Friday Favorites: Vol #33

Happy Friday my loves!!!!

I am sooo excited that it's the end of the week! Cheers to the freaking weekend already. I started back to work a couple of weeks ago so my days are dragging something serious. It's always a pleasure when the weekend rolls around. As I mentioned in this post, I'm super excited about THIS weekend in particular because I will be attending my very first blogger event. My goal is to actually attend one of the big conferences within the next year so we shall see how well that goes. 

I also love Fridays on the blog because once a month I share with you some of my favorite things that took place within the month. Lots of deals, savings, and all around good ish!!

Let's begin with Target's latest clearance sale which happened a few weekends ago. For two days, all of their summer clearance was an additional 20% off. I went absolutely nuts when I saw this because for one, I've never seen them have a sale like this; two, I had been eyeing tons of cute summer pieces waiting for them to be reduced; and three, Target is my all time favorite store in the whole wide world so it was only right that I partake in the madness. Speaking of madness, I recently collaborated with Target for a super sweet post about their wedding registry. See what all the fuss is about here.

FREE Restaurant.com gift cards that I won through a sweepstakes on Crowdtap. Crowdtap is a brand developing program that offers you a chance to sound off about your favorite brands and products through random surveys and various opportunities to share new brands through social media. They also offer sample shares every once in a while. A while ago, I was chosen to receive a sample share opportunity from Old Navy where my bestie and I both got to try their new denim for FREE.  

PS: Restaurant.com has a crazy sale going on this weekend...$4 for $25 worth of restaurant certificates. Um yes, I'll take them!

September magazine subscriptions. All or most of these were FREE!!! I usually share the deals that I get on my Facebook page so be sure to 'like' the page by clicking here.

This week's library find. Such a great book with awesome shopping tips.

Recent thrift store finds. I love finding critically acclaimed self help books while thrifting. Great titles for only a small fraction of the cost!

I recently got myself back into couponing and I've been saving a ton since. It's very time consuming but so well worth it. This trip to Harris Teeter cost me $43.xx but then I received a promotion from Quilted Northern that gave me back $15 just for purchasing their brand and filling out a short survey for them. That took my total down to $27.xx for this shopping trip.

I love stocking up on paper products and a couple of weeks ago CVS was having a great special. I believe I spent $28.xx on this trip and got back $16 bringing my total down to $12.xx for this haul. I LOVE CVS...their prices may seem a little expensive but they always, always, always offer great coupons and money rewards back on featured products.

Now...on to the cute baby stuff.

My lil Peanut's very first pair of Timberland boots. Found at the thrift for $5!!! They're in such great condition too. Since he will be born in December, he can wear them immediately to keep his little toes warm during the winter months. 

So my local library has a 'FREE Magazine' box. I like to go there often just to see what they have in the box. And all of the magazines that I showed you previously, from my own personal stash, get donated into this box once I'm done reading and ripping out my inspiration pages from them. Recently I lucked up on a whole slew of old Parents magazines. I'm sure these have some inspiration gems hidden in them.

Another great find from the thrift. I saw this same book in Target for $20 last week and I got it for $1. I don't do full price.

My absolutely FREE pamper purchase from Amazon.com. This deal was too sweet to pass up on. They always offer great deals on diapers when you sign up for the Amazon Mom program. Like my FB Page for more in depth breakdowns of deals like this. 

Just in case you are a new visitor, the honey and I are having a BOY this December. We are completely overjoyed.  Read more about our gender reveal here.

What a way to end a post!!!

What were some of your favorite things this week/month?

I can't wait to hear from you.

Until next time. Have a great weekend.

XOXOXOXOXO

Savin' Maven Monday: Magic's in the Makeup!

Good Murnin'!

Hope everyone had fantastical weekend.

Mine was GREAT. I found lots of great deals. To top it off I spent Sunday night with the beau and his family watching the FINALS all while scarfing down some of THEE best grilled food I think I've ever had in all of my days. Pops can THROW DOWN on the grill-I wish I had some pics to share. But since I don't just know that it was soooo good that I have enough leftovers to last me the rest of the week!!!

Did anyone else watch the FINALS? How was your experience? What team were you going for? (I was rooting for Miami just because everyone else wanted Dallas to win and I must say that LeBron really disappointed me-he may as well not have shown up for the 4th quarter because he didn't do JACK!)

Before I go on I would like to wish MY BESTEST FRIEND in the world a very Happy Birthday. If you're reading this, I love and miss you dearly sugah!

Now, here's what I got in my mailbox last week (and maybe even 2 weeks ago-I'm losing track)-FREE MAGS:



Mailbox Monday

 Being that I there haven't been any really great coupons in the papers for the past couple weeks, I didn't do much shopping.

I went to CVS just to use some of my ECB's before they expired and found that they had marked alot of their cosmetics down to 50 and 75% off. I also scanned my card at the in-store coupon kiosk and received a $3 off $10 cosmetic purchase-->stoked!! Ohhhh, they had the crackle polish that I've been wanting since I mentioned it here, on sale for $4.99. Overall, I spent $3.62 on this purchase.

Savin' Maven (CVS) 

I also did Farm Fresh for the first time in a number of weeks. I figured that I would finally take advantage of their 'double dollar' Wednesday. (This is when they double all coupons up to $1-not sure that there is a limit to the number of coupons you may use either) They had some really great deals. I happened to get lucky and find a printable $5 off $25 coupon from the 'net so that came in handy as well.

Savin' Maven (Farm Fresh)

The deal with the all the Oscar Meyer products was that if you purchased 5 of the selected items you would automatically get $5 off. The Colgate was 3 for $5 and when my 3 ($1 off 1) coupons were doubled they all ended up being FREE. All of the cosmetics and deodorant were FREE as well after my coupons. This pic doesn't include the 2 large containers of Extra laundry detergent that I got for $1 each after coupons. In totality, I spent $11.23 here. Wowzah!

My total  this week was $64.03.

My out of pocket total was $14.85.

For a total savings of $49.18 (77% savings).

Did you find any good deals this week?

-SIDENOTE-Bath and Body works started their semi annual sale on Friday. For all of you who like to stock up on smell goods, you need to hurry in...

Click here to print a coupon for a FREE travel sized item (can be used with ANY purchase).

Before you go:

Couponing Tip #3

Begin collecting coupons.

You may subscribe to the Sunday paper or even ask a friend or family member to save their inserts for you. My mom has gotten hip and automatically takes the coupons out and sets them to the side for me now. LOVES HER! Also you may print them in the comfort of your own home by visiting Coupons, RedPlum, and Smart Source. Various stores such as Target have their own store coupons which can be used and combined with manufacturers coupons. Many of the blogs that are listed on my 'Thrifty Divas' list also post about various coupons that may be printed from home. Some of my faves are InspiringYou2Save and Hip2Save. Make sure to come back next week as I review CouponChief, another of my favorite sites for printable coupons.

 Linked to Mailbox Monday and Meet Me on Monday!!!

Post Title From: Magic's in the Makeup by NoDoubt

Awkward and Awesome: I Encourage You To Try It....

 AWKWARD

-I got to the bottom of my Capt. Crunch ceral box today....so I added Apple Jacks to it to make a full bowl! YUMMM!!!

-Why is it that some of the more popular bloggers don't participate in community -blog- events and challenges (ie-Bloggers Do It Better, Everybody Everywear)? Do they think that they are better than us or do they just not have the time to devote to networking with other bloggers!? I mean I'm curious as hell.  Maybe when I reach 'superblog' status, I will comprehend that one a little better.

-I wore black with brown today and, well....let's just say that I won't do it again. I hates it honey! Have you ever rocked these two colors together? How did it turn out?

-I mentioned before how much I despise communal restrooms. But what I hate even more is the people who outright refuse to knock on the bathroom door before they pull on the door handle. Granted, I always lock the door behind me but just what if I forget one day....and then here comes one of those people who don't knock. I wonder if they will rethink their decision to knock after they walk in on someone mid-wipe!!

AWESOME

-If you're an avid Redboxer like me, they are offering some sweet deals for the next 7 days. Just text 'DEALS' to 727272. On Monday, they offered a FREE rental and Tuesday was half off . Today they are offering 50% off a one night rental. TEXT NOW!!

Redbox Deals 

-If you're a follower, you know how much I looooveee thrifting. Weeellllll, I was featured on ColorBlind a couple of weeks ago as the 'Thrifters Anonymous Thrifter of the Week'. Shana hosts this segment once a week for all of us thrifters to share our finds. She's also super fly and frugalicious and I'm hoping to feature her for an upcoming 'Word on the Street Wednesday' segment. You can read my feature and visit Shana here.

You can participate too!

-I finally finished visiting the participants from the Bloggers Do It Better-White Out challenge hosted by Kristina of PrettyShinySparkly. I found 3 more new divas to add to my list of favorites:



Woah White Out!



 Rocquelle from ConsiderMeLovely,  Gab from FashionBeautyInsight, and BJones. You should visit them too! They're all gorg!!

-Ok, so I am waaayyyyy late on this Savin' Maven Monday roundup ...sorry to those of you who look forward to seeing my deals each week. Here are the awesome deals that I found last week.

Savin' Maven (Food Lion)

Food Lion was offering those huge bottles of salad dressing for $.99 and the Kellogg's cereals and Lays chips were all B1G1 FREE! Theeennn, Food Lion was giving out $5 off $25 coupons so I spent

 $7.59 here.

Savin' Maven (Rite Aid #1)

This was the GREATEST trip ever!!! Rite Aid had awesome deals last week. The lotions, soaps, and deodorants were all B1G1 50% off. The cosmetics were B1G1 FREE and the pads and Tylenol Precise cream were all FREE after I used my coupons. I spent a total of

$15.16 on the 40 items pictured. That's
an average of $.38/item.

Savin' Maven (Rite Aid #2)

Rite Aid sales were so great that I made a second trip. This time I spent $4.96 (the 2 Reese cups are not pictured-I think I must've eaten them-ooops)! I also received $13 worth of Register Rewards to use towards my next Rite Aid trip. YAY!!

Savin' Maven (Target)

Target had lots of things on clearance last week-including some of their leftover spring gift bags and tissue papers. If you're lucky enough to have a decent Target in your area, you may be able to find some good markdowns. Here, I spent $5.65. Most of the items cost little or nothing after I used my coupons.

Savin' Maven (CVS)

My last stop was at CVS. I only stopped here because CoverGirl was offering a $3 extra care reward with the purchase of $10 worth of product. I spent $3.35 here after coupons.

So altogether last week, my items totaled $229.26
I spent $36.71 out of pocket (after coupons, discounts, and sales)

For a total savings of $192.55 (84% savings)

What can I say....shopping....(and couponing in particular) is addictive! I encourage you to try it!!!

What kind of awesome.....or awkward things did you experience this week?

Post Title from Money to Blow by Drake

Stacks On Deck...

Good Monday!!

I'm right back up and at 'em today. It seems as if my Spring Break was nowhere near long enough. I think I need another week off. I can honestly say that I wasn't productive at all during this break (at least not enough to my liking)-very little to no spring cleaning went on around my part of town. But hey, at least I found these goodies when I checked my mailbox. (This, by the way, is two weeks worth)  

Mailbox Monday

Tons of magazine subscriptions, samples, and coupons. And being that my Spring Break has practically flown by me, I'm not sure when I will ever get around to reading all of these new magazines. Maybe I should send them off to someone who does have the time to read them.

Let me know if any of you are interested in receiving either of these mags.

(You can leave me a comment of click on the 'Email Me' button on my sidebar).

 And go to AFrugalFriend to see what everyone else got in their mailboxes this past week. 

Though I didn't get much accomplished in the cleaning department last week, I was able to catch some sweet deals at my favorite local stores. I believe I visited 5 stores-Rite Aid, Walgreens, Target, CVS, and lastly Walmart, which I very rarely venture to these days.

My first stops were Rite Aid and Walgreens.



Savin' Maven Monday (Rite Aid/Walgreens)



This was the best trip ever!! I spent $31.52 on all of this stuff. Rite Aid was offering a special for $10 RR (credit that can be used like cash towards a future purchase) when you purchased $30 worth of cleaning products. Can we say 'stacks on deck'! My stockpile is growing bigger by the week. On top of all the other cleaning supplies that I have purchased throughout the weeks, I will NOT be needing any more of these supplies anytime soon.  The Airwick aerosols that you see were on special B1G1 FREE-when stacked with 3 (B1G1 FREE) coupons, they were absolutely free of charge. The Loreal makeup, of course, was not a part of the 'spring cleaning' special but they were B1G1 50% off, all of which I had coupons for. Annnddd a $5RR was rewarded with a $15 purchase of Loreal cosmetics. All of the remaining items were purchased at Walgreens. The deal with the eggs was that if you purchased 2 dozen, then you would receive 2 FREE Redbox rentals. I needed eggs and I love Redbox so this deal was perfect for me.

Just a little sidenote-I am really beginning to despise Walgreens. The weekly sales begin on Sunday and by the time I shopped there on Tuesday, the shelves were totally cleared of all of the specials that they were advertising in the paper. Needless to say, they are on my shit list right about now.

My next stop was Target



Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

  

Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

I spent $17.76 on all of this stuff! It would've been about $6 cheaper than this but I didn't realize until after my purchase that the cashier missed one of my coupons and also that I had a Target gift card that I could've used.  It is particularly important that you watch intently when the cashier is scanning your coupons to make sure that nothing is missed. The coupon that she skipped happened to be for $4 off so I was hot when I looked over my receipt-as luck would have it, this was after I was already long gone from the store. Anyhow, the Reach flosses were all $.97 for which I used 7 ($1 off 1) coupons that I found in last Sunday's coupon insert. So they were all FREE! There wasn't anything too special about the rest of the stuff from Target-I just used regular coupons with those items.

All in all, these items totaled $200.19 (this include purchases made here)

My Savin' Maven out of pocket total was $56.14

which means I saved $144.05!! (woot woot)

What do you think?

What kind of deals did you find this past week?

Because I Walk Around With Pockets That Are Bigger Than My Butt!!

I'm beginning to become swamped in coupons!!! Everywhere I turn, there's a tiny piece of paper. They are falling out of my purse, they are inside of my makeup bag, they are literally everywhere. If I were to stuff them all into my pocket, they would easily be bigger than my butt (and that's a pretty decent sized mass of meat)!!! Hence the reason I've been hitting stores left and right this week. I usually only do my weekly shopping on Saturday and Sunday but in an effort to get rid of some of the coupons before they expire (lots of them expire on 4/24) I made a few impromptu trips to Walmart and CVS. 



Savin' Maven (CVS)

This was a super easy trip at CVS. I spent $1.24. The gum was B1G1 FREE and I used 3 ($1 off of 2) coupons. The Listerine was FREE-they were on special for $1.00 and I used 2 ($1 off) coupons. When I scanned my CVS rewards card at the 'big red coupon thingy' in the store it printed a coupon for $1 off any Hershey's candy. I also received a $.99 coupon reward for purchasing a Green Bag Tag. I'm loving CVS.

Savin' Maven (Walmart)

Another easy trip. I don't usually go to Walmart nowadays because they don't have good matchups with my coupons but I made out on this trip only spending $4.68. The body washes were both FREE when I used my ($3 off) coupons. The Airwick was a great deal too!! It was only $4.98 and came with the Freshmatic Kit AND a refill. After I used my ($4 off) coupon, it came to a whopping $.98!!! The red bucket that you see was on clearance for $3-I have no idea what I will use it for but I love the color red and for the price I just couldn't leave it there.

These two trips cost me $31.20 but I only spent $5.92 out of pocket! I saved myself $25.28.

With these trips I found that it is soooo much better to shop earlier in the week because then the stores are fully stocked with the items that are on special. If you wait, you are bound to find that the shelves have been cleared-especially on the items that offer rewards bucks back when you purchase a certain dollar amount.

Questions, comments, concerns anyone?

Warm, Wet, and Wild...There Must Be Something in the Water!

Hope everyone's had a Happy Monday. I know I'm getting to you a little late but I was out of town on a super mini vacation and was too much in a hurry to schedule my post. 

SORRY!!!

I didn't have alot of mailbox freebies this past week but I did however, score some free goodies from Bath and Body Works.  Bath and Body had sent out coupons for a free sample of their newest fragrance 'Into the Wild' so I printed 2 coupons and went to score these:

Savin' Maven Monday (Bath and Body) 

I had a previous coupon to buy one item and get a FREE travel sized item, so I scored an extra sample of the lotion (will possibly be included in my Spring Break Beauty giveaway package) and some zodiac inspired 'hanitizer'.

The other deals that I spotted this week were at CVS and Target. This was my very first time shopping at CVS since they just built a new one in my area and I must say that I was thoroughly impressed not only by their awesome deals but also with their very friendly customer service.  On my first trip I scored these items:

Savin' Maven Monday (CVS)

My $3.54 CVS haul was made possible with coupons for each of the items pictured. The laundry detergent was already on special for $1.49 and with my coupons they ended up being $.98 a piece. The jelly beans were FREE due to a coupon that CVS had emailed to their Extra Care Card holders. You may sign up here to receive your own CVS deals and discounts.

Savin' Maven Monday (CVS)

I spent $14.11 on this trip to CVS and received $15 in ECB's to use on my next CVS purchase. (I believe that the Lysol Neutra Air Sprays alone are originally $14.99).  So essentially everything that you see listed above was FREE because I earned money back.  What a way to go, huh!?

My last trip to Target was the best one yet! This is what I came out with:

Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

All of this cost me $.74!!! I was sure that the cashier had rang something up incorrectly but when I factored in the coupons that I had, I figured that the total was about right. I'm sooo proud of myself for this one because I scored some pretty great items. The Zyrtec is one of my favorites in particular because my allergies have been getting the best of me this season. If you haven't looked yet, the Sunday paper inserts have $7.00 off coupons for Zyrtec that expire on 4.24.11 so snatch one up ASAP. Another of my favorites is the Sally Hansen Nail Effects Polish Strips. I've been waiting for the price to go down on them and Target has the lowest price yet at $8.50.  I used a Target coupon stacked with a manufacturers coupon and got them for little or nothing. I can't wait to wear them!!  Lastly, that green thing that all of my loot is sitting upon is definitely a wall mirror. It was on clearance for $3.48 and even though I have absolutely NO lime green decor in my home, I'm gonna make it work. Even if that means I have to remodel!!

So there you have it.

This week, my Savin' Maven Monday grand total was $122.54
(this includes my Farm Fresh purchase I posted here)
My total out of pocket was $23.70
For a total savings of $98.84

What do you think?
What kind of deals did you find this week?