I've moved!

Well, I've moved in the virtual world, anyway.

I'm now blogging at http://aplacetowritethings.blogspot.com. All of the deal/savings/freebie/CVS posts, plus posts about everything from smoothies to music to my life in general.

Come on over. At some point, I'll import all of the posts from this blog to over there (I think I know how), but for now they'll hang out here.

Thanks!

CVS - Free Dulcolax and semi-free razors

I hit CVS this morning planning to get the free Dulcolax (a $4 MM after coupon) and free Schick razor (coupon + ECBs = free) plus some filler items. But my husband (rightfully) pointed out that he really needs more refills and not more actual razors. This is his favorite brand, too. So I bought the refills instead and used the $2 coupon. Not free, but way cheap, and the moneymaker deal covered it anyway.

I spent about $3 OOP plus $7.99 and $2.99 in ECBs and got back $13.99. Yay.

Round up of deals lately

I took a survey through CVS and got $5 in Extrabucks (on my "other" card but I'll use it on the Schick razors tomorrow). I also got coupons in the mail (not attached to either card) for $5/$30 and $25 with prescription.

I went to a "warehouse" sale that featured indie boutiques around my city. Most things were out of my price range (or too fancy for me) but I scored some small things that were worth about $125 total for $20 total.

I used the printable Gardein coupon to get Gardein at Publix for $1 (I printed two, a friend gave me one, and another friend gave me two more, and then I bought a few for $2 without coupon - a GREAT deal).

Kroger mailed me a pack of personalized coupons that include free baby carrots and free salad dressing, as well as coupons for Morningstar Farms and Laughing Cow. The name-brand coupons are marked "manufacturer" so I'm assuming I can't stack them at Publix, but I still can use them at either store. (I'll use the frees at Kroger, because it's just easier.)

My daughter needed labels for many of the things I send with her to preschool. Mabels Labels are really nice, high quality, and lovely, but they're pricey. Instead I bought similar labels from Gloria on Etsy for about 1/10 of the price. Etsy and Ebay are two places one should always look when hoping for a bargain!

I also bought my daughter a wetbag (yes, her preschool accepts cloth diapers without issue - I send BumGenius pocket diapers that are just as easy to use as disposables, but she goes between two rooms so I needed to send an extra wetbag) from abbyslane.com. Amazing customer service and free shipping on every order - I love supporting this site!

And finally, I've been using my Vitamix to make smoothies every morning and good, whole foods every day. My favorite thing is to put spinach or kale into my smoothie, and I also grabbed some flax seeds at the market for extra omegas. This purchase was worth every penny for sure.

Thrifty and splurgey - CVS free photobooks, Publix cheap Gardein, Vitamix

First, I went to CVS and got the free-after-ECB photobook ($7.99, get $7.99 back, I had a $7.99 ECB ready to go). I wish they still did these as limit 5, but the one I got is perfect. I also got my free Suave shampoo with the coupon Suave sent me a while back.

Sometime this weekend I plan on going to Publix for the Gardein BOGO deal. I prefer this brand of fake meat to almost any other, and the packages are $2 each with the sale - a great price. But there's also a coupon at gardein.com for $1 off, so I'll get a few packages at a dollar. A friend sent me one extra coupon, and I think a different friend is sending me some extras too. In any case, this deal is as fantastic as the Morningstar Farms deal a few weeks ago (though I have far fewer coupons this time around).

I'm selectively thrifty though. Yesterday I was at Whole Foods and they had a man doing a demo of Vitamix blenders. I have a weakness for this kind of demo - for county fair demos and infomercials and all things like that, especially for food-prep products (the only one I've ever bought was the vacuum sealer though and I use that a lot but I do need a new one soon). Anyway, I got sucked in and...I bought one. And it is WONDERFUL. It does what it promises and I really like it. I made a frozen cappuccino today that tasted so thick and creamy (with skim milk) and I look forward to soups and smoothies. Of course now I have an extra blender and a food processor (both very nice brands, both were wedding gifts) to figure out. I probably will sell them as money toward the Vitamix.

Splurges are important!

CVS - Moneymaker on BioTrue

I plan on making a free photobook later this week (I have a $7.99 ECB), but I saw via Money Saving Mom that there were BioTrue printables and I'd wanted to try this product anyway.

So I bought one at $2.99, used the $2 printable and paid $1.20 OOP. I got back $2.99 and a $1 for my Green Bag Tag.
Then I used another $2 printable and the $1 from the GBT, paid 14 cents OOP (not sure why it wasn't 20 cents, but whatever) and got back another $2.99.

So I spent $1.34 out of pocket and got back $5.98 in ECBs plus 2 bottles of BioTrue. Yay.

One more Publix trip

OK, so we went back to Publix tonight.

I got 12 - TWELVE - different Morningstar Farms things for $1 or 99 cents each (every other one was 99 cents because of the way they do the BOGOs). I used 5 of my $2/2 coupons (BEST TRADE EVER) (I have one left, and our freezer has a bit more room, and tomorrow we're taking some of the burgers to a friend's house...) and two of the $1/1 Entree coupons from the boxes themselves. These new boxes also have those coupons but, well, we're running out of room.

I also was emailed another link for the Breyers $1 coupons, so I got two more boxes of those for $1.15 each. (Yum.)

And I got two more boxes of Cheerios for $1 each.

Plus another free mayo bottle. I still feel like I should only use one Publix coupon per transaction (since they key them in) but if I go back one more time I'll....get another bottle!

So everything was either 75% off or free. Well, everything I got. I mean, the chips we got for tomorrow were BOGO (but no coupon, at least none that I brought), and the buns were on sale...but yeah. Even so, I spent $35 and saved OVER FIFTY DOLLARS. YES.

I noticed in Publix a lot of pricetags with lowered prices that indicated it wasn't a sale price but an everyday ALWAYS low price. I"m not positive that's what it meant, but if it does, my beloved Laughing Cow is $2 now. YAY. And I left a message in the suggestion box for them to continue to carry the new flavors. I hope they do. I HOPE THEY DO.

What I got for free or crazy cheap at Publix July 1, 2010

Publix is amazing this week.

Morningstar Farms items (not JUST the entrees, as the ad/signs indicate) are BOGO at $3.99, making each one $2, which is awesome to start with. But I traded for 10 $2/2 coupons, which makes each one A DOLLAR. I got six today (including two of the entrees, heh). I'm going to go back this weekend for a bit more. We buy these all the time anyway so this is 75% off of what we usually pay.
French's mustard is on sale for 89 cents, and there's a printable for 50 cents off, so it's free plus overage.
Kraft Sandwich Mayo is on sale - it's BOGO at $1.99. EASY to get this one free - just grab a yellow advantage flyer from the front of the store, because there's a $1 coupon right there. Technically this can be stacked with the recent manufacturers $1 coupon or used separately. I had 2 manu coupons and a bunch of advantage coupons, but I'm still unclear on how many Publix coupons I can use in a transaction, so I just used one and I got three bottles free. I plan to go back for more of this too, as it's low fat AND flavored. (The hot and spicy is NOT low fat though! Beware! Or don't...)
Breyers ice cream bars aren't the healthiest thing in the universe, but they're not awful either, and they're $1.19 after coupon.
Kraft salad dressing is on sale for $1.60, and there are $1 coupons, making it 60 cents a bottle. I actually prefer Publix brand, but for this cheap I'll switch.
Gardein is on sale for $3.50 a package, which is cheaper than it usually is (and it's delicious).
Cheeerios are $2 a box and there's a $1 coupon. (It may be a 50-cent-doubled, I can't remember offhand.) $1 a box for Cheerios rules.
Schick shaving gel is still $2 until July 2, and so Publix coupon + manufacturer's coupon = free.
Chinet napkins are $1.08 a pack for 90. There are $1 coupons on their website. 8 cents!

I think that's everything. HUGE thanks to I Heart Publix and CouponMom this week! [And somehow we still spent over $100 at the store - we saved $60 - because we bought disposable diapers since we're going on a trip (usually we use cloth), razor refills for my husband (although I pointed out he still has a bunch unopened, but hey, we had coupons and now he's well stocked), Vitatops (yum), coffee (on sale though!) and...some other randomness.)

Oh and I was VERY SAD to see that my Publix was out of the new Laughing Cow flavors. I hope they restock!!!!! The queso is soooooo goooood!

PS Vocalpoint sent me free samples of disposable diapers this week. However, there are several internet reports of children getting major rashes from this brand, so I'm trashing them. Sorry.

Confusing coupon policy

So I got an email from corporate of the grocery store I had issues with* today and it included the coupon policy for my region. I am not not NOT going to reproduce it here (you can easily get it if you email them) but I found parts of it confusing. My comments are in brackets and again, do note that this is NOT the full policy, I've edited it heavily.

*I also am not going to say the name of the store in this post - I don't want this to be a Google-able resource, just a place where I can vent. But if you read my blog, you'll figure out where this is for.

General coupon policy:
Only two (2) internet coupons per manufacturer, per product, per visit, per day are accepted. [So can I make multiple visits in one day? Not that I'd bother but...] [This does explain the drama I had long, long ago where I tried to use four Internet coupons for four boxes of the same cereal and the register beeped after two. The cashier and manager told me it was the wording on the coupon though - it was NOT - it was the store policy. Ugh.]
The amount refunded cannot exceed the price of the item. [What does "refunded" mean? Does this mean no overage? That's fine - overage is just a nice bonus - but it's so annoying when a coupon is for $1 and the item is on sale for 99 cents and so OMG you can't use it.]

ONLINE COUPONS versus PAPER COUPONS:
Customers may not use an online coupon and a paper coupon together for the same item.
The online coupon will always take priority over the paper coupon. Stacking is not allowed and will not work
[This seems to mean no stacking with Cellfire and the like - but it DOES work. They need to police this better or figure out a better system.]

PRINT-AT-HOME (PAH) COUPONS:
We do not accept "free product" printable coupons that have no purchase requirement. [The manager was right about this then.]
Buy-one-get-one-free coupons and other values that have a purchase requirement are acceptable but will be MUCH less common than traditional value-off coupons. [So the store manager was WRONG when she told me they don't take BOGO printables. What are they talking about with "much less common" though? I see BOGOs often. Does this mean if I use a printable BOGO they'll cite this rule and not accept it?]
We do not accept coupons for more than about 75% of a product's value without advance notice. [Huh? Arbitrary rule is arbitrary.]
Legitimate PAH coupons will not be for a high value relative to the cost of the item. For example, a $2.00 off coupon will be acceptable for a product that normally sells for $5.00 or more, but a $2.00 off printable coupon for a product that sells for $2.25 is unlikely to be legitimate. [This is so untrue - I've seen printables ALL THE TIME that are LEGIT that give a huge percentage discount. Usually that's when combined with a sale but still. This is bizarre and confusing and makes me feel like I'll be questioned again and again. Not worth my time.]

PAH coupons can be checked for validity at: http://www.printcoupons.com. [GREAT to know. Although what cashier or manager is going to be able to do this on the fly?]

So there's some of the policy. I'm still confused, but I'm going to print out the full email and bring it with me in my coupon folder. The email said they would send it to the regional manager to "educate his staff" or something. So that's good...ish...

Freebies in the mail today

A coupon for a free bottle of Suave professional shampoo or conditioner (wouldn't it be fabulous if CVS had a sale with ECBs for this? But it expires 7/31 so probably not...)
A free box of DaVinci cheese tortellini (yum)

Free mayo at Publix, spending down the ECBs at CVS

First, I wrote an article for Examiner.com about how to get free Kraft Sandwich Shop mayo at Publix - I'd love it if you'd read it.

Today I went out and bought two Sunday papers for $1 each from the guy who sells them on the street. That's all well and good, but when I got home I found out that both were missing the RedPlum circular. ARGH.

So I drove to CVS and spent my soon-to-expire $5 ECB on a single paper (making sure it had the RP in it before I paid), a roll of paper towels, and a card for someone. I paid 65 cents and I got back $1 for my Green Bag Tag. I always feel kind of funny fully spending my ECBs, but I earned them in order to get more great deals and this year I'm trying to be more relaxed about them. I had an expiring $3 also that I used last week to get the free toothpaste and a $1 box of Wheat Thins (should've gotten a Powerbar instead I guess).

In other deals (is anyone reading this?) I bought myself a GPS for over 60% off its retail price from Amazon (this one: Garmin nüvi 1350/1350T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic). And thanks to Half Off Depot, I now have half-price tickets to both the children's museum and the zoo. I love all the half-price sites that have popped up SO much. I also have a gift certificate for a local restaurant that I got for almost 60% off (if only we could find time to use it!) and another certificate for a shop that sells dried fruit, nuts, and candy - $25 for $10. Love it!

Bad experience with printables at Kroger

I just feel the need to blog about this because it's annoying and embarrassing and I'm tired of it happening, but it's an industry problem that needs to be fixed on a larger scale.

Today I went to Kroger with three printable coupons that were, obviously, all legit. Two for Goldfish crackers and one for Almond Breeze. I bought exactly those three things and handed over the coupons. The cashier looked sideways at me and said in a very rude manner "You printed these yourself? We don't take these. We don't take these because you printed them."

I am not good at handling these sorts of situations, but I told her I'd used one the day before (she said "At THIS store?!") and that Kroger corporate policy is to take them (which I admit, I am not positive about - I have emailed Kroger for clarification). I then said "I don't want any of the items if I can't use the coupons" which she sighed heavily at. She finally consented to call a manager, rolling her eyes as she did so and as I said "I want to know for the future, so I know not to bring them again." And a manager strolled over, smiled, and said oh yes, we take them, we just don't take coupons for "free" stuff or buy-one-get-one-free coupons. (Mine were for 50 cents and 55 cents.) So the girl said oh, fine, wouldn't look at me, and scanned my coupons.

COMPANIES! You MUST figure something out so that legitimate users of printable coupons do not get treated like criminals. Ugh. I know it's easy to forge and/or copy a printable coupon, but someone with a color printer at home could rather easily do the same with a newspaper coupon if s/he wanted to.

But it's more about how I've been treated when using these legitimate coupons. There's a way to say "I'm sorry ma'am, I am not sure if we take these, let me ask a manager" instead of being nasty and rude to me. There's a way to say "We've changed our policy" and to apologize for any inconvenience.

I'll still use printables - the deals are just too valuable to me. But I'm not planning on going back to this particular Kroger store again.

Thanks for the free tea, Kroger!

I played the Kroger Summer of Savings game and won a free box of Tazo tea! So I went tonight and picked up a box of the "Calm" blend, as well as two bags of Goldfish crackers that were on sale 4/$5 (wish I'd gotten the recent printable to print, but it wouldn't work!). Woohoo! And they say there will be a second chance drawing/contest in a few weeks. You can log in and play once a day and the instant prizes are pretty good and will be loaded directly onto your Kroger card.

CVS - Summary for my other card

So as I've said numerous times, I don't like juggling two CVS cards (I have my own, but when I started the "experiment" two years ago, I started fresh with my husband's card and phased mine out over time). But I got $5 in ECBs for doing a survey, and that's totally free money.

So with that $5 plus less than $3 in cash (most of it covering sales tax) I got (over multiple transactions of course):
1 Cover Girl lip gloss (my preferred brand)
2 bottles of Old Spice body wash
1 Schick razor (my husband's preferred brand)
3 Powerbars (they'll come in handy on an upcoming road trip)
4 boxes of Nescafe single-serving coffee (7 packs per box) (I like these)
1 bag of 20 Cascade Action Pacs (our preferred brand)

I daresay that's not bad at all! And now I have zero on my other card again and can focus on ONE card.

Get Rich Slowly on the Internet - A Guide to My Favorite Sites

I find myself telling my friends the same thing over and over, so I'm going to make this into a post that I can email to them. If it helps you, please leave a comment!

My favorite sites to find out about deals/sales/coupons/savings:
http://www.couponmom.com - my most-checked site, she breaks down the sales for all major grocery stores plus Target, CVS, Walgreens, and more, and matches up coupons. She sticks to coupons in circulars and the occasional printable from coupons.com or smartsource.com, but this makes it MUCH easier to handle.
http://www.moneysavingmom.com - my second-most-checked site. If there's a freebie out there, she probably knows about it. If there's a sale, she'll tell you about it. There's a new feature of the site that breaks down coupon matchups/sales for individual stores around the country, and those DO go further than the circulars and easy printables.
http://www.iheartcvs.com - Want to shop CVS? This is the best site for info.
http://www.iheartpublix.com - a new discovery - she has matchups for Publix sales, makes separate posts for the best deals of the week, notes new coupons, lists recipes, and more!

My favorite sites to make a bit of money (NOT A LOT) or to earn gift certificates or free stuff:
http://www.youdata.com - pays you to click on ads that are targeted to your interests. No minimum payout, pays to PayPal each week. Note that lately I haven't gotten any ads at all, but in the past I've gotten about 50 cents a week. Not bad for just a few seconds of time, and I've really enjoyed the websites I've found through the site.
http://www.swagbucks.com - a search engine that awards "bucks" randomly as you search and also awards them for viewing offers or other things. You can earn between 10 and 30 bucks a day with minor effort, and 450 bucks is a $5 Amazon gift card. I've earned about $400 in gift cards over time, so yes, it's worth it. Just use it for your regular searching!
https://www.mysurvey.com/ - points for taking surveys, cash rewards.
http://www.bzzagent.com - they'll send you full-sized products to try out and then "Bzz" about (talk about with others on and offline). Usually you get high-value coupons too.
http://www.vocalpoint.com - they'll randomly send you samples or even full-sized products to try, plus coupons.
http://www.mypoints.com - emails with click-throughs that are worth a few points, plus a site through which you can click to get to sites on which you shop. I've earned hundreds of dollars in Amazon gift cards here too. I suggest setting up a folder in your email box and filtering all their emails to it so you can click through at your leisure. If you want to sign up, I'd love it if you'd use me as a referral - just comment with your email address and I'll send you an email through the site. (They don't do referral links.)

I'll add to and update this post periodically. I know I've made posts like this in the past, but I've finally set it up so I can find this one easily and refer back to it!

Publix - Free Baileys coffee creamer and Muir Glen tomato sauce, and free isn't always worth it

Yes, I have been going to the grocery store a lot lately. That should slow down enormously soon.

At Publix tonight I spent $33 (before tax) and saved $25.50. Nice.

I got the free Baileys coffee creamer - it was BOGO at $2.09, I used two $1 coupons and one Publix store coupon for 55 cents off. (I'm still not 100% sure about using more than one Publix store coupon at a time, but I only had one with me anyway and figured it was still free+overage - and I don't like to be greedy!)
I also got more free Muir Glen tomato sauce - 89 cents for the can, use the $1 printable. It still stings that I got yelled at for doing this once at a different Publix, but whatever, it's a legitimate purchase and I don't go to that Publix anymore so there.
Plus I got Laughing Cow cheese for $1.50 each (on sale 3/$6, I got 4, used two $1/2 coupons from a tearpad on the display woohoo - this stuff lasts forever and ever so it's worth stocking up), I found the "Eat This" type of tortillas (I got a copy of Eat This Not That for about 15 cents at a yard sale last year), and I decided that since I was getting some nice overage, I'd try Vitalicious Vitatops. They're not terribly priced - I was expecting them to cost more but they're $4.49 for four. If I like them, I'll probably only buy them if I either have a coupon (which apparently is a rare thing) or overage (which I can often get at least a little of with the Muir Glen deal that happens periodically).

Meanwhile, Kraft sent me six try-me-free coupons via their First Taste program - I mentioned this in an earlier post. I gave away the shaved meat coupon, as I'm vegetarian. And then I went tonight to get the rest - well, the Kool Aid fizzies have aspartame (which I refuse to ingest) (I also try to avoid other artificial sweeteners as best as I can) and the Crackerfuls have HFCS (I try very hard to avoid this), so I skipped them both. I forgot to look for the DiGiorno pizza (I hope it doesn't have trans fat or HFCS) and the 100-calorie cheese bites (which are processed cheese but which I will consider getting since, well, I eat tons of Laughing Cow...). I did get the Homestyle mac and cheese - the ingredient list is really long and probably contains some of the above, but it's also mac and cheese - and since it's shelf-stable/nonperishable, I could donate it. Remember, I *try* to avoid these things... ;) I think I will try to trade these high-value coupons though, because I know not everyone cares about food additives in the way I do. But just because it's free doesn't mean I'll automatically grab it.

ETA: I've found a good home for the other free coupons. The breadcrumbs in the Homestyle mac and cheese have partially hydrogenated soybean oil, so we're going to just make it without them. Remember, just because a package says 0% trans fat does NOT mean it doesn't have trans fat. My chewable Rolaids that I got for free at CVS a few weeks ago have hydrogenated oil in them!

More free e-coupon money!

Despite a few glitches/slowness/weirdness on the website, I scored today's Cellfire Cinderella coupon - $5 off my next purchase of $5.01 or more at Kroger! I love e-coupons - no need to bring a thing with me if I don't want to, but I also can combine them with paper coupons if I do want to!

Now...what to get? It expires in 3 days. Hmmmm.

Free stuff in the mail - June 16, 2010

Six coupons for free products from Kraft: shaved meat (which I'm giving away since I'm a vegetarian), pizza, Kool Aid fizzies, Homestyle mac&cheese (second freebie of this one), Crackerfuls, and 100 calorie "cheese" (I shouldn't turn my nose up at it though - I'm the Laughing Cow fan after all!).
One big lovely reusable bag from Earthbound Farms, plus coupons.

I tried the Laughing Cow mozzarella and tomato flavor today. I just ate it by itself - I think it really needs something else to complement it, whether a cracker or melted over pasta/shirataki noodles. The tomato was stronger than I expected, but overall it was good. I'm excited to try the queso one next, and I'm really glad I found those $1/2 coupons on the display...

Kroger - Cheap stuff, plus Shortcuts has great customer service!

I walked over to the small Kroger near my house because I had a coupon and a Shortcuts coupon for both Blue Diamond Almond Breeze and Fiber One. The Almond Breeze is on sale this week for $1.99, so in my head that meant I would get it for 44 cents ($1 paper coupon, 55 cent Shortcuts coupon). I didn't know how much the Fiber One was but I figured I could get a decent deal since the paper coupon was expiring.

I didn't realize that the Annie's mac and cheese was part of the 10/$10 sale too, so I grabbed 4 boxes of that. The Fiber One turned out to be $4.29 - so $2.74 after coupons. I decided that was a reasonable deal - I want to try using it ground up as a coating for onion rings and soy-chicken tenders ala Hungry Girl - but next time around I'm waiting for a good sale.

So. All was well, but the 55 cent Shortcuts coupon for the Almond Breeze didn't come off (though the Fiber One did). I went on Shortcuts.com, filled out the dispute form, and within about 60 seconds I had a reply that my account had been credited 60 cents! So now I have 60 cents off of...anything. I'm amused that I'm that excited about 60 cents.

So my plan is to go back and get one more box of Annies for 40 cents! Hooray! (A dollar for the Almond Breeze is still an amazing deal - wish I could find my other coupon but it seems I either used it or lost it, boo.)

Also today I signed up on Facebook for a free box of DaVinci pasta - I'm pretty sure the offer has now ended, but I'm really excited to get it! Free pasta yay!

CVS and Publix - Free stuff and savings!

I went to CVS with $4.99 on "my" card. First, I got another Covergirl Wet Slicks lipgloss and a Powerbar and used $4 and a $2 coupon. The cashier adjusted down my ECB without problems, and I paid about 40 cents OOP. Got back $3 and 99 cents. Then used those plus the other 99 cents and a BOGO coupon to get two bottles of Old Spice bodywash and another Powerbar. Paid about 60 cents OOP, got back $8.99. Not bad at all.

Then Publix. I found two out of the three new Laughing Cow flavors - hooray! They were $2.99 each, the "regular" flavors were $2 each. The display had $1/2 coupons on it, and I got four (two new, two regular). I also got Skinny Cow bars for $1.50 and then a bunch of other deals I won't bore you with. We spent less than $50 and saved around $30.

Does anyone know a) if I can use more than one of one type of Publix coupon in a transaction? I actually have done this once but I'm not sure how legit that was... and b) how long the Laughing Cow is on sale 3/$6? (I forgot to check, it's not listed in the Advantage or regular sale flyers.)

Next week, Publix has Baileys creamers on BOGO so they're $1.05 each. I have $1 printables! And a 55 cent Publix coupon! (Thus the question - could I get two Baileys and use two $1s and two 55 cents Publix coupons for mega overage?) I could go crazy with creamers because I also have a BOGO for International Delight and then a 55 cent Publix coupon for those...I do love flavored coffee!

CVS - More free stuff

I really hate juggling two cards, and I've more or less retired "my" card at this point, though my husband keeps it on his keyring and occasionally gets ECBs (mostly quarterly) that we...forget to use. BLASPHEMY I know.

Anyway, as I think I mentioned already, I did a survey (long ago I signed that card up for surveys) and got $5 in ECBs. Totally free money, so...tonight I got another Schick razor and a Powerbar. I used the $5 Schick coupon and the $5 in ECBs and nothing seemed to beep, my pre-tax total was negative 4 cents, and I got back a $4 and a 99 cent ECB. My plan is to next take the $4 and get another Covergirl lipgloss and another Powerbar. I'll get back $3 and 99 cents from that. And for my grand finale, use both of those to do the BOGO Old Spice/Gillette deal. So I'll wind up with $8.99 from my original $5. Not bad. And then...probably just spend the $8.99 on stuff we need.

Meanwhile, I gave my husband $4.99 from my usual card and he got some children's ibuprofen for $4.99. Only paid sales tax. I still have plenty of ECBs on that card and not enough time to juggle everything so this was a great deal for me.

I'm hoping to also hit Publix for free shaving gel and to look (yes, I have a one-track mind) for those Laughing Cow flavors. And to see how much tofu shiratake is there as well - that stuff is pretty good, low calorie, filling, but also $1.79 at the two places I've found it so far, and that's a bit steep for a little snack....