February was a great month for charity items– especially baby food! I managed to buy $71.58 worth of items for just $8.81 out of pocket. Most of this went to a local mission, but the baby food items are heading to Haiti. Here’s what I was able to buy:

10 2-packs of organic baby food

2 4-packs of baby food mashups

2 bottles of Glass Plus

2 bottles of mustard

4 boxes of pasta

1 bottle of Lysol

30 jars of Beech Nut baby food

2 packets of Knorr sides

2 Right Guard deodorants

2 packages of floss

Posted under Charitable Giving, Good Deals

Need something to get you through the next few Mondays? How about free coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts? I picked up my free medium coffee this morning. You can choose between hot or iced. You may want to call ahead and make sure your location is participating. But according to company emails it’s happening all day Monday through the rest of March.

Posted under Freebies, Good Deals

Head to Publix for a great deal on dog food. Don’t have a pet? Donate it to your local animal shelter. Purina One is on sale for $5 for a four pound bag. Head to the Publix website and print out store coupons that will take an extra $3 off each bag. That means you’ll pay just $.50 a pound for dog food. There are lots of flavors to choose from so your doggie won’t get bored. I know I’ll be stocking up!

Posted under Good Deals, coupons

I scored a bag full of baby food for pennies at Publix. Beech-Nut Stage 2 baby food is on sale, buy one get one free bringing the price down to just $.26 a jar. But I also used these coupons:

* $2/20 printable

* My husband and I both signed up for the Beech-Nut e-newsletter so we could get $1/3 Beech-Nut coupons. They show up in your inbox after you sign up. We each were able to print two.

The coupons we received for signing up for the e-newsletter actually made this a money-maker, but it was such a good price I wanted to take the opportunity to buy more for charity. So I ended up getting 32 jars for $2.32, which equals about $.07 a jar on baby food that would have cost $16.96 had it not been on sale. That’s a savings of about 84%!

Posted under Charitable Giving, Good Deals, coupons

Free and Cute Magazine Storage

Since I’m a freelance writer I subscribe to a lot of magazines. And I buy quite a few, too. The two magazine holders I had in my office were stuffed to capacity and magazines were starting to pile up. I needed additional storage because I like to have a variety of issues on hand for inspiration or to reference.

I had a large flat rate box from the Post Office sitting around because I had written the wrong address on it. I used a box cutter to cut one end off so that it was a great size for holding magazines upright. Then I painted it with a few coats of chalkboard paint and soon I had a new, free way to store issues of Redbook, one of my faves! Don’t you just love chalkboard paint?

Posted under Freebies, Home

My charity purchases for January were down because for half the month my husband and I committed to not spending any money. We called it the Two-Week No Spending Challenge. But before that I managed to pick up a few great deals to donate to a local shelter. I only bought $11.46 worth of items, but I actually earned $1.10 buying it! Here’s what I got at Publix:

2 Bags of Halls Cough Drops: -$.17 each

1 Pack of Dentek Mint Picks: $0

2 2-Packs of Lightbulbs: -$.55 each

1 Box of Whole Wheat Linguine: $.34

Posted under Charitable Giving, Freebies, Good Deals

FTD Flowers for just $4.99

How does getting a $35 discount on dinner and flowers sound for Valentine’s Day? Follow these simple steps and you’ll be on your way to a cheap date!

1. Head to Ebates.com. If you don’t have an account, create one. It’s simple and easy. Search for “Restaurant.com” and use the Ebates.com link to get to Restaurant.com. This will give you 15% cash back on whatever you buy.

2. Once at Restaurant.com, select a gift certificate for a restaurant you enjoy. Use coupon code “BLOOM” to take 60% off your purchase which means a $10 certificate is just $1.60, plus when you factor in your 15% cash back the price is brought down to $1.36.

3. Look in your inbox. After completing your purchase you will receive a link that will take you to FTD.com. That link will give you a $15 credit on everything on the website. The link is good until the end of March, but you can use it to get flowers for Valentine’s Day. The bouquet to the left is just $4.99, plus there are plenty of others that are $14.99. I also received ANOTHER email for a FREE Restaurant.com $10 certificate of my choice. Now that’s an affordable Valentine’s day!

Posted under Celebrations, Good Deals, Holidays, coupons

Baby Food from Babies "R" Us

Last week I told you how to get free baby food from Babies “R” Us by becoming their fan on Facebook. I was able to get three $5 e-gift certificates through this offer. This weekend I took them in to our local Babies “R” Us and I was able to get a lot of baby food for less than $2. All of this will be sent to Haiti through a donation drive that my church organized. The Gerber two-packs were on sale for $1 each when you buy ten, regularly $1.29 to $1.69. The Revolution Mashups were buy one, get one half off. My total came to $16.73 which meant I only owed $1.73 after my e-gift certificates. Regular price, this baby food would have cost $23.58.

Posted under Uncategorized

This Formula Would Only Cost You $2

My church is currently collecting items to send to Haiti for earthquake relief efforts. A member of my church has an aunt and uncle who run the Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation which has worked for years to end child slavery in Haiti. They are now setting up a clinic and working to keep the children safe after the earthquake destroyed so many buildings and lives. To aid this foundation’s efforts we are collecting items like blankets, non-perishable food, baby food and baby formula. The items can be dropped of at the Christian publishing house Ambassador International from now until February 5. The offices are located at 427 Wade Hampton Blvd. in Greenville. You can stop by Monday through Friday from 9-5 and Saturday from 10-2.

Today only if you become a fan of Babies R Us on Facebook, you’ll receive a free $5 e-gift card that can also be used in the store. The coupon will be sent to your email inbox after you sign up. It’s good until 2/20, but why not go ahead and use it now to pick up some free baby food or discounted formula to send to Haiti? According to what’s available online you’ll be able to score lots of free food or an 8-pack of formula for just $2 after you use your coupon. It won’t cost you much– or anything at all– and you’ll be helping a great cause!

Posted under Charitable Giving, Church, Good Deals, Shop for a Cause, coupons

Total Cost: $0!

My husband and I are a little over halfway complete with our Two-Week No Spending Challenge. Although we spent $10.12 this morning (I needed some cough medicine bad!) that is the only thing we’ve purchased in ten days! On Friday we went on a freebie hunt. It made for a really fun date of seeing what all we could score for free. Here’s a list of what we got:

* 2 Free 2-liters from Bi-Lo using a coupon I got when I completed this survey about my recent visit to Bi-Lo.

* Free movie from Redbox using code “BREAKROOM”

* Free movie from Blockbuster Express using code “GV9TA4″

* Two free Fresco tacos from Taco Bell using printable coupons.

We will finish our challenge as of midnight on Friday night, but we both agree the Two-Week No Spending Challenge has been a great experience!

Posted under Freebies, Home, coupons