January Freebies (& Wins!)

So, I have a new goal for 2016...I'm working my way towards a FREE Christmas! Yes, I know that seems silly and a long way off and I'm realistic in knowing it won't be completely free however, I want to be able to focus on the meaning of Christmas instead of how much everything costs. Let's face it, Christmas is expensive and causes lots of stress, which isn't how it's supposed to be. I have become addicted to a Facebook page called CouponClipinsta. I LOVE her, I will admit it. I am constantly following her page to see what giveaway I can enter next or which Bouncy Box (OMG if you haven't heard of Amazon Bouncy Boxes, they are so fun...even if I haven't won) I can try for. And my poor sister gets stuck with all of those contests that ask you to tag a friend (maybe someday we'll win something really cool...today I entered us to win a Kindle Reader!). CouponClipinsta has introduced me to a couple of survey websites that allow you to accumulate points from doing surveys and then you can turn them into gift cards. So far I think I have earned over $20.00 from the sites I use. (I'm saving them up and will cash them in closer to ordering all those Christmas gifts) Well, the month of January was the bomb for me. Even Ray was impressed with my winnings for the month...I may be just a little excited! Here's to a GREAT year of wins and freebies!

 

Freebies

Red Box Rental $1.50

Purrell Wipes $0.87

White-Out $0.97 ($0.03 MM)

Gummy Bears & Worms $0.99

Bath & Bodyworks Shower Gel $5.00

Ziploc sandwich bags $2.50 (Kmart app Friday Fix coupon)

Pastry Brush $1.99 (Won 2,000 Kmart Shop Your Way points that had expiration date)

Barillo Pronto pasta

Degree dry deodorant spray

Yogi tea samples

Starbucks K-Cups hot cocoa samples 

 

WINS!!!

$5.00 Amazon gift card from CouponClipinsta

$3.00 Amazon gift card from CouponClipinsta

$1.00 Amazon gift card from Raining Hot Coupons

$15.00 gift card from Totally Kids fun & furniture

2!! $25.00 gift cards from Model Home Furnishings Price is Right

 

 

So with my first gift card win from Model Home Furnishings, I used it towards the purchase of a new clock for our living room. Now, I want to save the second one (and maybe try for a few more gift cards-LOL) to save up for a nice wall decoration for our dining room wall. I'm saving the Totally Kids fun & furniture gift card for a Christmas gift for one of the many kids in our lives. And thankfully, the hubby signed up for an Amazon Prime account so all of the gift cards can sit in my account until we order Christmas gifts-$9.00 closer!

 

 

It's amazing what you can do and how much you can save by following a couple of websites. Another one of my favorite websites is The Krazy Coupon Lady, I use their website for coupon matching and local store freebies. The one thing to remember is not to get discouraged when you don't find the freebie/deal you're looking for. Each store is different in each location. I have found that our Dollar Tree completely stinks compared to other Dollar Tree locations. Use those apps on your phone (Ibotta is a fun one) to get money back on your everyday purchases...it may take a few extra minutes to snap a few pictures or scan a couple of items however, so far I have $90.00 in Ibotta money waiting to be cashed out. (This is part of our vacation fund.)

 

Here's to a frugal 2016 to you and your family. May you find fun in finding that next big deal or shooting for a fun win!



 

Halloween Fun

One of my favorite traditions with our friends is Halloween. We bring a bag of candy, food, and the kids ready to go and head down to our friends at the end of the block. This is where we begin the festivities! We fill up on pizza, drinks, and munchies and then head out with the kids to Trick-or-Treat the neighborhood. Now, if you've never Trick-or-Treated our 'hood you've not lived. It is not uncommon to reach 400 Trick-or-Treaters, there have been porta-potties brought in, and nobody sits inside their house...they sit in their driveways with firepits and alcohol and hand out candy to the millions of kids dressed in costume that come up their drive way. You can't drive down our street faster than 3 MPH for fear of running over some parent dragging their kid across the road wihout looking for cars and it's nothing but people for as far as the eye can see. It's great & I know that our kids will look back on their Halloweens with nothing but fond memories.

This year, the kids chose some random costumes....Elli found the basis for her Minion costume at Goodwill which we combined with her Minion goggles & yellow face paint. The hunt was on for a "less than $10.00 yellow beanie" that we could add black pipe cleaners too (no luck on the beanie, yep paid $10.00 bucks for that sucker! Halloween Spirit had the market on that item this year!)

Sean's original costume was the 10th Doctor from Dr. Who...ummm, yeah. When I informed him that there was no way we could find a brown suit for this costume and he would need to choose something else (first year in history I've told any of my kids they needed to find a new costume) he informed me we could just go to Sportsman's Warehouse and get one. He was shocked when I informed him that they did not sell brown suits and to think of something new, I wasn't paying a fortune for a suit for him to wear one time. He thankfully discovered that one of his BFF's had a Hot Dog costume and was STOKED to become a Hot Dog.

And then we have Nicholas, or Link, as he became on Halloween. This character derives from the video game Zelda and I do have to say was pretty creative. I found the green shirts (one for the hat & one for the tunic) on sale at Jo-Ann's, sewed together the hat & attached one of Elli's old headbands to the inside so it would stay on, combined with a pair of already owned slacks and a long sleeved white shirts, costume done! And then came the boots...those dreaded boots, which had us driving to 3 different thrift stores only to drive back to Goodwill to spend $20 on a pair of boots he's only going to wear once. (Thank goodness for Facebook and the local sell it page, those puppies are heading there soon!) Oh but wait, what about the sword & shield you ask? Nicholas and Dad cut them out, sanded them, Ray gave them the silver coat of spray paint, and then Nicholas finished with the blue spray paint and art work. They turned out amazing and a lot of work went into them. He was pretty stoked with his costume, especially since the accessories were homemade by him and Dad. (Despite the grumpy picture, he had a good time!)

I was just thankful Sunday rolled around and I could breath a little. No mad dashes to every store in town trying to find pieces of costumes, no more adding finishing touches to costumes, no more running in general....just a go to church, come home & spend the rest of the day watching football and lounging in sweats. Perfection!

October Freebies!

How much fun am I having getting back into this hobby of finding freebies? Well, it's become an addiction and I've found a new Facebook sight that has me attempting all sorts of Giveaways. So far, I've actually won something...I'll share with you in the November Freebies post (yep, I'm a Freebie Tease!) Anyway, what has October brought into our household?

The kids were stoked with their free Trick-or-Treat bags and I just happened to score those on Halloween Day at Safeway!

3 Colgate Toothpastes $7.99 ($0.51 MM)

2 Bath & Bodyworks travel size lotions $10.00

Chips Ahoy Go Pack $1.00

Oreo Mini Go Pack $1.00

Cool Blasts $1.99

Yoplait Greek Whips $0.88

Red Box rental $1.50 (not pictured)

3 Trick-or-Treat bags $6.00

8x10 picture from Walgreens $3.99 (not pictured)

 

Wow! I was serious this month and brought home $34.35 in products for NOTHING! And I earned $0.51 to boot! My goal for the next month is to bring home some Christmas gifts in my frugalness! 

I'm Back! September Freebies!

Wow, looking at this my heart breaks that I haven't been more involved with recording not only my family memories yet, my freebies as well. The last year or so I've still stuck with my couponing and have saved my family a significant amount of money...my husband comments that he can tell when doing our "paperwork" on Sunday morning when I've been using the coupons and when I haven't. So, now that school is back into swing, our lives our still crazy with soccer, dance, band, school auction stuff, Lego League, Youth Group, and anything else that comes up, of course I have thrown one more thing into the mix by getting back into my monthly freebie blog! (And looking at this I apparently need to do some updates on our personal lives as well-LOL) So, here you go folks, my first blog in almost 2 years: The September Freebies!

 

Boost Nutrition Drink $6.44

DQ Cheeseburger $2.39

Herdez Guacamole Salsa $3.19 ($1.00 MM)

 

So, I got $12.02 worth of products for free and made $1.00! This also does not include my Ibotta savings either (which is up to $76.00 since I first began). Not to shabby for my first month back in the game. I know that the picture is pretty disappointing and the items don't look all that fun. However, I'm sure that somebody at the local food bank will appreciate some Boost and I'm sure I have some friends who would like the salsa :-) I know that I sure enjoyed the DQ Cheeseburger during a crazy day of running! Happy Couponing Folks, it's good to be back!

Halloween, Corn Maze & Pumpkins!

I love Halloween....the kids have a blast picking out their costumes, the family corn maze that has become a tradition, and carving pumpkins. Halloween decorations, the Family Fun Festival at the kids' school, and our trick or treating tradition. Ahhh....it just makes me smile!

So how did our October start? With Elli's Pumpkin Patch field trip to Wilson's Banner Ranch. The kids get to pick out a pumpkin, have an apple or pear, a glass of apple cider, and run through the maze. They love it!



Elli's pumpkin-she searched SUPER hard for the perfect one

Playing in the corn



She discovered she likes eating pears!





Our normal corn maze tradition hit a minor mishap when the big windstorms destroyed our corn maze in Lewiston. We had a last minute change in location and drove to Walla Walla for their corn maze. It was a fun change and their corn maze had lots of cool things ours doesn't...like tunnels, squishy ground, and bridges! The kids had a blast and we spent an hour wandering through the maze in the beautiful fall sunshine.

The middle of the maze

The kids were super excited about the tunnels



The middle of the maze...the barn is our destination

 

 

Then comes pumpkin carving day! The kids pick out their picture from the internet and Ray gets to be the artist to carve them. Elli's pumpkins this year were too small to actually carve so we got creative.....

 

 

Nicholas's Boo pumpkin

Sean's scary face



Elli's Snoopy Pumpkin-we found him at Goodwill!

 

Before we knew it, it was the end of the month and Halloween had arrived, we have a tradition of going to our friends house for dinner and then taking the kids throughout the neighborhood for Trick or Treating. Our neighborhood is pretty intense...one neighbor rents an outhouse, this year we had a neighbor with a DJ setup in their driveway, and very rarely do you knock on a door because people just sit in their driveways around firepits. The kids have a great time and it's a lot of fun. The kids get to pick out their costumes at the Goodwill Spooktacular sale and then we usually add onto them to make them more. This year, Elli picked hers out last year and was a Garden Fairy...we added some glitter to her hair and a glow-in-the-dark wand with a couple of flower barretts. The boys...we'll you will see for your self!

 

Our Garden Fairy

The Hulk

Mario

 

 

And now, thankfully we have a whole year to get ready for next year! (And to eat all of the candy!)













October Freebies

We'll not a very exciting month in the freebie world however, I'm already excited about November's Freebies! I also had a bummer of a freebie this month in the Christmas cards from Michael's...I was hoping that it wouldn't include a name on this inside sampler I recived yet....it had some weird randomness going on so, I will have to do some creative revamping to make a pretty "homemade" card with the ones that I recived for free.

So here's this month's picture!

 

25 4x6 picture prints - Walgreens $5.00

4 Christmas Card samples $12.50

Viscine-A eye drops $2.00

Vlasic Relish $0.98 ($0.02 MM)

Dove Conditioner $3.36

Colgate Total toothpaste $3.00

Schick disposable Razors $1.97 ($1.03 MM)

 

Samples by Mail

Snapple 16 K-Cup Lemon Iced Tea (won from a sweepstakes!)

Snapple 4 K-cup Peach Tea sample

Haircare sampler

 

 

That's a savings of $28.81 with a $1.05 moneymaker....not super exciting however, I did make some pretty good deals on groceries and am looking forward to starting with the Christmas/holiday shopping in November. The coupons have already started accumulating for our Spokane shopping weekend!

 

 

****Here's some tips to help you save money for those special treats! My ultimate goal at saving is another trip to Disney World. So far our savings have added up and I'm hoping that we'll be able to make it sometime in 2015.

     -Save your aluminum cans: I know that this sounds silly however, we've been doing this since we first started saving for our first Disney World trip in 2010. We go through A LOT of cans through a one year period. We save them and then on Earth Day we load up the car and take them to the recycling center where you get a little bit more for the aluminum during this time. We usually come home with close to an extra $30.00 and it feels good to help out the environment too!

     -Yearly yard sales: These do take some extra work however, you would be amazed at what you can collect by "recycling" your items in a good sale. Gather a couple of friends and make it extra big! We have a yearly tradition of our sale with some great friends and even our kids look forward to it. The important thing is to price everything...this takes time however, coming from somebody who loves sales, it sucks to pull up at a sale where nothing is marked and everything is just thrown in boxes or stacked on tables in piles. Take some pride, put all of the shoes in one area, give girl/women/boys/mens clothes their own sections, toys their own sections, housewares, etc...you get the idea. This makes it really easy for people to come in and shop. You will be pleastanly surprised at how much you can make in just a few hours. Another tip with yard sales is timing. Be prepared for early birds, they always show up. We've tried closing ours at different times and have discovered that a noon closing time is the best. After this time, your crowd will have dwindled and you don't really have any big sales. If you do have more than just yourself, give each of you a letter or your initials on your items (masking tape works great!) and make sure you have copy paper with columns for each of you. Easy to total up at the end. And don't forget to advertise your big items in your local communities most used paper for sales. Ours is the Moneysaver and we only advertise our bigger items and our name brand clothing. People watch for our sales and we try to word it similar every year so our "groupies" know that this is our sale! When our sale is done, I take any kids clothing of good quality to our local consignment shop and earn a little extra!

     -A spare change jar: We have our Mickey Mouse jar that we throw all of our spare change in. I also add rebates (yep, send in those rebates!), and a percentage of babysitting money that I may earn.

 

 

These may sound time consuming, the yard sale items and aluminum cans do take some spare room however, once you designate spots for these things you will be amazed at how much money you can earn. Good luck & if you have any tips please feel free to leave comments. I am always looking for tips to help save our way to Mickey Mouse!

 



August & September Freebies

Yep, you guessed it, I am again way behind in both my blogs! It seems like there just is not enough time in the day to do it all. The end of August & beginning of September was back to school stuff which totally threw off blogging for the August Freebies and thankfully, I'm not that far behind on the September Freebies. So here you go....two posts in one!

August Freebies

Despite planning a funeral, a 4 year old with mouth surgery, day to day activities, 4-H, getting the classroom ready for school, August turned out to be an okay month for the Freebie activities. Maybe I tried to throw myself into couponing to take my mind off the stress of Dad's death and all of the things that had to be done for his funeral and the insurance stuff on his motorcycle. Or maybe it was I knew that El's surgery was going to costs a small fortune and tried to plan ahead...Whatever the case may be, here is the list of August Freebies!

 

 

Bath & Bodyworks lotion $5.00

Friskies cat food $0.57

Manual pencil sharpener & Composition Book $2.68

BIC Razors $2.96 ($0.04 MM)

Cliff Bar $1.00

3M Medium Clear Hook $0.99

Reach toothbrush twin pack $2.99 ($0.50 MM)

2 BIC mechanical pencils 5 pack $1.00 ($1.00 MM)

Hammermill Copy Paper $6.99

Mentos Gum $0.99

Samples by Mail

Purina dog food

Uberliss haircare products

BioTrue contact solution

 

So, that brings August to a $25.17 freebie month with a moneymaker of $1.54. Not to bad considering all that was going on....So here's onto September!

 

September Freebies

This month started off pretty good with a cute pair of sandals from Famous Footwear! Yes, they are slightly too big (by maybe half a size or so...) however, when you are limited on shoe selection in this valley, and apparently it's even more limited when you wear a size 5 and all of the stores like to carry women's shoes starting at a 6, beggars can't be choosers. So, here is a picture of my cute new sandals that were regularly priced at $60.00 and marked down several times to only $5.00! Pair that with a coupon for $5.00 off a purchase of $5.00 or more and what do you get? Free sandals!

 

And then off course there was the rest of the freebies for the month!

 

Beech Nut Fruities $.94

McCormick Recipe & Seasoning Mix $1.64 ($.36 MM)

Pepsi Max $.99

Bath & Bodyworks Amber Blush eau de toilette $3.00

Planters Nut-rition Energy Mix $.99

Samples by Mail

Kirkland baby wipes, surface wipes & daily facial towlettes

Purina Beneful dog food & treats

Various hair care products

Brew Over Ice Keurig sample pack

 

Not a great month, only $12.56 in freebies and $.36 in moneymakers. October is already looking promising on being a better month and we are only on day 3! Here's hoping that your October is frightfully scary on the bargins!