Open Mic is a post every Thursday that is a mini-version of a discussion board. You can leave a comment with whatever coupon, money-saving or debt reduction tips or questions you have and other readers chime in and answer.
When you leave a comment on this post, you’ll be able to choose whether you’d like to be emailed follow-up comments or not. Getting comments via email is a great way to stay connected without having to visit the site a bazillion times (although I don’t mind if you come a bazillion times).
As always, I look forward to hearing the voice of the Pocket Your Dollars community. Read through the Open Mic archives here.
Your turn: Leave a comment with your money-saving, coupon or debt reduction question, thought or suggestion.
Two tips: 1) If you are reading this via email or an RSS feed, click on the title “Open Mic” to come back to the site and leave a comment and 2) If you are concerned about your privacy, just reference yourself by your initials and know that I will not share your email address with anyone else.
I’d like to get my daughter a Nook Color for Christmas. Can anyone tell me where the best place might be get it?
I think the Nook’s are sold at Barnes and Noble. You might be able to find ones online through other outlets (such as eBay)
Lots of stores carry the Nook in addition to Barnes and Noble. Watch the ads for gift card related deals (Office Max, Best Buy–there are more). I suggest a Kindle over a Nook but know others who feel the opposite.
I have a Nook and love it, BUT, the books are expensive. Especially new releases. I’ve heard you can get better book prices for Kindle on Amazon, but don’t really have any first hand experience.
I’m looking for a remote control airplane (or helicopter would work also) for a Christmas present. I know Carrie posted one on Cyber Monday, but it got pretty poor reviews so I decided to pass on that one. Does anybody have suggestions for finding one for a good price (I’d like to spend somewhere around $20)? Thanks!
I bought one for my hubby at JC last week (not sure how it will work – it was less than 20 and probably get what you pay for). JC has the same one on sale this week and if you use your JC credit card it is less than 15 I think? Good luck
There are a couple on Amazon that last year went down to $18 or so in the weeks before Christmas. I’d find a couple that you’d be comfortable buying and put a watch on them for the next two weeks. The brand is Syma – my sister bought one for my nephew last year and he’s still playing with it!
I saw some helicoptors at Brookstone for $25 (or others for more) this past week that seemed pretty good.
Well, since people are posting what they are looking for, I guess I’ll join in. I don’t know about a Nook, but a few months back, Carrie posted about a remote control from Amazon, about $25 I think. I got one for my husband and he loves it! Probably wouldn’t be great for a small child since the controls are very sensitive but an older child or teen would like it. I need to buy 2 iPods. Any ideas?? Thanks and have a good day everyone.
Keep an eye on Target. currently there is a $15 gift card deal (ipod touch 8gb) along with a 10% off coupon on their website. makes a decent deal.
An even better deal if you have the Target credit card and/or the $10 GC with $50 purchase Q.
Target has the 10% off an ipod coupon available again. You can print 2. I did really well on black Fri weekend at Target. Bought 2 used 2 10% plus rec’d 2 $40 gift cards. Used my Target card for the extra 5%. I did 2 transactions and used the first $40 on the purchase of the 2nd. Not sure if it is still up there, but on Targets facebook page yesterday you could print a coupon for a $10 gift card for a $50 or more purchase (you could print up to 2 per computer). I would bet pretty strongly that Target will pull out another good giftcard deal on an ipod before the 24th. So print those coupons and play the waiting game. The bigger questions is how big of an ipod do you need? 8G 16G 32G?? I know target has done gift cards on all sizes, and the 10% off can be used on any ipod.
I like the target deal, but you can also try amazon.
ebay for the ipods
OOPS- ” remote control helicopter”
LivingSocial has a McDonald’s deal today that for $13, you get a tear-book with coupons for 5 Big Macs and 5 large fries. Maybe a good idea for a small gift for the McDonald’s lover in your life…
My Daughter is looking for the following, A North face jacket, & Red Wing boots. Also a
camoflage duffel bag ( large). I have looked on Dicks Sporting goods & Joe’s Sporting Goods & Gander Mountain. There are coupons in the Happenings book for Dick’s, but can’t find any for the other two. Also do they sell Red Wing shoes/boots at stores other than Red Wing?
Sally,
I have a coupon for DICKS that I requested from Recyclebank. It expires on 12/31/11. I am not able to use it. It is for $15 off a $75. Please email me at slw5863@gmail.com if you would like me to mail it to you.
They do sell Red Wing Boots elsewhere but the store in Red Wing actually has an outlet are that has boots from 20-60% off regular prices. They are new, factory seconds but you can’t tell any difference. My husband LOVES their boots and actually my whole family swears by them. I’ve seen them on ebay too if you know exactly what you want or there are independent retailers too. Good luck!
Sportsman’s Warehouse in St. Paul would probably be a good place to check for the camo bag :) Also, Fleet Farm has a huge selection of camo.
I would try Cabellas or Gander Mountain. Are there any Bass Pro Shops in MN – cuz they might have one?
Burkhartzmeyer’s shoe store in Faribault sells Red Wings. I know it’s a bit of a drive from the Twin Cities – but this shoe store is worth it (in my opinion!)
There is also a store in the Blaine/Circle Pines/Lexington area that sells Red Wing Shoes off 35W after the Hwy10 exit.
There’s a store in Maple Grove as well across from Rainbow.
Sally,
There is a Red Wing shoe store on Robert Street in West St Paul
I have a desk top computer that has either been taken over by a virus despite having Norton protection, or the hard drive crashed. I think it’s a virus since the computer just gradually slowed down to the point we could no longer use – or try to fix it online. I turned it off and haven’t used it since. Due to just buying a house and the Christmas holiday, I am short on cash to get it fixed. Geek squad is expensive. They want $70 just for a diagnostic and an additional $130 to fix a virus. I didn’t even ask about the hard drive. Does anyone know of a cheaper, yet legit place that fixes computers? I live in Farmington and work in Bloomington so I am willing to go as far north as Richfield and as far south as Northfield. Thank you all!
NN
Hi NN, my husband works on computers. We also live in farmington.
He would give you a fair price. I could give you his email.
*fare*
Thank you, CE! I am going to try Chris’s suggestion for the anti-malware, but if my computer is too far gone – and I think it is – I would love to talk to you more. One thing I forgot to mention is that my computer had something called ibryte (I think that is what it is called), which my son said is what was causing all of the problems. You can email me at nicnyamoko@gmail dot com.
NN — I agree with Chris, I too use Malwarebytes (dot) org, the free version. My son also likes to play his games on the computer and I can’t tell you how much junk this software has caught and removed. After we finish using the computer I will run a ‘quick scan’ and once a week I run the ‘full scan’. I downloaded mine from Cnet, after reading the reviews.
I also use the free version of AVG Anti-Virus 2011 – but there is a newer version now. This one has worked wonders for me as well. Hope this helps. :)
If the computer works at all, and this may take a while, try downloading Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware. This is a program that will search your computer for programs that are not necessarily viruses, but can have a hard time on your computer. These are programs like “toolbars”, tracking programs, etc. They way these get past Norton (even if you update Norton’s virus definitions) is that you actually authorize these programs to load on your computer. My son keeps downloading games onto my computer (someday he will learn) and I run this program and it removes the ones that are trying to track what the computer is doing or allow backdoor access to the computer.
Another option if the computer works is to sign up for Xfinitiy’s Signature Support, my parents loved it when they fixed their computer. I imagine you have to have Xfinity’s service, but I found a coupon code online for it at: https://signaturesupport.xfinity.com/computer-maintenance-promo3.
I hope this helps.
Try AOL Tech Guru’s. They charge $25 a month (you do have to commit to three months and can stop then), but if they can not fix it they will refund you. We were very happy with their service and the price was right. You can call them for any of the services during your contract and it was worth it for our situation.
I have had three or four major viruses on my computer in the last month. My computer has windows 7 home premium and now several ways to combat viruses. All Free. I have Microsoft security essentials, Super Anti-virus and malwarebytes. And even with all these programs to rid my computer of this last virus I was unsuccessful. The great thing about windows is that Microsoft provides free support. I will walk you through the steps here to get this help.
-hard restart your computer and put it into “safe mode with networking” (this allows you to get to the internet, but only runs the bare minimum of programs to get you there, basically the rest of your computer is sleeping, hopefully along with the virus)
-bring up your browser and type in microsoft security essentials (support.http://support.microsoft.com/ph/15931)
at the bottom of the page you will see a “get help now”
-you will have to select the proper choices from the list given. “i think I have a virus”, then English, if that is the language you want to use. And you have to go through the list and choose it twice to verify.
-The next page will have links to four support people, just click the link to whichever one you wish to connect to.
-you will need to set up a quick account. All you need is an email address and pick a password.
-you will be connected to the agent, then tell them what you think your problem is, what you have done to try and fix it already and they will take over from there.
-they send you an agreement that you have to accept. It says I agree to let this person remove all infections and the like from my computer and they will even tweek your settings to help prevent this sort of thing from becoming a recurrence.
- then they will ask you to authorize them to remotely access your computer. A window will pop up and you just have to authorize it. Some will send the code with the link and some you will have to ask for the code to authorize it.
-Then they take over. It is truly incredible to watch them in action. You can see everything they do and even chat with them about what they are doing via text on the notepad. Even with all the anti virus programs I had at my disposal after the first two infections, I had to get their help on the third one because the virus required manual removal before the program could remove it completely.
I will take several hours for the process to complete, but for a free service that you don’t have to leave your home for, it is worth the time.
I have unfortunately gotten another virus on my computer and just found out that the previously mentioned service is no longer free. They now charge a $99.00 fee. I am so disappointed in Microsoft. They put out a free anti virus and when it doesn’t work they backed it up with free online service, now I wonder whether they are the ones causing these viruses specifically to not get caught by their anti virus so that they can charge 100 bucks to fix it. I apologize if you tried to get their support and found out it wasn’t free after I told you it was.
Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions. I have someone working on my computer now and it turns out my problem was not at all a virus. The mother board was failing. Since my kid is constantly downloading stuff, I like to blame all computer problems on viruses.
Maybe PYD posted this too and I didn’t catch it, but I read on totallytarget.com yesterday that there is a printable Target Q for ‘get a $10 gift card with $50 purchase’. I printed 2 but I think you might be able to print more than that. Some people were able to print 4. I used one last night, no problem. What an awesome Q to get, especially around the holidays, and especially at Target where you can combine their store Qs and manu Qs and use the clothes Qs on clearance!
Thought of one more thing – there have been $1 Qs for Bissell Stomp-n-Go carpet spot cleaner. I have found this product at Target with peelies for try-me-free MIRs. Good time to try out a new product.
If anyone has MW3 Double XP game codes from Doritos or Mountain 12 packs and bottle caps, etc. that you aren’t going to use, my son would love them! Please e-mail me your unused codes at Sue121009 at live dot come. Thank you!!
What do you guys consider a good buy price for diapers and wipes?
I don’t think there have been good diapers and wipes deals lately. We buy size 5 and newborn sizes. For newborns I’ve started aiming for about 10cents a piece and it’s almost 16cents a piece for the size 5′s. It used to be 7cents to 10 cents but just haven’t seen those deals. I think wipes the best price is one cent a piece. We usually buy Luvs if nothing else is on sale and always buy Huggies wipes when there are coupons plus gift card deal at Target. I’m sure others have found cheaper, but I don’t believe in the whole ECB or Register Rewards at CVS or Walgreens being worth it (you’re just spending more now, to save later but I think it’s too easy to count the savings twice). Good luck, we have three in diapers and it gets frustrating to not find a good deal to stock up on!
If you head over to MoneySavingMom.com they just posted about a decent deal on Pampers and Huggies right now at Target. If you happen to have coupons to stack with the gift card deals you can get diapers for a pretty good price (11-12cents each according to the site – I haven’t done the math myself!)
If you have any coupons for Huggies Slip-ons give them a try, they have been having coupons inside for $2 off next pack. For a while there was $3 off coupons in the sunday ads also on Huggies.com. The coupons are in the bigger soft packs. Feel on the outside for a 2″x2″ square – that is the coupon suck to the rewards code.
hi all, I was just wondering you all generally do as far as deals on Christmas photo cards . . . trying to figure out an easy route, and ideally inexpensive. Anyone have recommendations or price points per card, etc? I missed out on that groupon vistaprint prior to Thanksgiving and I’m wondering if there might be some other deal out there? Thanks in advance!
If you are a Costco member they have 50 cards (6″x71/2″) for $14.99. They are larger than the standard photo card but still only require a reg stamp.
Thanks! Great lead, completely forgot about checking there!
When I was young there was a show called Kukla, Fran and Ollie (dating myself) and they showed movies Sat. mid mornings. There was a movie that I watched that seemed to mimic cinderella, but can’t remember the name. It was a girl that found some walnuts and everytime she wished it would open with her wish. I loved that movie as a child and I would really like to try to find it, but can’t remember the name.
If anyone has any clue or a place I could call, that would be great. I tried googling it, but nothing turns up.
Was it “Three Wishes For Cinderella”?
THANK YOU!!!! I appreciate it :-)
Is that what it was, Jane?? I just googled it and found it after awhile. Glad I could help.
When you spend $10 at Lunds or Byerlys you can get a free bag of Nestle chocolate chips :)
http://www.lundsandbyerlys.com/WebOnlySpecial.aspx
.99 water as well with this coupon.
http://bit.ly/sY3e5y
We always do our cards at Costco. It is $15 for 50 cards and an additional $5 per 25 cards. They are great quality and the envelopes are even lined with silver.
Sams gave you a 100 for 15.00 over the Thanksgiving weekend. These were for the picture cards. I did it this year and last year.
Thanks, super helpful!!
I am looking for a food saver. I am wondering if you have one what model do you like or not like! Thanks for the help.
We love our foodsaver–purchased it on clearance a few yrs ago at Target so the model is not current anymore. Their website sends out periodic emails with pretty good deals. We have never used the canister access and the next time we buy one we want one with one touch operation (as opposed to having to push down fairly hard with both hands to get it to seal).
Carrie,
I wanted to say thank you for your website. I started couponing a month ago while at home with our second kid and my weekly grocery bill has already been cut in half!!! The extra money is a blessing with our growing family.
There are a few refurbished nook colors for sale at buy.com for $148
I am also wondering about the diapers and wipes. I am new to couponing and would like to find out how to the best deals on these.
Heather — There is another website I follow that may be helpful to you in finding weekly ‘Diaper Deals’. It’s called SouthernSavers (dot) com.
Once a week she posts a section called “Best Baby Deals – Diapers, Wipes, Food & Formula”. She usually posts these every Monday with the coupon matchups. If you go to this website, scroll all the way to the bottom and as of right now it is on page 9.
Hope this helps a little. :)
I cannot find the $10 GC with $50 purchase for Target. Is it still available? It is not in the coupons on their website and I don’t know if there is a way to still print from their FB.
NN–here it is ( I hope it works for you)!!
http://coupons.target.com/facebook-friends-and-fans-coupons
Thank you!!! I got it. That makes my day since I have to do some shopping this week.
THANKS!! It just automatically printed two!! They expire in 2 days, but I will make a point of getting out to use them since I do my grocery shopping at Target.
Can a gift card be purchased with this coupon? I don’t see it in the fine print. Was able to print 4 coupons and would like to use for purchases in 2012.
Be quick to print your Victoria’s Secret FREE reward card :)
http://hip2save.com/2011/12/01/hot-free-victorias-secret-reward-card-valued-at-10-50-100-or-500/
Gone now.
I was wondering if anyone knows of any good websites for children with free learning games. One we love is starfall.com, but my kids have played it so much we are ready for another one. My kids are ages 4 and 5, and I am looking for games with phonics and letter sounds, and beginning reading. Thanks!
http://www.readingresource.net/websitesforkids.html
Great math site:
http://www.xtramath.org
http://www.starfall.com Trust me on this one. They can use it largely independently if they can handle the mouse and there are other sequencing, shape, and creativity games on there if they need a break from phonics.
I recommend abcmouse.com – no ads, no pop-ups, for preschool-kindergarten. Have fun!
I should say that it’s a paid site, but there are trials for free…
sheppardsoftware.com is great at learning everything from basic colors to where each of the states in the U.S. is located on a map. And of course if free!
Thanks everyone. Can’t wait to try these
I need a whole-house humidifier for my furnace. I’ve gotten one quote that seems too high to me ($625 for an Aprilaire 600 installed). The other places I’ve called charge $60-$100 to just come out and give me an estimate, which seems ridiculous. I’m not paying to be sold something!
Has anyone done this, and/or have any ideas on what it should cost? Or, does anyone have any tips on HVAC places that will give me a free quote? I’m in the St. Paul area.
Thanks!
We had one installed when our furnace was replaced about 6 years ago. We went through Center Point Energy. You should never be charged for an estimate!!
I know this probably doesn’t help much, but we had one put in when we replaced our furnace a few years ago. Not sure the brand, and I can’t remember the amount, but when I read $625, that seemed to be about what we paid. We went through a local place in the western suburbs.
I had a furnace inspection done last month for my daycare liscence & ask the repairman how much one would be. He said about $150, not sure if that included installation. That was thru our local Co-op Oil Company.
I’ve been couponing for years then my husband got laid off and we’ve had to resort to WIC. The woman in the office thought it was great that I used coupons but couldn’t tell me how that works with WIC. If I have a WIC check for peanut butter and $1 off Skippy how does that work? Is it legal? Am I saving the government $1 or am I basically getting $1 to use on something else?
I think you would be saving the government a dollar as the coupon should come off your total before submitted on the WIC voucher.
I used to work in a grocery store (ages ago, so it’s very possible this info is out of date!) and at the time you couldn’t use coupons with WIC to get the money back. Each WIC order had to be run through individually (i.e. no other items that were paid for by the customer), and the cashier recorded exactly the amount of the food onto the WIC voucher and entered it into the register as a check. So, I guess you could use a coupon, but it would be giving the money to the government – which I’m guessing is not what you were hoping for!
You can’t use WIC to get money back, just like you can’t use those $10 coupons at a pharmacy if you are on Medicare. It is that way with any goverment program.
Wic offices will encourage you to use Q’s, because it saves the program money. So it doesn’t really help you. My local mom and pop has gas rewards, and often items on Wic earn money off at the pump. This is the only savings that go to me that I have found.
I also lost my job and had to go on WIC, which I would not be able to make it without while going to school and doing tutoring (although with couponing I don’t always end up using all my WIC vouchers :). You are *not* able to use coupons with WIC, but catalinas will still print out for your purchases for some reason. I found this out when I got a surprise $4 catalina at Cub for buying baby food.
if you are getting baby items, go to a store that gives “baby bucks” rewards.
BR – I’m a WIC Program Coordinator in MN and YES, you can you use coupons with your WIC and we encourage you to do so. You won’t be saving yourself any money or getting more money to spend on other foods, but you will be saving the government money. Every little bit helps!. If the cashier says that you’re not allowed to use coupons with your WIC, talk to the customer service desk. If the store refuses to take your coupons while using your WIC check, please tell your local WIC office so we can make sure our WIC Approved Stores are operating as they should be.
Interesting, I was always told the opposite, even by WIC coordinators.
I had to go on WIC at one point in my life and I used coupons with my WIC purchases just as I did with my regular purchases. I appreciated the State of MN providing this program and all the tax payers’ money that goes into funding the program…my personal belief is that if I had a coupon for a WIC item and didnt bother to use it, that was abusing the help that was being given to me…costing the program more than I needed to. If everyone on WIC did that, the program would cost less to fund and/or they could increase the amount of items they provide to people who need it, while staying within the same budget.
I agree. You said that so eloquently. Thank you.
It also occurred to me that when we were “underemployed,” our employer still had to withhold taxes, of course. I looked at those WIC checks are an early tax refund and I made MY money stretch because that is the right thing to do.
On Tuesday I was able to double the Holiday gas coupon I received from shopping at Walgreens and was wondering if on Tuesdays they also would double the Holiday coupons from Cub. Anyone have any success in that department?
I have used the Cub coupon on Tuesdays at the SA and they double it.
Same here.
I used mine at SA for .30/gallon doubled for .60. Saved $9.00 in gas. Yeah BaBY!
I doubled a .30 one and saved $9.00 in gas. Yes! Score!
Coupon exchange!! Last time the Liz Lange Target printable was available I was able to trade with a few ladies to get some cheap maternity clothes (75% off clearnance plus $3 coupon = great deals!)
Anyone out there out there looking for specific coupons and willing to trade for the Liz Lange printable please email me at picantepina @ gmail . Com (remove spaces). I have all the recent ads plus I can usually print coupons 4 times as we have 2 computers.
Thanks!
I sent you an email but not sure if you got it being I haven’t heard anything yet. If you sent one and I didn’t get it, try my other email. mulleranncarol@gmail.com
Being you haven’t responded, I am going to see if anyone else wants them as I already printed them.
Anyone know where the cheapest “nice” Keurig could be bought?
There is a store in Columbia Heights called Discount 70 that had them about a month ago. I don’t remember the price, but I’m pretty sure cheaper than in other stores. maybe you can call and ask.
Coburns delivers.com Got mine 11/30 for $99.00 and includes a voucher for 12 K-cups and a $ 10.00 discount.
Ordered mine on Sunday from Kohls, model# B40 and an additional package of coffee. I think I paid 70.00 after discounts and Kohls cash (On sale for $108 plus $17 for coffee then minus 20% coupon code and $30 Kohls cash). The only other place I would have gone is Bed Bath and Beyond and used the 20% off coupon, and then stacked the $5 off a $15 purchase. I have been shopping around for a while and the prices have been pretty comparable.
Lunds in Bloomington. Was there today and saw it for $99.00 with a $10.00 manufact coupon in a caddy on the shelf. Included is a coupon for a Free 12 pk of K-cups in the box. $89.00 is not a bad price coupled with free Nestle chips and bottled water.
My son thought it would be a good idea to switch my computer over from IE to Chrome and now I’m having trouble printing my second coupon when I hit “back”. The icon “sending coupon to printer” just seems to churn away and nothing happens. If I go back to the coupon source and print again, it does the same thing. Can anyone enlighten me on how to print a second coupon in Chrome. Thanks!
I have the same problem using Chrome and coudl not figure out a way around it so I have gone back to using Explorer for printing coupons. Its much less frustrating.
I have used Chrome for ages but only this week started having the same problem. I hadn’t thought to try another browser, but hopefully whatever the issue is will be resolved soon!
Alex
Is the Gift Card guide that showed all the offerings for gift cards still available? Where can I find it?
Stacia – Here it is: http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/2011/11/holiday-gift-card-promotions-2011-get-bonuses-for-purchasing-gift-cards/
I’m looking for a good-tasting/quality spiral ham. I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg but am willing to pay more if it’s a good one. Any recommendations?
Personally, for years I tried every ham under the sun – including expensive hams from local meat markets and felt like they were hit or miss. Then, I learned the difference between the shank and the butt, realized that my family likes the shank (less fat/more bone) and since then we’ve really enjoyed Aldi’s spiral cut hams for $1.69/lb.
Thanks, Carrie!
If you have a Mastercard and are planning to spend $100 or more at Amazon today then they have a deal for you :)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000739661&tag=deaseemom-20
Question about shopping at Jo-Ann’s: I am going there tomorrow, and have 4 or 5 Jo-Ann’s and Michael’s coupons (I buy multiple Sunday papers). What is their policy about using coupons? Can I use two coupons in one transaction? Would I be able to do several transactions in a row? Do they frown on that? Thanks in advance for any help!
Rachel – I believe that their coupons have a limit of one per customer, per day. I would recommend checking the fine print of the coupons you have to see what they state. You can always ask the cashier or manager if you’re allowed to use multiple coupons.
Okay. Thanks Laura!
On Black Friday, I was able to use a 50% off regular priced item coupon along with a 25% off entire purchase coupon at JoAnn’s. Depending on the coupons that you have, you may be able to use more than 1. Good Luck!
I’ve had pretty good luck using 2 coupons at Joann’s, but they do ring the orders up separate. I’ve never tried using more than that. I find that most of their stuff is on sale anyway, so there isn’t that much that I could use one of their 40% off coupons on since they are only good on regular priced merchandise.
I use multiple coupons there all the time (for some reason I get two flyers every time they send them out) As long as the bar codes on the coupons are different you can use as many as you have!
I did the Webkinz deal that Carrie mentioned on Graveyard a week or so ago. With my confirmation email there was a notice about submitting to a place called free shipping.com. Has anyone tried this before? Is it a scam or worth the time? Thanks in advance for any info.
Does anyone know where I can pick up a remote control GeoTrax train for less than $26? Toys R Us is the cheapest place I’ve found.
I am having the worst time weaning myself off long, hot showers! Anyone have any suggestions?
I have tried hanging my watch in the shower (it was free on Savemore or a similar site so I don’t worry too much about it) and that helps some, but I find I spend a lot of time conditioning my long hair, shaving, etc. So much too do, haha! Plus I tend to relax too much and zone out. Am I the only one here that spends an eternity in the shower? What works for you? Thanks :)
Some things are more important than saving money- enjoy!
Try the European shower. Turn on water; wet down. Turn off water, soap up, shave, shampoo. Turn on water, rinse and then you are done.
Turn down the temperature on your hot water heater.
Does anyone know of any Dyson vacuum deals or a gift card with purchase? Thanks!
I got a dyson at kohls. I had a 30% off and they were doing the kohl’s cash back 10 for every 50. So I got a 600 dollar vacuum for 400 dollars and got 80 dollars back in kohl’s cash. Just remember that when using kohl’s cash you can’t use any additional percentage off, so whatever price they have listed for the sale is what you will pay.
I’ve just be told by work that they haven’t taken my health insurance deductions (pre-tax) out of my checks correctly for the last 9 months. I owe over a thousand dollars. Does anyone have any advise since now my 2011 taxable income is a mess. Or any advise. They’ve admitted fault and one owner says they don’t care if a take 5+ years to pay it back (and he really means that) Just curious what advise you all might have. I do have my emergancy fund but I don’t feel like this fairly calls as an emergancy. Thanks!!
Can anyone with the new Happenings coupon book tell me if there is a coupon on there for Menard’s again? I bought the last year’s Duluth book because we were going on vacation there this last summer and they had a 15% (I think) coupon for Menards. We may end up getting a new water heater this winter. If there is one again – is anyone not planning on using it? I could trade you coupons as well (although not from the Happenings book as I don’t have one). Where/when is the best place to buy Happenings book at a discount?
I just looked in my 2012 Happenings book and did not see one listed in the alphabetical listing.
My local Entertainment book last year had a Menard’s coupon in it. Maybe yours does too? Walgreens around here has the Entertainment book, if you want to flip through one.
Menard’s has the Entertainment book, usually by the cash registers if you want to look through one.
Has anyone bought furniture from Big Lots? I need a living room set and don’t want to spend too much, but I want something that won’t fall apart either. TIA
I don’t know about big lots, but I have purchased several homes worth of furniture in the last 10 years and the three best places I have found are Nebraska Furniture mart (don’t know if they deliver to MN), Dock 86 in Little Canada and of all places…Walmart.
I was able to purchase a beautiful reclining chair with microfiber fabric for about 250 dollars just a few months ago from Dock 86. They seem to be where a lot of stores send their clearance items or overstock and such. They are only open fri, sat and sun. Also check outlet stores. I got a 1000 dollar bed frame from the JCPenny outlet store in Roseville for less than 200 dollars.
Oh, and Walmart is actually a great place to get a mattress. I own a 2600 dollar tempur pedic mattress and when I moved I wasn’t able to bring it up right away. Since I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a bed I wasn’t going to be using for a long time I went super cheap. I found the mattress in a box a Walmart while I was looking for a mattress pad. It was a queen sized memory foam mattress, with all the air sucked out and rolled up nicely to fit in a box that is very easy to throw in the back seat of a car for a fraction of the price. At the time I paid 260 dollars. Since then it has gone up, but not by much. I ended up using that mattress for 3 years. From someone who owns a tempurpedic mattress I can tell you it felt exactly the same. I was so impressed with it that I convinced my cousin to purchase one as well. He is still enjoying it and just a few months ago I purchased another one for my Aunt who is in a wheelchair. I got the 12 inch twin sized mattress and a bedframe from walmart for less than 500 dollars. Which was the perfect height for her to transfer from the wheel chair into bed without help.
I just got back from Cub and noticed a lot of the Snapple 6 packs had $1 off peelie coupons on them. They were good on one 6 pack. Currently they are on sale 2/$10, so this makes it $4 a six pack!
i’m probably too late to the open mic party, but i’m still hoping somebody can answer my question pertaining to my recent rainbow shopping trip:
so i got six progresso soups, the kind with meat, for less than a buck a can thanks to this week’s deal and a doubled coupon. TYVM. the answer seems obvious, but i gots to know: the save $2 on roundy’s crackers purchase coupon i got… does it work as a simple $2 off my next purchase catalina, or must i purchase the chairman bob saltines?
I think you have to purchase the crackers.
Anyone know where I can get 3-4 pallets for free or really cheap? We need to store some stuff in our garage for the next 4-6 weeks and want it up off the floor since the car will track in snow and may get the floor wet.
Hi Carrie,
Craigslist has quite a few listed in the free section, depending on how far you are willing to drive:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/search/zip?query=pallets&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=
Take that back. I checked Craigslist and found a business right near my house that has 25+ outside waiting to be picked up. We’ll go get a few of those.
Has anyone sold anything (China, silver, glassware) to Replacements Ltd.? I can submit a query and get a quote, but I’m wondering if anyone has experience with it. I would like to know if the money is worth it after paying for shipping all of the items to Replacements. Thanks!
Shipping tends to be crazy high–especially for China and glassware…I would try selling items on craigslist first.
Problem is that we are not in the Metro area, so Craigslist isn’t as active in our area.
I have a Christmas holiday question. The rest of my family feels that they have been so blessed this year that they want to give back and “adopt” several children to buy Christmas presents for. They were asked to spend about 60 to 70 dollars per child. I have been out of a job for two years now and I can’t afford to pitch in. I actually made my family their presents this year. But…I want to help. Are there ways of donating in the twin cities that don’t require a monetary contribution? I already tried looking up “how can I help others this christmas” and got nothing.
Jessica,
I think it’s great that you want to help others. I don’t have a lot of extra money laying around that I can donate either, but through couponing I am able to donate lots of free goodies. I also request shampoo and other samples throughout the year that I donate to my local women’s shelter. You could also donate your time. :)
You can be a bell ringer for Salvation Army. If they get volunteers to do it they dont have to pay someone to do it, which means more money goes to people who need it. I think there’s sign up info on their website.
Can anyone reccomend a good locksmith for South Metro. Burnsville,Lakeville, Apple Valley? I was renting out a room in my home and the tenent is way overdue with payment.
I don’t know any locksmiths, but I can recommend going to Menards and buying the kwikset smartkey knobs and deadbolts. I put them in when I bought my house and they came in very handy when I had to quickly change the locks after kicking out my roommate after finding out he was doing drugs in my house. These locks are made so that you can just change the key instead of the whole thing. It is much cheaper to buy a .99 replacement key than a 40+ dollar lockset. It is a lifesaver and a moneysaver.
Thanks Jessica for the helpful hint and suggestion.
Any Keurig users-
I just got back from Edina Byerlys and they have Green Mountain ( Fair Trade) Pumpkin Spice K-cups on clearance for $3.99/12 pack. Located across from the Pharmacy area in the discount/clearance bins. I like any K-cup but find my self running the machine twice as it is most often to strong for my taste.
Has anyone tried the replaceable filter where you put in your own coffee/tea? I want to try it from Bed Bath and Beyond but wanted some responses if it works well or if grounds end up in the cup. Amazon had mixed reviews for its use.
Hi everyone,
I’m going to need new tires in the next few months and am wondering if there are better deals than discount tire and any tips for cheapest but good tire shopping?
Thanks!
Laura
I’ve heard of people buying the Sunday paper at the dollar store, I was going to buy another paper and checked at The Dollar Tree but they didn’t have any. Where do you all get your papers for cheap?
Jessica–
You can buy the early Sunday paper on Saturday for $0.75. You just need to check the paper to see if the coupon inserts are there.
Has anyone found the One A Day vitamins for Women? I think it is $2.00 off 10 tablets making them free. Some websites share they are in Target travel sections.
Good buy on Coppertop batteries at True Value Hardware Stores. $7.99 for th 16 pack AA plus the recent $3.00 off coupon. Best price I’ve seen.