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Rad Gifts for Mom from ModCloth!

Abby H.

**The links in this post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.

ModCloth

Did you know that Mother’s Day is May 8th? I didn’t until I got an email from ModCloth with some cute presents for Mom. So, I thought I’d share!

In addition to the cute items below (which any mom would love to get), ModCloth is currently having a couple really great sales.

 

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This cute deep sea diver tea infuser! Perfect for the tea drinking mama on your list!

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The Star Wars Cookbook Kit-A  cookbook and three awesome cook cutters. Mom will be ready to whip a batch for her Padawan learners in no time.

 

And my last favorite gift for Mother’s Day from ModCloth:

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 11.22.35 PMThe Hydrated and Mighty water bottle. I am a sucker for a good water bottle- and who doesn’t like Mandalas!

Anyway, regardless of who you are shopping for this spring- whether it be a mother, sister, aunt, or even yourself, don’t forget to stop at ModCloth and see what kind of awesome deals they have on clothes, gifts, housewares and more!

How do you get so much free stuff?

Abby H.2 Comments

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 11.31.34 PMIf you’ve been around for a while, you may notice I post photos on Social media- a lot of it is stuff I’ve gotten for free.

If you’d like to fill your mail box with goodies, here are a few companies that have great, FREE programs where you can earn free stuff!

L’oreal USA: The makeup Giant wants women from across the United States 18+ to join and take surveys on products, daily skin care regimens, and test new products . When you take 5 surveys, you are eligible to receive a full sized L’oreal product (Of their choice)! They also do consumer product testing. They send you a product, you test it and complete a survey.

Vocal Point is a multi-faceted website. One of its greater aspects is that it’s connected to Proctor and Gamble (P&G), and they often times have new or improved products to test and share with consumers. The members of Vocal Point can opt in to receive these items, and them share their opinions with other members of the Vocal Point community.

The Good Housekeeping Beauty Lab: The Beauty Lab needs female testers age 35 and up to help in our evaluations of beauty products. Some evaluations may require testers to visit the Good Housekeeping Research Institute at 300 West 57th Street in Manhattan, but for other evaluations, products can be sent by mail. There is no cost and very little time involved, and participants may keep beauty product samples.” If you’re interested in participating, please contact ghribeauty@hearst.com or 212-649-2408.  I do 1-2

Bzzagent A WOM (word of mouth) website that helps spread the word on tons of great products. Sign up for campaigns when there are products that interest you, use them, and share your opinions (as well as coupons and samples!) with others in person or via the Internet. This sharing is called “buzz”, and the more you buzz and report your buzz, you earn Mypoints points, and chances for early invitations for more campaigns. I’ve been a Bzzagent for about four year, and I receive about eight campaigns per year.

Smiley360  is much like BzzAgent, in that it is also a WOM (Word of Mouth) website. Sign up for campaigns and you will receive samples to use, and coupons to share with friends. Report your sharing and earn points!
From their website, “Do you love to try new things? Haven’t you ever tried a new product and thought, “This would be so much better if…” Well, as a smiley360.com member, you can provide that kind of feedback directly to the source. Your opinion matters. And as a fringe benefit, you’ll earn status in the smiley360.com community, which has its own perks, rewards, and opportunities. It’s a win-win situation, really.”

Moms Meet- Read my post here.

Ralph’s Free Friday Download– Learn more here (one of their prior offerings that has info on the post about the program).

There are websites like MySavings that have a free sample section that is updated several times a day.

PinchMe offers free sample boxes once a Month- some months there are tons of samples, some months not so much, it just depends on your demographic and what they have.

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) offers samples once per quarter. Sign up here.

Legoland California: Special $35 tickets this weekend only!

Abby H.

unnamedCommunity Days This Weekend!
$35 Admission to LEGOLAND

Support our local science, arts and after school programs this Saturday and Sunday!

Specially-priced $35 LEGOLAND tickets include admission with Park hours extended to 8 p.m. for even more family fun!

Buy your tickets online here. You can also get tickets to the SEALife Aquarium at Legoland for just $9!!

This event is very crowded, so please remember to be patient!

Free Snackies at 7-11!!

Abby H.

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SQUEEE!!! Free noms! Celebrate 7RewardsSM Week April 11–17. Come in for a FREE 7-Select® product (under $2) when you buy any 7-Eleven® cup and scan the app.

Oh yeah, the 7/11 app is rad! Buy 6 cups (hot or cold beverage- Any size!), and any 7th cup is FREE when you download and scan the app at checkout.

Better than free shampoo at Target!

Abby H.

IMG_4385WOOOHOOO!!

Just as my stockpile starts to dwindle, my fav shampoo and conditioner comes up free! Through Saturday night (remember, Target sales start anew on Sunday morning), when you buy 4 13 oz Garnier Fructis Shampoo and conditioners at $2.97 each, you’ll get a $5.00 Target GC. It’s all of the 13 oz varieties, I just took a photo of this one shelf tag.

Deal:

Buy 4 13 oz Garnier Fructis Shampoo and conditioners at $2.97 each= $11.88

Use 4 $2.00/1Garnier Frucits Shampoo, Conditioner or Treatment (excludes trial) – from the 3/6/16 Red Plum

Pay $3.88, get back a $5.00 Target Gift card for your next purchase. Now that’s a deal!

I bought 4 (the coupon limit on the coupon is 4 like coupons per day), but I may buy 4 more tomorrow when I go back to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription! It’s deals like this that help me re-stock my dwindling stockpile.

50% off at Schoola!

Abby H.

14_MAR_SpringBreak_HERO_Blogger

SQUEE! It’s back! 50% off at Schoola!  Just use Coupon Code  SPRINGBRK at checkout. And in addition, if you are new to Schoola, they are offering $20 free and free shipping when you sign up here.

In addition to offering awesome gently worn kids clothes, Schoola also gives a percentage (40%) of each sale to a school. So you can feel good twice: Once while your saving $$, and again because you are helping support a school in need.

To get started, click here. And I can’t wait to see what you have scored!

6 Tips to Save Money WITHOUT Clipping Coupons!

Abby H.4 Comments

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Trust me, it can be done! There are lots of people who ask me about saving money, but they announce that they don’t want to bother with clipping coupons. They either lose them, forget them, or are embarrassed to use them. That’s ok. There are still ways to save money!

Here are a few:

  1. Use money saving apps. My list of favs (and links) is here. I use these in addition to coupons and I save a ton. I was at Target buying shampoos and body wash the other day. After coupons and other discounts, I paid $14.86. After submitting my receipts to Ibotta and SavingStar, I got back and extra $7.99 in my paypal account!
  2. Don’t forget your loyalty card! Some stores like Vons, Ralphs, heck even Best Buy have loyalty cards. Some offer discounts on the spot, and some accrue discounts to more you shop and scan your card!
  3. Don’t forget your discount! Some stores offer discounts to military, teachers, and peace officers. And if you are a senior citizen there area plethora of discounts waiting for you!
  4. Buy what’s on sale! If you have a choice between an item that’s on sale versus an item that is full price that is comparable size….
  5. Check out the Price per Unit to see what is the best deal. Bigger isn’t always better!
  6. Reusable bags can net you some savings….In addition to helping Mother Earth, some stores (like Target and Sprouts) offer a discount of .05 per re-usable bag used. A nickel isn’t a lot of money, but over a year, they can sure add up! I use between 5-10 bags each time I shop.

 

Price Per Unit: Is Bigger Better?

Abby H.4 Comments

random-aisle-photos 013The price per unit helps you determine if the jumbo sized drum of applesauce is a better deal than a regular sized jar. How to determine the price per ounces is easy, most of the time stores do it for you! Take a look at the shelf tag- it should give you a price per unit, usually in ounces (oz.) or pounds (lb.).

If the price per ounce/pound on the larger container is smaller, then it is a good deal. When comparing, make sure both containers are using the same unit of measurement

Here is an example of what the shelf tags can look like:

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The majority of shelf tags will list:

  • The Item
  • The size of the container (in ounces, pounds, or units)
  • The Price of the item
  • The price per unit (in ounces, pounds or units)

This is also a great strategy to see if the store brand or a brand that isn’t your usual brand is a better deal than what you normally buy.

If your store doesn’t have shelf tags that break down the price per unit, here is how you can figure it out- I recommend using a calculator.

Take the price of the item and divide it by the number of ounces/lbs/units in the package.

Let’s use for our example the Uncle Ben’s Buttery Ready Rice, pictured above on the left.

$1.93 divided by 8.8 ounces equals .219, which is 21.9¢ per ounce.

If you keep a Price Book, you might want to  include a space for unit price, you would write 21.9¢ in the Unit Price Column. You can round up, or leave it as a fraction of a cent, to get an exact price for comparison. Learn more about price books here.

My trip to Target, or how you can find savings everywhere!

Abby H.
Seriously, this little face loves to shop!
Seriously, this little face loves to shop!

Last night, Bitty Bird and I headed over to Target to pick up a few things. Armed with my smartphone and a fistful of coupons, we were determined to save some dollar bills!

While browsing the aisles, checking the Cartwheel app for more savings, I was stopped by two college guys (they were wearing SDSU basketball jerseys) who asked me about bacon (why was the bigger package cheaper? Answer- it was a loss leader for the week! Come in for cheap bacon, fill your cart with full price groceries). Then they asked me what I was doing scanning everything with my phone.

Thus began a quick lesson in the middle of the grocery section of Target on how to save money.

First I told them basically everything I mention here.

But really, I told them, what you need is Cartwheel. Target Cartwheel is any Target shoppers best friend. It’s the best app! With that app, I can scan products and it will tell me if there is a discount available for that item. If there is, with one quick swipe, the discount is added to your cartwheel account. At checkout, present your smartphone to the cashier, with the Cartwheel app open, the barcode is scanned, and the savings is instant!

One thing not mentioned in my previous Target post is that Target now has these awesome text coupons. There are signs all over the store so you won’t miss out if you keep your eyes open. Like this week text CARE to Target (827438) to save $5 off a $20 or more purchase on personal care items. These text coupons work just like cartwheel. Pull up the text, click the link, and present the barcode to the cashier at checkout. These coupons are stackable with store sales, manufacturer paper coupons, and cartwheel deals too.

They ended up saving about $25 between Cartwheel, the text codes they found while in the store, a couple coupons found on products (and a few I gave them), and the rebate apps I hooked them up with (you can see my favs here).

Saving money doesn’t have to involve tons of work, hours of clipping coupons, or being “that lady” (or guy, there are couponing dude too).

And for what it’s worth, after my coupons, codes and Cartwheel, I saved over thirty bucks! My bill went from $86 for $53! It’s not sorcery- It’s smart shopping. It’s your money, spend (and save) it wisely!

 

Recipe: Honey Lemon Ginger Syrup

Abby H.1 Comment

P1050863I’m no doctor, but I do know that when we don’t feel good, nothing is more soothing than lemon and honey.

IMG_3602I recently made a very soothing syrup, and I had to share it with you. I put 1/3 cup of the syrup in the bottom of a coffee mug and pour boiling water over it. I have been drinking a mug full twice a day.

It’s quick and easy to make!

Ingredients:

  • 2 C honey (real honey, none of that honey flavored syrup junk!)
  • Juice of 10-12 lemons (reserve two lemons and chop them up)
  • A Thumb sized knob of ginger, peeled and sliced

Directions:

  1. In a saucepan, combine the honey, juice, and ginger.
  2. In a jar with a screw on lid, pack in reserved chopped up lemon pieces.
  3. Cook on low for about 20 minutes. Do Not boil!
  4. Pour honey mixture over lemons.
  5. Screw lid on and let sit on counter until it reaches room temperature.
  6. Store in the fridge.
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Waiting for yummy syrup!
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Hunks of ginger

If you’re looking for the science behind all of this, Lemons contain a lot of vitamin C! Honey is very soothing and coats a sore throat. Remember that honey should not be consumed by anyone under 12 months of age. And ginger contains anti-oxidants.