pants for $12 for bedtime. They work great. They aren't too bulky, but bulky enough in case he has an accident, he doesn't get all wet.

Gerber All-in-One Training Pants

We actually got very lucky while potty training Luke, because he picked it up the second day of training, and hasn't worn a diaper, or Pull-Up and hasn't had an accident since then. He thinks it's the coolest thing to be able to wear big boy underwear and go on the big potty like Mommy and Daddy. Every once in a while, if we're going on a long car ride, I'll put him in one of the All-in-One's, but he never goes in them. Also, if he's running low on underwear, and I need to do laundry, the Training Pants are a decent substitute. Of course, now that he has Toy Story, Cars, Nemo, Star Wars, Thomas, and Star Wars underwear, the little cars and football designs aren't comparable, but they work in a pinch.

Also, a word to the wise. When it does come time to buy your little one big kid underwear, do not go to Walmart expecting to get a deal, because you won't. Underwear is so expensive! I scoured the clearance sections of TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Ross, and Burlington Coat Factory to find 3 packs marked down to $3 and 5 packs marked down to $4-$5. Do not, I repeat, do not spend $10-$12 on a 5 pack of underwear if you don't have to! Luke outgrew his first pack of underwear within 3 weeks, and we had to go out and find some larger ones. When you find two or three packs on the clearance rack at a store in your child's size, let them pick out their favorite pack. Luke loves that! Sometimes, you can find good deals on ebay as well. So, good luck with the potty training, and remember, this is just another baby step, like learning to walk and learning to talk. They'll figure it out before you know it!

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Triple Cash Back at Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us on Ebates!

Do you have some online shopping to do before Christmas? Ebates is now offering triple cash back on purchases from Wal-Mart and Toys R Us! If you haven't signed up for Ebates yet, it is a site that offers cash back on purchases made online every quarter. You can get this cash back in the form of a check or directly into your paypal. Currently Ebates is offering 3% cash back from walmart.com and 7% from Toysrus.com. Even better, Wal-mart offers FREE site to store shipping, so you could get 3% cash back plus free shipping.

If you haven't signed up for Ebates get, go here and sign up! There will probably be other great cash back deals before Christmas!

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All You Smart Shopping - Not worth it!

Recently there was a lot of buzz about a coupon for $1.00 off All You magazine. Initially I think that everyone thought it was for the monthly magazine but it was actually for a special "Smart Shopping" edition. Unlike the regular issues, this special edition was priced at $4.97. I bought it (with a coupon of course) and I have to say that I think it was a waste of money. If you haven't bought it yet, I say don't waste your money. There are only two coupons in it (in the back, for other magazines) and all of the information in it can easily be found online for FREE at various money-saving blogs. If you have already been researching ways to save money it probably won't do you any good. Toss the coupon and save the $4 for something better. :) Did anyone else buy this? What did you think about it?

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"Money Makers" at Drugstores and other places

 If you have visited any coupon blogs you have probably seen the term "money maker" or "MM." This means (supposedly) that you got back more money than you spent. The reason that I don't like this is because many times it gives people a false impression because they are subtracting any earned register rewards, gift cards, or extra bucks from their total. Confused? Here is a scenario:

Let's say that Tampons are $7 at CVS and you get a $7 Extra buck with purchase, let's also say that there was a $1 off printable coupon online (there was a similar deal to this last week.) Okay, so you pay $6 plus tax and receive a $7 extra buck. Some people call that a $1 money maker.

Now, if you used extra bucks from a previous week to pay for it, it would be a "money maker" because you spent nothing or very little out of pocket. If you actually spent $6, then you SPENT SIX DOLLARS. It's great to have the reward for next week, but those rewards can be lost or forgotten about (especially for newbies.) I also see people counting rewards TWICE. The day they get them and the day they spend them, this doesn't make sense at all. For me, I count whatever CASH I spend out of pocket as my total spent. If I have rewards left over from last week (and I usually do) this total is little or nothing. Last week I spent $.04 at CVS at Walgreens ($.03 at CVS, $.01 at Walgreens) because of leftover rewards.

Why is this a big deal? Well it isn't, but I think some people who are new to couponing get confused or discouraged because their actually expenses seem higher than what they see online. To me, counting the CASH that I spent makes the most sense. Now there are true "money makers" out there. For example Wal-Mart will give you money back if your coupons go over your total amount. I've never done this personally because I use overage toward other items. Also if you use your Extra Bucks from last week at CVS, spend little or no cash and come out with more Extra Bucks than you went in with, that is also a "money maker" (even if it is paper money.) 

I think that anyone who is keeping track of their total expenses and savings should keep this in mind. Saving money is great, but we shouldn't trick ourselves into thinking we are saving more than we are!

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7 things that you should never pay more than $1.00 for

Do you pay more than $1.00 for common household items like toothbrushes, body wash or bandages? If you are like most people, you probably do! I have noticed several items that regularly have coupons and also go on sale at the drug stores regularly. Some of these items even have very low every day prices at stores like Wal-Mart or Target. I was showing my sister some of the stuff that I had recently bought with coupons and she noted that they was all name-brand items. Using coupons combined with sales (and sometimes without sales!) nearly always get a better price than a store brand or cheaper version of the product. I have found that a lot of the times store brand items work just fine (things like plastic cutlery, etc.) but most of the time bath and body products just don't measure up. Here are a few items that you should NEVER pay full price for, in fact, you should be able to regularly find these items for under $1.00!

Oral Care
Never, ever, EVER pay for toothbrushes! You can get these for free* at the drugstores almost every week. There are almost always coupons for toothbrushes that can be combined with sales for a free item. For instance last week I purchased a Colgate 360 toothbrush. Retail price was $4.99 (which is ridiculous if you ask me) but it came with a $4.00 Register Reward. I also had a coupon from All You magazine for a $1.00 off. So I paid $3.99 plus tax for the toothbrush (I used Register Rewards from my last trip) and got $4.00 back! Toothpaste and floss have similar deals. You can regularly find deals for toothpaste and floss for no more than $.25 or $.50.
*"free" after Register Rewards, Extra Bucks, Gift cards, etc. You may have to pay a little bit out of pocket initially but you will get the money back to spend later.

Hair Care
You could pay $1.00 for cheap shampoo or you could pay $1.00 (or less!) for the "good" brands like Pantene, Herbal Essences, Garnier, etc. These can be a little trickier, I am currently stocked up on Garnier coupons (my husbands favorite brand) waiting for a good sale. You may have to wait for a few weeks to find a sale on your favorite brand but if you aren't picky there are great sales on these items every week. There are always new newspaper and printable coupons for hair care. Target clearance is also a GREAT place to find very low prices on your favorites brands that can be combined with coupons. A couple of months ago there was a deal on Finesse sulfate free shampoo, after a coupon and a mail in rebate it was absolutely FREE!


Deodorant
Like hair care, there are always coupons floating around out there for deodorant. There is currently a $1.00 off Degree coupon for premium deodorant that has no size restriction. These can be redeemed at Target where the trial size premium deodorant is only $.97! There was also recently a deal where Mitchum deodorant was free and last week at Walgreens full-size Degree deodorant was only $.75.

Body Wash
Just like with hair care, there are usually coupons for body wash, soap, and lotion and plenty of good sales to be combined with. The most important thing is to try to leave your brand loyalty behind because your coupons may expire while you are waiting for a good sale on your favorite products. If you see a good sale on a brand that you like where the final price is under $1.00, stock up!

Pantyliners
Never pay full price for any feminine hygiene product! There are coupons for these products almost every week in the newspaper and they also run regularly online. Carefree pantyliners can often be bought for less than $.25 for a small package and currently U by Kotex has a $1 off any product coupon that can be used on the smallest package of liners for a final price of only $.24 at Wal-Mart.

Bandages
Nexcare, Curad, and Bandaid brands have all recently had coupons for their products. I was able to score a bunch of plain Nexcare bandages for FREE at Wal-Mart and also some Shrek bandages for only $.74.


Trial size items
Sometimes coupons do not have a size restriction (meaning it will NOT say "excludes trial sizes") and that means you are free to use it on a trial size. Regardless of what a rude cashier might tell you. I've had lots and lots of issues with this at Wal-Mart, one cashier acted like I was stealing the money straight out of her pocket. I can assure you that the manufactures know what they are doing and if they didn't want you to use it on a trial size they would put it on the coupon! I'm not an expert but I think that the manufactures want you to try the product even if they lose money, because they know that coupons will not be available forever and if you like the product you will buy it again even if it isn't free. This is also why there are often high value coupons for products (especially new products) which make the products free. Some of the trial size items that I have gotten for free or very cheap: Dove hairspray, Degree deodorant, Tide singles detergent, Cascade dishwasher tabs. I recommend using these coupons at Target over Wal-Mart, I have also never had a problem at Walgreens trying to use a coupon that didn't have a size restriction.

So as you can see there is no need to spend a lot of money on every day necessities. If you can't wait for a good sale, use a coupon and buy one of what you need and then save the rest of your coupons for a sale. Like I mentioned before, there are sometimes very high value coupons that do make other products free. Some of the most recent coupons like this were for Bengay, Zyrtec and Tylenol Precise. If you see these coupons, print the maximum that you can (usually 2 per computer) and stock up, but please try not to clear any shelves! Even if it is for a product that you will not use, you can always give it away to someone who will.

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Couponing This Week

I know that I have been absent lately but I've had a lot of personal stuff going on. I wanted to do a little "couponing update." A lot of people seem to think that couponing is too difficult for working moms because we have enough to do between work and everything we have to do once we get home. For me this hasn't been the case at all. I drive people who are on medicaid for work I usually have to wait for a while while they are in their doctors appointments. Since I live in a small town with no Walgreens, CVS, Target, etc. (there is a Wal-Mart about 10 miles away) this works out really well. I don't have to waste my own gas driving up to a larger town to shop at these stores which is great because the gas would almost make the savings not worth my time! I have been buying a few things every week trying to build up a small stockpile. Most of what I have is household products, but I am working on food as well. I am not an extreme couponer my any means, I try to keep the cashiers happy and usually only buy a handful of products at once. I don't get hundreds of dollars of items for free but I've gotten a lot of things that my family will actually use cheap or free. My largest "coupon haul" has been this week for sure and I wanted to share it. I went to 4 Walgreens stores (some more than once,) Target, Wal-Mart and CVS. My OOP (out of pocket) price for all of this was about $40, and I still have Register Rewards ($9, I think) from Walgreens left for next week. Most of this was purchased at Walgreens, I also have 1 more Dial body wash, 3 more packs of Papermate pens and 4 more mini degree deodorants not pictured that were purchased yesterday. Here is a very rough breakdown of my purchases.

 
Walgreens (4 different stores)
 6 Dial Bodywashes ($3.99-3RR) = $.99 you can often find body wash completely free but I really liked this and my sister uses it so I got some extras for her
6 (I think) packs of blue papermate pens = $.29 each with in-ad coupon. We use these for work and always need more, great "filler" item!
6 (I think) mailers = $.39 with in ad coupon. I mail diapers/dryer balls/etc very often and this was a good price. I love using "filler" items that I actually need!
Cottonelle TP ($5-$.50 coupon-$1 coupon) $3.50
16 Degree mini deodorants (.$97-$.75 coupon) $.22 each. The first 4 of these that I bought printed out a register reward and I kept trying for another but no suck long.
2 Degree deodorant (2/$4-(2)$.75 coupons-$1RR) $.75 each
4 Mini notebooks $.15 with in ad coupon, for my sister who is a waitress
KY Yours+Mine ($15-$5 coupon-$5RR)-$5 No explanation needed here, lol.
4 M&Ms (2/$4-$1 coupon-$1RR) $1 each, potty bribing candy :)
Cheezits & Keebler Cookies (4/$10-$5RR) $5 for 4.
Dawn dishsoap ($.99-$.50 coupon and $.25 coupon) .$25 and .$50 each
Gatorade, buy Perform ($1.79) get catalina for Prime and Recover for free, I did this twice but only got the catalina for the free products the first time.
Proglide Razor ($9.99-$4 coupon-$4RR) = $1.99
360 Toothbrush ($4.99-$1 coupon-$4RR) = Free
Airwick thing, ($7.99-$4 coupon-3RR) $.99 I plan to give this away because I don't use stuff like this
There are probably more Walgreens purchases hiding in there but those are the only ones I can remember. I am doing this off the top of my head without receipts (which is really, really sad now that I think about it.) :)
 
Target
5 Degree premium mini deodorants ($.97-$1 coupon) = FREE, because I don't have enough mini deodorants right? :) I actually plan to use them instead of regular deodorant until I run out, in 10 years.
Method All Purpose Cleaner (not pictured) ($2.99-$1 coupon) = $1.99, I LOVE Method and I'd much rather use it than the chemical stuff, even if it was free.
Dove Bodywash 2 pack, plus bracelet. $3.50 clearance - 1.25 coupon = $1.75 for both, this was a great price because one of the body washes is regular size and one is really big.
2 Cottonelle Flushable Wipes, I can't remember the exact price but I had a $1.75 coupon and a $1 off coupon (Target and Manufactures) and another printed at the register for next time. I think they were about $.80 each, these are for Kainan.


Wal-Mart
3 U by Kotex liners ($1.24-$1 coupon) = $.24 each
4 Tampax Compak Tampons ($3.99-2BOGO coupons-2$1 off coupons) = About $1.50 per box.
Pull-ups Flushable Wipes ($1.74-$1 coupon) $.74, also for Kainan
Keri Lotion (PM to Walgreens at $1.99-2 coupon) FREE some stores/cashiers will price match after register rewards and some won't, it just depends on who you get
2 Advil Pocketpacks ($1.79-$2 coupon) FREE
5 packs of scotch tape (PM to Staples at $.50-$1 coupon) FREE plus .50 overage which was applied to the other purchaes
Bubbles, $.50 on sale, for Kainan
Beechnut baby food ($.39 each-$1/3 coupon) about $.10 each. I plan to make most of my own babyfood when Mikaela is ready for it (about a month or two) but I thought these would be nice for the diaper bag, etc.
10 Pack of Minutemaid juice ($2 something - $1 coupon) = $1something (my memory is failing me now)

CVS
Cheap wine, $2.99 :)

If you did the math and can't see how I only spent $40 (or so) it's because I "rolled" my Register Reward purchases at Walgreens. There are lots of sites and blogs with tutorials on couponing at various stores but I will probably write up my own sometime for Walgreens since it is my new favorite place to shop.

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