Exciting Move

I know I haven't been around and haven't posted here in a while. I was really excited to start this blog, but keeping up with it once I was working full time again (after winter break and all the "snowcation") just didn't pan out like I'd hoped. I had too many other things going on to keep up with blogging like I'd wanted to.

However - a great opportunity has come along for me. I'm going to be blogging as a part of the wonderful blog Ladybugs and Tonka Trucks. If you're not already a follower over there, I hope you'll head over and check it out. I hope to get back into posting about some of my trips to the store, and get into more product reviewing and even host some giveaways for the readers. I hope you can come join in some fun with LadybugMama, Mom2aNutball, and I!

Giant

Nothing amazing at Giant this week. Like I mentioned here, I stayed under my budget this week. My needs shopping finally went down some after months of trying to semi-stockpile.

My total before coupons and sales - $39.78
Total after coupons and sales - $31.58
Savings - $8.20

None of the deals I got were amazing deals this week - just things we needed - cheese, juice, chips, regular stuff.....

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a fun way to share what freebies came in your mailbox this week, and to see what everyone else is getting, too! Be sure to visit Debra at A Frugal Friend so you can link up your post and share in the fun!

It was another great week! This week, I got -

• $15 Olay Regenerist rebate (blogged about that here)
• Collectable Coupons sent me the coupons I bought with the $5 gift certificate I won from Stacy at Saving in Akron
• Uniball pen with a coupon (still available here - there's a limited number each day)
• coupon for free Country Bob's all purpose sauce
• P&G booklet of coupons
• Victoria's Secret coupon
• Gold Bond sample and coupon
• Huggies coupon booklet
• Food Lion coupons for Dove Men's Care (from Shoptext, I think...)
• Conagra booklet with recipes and coupons
• Parenting Magazine
• Dockers that we won from the Superbowl commerical giveaway

Love Challenge: Week 2

This week, Julia challenged us to do something each day. Here are the details.

Every day this week (or as many days as you can), contact your spouse while they are at work (or home, or wherever) just to see how their day is going and ask if there is anything you can do for them (pick up dry cleaning, iron clothes, shovel the snow). Mix it up by doing a variety of phone calls, texts, or emails.

I did pretty well. I offered to go to Food Lion so he didn't have to on Monday, but he took the list and coupons with him, so I couldn't. One day, I told him I'd get the mail. (Our community has centrail mailboxes instead of having them in front of each house, and he almost always goes to get it on his way home.) I had every intention of sending an ecard on Friday, but never got around to it. The other days, it was just a normal call or text - how's your day? where are you? love you.

I have to say - this is one challenge that wasn't too bad for me. I call him and text him a lot (more than he wants me to, I think), so it probably would have been more of a challenge for me NOT to do that every day! :)

Olay moneymaker!

Tara at Deal Seeking Mom has a great way to do the current Olay rebate, turn it into a moneymaker, and NOT LEAVE YOUR HOUSE! The details of her scenario are here.

You have to go to visit Alice to do this deal. If you're a new customer, you'll have to register - and your deal scenario would be a little different from a returning customer. New customer's get free shipping no matter how many items you order, so you can 3 Olay items - the cheapest is bar soap for $2 something ($2.19 I think it was) or the body wash for $3.99. If you buy 3 body washes at $3.99 each, and submit the receipt for the $15 Olay rebate, it will end up being a moneymaker. Your shipping was free, and you used no gas to get the goodies! If there are other Olay items you'd prefer - there are several facial items for $4 something, so you'd still only spend around $1 or $2 to get the 3 items after your rebate.

If you're a returning customer, you have to purchse 6 items to get the free shipping, but there are tons of items less than $1, so you can still stay right at or under $15, and get all 6 items for free after the Olay rebate gives sends you your $15.

Since I was a returning customer (read about my awesome first experience here), I had to get 6 items. I got -

• 3 Olay body washes, $3.99 each
• 1 Tag body spray, $2.29 (about 50% off retail price)
• 2 pouches of dog food, 79c each

I would have done 3 dog foods to make my total a little less, but Frank wanted some more Tag, so I threw that in there - the deal is still great! My total was $16.63 and after my $15 rebate, it will have only cost me $1.63 for all 6 items!

Don't forget - if you do Swagbucks and you are a new customer at Alice, you can get a $5 gift card with your Swagbucks, redeem that during your transaction, and make the deal even sweeter. If you don't do Swagbucks yet, you should check it out - my link is at the bottom of my blog, and I'd love for you sign up through that!

One other note of caution -when I searched for Olay products on Alice, several Secret deoderants came up and I'm pretty sure they don't count for the Olay rebate, so I wouldn't order those.