Couponing: Real Savings, Real Money!!

Even though I was raised in a couponing house, I did not understand their savings power. I would use coupons every now and then, whenever I had one, but otherwise...never.


Thanks to Extreme Couponers both nationwide and locally, I became curious. I was beginning to see all their savings and my favorite: the free stuff!! I figured if folks were getting items for free, I wanted to be in line and when I learn something, I love to share it with anyone who is willing to listen.


Look at the picture below. This was so real for me. If you have ever doubted the power of couponing, this should make you a believer!! If you're not using coupons, you need to get on board because...

Coupons = Money

                                            

$6.00 for 1               $4.00 for all

For more savings, tips and freebies, 

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23 Ways to Recycle Your Stuff

Just passing on a list I received a few years ago!! Declutter away!! Feel free to share your recycling tips too!!   23 things that maybe you didn't know you could recycle 1. Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances  http://www.goodwill .org or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them. 800/YES-1-CAN, http://www.recycle- steel.org 2. Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110, http://www.batteryrecycling. com or drop them off at Best Buy 3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women's shelters to see if they can use them. If your workplace collects at least 100 boxes or more each month, http://www.UsedCardboardBoxes.com accepts them for resale. 4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CDs, DVDs, and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to AuralTech for refinishing, and they'll work like new: 888/454-3223, http://www.auraltech.com 5. Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or shelter. Donate wearable women's business clothing to Dress for Success, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, 212/532-1922, http://www.dressforsuccess.org Offer unwearable clothes and towels to local animal boarding and shelter facilities, which often use them as pet bedding. Consider holding a clothes swap at your office, school, faith congregation or community center. Swap clothes with friends and colleagues, save money on a new fall wardrobe and back-to-school clothes - then donate the rest. 6. Compact fluorescent bulbs: Take them to your local IKEA store for recycling: http://www.ikea.com 7. Compostable bio-plastics: You probably won't be able to compost these in your home compost bin or pile. Find a municipal composter to take them to at http://www.findacomposter.com 8. Computers and electronics: Find the most responsible recyclers, local and national, at http://www.ban.org/pledge/Locations. html 9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others at http://www.videofitness.com 10. Eyeglasses: Your local Lion's Club or eye care chain may collect these. Lenses are reground and given to people in need. Also, donate to  http://neweyesfortheneedy.org/  11. Foam Packing peanuts: Your local pack-and-ship store will likely accept these for reuse. Or, call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site: 800/828-2214. For places to drop off foam blocks for recycling, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, 410/451-8340, http://www.epspacka ging.org/ info.html 12. Ink/toner cartridges: http://www.Recycleplace.com pays $1/each. 13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items into the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local http://www.Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org or try giving them away at http://www.Throwplace.com or giving or selling them at http://www.iReuse.com will also help you find a recycler, if possible, when your items have reached the end of their useful lifecycle. 14. Oil: Find Used Motor Oil Hotlines for each state: 202/682-8000, http://www.recycleo il.org 15. Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your phone and sell it to someone in a developing country: 770/856-9021, http://www.collectivegood.com Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: http://www.donateaphone.com Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, http://www.reclamere.com 16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, http://www.playitagainsports. com 17. "Technotrash" : Easily recycle all of your CDs, jewel cases, DVDs, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single-use batteries, PDAs, and ink/toner cartridges with GreenDisk's Technotrash program. For $30, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship them up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as shipping and recycling fees. 800/305-GREENDISK, http://www.greendisk.com 18. Tennis shoes: Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. http://www.nikereus eashoe.com One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti. http://www.oneworld running.com 19. Toothbrushes and razors: Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline, and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber. Recycline products are made from used Stonyfield Farms' yogurt cups. 888/354-7296, http://www.recycline.com 20. Tyvek envelopes: Quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Spot 197, Room 231,Richmond, VA 23234. Quantities larger than 25, call 866/33-TYVEK. 21. CDs/DVDs/Videogames /Books: At http://www.swaptree .com List your item(s) you want to trade and you'll receive an email when someone else wants your item in exchange for another item. Just drop your unwanted item in the mail and wait for your "new" item to come to you. 22. Wire Hangers: Take them to your local cleaners. They will take them and reuse them. 23. Stuff you just can't recycle: When practical, send such items back to the manufacturer and tell them they need to manufacture products that close the waste loop responsibly.

Free Shopping Always Makes Me Feel Better!!

Hey folks!!

It was a pretty frugal weekend!! I passed out coupons at the restaurant where we hosted our monthly Book Club meeting. Shout out to Diva's Book Club 2011!! Great discussion and great times!!

On the way home...issues with my car. I prayed to make it home and vowed I wouldn't go anywhere else in it until it was checked out on Monday. So my Sunday was SUPER frugal!! Not only was it a beautiful, peaceful day, it was just what I needed to sit and write, read and finish some pending projects. On top of that I cooked, so it was a win/win. I couldn't forget about my Sunday paper coupon inserts, so I walked to the store. Exercised for FREE!!

So, this morning was the moment of truth for this car. Lights blinked, bells dinged and the car screeched all the way across town to the dealer. I'd just gotten a recall notice for something in the car too, so at least I'd be getting SOME free maintenance. Poor Pali, my car, (whose full name is Paid Off Pali) came into the garage shrieking and smoking, but she made it. She stayed all day and came out purring with no annoying message light warnings. Then the bill came...even with a discount...whomp, whomp, whomp.

I'm truly grateful to have her back up and running and I headed to Kroger for some Free Shopping. I shopped only clearance and since my coupon was twice the value of the item, I grabbed a few dented cans, and Kroger still paid me 0.11 for that trip. Free does indeed taste good!!

Free Kroger Stuff-03/16/12

Hey folks,

Just checking in with my free stuff!! Hit up Kroger and cleaned up!! See pic below. The veggies are for us and were both free due to an error on the cashier's end. She was very sweet and didn't quite understand the sale in conjunction with my Buy 1, Get 1 Free coupon and ended up crediting more than the sale price. Thanks Linda!!

The beauty items were free with my coupons; the Suave was was on sale for less than my coupon and the Clairol was on CLEARANCE. Those both equal FREE to me!! Great donation items!!

My Free Stuff this Week!! 03/04-03/10

Just sharing my abundant week!! My cup runneth over and I have a bunch to donate!!

Couponing is great and giving is greater!! Here's the free stuff I got this week. I'll be donating most of the items to a women's shelter!! Someone shared the coupons with me, so it's only right that I share the goods!! Take a look!!

Money Saving at Meijer!!

It's been a very frugalicious month for me so far!! I'm learning more than I expected...and I expected to learn alot. Between watching the sales, doing store/price match ups and gathering my free items, I am overwhelmed, but in a good way. I am really getting the hang of this.

My confession...I don't want to purchase the Sunday paper...I've already been spoiled, thinking I should get everything for free!! After all, I am the Frugalicious Diva!! LOL

Anyway, per the advice of all my coupon mentors, I have just about mastered the coupon quirks and policies for two stores: Kroger and Walmart. There are so many of them easily accessible to me and I like their coupon policies the best. Walmart allows unlimited coupons and pays overage when the coupon is more than the item. While Kroger does neither of those, they double coupons and has great deals you can get on a Kroger savings card!!

Which brings me to what I'm excited about this week. MEIJER!! Besides a few mystery shopping jobs I had there a few years ago, I never really had a reason to go there. It' s a little out of the way and it's expensive in my opinion, but with the couponing blogs finding out about the deals, I think I'm getting on board. I stopped in  initially to check out the clearance racks...it's no Kroger and I found nodda. Food-wise, the only thing on clearance are the baked goods they had to many of yesterday...boo.

One YAY for them is their savings program: mPerks. It's a card, just like Kroger; you can load ecoupons, just like Kroger; you can save, just like Kroger...well kind of. While you can load ecoupons from their website, Kroger allows you to use either the ecoupon OR a manufacturer/printable coupon. With mPerks, you can stack the ecoupon (already on your card) with your physical coupons, which adds to the savings!! Meijer also doubles coupons, but only the first two, but still honors the face value of all your other coupons.

Meijer wants you to get on board too, so when you sign up for your mPerks, which only requires your cell phone number (no physical card to carry around), they automatically give you $2.00 to spend in the store. The drawback is be ready to save THAT day, as it's the only day it's valid. So don't miss out (like I did), use your money and get your savings. Sign up here: Meijer mPerks

Here was my first shopping trip with Meijer Deals. I saved $5.56!! I paid a total of $5.00 even!! All the gum was FREE!!