Caliber or CVS pharmacy 1 subject notebook $.99,
get back $.99 ECB
Free after ECBs (limit 2)

Paper Mate Grip pens 8 ct $.99
get back $.99 ECB
Free after ECBs (limit 3)

Caliber or It’s Academic 5″ pointed or blunt scissors $2.99
get back $2.99 ECB
Free after ECBs (limit 2)

Caliber or CVS pharmacy school glue 5 oz $.99
get back $.99 ECB
Free after ECBs (limit 2)

Caliber or CVS pharmacy 12″ plastic or wood ruler $.99
get back $.99 ECB
Free after ECBs (limit 2)

A few other good school supply sales:

2 pocket portfolio folders - $.05

Caliber or CVS pharmacy 3-subject 120 sheets or 5-subject 180 sheets notebook $3.99
get back $3 ECB
$.99 after ECBs

My CVS was out of a lot of these items, but said they would get a truck in tomorrow. You may want to call first to see if the items are in stock.

This sale ends Tuesday, July 13.

Remember, even if you don’t need the school supplies, you can still use them to help someone in need. You can donate these to a family in financial need or use them to fill up your shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Since you’re paying for part of your insurance with each and every paycheck you may as well find all those hidden perks you may be missing. Here’s how…

• Sit down with your health care paper work and look through it carefully. Jot down questions you come up with - it’s ok to go drill HR about your form questions.
• Look for the term flexible-spending account (or FSA). Most companies offer these but few people I’ve ever worked with use them. An FSA allows you to set aside pretax cash to cover expenses like eyeglasses, co-pays, and medication which can add up to large savings over time.
• Ask about healthy choice incentives. Some companies offer (in the small print) wellness programs or seminars on topics like weight-loss or smoking cessation, and some even offer cash bonuses or great prizes to employees who meet specific get healthy goals.
• Check out deals offered by your insurance carrier or company. Some companies offer group discount memberships to gyms. Many companies have policies that allow deals on extras like contacts or teeth whitening. Often times deals and discounts change so it’s smart to check up on your insurance providers website or talk with HR from time to time to learn about new promotions and deals.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

This sale ends Monday, July 13, 2009.  You must have a printer to print out the gift certificates.

image from restaurant.com

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

How does Buxr.com work?

Buxr works like a forum, and members search for hot deals then share what they find. Deals are voted on by the rest of the community and a hotness score is given. The vote can help you make shopping decisions - i.e. a super hot vote probably means a good deal.

If you submit a deal it’s put into a moderation queue for verification by other Buxr community members and moderators. Once your deal is approved, it’s published on the Buxr deals page where community members can see it and vote on it. Buxr even takes care of expired deals by setting individual expiration dates on each deal. Moderators and users also do routine deal sweeps for accuracy.

Buxr is also a contest site. You can win prizes one of three ways:

1. Submit the best deal of the day and win our Daily Deal contest.
2. Collect the most points by guessing the best and the worst deals each day and win our Monthly Deal contest.
3. Refer the most friends to Buxr and win our monthly Refer a Friend contest.

When I checked out Buxr, it looked pretty good. The deals on the front page seem fresh and there’s a lot of freebies posted too - free samples, free downloads, etc. I didn’t like the site’s design, but I’m picky. The front page is more like a forum than a website, but if you find a great deal, looks don’t much matter right?

If you’ve been looking for one more shopping deals site to add to your arsenal of money saving sites, Buxr may be just the ticket.

Let us know if you’ve used Buxr and tell us what you think in he comments. Visit Buxr to learn more.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

First transaction:
3 CVS nighttime (generic Nyquil), regular price $5.29, clearance price $1.32
I stockpiled these for the winter season while they were at a rock bottom price. This is using the buy ahead principle to avoid paying full price later.

Second transaction:
CVS panty shields, $.89, receive $.89 Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) back (limit 1)
Pantene shampoo, reg $6.29, $4.99 sale, receive $2 ECBs, used $1 coupon
3 pencil sharpeners, $.99 each, receive $.99 ECBs each (limit 3)
At the end of this transaction, I received the $.89 ECBS for the panty shields, the $2.97 ECBs for the pencil sharpeners, the $2 ECBs for the Pantene, and it also printed a few coupons - $5 off a $25 purchase, $2 off Huggies wipes, and an additional $1.50 CVS coupon or ECB.

Transaction 3:
2 six inch topiaries (for my girl’s Barbie house), reg $1.99, clearance price $.19 each
Organix shampoo, reg $6.99, sale $4.99 - I bought this because there was a rebate form on the bottle to try it for free.
Bayer heart aspirin, reg $6.99, clearance $3.50, $1.50 coupon on box
2 Dove hair mousse, reg $4.99 each, on sale buy 1 get 1 free, used $1 coupon
Pampers Easy Ups, reg $11.99, sale $8.99, used $1 coupon
2 Pringles canister, reg $2.79 each, sale $1.50 each, used $1 coupon
Huggies wipes $3.49, used $2 CVS coupon and $.75 manufacturer’s coupon
On this transaction, I had $5.25 in manufacturer’s coupons and $14.36 in ECBs and CVS coupons.

If my calculations are correct, the regular price for all of these items would have been $94.73. My out of pocket (OOP) expense was $21.54 plus I will send off immediately for the $4.99 rebate.  This is a savings of over 80%!

I spent some time this week clipping and organizing my coupons into my coupon binder.  The binder is very helpful in situations (such as today) when you are shopping and happen to find some items on sale or clearance.

These are my CVS bargains for this week.  Let me know if you have any questions or if I did not explain something clearly. 

Happy saving!

image (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Our fave ice pop molds!

Why ice pops are essential for thrifty families:

You get to use up all the leftovers: I’ll freeze darn near anything - chocolate milk, old smashed berries, carrots that will go bed soon, older yogurt, bottom of the jar blackberry jam with water, and more. Seriously, if it can be blended in the blender, I’ll do it and freeze it, and there’s a 95% chance my son Cedar will eat it without thinking twice. Don’t believe me? I once made a huge list of things to freeze, and still it’s just the tip of the iceberg, or the ice pop as the case may be - 32 Unique Homemade Popsicle Recipes & Ideas

It’s so cheap compared to store bought: EVEN if you don’t use up the leftovers to make them, your homemade pops will cost far less than store bought. Get yourself some long lasting quality molds plus one blender and you’re in ice pop business for years to come (see some molds I like).

It saves on the garbage bill: Even if you don’t care a snot about the environment, I bet you do care about the garbage bill. In summer this can go way up. The kids are home, the garbage is full of ice pop trash - what a mess and an extra cost! Reusable ice pop molds end this issue.

It’s cheap entertainment: Now, maybe my son just likes the simple things, but going through the fridge, choosing ingredients, and concocting fun blender messes to freeze does keep him entertained for a good hour.

Personally, I’m hard pressed to find a better year round value, let alone summer value than homemade ice pops. What do you think? Let me know what your best summer money saver is in the comments.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

If you don’t have a cow costume then you can download a free starter kit from Chick-Fil-A. 

Yummy, yummy! 

image from chick-fil-a

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

We all have habits. Some of our habits include spending more on some items over others. I bring this up because sometimes I think about the thrifty books I read, or blog posts, and it seems I could be doing more to save money. Some of those authors of thrifty books come off as if they NEVER spend a dime more than they have to. This makes me wonder about the rest of us. Do we all hold back or do some of us splurge once in a while?

I do splurge, not often, but I do. I do however look for sales on the items below, but if I can’t find one, I’ll still hand over the cash for them. Here’s what I won’t compromise on…

• Coffee: I’ve tried to buy cheaper coffee, I really have. But the coffee snob in me hates me for doing it, and I may as well not drink coffee at all. NOT an option.
• Organic fruits and veggies: You see conventional for really good deals, and many I will buy conventionally, but if a fruit or veggie is on the dirty dozen list, it’s very rare that I won’t buy the organic version.
• Organic milk: Milk is already expensive. Organic milk is a lot more. But dairy rates high on the list of conventional food baddies, so I always buy the more expensive organic.
• Lip gloss: I hate cheap kid lip gloss. I splurge (sadly) on my faves instead.
• Lotion: I usually buy organic or natural lotions (when I don’t make homemade) and it costs more than say, a store brand, but I like that they work better and don’t come chock full of chemicals.
• Recycled toothbrushes: These really cost more than store brand toothbrushes, and work just the same, but the greenie in me makes me need to spend more in order to lower my footprint some.

I’ve known folks who only buy the best meat but would never dream of shelling out cash for a book they can get at the library. I know others who splurge on shoes but clip coupons and search for sales all day long for groceries. I suppose my splurges are mainly affected by my eco-issues, but all of our splurges are slanted by something.

What do you splurge on and why? OR do you think you should try to save money 100% of the time - no compromise?

[image via free pixels]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

• boys’ Maui Island flip flops $4.99
• boys’ Sketchers rubber sandals (croc type) $6.49
• boys’ leather Hush Puppies sandals $12.49
• girls’ Sugar Foot rubber sandals $3.49
• girls’ leather Timberland sandals (brown and pink) $7.49
• boys’ Sketchers flip flops $4.99
• boys’ Croc sandals (brown and orange) $9.99

The regular price of all of these shoes (the Shoe Dept price) was $168.93.  My pretax amount was only $49.93.  This is a savings of about 70%!  Woohoo!

Some of these shoes will fit my children this year and some of these we’ll save for next year. When you get buy shoes and clothing for such incredibly low prices, it saves a lot of money to shop ahead.

Happy saving!

image (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Help pool bound hair. Club soda has the power to help neutralize all that chlorine, or at least minimize the damage it does to your locks. Rinse with a couple cups of the fizzy stuff after each dip in the pool.

To make a drink - duh right. BUT really consider it. You can make healthier and lower calories fizzy beverages with club soda and lemon, or juice, or some tea that cost less than other fizzy drinks. You can also make a cool soda pop version of a more expensive float for the kids with club soda. Mix a little powdered kool-aid, some sugar, a scoop or two of ice cream, and club soda together for a colorful and bubbly float-like drink.

At the beach house, use club soda to open shelled fish - clams, oysters that are tough to open. You’ll need to soak the shells in club soda for about 15 mins or so and they should open easier.

On the big camp out, whip up a batch of flapjacks with club soda instead of water or milk (you can half it even) for fluffier cakes. You’ll impress everyone - double points if you manage over an open fire.

Make sparkle jello for the kids. If you add club soda instead of plain water (during the cold water step of making jello) it’ll create a sparkle effect. It’s summer - why have dull jello?

And your bonus use - which is not summery at all, but super funny… (via here)

“Make a poor man’s lava lamp. Fill a glass with Canada Dry Club Soda and drop in two raisins. The carbonation will cause the raisins to repeatedly bob to the surface and they sink again.”

Post from: Thrifty Mommy