Thrifty Thursday: Stocking your spice cabinet on a budget

February 11, 2010 by


When I first started using coupons, I didn’t realize the extent of “stuff” that you can get for free or close to free using coupons. When I started “extreme couponing” I began stockpiling health and beauty items mainly from CVS deals and eventually started stockpiling groceries, too, but it took me awhile to catch on to the “deals” that you can get to stock your spice cabinet, too!

Walgreens and CVS usually have sales on their spices where they are 2/$1 (they are on sale at Walgreens this week!). They have a lot of the “basics” that we use regularly – beef bouillon, chicken bouillon, parsley, paprika, cinnamon, garlic salt, garlic power, onion powder, and pepper. I love to “stock up” during these sales. Plus, they make great fillers!

For those not so common spices, McCormick frequently releases coupons for $.25/1 spice. By itself, that probably seems like it’s hardly worth it. But, my grocery store triples coupons up to a face value of $.39, so once that coupon triples, I’m saving $.75! Sometimes, they have specialty things (seasoning mixes for steaks and chicken) that go 10 for $10 and I’m able to get them super cheap when they do that! This also helps to cut down my out of pocket expenses on other spices when I’m ready to re-stock.

Do you have another Thrifty Thursday tip to share? Feel free to link up below!

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, check out Coupon Teacher and Life as a Mom.

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Hot diaper deals from Diapers.com!

February 11, 2010 by

Diapers.com has some awesome deals right now! You can potentially get 5 jumbo packs of Huggies diapers for $14.49 (that’s $2.90 per pack!), 5 jumbo packs of Pampers for $15.49 ($3.10 per pack!), or Luvs for $24.47 ($4 per pack!). These prices will be valid only if this is your first time purchasing from diapers.com.

I have ordered from them a few times now. The convenience of having diapers delivered to your home is great, especially since their prices are comparable to retail prices, and their shipping time is super fast!

Here’s the breakdown for the Huggies:

1. Print the $2 Huggies diapers coupons and send them in. Diapers.com accepts manufacturer’s coupons. To find out how to submit your manufacturer’s coupons for credit, click here.

2. If you haven’t already, sign up for Ebates. If you are a new member, you will get a $5 bonus (after you make your first purchase) when you sign up here. Once you have signed up, search for Diapers.com, and click through the link on the site. You will get an additional 1% cash back for shopping through this link.

3. Choose 5 Huggies jumbo packs (sizes 1-2 here and sizes 3-6 here). Add them to your cart.

4. Proceed to check-out. If you’re a new member, you’ll have to register.

5. If you originally added $49 or more to your cart, your order should qualify for free shipping. Your total should be $49.95 at this point. (Any coupons you have submitted should also appear as a credit on your account)

6. Enter the coupon code MELISSASBA if you are a new customer to get $10 off your order of $49 or more.

7. Once you get your order, submit for the $14.97 rebate (I recommend printing this now)

If you follow all of these steps, your total should be $14.49! If you don’t want to deal with sending in the coupons initially, your total will be $24.49 ($4.90/pack), which is still a great deal!

If you want to order Pampers, here’s the breakdown:

1. There were $1.50/1 coupons in the 2-7 PG insert. Send in any coupons you have (ideally 5). Diapers.com accepts manufacturer’s coupons. To find out how to submit your manufacturer’s coupons for credit, click here.

2. If you haven’t already, sign up for Ebates. If you are a new member, you will get a $5 bonus (after you make your first purchase) when you sign up here. Once you have signed up, search for Diapers.com, and click through the link on the site. You will get an additional 1% cash back for shopping through this link.

3. Choose 5 Pampers jumbo packs (Baby Dry sizes 1-6 here and Cruisers sizes 3-7 here). Add them to your cart. Click the Instant eCoupon box to get an additional $1.50/1 Pampers diapers or pants.

Follow steps 4-7 above (in the Huggies scenarios). Your total out of pocket if you follow all of these steps should be $15.49 ($3.10 per pack). If you don’t want to deal sending coupons in, it would be $22.99 ($4.60/pack), which is still a great deal!

If you want to order Luvs, here’s the breakdown:

1. If you haven’t already, sign up for Ebates. If you are a new member, you will get a $5 bonus (after you make your first purchase) when you sign up here. Once you have signed up, search for Diapers.com, and click through the link on the site. You will get an additional 1% cash back for shopping through this link.

2. Choose 6 Luvs jumbo packs here. Choose 1 package of Pampers travel wipes here (you need these to get your total over $49).

Follow steps 4-7 in the Huggies scenario. Your total out of pocket should be $24.47 ($4 per pack)

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Save an additional 15% during the Walgreens Friends & Family sale!

February 11, 2010 by


The Walgreens deals this week were already awesome and it just keeps getting better! I just got an e-mail about a “Friends and Family” day tomorrow (February 12, 2010)! Print the coupon to get 15% off all eligible store items and 20% off all Walgreens and W brand products.

The offer is not valid on prescriptions, cigarettes, dairy products, liquor, phone cards, newspapers, magazines, stamps, and gift cards. You must check out at the photo or cosmetics counter to use this coupon.

UPDATE: I have read on some message boards that the Huggies RR are no longer “rolling.” Also, I read that when you use the 15% off coupon and another Walgreens store coupon, it subtracts 15% from the store coupon (so the Walgreens Huggies activity book coupon will only take $.15 off instead of $1). If that is the case, I don’t recommend using the 15% off coupon with the Three Musketeers!

Here’s my plan using this coupon: (I have already done a few scenarios this week, so I am starting out with a $6 RR from the Dove deal and a $1.50 RR from the Three Musketeers deal)

*For coupon match-ups, check out my weekly deals post

Transaction #1:

Buy 1 Huggies diapers – $8.99
Buy 4 Three Musketeers – $.49/each (with in ad coupon)

Use 15% Friends & Family coupon (I don’t know if this will deduct from the price before coupons or not….I’m going to try giving it first and assuming $1.64 will be deducted)
Use $2 Huggies printable Use $1 Walgreens Huggies Activity Book coupon Use $.49 in ad coupon for the Three Musketeers Use $6 RR from Dove
Spend $.31 OOP, earn a $3 RR (Huggies) and a $1.50 RR (Three Musketeers)

Transaction #2:
Buy 1 Dove men’s bodywash – $5.99
Buy 1 Quilted Northern bath tissue – $3.50 (these are listed at $3.99 in the ad, but my store had a special flier listing the price as 2/$7)
Buy 3 Disney coloring/activity books – $.33/each (w/ in ad coupon)

Use 15% Friends and Family coupon (I’m assuming it will deduct $1.57) Use $1.50 Dove printable Use 2 $1.50 Three Musketeers RR Use $3 Huggies RR Use $1 Quilted Northern coupon
Spend $.41 OOP, get a $6 RR

**I will continue to repeat these scenarios at different stores (I don’t recommend doing more than 2 scenarios at one store in one trip)

You could also add this in as your second transaction:

Buy 1 Gillette Fusion razor – $8.99
Buy 1 Children’s activity book – $.33 (w/ in ad coupon)

Use 15% Walgreens Friends & Family coupon (I’m assuming it will deduct $1.40) Use $4 Gillette Fusion coupon Use Walgreens in ad coupon for the coloring book Use $3 Huggies RR
Spend $.92 OOP, get a $4 RR

or, if you just want to “roll” your Huggies RR, you could do this:

Buy 1 Huggies diapers – $8.99
Buy 1 Children’s activity book – $.33 (w/ in ad coupon)

Use 15% Walgreens Friends & Family coupon (assuming it will deduct $1.40) Use $2 Huggies coupon Use $1 Walgreens Activity book coupon for Huggies Use $3 Huggies RR
Spend $1.92 OOP, get a $3 RR

This post is part of Becentsable’s Grocery Gathering.

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Ebates: Did you get your "Big Fat Check" payment yet?

February 11, 2010 by


I went into my Paypal account to check on I had made earlier in the day and I was pleasantly surprised to see that my “Big Fat Check” payment from Ebates had gone through! Based on the payment dates on their site, I wasn’t expecting my payment until the 15th. So, if you made qualifying purchases through December 31st and opted to be paid by Paypal, make sure you check your account!

**If for someone reason you don’t get your Big Fat Check (either through Paypal or the mail depending on what you have selected), you can contact them to request the status here.

To find out more about Ebates, check out this post.

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Weight Loss Wednesday: Hanging in there…

February 11, 2010 by
MamaNotes

I missed my Weight Loss Wednesday post last week. It had been a long day and I was too tired to best and to be honest, I wasn’t feeling all that motivated. Last week was a rough week. I didn’t work out once. I still tried to be somewhat conscientious about what I was eating, but I didn’t use my tracker at all. I didn’t even want to go to Weight Watchers on Saturday to weigh in because I was so sure that I hadn’t lost anything at all or maybe that I had even gained weight. But, I forced myself to go because I knew that I needed the accountability and because I knew that if I stopped going even for just one week it would be that much easier to make excuses and not go the next week. I’ve been down that road before. So, I went and I was shocked to find out I’d lost 1.5 pounds? I was grateful, too, though, because it gave me the motivation to get back on track.

So, my update this week is that I’m hanging in there. I’m hanging in there and I’ve been more motivated to work out this week and I’ve even been pretty good about tracking.

If you’ve got a goal to lose weight, I hope you’re hanging in there, too! And if you’ve blogged about it, feel free to link up and share below!

Filed Under: Weight Loss Wednesday