FREE crackers from My Coke Rewards

If you have any My Coke Rewards points, you might want to spend 50 of them and get a coupon for a FREE box of Ritz, Wheat Thins or Triscuits!

Head on over here to request your coupon before they run out- this is the weekly Wednesday special and they sometimes run out before the day is over.

Thanks Couponing to Disney!

More homemade laundry detergent

After making my own liquid laundry detergent a few weeks ago, my neighbor found another recipe- that's a powder- that uses Castile soap instead of Fels Naptha. I've made a couple batches and I think I like it even more than the liquid.

I would put pictures, but my brother gave me a hard time for the last round of detergent pictures-- he said it looked a little too much like a meth lab...

1 bar Castile soap- $2.99 for 3 pk at Meijer- finely shredded (I use my Parmesean cheese grater)
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- $2.79 at Meijer (found in laundry aisle by stain removers)
1 cup Borax- $2.99 at Target (also at Meijer in the laundry aisle by stain remover)

Mix all 3 together- I've put them all in a blender to get more of a fine powder (really hard on the blender), but found that putting it in a ziploc bag and mashing it with a rolling pin works just as well!

Use 1-2 tablespoons per load. I use one heaping tablespoon and it works great!

This does cost a bit more than the liquid detergent-- it's $1.71 per batch- which makes 48 loads (conservative estimate)- making each load around $.03! Still cheaper than buying regular detergent at the store and much easier than making liquid.

End of month coupon printing

It's almost the end of the August already, so now is the time to make sure you get all your coupons printed before they reset.

Remember, if you use Swag Bucks , print your coupons.com coupons there-- you might as well earn Swag Bucks AND save some money!

Check my sidebar for links to other printable coupon sites (Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, etc.)

Keep checking Coupons.com for the next couple days because the end of the month and beginning of the month coupons are always resetting, coming and going! You can usually count on a few really good ones to appear and disappear within hours!

Quick trip to Walgreens

I made a quick trip to Walgreens yesterday morning and picked up everything pictured for $1.40 OOP. I got the crayons first- $1 with a $1 RR, then used that register reward for the $.29 glue and glue sticks and the $.39 mechanical pencils. Not a bad deal!

Check out this week's Walgreens matchups at Hip 2 Save!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Target Shopping

I had a great shopping trip to Target yesterday-- Vitamin Water for $.58 bottle, FREE Cascade trial size, FREE Tide travel size, cheap Nexcare bandages and $.50 Danimals yogurt smoothies.

I paid $17.86 OOP and saved $29.18! That's 72% savings!

Check out this week's Target matchups here or here.

Office Max Shopping

Although I don't have a back to school supply list for preschool, I figured I'd still take advantage of some of the back to school deals so we can stock up for home. This week, I couldn't pass up $.15 glue and $.15 Crayola crayons at Office Max!

The limit on crayons is 2 and the limit on glue was 3... so I bought everything pictured for $.80! I can't wait to see what my boys can stick together with this glue-- I had only let them use glue sticks before now!~

New Pampers Gifts to Grow Code

If you are a Pampers Gifts to Grow Rewards member, here is another new code worth 10 points:

2BEGINEARNING10

Thanks Totally Target!!

Summer

Sorry everyone-- I'm still busy trying to enjoy summer and not spending much time at the computer! One of these days I'll get back to normal blogging- I've taken deal pictures, and just not gotten around to posting them...
I will be back!

If you do have any questions or need anything, feel free to send me an email or leave a comment-- I'm still checking emails and comments and will respond if you need me.

Printing Coupons

I posted this awhile ago but thought some of my newer followers might like to see this coupon information..

I wanted to take a minute to make sure everyone knows how to get their two prints from printable coupons... Most of the time, you can get two prints of each printable coupon. For sites like coupons.com, redplum.com and smartsource.com, you go back into the coupon and select print to get your second print. Certain coupons may have a limit of one- we're starting to see that more with coupons.com coupons.

The two coupon limit is per computer, so if you have access to multiple computers, you can get more prints!

However, with printing individual coupons (Bricks coupons, etc.) though a direct link, after the first coupon prints, hit your browser's back button until the coupon prints again... sometimes it takes just one time, sometimes a couple. This works for most individual printable coupons online (Bricks, etc.).

Also, if you're just getting into printing coupons and want to save on ink, make sure you go into your printing properties and change your print quality to draft mode and to black and white print. The coupons are not as pretty but you'll save a lot of money on ink cartridges!

Opinion Outpost

If you want an easy way to earn some extra money, register for Opinion Outpost. You earn points for taking surveys- you might not qualify for all available surveys, but when you do you get points to redeem for cash. You receive 20 points ($2.00) for joining, and the minimum to cash out is $5.00. I've been a member for a year and a half and when I take the time to do the surveys have done well with rewards. You can earn Amazon gift cards for a minimum of $5, a Citi prepaid Visa for $15 in earnings or request a check when you've accumulated $20 in earnings.

Go here to register and start earning .

Lots of couponing!

This morning I had a very successful couponing trip! My boys and I went to Target, Home Depot, Walgreens and Rite Aid and got some super deals!

Rite Aid

M&M's- $2 each (buy 2, get $2 +UP Reward)
$1.00 off 2 Rite Aid Video Values coupon from July
possibly a $1 off 2 manufacturer's coupon from 7/24 RP (I couldn't find this one)
** $1.50 each PLUS $1.00 +Up Reward for buying 2! **

$7.98 before coupons and discounts
-$3.98 Wellness Plus savings
-$1.00 off $1 Video Values coupon
-$1.00 coupon
=======================
$2.00 OOP PLUS $1.00 +Up Reward earned!

Walgreens

Huggies Wipes- 184-216 ct- $5.99
$2.00 off Walgreens coupon from August coupon book
$2.00 off from Walgreens Infant Care booklet (don't have to have the booklet- the cashier just needs to enter code 5519 to get this to take off)
$.50 off coupon from 7/17 SS
** $1.49 per package! A GREAT deal on wipes!! **

You can do up to 4 in one transaction- and each Walgreens coupon will take off that amount for up to 4 items-

$31.96 before coupons and discounts
-$8.00 sales
-$8.00 August coupon booklet
-$8.00 Infant care book (#5519)
-$2.00 (4)$.50 off coupons
-----------------------------
$5.96 subtotal
+ $1.44 tax
=============================
** $7.40 OOP!! ** A great deal for 4 packages of wipes!!

Home Depot

8- Bounty single roll paper towels- $.70 each
4- $1.00 off 2 coupons from 7/31 P&G
** $.20 per roll! **

$5.60 before coupons
-$4.00 coupons
----------------
$1.60 subtotal
+ $.34 tax
===============
** $1.94 OOP!! **

Target

4- Tide single load detergent (in travel section)- $.97
4- $1.00 off Tide coupon from 7/31 P&G
** FREE PLUS $.03 money maker for each! **

Jif Creamy To-Go- $2.29
FREE Target Jif to go coupon from direct mailer
** FREE!! **

2- Nexcare Batman Bandages- $2.25
2- $1.00 off Nexcare coupon previously available
2- $.75 off Target Nexcare coupon
** $.50 each! **

4- Five Star Mead 1 subject notebook $1.00
2- $1.00 off 2 printable
** $.50 each! **

$19.83 before coupons and discounts
-$5.16 sales
-$11.79 coupons
-----------------
$2.88 subtotal
+ $.65 tax
=================
** $3.53 OOP! **

I bought $65.37 worth of products for only $14.87 out of pocket. That's 77% savings!

An experiment-- my own laundry detergent

I've seen several different recipes for making your own laundry detergent and figured I'd finally give it a try. It ends up being a LOT cheaper than buying detergent (even with coupons and sales) and is pretty easy to make. I took lots of pictures and listed the recipe at the bottom.

What you will need:
Fels-Naptha soap- $1.39 for a bar at Meijer (found in the laundry/hand soap aisle- in my store it was under the hand soaps)
Arm and Hammer Washing soda- $2.79 at Meijer (found in laundry aisle by stain removers)
Borax- $2.99 at Target (also at Meijer in the laundry aisle by stain remover)
Water
Cheese grater
Big pot for stove
Big bucket for detergent (preferably w/lid)
Empty laundry detergent bottles or big containers to hold detergent in

You can replace Fels-Naptha soap with Zote soap (which I hear is around $1 at Walmart) or even Ivory soap- I tried this recipe with Fels-Naptha but will experiment with the others in future batches.

















I used:
1/2 bar Fels-Naptha soap (shredded)
3/4 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
3/4 cup Borax

Heat 6 cups water on stove. Add grated Fels-Naptha soap to water and stir until soap melts. Once melted, washing soda and Borax- stir until everything is dissolved (it will foam up so make sure you use a big pot!).

Heat 4 cups of water in microwave while mixture is on stove. Put heated water in bucket (I used 5 gallon bucket), then add soap mixture and stif. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of tap water and stir. Let sit- stir often as the consistency will change some. It will be liquid- but kind of a gel-gooey. After it sits overnight, put in clean reused detergent containers or other plastic containers.

For each load, you use 1/2 cup detergent. If you have a front loading machine, you'll want to use a bit less. I have read that this laundry detergent is safe for front-loaders- because it doesn't suds up, but use at your own discretion. I filled 4 empty laundry containers with detergent- so this single batch will last quite a while.

Total cost per batch: around $1.24!

The batch I made used a total of 32 cups of water, so at 1/2 cup per load- this makes enough for 64 loads- so $.019 per load! Not too bad considering I bought my last Method laundry refill for $13.98 for 85 loads- or $.16 per load!

So far I've been happy with the detergent-- I even gave some to my neighbor who has a front-loading machine and she's also impressed- it works the same as any other detergent for a fraction of the price. I'll probably experiment with the different soaps and add some essential oils to the next batch.