Frugal Cat Food Deal

If you have a kitty at home, then this freebie will come in handy. The makers of 9Lives cat food are giving away a free bag of 9Lives. I'm assuming it is a coupon for the freebie. I just received a coupon for a free bag of Purina dog food today, so these freebies come in pretty handy!

Freebie from Rite Aid Drug Store

Rite Aid is giving away free 25 digital prints if you bring in the coupon at the link below. According to the coupon, the promotion is running until December 31st. Let me know if anyone has trouble using this coupon, I have not yet made it down to my local Rite Aid to try it.

Coupon for free 25 digital prints

Lowes Knows

I am happy to announce that my hubby found out this week that he was accepted into the manager training program at his work. He is the "tool guy" at Lowe's Hardware. His advancement in the company has amazed me. He recently celebrated his 1 year term at the company, but since he was hired he has went from a sales associate to a team leader, and now manager training. According to his manager, he will be placed in a manager position after the training. The funny thing is that he will have "homework" during the training, which I am eager to remind him about :)

Partnership-Plus

Now that I work from home, I'm always looking for ways to earn a little extra income from my computer. Many people who have asked me what I do to earn money have found out about the surveys that I take, and other work-at-home methods. One website that I always forget to tell people about is Partnership-Plus. It is technically a site where you take a survey, but the general concept is about clothes, so usually it slips my mind. However, earning points is very easy. You simple record your clothing purchases for the month, and then take a quick survey about the stores that you shopped. They will also reward you with bonus points if you report your purchases before a particular date.

From my experience, I have earned 200 points each time. I now have over 1000 points, and you need 3000 points to cash out at $50. Much of those points had nothing to do with clothing. If I did not purchase clothing for a particular month, I could still take a short shopper survey and earn points. They do ask for receipt information, but sometimes I do not have the receipts and they will let me continue with the survey. It also has to be clothes that you purchase for yourself, so you cannot record any bought for your hubby or kids. Either way, it is a great method of earning back on your clothing.

Does anyone know of other sites to earn money for your clothing?

Bargain Hunting

I think I've mentioned in the past how much I adore Goodwill. During my teen years, peer pressure always got the best of me. I had this notion in my head that anything other than department store was not acceptable. However, now that I am a Mom and paying for my own clothes, I am up for anything. I'm also not a size 0, so I love being able to buy consignment or second hand clothes that have been delightfully worn in a bit. It means that when I get the clothes home, they always fit perfectly. I also hate to try anything on in the store, which I was surprised to find out from others that I am not the only one.

I grew up on Goodwill clothing and consignment deals. My Mom was a single mother, and I am not ashamed to say that Goodwill, or other discount stores were our choice of shopping locations. I think we all know that child support checks only go so far, so Goodwill was a blessing. When I when I was little, I loved how vintage everything was in stores, such as Goodwill. It felt as if I were walking back in time, and I've always felt like I belonged in the 60s. Either way, Goodwill is not as "vintage" as I once remembered. I have found some great antiques, but I have also found really good deals on clothing, especially for my son.

Now that I am showing much more in this pregnancy, stuffing myself into clothing for church on Sundays have been unbearable. I was determined to find something. So, Mom and I left Jayden with his Daddy and Poppy and we went consignment hunting. We also went to a shop nearby that is a Christian consignment store. Many of you probably have one in your town as well. It is where people donate clothing and then the store resells it to the public so that they can earn money for the community, or for those in crisis. They had some great sales going on. All items that are stocked in the store that have been there for 90 days or more are 75% off, and items that are less than 90 days are 25% off. They also had some $1 racks, which we practically drooled over. :)

Here are my clothing deals for the month:

Christian Outreach Center

*Toddler 2-Piece Pyjamas $1 (on clearance rack)
*Summer Embroidered Ladies Tunic $1
*Ladies Lounge Pants $4 (after 25% discount)
*Infant Long-Sleeve Onsie $1

Goodwill

*Infant Jacket (from Gap) $2.75
*2 infant T-shirts $2.00 (these were supposed to be $1.75 each, but for some reason she only charged me $1.00 a piece)
*Ladies Denim Skirt $3.75
*3 Short Sleeve Maternity Shirts $11.25
*2 Long Sleeve T-Shirts $7.50
*Lounge Pants $3.75

The cashier informed me that they have a customer preferred card, which I had no idea about. You spend $15 for a one year membership, and you will receive 10% off with each purchase. If you shop there regularly, it would really pay for itself. Also, thanks to the Work At Home Mafia website, I found out that Goodwill has a website! It is called Goodwill Too, and you can purchase the items on the site.


Family Dollar is also having a clothing sale right now. Certain racks are 40% off. Most of it is summer clothing, but I did find a winter nightgown on sale for $5.39. I would love to hear about your clothing deals for the month!

Freebies of the Day

Free Nature's Bounty Tote bag and coupon when you sign up for newsletter (thanks to Money Saving Mom for posting this one!)

Jergens Naturals Lotion

Free Coloring Book and Crayons (Sign up to be a member of the Crayon Caper Crew. They will also send you a postcard telling you where you can send your broken crayons so that they can be recycled into new crayons to be donated to schools and other organizations.)

Frugal Toothpaste Deals

Walmart is giving away free samples of Crest Whitening Expressions, among other freebies!

Crest Whitening Expressions (I love free samples of toothpaste because they come in super handy when I go on trips)

Also, don't forget that Walgreens has a free rebate offer in their Easy Saver Catalog for Crest ProHealth toothpaste. The rebate offer expires on September 27th, and you can submit your rebate claim on the Walgreens site!

New Banner

I found this really neat site that allows you to make all types of graphics and fun items for your blog or myspace. I made this banner for my blog:




If you have a blog of your own, then you can click here and join the Mom Bloggers Club. You will be prompted to submit a banner so make sure you decorate it nice :)

Walgreens Rebates for September

As obsessed as I am with the rebates at Walgreens, apparently I've still been living under a rock. I had no idea that you could submit your rebate claim on their website and save postage costs. They have a lot of great(and free) deals this month:

*Buy Revlon Nail Color at $4.79
Free After Rebate

*Buy 1 L'oreal RevitaLift Anti-Wrinkle Concentrate at $16.49
Free After Rebate

*Acid Controller Complete $7.99
Free After Rebate

*Nivea for Men Body Wash $4.99 (use $1 off coupon)
Free After Rebate

*Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste $3.79
Free After Rebate

*Lypsyl Lip Moisturizer $1.99( I love this stuff, it works great)
Free


There are several more free rebate items but I think you get the hint that you better get on down to Walgreens :)

Weekly Frugal Deals

I'm always obsessed with getting great deals at Walgreens, especially their rebates. However, I have made the determination to start using coupons and other specials in order to receive even better deals.

Here are the great deals that I got this past week(I'm a little late posting this).

Walgreens:

*Buy Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber Kit + Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Foamer
@ $3.79 each
-$2.75 coupon for scrubber(on scrubbing bubbles site)
-$1.00 coupon for foamer(also on scrubbing bubbles site)
=$3.83 + receive $2 register rewards for next purchase

*Xcel Laundry Detergent
Buy 1 at $2.99 get 1 free

*Reese's Pumpkin
Regularly .59 cents =on sale for .39 cents with store coupon

*6 votive candles for $1 with store coupon
Regularly 5 for $1

*Carefree Panty Liners
Regularly $1.39 =.99 cents with store coupon


CVS:

*Renuzit Triscents
On sale for $7.99
-$4 off coupon
=$3.99 + $3 back in Extra Care Bucks for next purchase

Dog Food Promotion

Do you remember the nature's best rewards dog food freebie from the other day?

Well I received this dreaded email today:

Thank you for participating in the Nature's Best(R) Rewards program.

In order to complete the claim process in accordance of the official rules,
we are requesting that you mail in your UPC label(s) along with the
following information:

- First Name
- Last Name
- Street Address (no PO Boxes)
- City
- State
- Zip Code
- Phone number
- Reward you have chosen

Please mail to:
Nature's Best Rewards
PO Box 410476
Kansas City, MO 64141-0476

Thank you for participating,
Nature’s Best® Team

Sorry for anyone that tried it. The other people in the forum that mentioned the freebie were not aware that you had to send in the UPCs. Apologies :(

Get It While It's Hot!

Allure is having a huge giveaway starting tomorrow, September 2nd, at 12noon (EDT)

Visit www.allure.com/freestuff in order to enter the giveaway. Keep in mind that you have to be one of the first 500 in order to get the prize each day, so you'll have to be ready :)

The giveaways for each day are as follows:

September 2

-Alba Botanica Very Emollient Body Lotion (mixture of shea butter and almond oil to soften skin, with gradual self-tanners.

September 3

-Profound Beauty Glossary Shine Spray (aerosol mist)

September 4

-Smashbox Cosmetics Lip Gloss Set (six colors in all)

September 5

-Nailtini Straight Up Color Nail Lacquer in Blackberry

New Friends

Jayden had his first "playdate" with another little person today. My friend Eva and I were pregnant around the same time, except she had her little boy, Avery, a few months before I had Jayden. Eva and I were both in dire need of some mommy sanity bonding and thought that it would be the perfect time for our little boys to finally meet. They played perfectly together and we hope to make it a weekly playdate.

Hugs! :0)

Eva is also having a great Mary Kay Sale this month. Go check out her site!

Freebies of the Day

Only have a few freebies to report today, but they are pretty elaborate. Have fun :)



Aveeno Tote Bag (use the following UPC codes:

38137001461

38137001424

38137001463
(the site only asked me for two UPC codes; offer ends on September 25th)

Free Tote Bag or Pet Travel Kit (You have to enter UPC codes and Lot numbers; each code can be entered twice, and you can only enter two codes each week. You can get two prizes per person. Therefore, the first time, you have to choose between the tote bag or the travel kit. After you accumulate a total of 50 points, you can get bigger prizes such as a pet blanket or pet bed.) (Use the following UPC codes and Lot numbers each time:

UPC Code: 052742680903, Lot#: K1461627ML226
UPC Code: 052742679303, Lot#: K0921828DM100

Gain Laundry Detergent with Baking Soda

Anniversary

Today is me and Jake's 2 year wedding anniversary. It is also our 5 year anniversary. This sounds confusing but it is only because we got married on our 3 year anniversary. Still sounds confusing when I read that back to me! Either way, it has been a long trip and it feels as if we have been together forever! Some people do not know that Jake and I actually went to daycare together. Our mom's also went to high school together. Unfortunately, we did not get to go to the same school until high school but we were friends in 8th grade. I always wish that we had been friends when we were little but fate just did not work that way. So I guess you could say we had a high school romance?

Our wedding was kinda sporatic. We decided on a whim to get married because we did not want it to be a big deal with a lot of people and we also wanted it to be on our 3 year anniversary. We actually were not going to have a wedding at all. We were going to go down to the court house, but when my manager at my old job and some of the other girls found out about that, they surprised us with a wedding in the mall! It was not actually IN the middle of the mall, but in a store that was completely vacant. I had suspicions that they were doing something so I went and bought a white sun dress just in case. Personally, if it had been up to Jake and I, we would have eloped. We both despise weddings and we're kind of private. I would still like to renew our vowels some day. I've always wanted to get married on the beach. Maybe we can make it happen eventually.

First Day of Senior Year

Wedding Day :)