Hotel freebies for me!
My first thought yesterday when I saw the huge spread of toiletries on my Radisson hotel room vanity was, “I’m totally going to take this stuff!” Somehow, the spectacular display of toiletries made me feel as if the hotel wanted me to take it all. A hotel that parts with an essential bar of soap, shampoo and conditioner has a stingy glow, while a hotel that displays no fewer than 23 items clearly has riches to share.
Which of course reminded me of a guest post from a reader who takes toilet paper from hotels to save money. I draw the line at tp and tissues, but confess my plans to stash away these goodies, which I estimate are worth about $25. It’s the biggest assortment of hotel goodies I’ve ever seen:
- toothbrush and toothpaste
- small comb
- mouthwash
- body wash
- razor and shave cream
- shower cap
- two bars of soap
- shampoo, conditioner, and lotion
- sewing kit
- cotton balls and cotton swabs
- shoe mitt
- shoe polishing kit including black polish, a buffing pad, a small brush, and a shoe horn, all in a cute carrying case!
- finally, a loofah clinched the deal. Who has ever seen a loofah in a hotel?
Do you take hotel swag home?
smallestbones/Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
While going through my morning routine, a rush in the bathroom to get ready, I realized that I was wasting products and money. Here are some changes I’ve made in the bathroom to save money. (more…)
I was putting together a new tab on BargainBabe.com that features long-term strategies for coupon clipping (as opposed to coupons that expire in a few days) when I realized I had never written a basic how to clip coupons post. Shocking!
There are�five steps to coupon clipping for grocery products, toiletries, and drugstore items. Here’s how I organize my coupons.
1. Subscribe to the Sunday newspaper, which is when coupons are distributed. If you don’t want to subscribe, you may live in an area that the three major coupon inserts – RedPlum.com, SmartSource.com, and PGeSaver.com – want to reach. You can inquire directly by signing up on their sites.� Online coupons are becoming more prevalent and may replace newspaper coupons someday.
2. Quickly flip through the inserts and clip any coupons that you are absolutely sure you will use no matter if the item is on sale this week. (I used to recommend clipping every single coupon and filing by category but that is not as efficient as this method).
3. File the rest of the inserts in one folder, noting the publication date. (i.e. Feb. 28, 2010).
4. Look for sales in the store circulars that arrive by mail or in your inbox if you have signed up for store email lists. Match sale items with what there are coupons for. There are two main “matching” databases that tell you when coupons were published so you don’t have to sort through each insert by hand. They are AFullCup.com and HotCouponWorld.com. To help find matches, read some of my favorite coupon match blogs, including CommonSenseWithMoney.com, CouponCravings.com, and KouponKaren.com. These blogs often do much of the work for you!
To get an idea of how much you can save by coupon matching, check out my extreme couponing adventure.
5. Take your coupons to the store and buy when the item is on sale! It always helps to be especially nice to the cashier when you are using a lot of coupons. Sometimes their cooperation can make a big difference in your total bill.
Bonus Tip: If you want more coupons than you can clip in your newspaper, check out these websites to� buy and trade coupons.
