Tuesday, March 31, 2009

For the love of Shaws...

I don't want you to be to surprised, but I went to Shaws today. I got 2 packages of bagels, 2 things of hair dye, 2 crinkle fries, 10 menots gum, bag of chicken fingers, gain dryer sheet, frito lay mini bags, 6 smart waters, 2 airwick freshners, and 4 boxes of barillo (barilla?) mini pasta noodle things (its late)
Total before coupons was 58
total after coupons was 26
I got some great coupons emailed to me today, I can't wait for that run!!

Monday, March 30, 2009

The 4th store



So today was a rough day, most people would have snack.. maybe run to tacobell and have a 4th meal, but me? I go to cvs. My husband (who is so sweet) was in need of something for his sinus, and I was in need of getting some fresh air. I went to cvs with some coupons (thanks mel) and bought 4 bottles of water, 4 soft soap soaps, glamour mag, colgate wisps, cvs nighttime and cottom rounds. My total was 34 before coupons, 11 after and I got 8.00 in ecbs back for buying the soap.. woohoo!!
I'm hoping the glamour will have some coupons in it, but if not, I can draw mustaches on all the models to make the time go by at work tommorrow!

Update on Mr. Sickie

Okay so Mr. Sickie (a.k.a Carter) is doing better. I've been giving him liquids every half hour, and so far he has kept it down!! We are taking in large quanties of BOLT as well. It really is a great movie. I LOVE the pigeons!!


My team...


As opening day grows closer, (April 6th, I believe?) I thought a great idea would be to have my faithful readers let me know what team they are rooting for.
Twilight team that is.
I'm on the side of Team Edward. He is smart, funny, he is in control (which Jacob is NOT) and he would never ever hurt Bella. Jacob could morph and hurt her unintentionally, but still kill her.
So what's your vote?

Fun times at the Costa House


I don't know what a sick kid looks like at your house, but this is what mine look like. We moved the carpet since hes been puking (although mostly on Josh) and layed a blanket down. He can have 1oz of pedialyte every hour. If he doesn't keep that down, then we have to go to Hasbro Children's Hospital. He's held down the liquid for almost an hour, and has no fallen asleep, so we'll see how it goes...

Pukefest 2009, again..




March has been one crappy month. They took away bonuses at Bernie and Phyl's, I got my shift changed at work, we all go the stomach flu (or some sort of plauge), and then last night, Carter threw up 4 times in 3 hours. He seems okay at the moment, a little cranky, and he won't eat, but ok otherwise. He had some liquids which he has kept down (knock on wood) so its off to Grandpas to spend the day with him and Milo, Yay!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

More liquids please!


Did you know that my husband and my son are made up of 95% liquids? Its true. I think they are part fish. So, When I find a good deal on liquids, I go with it. Josh is picky, but Carter will drink anything with flavor.
So I headed to shaws today, I returned the 3 boxes of All Bran and the bottle of Dove body wash. I got back 12.49 cents.
I then went and bought 8 4-packs of strawberry kiwi, and natural berry joint juice, 2 bottles of pepsi max, 2 bottles of vitamin 10 water, a gallon of milk, 4 alpo dog food cans (for the local shelter), 10 wet ones cup holder friendly wipes, and a febreeze candle to get away pet ordor (and maybe dirty diapers?)
My total was 45 before my coupons, and then it was 16.19. I used the 12 dollars in cash I got for my returns, and then used my card for the other 4.19.
What a deal.

Oh Yea!


Today was one of my better CVS shopping trip, not the best, but it was GOOD. I bought 2 scrubbing bubbles scrubbers, 2 Colgate toothpaste tubes (one is at my dads), a Glad Sense n' Spray, 2 Rimmel sexy curves mascara, 6 Sally Hansen nails polishes, and 80 count playskool cottony cloths wipes. My shelf price was 51, after the cvs sales it was 34 dollars, after my coupons it was
.46 cents!
I had 4.00 in extra bucks I thought I was going to have to use, but I didn't, so I just paid the .46 cents and was on my way! Oh, and they did give me 2.00 more in extra bucks for buying the Glade and the Colgate..Thanks CVS!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

More free money..

I love money. It buys food, puts gas in my car, allows me to go out and get crazy deals, and all sorts of other stuff. Most of all though, I love FREE money. Money that doesn't involve "work". So my latest blog is about Youdata.com
You set up and account, and you can link it to your paypal account. If you don't have a paypal account, you should get one. They are great if you ever think you MIGHT order something online. So you can go to the website, or download a program, and it will pay you to look at ads. You fill out a little profile about yourself, and then they show you ads for your demographic (thats my big word for the day, I hope you enjoy it). Then every friday they deposit money in your paypal account. Most week I get .75 to 1.00. It's not much, but its free money, and it all ads up in the end...
Check it out for yourself!


Free ice cream at Friendlys?


The Dark Side Clouds everything,
but not free ice cream at friendlys!
Sign up to be friendlys BFF (Best Friends Forever) and they will give you a coupon for a free 3 scoop sundae.
Oh and I think the ice cream is your best friend, because it totally stays with you, attached to the hip so to speak....

Box Tops for Education


Box Tops.. You've seen them, and you've thrown them away most likely. Did you know that YOU can make money off them?
YES YOU!
Box Tops can be found on SO many products, General Mills Cereals, Kotex, Huggies, Betty Crocker, etc.. Cut them out and put them in an envelope. When you get 100 of them, put them on ebay.
The last time I collected 100 box tops, it took me a little over a month and I got 10 bucks on ebay. Alot of the time I'm getting the items for free (or almost free) so if it has a Box Top on it, its a double positive. For example. I bought 4 kotex liners at Kmart the other day. Each box had it box top on it. The boxes were 1.29 each, and I had a 1.50 off any 2. Since Kmart was doubling coupons, I got them for free, plus about .40 cents worth of box tops. Just check your boxes before you throw them out, because you might be throwing old cold hard cash!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Super Shaws! (insert theme music please)

I would first like to apologize for this beyond crappy picture.
I went to Shaws today, and got a WHOLE bunch of stuff. 3 kellogs all bran, 2 frosted flakes, coca crispies, 2 gallons of milk, 2 4packs of joint juice, v8 fusion, 3 bags of crinkle fries, 2 steamy veggies, a lemon, and dove body wash.
my total was 62 something, and after coupons it was 22 something!
but wait, it gets better.. I got another catalina for free milk!
I should have gotten 2 catalinas, but since the all bran was way marked down, it had to be put in manually, so the catalina didn't print. So I was going to go back and either demand it (nicely) or return them. Josh then informed me that it didn't look appetizing, so I'm just going to return them.
Also, I'm going to return the Dove body wash. There was a tag under it that said 50% off, but alas, it wasn't. So 7.99 for the body was, and 1.30 x 3.. I'll be getting about half my money back...
Yay Shaws!

I went shopping again....


Kmart must hate me by now. Although the cashier did say there was another woman who was coming every day and paying pennies and leaving with 5 or 6 bags worth of stuff. My total was someone in the 60's, and I left paying 12.22, or something like that. I bought the cat food for the local animal shelter, and the make up stuff I can sell on ebay in a lot. So not to shabby!!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

CVS

Today was not one of my better CVS trips, but it was still Fun. My total was 65, and then after my coupons it was 25, and I got 4 ecb's back. Not to bad for 3 packs of diet pepsi, that stuff is like gold to me!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Because you have been wondering...










How do I organize all my coupons?
How do you know when they expire?
How do you know what you have?
How do you get so many?
Well, as you can see, I have a binder, and a small purse divider. In the binder I have things in sections, baby, pet, health and beauty, etc. In those sections, I have them in alphabetical order (or as close to it as possible). Every sunday I buy 2 papers, I cut out all the coupons (Yes, all of them, even the ones I may never use) and then I put them in thier sections. Buying 2 papers, usually consists of TONS of coupons to sort. In the small purse divider, I keep my cvs, grocery store, restaurant, and other non-manufactur coupons. While I spend the week putting them away, I also go through the compartments and throw away expired ones. And since I've put them away, and gone through them and used them, I somehow remember what they are. Its like how you remember a phone number if you keep looking at them and using it.
I also print coupons online, from hotcouponworld.com, coupons.com, redplum.com and some of the actual products website. It can suck your printer dry, so be careful not to print silly things. Like are you really going to use that 1.00 off Field and Stream magazine? I doubt it.
I hope I have answered all your questions, and I hope that I have inspired you to get your own binder!





Going over-board...coke rewards


Today, I almost went off the deep end.
Almost.
Leslie and I were bringing Carter to visit Shena and Emma. I took a right down the street, and there is was, and empty diet coke box. I could even see the part with the code was still attached. I almost stopped in the middle of street to grab it, but then I thought, oh my, stopping for trash? what if the code has already been entered? So I decided not to.
Remember, friends don't let friend throw away codes, but friends don't let friends pick up trash in the middle of the road either.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Kmart-ness

Well seeing how I made money at Kmart the other day, I decided I would go shopping, again. That is not a reflection, I bought 2 Scott 16 packs of toilet paper, 2 huggies tubs, 4 clean and clears, 2 pledge multi surface wipes, 2 halls cough drops, 1 playtex gloves, 10 packs of gum, for a little over 77 bucks, and a little over 18 after my coupons.. more like 16.00 though if you count the money I made the other day...
Long live Kmart!!

Shaws trip


I love the smell of a full fridge (and freezer). I went to shaws today, armed with my coupon book and a full stomach. My total was almost 40 bucks, and then after my coupons it was 12.58. I finally remembered to use my 10.00 catalina from the Kraft deal. I did not buy the scott papertowels from this trip, I was just to lazy to put it away, so it snuck into the pic :)
The Franks Red Hot was a money maker for me. It was .69 cents, and I had .50 coupons that doubled. I got the 3 packages of steamy veggies for free (and they are going to my dads house, ew) I got 2 bags of crinkle fries for .99 each, 4 boxes of mac n' cheese for .50 cents each, the milk was free, the bagels were free. The cheese and banquet tenders and anytizers were on sale, and i had a q for the anytizers. I think I did quite well, and Carter will be so happy with chicken nuggets for lunch tommorrow!

My favorite pajamas...

I just adore feet pajamas. These are the ultimate feet pajamas. They were a christmas gift for Carter from his Auntie Shenny. I put them on him whenever they are clean. They make me smile. If you ever see any of them in size extra fat, please pick me up a pair!!


A few more of my favorite things...

I have no life, incase you couldn't tell. I check my email multiple times per day, because I get a lot of email. Lots of junk email, but sometimes good stuff. I am a member of Inboxdollars and Mypoints. With inbox dollars you earn money, with mypoints you earn points that can be used for gift cards for a zillion places. They are both free services. They just send me emails that I click on and I earn money/points.

With Inbox dollars you have to earn 30.00 to get a payment, with mypoints you just have to have enough points to get what you want.

I'm down with anything for free. If you want to check them out... heres the links:

www.inboxdollars.com


http://www.mypoints.com/

Monday, March 23, 2009

Kmart update...

Okay, so I went to Kmart and returned my two razors.. they were 7.49 each, and I got back 15.73 on my card... So that means that all my other purchases at kmart were free!! Yippie!!

Free Killians Tasting Kit...

Thanks to Teri's Message board... Hot Tips!! I saw that Killians is giving a cute little tasting kit for free. 4 glasses, a bottle opener and a little book. FREE!!

Go here:

http://www.georgekillians.com/

Click on the free sign, then click I dont have one yet, register for the site put in code:

P3W9L4T or M9N7K3K

I've already signed up me and my mom for one... so get yours and we can start a Kilians club, even though I don't drink.. I can have some apple cider though? ......

Overcharged?

Thanks to Mel, I checked my kmart reciept from yesterday. I was overcharged for the razors I bought. They were 2 for 10, but they charged 7.49 each. I have 2, 2.00 coupons, so I should have gotten 8 dollars off, making them 1.00 each... Instead I ended up paying 3.49 each. So I will be returning them today. They can either give me the price adustment, or just a refund. We'll see what happens!

I find that sometimes sale signs are left out, passed the sale date. So it could have been something that was just left on the shelf that should been. Either way, It's still more than I want to pay for a couple of 3 packs of razors. I'll post how much money I get back. If I get back 14.98, that will be hilarious since I only paid 12.58 for everything....

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Kmart shop-a-thon


I went to Kmart after work today, and met Mel there to begin our shopping. I'm sure you can see most of the items, but there 2 8 packs of scott paper towels, 2 tubs of huggies wipes, 4 small boxes of kotex pantiliners, 1 gillette body wash, 1 gillette shampoo, 1 gillette conditioner, 2 reach dental floss, 2 listerine breath packs, 2 3 packs of venus razors, 2 3 packs of dentyne gum, 1 balmex, 4 clean and clear face washes, and 1 clearasil zit stopper ...
My total for it was 96.25 cents, after all my coupons I paid 12. 58 cents!! Woohoo!!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

A few of my favorite things..

When the dog bites, When the bee stings, When I'm feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things (like Winster and Swagbucks and Amazon) and then I don't feel so bad....

First off, I love Winster. It is an online game site, that you play with "friends" or total strangers. You help each other get the most out of the games. It's free, for 200 spins a day, or you can pay to play and get more spins and 4x as many points. You save up your points and you can get different things for them. I like getting amazon gift cards. If you wanna check it out, click or copy and past the link below. I get points when you sign up so don't forget to use the link:

https://www.winster.com/refer.jsp?uid=qchz903dyjbbr

Next thing I love is swagbucks. You may have noticed the box on this site that says search and win. It's seriously that easy, you search, and win. What do you win? Swagbucks of course!! You can save your swagbucks and get different things, I like getting amazon gift cards. Wanna check it out? Use the link below, becuase I get swagbucks if you sign up.

http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=272650

Then last, but certainly not least. I love amazon. Besides the obvious, the great prices, easy to website and fast shipping, they save your gift cards. I tend to get 5 or 10 bucks here and there, and when I get my gift card code, I load it into my amazon account. That way I'm not just taking 5 or 10 bucks off an order, I can save them until I have millions!! Okay, maybe not millions, but atleast enough to get something good for "free"

I have tons of other favorite things, but I'll save my love of Harry Potter for another blog...

Cold Weather Blues..

I think I have the cold weather blues today. I looked outside today and it was so sunny, that I thought, wow, what a great day for a walk. Only to find that when I stepped outside, it wasn't that warm. I didn't need a sweatshirt, since I am usually to warm, or my arms are to fat, either way. It was definitly not walking weather though. Luckily my dad bundled up Carter and walked him over to the resturant across the street. I just want to get him some excersise and fresh air! Come on warm weather, where are you??

Shaws and CVS



Okay, the top picture is a CVS run I made last night. I really didn't need anything, I just needed some ME time, and CVS is a fun ME place for ME. I got a gallon of milk, degree deodorant, Dove body wash, Dove conditioner and 2 bottles of flavored water. I spent 8.94, but no ECB's back. I needed to get the Dove body wash for Carter, which was 8.99, so either way, I got a good deal.
I also went to Shaws. I bought 7 boxes of cereal, 3 bags of bagels, 2 small apple jucie bottles, V8 fusion and a thing of cream cheese...
My total was 20.97, and i got coupons for 3 free gallons of milk.
oh, and I forgot to use my 10.00 of my next purchase coupon for my Kraft purchases the other day. Silly me.. oh well, its not like I'm going to suddenly stop shopping for food!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Free Milk?

At Shaws this week they have a catalina (coupon printer that prints coupons when you check out) for free milk, when you buy Kellogs cereal. If you buy 3 boxes, you get 1 milk voucher, 5 boxes is 2 and 7 boxes is 3!! Josh is out doing, Josh Costa things, and then its my turn to go out and find some deals! I'll definitly be posting my deals!

Go to your local Kmart...

Next week and see if they are doubling coupons! My local Kmart is doubling coupons up to and including 2.00! You can also sign up on Kmart.com to get a coupon for 5.00 off a 50 dollar purchase. Just make sure they ring that coupon in first or your total will be WAY to low to use it after.

Thanks to Mel at mommyspiggy.blogspot.com for the info....

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Moulin Rouge and a OK book...


Josh was flipping through the channels, and I was finishing up a book I've been reading. Then about an hour later, I was in tears. I've been reading "Marked" its a vampire story. Its an OK book, its not that great, but definitly sucked me in. There is no Edward, like Twilight, though there is an Erik, and in my mind he looks like the guy from Superman Returns (and Zach and Miri Make a Porno, in which he plays a gay guy) because she keeps saying he looks like Superman. Anyhow. I wouldn't say to run out and buy it. You can borrow my copy. I'll be running out to buy the next book in the series tommorrow, because even though it is not the best book ever, it has sucked me in and I need to know what's going to happen to Zoey Redbird next. So I throw my finished book on the floor next to the bed and throw the covers over my head (you would too if you were afraid of the dark) and my husband says "I forget how good this movie is". Moulin Rouge is a fantastically horrible movie. Much like my book, it just sucks you in. The songs are crazy and great, the love story is wildly unrealistic, like a true romance should be. You get all caught up in thier lives, and then.. the unthinkable happens, and I'm crying in bed like a baby. I've only seen the movie 3 million times, but there I am.. crying anyhow. So if you haven't seen Moulin Rouge, rent it, if you haven't read Marked, borrow it from me... and if you want to see me cry, just watch the last 10-15 minutes of the movie with me and remind me that I have no more book to read, and I'm sure I'll be crying like a crazy mofo....

You MAY have won...

but I didn't. They did a few drawings, but no luck here. I did fill out a questioner, and they will pick a winner tommorrow for a stay at the Westin Times Square in NY, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for that!

Starwood 10 year anniversary Par-Tay

Today is the 10 year anniversary at my work (I've been there for 9 years, how scary!?!) I'm very excited for the day, free food, games, and PRIZES. Generally when they have prizes, they are for free hotel nights. I would LOVE to win something, like Boston, or New York. Josh and I have been saying how we'd love to get away for a little bit, but the money just isn't there to do so. But a free night? Whoa! I also found out that the free food is going to be an italian set up, and I do love some meatballs! I did start of the day with a migrane... hopefully that's not a bag sign! I'll update tonight to let you know if I'm going on a vacation!

Shaws trip


Going to Shaws is always an adventure. I usually go with Mel, she's always helpful. We decided to see if the Kraft catalina was still working from the week before, and if a couple of items that were not listed that were being reported, would well, work. So I did the kellogs deal again, (10 items for 25.00 and 10.00 off coupon), I got 2 crystal light reusable bottles and 2 planters peanuts boxes (in hope the Kraft deal would work) and a couple of odds n' ends. My total came to 39 and the Kraft deal did indeed work so I got 10 back for my next visit!! Woo-Hoo!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The appointments

I'm not sure if I'm writing this as an update, or as a reminder to myself. Within the last few weeks I called people I didn't know ( which is huge for me ) to make appointments for Carter. One was for early intervention to evaluate him and another for a hearing test. We have met with early intervention for the paperwork, and now they come back April 3rd to do some testing. He is developing at a normal pace, except for in speech. He's the strong silent type. He does say baby words, and love to say da da da da da da da da da. He will throw in the occasional "mama" to make me feel good, but thats it. He can obviously hear, so I'm not sure what the hearing test will tell us. That appointment is April 30th. Oh, what a fun month April will be!

The Boyfriend Machine

I was talking to someone recently, and mentioned how I loved the boyfriend at CVS. They were very confused, and I had to explain. I figured I would take a moment and introduce you to the boyfriend. At most CVS stores they have a price check machine, if you take your extracare card and scan it, it prints you out coupons. Sometimes they are GREAT like 4.00 off a 20.00 purchase, or X amount off X product. You can then pair your CVS coupon, with manufacturer coupons and get some steals. That's why its the boyfriend machine (or girlfriend, I suppose) because it must love you, and you love it, and want to be together forever.

If it vibrated, I would totally just take it home....

Haircut time




Ah, I love the smell of freshly cut hair. It smells like free to me. I have not gotten my hair professionally cut since November of 2007. I've been cutting it myself since then. Not that my hairdresser did a bad job. I just couldn't deal with spending 40 bucks every few months for something I can do myself. That being said. I refuse to pay someone to cut Carter's hair. I feel like thats just torture. Have him sit at my lap, scream and claw me and then pay the person? No thanks. So I've been cutting it myself. I find that if i let him run around naked, he lets me cut it. Good deal. I cut it alot shorter than usual, due to people being confused if he was a girl or boy. I hope you think its cute....

Lovin' CVS


I just love cvs.. My picture is of 2 shopping trips. The total was a little over 65 bucks, but I spent a little under 20 bucks and got 6.99 back in ecb's... and we have cereal for about 3 days the way Josh eats it :)



Latest shopping trips...



I don't work with a budget. I just try to get the most bang for my buck, and keep my stomach full, and my diaper closet full. This was trip to Shaws. I did the St. Patricks day deal (Happy belated St. Patricks day by the way) where you get any corned beef and they give you a free 5lb bag of potatos and a 1lb bag of carrots. Then I did the kellogs deal. 10 items for 25 bucks, then there was a 10.00 off coupon, so 1.50 per item. I got some other odds and ends, and a box of huggies diapers with coupons in it. My total was 89 bucks, my coupons brought it down to 65, and then they gave me 24.44 back because we had forgotten to scan in my shaws card. So all together I spent a little over 40 bucks. I'm going to go back thursday and do the kellogs deal again for more cereal. Josh has allready polished off a box since Monday....

I finally did it!

I made a blog. Woohoo! For those of you who don't me, I'm Sara Carter-Costa. Mom of one adorable son, Carter and wife of one goofy guy, Josh. I spend most of my time at thrift stores, and CVS. I love to do anything that involves pooping out my kid so he sleeps better at night. I LOVE to talk on the phone, just don't ask me to call you, I don't think I have any minutes left. Oh, and I love taking pictures of my steals and deals and posting them!! So let the fun begin!