More Than a Little

Amazon is giving away a free digital copy of Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooking: Recipes for Entertaining right now.

If you don’t have a Kindle to read it with, you can download a free application to read it on your PC. Kindle for Windows.   There are other free books available. Check the bestseller’s list, since many of those are free.

I love my crockpot so I was happy to see this freebie! It has some interesting recipes. I’m thinking of making the spinach dip first.

(Thanks to Moneywise Moms.)

Want to receive Weight Watchers magazine for free?

Sign up here.

These usually go pretty fast, so if you’re interested, act now!  I have subscriptions to several magazines from these free offers, so yes, it really does work.  Now if I could only subscribe to “more time” in order to read them all…

I stopped in at Walmart the other night and picked up some Mr. Potato Heads for a pretty decent price — $0.50!  Want some ultra-cheap toys to round out your Christmas list?

1. Go to coupons.com and print the $2 Mr. Potato Head coupon. Note that there are a couple of $5 coupons, but they are not for the basic Mr. Potato Head, so you can’t use those.  You can hit the back button after it prints and then print another one. (Hint: the second time, go directly to the last page, because that’s where just-printed coupons go.)

2. Stop in at Dollar General and pick up a sales flyer. It’s the Toy Book, not the regular sales ad.  IF your Dollar General accepts printable coupons, you could buy them there for this price, but the corporate policy is to not accept them.

3. Take the flyer to Walmart or Target.  Show them your ad and price-match their price to the Dollar General price. At Walmart, all you have to do is stop the cashier before they scan it and show them the ad.  I’ve never price-matched at Target myself, but I believe you have to go to the Customer Service desk to check out.

4. Enjoy your savings.

(Thanks to this deal goes to Money Saving Methods.)

Today is Free Shipping Day!

If you have any remaining gifts that need purchased, this is a good day to do it, because 722 merchants across the internets are offering free shipping today.   There’s a list of participating sites, sorted by those with no requirements and those with some minimum spending requirement.

Yesterday, I baked two lasagnas, because I am a good wife and my husband needed more frozen lunches for his stockpile.  I always freeze our leftovers into individual meals so he never has to take cardboard frozen food to work with him.  Anyway, they were ready to put in the oven, but my daughter, who is two and a half, was roaming around the kitchen underfoot, and I didn’t want to have her in the room while I had the hot oven open long enough to stick them both in.

And yet… anyone who has ever had a two year old knows that shutting them out of the action rarely goes well.  So I herded her into the living room and shut the kitchen gate and explained to her that she needed to stay right there just long enough for us to sing the ABC song and then she could come back in.  Now, I have tried putting her on the other side of the gate when she didn’t want to go before, and it usually prompts a fit.  Telling her that she could come back in a minute never worked because “a minute” is not really a construct she understands.  But, the length of the ABC song?  She knows that.   She was totally okay with standing there while I sang to her and she watched me put dinner in the oven.  Before the song was even over, I was back to her and opening the gate again.

(I also do this while brushing her teeth, and I think that there are probably a lot of other times it would be helpful.)

So.. next time you need to do help your small child be patient, try it and see if it works for you.

Hallmark Gold Crown stores have released a coupon for $5 off a purchase of $5 or more.  You can print two copies of it here (if you use Internet Explorer) or here (if you use Firefox).

This coupon is also available in the December issues of several magazines.

-Better Homes & Gardens
-Country Living
-Family Circle
-Martha Stewart Living
-O, The Oprah Magazine
-Parents
-Real Simple
-Southern Living
-Taste of Home
-Woman’s Day

I have a stack of these coupons–two from magazines and six from our three computers–and I still haven’t used a single one.  I’m really looking forward to it though!  There are plenty of things you can get in a Hallmark store for around $5–okay, fewer things than at many stores but there are still going to be lots of options!  Cards, wrapping paper, bookmarks, etc.  I have heard that their wrapping paper is $4.99, and if you buy one, you get one for $.99.  That’d be two rolls for less than a dollar, and if it’s the same paper I remember, it’s high quality paper.  I have a serious weakness for wrapping paper, though.  I already have more than I’ll probably ever need and I keep buying it on clearance after Christmas anyway.   :)

What will you use it on?

(Thanks to slickdeals!)

Sunday morning shopping is the best.  I voluntarily took the kidlet with me this morning to let Daddy have a bit of time to work on his mandolin building.

Total OOP: 15.71, 18.86, 16.71, 21.98, -2.56)
RR Used: 0
Total Spent: $70.70
RR Received: (3, 3, 10, 10, 10, 10, 4, 4, 4)
Nabisco Rebate Earned: $10
PSC: $.30
Caregivers Marketplace: $1.50 (.75, .75)
Total Cost:  $.90

I actually bought ten Ritz and two Kleenex.  The Kleenex just didn’t make it into the picture and the extra Ritz I gave to my beauty advisor.  This is a good example of using lots of different promotions/rebates to bring your total cost down.  I did this in four transactions, all with $5/$25 coupons.  I could have gotten it down a little more if I’d paid more attention to my second transaction… had to add the toilet paper in at the last minute.  Anyway, it was a pretty decent day.

What do you do with all this stuff? Does anyone know anyone who might possibly want some Ritz crackers? ;)  One box is completely spoken for, since I’ll need a full box to make my signature broccoli casserole for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Truth be told, I prefer Townhouse crackers to Ritz, but.. I prefer getting things for free or profit more than I prefer a slightly different variety of cracker, so there you go.  They have a sell by date in February, which is unfortunate, but that’s what you sometimes get for buying food at drugstores.   The diapers and makeup I’ll sell, the toilet paper and candy and tomato sauce and Kleenex we’ll probably use ourselves.

This is just a reminder that a few minutes of shopping preparation can save you a lot of money!  This is actually a good rule in many circumstances, but specifically, I’m talking about preparing for Christmas shopping, or a shopping-for-fun trip.  The women in my family have a girls-only shopping trip planned for tomorrow, so tonight, I am doing quick Google searches for printable coupons and special promotions.  So far I’ve found a $10/$25 for Macy’s (good until 1pm) and a 20% off at Gap.  I’ll be honest with you and say that neither of these are probably going to do me any good this trip–we won’t make it to Macy’s before the coupon expires at 1pm, and the Gap is just not my thing.  But we’ll have two teenagers with us–shh, don’t alert the Board of Education–and plenty of people doing Christmas shopping, so I printed a couple of them anyway.  Just think about the places you’re going, and type “StoreName coupon” or “StoreName printable coupon” and see what you find.  You never know.  Recently, I ended up with $10/$10 coupons at two different stores by doing this.

(This same method should be used every time you shop online, too! Google for a discount code before you place your order.  It can’t hurt and might just save you some cash!)

Sign up for the 1-800-Flowers Fresh Rewards program and add ten reminders to your special events.  Within 48 hours, your account will be credited with the points for doing so and within two weeks, you’ll receive a $40 savings pass by email, good for flowers at 1-800-Flowers.  Free!  It seems worth the hassle of signing up for a new site to be able to brighten someone’s day with flowers, doesn’t it?

Offer expires November 30.

Enjoy!

Do you shop at Save-A-Lot?  If you do, how about saving $5?  If you sign up for the Smart Shopper Club, you can get a coupon for $5 off a $20 purchase.

(Credit for this goes to a bunch of different bloggers, but I personally saw it at Money Saving Mom.)