A friend of mine introduced me to a funny but depressing blog called Hyperbole and a Half. This week the blog had a post called The Trouble With Coupons. I think you’ll like this post because it’s a new way of looking at coupons and the drawings are hilarious.
Illustration by OConnorCartoons.com
If there are additional grocery stores you would like to see featured, please leave a comment.
Ralphs - Highlights include Frigo String Cheese for $2.99 with coupons, YoCrunch 4-packs for $1.50 with coupons, Coffee-mate Flavored Creamer for $1 with coupons, and Quaker Instant Oatmeal for $.98 with coupons. The Ralphs prices assume coupon doubling up to $1. Get more Ralphs coupon match ups and deals.
Safeway/Vons - Highlights include London Broil Boneless Steak on sale for $1.99/lb, Welchs Healthy Start 59 oz chilled $.49 with coupons, Pepsi or 7-UP 2 liter products for $0.77 each (limit 4, Saturday, Sunday and Monday Only). Get Safeway/Vons coupon deals and match ups.
Albertsons - Highlights include Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, regular, thin or tender is buy one get on free, (more…)
J.Crew coupon – Get 30% off sale merchandise with this J.Crew coupon. Plus, shipping is free if you spend $150 or more. Expires Sept. 9, 2010.
eBates deals – If you shop online and haven’t joined eBates, you’re leaving cash on the table. This week, eBates has some particularly high cash back rebates.
Free air freshener – Get a free air freshener from a eco-friendly organization called Greena.org. Unclear how long it will be available.
Free haircare – Get a free sample from John Frieda’s Root Awakening line when you join SavingsLane. Unclear how long it will be available.
Staples coupon – Get 15% off your next purchase with this Staples coupon. Expires Sept. 11, 2010.
Check out all the coupons and deals on my WalletPop blog.
shimelle/Flickr
Has saving money ever caused you embarrassment? I unwittingly shamed two friends one night after we walked into a cupcake store, hungry for sugar. We greeted the cashier and surveyed the sweets, almost a dozen on the shelf. I smelled a discount.
“How late are you open? I asked.
Until ten, he said. It was eight-thirty.
“You have a lot of cupcakes left. Do you think you’ll be able to sell them all?”
He laughed nervously. “Maybe.”
“We’d like to buy some of your cupcakes. How about a discount, say 10-20% off?
“Okay, 10%.”
I grinned at my friends. “What kind do you want?”
We kept it simple: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. As the cashier was boxing the cupcakes up, he made me a counter offer. (more…)
jeffk/Flickr
I recently spoke to Michael Gold of TheThriftShopper.com about the three elements of thrifting, how some thrift stores fool patrons, and where the best thrifting can be found. Gold buys all of his clothes at thrift stores, most of his family’s furniture, all of their reading materials second hand.
What is one thing people don’t realize they can find at thrift stores? What people don’t think they can find at thrift stores is everything. People think that thrift stores are only clothes. Larger thrift stores are mini used department stores. I don’t think people realize you can go to Habitat for Humanity and buy a refrigerator. (more…)
Illustration by OConnorCartoons.com
USPS shipping coupon – Believe it or not, USPS is 50% off when you ship from Office Depot. Today only!
Home Depot workshop – There is a free workshop geared towards women using Martha Stewart Living products. The goal is to help you coordinate home decor while encouraging you to do home improvement projects.
Free soap – Get a free sample of Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay Beauty or Cascade® Complete All-in-1, when you are a bit of personal information and answer eight questions about your dish washing habits.
Restaurant.com – The latest Restaurant.com coupon gets you 80% off their $25 certs, which start at $10. Crunch, crunch, crunch. That means each $25 certificates is $2 each. Expires Sept. 13, 2010.
Check out all the coupons and deals on my WalletPop blog.
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of Bobbisbargains.
Eat your veggies - Zawezome/Flickr
I received an email asking me: “I have two young boys and a husband who are all pretty picky eaters. Not crazy about eating healthy. I’m not a health fanatic, but would like to be responsible for the way I’m feeding my family. Any suggestions?”
What an excellent question.
There are lots of very good ways to help your family eat healthy food.
Cutting out fast food drive-thrus will help enormously. Fast food is full of fillers and the raw material that goes into the food is not raised or grown in a fashion that has your health in mind. For more information on this subject read (more…)
tiffa130/Flickr
A reader named Rachel gave me a bargain tip that is so savvy! She buys cheap earrings from stores like H&M or Forever 21. Then she coats the earring hooks, which often get splotches, with clear nail polish so they stay shiny. This also protects your ears from the metal, which may irritate them.
She also buys higher quality hooks at craft stores like Michael’s and replaces the ones the earrings came with.
Past reader tips and stories include…
- I’m frustrated with coupons!
- Taking a train vacation from CA to D.C.
- Thrift store success story
Got a bargain tip? Email me and you could be featured on BargainBabe.com!
Woodleywonderworks/Flickr
Millions of children return to school this week, but a small and growing number – about 2 million – will stay put: home schoolers. The number of pupils taught outside of traditional schools is growing at 5-12 percent per year, according to the National Home Education Research Institute, a non-profit devoted to home schooling research. I asked lifelong home schooler and BargainBabe.com blogger Bobbi Burger Brunoehler about the growing world of home education.
How long have you home schooled your son and daughter? I’ve home schooled them most of their lives. My son is now 18, my daughter is 16.
Why do you home school? Because I want my kids to be able to think for themselves and I want them to love learning and I want them to know how to learn anything because the world changes and you have to know how to learn.
How do you afford to home school when it means your family is living on one income? You almost have to think about what I’m not (more…)
Splurging at Macy's and Out of the Closet
I went shopping yesterday and came home with three pairs of pants and two pairs of shoes, $139 later. I started at Macy’s, where I found two pairs of shoes that I loved. They were on sale, plus I had a 10% off coupon. Cha-ching!
The soft leather, hardy sole, and distinctive look of this pair of creamy tan slingbacks sold me. They are made by Lucky Brand, which I didn’t even realize made shoes. I wear flats ALL the time and was down to one lime green pair. I paid $49.77 for them (orig. $79, on sale for $55.30).
I rarely find appealing shoes in the jumbled clearance racks (more…)
Air fare – JetBlue just announced a bunch of cheap flights for Sept. 14-Dec. 15, 2010. One way fares are as low as $39!
Shoe coupons – I found two shoe coupons for 25% off coupons for Endless.com and Shoes.com.
Free breakfast – Get a free breakfast sandwich with any purchase at Del Taco now until Sept. 16, 2010.
Spa deals – SpaFinder.com offers treatments for $50 or 50% off during its Deal Days, Sept. 20-26, 2010.
McCormick & Schmicks – Get a $5 movie ticket with the purchase of any entree at McCormick & Schmicks. With movie tickets topping $10, you’ll save about $5 on that ticket. Expires Sept. 30, 2010.
Check out all the deals and coupons on my WalletPop blog.
You may recall I recently moved across the country to Rhode Island. I made a video about how I scoped out ways to save in my new neighborhood.
alex-s / flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Last week, a friend and I decided to eat at a fancy sushi restaurant and we were blindsided by a tipping dilemma. The restaurant only offered valet parking and we did not know how much to tip the car valet. We both ended up pitching in $3.
We were uneasy about the situation. Had we under or over tipped him? Not knowing the proper tip or gratuity can be unsettling, so I came up with my own tipping etiquette list. See if you agree with my suggestions. (more…)
CVS - Highlights include Schick Hydro Razor or Refill for free after Extra Bucks, two free Dentyne Pure, Stride Shift, or Trident Layers gum, and Excedrin for as low as $.99. Get the coupon match ups and read more CVS deals on BargainBriana.
Walgreens – Highlights include Nabisco Cookies for $.49 cents, Crest Glide Floss or Pro Health toothpaste for $.99 after coupons, and St Ives Bodywash for free after Register Rewards. Get the coupon match ups and read more Walgreens deals on CommonSenseWithMoney.
Rite Aid – Look for the Rite Aid coupon match ups and deals later today on on CouponCravings.
New to coupons? Check out my post on coupon clipping basics. If you want to take advantage of these deals, make sure to save the coupon inserts you receive in the mail or with your Sunday newspaper. Here’s a great suggestion for how to handle coupon organization.
Illustration by OConnorCartoons.com
Karen Reed is the winner of my review copy of “Enjoy Your Money!: How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It”. I asked you guys who your financial role model was and Karen said it was her mother. She wrote:
MY financial role model, without a doubt, is my mother. She grew up during the depression and knew what it was like to literally have nothing. She taught me from a very early age that even pennies make dollars. Most people if they drop a penny will leave it. I pick it up and so do my kids! MY mother has taught me to not live beyond my means, which in this world is sometimes hard to do.
Karen, I can only imagine (more…)
