A DEAL YOU DON"T WANT TO MISS

I am going to tell you exactly what you need to do for this deal! Wal-Mart sells this magazine.

You can't get it anywhere else unless you get a subscription to it. The price is $1.97 and then they take 10% off of that. In the magazine there are great articles, but what makes it better are the COUPONS!!!! On page 159 of the Sept. issue (it's not the one pictured) there are 5 coupons for free products. They are: Kraft salad dressing, Oscar Meyer wieners, crystal light, wheat thins, and Kraft sliced cheese. All you have to do is buy 3 products and they can be Kraft, Nabisco, or Oscar Meyer. The cheapest way to do it is buy 3 packs of kool-ade for each coupon (it's a Kraft product). Jello pudding is another cheap way to get the free items (Kraft product too). There are many other great coupons in the book and it has a listing of them near the back. So, if you don't do any other deal, you should do this one!

INGLES

Triple coupons this week. I got $106.00 worth of food for $36.00 (I don't remember the change). For every $10.00 you spend you can triple 3 coupons up to $.50

CVS

Palmolive dish detergent B1G1 Use 2 $.25 coupons and pay $.45 per bottle

Soft soap use $.35 coupon and pay $1.09

Use 7-20-08 coupon for Bic disposable razors($2.00) pay $.62

Band-Aids are on sale and there are coupons out there.

Kodak movie DVD pay $9.99 and get $9.99 ECB or use ECBs you already have and get ECBs back.

Revlon make up $9.99 and get $9.99 ECB or use ECBs you already have and get ECBs back.

WAL-GREENS

Oil of Olay 3/$10.00 get $3.00 Register Rewards. There are coupons out there that makes this an even greater deal!

Things have been sooooo busy around here. I am so tired. I hope your summer has been as fun as ours, but I hope you haven't been as busy or tired! I wish I had about 2 days to stay at home to get caught up with all the cleaning, washing, canning, cooking, and preparing for school that I need to do. Not to mention my summer projects that I had in mind to do that I haven't completed yet! Well, off the scrub the bathrooms!

A MOM'S WEEKEND

My friend, Onika, whom is 9 months pregnant with her SIXTH child (left in the pic), invited me a few weeks ago to enjoy a ladies getaway. She invited about 5 women, however only 2 of us could make it. She wanted a relaxing night without any children ( I have no idea why...I can't imagine her getting tired with taking care of 5 kidddies and homeschooling them) before the baby was born. Let me tell you that we had a BLAST!!!! We stayed at an Embassy Suites hotel, which was awesome. The room was huge. The hotel gives away sodas, etc. and snacks in the evenings and in the mornings they have a great breakfast and you can even have a made to order omelet. We didn't utilize the pool, however I did sneak a peak and it looked lovely. It didn't look inviting with all the kids splashing around though! Hey, I was taking a break from my kids and why would I want to hinder someone's family time. We just hung around the room and hotel most of the time, but we did go out to eat at the Red Robin and we got to hit Cold Stone Creamery. Click here to sign up for Red Robin's e-club and get a coupon off your next visit and they will also send you a coupon for a free burger on your birthday. Click here to sign up for a free ice cream on your birthday. We definitely had a great time just chatting and listening to each other's stories. But I must say, Onika made me laugh more this weekend than I have in a VERY LONG time. She is hilarious and I can say she is one of the funniest friend I have. If you are feeling blue, just let her tell you one of her experiences. She does not mind opening up to you and she makes you feel you can pretty much tell her anything and know that it won't be repeated. I didn't know Julie before the getaway and it was great to get to know her. I hope I will see her again because she is lots of fun too and I would love to meet her kids (she home schools too). I look a little too smiley in this picture (maybe a little forced), but I was truly happy. Happy for friends, time to get away, happy that my husband encouraged me to get away and didn't mind, and especially happy for a frugal weekend (around $65.00). I really didn't think that was bad for the great hotel, food, and especially getting to laugh my head off. I would definitely pay that again if I knew I was going to feel that good afterwards. It was like a good rain that washes all the heat away....everything seems fresh and new.
I KNOW I don't have the prettiest feet in the world and to tell you the truth, I am not sure I have ever seen a pretty foot! But I have seen pretty nails. ANYWAY....I just want to thank Onika for the little treat. It was not planned for a pedicure, but on the way to her house she found out my family wouldn't be home until after 6:00 so on a whim she wanted some more pampering. If you know Onika, you wouldn't blame her a bit. She is busy ALL THE TIME. I didn't really want a pedicure, really I didn't. I didn't get one, but she did end up paying for polish and design. I didn't want her to do THAT and I really didn't want the polish either. But if you knew the way things were going in the little shop you would have said ok too. We were "bickering" back and forth to the little guy that was doing her feet. Onika-"paint her nails too" Dyan-"no, I don't want it" Onika-"yes, go ahead I am paying for it...paint her nails" Dyan-"no that's ok...I am fine...no" Onika-"paint her nails"....on and on it went and the little guy was put on the spot by this...it was rather funny....in the end with it going on like this and the guy looking at her then me....Onika-"SHE REALLY WANTS IT DONE" Little Guy-"SHE DOES?" OK OK...Iwent ahead mainly because I felt sorry for the little guy. He didn't know what to do!!!! But I am glad I did. It was fun and my toes look good.....I still have ugly feet though. OH, and I got to hear an infomerical on colon cleansing while they were dolling me up...a real treat...NOT!!! But it WAS HILARIOUS and I don't even think the workers realized what was on the tv.

Discipline Never Hurts

My four year old has gotten a little, "braggy" lately. I don't know where she is getting it, but enquiring minds want to know. You know the type. I can do this and you can't or I have this and you don't. Naner naner naner. Can you picture the little scrunched up face to go with the words and maybe a little prissy hip movement with the slight cockiness head bob? She isn't doing that YET, but I did not like her telling another little girl that she was going on vacation and she wasn't and she was going to have more fun than her. OH MY....my dear little sweet heart...my dear youngest...my baby....WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!!! She was definitely Phillip's child and not mine when she was saying that!!!! Let me post a cutesy picture of her and see if you can imagine the scene.

Hard to do, right? Well it is for me. Oh, and while I am typing this out I see we were having those omelets in a zip lock bag for breakfast that morning in the heart of Pennsylvania.....ooohhhh the memories of that wonderful trip (oh, and the plates were free too due to BiLo, coupon, and a catalina that printed out). ANYWAY....what I was getting at....I thought really hard about what I was going to say and what I was going to do. Well, for starters she did not get to go to the free summer movie and I promised her a spanking (which is a big deal for her and me because I do not like spanking my youngest and I am sure you can count on one hand how many times she has gotten one...actually one finger...haha. Ok, once we got home and ate lunch I brought out my Creative Correction book by Lisa Whelchel and I must say it has some awesome scripture references in it, so I thought I would share the one I used on her. Proverbs 27:2 Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. WOW...pretty good, huh? You know I didn't stop there. I explained to her that we were suppose to be like Jesus and would Jesus walk around speaking to people like that? I also explained to her that even though someone else might talk that way to her, we do not talk that way to other people. We do not treat others the way they treat us. We need to treat others the way we want to be treated. And if someone does talk like that and hurt our feelings, it doesn't mean we get to say something like that back. I would prefer that my children ignore the comment and try to change the subject if they can, but if it's really bad just walk away and stay away from the person. We all have talents and we are all different. Everyone has different things, can do things better than others, and gets to go different places. Isn't it great that everyone is different? It makes for a pretty cool environment if you ask me. Maybe this did her some good. I hope so and I will be praying for my darling. In the mean time, if you are curious about the book, you can get it here used for less than $2.00 plush shipping. Now you can get it new at just about any bookstore. Also, Lisa's website. I have more about her I can say, but I will save it for another day.

Free Kraft Magazine

If you don't get this little magazine, you are missing out on some great recipes! It's free and you can click here to sign up. They will send you one 4 times per year (with the seasons) and this issue had a coupon for a free bottle of Kraft salad dressing. I have made several recipes from it, but I believe the best one I have tried by far is the Fresh Corn Salsa. We at it as a side dish with grilled chicken the other night and couldn't get enough. It really wasn't all that expensive to make either. It does call for jalapeno and I used Cayenne simply because I have some in our garden. Here is the recipe:

FRESH CORN SALSA

4 tomatoes chopped

1 cup cooked fresh corn kernels (2 ears)

1/4 cup finely chopped red onions

1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1/4 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing

Combine all ingredients in a bowl except dressing. Add dressing and mix lightly. Makes 3 cups

They recommend eating it with crackers, but I bet it would be great with homemade tortilla chips!

OFFICE MAX

Just wanted to let you know that Office Max has some school supply deals this week also.

http://officemax.shoplocal.com/officemax/Default.aspx?action=browsepagesingle&storeid=2420649&rapid=565620&pagenumber=1&prvid=OfficeMax-080720&promotioncode=OfficeMax-080720

This is the sale paper for my area.

GET YO' RUNNIN' SHOES ON!!!

Ok boys and girls times are hard, right? Gas is ridiculous and food is outrageous, but the stores are really running some great specials on school supplies right now. Office Depot (this week) and Staples (last week) have placed things on sale for 1 cent. Unfortunately, my itty bitty town DOES NOT have either of these stores and the closest ones are 25-30 miles away. I bet you can hear me cryin' right now. BOOHOO! Well, I do have a heads up on a sale at WAL-GREENS for next week, so please tell me someone will get their runnin' shoes on and head on over there (Sunday morning would be your best bet if you ask me) and take advantage of what they are offering. I will pop into Wal-Greens sometime next week only when I have to go into town and hope they have what I want. Speaking from experience, lots of times the sale items go VERY VERY VERY quickly at the store. Do you want to know one reason? People would rather slide right into a small store instead of going to Wal-Mart. I wonder why? Could it be the crowd and long lines? ANYWAY, here are a few highlights from the sale paper, but this is not all. Be sure to use the coupons in their sale paper, you do not have to clip them out, just give the paper to them and they will scan it. You also do not have to have 1 coupon per item, you use the same coupon for as many items that you have for the particular product.

Wal-Greens
5 CENT SPECIALS
folders, notebooks (composition kind with the hard backs..journal type ones), highlighters, and it looks like mechanical pencils or maybe pens.

19 CENT SPECIALS
paper clips, pack of pencils, rulers

OTHER
big pack of sharpies $3.99
dry erase marker pack $1.99
pencil case 2/$1.00
select back packs Buy 1 Get 1 Free
It looks like poster board is 10 cents
CVS
This week CVS has their digital photo books on sale. I bought (2) 6x8 books for $7.99 each and got $7.99 ECBs back. Of course I used ECBs so I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. If you go on their website and open an account you can get 20 free digital prints and then 30 more if you add your Extra Care card. Pretty sweet deal for all those scrappers out there. I plan to do this deal because I have TONS of digital pics to get printed. Click here to check it out.

Just wanted to say that they have some deals on school supplies too (next week), but I don't think they are quite as good as Wal-Greens. They do have pepsi 12 packs on sale next week 4/11.00 and if you use a $3.00 ECB they would be 4/8.00. Of course if you don't have the ECB you will get back a $3.00 ECB. Great way to start CVSing!
Glade candles are a monthly deal. If you buy one you get an ECB, but there are suppose to be a $1.00 coupon in this weeks Sunday paper so if you use that and an ECB the candle will be about $1.00. I love those candles.

Will you donate?

Wouldn't you like to receive these goodies?

I am raising money for two causes. The Zebuas, from Indonesia, will be visiting the USA in August. He is the overseer for Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar for the Church of God of Prophecy. He has many duties including teaching men to go out and pastor churches in Indonesia. He also helps run an orphanage. The Zebua's main goal is to let people know about Jesus and how he can be their Savior. The Church of God of Prophecy holds an assembly every two years and when the Zebuas come, they visit many churches and raise money to take back for pastors, churches, people in need, and other needs in their country. They are needing money for their airfare.

Atlas N. was in a car accident a few months ago. He is not able to work and neither is his wife due to her needing to be home to take care of him. Our families attend church together.

THE DETAILS

If you would like to give at least a $1.50 donation, I will send you a list of websites that tell how you can save money and make money, or if you choose, a list of some of the things I do to save money. Also, I will put your name in a drawing for the basket of goodies. I will be drawing a name on August 8, 2008 and will announce it here. I was able to get the items for hardly anything due to combining coupons with sales and if I get some more deals I will add to the basket. The basket is not included with the items. Some of the websites that I list are the very ones I use to get the things I am giving away. So, will you help me get the Zebuas to the USA and help a family that's in financial need?

Please email me at dyanCB@gmail.com to let me know who you are and what document you would like to receive. You can pay using cash, paypal, or revolution money exchange. If you send cash, I am asking for only $1.00 donation (it's more for the other due to the fees that are involved). When I receive payment, I will email you your savings information. Thank for looking and even if you don't donate, please pray for these needs.

THIS REALLY ROCKS

A trip to Bi-Lo during the B1G1 free deals this week and of course adding coupons scored us some FOOOOOD. Phillip takes the rice to work and it's a great food to take on the go or if you are camping. The chex mix will be ate eventually, but we do give some of it away. I like to keep the pasta on hand for pot lucks at church, the pudding was absolutely free, kikkoman marinade was $.39 because it was on close out and I had a coupon. The awesomest, awesomestest deal was the Nature's Own bagels and cranberry, raisin bread. I got that stuff for about $.60 and it usually costs around $3.60. I went here and ordered more coupons, so hopefully next week I will be able to go back on Tuesday and get more pudding and bread. Ok, I have 3 kids and one especially looooves pudding so it is definitely worth it. I can freeze the bread and we looooove bagels (especially with the homemade jam I finally have learned to make...thanks to all my friends who make the stuff because you have been an inspiration to me and a special "granny" from our previous church).All this food was a little over$11.00
I didn't get these little beauties at the store, they came right off OUR tomato plants. I just wanted to post the picture cause last year our tomatoes didn't do so well.

These items came from Ingles were I used printable coupons. I had some other items and I was with my mom. We ended up putting our things together so we could get the free watermelon with the $50.00 order (it's at her house waiting for us to eat it by her pool). For these items I paid approximately $3.50. Thank you so much, "cents"able sawyer , for the heads up on the printable coupons.

Don't forget that when Bi-Lo has a sale, especially B1G1, alot of times there are coupons available and you can get items really cheap. Bi-L0 doubles coupons ( I believe up to $60.00). Ingles doubles also, but only 3 coupons per $10.00 order.

Yes, all of this does take time. It has turned out to be my little hobby though and I really have fun looking for the deals and then going and getting them. I usually don't take unnecessary trips. I go when Madison has gymnastics or on the way home from church. It's fun to try new things that have come out on the market for free or almost free. I would not have tried them otherwise. I have also been able to give to people that really NEED items that I have. It is great to be able to get it from my stockpile and not have to go and buy it from the store. Other people sit and watch tv and other things. Well, I choose to see how cheap I can get something. I have so much fun that even if I had lots of money I think I would still do it.

Mooooooing for free food!!!!

Money Saving Mom reminded me this morning about the free food at Chic-fil-A. If you dressed up as a cow, for Cow Appreciation Day you got free food. I had to work a little on my phone job, but as soon as I was through we scampered around the house finding our cow attire. The girls wore white skirts and shirts with black boots. Michael wore a white shirt and we cut up a white sheet and pinned it around his legs (adorned with black boots as well). All of us cut out black spots that we colored and pinned them on our clothes. It was great to be able to dig into the face paint and complete the outfit with spots on our faces. They told the kids that they could order anything off the menu that they wanted, so of course whatever picture looked the most appetizing is what they picked out. I estimate that we got about $25.00 worth of food and was even able to bring home some to Phillip. We also had ice cream certificates from VBS last year, so they got an ice cream for dessert. The best part was dressing up and just having some fun on a hot July day. What a wonderful summer treat. Oh, and what made it better is that we even had about 6 little birdies to show up and enjoy free food too. I tried to get pics, but they wouldn't cooperate with me.

DEALS...school supplies too!

Ok, here ya go. A few deals. These are not all the sales it's just ones that I think are worthy enough for me to buy if I was wanting or needing these items. The coupons I refer to are the ones from this weeks inserts from the Sunday paper.

BOOKS A MILLION

Click here for your on-line coupon of $10.00 off a $50.00 order

Here for $10.00 in-store coupon and a free coffee with purchase of 1lb. bag of whole bean coffee


Wal-Mart

Crayola Crayons (24 ct.) 25 centsRose Art crayons (24 ct) $0.20One subject notebooks $0.052 pocket folders $0.15Elmers school glue $.20Crayola colored pencils (12 ct) $0.88Paper portfolios with pockets or prongs $0.101 subject notebooks $0.10Spacemaker school Box $0.48Mainstage 10 count pencils $0.48RoseArt colored pencils $0.50Rose Art 10 count markers $0.50PaperMate 8 pack grip pens $0.50Paper Mate 10 pack stick pens $0.50150 count ruled paper $0.501 inch 3 ring binder $0.55

Always pads B1G1 free coupon $$1.57 per pack

Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo or conditioner $3.00 off coupon for 2 $.98 per bottle

Gillette Series Shave Gel or Foam or Mach3 Shave Gel 7 oz use $.55 coupon $1.42 per can

Olay Ribbons Body Wash 10 oz use use $2.00 coupon and pay $1.67


Wal-Greens

Maxwell House Coffee 2/$5.00 original, 13 oz French Roast, 11.5 oz limit 2

Decaf coffee 2/$6.00 11.5 oz

Filler Paper 130 college rule 150 wide rule $.39 (with Wal-Greens coupon from sale paper)

2 Pocket Folders 8/$1.00



Rite-Aid

Always Maxi Pads 28-48 ct, buy one get one 50% off (est price of each)---coupon is buy Always Pads 24-48 ct and get Free Always Pads 12-24 ct, use two coupons get two free coupon value $3.75 and pay $1.88 per pack

Clairol Herbal Essences Shampoo, Conditioner or Stylers, final price is Free after $2 mail in rebate on two and newspaper coupon

Crest Toothpaste Expressions, Multi Care , Neat Squeeze, Whitening or Plus Scope 5.8-6.2oz or Pro Health 4.2 oz, final price is Free after $1.74 mail in rebate

Gillette Body Wash 12 oz, final price is after $1 mail in rebate on two and two newspaper coupons $2.00 per bottle

Gillette Venuse Vibrance, Embrace or Breeze Razor, final price is after $5 mail in rebate on one and newspaper coupon $.99

Oral B Pulsar or CrossAction Power Toothbrush, final price is after $4 mail in rebate and newspaper coupon $.99

TAG Body Spray 3.5 oz or Invisible Solid 2.7 oz, final price is after $1 mail in rebate and newspaper coupon $.99

Christmas in July!!!

Saturday was fun for all when Michael went to one of his friend's house and the girls were able to have a couple of friends over themselves. It was Christmas in July because Phil finally put together the puppet stage that has been sitting in our bedroom for awhile now. Well, I will say it hasn't been since December, but it WAS a Christmas gift to the kiddies. Our friend, DeAnn, bought puppets for a Christmas gift (they were in the attic and the kids had no clue) and she never could find the stage that she wanted to get them. Well, a couple of months ago she did bring the stage over and poor Melanie kept asking over and over, "Will you put the puppet stage up?", and my answer would be we will soon. Well, Saturday was our Christmas in July because Phillip decided he was going to conquer some things (YOU GO PHILLIP.....YEAH, YOU DA MAN....ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY) and one of them was THE STAGE. Ok, I will give him credit here, he did alot of things this weekend and he really is awesome! Madison is reading this and she made me put that exclamation point at the end of awesome, thanks Madison! I'll give you an exclamation point too. ANYWAY....the kids had a wonderful time planning and putting on the puppet show. They even made signs letting us know where the show was going to be, created little seats, and had tickets. We could NOT leave the show without giving them our tickets and I even gave them a tip because the show was so good. I can tell you one thing, these girls really have an imagination! So, now you just need to look through your closets, under beds, in the garage, etc.. Let the kiddies play with that unopen game, craft pack, make-up, markers, beads, legos, blocks, whatever, because I bet there is something you have not opened from Christmas and your family can have Christmas in July too!

Some Deals this week

If you combine the sales this week along with the coupons from the paper, here are some things you can get a good deal on.

Wal-Greens
1. colgate B1G1 use $.75 coupon
2. sure B1G1 use store coupon and from paper

Deals without coupons that I have heard about. You may have to use the store coupon from their weekly paper and montly book that they put out.

1. spray n wash $.50
2. woolite $.50
3. royal geletin $.20 per box
4. Pringles $.79
5. Crayola pages with markers B1G1


Wal-Mart
1. mighty dog can dog food use B1G1 coupon from paper $.27 per can

CVS
1. Doritos B1G1
2. free panty liners with ECBs
3. free tampons with ECBs
4. Kodak picture maker B1G1 use 2 $3.00 coupons and you will pay $.50 each
5. Physicians Formula mascara free with ECBs or buy 1 and you get back $7.99

Rite Aide
1. Use Pert coupons from Sunday's paper and get Pert for almost free. I think $.50

There are more sales and deals, but I have listed I few that I thought were worth mentioning. Don't forget it's a new month, so CVS has a new monthly book out. The only things I saw free without coupons but with ECBs if you have them are panty liners and tampons. If you use coupons from previous papers, you should be able to get a good deal on Pledge and Sure deodorant. Glade candles are on sale this month too.

Remember, the best way to save money is to buy free or almost free product that you may not need now, but will eventually need in the future. If it's free, why not get it and put it up somewhere? You will have it when the time comes. I have done this with several items and I have been able to give away several bags of things to a family in need.