Open Mic is just that, it is an open microphone where you get to be heard. You get to ask questions, answer questions, share your deals and be part of the Pocket Your Dollars community. I do my best to stay out of the way, but sometimes I can’t help myself and leave a comment of my own too :)
Any topic related to saving money, even loosely related is fair game for conversation as long as it is positive and friendly.
For these reading this in an email or RSS feed, please click on the title of the post to join the conversation or learn from the tips others share.
Your turn: What have you learned about coupons? Saving money? Getting out of debt?
I am interested in getting the best price available for valleyscare tickets for my daughter.I know there is an $8 off coupon in either the 9-`13 or 9-20 smartsource coupons. But this can not be used with the starlight prices.Do anyone out there know of any other place to buy discounted tickets for valleyscare which would result in a lower price? I definitely feel this is an overpriced night out.Thanks for any imput.
I finally got my Bushnell rebate for the 3 weather forecaster/thermometer!!!
Any suggestions on how to get baby food for a good price? I get some coupons every once in a while, but they don’t end up being that great of a deal.
Any ideas where to get the best deal for paper (printing paper)?
What was the deal for today for the free tickets to some plays I can’t find it now.
I can’t find Carrie’s post anymore either but the free theater tickets but here is the link directly to the website: http://www.freenightoftheater.net/.
You can’t find the post anymore because it is set to re-post at noon. I won’t be online right at noon to re-post it like I promised so I time stamped it, but it took it away right now. I’ll put it back now and everybody can be forgiving that I may not be able to re-post it right at noon, okay?
I checked out Dealsmart in Mounds View Yest. They had Gripz snacks 14 pack boxes for $1.99. Exp Jan 10.
My kids love these as snacks for school.
They also had Oceanspray Juice 6 packs for $1.99-another favorite for school.
Has anyone tried groupon?
I just wanted to thank you. I ventured out and did my 1st trip to Rainbow to participate in double daze. I paid $54 for my $120 order and it was only that much because there were a lot of items I needed but didn’t have coupons for. I got so much free stuff. Came home and in my mail was my free EOS lip balm, free tampons and pads from Walmart, free cereal and two free magazines. I also received free tickets to the Ordway for my family to see a concert.
Thank you so much for helping me save money and be able to enjoy things I would not ordinarily try out.
My family appreciates your generosity!
***Lindsay***
The cheapest baby food is to make your own at home. Check out http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com for some great tips. It’s really a lot easier than it may seem and takes very little time. Plus, some foods, like bananas and avocados, hardly take any effort at all!
If you recall a few months ago I posted that even though I had started combining coupons and sales, I was still right at my old budget of $275 a month for groceries. In the last few months I’ve improved in my purchases and am happy to say that I only spent $145 in September! Thanks for all the great deal ideas!
You may already know this, but for those of you who splurge on coffee with all your coupon savings, if you take your own mug into Caribou Coffee they will take 10cents off your order. However this month I think I’ll be getting all my caps at Holiday thanks to Carrie’s new coupoon!!!
And don’t forget – the Quizno’s coupon that Carrie shared is still good through 10/12
http://www.quiznos.com/promotions/pepsixtra/?sssdmh=dm24.166481
SInce today is October 1st, does anyone know if the internet coupons have “reset”?
:) Looking for good sources for inexpensive printer ink….any suggestions? Many thanks!
Sarah Beth – another website I read says Coupons.com, SmartSource and RedPlum coupons have all been reset. I haven’t tested this myself yet, though.
Does anyone know if Cub accepts expired formula checks? I won’t need formula for my son for a few more months, but all my checks are expiring soon. I don’t want to stock up now because I remember with my daughter we had to try several formulas to find one that worked, but I also don’t want all those $5 and $8 checks to go to waste! Anyone know if I can count on Cub taking the expired ones later? Thanks
Sarah – Yes they do accept expired formula checks. I just used some last week.
Will stores accept coupons printed on the opposite side of printed-on paper? I’m hoping to recycle all my mistake printings for couponing….
Jill ~ that was quite the discussion last week as well! Check out everyone’s comments here: http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/2009/09/open-mic-92409/
i am always interested in finding discounts on theatre tickets of any kind. the free offer today was great, but if anyone knows how to get tickets discounts at other times, i would love to hear about it. there used to be a web site that sold tickets 1/2 price the day of a performance…. does anyone know about that?
Carole – I volunteer usher at the Guthrie and get vouchers to see shows for free. It takes about an hour of my night and I do it twice a month (you can do more if you want) It’s a great deal and I love seeing the patrons, the set of the theater, and seeing shows for free. If you don’t want to volunteer, the Guthrie’s rush line is a great way to see cheap theater. The line starts at the box office and tickets are $20 cash/check and go on sale 30 mins before the show starts.
Went to Walgreens today and there is a new October coupon book up front.
Just a few that might be good matched up with MFR coupons are:
$2 off Mitchum Deoderant
$2 off Huggies Wipes (184 or 216ct)
$1 off 3pack Carmex Cherry
$1 off two Goldfish Crackers
50cents off Curad products
50cents off Quilted Northern (which is on sale thru Sat)
50cents off Simply Apple Juice or Lemonade
just to name a few!
Hello – I would love to hear what freebies some of you all got this week. I got 3 free boxes of Dreamfield’s pasta, free milk, 1 free box of pop tarts (12 count) and 1 free package of Keebler grasshopper cookies at Rainbow. At Target I got a free Schick Quattro razor and a bunch of free trial-sized items. So, what did you get free?
I got a couple things free at Rainbow last night: 2 bottles of International Delights Creamers; 2 Lawry’s taco seasoning packets; a bag of Sunchips; 3 lb bag of onions; and 3 Yoplait Yogurt Delights. Plus I got shaving cream for my husband for $0.60 and 5 boxes of Special K for $1 each (and will send in for the $10 jean voucher).
I actually would have gotten the cereal for free if I had done 2 transactions and doubled 5 more coupons but for some reason my first transaction didn’t get to the $25 mark and I was in a hurry, plus there were people waiting in line behind me so it wasn’t worth it for me to spend the time to figure out what went wrong and save $5. Even with doing only one transaction my total was only $13.56! :)
What is a good price “per piece” of Halloween candy/treats for the trick-or-treaters? What should I aim for when buying candy/fruit snacks to give out?
At Target they have the Kellog’s fruit snacks on sale for $1.50. I had a coupon (that was expired, but they took it!) for $1/2. So that brought them down to $1.00 a box. There are 10 pouches of fruit snacks per box, so I paid .10 per pouch. Is that a good price for Halloween goodies or not?
Suggestion for Lindsay in regard to economical baby food: I am not sure how old your baby is, but I would check into processing your own baby food. I have four kiddos, the youngest now is 9, and I never bought baby food. I processed my own baby food, very easily. It was a healthy and budget-wise good choicde. I would suggest you prepare it by cooking, blending, and then freezing. It is very convenient to freeze it in ice cube trays. Then you just take out what you need (2-4, whatever “cubes). That way you buy fruits/vegies that are in season (at the lowest price) as well as cuts of meat when they go on sale. If you want more help to understand how to do this, email me at ljmattson@charter. net. I would be glad to help you save a lot of money and give your child healthy food by using this option.
Lindsay: I agree with Lucy. With my first child we bought baby food because I just didn’t know any better. With our second child, who is now 7 months old, I tried making it myself and was surprised at how easy, and super cheap, it was. This website has been a huge help: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com Hope that helps!
Is there anyone who knows of a real job that someone could do online (not like posting ads on google or anything but something real and legit).
Eva, yes, places will accept coupons printed on paper that has something on the back side. I re-use my mistakes all the time and have never had any problem.!!
Someone told me CVS is giving away free flu shots. Anyone able to verify this?
Haila-my understanding is that CVS is giving away flu shots to people who are unemployed but they must pick up a voucher at the work force center. The vouchers are limited.
Haila & JAE – I have heard the same, that the CVS vouchers will be available at work force centers. So far the cheapest I have found is $20 at Sam’s Club on a specific weekend and the sign says “no membership required”. Not sure how young they will do it for kids.
I, too, am wondering if there are really any legit work from home sites. Anyone?
i make my own baby food. however, my 13 month old doesnt need everything so mashed up. great for me since he can eat what my hubby and i eat. i did buy some premade baby food just for traveling and stocked up at rainbow when they were marking some types to 50% off. we use cloth diapers too. they are not as bad as you might think plus they can be used at the pool and they are non-chlorine on my baby’s tush.
Has anyone else come accross http://www.paperbackswap.com? You can list books you want to get rid of and then request books that other people on the site have to swap. If you list 10 books you get 2 points to get 2 books right away! You just need to pay to ship your books when people request them.
On September 21st I went to Target
This is what I wanted to get:
***SC Johnson Cleaning Products deal idea***
Buy Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel at $3.94 and
Scrubbing Bubbles Fresh Brush Starter Kit at $6.29 and
Windex Multi-surface at $2.54 (was $2.99 at my Target) and
Any shout product except trial size (I bought Shout Advance Stain Remover at $2.99 and Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Cleaner for $4.14)
Use “Buy Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel, get Scrubbing Bubbles Starter Kit free” coupon from 8/2 Smartsource insert (exp 9/27) and stack with
$1/1 Windex from the 8/2 Smartsource (exp 9/27) insert and stack with
$1/1 Scrubbing Bubbles from the 8/2 Smartsource insert (exp 9/27) and stack with
$2.50/1 Target coupon for Shout from the 8/30 Smartsource (exp 10/31) insert
Website gave the Final price as: $4.77 for all 4 products after coupons (like $1.19 each)
My total before coupons was $20.35
The coupons I had were:
$6.29 Buy Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel, get Scrubbing Bubbles Starter Kit free coupon
$3 off Scrubbing Bubbles Fresh Brush Starter Kit
$1 off Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Cleaner
$1 off Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel
$1 off Windex Multi Surface
$2.50 Target Coupon for Buying the other Scrubbing bubbles Stuff and the Shout.
$2 off bonus coupon on the Shower Cleaner bottle in the store that I didn’t expect.
So I spent $3.56 on these 5 items @ $.71 and Item
Next items were General Mills Cereals on Sale for $2.50 a box (only certain ones)
Target had coupons that you could print two of for $1 off 2 boxes 10 oz or larger
I bought 4 boxes of Cereal for $10.00
$2 of $1 off 2 Target coupons
$1 off 2 Cheerios coupon from inside the Cheerios carton
$.75 off Trix
$.55 off Cocoa Puffs
I spent $5.70 or $1.43 a box
Or if you want to include the free Rice Krispies below it was $1.14 a box for 5 boxes of Cereal.
I had a coupon for a Free box of Rice Krispies from Vocalpoint.
Go to their website http://www.vocalpoint.com and sign up. They send you great coupons and samples. Saved $2.99 Final cost: FREE
I bought the Bounce Dryer Bar was $3.74
Used $1.50 coupon
Final Cost $2.24 and I don’t have to buy dryer sheets that get thrown out
All Small & Mighty 2 oz Sample was $1.02 and I had a $1 coupon
Final cost $.02
2 Three Musketeers bars price was $1.28
I got coupons from Mars for Free individual size chocolate bars from the Friday promotion they were running.
Final Cost FREE