Earn cash back through EBATES

I have done a lot of my Christmas shopping via internet this year and have not only received free shipping in most cases but have also earned cash back through Ebates. This has been the easiest year for Christmas shopping. Go here and sign up for an Ebates account and make a minimum purchase of $20 within 90 days of joining and we will both receive $5!

$40/week grocery budget

Our family used to spend approximately $100/week on groceries. I wouldn't say it was actually a budget of $100/week since I never really "budgeted" a certain amount for groceries. We would go shopping once a week and that is what it would average out to be. Since I have been couponing regularly and "budgeting", I aspire to reach a goal of $40/week for groceries. Some weeks I do well at that budget amount but others are still a little over that amount. Crystal at MoneySavingMom wrote a guest post on the subject of a $40/week grocery budget where she shares the secrets of how she feeds her family on $40 a week. Check it out here.

50 FREE Photo Cards with FREE Shipping!

Freebies4Mom is offering an exclusive deal through SeeHere for 50 free photo cards with free shipping! Just in time for Christmas and Holiday cards! You can get 50 4x8 or 5x7 photo cards, envelopes and free shipping and it doesn't expire until November 30th.
Thanks, Money Saving Mom

Kraft Savings Booklet and Calendar

Get 2 $20 rebates and $15 in coupons on Kraft favorites including Nabisco, Planters, Caprisun, Ritz Bits and Easy Cheese. Go here to request your FREE booklet.

New Kraft $10 Rebate

Kraft is offering a new rebate, Keep the Jingle in your Holidays! Just purchase 10 participating products below and you'll get a $10 rebate back!
Participating products include:
Nabisco Crackers (7oz - 16.5oz)
Easy Cheese
Planters Nuts (9.25oz - 21.25oz)
**Offer valid on purchases made between October 1st and November 30th. Purchases CAN be on more than one receipt. Limit one request per family or address.
To print rebate form go here.
Use coupons to make this a sweet deal.

There are things more important than money!

Going through these tough economic times has been an eye opening experience for our family. We have learned that it is certainly nice to have money to pay the bills but money isn't everything if you step back and take a look at the big picture. We have seen so many blessings during this challenging time such as our health, a wonderful circle of friends and family, our faith and church family and the realization that money and "things" are not so important. We have had to be creative in our search for fun family times that are inexpensive but it is possible. I love to read The Simple Dollar where Trent talks about frugality and personal finances. He has a great post on this subject that you can check out here.

FREE personalized postcards!

At Hippopost you can send two FREE customized postcards a day, every day. They pay for the postage also. The catch: There is an advertisement on the bottom of the card. I sent one today to grandparents and I don't think they will care about the advertisement on the back but will be thrilled to receive a picture in the mail of their great-grandchildren. Check it out here.
Thanks, HipToSave!

Science Museum of Oklahoma (Omniplex)

Mathis Brothers Furniture has a special on memberships for the Science Museum of Oklahoma. You can get $30 off a membership by purchasing it at Mathis Brothers. For details on the membership options and prices go here.

FREE pregnancy test or ovulation kits

Sacred Heart Mission is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of pregnant mothers and their babies and they are giving away 10 free pregnancy tests or ovulation kits absolutely free! Go here to sign up.

Reward Programs

There are a lot of reward programs where you can earn money, gift cards or products for doing what we already love to do... shop and search the internet!

**One of my favorites right now is Swagbucks. I have set it as my home page and when I search the internet I have the opportunity to win points. Those points add up and can be redeemed for gift cards! It is that easy. You can sign up for a Swagbucks account here.

**Another rewards program that is easy is the My Coke Rewards program. It has a lot of different products that are eligible for rewards. To sign-up and view the details go here.

**Upromise is another program to earn money doing everyday things like online shopping, dining out and grocery shopping. All your earnings go directly into your Upromise college savings account. Then, you decide if you'd like to grow them tax-free in a 529 plan to pay for college, use them to pay down a Sallie Mae student loan, or receive a check for college expenses. Go here to sign up and get more information.

Rebate Opportunities

Rebates are a great way to put money back into your grocery budget and score groceries for very little money and sometimes even FREE or make a little money after receiving the rebate! Listed are some rebate opportunities going on right now.
** Kellogg's $10 Toy Cash Voucher here. Receive a $10 toy cash voucher in the form of a check when you collect five (5) Toy Cash Tokens from specially marked Kellogg, Keebler, and Cheez-It products. For complete details and a product list go here.
** Kellogg's $10 Bonus Bucks Offer. Buy three specially marked Kellogg's cereals and get $10 bonus bucks to spend on electronics, toys, sporting goods, books, concessions and movies! For complete details and a product list go here.
** TombStone Pizza Rebate here. Receive a $5, $10 or $15 credit on your utility bill with the purchase of TombStone Pizzas. For more program details visit here.
** SC Johnson $5 Rebate. Click here for rebate form and details.
If you can find a sale and coupons to use for these products and then send in the required information for the rebate it makes for some sweet deals.

Don't Throw Away Expired Coupons!!

I cringe every time I throw away expired coupons thinking about how much money in savings was wasted and wish someone could have used them! Well... I just discovered there are programs set up to use expired and non-expired coupons for our military families overseas. This is so exciting that we can help out families that are serving our country to stretch their grocery budget. To read about these programs go here and here. I have many friends and family members that give me their extra coupons and I will definitely be supporting this mission in the future. Therefore, please save all your extra coupons and I will to send a package once a month or every other month to a military base overseas. Thank you for all your support in this effort as well as your support for my couponing addiction!!

Gal. 6:10 : "So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith."

New Home Made Simple coupon book link!

Here is another offer for the wonderful Home Made Simple coupon book with $35 worth of coupons! If you have already signed up you may not be able to do it again but definitely give it a try. I signed up for it before I posted this and it worked.

Home Made Simple $30 coupon booklet

*** Update: this link is sold out! ***

I have been able to snag a lot of FREE or very inexpensive household supplies by using these coupons at Homeland. There are high value coupons for brands such as Swiffer, Febreze, Dawn, Cascade & Mr. Clean! You can go here to sign up for your FREE coupon booklet.

(Thanks It's Hip To Save!)

Office Depot deals for 8/2

You can check out the upcoming Office Depot ad by clicking here. Here are a few deals:

Pencil pouch $.05
Pencil sharpener $.10
#2 pencils 10/pack $.25
Sharpie Markers 24/pack $10.00 (50% off!)
FREE school glue with $5 purchase

A few $.99 deals:

Rulers $0.99
Sharpie Highlighters 6 pk $0.99
Composition book $0.99

School supplies at Staples preview for 8/2

If you are still gathering school supplies, check out the deals at Staples for next week. Some deals are only available Sunday - Wednesday. There are many but here are the highlights.

Receive a $10 Staples gift card when you spend$50!

Staples brand filler paper, 120 sheets
$.01
Sunday-Wednesday (limit 5/customer)

Several $1 items after instant savings or easy rebate

Foohy Petz cap erasers 10/pack
Staples Delta Elite retractable gel pens 2/pack
Westcott 7" bent handle scissors
Zebra z-grip retractable ballpoint pens 7/pack
Paper Mate mechanical pencils 5/pack
Roseart watercolors 8/pack
Staples 3 hole binder punch
4"x6" photo paper 60/pack
Clear glue sticks 4/pack


There are also many $2 items as well.


Check out the Staples ad for next week here (click on the "sneak peek" button).

Oklahoma sales tax holiday

Remember Oklahoma's tax-free weekend will kick off on Friday, August 7 and ends at midnight on Sunday, August 9. Clothing and shoes priced under $100 are exempt from all sales taxes during that period. For more information about the tax-free weekend, click here .

14 items for $7

This is one of my shopping trips to Homeland. It included the following:

Borden Swiss Tea - FREE after coupon

El Monterey Tornados - FREE after coupon

Wrigley Extra gum - $.39 after coupon

Herbal Essence Conditioner - $1.49 after coupon

2 Tony's pizzas - FREE after coupon

Old Spice deodrant - FREE + $.50 overage after coupon

Colgate Total - $.50 after coupon

Rhodes Multi Grain rols - $.69 after coupon

Hiland French Onion dip - $.15 after coupon

Hiland Sour Cream - $.15 after coupon

Mt Olive Sweet Relish - FREE + $.50 overage after coupon

2 boxes Honey Nut Cherrios - $1.50 each after coupon

Tax was $1.27 and my total was $7.02!!!

I found more Homeland deals!!

After going through the ad I found a few more coupon matches!

El Monterey Tornados 8.4 oz $2.00
Use $1/1
Final price: FREE


Tyson Any'tizers snacks 10-13.25 oz
Sale price: $2/$5
Use $.55/1


Final Price: $1.40 for one

Bayer Aspirin (Selected Varieties 20 to 120 ct)
Sale price: $4.99
Use $1/1
Final Price: $2.99

Homeland Deals for 7/22

Below are a few deals from Homeland this week. If I find more, I will let you know. Happy Shopping!!

Smart Water 1 ltr bottles $1.09 each (This is an everyday price- I think!) I have been able to stock up on these over the last couple of weeks.
Use $1/2
Final Price: $0.18 for 2

General Mills Cereal 2/$5
Use $1/2
Final Price: $1.50 each

Lloyd's BBQ $3.99
Use .75/1 SS 6/28 or 5/17
Final Price: $2.49

Tony's Crispy Crust .99
Use $1/2 6/7
Final Price: 2 Free

Fruit 2 O essentials .99
Use $1/2 RP 614
Final Price: 2 FREE

Electrol Sol $3.49
Use $2.50
Final Price: .99

Bounty Basic 8 pk $5.99
Use .25/1
Final Price: $5.49

Secret Deodrant $1.50
Use $1/1 PG 7/5
Final Price: FREE

Old Spice Deodrant $1.50
Use $1/1PG 6/7
Final Price FREE

Colgate Toothpaste $2.50
Use $1/1 SS 7/12
Final Price: .50

Nexcare bandages $2.49
Use .55/1 RP 5/3 or 6/7
Final Price: $1.39

Kotex Panty Liners .69
Use .75/1 SS 7/19
Final Price: FREE

Lipton Tea $1.50
Use .50/1 RP 6/28
Final Price: .50

Hamburger Helper $1.25
Use .75/3 5/31 or 6/7
Final Price: $2.25/3

Nesquick $1.25


Use $1/2
Final Price: .25 each

Awesome Homeland deals!

Last week I was able to make some cool purchases at Homeland and only spent $0.82 (and that included tax of $0.33)! Here is what I purchased: 1 bottle of Mt Olive sweet relish, Cascade gel, Breyer Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream (yum!!!), and 2 1 lt bottles of Glaceau water. That was a savings of $11.86 and 96% off!!! I just received this weeks sale ad for Homeland so I will be getting together some good deals and posting them soon.

Official Blogger!!

I'm officially a blogger and excited to start journaling about my family and the great deals I get at the grocery store. This is my first post and my first blog so be patient as I don't really know what I'm doing... I feel God has guided me to a place to help make our ends stretch and meet. Our family has gone through a challenging financial period but God has shown us many blessings along the way. In the process, I have come across many other blogs of moms doing the same thing and they have inspired me to share what I am learning. I hope to inspire others to make it in these difficult economic times as well. I will keep you posted as I snag some awesome deals.