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March 3rd, 2025
This past weekend was the Dollar General Clearance Event, and I got a great haul! I shopped all three days of the event: Friday, to get everything I wanted before it disappeared; Saturday, to use the $5/off $25 coupon, and Sunday to use some new coupons that came out that day. Now, I’m not going to sit here and detail every single one of the 176 (!) items I got over the weekend – that wouldn’t be particularly interesting, and I don’t have the energy for that after a four-day clearance marathon. Instead, I’m going to give you an overview of what I got and the most noteworthy deals I found. Even with me skimming over a lot of the boring details, this post is still insanely long, so here’s a quick menu you can use to navigate so your eyes don’t glaze over immediately:
So let’s jump right in:
I was super prepared for the Clearance Event – I spent Thursday familiarizing myself with all the items that were going to be 50-70% off by watching videos from Kristie’s Connections and Craz-E Coupons, and I did some reconnaissance at the store the night before. They had already set up tables and put out some of the items that were going to be on sale, so I memorized where the items I wanted were and figured out the most efficient route for walking through the store. On Friday morning, I got there at 7:45AM expecting a line of people to be waiting outside; but I was the only customer there! I heard so many stories this weekend from fellow coupon bloggers who encountered huge lines and packed stores, so I really lucked out, because I was the only customer there for a good 15 minutes after they opened – and since I had mapped out exactly where to go in the store, I was able to quickly pick up the main items on my list before anyone else even got there – and even after other customers arrived, there were maybe one or two at a time, and no one was paying much attention to the clearance; so this meant I had my pick of the litter! These were my priority items:
-Glade Air Fresheners: The Lavender & Aloe scent was on clearance for $1.01 and the Juniper & Teak was $1.24. There was a rebate for $1.50 in the DG app, so this was a .49 money maker for the Lavender and a .26 cent money maker on the Juniper! You could do this up to 5 times, so I got 5 and Jai also did a transaction and got 5 using his DG account as well. These were the first items I picked up!
–Next up was the Valentine’s Day & Football clearance items, priced at .15 cents each. I got everything from gift bags and cards to ornaments, paper cups and bibs. It’s really handy having some baby bibs in my gift box for the next time I’m putting together a baby shower gift!
–The third item I grabbed was coffee for $3.57 per bag. This was a great deal for me, so I got 6 bags, and I also bought two boxes of single serve Peppermint Mocha coffee. Single serve coffee is more expensive than regular grounds, and my machine has a reusable single serve cup that I can use to make my own, so I usually don’t buy pre-made K-cups; I just thought these sounded tasty and at $2.12 a box, it was worth picking up a couple. I was happy to be able to stock up on so much coffee – I drink a lot of coffee, and since coffee prices are expected to surge, stocking up now will save me money later.
-Next up: Axe Deodorant! There was a digital coupon for $5 off 2, and the ones I got on clearance were $2.42 and $2.57 respectively, so they were free plus one penny overage! Jai also got 2 Axe deodorants, but his coupon didn’t come off correctly so he ended up paying $2.42 for both deodorants. It’s a bummer that he didn’t get to use his coupon, but it’s still a good price for 2 deodorants, at least!
Other coupon deals of note:
-Finish Quantum Dishwasher Tabs: There was a $2 off coupon in the app, and I was able to find a small bag for $2.22 – meaning that I paid just .22 cents after coupon! That was the only bag in stock of that size, but I found the next smallest size, a 21 count bag priced at $3.85, so Jai got that one and paid $1.85 after coupon, which is still a great deal.
-Gain Fireworks: There was a store coupon in the app for $2 off, which stacked with a manufacturer’s coupon for $1.05 off, making this just .32 cents after coupon.
-Dove Soap: There was a coupon for $2 off in the app, and I found a package of bar soap on clearance for $3.60; so I paid $1.60 after coupon.
-Colgate & Hello toothpaste: There was a coupon for $2 off select varieties of toothpaste in the app. I picked up a tube of Hello toothpaste for $2.70 and Colgate for $2.57, so after coupon I paid around .63 cents per tube.
-Crest Kid’s Toothpaste: This was on sale for $1.50, and there was a $1 off coupon in the app, making it .50 cents after coupon. Jai got one of these also!
-Crest 3D Whitening Mouthwash: I got 2 bottles of this on clearance for $2.47 each, and after using a $2 off 2 coupon in the app, I paid just $1.47 per bottle.
That was the extent of my coupons on this transaction; the rest of my haul consists of things that were on a steep discount. I got some clothing items, like cozy pajama pants for $1.87 each, garbage cans for just .75 cents each, Tide Pods for $1.57, Cheetos-themed Post-its and erasers for .75 cents each, Suave Deodorants for .50 cents each, and things of that nature.
On Saturday, Jai and I both went back to DG to see if there were any new clearance items that had been put out, and use the $5 off $25 Saturday coupon. However, there were a few snags: We both had $7.50 in DG cash in our accounts from the Glade transaction the previous day that we planned to use, however, it would not work at checkout. The cashier followed the instructions and scanned the barcode exactly, but it just would not work; she tried every which way, and was the *second* cashier who had attempted to do it. So, I’ll have to get in touch with DG customer service and see what the problem is – has anyone else experienced this? If you know what’s causing it, please drop me a comment and let me know!
The second snag was that when I was ringing up my transaction, I ended up under $25 even though I thought I had enough. I could have grabbed some candy or something to get to $25, but I didn’t want to cause the poor cashier any more hassle, and there were other people in line, so I just wrote it off. I feel like my success rate with the $5/25 is about 50-50 – there always seems to be some problem that stops it coming off.
Also, I bought cereal on clearance both days that said they attached to the Kelloggs $1 off coupon in the app, but neither variety of cereal worked even though they were listed as part of the offer…
At any rate, here are the coupons that DID work!
-Dawn Powerwash refills: I bought 2 refills at $4 each and used a digital $3.99 off coupon, and there’s a “Store Discount” listed on the receipt, which I guess reflects the price after the $5/25 coupon was deducted. After both discounts, this comes to about $1.47 per bottle. Great price, I love this stuff!
-Colgate toothpaste: Jai used the same coupon I had done the previous day for $4 off Colgate toothpaste. He bought 2 tubes priced at $2.57 each, which made each tube .51 cents after coupon and Store Discount for the $5 off.
Schick Razors: I had a $3 off digital coupon for these, which were on sale for $5.40; so after both this coupon and the $5 off, this came to $1.66. I see these same razors sold in stores for as much as $15, so that’s a pretty great savings!
There were also a few surprise deals on this day. The first actually came to me via an employee! So on the first day of the Clearance Event, one of the employees walked by and asked if I needed any help as I stood there with 2 carts, studiously pouring over my coupon lists in my notebook. She chuckled and said she couldn’t wait to see what kind of deals I ended up doing. So fast forward to the following day: While I was looking through one of the clearance boxes, I heard Psst! behind me. I turned around, and it was this same employee. She handed me a little Valentine’s Day stuffed bear and Febreze-scented wax melts. She said, “That [bear] is ringing up .30 cents, and this [wax melts] is $1.45.” Isn’t that awesome?! I was so appreciative of her kindness in bringing me these clearance items she had found!
The second surprise was a slew of surprise pennies! When I was looking around for hidden clearance items, I decided to scan one of the Oregon Ducks t-shirts that were on display, because I *think* I heard Craz-E Coupons mention something about collegiate merchandise being included in some discounts during the event – apologies if that’s incorrect, but that’s the thought that motivated me to check, anyway! I casually scanned the first shirt in the pile to see if it was included in the clearance – then did a double-take when it showed up as 0.00! I went through all of the shirts in the display, and ended up finding 29 altogether – I completely cleared one of the shelves! Because these were pennies, I paid just .29 cents for all of these shirts, which originally cost $9 each – meaning I got $261 worth of shirts for .29 cents! These shirts are all in Youth sizes, so I’m giving a few to my nieces and nephew and will donate the rest. Now, I have no idea if these have just pennied, or if they’re old – I haven’t personally seen them on any lists. My gut instinct is that these are old pennies that have just been sitting here forever, because that display has been there for as long as I can remember. I’m also guessing this would be store specific, because my assumption is that each state would get the collegiate shirts for their state. But just in case these are new, or if any Oregonians want to check their store and see if they can find these, I’ve provided the UPCs below.
I then found a second surprise penny! There is a display of Oregon Ducks hats near the register, so of course I wanted to check those as well. The Ducks caps weren’t a penny, but when I pulled the first cap out to scan the barcode, there was another baseball cap in a different style that was tucked inside it so far that it was hidden from view. Just by looking at this lone hat that was mismatched to the rest of the hats on display, I could tell this had been here unnoticed for a really long time, and I thought to myself, “That’s probably a penny.” And I was right! Second surprise penny of the day! Once again, I don’t know for a fact whether this is a new or old penny, but I’m pretty certain this must be an old penny, because you could just tell it had been hidden from sight and forgotten for a very long time; it probably pennied ages ago, but since it was hidden from sight, it didn’t get pulled. But if anyone knows for sure when the hat and/or shirts pennied, I’d love to find out, so leave me a comment if you know!
I scanned my receipt with the UPC codes for the hat and the three different styles of shirts, and added my images of the items for reference:
 Click here to view image full size I also got some other bits of Valentine’s Day and Football items for .15 each that I had missed the previous day, 4 large bottles of Suave shampoo & conditioner at $1.87 each, which I thought was a decent stock-up price; I also found a hot pink hat that matches my purse perfectly and will also coordinate with my pink puffy winter coat that I just got, so I had to pick that one up for $1.87! I also found some blankets for $1.20 that will make great gifts, and two large body pillows that ended up being $1.66 each – I live with chronic pain and love body pillows as they really help me get more comfortable. Body pillows can be expensive, so I thought these would be handy to pick up, and I love that one of them is pink! I also got a few other bits and pieces – heat protectant because I just ran out, little items for gifts, etc.
On Sunday, new coupons were loaded to the DG app, and I spotted another hot deal with the Gain Fireworks, and got further coupon matchup ideas from this Craz-E Coupons video. So Jai and I went back to DG one final time this weekend and got the following:
-Gain Fireworks: So in the app, there was a store coupon for $2 off one Gain Fireworks which stacked with a manufacturer coupon for $1.55 off. The 10oz Fresh Water Sparkle scent was on sale for $3.37, so I thought I would get overage, but the store discount adjusted down to $1.81 off instead of $2 off and I ended up paying one cent for the Gain. I guess you can get overage with manufacturer coupons if you’re at an “Old register” store, but not with store coupons? Meanwhile, Jai didn’t even have the $1.55 off coupon offer in his account, just the $2 store coupon; but $1.37 is still a stock-up price, so he went ahead and got a bottle as well.
-Suave Men’s Bodywash: This was a clearance item I didn’t see out on the tables until Sunday night. This bodywash was $1.12, and Jai and I both had a .50/1 coupon in each of our accounts, so we both got a bottle, paying .62 cents each.
-CoverGirl Foundation: This foundation was on sale for $3.82, and there was a $2/1 coupon in my DG account, so I paid $1.82 total, which is a good price; and I’m also looking forward to trying this, because I don’t have much experience with powder foundations, and I love to play with new kinds of makeup!
-Baskets: I realized these 2 baskets were part of the Football merch and just .15 cents each, which is an awesome price, and perfect timing – I was literally thinking to myself the night before, “I need to get a couple more storage baskets”!
And so there we are – phew! So tell me readers: Did you shop Dollar General during the Clearance Event, and if so, what did you get? Tell me in the comments below!
Posted in Dollar General, Penny Items | No Comments »
February 10th, 2025
This morning, I saw on Kristie’s Connections and Craz-E Coupons that there were now rugs for a penny at Dollar General. (If you’re new to penny shopping, check out my last two hauls here and here to learn more!) I was bummed that I was tied up with an appointment until the afternoon, because I figured any rugs at my store would have likely been pulled or bought by then. But no! I hit DG at around 3PM, and I found not one, but THREE chenille area rugs plus several placemats!!
Click all images to see full size
3 chenille area rugs – originally $25 each
3 Perfect Harvest place mats – originally $2 each
4 Dolly Parton place mats – originally $3 each
So I bought $93 in merchandise for .09 cents!
If you’re doing the math with me, you’re correct that this transaction should have been .10 cents. I’m guessing that the place mats must have stuck together and the cashier missed one while ringing up, because I thought I had three of the Dolly Parton place mats until I got home, took the photo, and realized there were four. In fact, these place mats stuck together so much that I didn’t even realize there were Perfect Harvest place mats in the stack as well until right before I checked out – I thought I was just grabbing a few Dolly place mats, and then they multiplied!
At any rate, I haven’t seen the rug pattern that I got on Kristie’s Connections or Craz-E Coupons, so it was a surprise penny to me and probably will be to you as well, so here is the UPC info:
Click all images to see full size
The place mats were also surprises to me, but I don’t think they were a part of this most recent penny list, because I saw the Dolly Parton items in videos a month or two ago when I first heard about penny shopping; the other two are autumn-themed and like I said, really stuck to the Dolly place mats so I assume they pennied around the same time since they’ve clearly been sitting there so long. The place mat stack was underneath a metal basket in the home goods section and I have seen them in the same spot during previous visits, so I’m guessing they just never got pulled. So you’re less likely to find these at your stores, but just in case anyone wants them, here’s the UPCs:
Click all images to see full size
I am absolutely thrilled about this haul, because I needed to get a few more rugs – I have two pet bunnies that free roam in a couple of rooms, and rabbits need soft surfaces to walk on because it’s hard for them to hop on smooth surfaces, and it can cause sore hocks. We just got a new rug for the living room because the last one had worn out; I have a couple of older rugs in the kitchen that I inherited from Grammy, but they’re also pretty worn, they don’t match the kitchen or each other and aren’t very big. So this was an item on my shopping list, and rugs are typically SO expensive, so what a freaking savings this was!!
Huge thanks again to Kristie’s Connections and Craz-E Coupons for sharing the rug info today and making this happen! Craz-E Coupons also gave Super Coupon Girl a shoutout and shared our Sunday haul photo in her video this morning, which was really fun to watch – click here to check it out and subscribe to her channel!
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February 9th, 2025
If you asked me, “Penny for your thoughts?”, I would gladly tell you – and take that penny to Dollar General!  If you caught my post a few days ago, you will have seen that I’ve started “Penny shopping” and got quite the haul on Tuesday – if you missed the post, click here to read it, as I give some background on what exactly penny shopping is. I knew this was going to be a big week for penny shopping, because the community has been abuzz about the massive penny markdown that was happening today, February 9th. There were hundreds of items going to a penny, and items usually clearance on Tuesdays, so it was unusual to have so much stuff going to a penny in one week; I’ve heard some long-timers say this was the biggest penny list they’d ever seen, so it was a great week for me to get stuck in. I’ve been watching Dollar General deal creators all week in preparation – just as sports fans had their big day today, us deal shoppers did as well! HUGE thank you to Kristie’s Connections, Craz-E Coupons, The Freebie Guy and Roll Out Savings for all of the invaluble information they provided this week! If you’re new to this, definitely go follow/bookmark/and subscribe to all of them.
Saturday:
Click to view full-size
On Saturday, I stopped by Dollar General and found 3 more toys from Tuesday’s penny list, these adorable play food sets, which I bought for .03 cents total. I’m not sure exactly what the original price was – they had been formerly marked down to $8 on clearance, I and I see them being sold on eBay for $24.99 new. Either way, they cost more than one penny before!
Sunday:
Click to view full-size
Today was the big day, and I left with a big haul: Approximately $217.89 worth of items for .85 cents! Because DG doesn’t show the original prices on the receipt or website, I looked around Google to estimate what these sold for originally. Here’s the breakdown – each item cost me one cent, and I’ve listed the original, full retail price next to it:
71 (!) birthday number candles, 0-9 – originally $1 each
1 Snackeez Cup – regularly $10
1 package of crayons – regularly $1.79
1 car air freshener, 4 ct. – regularly $3.19
1 bottle motor oil – regularly $4.95
2 cast iron pans – regularly $13.50 each
4 different Comfort Bay King Size Sheet Sets – regularly $24.99 each
What’s wild is that I have bought these kind of numbered birthday candles many times, and they typically always cost $1 each; and now I have a lifetime supply – plus everything else! – for LESS than $1!
I got everything except for the bedding in my first transaction, after which I came home, sat down, watched Craz-E Coupons’ newest video titled “PAY $.01! TURN AROUND! SURPRISE PENNIES!!” – and then promptly did just that, and turned around and headed back to the store! This video was where I learned that a bunch of penny info had just dropped for the bedding aisle as shoppers discovered “Surprise” pennies not on the lists while out shopping. I thought it would be worth checking to see if my store had any of these, and sure enough, they did! I don’t believe the sheet sets I found at my store were on the other lists, so I thought I’d take a photo of the front and back of the packaging so you can see what they look like, and the UPC codes. If these have already been posted elsewhere or if they were in Craz-E’s video and I missed it, I apologize; my eyes have been looking like this the last few days trying to absorb as many penny list visuals as I can, and at this point it’s hard to keep track and keep everything straight!
Click to view full-size
Also – on The Freebie Guy’s visuals, it showed the silver candles I got in numbers 1-4, but as you can see above, 0-9 are all pennied as well; so I also snapped a pic of the front of the candles, illustrated by the top row, and the back of the candles, illustrated by the second row, so you can get the UPCs if you need them. The corresponding UPC for every candle is directly below each one. Again, I apologize if this is old info or available on a different visual, I just want to share anything I can that might help you while you’re out hunting! Happy shopping!
Click to view full-size
Did you score anything during this massive penny weekend? Let me know below!
Posted in Dollar General, Penny Items | 2 Comments »
February 4th, 2025
Today I’m sharing my Dollar General Haul, plus info for 3 new penny items I found that I haven’t seen listed elsewhere – read on to see my whole shopping trip or click here to jump to the images of the new penny items!
It’s been a long dry spell for me as far as coupons and deals are concerned, because the coupons on offer recently just haven’t been the same as back in the glory days. However, I’ve noticed that coupon deals have been picking up lately, and it’s been exciting to start doing hauls again! This morning, I scored a deal that reminded me of hauls I did during the early days of this blog: I picked up 44 items from Dollar General, worth approximately $146.66, for just .43 cents! That would be a great deal any time, but that’s an extraordinary deal for 2025!
 My receipts shown in the DG app – I did 2 transactions, because I found a few more items on my way out and got back in line before I left! I got one item for free with a coupon, and the rest were clearance items priced at 1 cent each. If you’re unfamiliar, Dollar General marks some clearance items down to a penny; I just learned about this recently through a video from Coupon Daddy, who was showing a penny haul and recommended the fabulous resource Kristie’s Connections. To learn more, check out Kristie’s “How To Penny Shop Dollar General” page and bookmark her site and YouTube channel, as this will be your go-to resource for finding penny deals! Last night and early this morning, I watched this video and this video from her channel about today’s penny deals, and with this list in hand, went in to my DG first thing this morning and hit the jackpot! I’m brand new to penny shopping, and this was a fabulous way to get started!
 Click the image to see my haul full size! So here’s the breakdown of what I got – the first item on the list was free after coupon, and each item after that was one penny. I’ve listed the full retail price for each penny item, just to give you an idea of what an amazing deal this was; since these are clearance items, it didn’t say what the original price was on the receipt, so what I did was look up the price of each item online in order to get an approximate retail value.
1 Air Wick Warmer – regularly $4, free after using the $4 off coupon in the DG app
4 bags of Ghirardelli chocolate – regularly $5
1 Fisher-Price Poppity Pop Hipppo – regularly $21.79
1 Fisher-Price Poppity Pop Turtle – regularly $7.88
1 Kiddy Dough Mini Dough Factory – regularly $7
1 Nerf gun – regularly $18.99
3 Storm Squad Blasters – regularly $12 each
16 fuzzy creature keychains – regularly $1 each
5 sparkly bird pens – regularly $1 each
10 Christmas 6 Color Pens – regularly $1 each
So my total from both transactions came to .43 cents for approximately $146.66 worth of items!!!
And, just in case anyone is wondering why I need 16 big-eyed, fuzzy keychains: The only products I am keeping for myself from this haul are pens and chocolate. The rest will be either gifted or donated – I have a little bag set aside to donate to a local classroom, gifts picked out for my nieces and nephews, and products being saved for other future gifting as well as this year’s Christmas toy drives. Early, I know, but I collect things year-round as I find sales! I only mention this because sometimes when people see a photo with a ton of items/multiples of the same product, it can be perceived as overconsumption or hoarding, and I see that kind of question come up a lot. So don’t worry, because nothing’s going to waste here and everything will be shared widely and enjoyed! 
3 New Dollar General Penny Deals: The products are listed below, followed by a closeup photo of the item and a photo of the UPC number – you can click on all of these images to view them full size.
None of my penny deals today would have been possible without Kristie’s Connections, so huge thank you to her! One of the things she mentioned in her video this morning was that she expects that a lot of other clearance toys may be marked down to a penny also, and she recommended scanning all of the clearance toys at your local store by using your phone and the DG app to check the price. I did just that, and thanks to that tip I ended up discovering 3 new products that were also a penny!! I did not see these anywhere on Kristie’s list or on any other coupon creator content, so I wanted to share them here in case you guys can find them at your stores and snag a deal too!! If anyone has listed these already and I just missed it, please let me know, and I’ll update this and add their blog/social handles to this post! The first item I’m sharing is a brand/product I didn’t see anywhere on today’s list, and the second two are new variations of products from the list, i.e. separate items from the same product line with different UPCs.
Product #1 – Storm Squad Blaster:
Product #2 – Kiddy Dough Mini Dough Factory:
Product #3 – Fisher-Price Poppity Pop Turtle:
Readers: Did YOU score any penny deals today? Did you find any new penny deals you want to share with us? Tell us in the comments below!
Posted in Dollar General, Haul of Fame, Penny Items | No Comments »
January 31st, 2018
This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.
When I was in my 20s, I worked part-time in retail management as a way to build up savings as I launched my own business. I’ve always had a penchant for dying my hair all kinds of colors, but since my workplace had a dress code requirement of natural hair colors only, I had to take a break from the bright pinks and blues for a while. Then one day, it occurred to me that perhaps a wig might be an option. What if I bought a wig that was a natural color, like brown, and then I could dye my hair whatever color I wanted? Genius!
But then, I started looking at wigs and realized just how expensive they can be – easily running over $100+. I looked around to see if there were any more affordable options, and ended up getting a $20 wig from an auction site. My clever plan worked, and I was able to go to work with brown hair while concealing my real, fire engine red hair underneath!
 Hard at work That was over 10 years ago, and there are way better options available today than just buying a random cheap wig! I was recently introduced to Divatress, an online wig retailer that specializes in remy hair, wigs, weaves, ponytails, accessories and more. They have a great variety of wigs in beautiful colors for as low as $14.95 with free shipping over $49 in the continental US. I work for myself these days, so I can have whatever hair color I like, but I still have fun wearing wigs from time to time so I’ll definitely be looking to Divatress the next time I need to pick one up!
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January 29th, 2018
Sponsored post.
Driving is a big expense, and one that’s hard to avoid. However, there are some ways to reduce the cost of having a vehicle – today, I’m going to share three things that I have done personally to cut costs on driving:
1. Buying a Car:
Buying a vehicle is a big expense, so I have personally always opted to buy used. This option is not for everyone, but it’s worked very well for me. The key here is to do extensive research on the type of car you want to buy, and when you’re looking at a listing, check through everything thoroughly: What is the vehicle’s mileage? Does it have any known problems? What issues does this model generally end up with over time? Buying a lemon that requires tons of repairs will not only negate any potential savings from buying used, but even worse, can pose a safety hazard; so it’s crucial to know exactly what you’re getting into. I would recommend talking to car-savvy friends and doing online research on a site such as Cars.com, which provides information and videos on popular vehicles so that you can begin your research, as well as listing cars for sale in your area. Knowledge is power, so read everything you can find and weigh up if buying used might be a good option for you.
2. Auto Insurance:
Jai and I go through an insurance agent to get the lowest possible rate on our auto insurance, while maintaining a good level of coverage. I’ve personally found that using an agent gets me better rates than calling insurance companies directly to compare, although I’m sure this varies. If you’re also a homeowner, there may be a discount for bundling your home and auto policies, but not always – for us, it’s actually cheaper to keep both policies separate! We also keep our policy affordable by having a good driving record; driving safely is its own reward, but it also has the side effect of lower insurance rates.
Finally, my last tip is something no one can control: Aging! Being over 25 gives both of us a better discount on our policy. I guess we can take that as cold comfort as we get older?
3. Gas & Carpooling:
Currently, Jai and I are a one-vehicle household. I work from a home office the majority of the time, so there simply isn’t a need for us to have two cars, since we can coordinate our schedules for when either of us may need the car. This would be difficult for most people, but you can consider if there may be opportunities to carpool or reduce your driving time by walking or taking public transportation; this is not always feasible, especially if you live in a rural area, but it’s something to look at as a way to cut down on maintenance and gas costs.
 2008, the golden year of coupons! You can also take advantage of rewards programs to save money on gas at many grocery stores. When I started this blog 10 years ago, I wrote a post about an epic deal we got on gas at Safeway when I bundled my gas rewards where we ended up filling up my father-in-law’s large truck, and then siphoning off some of the gas into mine and Jai’s cars at the time. Yes, you have to be crazy committed to get that kind of deal, but hey, we did get 32 gallons of gas for $48.25! Extreme couponing aside, I still take advantage of gas rewards at places such as Safeway and Fred Meyer; I also find that having a Costco membership is a good way to access lower gas prices.
Do you have any tips I missed for saving money on your automobile?
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May 3rd, 2017
This is a partnered post.
I’ve been couponing for eons now, and after a certain point, you think you’ve seen it all. So I’m always pleased when I discover a new and unexpected way to save money, which is exactly what happened this week. I’ve been using Groupon for years, including their more recent addition of Groupon Coupons, a database of over 77,000 promo codes for online retailers. I check for coupon codes every time I make an online purchase, but it’s never really occurred to me to look for coupons when I make a purchase on eBay. I’ve been shopping with them since the late 1990s and have seen maybe one or two coupons in that entire time, so I always just assumed they were a rarity. So imagine my pleasant surprise to discover that they have an entire page of eBay promo codes on Groupon Coupons! Current coupons include:
- Promo code for 20% a purchase of $25 across most categories (Specifies “Fashion and jewelry to home decor and more”), valid for two uses per customer. This offer ends tomorrow, 05/04/17 so hurry and use this if you have any eBay purchases planned!
- Promo code for 20% off musical instruments – some exclusions may apply, must be a purchase of $25 or more. This coupon also expires on 05/04/17.
Click here to snag these and other eBay promo codes. I’m pretty happy to find this new way to increase my savings on eBay – I’ll be making a few purchases on there this summer as I prepare for my August wedding, so now I know to check Groupon Coupons first! I guess you can teach an old dog new coupon tricks, after all.
Have you discovered any creative new ways to save money recently? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Posted in Articles, Online deals | 5 Comments »
May 3rd, 2017
Click here to sign up for a free coupon for o.b. Original Super tampons or a free 40-count sample. I’m not clear on which one you actually get (maybe they send out the coupons when they run out of physical samples?), but you’ll get something free regardless. Thanks, Money Saving Mom!
Posted in Free coupons | No Comments »
July 28th, 2015
This is a partnered post.
I’ve been talking about Groupon for a good five years now – wow! Time flies when you’re saving money! Of course, Groupon is still going strong with their local voucher deals; and recently, I learned that they have expanded their site and added a new section: Groupon Coupons.
Groupon Coupons works differently from their voucher deals in that you don’t need to purchase a coupon or register for these specific deals. Groupon Coupons is a collection of promo codes and discounts for major online retailers such as Walmart, Target, JCPenny, and many others: At current count, there are 55,000 offers in their database.
To get started, you can check out the “Featured Coupons” on their landing page or browse by store. The deals from each retailer run the gamut from current promo codes for money off or free shipping to listings of current sales and deals. Here’s some current deals that I spotted:
75% off photo books at Walgreens
20% off select merchandise at Macy’s
10% off plus free shipping on $50+ at Forever 21
15% off at Payless Shoes
I always, always check around for extra deals before I complete any online purchase, because duh, I’m Super Coupon Girl! It only takes a minute or two and can save you some cash before you buy something you have to get anyway. I’m always on the lookout for new resources for coupon codes, so it’ll be interesting to see how Groupon Coupons will evolve!
Have you used Groupon Coupons yet?
Posted in Online deals | 8 Comments »
May 16th, 2014
Gift bags, gift cards and meal provided by Natural Grocers.
Earlier this month, Jai and I attended a blogger event from Natural Grocers in Gresham. Their Gresham location just opened in March of this year, so this event was something of a welcoming party to introduce locals to what Natural Grocers has on offer. This was the first time I’d ever stepped foot in one of these stores, so I was interested to see what it would be like.
As you might imagine by the name, Natural Grocers is something of a “Health food” grocery store, carrying nothing but organic produce and naturally raised meats – meaning no hormones, antibiotics, growth promoters, or animal by-products in feed. They also do not carry any products containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils and no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweeteners. They actually gave us a big leaflet of products that they won’t carry and why, which is different for a grocery store! I care about supporting organic/free-range products whenever possible, and while I’m not necessarily a huge health food eater myself, I appreciate that many people are so it’s nice for them to have options for what they want to buy.
With their emphasis on food and health, they also have a Nutritional Health Coach in each of their stores who teaches classes in the store and community and provides free one-on-one nutritional coaching sessions; Gresham’s Nutritional Health Coach, Cathy Cooke, was on hand to talk to us during the event. Natural Grocers are big on the paleo diet, so they served us a brunch of paleo foods. I don’t follow this diet myself, but I did enjoy the food they served and will be sharing their recipes on my cooking blog next week for anyone who’d like to try them!
One thing that stood out to me during their presentation is that they made a point of telling us that they offer a living wage for employees – I thought that was a bold, unusual statement to hear from a company and I liked it! They emphasized their practice of hiring full time employees so that they can receive health insurance and other benefits. Also, Natural Grocers employees receive discounts along with “Vitamin Bucks”, a .75 cent voucher per every hour worked on top of pay which they can use towards purchasing items at the store. Sounds like a good job for a couponer!
Which brings us to the part you’re all wondering about: How are the prices? Jai and I each received gift bags full of product samples along with gift cards, so that we could go shopping after the event. This is what I picked up:
1 tube of lip balm: .75 cents
1 tube of toothpaste: $3.95
32 oz bottle of body lotion: Regularly $9.99, on sale for $6.99
12 pack of recycled bath tissue: Regularly $4.99, on sale for $4.29
1 bottle of all-purpose cleaner: $3.95
Total: $19.93
We had 7 cents left on our gift cards, so I gave it to the next person in line so they could save a few cents, too. From what I observed looking around the store, it certainly seems like the best pricing I’ve seen for these type of products; the recycled toilet paper was actually a lower price than what I often see some of the regular toilet paper going for in our local Seaside stores. These certainly aren’t dollar store prices, but they’re also specialized products, so if you regularly buy these brands and go out of your way to get things like organic produce, I think this store would be a good bet because the pricing is the most competitive that I have personally seen for this type of stuff. Keep in mind that we have no chain health food grocery stores here in Seaside, so I haven’t done a ton of comparison shopping in this arena, but I have certainly visited other stores in this genre while traveling and the ones I’ve seen have been pricier. I was pretty impressed that they had small “Filler items” under a dollar, since I naturally wanted to get every bit of value out of our gift cards.
If you’re in the Gresham area, you can stop by Natural Grocers at 407 NW Burnside Road, Gresham, OR 97030 (Right across the street from Kmart). They have some fun raffle boxes at the front of this store this month to celebrate their recent opening, so check it out, have a look at their prices and selection and let me know what you think!
Do you have a Natural Grocers in your area? Have you shopped at one before? What did you think?
Posted in Natural Grocers | 27 Comments »
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