Brita Filtration System- Free After Rebate?

We're really fortunate to have great tasting water in the Pacific Northwest, but with a move on the horizon, we're going to go ahead and snap one of these up, just in case.

Here's the deal: Brita is offering a $10 mail in rebate good for any pour-through or faucet mount system. Go here to print yours. You'll have to scroll down a bit to view.

Then, go here to print your $5 off coupon- look on the right hand side of the page. You'll have to fill out a form, but it'll be worth it!

Our Walmart sells a "slim" Brita pitcher for about 9 bucks; if you can find that model, yours wil be free after rebate. I'm told you can find the faucet mount for about $10, but I haven't verified that. There's always the chance Brita will refund the full retail price, so you may be able to make money on this deal. Or you can just use the collective $15 to offset the cost of a really nice Brita!

Coupon Metrics- How Much Should You Be Saving?

It's so easy to watch TLC's Extreme Couponing and feel like you have to be getting everything for free or 10 cents or you suck at using coupons. It's hard to keep in mind that those trips are staged and that the 100 bottles of hot sauce they just bought might look impressive, but sure isn't going to keep their families fed. So how much can you realistically expect to save?

Groceries: I typically save between 22 and 40 percent, with a typical savings of about 30%. If you're saving 85% on your grocery bill, you are probably eating crap food. I don't do this to see how cheap I can stuff pop tarts down my kids. I do this to provide them the highest quality foods we can reasonably afford. I've also started taking 15% from our 30% average savings and plowing it right back into the grocery budget to afford more organic items.

Toiletries: Ok, this is where I save the big bucks. You can realistically expect a minimum savings of 60% in this category. I shoot for 75%- sometimes I do better than that and sometimes not. I have a  6 month toiletry stockpile in our bathroom, which I'll show you later.

Bear in mind that I stay home with the kiddos, so finding the deals is my part-time job. The bottom line- don't make yourself nuts. If you save even 2 bucks on your groceries a week, that's $104 dollars a year. Do what you can, when you can :)

Have Pets and Carpet? 2 Great Freebies

Pets are hard on carpet- our's baptized a formerly beautiful area rug. Fortunately, Bissell and Woolite are offering rebates that make it free to try out their products. Click the links below to print your form and the fine print.

1. Bissell Stomp n Go pads.  Visit coupons.com to print your $1.00 coupon, too. I used area code 30313; 64123 should work, too. If the manufacturer refunds the full retail price, there's the potential to make a buck off this freebie, too. Note: the coupon says "Available at Walmart," but you don't have to use it there.

2. Woolite Oxy Deep carpet stain and Odor Remover. Target carries these in our area, but you should be able to find them just about anywhere.

Try Lysol Dual Action Wipes- Free!

Click here to print your rebate form and try Lysol Dual Action Wipes absolutely free! Just in time for cold and flu season...

Royal Canin Sample

Click here to sign up for a smpler pack of Royal Canin's cat food- perfect for your finicky feline!

Wheat Thins Flavors

Head over to Facebook and print your coupon for $1 off any 1 box of Wheat Thins flavors. These are incredubly tasty, especially with the yummy cheese we get from our farmer's market.

Coupon Karma- Installment 1

Something I really love about using coupons is that it gives me the ability to help someone else out at little to no cost. My "charity" of choice the IA (individual augmentee for y'all civilians= someone deployed someplace sandy) box located in my husband's command. Though most overseas installations have places for troops to buy necessities, shipments quite often get hung up in customs. it can literally be near impossible to find basics such as toothpaste and deodorant. The IA box gets around that, as it is usually hand-delivered by a military member visiting the installation in question. The idea came from a couponing girl friend, formerly a military spouse, as well. She proposed that we pick a dollar amount that we'd never miss from our budgets- even $2 will go a long way here! Then, we'd use coupons to see how much stuff we could get free/dirt cheap to send over. Here's my contribution to the box:

1. Bananboat sunscreen 2.47 after $4/1 coupon
2. 4 cans silly string ,just for fun!  leftover from my daughter's birthday party
3. Bengay cost $4.24, made me 76c after $5/1 coupon!
4. Colgate Max, 52c after coupons, bought 2
5. U by Kotex panty liners, 18 ct. 24c after coupon
6. Suave professionals dry shampoo, free (won a promotional coupon)
7. Degree travel deodorant, 22c after coupon

Total OOP: $3.47!

Obviously, this works for just about any good deed. I know people who coupon for toiletries or pet items to give to their favorite shelter, be it human or animal. using coupons has been such a blessing for our family's budget- it's so nice to be able to pay that forward!

Commissary Deal- Free Reach Toothbrush!

The NASWI Commissary sell the most basic Reach toothbrush for $1.56. Go here for a $2/1 coupon.
Final price will be free or result in a 44c overage, depending upon your cashier's entry method.

Note: the commissary accepts all manufacturer coupons, regardless of whether or not there is a specific store name printed on them...walmart in this case. Your coupon will work as long as the barcode starts with a "5" ;)

This coupon will also score you a very cheap toothbrush at most Walmarts, too.

My Trip to Walmart

Walmart isn't usually my favorite store, but sometimes you can find find some great freebies. You can also use their coupon policy to make money, or at least reduce your tab. Walmart states that in the event that a coupon's face value is greater than the cost of the item, they will either pay you the overage, or apply the overage to your total order.


For example: A couple of months ago I used a $5/1 BenGay printable to buy a BenGay item selling for $4.24. The 76c difference was taken off the rest of my tab. Pretty sweet, huh? Fine print- taxes are calculated before coupons, so buy wisely!


Anyway, here's a recap of my trip:

1 .Bought 2 Febreze Noticeables warmers @2.97 ea
    Used (2) Febreeze Notceables Warmers $3/1 8/28 PG
    Overage of $0.06


2.Cascade Action Pacs, 3ct @ $0 .97
   Used $0.50 from Right at Home mailer- you can sign up here
   OOP $0.47


3.U by kotex 18ct @ $1.24
   Used $1/ any U by Kotex-mailed w/ sample
   Final Price: .24


4. 2 banana boat sunscreen @$6.47 ea
   Used 2 $4/1 Banana Boat printable, coupons.com
   Final Price: 2.47 ea

5. (2) 1lb. bags of organc carrots for Mr. Pony @ .88 ea
    Used $2/2 Earthbound Farms Product from Recyclebank
    Overage of .24

Total OOP before tax: $5.65 I'm particularly proud of my sunscreen deal- I'll be storing one for us next summer and sending one off to a very deserving service member overseas. Stay tuned for ideas on using coupons to support our troops!

My Trip to Albertson's-9/25

Albertson's has a really cool promo going on until the 27th of this month: all coupons with a face value of < 25c will be quadrupled and those with a face value of 25c-75c will be rounded up to $1. I got the chance to run in on Sunday:

Whole fryers on sale, 79c/lb- bought 2 for 6.99 OOP

Activia Selects French Yogurt, on sale 79c ea.
Used $1/3 from SS 9/11  Insert
Final price: $1.37 for 3

Yoplait Greek, on sale for 50c ea.
Used (2) .30/1 printable
Final Price: Free after roundup

Balance Bar $1
Used .55/1 SS 9/11 Insert
Final price: Free after round up

Total OOP: $8.36

Last Call! Motts for Tots Coupon

Click here to get your coupons. My little girl loved this juice! I love that Mott's has 40% less sugar than conventional apple juice-nothing like a sugar-high toddler ;)

Glade Candle Deal at Target

We scored a pretty decent deal on Glade candles this week at Target- (5) fall collection jar candles for 7.50 pretax. Here's how:

1.Glade fall collection jar candles on sale for 2 for $5.00
2.Print Target store coupon $2.50 off with purchase of 5 Glade Fall Collection air care items.
3.Stack with (2) $1 off 2 glade candles from coupons.com
Final Price: $1.50 each wyb 5. Not too bad for a 22 hour candle! We live in the Pacific Northwest AND have dogs. These candles rock at getting wet dog smell out!

Target's store policy allows the use of one Target Store coupon and one manufacturer's coupon per item. Be ready to defend your couponing honor if challenged by a cashier! ;)

Welcome!

I've always been into freebies, but I've recently expanded my cheapskate-ness to include a liberal use of coupons. Why? When we got pregant with our second child, I decided to see if there was a way to fit two kids into our budget for the price of one. I decided to give this couponing thing a trial period of two months; if it worked we'd keep doing it, if not, we'd quit. Did it work? Just ask my husband- our savings in the 2 month trial period freed up enough money to buy a new BBQ grill ( a nice one.) Why did he get to go play with my hard earned savings, you ask? Hmm. Because I'm a sucker for his big brown eyes and he knows it!

Baby number 2 has since been born and I can honestly say that we're still doing better financially than we were with just one kiddo.  Isn't he cute?! And the kid is pretty adorable, too ;)

At any rate, one if my coupon buddies once told me that I made couponing easy for her- "I just stalk your facebook page!" Which gave me the idea to consolidate my better finds in one place...because I am just that sweet.

We are a military family, so I'll be including Commissary deals, but I shop around to get the best deals, so there will be plenty of civilain-friendly stuff, too! Happy deal hunting!