Neutrogena $10 Rebate Offer

Some people may think that couponers = bad beauty routine.  Totally the opposite, my couponing has totally enabled me to get lots and lots of near Free or great beauty products.  I use the best ranked beauty products and pay practically nothing.  Since I have really sensitive skin that means: Cetaphil, Eucerin, Olay Prox, St. Ives and Neutrogena.

I love that we're approaching the 4th quarter because big beauty companies will randomly have big rebate offers!  Like today, I just found out about the Neutrogena rebate offer of $10 for $30 worth of their Facial products.  You can get whole list here

And heres the deals fine print:

*Offer valid on eligible product purchases totaling more than $30, made between 8/28/11 and 9/28/11. Rebate requests must be received at the mailing
address on or before 10/28/11. Neutrogena Clinical®, Neutrogena Men®, Neutrogena® Cosmetics, Neutrogena® Naturals, Neutrogena® Lip Moisturizer, and
Neutrogena® Acne product purchases do not qualify for this offer. Offer limited to U.S. residents only. Must be 18 years or older to participate. Offer not valid
where prohibited by law. Limit one rebate per name, address, or envelope. Please allow 6-8 weeks for rebate processing. No P.O. Boxes, only street or rural
addresses are acceptable (except in N.D.). Fraudulent submissions could result in federal prosecution under the U.S. Mail Fraud Statutes (18 U.S. Code
Section 1341 and 1342). This form must accompany your request. Neutrogena is not responsible for any errors or problems, typographical or computer or
otherwise related to this offer. All requests become the property of Neutrogena. Not responsible for lost, late, damaged, misdirected, delayed, incomplete,
inaccurate, or undelivered responses or rebate checks; all of which will be void. Proof of mailing is not proof of receipt. Not redeemable at the retail store.
Includes regular, sale and clearance priced items. Purchase requirement calculated before taxes and after other discounts have been applied.

Last year, these deals enabled me to get some seriously expensive wrinkle creams for free and earn me some money makers. What means is I'm going to be on the look out for Neutrogena Coupons and deals, because the $30 worth is before coupons!  Keep in mind Neutrogena for me is one of those really hard to get really deep sales brands so even a Buy One get One 50% off sale is a pretty good sale.

But even without coupons their Retin SA line is really high ranked.  I love love their Under Eye Cream it really delivers results that I can see. Considering in the past, I've used some really expensive brands like LaMer, SKII, Origins.  Even without a sale this cream regular price $18.99 is really worth it.

Also, their Micro-Dermabrasion system is pretty amazing as well.  I've noticed after using it my skin will be extra shiny and smooth because its working.  And if you wanted to try it, this would be a great time because the kit and refill set would bring you easily to $30.

More Free Blockbuster Express Codes:

FREE Rental Code: GORACETRAC – (expires 8/31/11)

FREE Rental Code: 38JEAH9 – (expires 9/02/11)

FREE Rental Code: 43PBCG5- (expires 9/02/11)

FREE Rental Code: 36TTDR9- (expires 9/02/11)

FREE Rental Code: 62PGAR5- (expires 9/02/11)

FREE Rental Code: 24KRVF9- (expires 9/02/11)

Thanks Coupon Dad!

High Value Coupon Alert Cetaphil

If you like Cetaphil on their Facebook page or just click on their "Quickie Coupon" link, you can print a $2 off coupon.  (click back button to get two).  This is a great deal for all you sensitive skin types.  Save the coupon for a rockin Rite Aid deal or Target Sale.

Free Collapsible Water Bottle or Folding Flower Vase

Hurry before this deal is gone to SaveMore right now their giving new customers a free $10 credit.  The site is similar to Groupon, you buy and get a voucher to redeem at the retailers site.  Today they have this super cool collapsible Water Bottle for $5 with free shipping.  The bummer is you can only get one for free.  They do have a deal to buy FOUR for $14 which would be $4 after your credit but ehhh who wants to spend any money :)


OR you can use your credit for these super cute vases that FOLD!!!!!!!!! I'm always looking for space savers.

Update : Life without TimeWarner

I wanted to give you all an update on my life without BASIC cable from TimeWarner and my HD Antenna.  I do love my TV shows and I am really surprised at how much BETTER, my TV watching experience has been.  Not only does my Antenna give me clearer reception but my reception even went undisturbed during Hurricane Irene.  Back when I paid for Time Warner cable practically every time it rained my service went down.  So not only have I permanently cut $30 from my monthly bills but the icing on the cake, is my search for Frugal Entertainment has allowed me to watch even more shows and movies for free!

Heres How:

-Blockbuster Express Kiosks : I watch a ton of newly released rentals for free via their promo codes which post regularly on this site.

-NY Public Library: I borrow DVDs of movies and TV series box sets, and keep them for over a week all for free.

-Hulu: Most of my favorite TV shows like are for free on HULU.  If you need to watch older back episodes, you may need to get Premium.  Mostly I watch non basic cable channel shows on HULU like HDTV and USA network shows.  And you don’t need TIVO because if you’re a week or two behind, you can catch all back episodes of a lot of your favorite shows.

-Sidereel.com: Warning you definitely need a anti-virus program to watch shows on this website .  The Pro is it has all the popular Cable TV shows.

**A lot people talk about NETFLIX as an alternative but if you live in NYC and have a free Public Library Card there really is no reason to pay $7.99 for what you can watch for free.  Most shows on CBS, FOX, The CW, ABC stream for free a day or two after airing.  And as NYC residents, we all have a zillion Duane Reades in our neighborhoods or work neighborhoods to watch DVDs for a dollar or free with the many Blockbuster express codes out there. Not to mention Public Libraries.

Tip:  But if you really want to try it.. they always have a first time customer free trial.  If you’ve never ever done it before, then here’s an excellent deal scenario.  If you have a Swagbucks account, sign up through them and you’ll get 1000 Swagbucks for trying the 1 month free trial.  Which is super because on top of your month free trial you’ll get enough points to redeem for $10 worth of Amazon, E-certificate codes. 

If you don't have Swagbucks account, get one ASAP its awesome!

Swagbucks Link

Click on the link and start your signup!

Secret to Cheap but Great Coffee

Coffee is expensive, if you never look at your spending you may never realize it but.. its really expensive...If you have a regular Starbucks habit $200 a month is regularly being thrown down the drain.  That's about $2,400 a year!

Coffee is the one thing I can't give up.  But to match my addiction to coffee to my newer Frugal Lifestyle, I had to go through a my own lil 6 Step Program.

Trips to Starbucks > Trips to Dunkin Donuts > Trips to Local Deli > To making coffee at home with nice bagged coffee grinds > To making coffee with tin Folgers > To making coffee with the cheapest brand of coffee available.

The secret to my survival is "Flavored Coffee Creamer".  They come in so many variety of flavors these days they can really jazz up your plain cheap tin at home coffee routine. With the right flavored creamer, my at home coffee beats store bought Dunkin Donuts hands down.

The good news is Coffee Creamer cyclically has generous coupons and you only need a little bit to flavor your coffee and has longer expiration dates than just plain Milk.

Hurry, right now if you like Coffeemate on Facebook you can get a $1 off coupon.  Which if you wait for a sale, will make this a super deal!c

More Kashi Coupons

Whoo hoo!  Coupons.com just added some Kashi Coupons! Which as you all know from my previous posts is not a regular thing with Kashi.  So go print two per computer now (you push the back back after your first print) !!! I would totally save them for a Target Sale, sometimes Target will have their own Kashi coupons and then you can combine them for an even better deal!

I personally rather than printing them from Coupons.com go print from the Coupons link on Swagbucks, so that I get 10 swagbucks for each coupon I redeem and to support Swagbucks.

Kashi Addiction

Anyone who knows me knows what a fan of KASHI, I am.  Seriously as frugal as I am, this is one thing I can't give up. I love their company and devotion to feeding us Healthy but Great Tasting foods. When I first started couponing this was the one thing I could not find a good deal on.  I would wait for Target to have a  minor 2 for $5 sale and just have to stock up.  Occasionally, the company has a $1 off coupon but you typically have to sign up and go to Facebook for it.  But all that changed with Recyclebank.  Now I stock up on my Kashi for about $1 each!

What is Recyclebank?

It's a site that offers you deals and coupons for Pro-Recycling activities.  The most popular COUPON is the KASHI $2 off coupon.  Which is 125 points and occasionally they'll have them temporarily for 75 points.

Like TODAY! So if your stuck indoors like me this weekend, go to my link below and sign up.

Recycle Bank Signup


To earn points they have a variety of things you can do like watch education videos, quizzes, its really random and super easy.  Just click on the "EARN POINTS"  menu tab.  If you have kids, just sit them down and have them do it.   Right now there's a super easy one that can earn you about 100 points and will take less than 5 min of your time.

When you've got enough rewards for the KASHI deal today (not sure how long it will last), go to "GET REWARDS" on the top menu bar and then select "FOOD and BEVERAGES" and scroll to the Kashi deal.

Just remember the coupon is a print at home coupon and it till print with your name. So when you sign up keep that in mind.

Also please note: Print from Home Rewards expire 30 days after printing. OFFER LIMITED TO ONE COUPON PER PURCHASE. COUPON MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSFERRED. Limit 3 per member per month.

Just this week alone, both Pathmark and Walbaums have $2.99 Kashi deals, out there.  Which with this coupon means you can score some cereal or bars for $.99!!!  Which is cheaper than the General Mills deals going on right now.

Hurricane Irene

So everyone at work was talking about Hurricane Irene Friday, how when they went to supermarkets shelves were empty yada yada.  Well good news for Flushing residents is that we're always stocked up.  Maybe the Mom and Pop stores here have a special Chinese DistributionSystem?  Either way, a bunch of my non-NYC colleagues get free Manhattan Hotel stays this weekend.  So unfair! My commute is just as long as half of them if not longer.

PRO of Couponing

But either way because of my couponing and stockpile, I don't have to go out and be among the frenzy of panicky shoppers.

I just went over my sales ads for the weekend and really there were no good deals worth mentioning aside from the Rite Aid ad which was planned by their corporate before the Hurricane Irene Announcement. All stores are taking advantage of our fears and keeping prices high.  So if you can avoid shopping this weekend do so, unless you really need some emergency supplies.

Be safe ! Remember MTA is beginning SHUTDOWN at noon today.

And.. if you were thinking of stocking up on FREE entertainment like books and DVD's from the Queens Library.. I just checked their all going to be closed this weekend because of the pending Hurricane.

Credit Card pending Layoff

Ok this post only applies to those who can control the charging urges and have ability to get approved for a card.  In no way, am I encouraging you all to get hooked on credit or giving any financial advice.

A Credit Card can be a great Money Management tool if used appropriately.  

It's crazy but typical that when you need credit or loan its never available but when you don't need it its there in abundance.  A while back when I really thought my layoff was coming soon, I scoured the web looking for a credit card with a "zero" APR intro period, back then they were scarce and I could barely get approved for much because of my existing debt and low paying job.  I was doing it because a "zero" APR credit card can act like a free loan if you do it right.  Back then they were only offering a 6 month and some rare 12 month periods.  My reasoning, was that if I did get laid off I wanted to delay dipping into my emergency funds as much as possible.  Because as anyone who has been unemployed knows, once you lose those funds they don't get replenished.  

What you do with one of these cards is you charge and pay the minimum balance on time for your intro period.  As long as you do that the Credit Card Companies don't charge you interest for the full balance you carry on it.  

As an example, if I got a card today with a "zero" APR intro period of 12 months and got laid off a week from now.  If I had the card even if I had some savings, I'd charge first while spending on necessities.  Then  every month for 11 months, I'd only pay the minimum balance required.  Then on the last due date of my intro period, I'd pay off the full balance.  The balance I had carried forward prior to that, would have been like a free loan in a sense.  

This can get very dangerous if by month 12, you can't pay the balance because at that point the crazy high interest rate will kick in.  Which is why I'd focus only only charging necessities that I'd have to buy for survival like food and utilities.  But hopefully by then you'd have found a job and have some chance of paying off the balance without carrying the balance with interest too long.

But lets say your just flat broke and unemployed, no financial institution will lend you money at this point.  So whats worse? Not having necessities to survive or access to some purchasing power via credit with high interest?  Point being from my mind set, having the access to funds for emergency is better than none at all.  That being the case, if I sense I'm going to be laid off I go get the card while I still can.

But to avoid that scenario all together, I'd  hopefully have enough savings to cover the final balance. Which is why I am a big advocate of having building your savings to have an amount to cover at least 6 months of living expenses.  But hopefully, I'll have used that money to make some more money and found a job.

If your not in a potential layoff scenario, a "zero" APR credit card can really be a way to free up some cash for you to invest for higher returns.  In the past when banks were paying 5% interest, I'd put my freed up cash into those accounts.  Basically make 5% APR on my cash I would of normally used to payoff my credit card balance fully.

In hindset, I am very glad I did open my "zero" APR credit card.  It allowed me to build my emergency cash funds quicker even though my paper liabilities grew.  As a couponer, it was great because I'd get points for spending and then get cash rebate checks for some of my deals too. My card also had awesome rewards program on top of the "zero" APR.  At minimum every purchase earned 1% back in rewards or cash.  So in a way it was a double dip scenario, every dollar charged got 1% back and every dollar I didn't pay earned some interest as well from the bank.  Simply put with a 1% rewards for purchases and 1% bank interest rate on savings, that would be 2% earned on these funds.  Which at current rates is not a million dollars but its still better than the alternative.

Citi Credit Card Promotions ZERO intro APR on purchases for 21 months or $100 gift certificate

Right now for my personal situation, I'm thinking of applying for a new credit card.  I really wasn't planning on it but some of my friends told me about some great deals going on.  I suppose its because interest rates are so low right now.  Anyways, when I looked into the deals I was a little blown away so I wanted to share with you the deals I'm considering.


From Citi there are 3 cards, I like best:




Citi Zero APR for 21 Months

Okay, 21 months for a 0% Intro APR period is unheard of for me.  Gosh when I was looking a before and credit was tight I was lucky to get 6 months.  Since, I've already had a  Platinum Select Card with them my only option would be the Simplicity card.  Remember you have to pay your minimum amount due on time or you will lose rate and get kick started into the high 16.99% rate.


Issue with Credit Ratings.  The thing about your credit score is its very personal to you and your own situation.  I've heard people say their keeping cards they don't use anymore because of the long term relationship helps their credit score.  I really have no idea what the impact would be.  But for me, I'd rather have access to a 0% intro APR period and use the freed up funds to invest or speed up my savings.  And if I had more preparation time, I'd close up my inactive cards a couple months before so that I'd have better chance of getting higher credit spending limit on the new card.


OR FREE $100 gift card

With the holidays coming up a $100 gift card, would enable me to buy a lot of retail gifts.  And it would probably be more than I could make with my funds in a high rate online bank account which pays about 1%.  But I strongly believe I could beat the $100 if I put my money in the stock market to invest.  The challenge for me would be charging $500 in 3 months.  I don't foresee any big purchases happening for me in the next couple of months, so I'd have to get my friends and family to help spend it for me.  Of course, I'd have to trust them to pay me back.


But if I were in the market for a big ticket item that doesn't really go on sale like any Apple product, this is an easy way to get back a $100 on your deal.


The other great thing about this card is for 12 months you get 5 points per $1 you spend at grocery and drug stores.  Which is like getting 5% in interest for your spending but instead of pure cash you get paid in gift card cash.


The other Con is that its a $100 gift card and not cash.  Citi does not have a statement credit reward and honestly last time I had a card with them their "Thank You Rewards" system was really confusing.


I'm only going to pick ONE card because putting a bunch of requests for cards at once will make it seem like your desperate for funds and likely lower your score with all the inquiries the companies will put into your credit.  And if I were really close to nailing down a mortgage I wouldn't chance it so close to my mortgage application.


**Also, if you don't have good credit.. Sorry but don't chance getting a denial which definately is a ding on your credit.



I'm going to be looking at some other Companies as well.. so more posts to come.

*** I just got notifed by Citi that my application was rejected for a Delinquent Account on my Experian Report!  Which is freaking ridiculous .. now I have to work with Experian to get a free credit report because of a denial .. so be extra careful when you apply 


On the plus, side I thought all my credit issues were resolved and now I know their not.

Pearls just make you look Fancier

I've always believed that next to DIAMONDS, Pearls are an everyday girls best friend. A simple pearl stud earring can just change your whole look. My plain raggedy jeans and sweater gets automatically converted to suddenly JackieO look of just effortlessly classy.


So even though, I'm putting myself on a tight budget this deal I saw today on from hip2save was just to good to not share.  

Okay so go to Prized Pearls via my link and you'll see a box asking you to take a survey.

 It will take you max.. a minute and then their give you an online code for $20 off!!   Which would have been a super deal to get a pair of stud earrings they have for $29.55 on their site if the free shipping code prizedpearls was working still.  I'm going to keep this code since it doesn't expire and save for a future deal when I find a free shipping code.


But now there's an even better code no survey required; promo code holly gives you 70% off. 


And there's currently a deal till August 31 on a Pearl necklace for $53.99 that was regularly priced at $215.99! 
 36″ Hand Knot White Pearl necklace


The code holly will bring your total to ONLY $16.22 + $5.97 shipping, so ONLY $22.17 shipped! 


While I was fiddling around with the codes, this is what I discovered:

EKK, I could get the necklace and pearl studs for a total of $31.37!! 


I'M REALLY TEMPTED TO BUY as you all can probably tell.  Pearls are classic gifts for weddings, graduations, holidays, every event imaginable and this is such a super deal for real Fresh Water Pearls.  Compared to the fake pearls you can get a Claires Assesories, I think the real deal here only cost 3 times as much.  And these you can pass down to your kids.

Money Maker on Mitchum Deodorant

Next week at Rite Aid, the Woman's Deodorant will be on sale for $3.99 with a $2 up reward.

Get this Manufactures coupon from Coupons.com or you can go to the Coupon sidebar on Swagbucks (so when you redeem the coupon you get 10 Swagbucks)
MFC $1 off Mitchum Coupon

And hurry and watch the Rite Aid Video Values for Mitchum so you get a $2 off coupon to print before this Saturday when they change the videos.

With both coupons your scenario will be:

Sale Price $3.99
MFC coupon $-1
Rite Aid VV coupon $-2
--------------
Total OPP: .99 + tax
and you get back a $2 up reward
Note: don't use your $1 off anything reward because you coupon total has to be less than $3.99; save that for later

Laughs are Free

Russell Peters is one of the funniest Asian Comedians ever.

You can totally check out one of my favorites youtube oldies :
Here

Warning, if you get easily offended don't watch.

So imagine my surprise, when I went to Hulu today and saw he had a day in the life episode.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/270127/a-day-in-the-life-russell-peters

Enjoy!

ACTIVISM via Couponing

Sometimes, I just want to ignore the news.  It just makes me mad, more job losses and economic suffering for the middle and lower classes and in the Yahoo article I read, it even suggested we spend more to boost the economy to HELP corporations.  Which is absolute garbage, because they've been in record breaking earnings levels for the last decade.  Its not us hard working folks that need to spend more, its the Corporations that need to accept lower profit levels and some corporate social responsibility.  As if when your making hundreds of millions of dollars, spending a couple million more to give employees jobs and health insurance is really killing your business.  But that's the level of greed and power they have in today's society.  And the media helps perpetuate this kind of thinking.  I hope people actually wake up and start realizing that we need to push back.

I hope the wake up call is a passive one... we all know what happened in London of all places recently.  Who knew the civilized Brits could at like that.  It was really tragic..

Couponing is great not only for your own wallet but it withholds some money from corporations.  The fact that I can get so many things for such a low price or free legally and regularly just shows how ridiculous price levels are.  Maybe its the inner idealist activist that still resides from my youth but to me its like "sticking it to the man" in this case the Corporation.  Its a way for me to say "you don't control me by making me spend money on things at your suggested retail price." And by saving and living frugally, you escape that cycle of materialism that seems to dominate modern culture these days.  When you really look at your life and reflect, how much of the money you make grueling at work is spent supporting things you actually enjoy, want and need VERSUS what a million dollar ad campaigns have cleverly placed in your mind.

Personally, my couponing experience really helped to disassociate myself from materialism.  The experience of getting things for such rock bottom prices makes me really value of a dollar. If I can get a brand name toothpaste for just sales tax, why would I want to pay more for another item on a higher scale.  The habit of maximizing your savings and pursuing each shopping trip at your local drug store conditions your brain to be effective with you money.  The light bulb moment is when you realize you don't need to spend a lot of money to lead a quality life.

Don't you think if we all were just a little more thoughtful with our spending this country could possible avoid the next another credit crisis and the cycle of Boom and Bust we seem to have every couple years?  Like the predicted bust with the Student Loan Bubble people are talking about now?

You know we’re in recession when Yuppies are shopping at Cheap Jacks 99 Cent Store for Food

Cheap Jacks 99 Cent Store truly the "HIDDEN JEWEL of NYC" 

I first starting shopping here before the 2008 recession and back then you’d mostly find east village hipsters and poor Harlem residents in the food isles.  It’s totally different, most of the time I go after work a lot of the refrigerated foods are half way gone and the bread isles empty.  People in NYC are shopping at Cheap Jacks 99 cent store for food regularly.

The food rotates quickly and you can seriously find amazing deals without coupons.  If I could go every other I would.  They have brand name foods for $.99, $1.29 and if people are not biting and expiration dates near I’ve seen things being 

priced at 3/$.99!

Typical things on rotation:

Milk, lots of Cheeses, Yogurt, Pepperidge Farm Bread, Frozen Veggies.  It really is hit or miss.  Back in the day they’d get a lot of stuff from Whole foods so you’d find a lot of organic and lux stuff. 

My best finds through the years MASCAPONE CHEESE for $1.29 , which is crazy !! Because only upscale places sell it to start with. Once I actually spent whole weekend with no luck scouring for it in all the Queens supermarkets to no avail.

 Oscar Myer Turkey and honey ham. Johnsonville Sausages and huge tubs of Yogurt, Tiliapia Fish Fillets, Imitation Crab meat.

On this trip things I was tempted to buy:

1lb bag of Frozen Brocolli for $1.29, Frozen Carrots, Frozen Lux Italian Flatbeans

Canned Artichoke Hearts for $.99, Lemon Juice for $.99, Whole Wheat Wraps for $1.29!!

Huge Tubs of Tribe Brand Hummus in various flavors with mid Sept expiration dates for $1.29

You do need to check the expiration dates and make sure you don’t over buy if you don’t have room in your fridge. And the lines will be long if they have amazing stuff in their food isles.

Here's what I got Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats (8 in a pack) and the huge tub of Tribe Hummus

Spent  a Total of $2.58

More Free Blockbuster Express Codes

Whoppee!!!!

FREE Rental Code: 43SGJC5 – (expires 8/26/11)

FREE Rental Code: 67PPLA6 – (expires 8/26/11)

FREE Rental Code: 56TTDR2 – (expires 8/26/11)

FREE Rental Code: 85JEAH2 – (expires 8/26/11)

FREE Rental Code: 99BRAB3 – (expires 8/26/11)

FREE Rental Code: 96PBCG3 – (expires 8/26/11)

Enjoy!

Back To School deals with Staples

- Spiral Notebook $.01   - Limit 6, must have minimum of $5 purchase
- 4 GB Flash Drive $6.99 - (Great gift for older kids, lots of middle schools are even putting that on the supply list)

Only if you think you can meet the $10 quarterly minimum
-Zebra Pens $3.99 - $3.99 easy rebate making it free + tax


** Don't forget to submit your old ink cartridges (greener earth) and you get a $2 reward but its not counted toward the $10 quarterly you need.  by end of quarter to redeem and not lose your rewards.

Aug 20 Run Results

I'm really glad they had everything I wanted, I got the Peanut Butter because I was short $.03 to use my Oral Care $5 up.  Even though the Peanut Butter had no coupons, it was still a great deal for $1.99.  Here's how the numbers worked out.

For this trip, I only charged $2.49 for all the above and I scored $3 in ups to use for future trips.

Just so you know, Rite Aid for me is one of the key stores in my Frugal Living Strategy.  You can look at my prior Rite Aid Posts to see all I've accumulated since July.

Total Cash spent after SCR since July:       $4.62

Ups Still to use:       $3   

Rite Aid Run Aug 21-27 Sales

If you can this Sunday go early to Rite Aid because there a couple Freebies this week that can make your trip worthwhile.

EASY freebies (no coupons required)

This deal is great if you have that $5 up reward from the Oral Care Promo that you want to use because a SCR is a straight up conversion into Cash.  I'd do it if I didn't plan on making any big buys.  The trick with up rewards is your pretax OPP needs to be the exact amount of your up or a penny above.

The deals above are super easy for new couponers because you don't need coupons at all.  You do have to pay OPP though and you do need to be able to use the up rewards within 2 weeks.  Of course don't buy what you don't need.

The best deal is the Hand Sanitizer becuase its $1 flat and you can buy 3.  So its perfect for rolling over your ups.  

Transaction 1:

Buy 1 Hand Sanitizer total OPP : $1 + tax

Get $1 up back

Transaction 2:

Buy 1 Hand Sanitizer $1

Use your prior $1 up reward

 Total OPP: just few cents for tax

Get $1 up back

Transaction 3:

Buy 1 Hand Sanitizer $1

Use your prior $1 up reward

 Total OPP: just few cents for tax

Get $1 up back

Total spent OPP for 3 Hand Sanitizers: $1 + tax for all 3

And you still have a $1 up reward to use for anything else on your next trip

** Another tip is if you still have your $1 off anything Video Value coupon, you can turn your freebie into slight money maker or at least use it to help pay for your taxes.

Coupon Required Freebie:

If you keep an eye on ads you'll have realized after that show "Extreme Couponers" aired, Toothpaste Freebies have become less frequent.  So this weekend is a great time to stock up while you can (especially given that P&G coupon books have become more stingy and scarce )

Here's how to get the Freebie (LIMIT 2):

Buy 1  Crest Toothpaste pictured above 

Sale Price $2.99

P&G Aug Coupon -$1

Total OPP: $1.99 plus tax

Get $2 up reward

                                 
WARNING: you can't do the simple split transactions on this to reduce your OPP because the $2 up reward is a PENNY over the amount of your pre-tax subtotal {$1.99}

Instead if your new to the Rite Aid drugstore game and you are only buying freebies, you can do they 3 Handsanitizer transactions above.  And use that left over $1 up from the 3rd Transaction to lower the OPP of on buying two of these toothpastes.  The goal of the game is to use the least amount of your OPP as possible.

Another option since your only missing a penny is to find a cheap filler product to bring up your total.  I don't do that anymore these days because filler products are useless to me.  But sometimes, there will be a great sale product that might be worth buying.

For the Moms out there , they do have this pretty good sale on notebooks this week as well.

Final Saturday August 20 Rite Aid Run

More complex ways to get Freebies 

Look for a Sale

Look for Store Coupon (if your store lets you stack store coupon + manufacturer coupon)

So, I totally overlooked this deal.  But you can get this free today if you have all the coupons.  I was fortunately smart enough to watch the July Video Value for Listerine .  Here's how you can get the above for free:

For Listerine ZERO 1 Liter
Sale Price $3.99
Video Value Coupon -$2
Red Plum 5/22 insert -$1
----------------------------
Total OPP: .99 + tax
Get $1 up reward thereby making this free if you don't count taxes

Note: if you don't have the inserts (this is why I keep all mine) you can use the $1 off anything Video Value Coupon with the product specific Video Value coupon.  Also this is one of the main reasons I'll watch videos and save them in my queue for printing.

** I have to thank my favorite Rite Aid matching site Iheartriteaid for this catch.  Per other comments, some peoples stores have a $1.50 coupon peelie making this a money maker deal

Main Street Flushing Weekend Food Runs

So my unlimited Metro Card ran out this past Thursday, which I'm acutally happy with because I'm a little tired of going places to max out my metro card.  So today at least I'm going to be sticking local.  Living in Flushing we have so many thrifty places to eat and shop for food.

For the freshest American fruits and veggies, I go to one of my favorite supermarkets "HMART".  I love going on weekends because they always have food sample stations of expensive korean food I would normally never buy.  Aside from that that do have really good random sales.

This weekend I picked the best below.  Note: Yellow deals are for the weekend only.

If I'm dying for meat in the summer and feel really lazy, I wait for one of their Marinated Beef Sales.  For $4.99/ lb, its pre-marinated in Korean BBQ sauce and all you have to do to cook is put on grill.  Yummi with just plan white sticky rice on the side.  This week they also have the Short Plate without marinade, which is a great super thrifty option for getting their thinly sliced beef and saving some money buy using your own marinade.

The Jasmine rice is not great sticky rice but its super for making Fried Rice and Spanish Style rice.  Which would make each serving of cooked rice about $.15 each.  Definately, worth buying if your on a frugal mission.

Hmart also for those out of towners has a large parking lot at all their locations.

I personally go to the Northern 141 location because its super convenient.  There's a GW Supermarket, Rite Aid and Staples, all ONE block away.  I do all my frugal store runs in one quick sweep.

Speaking of GW Supermarket, this weekend only they have a great deal on the below.

If your a semi-health nut like me, cheap Spinach is golden!! It's like one of the most vitamin packed veggies out there. This also one of my favorite regular stores to scour for those $1 bag deals.

 Hmm, this would be a great weekend to make JapChae since the key ingredients I don't have (marinated beef and spinach are on sale).

And lastly, last weeks hot spot "Sky Foods"

 On top of the lobster and bananas.. They have 5 for $2 Garlic Bags and if your thinking of cooking JapChae like me $.99 Korean Potato Noodles.

Dim Sum Steamed Tripe

I love DIM SUM..but it can be so extravagant, everything comes in mini-plate sizes.  One of my all time favorites, which a lot of restaurants don’t serve anymore is the Steamed Tripe.  So when I saw the Tripe on sale this past weekend for nearly half off regular price.  I grabbed it. Usually when I tackle a Dim Sum it is an absolute failure.  This time came out amazing and even better than the Dim Sum version.  Best part is this recipe is so easy, you can’t fail. 

Time Spent (15 minutes)

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Duck Broth (you can use chicken broth, I just had some I was dying to use up from my overflowing fridge)
• ¼ Red Bell Pepper
• ¼ GreenBell Pepper
• 1 Clove Garlic (chopped)
• 2 Stalks scallion (chopped)
• 1 lb Tripe

Directions

In a bowl for steaming, combine your broth, peppers, scallion and garlic.  Then steam for 10 minutes so flavors can combine.  You can add salt to your taste.

Now prepare your Tripe.  Just wash it under tap several times.  Then throw in pot of boiling water.  Take out in 3 minutes.  You definitely don’t want to overcook the Tripe.  Remove from pot and let cool a little so you don't burn your fingers. Then you can cut into strips.

By now your steamed broth mixture should be done.  Plate by throwing your broth mixture in along with the cut up Tripe and combining.

Note: I love garlic and scallions so the flavors really give this dish a kick.  Otherwise Tripe is just bland.  Also, tripe shrinks after boiling.

Cost: I used half of my tripe that I got for a total of $2.62 therefore making cost for this dish $1.31; Bell peppers had already from my past dollar bag sales ($.10);  scallions from garden (free), garlic (.05); broth was from past duck bones I boiled (free)

Total: $1.46

Total OPP: $1.31