Mailbox Monday 3/14/2011

Welcome to Mailbox Monday in conjunction with Afrugalfriend.net. Please click the button at the bottom of my post to join in the fun.

Being in the house for the first week, I think I got lots of mail! Some did still go to his sister's house, and my hausernet mail goes to my mom's house.


Magazines:

Sports Illustrated
2-Time
2-Entertainment Weekly
People
Bloomsburg Businessweek



Other mail:

Prilosec, Pantene and Head & Shoulders samples from Proctor & Gamble
Home Made Simple coupon booklet
$11.49 refund check from World's Best Cat Litter
Kitchen Scale from gsn.com
Book-Pat Cooper How Dare You Say How Dare Me from SquareOne Publishers
6 other pieces of hausernet mail
Johnsonville Italian Sausage campaign kit--which included 3 free coupons and 3-$1.50 off coupons.
Cheez-It sample bags---oops already ate them and recycled the box, so they aren't pictured.

In my email:

$5 paypal from gather to do the Pine Sol review
$10 amazon from mysurvey.com
$8 paypal from beezag
$30 paypal from gather



Woo Hoo!!!! I would take this kind of week every week!!

Drugstore Bootstrap Challenge Week 1

I have decided to take part in the Drugstore Bootstrap challenge for the month of February.  The challenge is posted by Frugal Follies and you can find the post here.

We only have Walgreen's here.

My Rules:

1.  I can spend no more than $10 out of pocket the whole month.

2.  Sales tax does not count in the $10 total.

3.  I can start with the $5 in register rewards that I have on hand.

4.  I can use any coupons that I can, and they also do not count in the total, as the total is just out of pocket.

So....I made my first trip this week for the month.  I had $5 total is register rewards on hand from my last trip last month.

I did 2 transactions.  I didn't intend to do 2, but it worked out better anyway.  I couldn't find one thing that I wanted so while I waited on the manager to fetch it for me I went ahead and checked out.

Transaction #1:

Arnicare Gel, on sale for $5.99, used $2 coupon, got back $6 in register rewards. (money maker!)
Natrol Melatonin, on sale for $3, got back $3 in register rewards (there was supposed to be a coupon for this, but par for the course, I sure didn't have one in my file box.)
2- Nestle Butterfinger Snackers--regularly .89 each--I used a $1/2 coupon and then gave them the Walgreen's coupon taking off another .81 (money maker!)


I paid just $1.77 (not including sales tax) and got back $9 in register rewards.  I used the $5 in register rewards that I had on hand.


Transaction #2:


Icy Hot Vapor Gel--on sale for $3.99,  I used $3 of my register rewards from transaction #1.


I paid .99 (not including sales tax)

Running total out of pocket for the month:  $2.76 

I feel I am starting out pretty well and should be able to meet the challenge.


Until next week----Happy shopping and saving!!

I went home with $9 total in register rewards to use on my next trip.

 

 

Mailbox Monday 1/3/2011

This past week I rec'd: (sorry no photo this week)
Magazines:  Time, People, and Lego Club
3 pieces of hausernet mail
Book--If God is Good from blogging for books to read and review
Post-It tab samples and $1 coupon
Coupon for free bag of Food Should Taste Good bag
Pall Mall Cigarette coupons
McDonald's coupons
Burt's Bees body lotion sample and 1 coupon

In my email:  $10 paypal from gather

I need to get back on track sending for freebies this new year!
 

Mailbox Monday 12/20/10

Mail's been good this week again.
Magazines:
People
Time
Sports Illustrated
Entertainment Weekly
Good Housekeeping
Newsweek
Other mail:
Spent (book) redeemed for with pointsandprizes.com
Birdseye .50 coupon
6 free coupons for Healthy Request soups from shespeaks
Kashi Go Lean cereal sample box with coupons from vocalpoint
coupon train
Pillsbury 2011 calendar
Jerky Direct autoship (price covered by my downline)
(items above aren't pictured as some of the  magazines are still at my mom's)

In the Pink prize package that I won in a blog giveaway (pictured below)  includes coupons for 5 free products.
Also pictured below:   Lego Set I redeemed for with clubbing.com








In my email:  $10 paypal from gather and $4.92 paypal from squidoo.

Mailbox Monday Blog Hop

It's time for the mailbox Monday blog hop in conjunctions with myfrugalfriend.net.
Click on the button at the bottom of this post to hop on over and join the fun and/or check out what others got in the mail free this past week.

I didn't get all my mail collected from my mom's house, so sorry to say, no photo this week.  But, here is all I got:

2 boxes of Chex cereal and $25 Kroger card from my blogspark (same package that I am currently giving away on my blog)
Pack of Extra Key Lime Pie gum
Sports Illustrated
Entertainment Weekly
People
Time
Business Week
2011 Oriental Trading calendar
4 other pieces of hausernet mail
Head & Shoulders shampoo and conditioner samples plus $5 in coupons for other products
$25 gift certificate for Del Monte Fresh fruits and veggies--won from Frugality is Free

In my email:  $30 total paypal from gather



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p.s.....can someone please help me figure out about these "stand alone pages" please?  I would like for my readers to be able to just click and see my giveaway posts, or my winner posts, or my blog roll etc.
The blogroll can all go into one post.....however I do need help with the html and what I would put in between each one so that I could have 3 buttons per line.   Otherwise, I can't make that like an index up there for others to find certain posts that I do?  Thanks!

Mail Box Monday Blog Hop!

Time to share freebies that have come in the mail over the past week.  This is in conjunction with afrugalfriend.net (I couldn't find her weekly post today, but it may be somewhere there among all the Cyber Monday listings she is posting  LOL)

I got some great things this week!
Kraft Gift Pack from gather for my reviews which you can find here and here.

I also rec'd my Hallmark Recordable Storybook from gather for review...that will be coming soon!



Other mail:
Free magazines--People, Time, Sports Illustrated, Family Fun, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Car & Driver and Business Week.
2 educational dvd's from Strossel in the Classroom
Hallmark and JC Penny Promotional materials
Tart Melts (not free, but a barter with another gather member)(we've already used half of them)


Paypal was good this week too!
$8.00 from beezag
$25.00 from sidetick and
.19 from youdata (I forgot all about this site  until I seen it in my favorites when I got my laptop back!)

 

Walgreen's--Black Friday Sales and Jingle Cash

(yes, I feel I went overboard, but would have liked to have bought it all!!)

Well....I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to find coupons to match the sales at Walgreen's.  As usual, I didn't find all I wanted to, and some that were printable had already reached their limit.
I made a list.......then realized I didn't have time to go yesterday.  I didn't stick to the list, adding in extras as I seen them.  I couldn't help it knowing how much Jingle Cash I would be getting back.

I woke up this morning and asked Steve to take me.  On the way there I asked him how many of the things I wanted to get did he think they would be out of?  He guessed probably most of them and so did I.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that for a change, they were actually stocked up!  In fact, they had all the free after Jingle Cash (what they are calling the register rewards for the holidays) on one end cap.  The .99 cent items after Jingle Cash were all on another end cap.

Anyway here is what I got:
Gillette Fusion Pro-Series Skin Care--$5.49 with $5.50 back in Jingle Cash (referred to as JC throughout the rest of this post)
Nivea For Men Shave Gel--$2.99 with $3 back in JC  (this is one I couldn't get the coupon for)
A&W Root Beer 2 ltr.  on sale for .99 with .99 back in JC
Old Spice Fresh Collection Body Spray--$3.99 with $4 back in JC  (another one I couldn't find the buy 1 get 1 free coupon they said was out)
Secret Scent Sensations Body Splash--$3.49 with $3.50 back in JC
Scunci Hair Elastics  $1.99 with $2 back in JC
Just for Men 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner--$4.99, used $2 coupon and got back $5 in JC
Gum Eez-Thru Flossers 90 pack (my pack is bonus of 120)  $2.25, used .75 coupon and got back $2.25 in JC
Advil PM 4 ct--.99 and got back .99 JC
Thermacare Heat Wraps--$2.49, used $1 coupon, got back $2.50 in JC
Olay Body Wash--$3.49, used $1 coupon, got back $2.50 in JC
Cover Girl Mascara $3.99, used $1 coupon, got back $2 in JC
Bic Soleil Disposable razors--$2.99, used $2 coupon and got back $2 in JC
Noxema skin care scrub--$3.99, got back $3 in JC
Right Guard Total Defense--$2.99--used buy 1 get 1 free coupon to get an extra one free, got back $2 in JC
I also bought a Nivea for Men Body wash and Nivea for Women Body wash.  I had a rain check from a previous sale of 2 for $5.  I then used a $3 coupon and a $2 coupon making them free.


So....yikes!  My total was $44.87 after using $15.74 in coupons. I use the $10 gift card I had gotten in from mypoints.  I paid the rest of out of my paypal.    $4.52 of my total was sales tax.

I now have a total of 15 Jingle Cash's, totaling a value of $41.23. 
This is going to be a challenge to use these.  Those who use RR's know that the ones from the Proctor and Gamble products don't allow you to use them on P&G products.  Plus, they have to be used by Dec. 10 when they expire.

So, I am now on a mission to get all my coupons cut and filed.  Then I will watch for what is on sale and what I can get the best deals with, hopefully not paying much more than the sales tax, and getting back more to spend later.  When I said back in business with Walgreen's, that is what I meant....to be able to keep turning them in to more while getting great deals along the way.


Earlier this week Steve and I went to Walgreen's and bought the 6 ft. Pre-Lit Christmas tree that is on sale for $19.99.  We also bought the wrapping paper on sale buy one roll for $1.99 get 2 rolls free.   I put the tree up today.  It's nice to have a bit of a larger one than the 3 ft one we borrowed last year from his sister.  It's a skinny tree, so I found a corner to fit it in.

P.S.  The majority of what I bought will be included in with Christmas gifts that I give.

Right@Home--Offers, Tips and Recipes

If you've not joined Right@Home already, now is the time to do so!

Receive special offers, enter sweepstakes, learn time saving tips, get recipes and more! You won't be disappointed.  I always enjoy my newsletters as well as I've gotten a lot of great freebies along the way as well.

Mail Box Monday Blog Hop!

I had planned on posting my mail call blogs each Sunday, but I ran across Mailbox Monday's at a frugalfriend.net.  Cool!

Click the button at the bottom of this post to hop on over and check out her post as well as others.

Mail Call!  Week of August 15, 2010

I'm still not getting bunches of stuff in the mail like I used to, but it's been a pretty good week.  Just seems there aren't the amount of free samples and such to send off for like there used to be.

I rec'd:
Magazines from hausernet:  People(2 of these this week), Sports Illustrated, Time and Entertainment.   I also got one other piece of hausernet mail.

Fall Idea book for educators from  A&E, History channel and Bio Channel

Celebrate Urban Birds packet--not sure why I got another one of these.

Jerky Direct auto shipment (paid for with my downline)

Fabric and lace won on listia

Poison 20 Years of Rock CD, along with a bonus cd by O.A.R. that he sent along--also won on listia.

Schick Intuition razor that I won from sweeps4bloggers.

Family Fun magazine


In my church mailbox:  $40 check for cleaning in July (delayed because the secretary was on vacation.)

In my email:  $25 paypal from sidetick.com

Mail Call! Week of August 8

Not a bad week, but most certainly not the best either.
I'm getting magazines now from hausernet, so if that keeps up I can earn the minimum per quarter to get paid.   However, according to their site, not to expect a check for the previous quarter for 10-12 weeks after the quarter ends because it's all hand done to verify what you earned.  I know one gal is waiting on checks and saying they are way behind.

In the meantime this past week I got one regular piece of hausernet mail and People, Entertainment, Time and Sports Illustrated magazines.

I also rec'd:
Good Housekeeping magazine--subscription redeemed for from recyclebank.com
Coupon train
Postcard from Maryland
Celebrate Urban Birds education kit
Covergirl Queen collection natural hues mineral bronzer

Not free, but I got in a sock order from Jc Penney's.  I used the $10 off coupon code and after shipping, I still paid less than half of the retail price for 6 prs of socks.

In my email I got $2.96 paypal from neobux.  (*** I have a banner at the bottom if my blog if you are interested.)

That's it for this week...not much on the money side for sure  :(  What will next week bring?  I've won things on listia that should be coming as well as hoping to get my sidetick pay and at least one from gather too.

Walgreen's Shopping 6/27 and FRUSTRATIONS!

Off I went this afternoon for my  normal weekly shopping at Walgreen's.  I had my list ready as usual.  Also as usual, a coupon that was supposed to be out, must not have been in our paper.  I was looking for the Dentyne coupon that was supposed to be in the paper 2 Sunday's ago.  I got 2 copies of the paper that Sunday, but no Dentyne coupon that I could find, and one set of the inserts I hadn't cut yet.  I hate when this happens.

Here is what I ended up getting today:
Blistex Smoothie lip balm 3-pack--on sale for $2.99, got back $3 in register rewards.
AirPlus Aloe Socks--free (see my note below)
2-Twizzler packages, on sale for 2 for $4 with $2 back in register rewards
2-Dixie Plates on sale 2 for $5, used just one .50 coupon that I had--got back $1 in register rewards.
Package of Shrek mrshamallow treats on clearance for .75

I used my $5 and $4.50 register rewards from last week's shopping.

Notes:
I bought the Twizzlers for the kids to have to snack on while we are at camp....the Dixie plates because it's BBQ season and I, honestly, hate to do dishes.


I have had several weeks in a row of frustration free shopping at Walgreen's (minus them never having the $2 vitamins with the $2 RR)  This week seemed to be full of frustrations.
First of all, I asked about the Act II mini bag of popcorn that is advertised for $1 a box.  I had a .40 coupon and figured I would buy it since we are out.  No....I'm told my store doesn't even carry it since there isn't a marker on the shelf for it.
Secondly I ask them about the Airplus socks.  "oh, we have some over here, but we only got 4 pairs on the truck"  There was just one pair left so I grabbed them quick.
Thirdly, I get to the register and the cashier tells me that the register rewards are not printing out for the socks.  So, she can price modify them to 1 cent, then price one of my other items down 1 cent to make up for the $3 RR I'm not going to get.  I decide to go ahead with that.  After all, that made them totally free, not even any sales tax on them.
But, fourthly.....doing that with the socks made it so that I couldn't use my last RR of $2 since they can't be used to cover any of the sales tax.  After all coupons it came to $2.57 and the tax part was .83.

So.....I spent $2.57 out of pocket and got back a total of $6 in register rewards for next time....and I still have the other $2 RR that I wasn't able to use that has to be used by next Sunday.

Regardless of everything, I'm happy with what I got, and what I spent.  I just find it so frustrating how many times you can't find what they have advertised.....or if you don't shop in the day the ad comes out they run out of the product because they got very few in on the truck.

We have no Rite Aid or CVS here, so Walgreen's has to be my coupon deal shopping place.  We didn't even have a Walgreen's until  about 5 years ago.  I didn't get into doing the monthly rebate booklet until just a few months before they ended that and went to the register rewards program.
Rumor has it that they are going to be starting a new rewards program and doing away with the RR's.....does anyone have any info on if it's true, or what it will be all about.

I have found that I love the RR's better than the monthly rebate book.  With the rebate book I only shopped once a month, then had to wait about that amount of time for the refunds to be added to my Walgreen's gift card.  With register rewards, the reward is instant....I can even turn around and go do more shopping while I'm still at the store like so many do.

Enough rambling.......I hope to get some feedback on all of this.
Here's to a great rest of this day,

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