Money, Money, Money, MONEY! MONEY!

Money makes the world go 'round. I'm all about saving money and making money. This post is about BOTH! If you're not interested in saving money or making money, this post is NOT FOR YOU! This post is for Frugal Frannies, kids & teens that want to earn extra money, stay at home moms, or cheapskates! And yes, I have used all of the methods below SUCCESSFULLY!

Let's start with MAKING MONEY. There are easy ways to add a few dollars to your bank account. 

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Another favorite site that PAYS YOU TO SHOP is Ebates. I love this site because they have awesome coupon codes and CASH BACK! They even offer cash back on some of my favorite sites like Amazon.com, Walmart, and Groupon. Yes, GROUPON! If you're spending money - make some money AT THE SAME TIME!

Why should I use Ebates?

Shop through Ebates, and earn up to 25% cash back at your favorite stores. How? Our stores pay us a fee when you shop. We then share the fee directly with you - it's just that simple.

Incredible deals don't end with cash back. We hunt down cut-rate coupons and exclusive offers plus amazing deals on hot products. Unlike any other savings site on the internet, you can layer the deals. Save big by using coupons and getting cash back at the same time! With deal layering, you really stack up the savings.

Best of all, we never charge a membership fee or require mail-in rebate forms. We just send you your cash, no strings attached.

Get started with Ebates - join for FREE here: Free Ebates Account

Now let's discuss SAVING MONEY. Here are a few ways I like to save that don't involve clipping coupons:


SnipSnap is SUPER COOL because the app has a pop up reminder when you have a coupon and you are near that particular store. Why would you NOT want this FREE app?

New to Android

Never leave a coupon at home again! 

That's the idea behind SnipSnap, the first app to scan, save, and redeem printed coupons on your mobile phone. Prepare to save some serious moolah.

Shopkick is nice because you can actually earn points for gift cards without buying ANYTHING! You just walk in the store and earn! If that's not cool enough, this app also offers mobile coupons - no clipping involved. Just show the cashier your phone. 

If you're strolling through the mall... earning points and getting gift cards is super easy. Get your free Shopkick account here and get 50 free kicks: Free Shopkick & 50 Free Kicks  

ibotta works AFTER your purchase. Just scan your receipt and scan the barcode of the item. 

It doesn't get any easier than this. No mail in rebate forms, no coupons to remember. This is one of my favorites! Here's how it works:

Choose Products

Before shopping, choose your products and complete the tasks. The more you complete, the more cash you'll earn.

Go Shopping

Buy your chosen products at over 35 retailers nationwide. We're adding new stores all the time.

Snap a Photo

Verify your purchases by uploading a photo and scanning the product's barcode.

Sign up for Ibotta here: Free Ibotta Account

Get Cash

Yes, real money in your Ibotta account that you can send to a PayPal account or donate to any school in America.

Frugal Friday - Coupons

Coupons are the best way to SAVE money! There are several ways to get coupons. You can go the traditional route and clip them from the Sunday paper, magazines, and other printed publications. You can load them to your loyalty cards (Randalls, CVS, Walgreens, etc.). You can show the cashier the coupon from your mobile phone. And if you want to save the most money - you can combine these methods to get free items. It's not difficult at all. It just takes a little time to plan your trip. Once you start saving tons of money, you'll wonder why you had not started sooner. So let's get started!

Step One: Create an organization system. 

There is no point in carrying around a bunch of clipped coupons and you don't have them organized by category. This will slow you down inside the store and cause unnecessary frustration. You can make your own coupon binder by using a folder and creating tabbed sections. If you have access to a printer - visit the Krazy Coupon Lady's website and print her coupon organizer here: Coupon Organizer. Make your coupon organizer FIRST. I used a 3 ring binder, the pages from the coupon organizer, and page protectors from the Dollar Store to hold the coupons for each section. The page protectors are sold in packs of 20 and cost $1 each - I bought 3 packs. You can also buy baseball card sheets - a little more expensive. Your notebook will look similar to this when finished:

I also purchased a smaller coupon organizer (shown below) that I keep my STORE SPECIFIC coupons in. The coupon organizer shown below is used to hold my CVS, Walgreens, Randalls, retail (clothing stores), and dining coupons. I found that separating the store specific coupons from my standard manufacturers coupons enabled me to STACK the coupons better. I will explain stacking later... If you're just beginning, you can make extra sections at the back of your binder for these store specific coupons if you don't want to purchase a separate organizer. The one shown below can be purchased on Amazon.com for $4.99 here: Small Organizer

Step Two: Gather your coupons. 

Most high value coupons can be found in the Sunday Paper and magazines. These are Manufacturers (MFR) coupons and they are printed by RedPlum, SmartSource, and P&G. Subscribing to the Sunday Paper is the cheapest way to get the coupons. Don't be afraid to ask your local convenience store to save the Sunday Papers that they don't sell and GIVE THEM TO YOU ON MONDAY. Having more than one MFR coupon helps you stockpile and get more savings. You can also buy more than one Sunday Paper. You will recoup the cost of the paper with the money that you save.

Magazines are a great source of coupons as well. You can subscribe to many magazines for free! Before you do, please create a separate email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail) that you can sign up with. This will be helpful when using internet coupons as well (covered in the next section). Name the account with a coupon related name like "MikiCoupons@yahoo.com". Here's a link to ValueMags where you can sign up for free subscriptions - no credit card needed! ValueMags Free Magazines

Internet Coupons are really cool and they can be printed and clipped, or added to your loyalty cards. If you add the coupons to your loyalty card  - the savings are deducted when you swipe your card at the store. How awesome is that? My favorite sites are:
Coupons.com
SmartSource.com
RedPlum.com

Sign up for those three sites and they will email you when coupons are available. Now that you have the access to all the coupons you'll ever need in life - you need to learn HOW TO USE THEM EFFECTIVELY. There are professionals that have extremely helpful sites!!!! These sites will tell you what stores have sales, what coupons to use, provide the links to the coupons, and teach you how to get these items for the cheapest price or for FREE! It's not hard, trust me. Check out my top couponing sites and SUBSCRIBE to the sites:

The Krazy Coupon Lady is my favorite. She has a ton of information and links. Best of all, she breaks down the deals based on the stores that are available in your area. Check her deals out here: KKL Extreme Couponing

For The Mommas (FTM) also features deals by store. This site is great because you can click on each "deal" and it will create a shopping list that you can print (or email to yourself). Check this site out here:FTM Store Deals

Living Rich with Coupons has an awesome section called "Shop for Free". In this section, you can find out how to use your coupons to get things for free. You can also create lists. Check it out here: LRC Shop for Free

There are so many more sites that can provide DETAILED information on your favorite stores. I'll just list a few:

http://www.totallytarget.com/
http://www.thewallyworldwoman.com/
http://theqtippingmom.com/category/cvs-weekly-coupon-matchups/
http://wildforwags.com/walgreens-coupons/
http://www.survivingthestores.com/

Readers, if you have more sites, PLEASE list them as a comment below. 

Step Three: Use the coupons using the best tips and tricks!

First, you need to find the sales. This information will be delivered to your inbox if you have followed the instructions above and subscribed to the sites! Second, you need to understand the coupon lingo. Click here to get a comprehensive list of lingo that will help you understand coupon terminology: Coupon Lingo. Third, you need to plan your trip by 1. making sure you have the coupons required, 2. loading the coupons to your loyalty cards, 3. going to the store that has those items ON SALE for the lowest possible price, 4. only buying what you need. 

Don't buy anything you don't need (UNLESS IT'S FREE). I can't stress this enough. If you are purchasing items you don't need or won't use - YOU ARE NOT SAVING. 

Make sure you bring a calculator or use the calculator on your smart phone. Make sure you have a LIST. Don't rush and don't let the people in line behind you make you feel like you have to rush. Make sure you read each coupon carefully, make sure the expiration date is valid, and the coupon matches exactly what's in your basket. Don't be afraid to ask for a store manager BEFORE YOU START SHOPPING and tell him / her that you want to use coupons - in most cases they will check you out themselves in a separate line. You can ask them about their policies for coupons or (even better) you can print the store policy yourself here: Find Your Store Policy

Save the most money buy visiting the CLEARANCE section first! This is where you will find unadvertised deals and stack your coupons the best. Stacking coupons is when you have a store coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon. For example: You can use a CVS coupon (printed or sent electronically to your loyalty card) for $1.00 off Aveeno products. You can combine that with Aveeno's Manufacturer's coupon (from the Sunday paper) for $1.00 off and get a total of $2.00 off that item. If the Aveeno product is on sale or clearance for $2.00 or less, that item now FREE after the coupons are applied.

I used this strategy to get all the items in the photo below from Target yesterday. I spent $4.96 OOP and saved $25.47 for everything you see here.

I will have more posts on how to save money - so be sure to FOLLOW THE BLOG! You can follow via Google - click here: Google Friend Connect. You can also follow by clicking SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL in the side bar of the blog. If you are a blogger - connect via BlogLovin by clicking the button on the side bar. 

Friday FREEBIE: Free Starbucks Caramel or Halzelnut Macchiato! This can be used DAILY until 3/31/13. Print as many as you need!
Click Here for Free Macchiato

Again, I welcome your comments below. Happy saving!!!!

Music Monday - Bob Marley Mix

I hope this Bob Marley mix brings a smile to your face. This hour long mix of remixes is fantastic and features the following tracks:

Bob Marley & the Wailers - Don't Rock My Boat (Stuhr remix)
Bob Marley (with Erykah Badu) - No More Trouble
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Sun Is Shining (Tes King remix)
Bob Marley (with Steven Tyler & Joe Perry) - Roots, Rock, Reggae
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Duppy Conqueror (Fort Fox Five remix)
Bob Marley (with Rakim) - Concrete Jungle
Bob Marley (with Busta Rhymes & Flipmode Suad) - Rastaman Chant
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Could You Be Loved (Errol Brown & Alex Sardin mix)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - African Herbsman (King Kooba remix)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Jamming (Paul Smykle mix)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Soul Shakedown Party (Afrodisiac Sound System)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Lively Up Yourself (Bombay Dub Orchestra remix)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Burnin' & Lootin' (Bill Laswell Ambient Dub)
Bob Marley & Lee 'Scratch' Perry - It's Alright
Bob Marley & Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Mr Brown

Listen below and DOWNLOAD this from Leftside Wobble on Soundcloud. He has AMAZING House, Electronica, and Dubstep mixes too.

Music Monday - The Weeknd and DJ Jamad's Outkast Mix

It's Music Monday and here are two very different tunes that you can listen to and download! I have something new and something old.

First up - The Weeknd "Hallucination" ft. Frank Ocean. This is a smooth collaboration to add to your R&B playlist.

 

Up next - a little hip hop. This a very nice mix by DJ Jamad and he features the best of Outkast. Enjoy!

Don't forget to follow the blog! Leave me a comment below - your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Super Savings at CVS!

These items cost a total of $7.74 at CVS! How? I used their EB (Extra Bucks), store coupons, and manufacturers coupons. Here's what I did:

Purchased 3 Aveeno items ranging from $7.99 - $9.99 - advertised to reward you with $10 EB
Used Aveeno manufacturers coupons (coupons.com and Sunday paper) and saved $3
Used CVS coupon for 20% off the entire order (cvs.com) and saved $5.20
Total was $19.74 plus $10 EB - So I paid $9.74

In a separate transaction, I purchased 3 Maxwell House Coffees 3 / $9 - advertised to reward you with $2.00 EB
I applied the $10 EB from the first transaction. And got $2 EB from this transaction.

That's $7.74 for items retailing $43.41

Friday FREEBIES!

If you love to get things for FREE as much as I do - be sure to check out these links! I will be posting more information about coupons and my personal shopping experiences. Be sure to FOLLOW THE BLOG to ensure that you don't miss a chance to save and get more freebies!

Free 1 Hour Photo Prints at WalMart

Create a free account and get 25 free photos. Check your email for the code and instructions on how to redeem. Go here to get this free deal: http://photos1.walmart.com/walmart/storepage/storePageId=Special+Offers

Courageous: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

Retailers Choice Award winner, 2012
From the creators of Fireproof comes an inspiring new story about everyday heroes who long to be the kinds of dads that make a lifelong impact on their children. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners willingly stand up to the worst the world can offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they’re quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark. 
They know that God desires to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, but their children are beginning to drift farther and farther away from them. Will they be able to find a way to serve and protect those who are most dear to them? When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God . . . and to their children?

Get this free Kindle book here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FQE2K8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005FQE2K8&linkCode=as2&tag=sm09-20

**Don’t forget: You can read more than 360,000 Kindle books on your PC with this free application – no Kindle required. Download it here http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&ref_=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd&docId=1000426311 (for Windows 7, Vista, and XP).**

Apple users can download the Kindle App here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&docId=1000493771&linkCode=ur2&pf_rd_i=1000426311&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=1354791522&pf_rd_r=1QWY7VBKNDG4MRCCNWWV&pf_rd_s=center-9&pf_rd_t=1401&tag=sm09-20 to get these freebies too!

Qdoba Mexican Grill - Rewards: Free Chips & Salsa or Regular Drink 

REWARDS OVERVIEW

Qdoba Rewards is a program designed to show our appreciation to our loyal guests. Pick up a card at any Qdoba location, register here and start earning points by using your card with your next purchase. If you forget your card, ask for a Claim ID at the register and credit your points online later. We'll also send you valuable offers from time to time, a great perk for being a Qdoba Rewards member (card not required to receive emails).

PROGRAM BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Free chips & salsa or a free regular drink - just for registering. 
(Reward is loaded on your card. Just order either one on your next visit and it’s free.)
• Emails with exclusive offers, information about new products, new restaurants and local event invitations. 
• A special birthday gift.
• Free entree each time your account balance reaches 1,000 points.
• In most markets, a full-priced entree is worth 100 points. So, after purchasing 10 entrees worth 100 points each, your 11th entree will be free. 
• In some markets, a full-priced entree is worth 85 points. So, after purchasing 12 entrees worth 85 points each, your 13th entree will be free.

Go here to register: http://www.qdoba.com/rewards

SOULfisticated Music - Download

This is a free download of neosoul / hip hop music - over an hour long. It's a really nice mix of music that you would never hear on the radio. Save it on your PC and upload to your favorite music device. Enjoy!

Free Subscription to Ebony Magazine

Enjoy an 11 issue subscription. No strings attached. You'll never receive a bill. NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED!

EBONY is the No. 1 source for an authoritative perspective on the Black-American community. EBONY features the best thinkers, trendsetters, hottest celebrities and next-generation leaders of Black-America. EBONY ignites conversation, promotes empowerment and celebrates aspiration. EBONY is the heart, the soul and the pulse of Black-America. It’s more than a magazine, it’s a movement.

Sign up here: https://www.valuemags.com/freeoffer/freeoffer.asp?offer=Ebony_StartSamp

Free ZiCam RapidMelts at Dollar Tree

Print the $2.00 coupon below from Zicam.com and take it to Dollar Tree. Score a free box of Zicam Cold Remedy Plus Rapid Melts!

Remember, inventory varies from store to store. Coupons with a value over $1.00 are accepted for a single Item. However, the coupon value will be reduced to the purchase price of the item. 

Print the coupon here: http://www.zicam.com/coupon/couponsite

Thanks again - AND BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE BLOG!!!!