Dawn Dish Detergent Deal at Rite Aid less than $.50 each

Super pysched, that I collected a bunch of the free P&G coupons from my last weeks circular delivery.  Inside was a coupon for $1 off 2, Dawn Olay Dish Detergents.  This week at Rite Aid, they are on sale for $.99 each!!!!  So I bought 2, and paid $.98 for BOTH!!!!!! 

The coolest part is when I looked at the bottom of my receipt, my Pre-Coupon total of $1.98 was added to the 50 Years $20 Up deal and another hidden UP reward deal.  It was tracked under a buy $15 get $3 UP reward Lysol Jet Dry deal.

Best Scenario

Buy 16 Dawn Olay Dish Detergents and use 8 P&G coupons, (you have to split into 2 transactions)
Pay Out of Pocket $7.84
And you will get a $3 Up reward.
Making the price per Detergent about $.32 each!!!!!!
And have $15.84 counted toward the 50 Year Buy $100 of eligible products and get $20 up reward deal.

WHOPPEE!!!!! I definately, don't mind stockpiling this because there's no expiration to worry about and seriously its not easy to get a Dish Detergent deal these days since Extreme Couponing has become all the rage.

Target Post Christmas Clearance

Gosh, people must have been really thrifty in my neighborhood this year because when I got to my Target expecting all the Clearance to be still there, a lot of it was gone!!! And it was only at 70% off, I was waiting for it to go to 90% but I don't think its gonna happen this year.  I was hoping to get the Nordiac Bakeware everyone was seeing for 70%, but there was only a mini Pie set left at my store.  

Anyways this year Target is being pretty sneaky, I found the best stuff hidden out of the Clearance section hiding among normal stuff.  Like the Dukin Donuts holiday Coffee, I had to do a price scan to see it was 70% off, so I picked up each bag for $2.51!!!!! Mines also had all the holiday tissues marked down but you would only know by scanning it the UP and UP brand was down to $.50!

My favorite find of the day was not holiday related at all, it was the Peach Nectar I found on clearance for only $.26 and the Goya Beans for $.16!!!

I'm really glad, I stocked up big time in the past because this years Christmas Clearance was pretty disappointing otherwise. But again it varies by store, so you should check your area.  My store did have tons of chocolates, a lot of it you still could use for Valentines day!

Because my Haul was pretty heavy, I didn't get to check out other stores like Marshalls and Century 21, even Pathmark does Christmas clearance! But for those of you who don't have much of a stock pile, this is the best time of the year to load up on Christmas stuff (especially gift sets you can repackage and baking clearance)!

Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Cream deal

Two days left to participate for the $15 Proctor and Gamble rebate offer LINK to FORM

I'm super psyched to go and get me my OLAY Regenerist Micro-Sculpting (top rated) Wrinkle cream!!  I rarely spend over $10 on anything these days but this cream is truly worth the hype.  I've used some expensive creams over the years SKII, Origins, Shiseido and honestly the only cream better than this one is LaMer which is a $100 for half the size.  Truly even my sis in law who is all about Luxury grabbed my jar to take home with her.

Perfect timing that this week for the first time in a year, I got the P&G coupon booklet with a $3 off coupon for Olay Regenerist.  On top of the P&G rebate deal, there's a killer Rite Aid deal going on where if you spend $100 on eligible products you get to double dip with a $20 UP reward!

So here's my Scenario starting tommorrow, Olay products will be Buy One Get One 50% off.

Olay Regenerist Microsculpting Cream is $32.99 at my local store. ( You can get at Drugstore.com for about $26 on sale right now)

My Plan is BUY 2, for total of $49.48.  Use two $3 off coupons.  So far my out of pocket will be $43.48.

But for the Rebate I need $.52 more to qualify.  So I'm going to buy a Herbal Essence Shampoo on sale for $2.49 and use a $1 off P&G coupon.   

Making my total Out of Pocket Cost $44.97   

And I will submit for $15 rebate.  Making my final cost for TWO jars of Wrinkle cream and Shampoo

after rebate about $29.97 !!

EVEN better scenario is in a separate Transaction...

My other fav is the Olay Regenerist UV lotion priced at $23.99

BUY 2 for total of $35.98, use two $3 off coupons, pay OPP of $29.98

I still need $14.02 to submit for another rebate (that I will gift to my Sis in law who lives at another address)

Buy FOUR Pantene Shampoos on sale 2 for $7 with a $2 up reward (limit 2)

Use two $3 off coupons, so my OPP will be another $8 

Still need $.02 so buy a Herbal Essence Shampoo on sale for $2.49 and use a $1 off P&G coupon

Making my total OPP $38.47 but will get total of $4 ups from Pantene. There for cost will be $34.47.

Submit for Rebate and basically get $15 back from Corporation, making final cost $29.47 for all items in Second Transaction

It gets even better.. with the $20 up reward deal on $100 eligible items from tommorrow till Jan 26.  It didn't specify if its before coupons or not.  But if its before coupons the total cost of the two transactions above is $104.44, I would get a $20 UP reward!!!  So taking the total final cost of the two transactions $59.44 and deducting the $20 Up reward, would make the real FINAL Cost effectively $39.44!!!  (liberal estimate my $30 per jar cream just went to about $10!! even with the shampoos!)

DIY Movie Theme Gift Basket

Instead of just giving the standard, Movie Gift Certificate in an Envelope, why not create a more extravagant looking gift like this DIY Movie themed "gift basket"?  With smart couponing and Clearance shopping, it only took less than $.50 per basket more to make this than giving an impersonal envelope with the gift certificates.

What you'll need:

Paper Popcorn basket ( you can usually find these cheaper at the dollar store party section than at a craft store)

Ribbon (optional)

Candies (Halloween Clearance and CVS freebie black friday sale)

Movie gift card or certificate

Piece of Card Board as backer for stability (optional depends on the candies you use)

Filler paper or plastic bag

Cellophane Wrap 

Directions

Fill Popcorn Basket with the filler of your choice at the bottom.  If your using Cardboard for extra support in the back, put it in before filler.  Now you can add the candies and movie tickets from the back (tallest candies) to the front (shortest).  Arrange to preference.  The wrap with cellophane and tie with ribbon.

My gift has retail worth of $30 if not more and I pretty much spent less than $.50 to create my gift this year because of My Coke Rewards!!! I love them this year, I got the 2 AMC silver tickets, 2 free Sodas for free by using my coke bottle and can codes for rewards!!  But even if you did't have the free tickets, you can use those discounted tickets you get throughout the year from deal sites like the last one I announced for Regal Entertainment that went for $5 each !  Those are great once because they never expire and have no restrictions!

Eye Palette Gift Set for Christmas another gift via couponing

So I also picked up this cute Eye Palette set this week at Rite Aid for free also a slight money maker.  You know what they say about gifts these days Packaging is everything.  And this packaging makes my gift look more expensive than if I had simply bought a regular eye palette without the gift packaging.  Still I picked up this set in particular because I know I had a lot of eye related make up stuff in my stockpile.

Specifically, I wanted to add Sephora Mascara Free Sample, Revlon Eyelash Curler and Tweezer since it would be perfect for the Eye Makeup theme of my gift.

So wrapped the box set as usual.  And picked a holiday themed cellophane treat bag (Target Clearance) that was clear so that the Sephora Mascara was visible.  Tossed the Mascara, Eyelash Curler, and Tweezer in and tied it with Ribbon.  And further attached it to the wrapped boxed Eye Palette.

And Tada, another gift completed and all for free because of my couponing!

Nail Gift Set for Christmas

So I picked up a bunch of Cosmetic Gift sets for free at Rite Aid this week and the best part is no coupons were even needed! Even better is that it came as a gift set so you don't have to deal with the challenge of how to wrap this to make it look more gift appropriate.  Without the sticker I'd guess the gift to cost about $5 granted at Sephora it would be alot more.  I wanted to make the gift look a little more generous so I turned to my stock pile of freebies that I picked up this year from couponing and found a Revlon nail buffer and set of Emory boards (retail of about $6) so that it would look like my gift cost at least $10, even though I got it all for free and as money makers.

So I pulled out my gift wrap (that I got for almost nothing last year at Target's Christmas clearance)

And I went ahead and wrapped it.  Separately, depending on your gift audience, I could technically have had two $5 gifts.

But since my family is kinda snotty, I combined the two by tapping the ribbon the my boxed gift so I could give this to one of my girly girl cousins.

I played around alil with the presentation.

Either way thats ONE gift down, cost $0 because of Rite Aid and my couponing !!!

Starbucks Coffee Tumbler Gift Idea

One thing, I always keep an eye out for throughout the year is Coffee Tumblers, like this one from Starbucks I got for 75% off last Christmas.  It's the perfect co-worker gift and you don't even have to wrap it in cellophane just put it on their desk! So you can give just the Tumbler as the gift but it wouldn't look every festive.  Or you can pay extra to buy one of Starbuck's packaged Coffee gift sets.  Granted the retail price on most tumblers is above $10 so you don't have to worry about people thinking your giving them a cheap gift but personally, I would think its somewhat impersonal.  

 

To make it more festive and  more expensive looking (if you just got a regular tumbler from Not Starbucks);   I simply got a bow, festive mini sample of coffee from Targets $1 section, a candy cane, and added random candies into a cellophane mini treat bag (that I got from Target last clearance).  Just put some tissue paper as a filler, and add your items in on top.  I had super cheap mini Christmas card (again from Target clearance last year) that I topped gift off with as well since I didn't plan on wrapping it with cellophane wrap.

You could also keep it very sparse and just put the mini coffee and Candy cane and it would still look fine.  But cellophane wrap would definately make it look better.

Either way this is a super super easy gift, that you can pre-plan months ahead of time and assemble in less than 5 minutes.

Other variations:

You can do the Hot Chocolate version with marshmallow instead of a bag of candy.

Or for the tea drinker get a small $1 store jar of honey and put a couple version of tea bags.

Cat Lovers Gift Basket Idea

I was really inspired by this amazing video posted on Youtube called Cat Lover's Gift Basket -- The Fancy Gift Guide by Brooke Peterson.  She had a beautiful basket created which is unique because of the beautiful presentation.  I think it was the fact she had a purple/silver gray theme throughout that really tied the basket together.  And the reason, I'm posting about it is a lot of the items are coupon items and cheap craft items you could create yourself or get easily from dollar store.  Her gift basket is modern and chic enough to gift year round.  

For her basket

She had a cute cat pillow with purple flowers that she put at the bottom of her basket.

Mason Jars filled with Cat Toys

Silver personalized tins that had cat food inside.

2 decorative bowls/plates for cat food

A table place mat, that was purple that she rolled for a beautiful presentation

A grey fleece blanket ( which you can even cut up to smaller size since cats don't need the full blacket)

Modified for Christmas

You can choose a Red/ Green/ Silver theme.

Use plastic bowls/ Holiday Placemats ( from Christmas/ Valentines Clearance or just the dollar store)

Peacock Feathers ( you can get really cheap on Amazon)

And if you can't find a basket (use a shoe box wrapped in nice Christmas Wrapping)

Cheap Santa Hat for the cat or a cute cat sweater you make from a thrifted christmas sweater which you can wrap in cupcake style

And as a cheap decorative filler, you can use the cheap fabric ornament balls (removing the hooks)

Cat Treats in glass baby food bottles

Nice framed picture of Cat and Owner

I also searched the web for some ideas as well my favorites are below.

And Martha Stewart has some amazing DIY cat toy projects.  Martha's Ideas

Kabocha Ramen

I've become obsessed with NongSHIM ramen, its MSG free and is spicy and just so easy and delicious.  And I've been experimenting with different fillings to make it healthier and a more well rounded meal.  This time, I ran out of greens and duck meat so I decided to use Kabocha pumpkin and it came out great! Not only is Kabocha low in carbs and calories, it has tons of vitamins.

Ingredients:

1 pack of Ramen (Nong Shim Spicy Flavoring packet preferred)

1 egg

1 handful of left over Kabocha Pumpkin (cut into pieces)

2-3 pieces of left over Kimchi

Scallion (optional)

Directions:

In soup pot, add 2-3 cups of water bring to boil.  Once boiling, add seasoning packet (half is all I need).

Then add the Kabocha, let heat up for 2 minutes. Then add our Ramen.  When ramen is just about ready, crack in egg into the pot.  Let cook for 2-3 minutes.  Finish off by adding kimchi and scallion and serve. 

NYC Freegan Experience

So for those of you who've been reading my blog you've probably noticed I'm all about saving money but also keeping as much of your hard earned taxed money away from the Corporations as possible.  Politics aside, I went to explore my local freegan group and left amazed.  It was great to meet like minded, caring people (one freegan had a whole shopping cart to give to his local shelter) and if you had been there you would have left that night just flabbergasted by the amount of Corporate waste going on during a recession.  Environmental consequences aside, these are common stores you shop at and instead of reducing  prices just a little for customers or plain out giving it away to the less fortunate, it would rather just toss it away to add on to our landfills. 

We only made 3 stops, a group of 15 people and everyone left with a ton of stuff and we even had to leave a bunch behind.

At Duane Reade, I picked up 9 bags of various breads that had not even reached its sell by date.  Others picked up boxed Rocher Chocolates, Yogurt, Packaged Salads and Sandwiches, Nuts, Yogurt, Flour, Batteries, Makeup, etc.

D'Agostino's was crazy, I picked up all the above but others picked up a lot more.  There was bagged salads, fruits, veggies, tofu, juice, canned soup, even several bouquets of Flowers.  Passerby's picked up stuff and there was still a ton we left in common sight because no one had room to take more home!

And at one Bagel Shop, there was literally bags of still warm pastries and bagels.  I can't believe I ever paid money for this stuff!!!

O and lets not forget someone had on the curb a super gorgeous expensive dark wood book case that was a super modern piece and it was literally going to get thrown out!  Whats even more sad is that something that beautiful it was also in perfect new condition, not even dusty, was going to be destroyed. 

Overall, the night was an amazing eye opener I rescued over $60 worth of food and to think if I hadn't everything would be sitting up in a landfill right now.  

Rite Aid Freebie perfect for Christmas

I have to thank hip2save and iheartriteaid for this awesome freebie tip.  Rite Aid this week has their Cosmetic Gift sets on sale at Buy One get one 50% off with a $5 up reward limit 2.  I went to the store and besides the circled Eye Shadow Palate for $2.99 they have holiday flavored lip gloss set of 3, and nail polish for $2.99!!! Which means buy two sets for $4.49 plus $.40 tax and get a $5 Up reward.  Perfect gifts for the tweens on your Holiday Shopping list!!

Asian Supermarket Sales

For some reason this week is a pretty good week to stock on some Asian food staples.  At GW supermarket, Napa Cabbage is $.12 the lowest price ever!!!  So tasty and you even preserve some by making kimchi.  And Kabocha for $.33/lb is also super crazy cheap compared to the summer sale prices of $.79 if your lucky.  I'm totally stocking up because this can keep for a month in room temperature and is just amazing worth every penny.  I'm actually pretty surprised at how good the food sales are, and now is the time to take advantage because once Christmas gets closer everything will get costly because stores now people are shopping for holiday parties.

And moving on to my next favorite store Hmart, I'm really just going there for the Bulgogi and Ramen Noodle sale!

I'm totally in love with Nongshim Ramen it's freaking amazing!!!!! Its spicy and no MSG!!! Perfect for the cold days coming up, not to mention its so easy because its Ramen.  The $13.99  for $20 makes it about $.70 a bag.  Which I initially thought was pricey, but when you consider the size its actually has more oz than the cheap Nissan brand noodles.  And of course, I actually only need half the flavoring packet to have a pretty spicy soup so yes this is my stock up price and I'm going to pick up some because I can totally make a $1 meal out of it.

Coke Rewards Christmas

Man, this year Coke Rewards has gone all out in offering awesome stuff!  Like $25 gift cards to TJ Maxx, Best Buy and Home Depot for only 600 pts!!  I really wished I kept up with entering my codes.  Either way what an awesome way to score awesome gift cards.

Lesson: Next year I will be ready with lots of points to burn.

Kohls and Macy Gift Card deal

I've really become obsessed this year with all these Gift Card deals.  Rite Aid has been pretty great with them.  So this weeks deal, Buy $50 worth and get a $5 Up Reward Back.  Which pretty much is a 10% discount!!! What I love about gift cards these days is that they can't Expire and if you pay for them with your rewards card most will give you back 1%, and you can use promo deals like store coupons to make your buy even better!!!!

**It seems this time of year is the hot time for these promo's so stock up for the year if you can afford to.  You can always give them as "gifts" or what to use these at the most optimal time for a super deal.