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About Carrie Rocha
Good morning!
What’s the best place to get a cheap car wash? Any deals around? What’s considered a good price? Thanks!
I know you can get a free wash at the Downtowner in st. Paul on the week of your birthday. They clean inside and out. Just something to remember
Anna – For inside and out we usually go to Mr. Car Wash and I think it’s in the $12-$15 range.
Also look on the back of your Rainbow/Cub receipts, I usually find coupons for car washes, like Mr Carwash, on there. :)
Anna, every first Wednesday of the month, Kwik Trip gas station puts out a coupon pamphlet in the Star Tribune. They always have three coupons for a $5.99 ultimate car wash, which is their best. Or, go in on a national holiday and you can get that wash for $5.99 without a coupon. I can send you a couple coupons to tide you over until the next coupons come out.
Thank you for all the info, very helpful! I’ll check out Kwik Trip pamphlet.
Anna, we have multiple vehicles so we pay $19.99 per month for unlimited car washes at Holiday, good at any location. It used to be that it was for one car, but recently at the Holiday on Mcknight they said we can use it for all the vehicles so that’s what we’ve done since. They give you a card to scan at the car wash, plus if it doesn’t work for any reason they print out a car wash voucher.
Anyone know of any good Christmas floral deals?
Pam – for delivery or something for you that you could pick up? If it’s pickup, then try a grocery store, but be sure to shop from their refrigerated case.
If you have a Sam Club or Costco membership…they always have great floral deals.
I agree with Costco :)
I did a deal thru Ebay bonus bucks with ProFlowers. Got $15.00 Ebay Bonus Bucks (to spend after 01.03.12) and $12.50 rebate (watch final page you can accept free magazine offer of get $12.50 rebate cash) for $19.99 growers choice package. Total out of pocket was $35.53 for flowers and delivery/handling less $27.50 total was $8.03. Flowers arrived two days later – not 100% satisfied – emailed Proflowers and within 10 minutes new flowers on order with free vase added and delivered next day. So happy with the service received and for less than $10.00.
I agree with Costco too! But, if your local to the Twin Cities, Lunds/Byerly’s carries Bachman’s flowers. On Thursdays you can get a $5 bouquet – it’s smaller, but there is a nice selection and you could put 2 together and have something really nice. I’ve gotten them before and they last FOREVER! (I go to the Lunds in Plymouth on highway 55).
If you’re good with “fake” flowers, Michaels has 50% off all of their premade arrangements. Some are really pretty.
Did anyone get their order yet from Canvaspeople? I ordered it when Carrie posted the photo deal. I was hoping it would have been done by now. But I looked and it still says “in production.”
Does anyone have any ideas where I can find The Little Mermaid DVD? It’s not currently released and I can’t seem to find it anywhere. I’ve tried craigslist but haven’t had much luck. Any ideas would be appreciated as my daughters would love to get it for christmas! Thanks
It may not come by Christmas, but have you tried overstock, amazon, or ebay? For movies not currently released, the internet is pretty much your only option.
Have you tried Gamestop or Pawn America? Or get it from the Library (free)for now while waiting for the internet options to arrive.
I did check a few pawn shops but didn’t have any luck finding it. The library is a good idea, I’ll have to check if they have it. I could do that and wait for an online order. Thanks!
I don’t know where you live, but I just checked Hennepin County real quick and they have it. There are 34 people on the waitlist, but it moves pretty quickly.
Danielle, I do not know where you live but we have a copy that you could borrow until you are able to purchase one.
send me an email if interested wit mermaid in the subject line stamp for fun @ msn dot com (remover the spaces)
I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and happy shopping after the Holiday.Just a reminder that not everything is a good deal the week after Christmas. The retailers know there are alot of gift cards out there.
Thanks for the tip :) Enjoy the holidays
fyi if you buy 6 tombstone pizza that are on sale this week at rainbow 3/9.99 x 2. you will get a printed RR for $3.00 off next visit!!!! i got super cheap pizzas because of that and i used a bunch of the 1.00/3 too! great deal!!
The details of this are on the Rainbow Foods, Copps, Pick N Save list for this week too!. You actually only need to buy 5 to get the $3.
http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/2011/12/rainbow-foods-copps-pick-n-save-coupon-matchups-1218-122411/
I do not have a Rnbw circular this week. Can someone tell me if there are any announced double days coming up…..
Just the regular Wednesday.
Merry Christmas to everyone at PYD and all the Pocketeers :-) I appreciate all of you!!!
Cell Phones:
My contract is up with Verizon but my husband is still with them until his contract is up. I need a new phone and I don’t want to go with a contract again.
I saw Carrie’s post about buying a phone and not having a contract. How would I go about doing something like this? Where would I start or who would I talk to? We would really like to do this and save the money.
Thank you for your advice and opinions!
We recently switched to Virgin Mobile after our Sprint contract expired. I love them! The biggest difference is that you buy the phone up front and then pay on a monthly basis, which they can automatically draft out of your bank account. Virgin uses the same towers as Sprint and I’ve been very happy with Unlimited Data for only $35 a month! You’ll have to decide what you’ll mostly be using the phone for and then see what type of plan and carrier would work best for you. I’ve done most of my shopping online, but I know that many no-contract phones are also available at Best Buy/Target/Walmart, etc.
We too are looking at plans (Thanks Carrie for bringing the free smartphones to our attention!). Are you local to the Twin Cities? Where did you end up purchasing your phone (was it online?) Just curious how you were able to draft from your bank account (again online or set up in store?)
Both Best Buy & Target carry Virgin Mobile phones.
Walmart offers an unlimited text and talk no contract plan for $45.
mary kay — I bought a phone from Target five years ago and have just bought minutes as I need them from Tmobile. IT’s just a phone — no email, no photos,etc. It still works just fine. Some years I have spent less than $50 to use it. Mostly it’s for short calls and long distance. If I’m going to have a longer conversation with someone, I use my home phone.
I got a prepaid month to month (no contract) at TMobile for $50 unlimited everything! I think this is the best deal around. You can purchase a phone through their website (check out refurbished options, great deals). I ended up buying a phone on Amazon that was on sale. You can set up an automatic pay so you don’t have to worry about missing your monthly pmnt :-)
I also do a prepaid month to month (no contract) plan through TMobile – 1500 minutes and/or text messages plus media for $30! I text and talk a lot and this plan has been great!
If you mainly plan to use your phone in the local area, I would second the Target/TMobile idea. We did that for a couple of years, I spent about $8/month on my phone. However, I recently had to move to a contract plan through Verizon because I travel to very remote areas for work and needed personal cell phone coverage. T Mobile’s coverage is fine around here, but once I left the Cities, I had pretty spotty coverage. Just wanted to put that out there, not all cell phone carriers have the same coverage areas.
Mary Kay – I’d advise starting by figuring out what you need in a contract – talk, text, data, mifi, wifi data/calling, etc. (I had to go to school on the terms in order to articulate what I wanted). Then, you can start with a rate comparison tool. I used Billshrink.com, as they looked at my actual phone bills and helped me figure out how much data and how many minutes I was actually using, and I also looked at MyRatePlan.com. But, because I am over-the-top about this stuff, I identified a few potential carriers. Then I went to the websites of those carriers and looked at their rate plan options and called the two I was interested in and asked questions to a Customer Service Rep before I decided. If you already have a phone and end up switching carriers, you can call the new carrier and they will initiate the port of your new number over to them.
We’ve had Virgin mobile for years! Dh & I have an old plan & we pay $20 every 90days and then pay by the minute (don’t use it much). This summer we got DS a plan for $25/mo (now $35 I think) that is unlimited text & 200 min.
We’ve been happy with them. I believe they are over the sprint network.
Does anyone in the western suburbs have a handheld scanner that I could rent from them? I need to scan 400 pages of a family history book and the regular scanner I am using is such a pain. And I don’t have 60 bucks to spend on a new one!
Any advice on how I can save money on a shoe lift? My father has leg length discrepancy. It’s severe enough that inserts are useless. He needs a shoe lift. He has insurance but I’m just looking at my options just in case it’s not covered. TIA
Ella – check out the shoe repair shops in your area – it isn’t as expensive as you might think. My mom (who lives out of state) pays about $15 per lift.
Does anyone know of a pantry type of food shelf, either in Dakota county or that will allow people from another county to use it?
I am not familiar with what is available in the metro area. There is some sort of food distribution from the Methodist church in Lakeland (Washington county) on Saturday morning .. usually surplus veggies, breads, yogurt, etc. would something like that help?
Oh, the internet is wonderful! I found a place…I had found a few other places but it was required that the recipient live in the county that provides the service. I found one in Dakota County…if anyone else needs it, it is Project Pantry. http://www.eaganrc.org/
Food shelves are fantastic, but sometimes people are on restricted diets or they just won’t eat certain things due to preference (SPAM, anyone?). A pantry food shelf lets the person (or family) take what they will really use. I think they do get information about a balanced diet, but I’m not sure because I’ve never been to one. But I live in a building with a lot of other low-income families, and they have a problem with food shelves because the kids won’t eat the food they are given from a traditional food shelf.
I’m glad you found something … I really had no idea that you could not pick what you needed at a food shelf, or that a food pantry was different.
There is a list of food shelves available on the Dakota County website here:
http://www.co.dakota.mn.us/HealthFamily/CaringFor/PersFinance/FoodResources.htm
Speaking of food! Just got a text from Lunds & Byerly’s. Their text deal this week is a whole wheel of Brie for $4.99 with a $10 purchase!!!
Also, I don’t think anyone often mentions Kowalski’s here, because their normal prices are quite high (I think they are higher than Lunds & Byerly’s) but I’m on their mailing list because sometimes I am near a Kowalski’s in Uptown. This month their mailed postcard offer was a package of Kowalski’s Christmas cookies, normally $4.99, free with a $10 purchase. I was at the store and I needed milk, two Fage yogurts and lettuce. It was under $10 so I didn’t pick up the cookies. At the register the cashier saw me holding the card, and asked if I forgot the cookies. I said I didn’t hit the $10 mark, and she said they count the $4.99 as part of the $10–the total has to be $10 BEFORE the free item is deducted. WOW!!! So my coworkers had free cookies last night!
Family Fresh (former Econofoods) in Hudson … yesterday all store brand white dairy milk was $1.77 a gallon, no limit I could see. Also, they had yogurt marked down because it was close to expiring .. Got Yoplait for 22 cents a cup, which was good enough for me. Had to laugh because the register clerk told me it was 50 cents off per cup (according to the stickers) because they ran out of 25 cents off stickers. A few even had $1.00 off stickers (for an 84 cent cup of yogurt).
Also, there is a coupon savings book, sized like an a magazine sized brochure. There are manufacturer, as well as store coupons in it, that expire 12/31/11. One that stood out was 75 cents off mandarin orange slices in a can … those cans are 93 cents each, making for some cheap canned fruit.
Our family of 5 will be alone on xmas eve for the first time and we need to start a tradition! I was thinking of a “fancy” @ home dinner (good china, linens and the works) and board games. Anyone have any great ideas for a fancy dinner that kiddos between 9 and 13 will like too. I’m curious to hear some traditions. I am struggling to make it special yet affordable.
We do made-from-scratch lasagna with an old family recipe. I double the recipe and freeze a pan for sometime down the road.
Growing up we had oyster stew every Christmas eve – by candle light. I never knew why we ate by candle light until I was older. Oysters are nasty looking green little things! I always ate it until I was a teenager and one year I bit into a gritty piece of oyster. After discovering that it was probably sand in the oyster – I haven’t eaten it since. I don’t recommend that tradition.
When my kids were very young I started my own tradition. Every year on Christmas eve we have a smorgasbord of appetizers. You can have a very nutritionally balanced selection. Each year my selection is a little different, but somethings I always have. Some of the things I put out are fresh fruit with dip, fresh veggies with dip, brie en crut, homemade and store bought cheese spreads with crackers and fancy breads, hard cheeses and summer sausages, chili cheese dip and guacamole with homemade tortilla chips, homemade sweet breads…. the list could go on. I also make homemade fudge, candies, bars, and cookies and set those out. We don’t have a sit down dinner since it is set up buffet style, but I have it all sitting out for a while in the evening while we do out other Christmas eve traditional things which includes playing games (mostly wii sports games for the last few years) and opening gifts – I have to work every other Christmas day so we have made it a tradition of opening gifts on Christmas eve. My kids love and look forward to this every year. The goodies that I put out are things that I know my kids will eat and there is a good balance.
It has been fun sharing my little family’s tradition and I hope it helps you to think of one for your family. Good luck and have a blast!
Love this! Thanks :)
We always had cheese fondue with breadcubes and steak. There are lots of kid friendly cheese fondue recipes and its a fun and interactive dinner….You could also add a chocolate fondue for dessert.
My sister started a very (cool) thing about 11 years ago. they do food from a different country every year. This year it’s Switzerland. to make it easy you could start with Italy or Mexico this year and the names of other country’s in a bowl & have them pick one for next year. then you will have all year to do research for the next year.
2 Years ago my 16 year old and I were going to be home alone on xmas eve. There was also a pretty big snow storm. We made chicken fettucine alfred, had non alcoholic wine and fancy dishes. The snow storm was too dangerous for me to drive in so we skipped church (do not tell my mother!) had a lovely dinner with china and all and watched a movie. It was really quite nice!
I started this several years ago and it’s easy for me and everyone likes it at our house. I buy pre-packaged frozen, good quality chicken kiev and make that along with rice pilaf, steamed broccoli and/or a salad and a lemon torte for dessert. We also use the “fancy” dishes and wine glasses filled with sparkling cider and candlelight and cloth napkins. The kids think it’s pretty special, it’s easy for Mom and so tasty. We also started a new tradition a couple of years ago. My husband and I take turns buying a new card game every year as a family gift. It’s usually $5 or less and there have been lots of fun family times with those card games. Try Scrabble Slam or one of the other newer ones out there. (didn’t care for pictureka though) Merry Christmas!
Thank you all for your help for Cell Phones. Right now, I just use text and call. But I want a data plan along with Text and Calling so I can access email. I need to be able to get emails on the go from my Son’s school. I will do the research you did Carrie. We really like Verizon, but we are paying $150 for 2 phones and 1 of them has a data plan. I think that is spendy per month. Thanks!
A family plan with T-Mobile for 2 phones, including data, is $100 per month plus sales tax.
Hello, I have 2 presents for a boy and a girl ages 4-7 in the Albertville area. They are wrapped and ready to go. Some miscellaneous items nothing super expensive but would be great for kids that aren’t getting much. I just have no idea where to go with them. I can drive let me know if you have an idea of where to bring it. Thanks melissawarfield at gmail dot com.
Mel – What a sweet heart. I posted a request on the Pocket Your Dollars Facebook page, but left off your email. Check it out to see if someone says they need another present. https://www.facebook.com/PocketYourDollars
Found someone via Facebook. They’ll email you.
I need to renew my newspaper (I get Sunday only of the Star Trib.). Anyone know of some good deals right now? When I signed up I got a $10 gift card for Rainbow. The guy said I could do that again but I can’t find his number. Any suggestions are appriciated. Thanks!
Carrie –
Because of the info you gave us for T-Mobile, we may cancel my husband’s contract with Verizon and go with T-Mobile and save the $50 + a month. The only thing is, how is the coverage with T-Mobile? My husband travels a lot with his job and we know Verizon has the best coverage for getting cell service. Also, we don’t even use all the minutes we have with verizon!
Do we buy the phones ourselves with T-Mobile? Do we go to Wal-Mart or Target for this? So sorry for all the questions….. Thank you for your help and kindness!
Mary Kay – Your Pest! :-)
Mary Kay – Check T-Mobile’s coverage map. I make no warranties or guarantees about their coverage. For the plan I am talking about you have to have your own phone. But, if you own a phone you can likely just get it switched to T-Mobile when you sign up for the plan and port your number over. I’m no expert so you may want to call T-Mobile and ask them lots of questions.
I had/have T Mobile for years and it works fine, my husband has AT&T and sometimes I get a better coverage then he does. We travel too and usually get a good reception…. As to the phone, check the refurbished section on their website, it changes so check often and you can get really nice deals.
Depending on the region of the country that your husband travels in, Verizon has the most coverage by far. T-Mobile is still pretty good, but there will be dead zones in the sticks, but cities should be just fine.
Went to get the Target gift card (with legos) today and both Targets I checked were already out. Such a bummer when they advertise a special and run out in less than 2 days – anyone know of any Targets that still have the legos/gift card sets?
I found this site for cheap dog scarves for your dogs!!! http://www.reneesdogscarves.com
I have a question for the group. I have always purchased whole bean or ground coffee to use with my french press, which I assumed was the cheapest option for coffee. However, I notice lots of posts for k-cups on this site. Even with the initial cost of the k-cup coffee maker, is this a cheaper option? I can’t imagine PYDers would splurge too much on such a thing. ;)
I think whole bean is cheaper.
Whole bean coffee is much less than kcups. How much do you value convenience? Kcups is just betting that you need convenience over price.
For $18 you can buy a refillable cup/filter gadget from Keurig: you fill it with your own coffee, use it, clean it. You don’t have to buy disposable K-cups. I got two for my husband: he has two cups of coffee before work and uses them both~~same convenience as a K-cup. I bought them at Kohl’s near the Keurigs (Wait until you have a 30% coupon to make it only $12. (WalMart has them, too.) Also, we found you only have to fill it halfway to get the same coffee strength as filling it to the top. FYI
My brother just called and asked me if I can help him find a deal on a machine that makes homemade soda. I am looking around online and it seems that Soda Stream is the biggest player in that space. Anyone know of any other brands of soda machines?
Carrie, is he looking to get the soda machine by Christmas? If not, I have a $10 off manufacture coupon for SodaStream home soda maker that printed when I was at Target. I can mail it to you if you want. It doesn’t expire until 1/28/12. My email is amazinggrace102701@gmail.com
I emailed you Amanda.
You can get the machines at Costco. I don’t remember the price though.
Don’t forget about the Soda Stream $10 mail in rebate that was in the paper a few weeks ago!
Get a great deal on a Sodastream at Kohl’s! Here’s how:
Add the Sodastream Jet on sale for $89.99 to your cart
Checkout with code PRESENTS4U to bring your total to around $72
Download the $10 SodaStream Mail-In Rebate
Receive $10 in Kohl’s cash automatically from Kohl’s
Your final cost is around $52! You can also get a $5 Rebate on the SodaStream flavors when you spend $25.
Thanks Joy, but he ha to get it in-store since he is shopping last minute. He is getting it for $72.50ish at Sears. It’s on sale for $79.99, plus there is a 10% off coupon available.
Anyone know where to get a good deal on toilet paper this week?