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

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

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

My charitable grocery donations for the month of November were a bit higher. I bought $77.03 worth of items for an out of pocket expense of just $9.60. This does not include four diabetes monitors I made money on. The monitors are worth $260 and after I receive my rebates I will have made $80 on them. Here’s what I was able to donate for the month of November:

4 Tubs of Frosting

3 Cans of Soup

9 Boxes of Instant Potatoes

5 Boxes of Pasta

2 Bottles of Glass Cleaner

2 Jars of Peanut Butter

5 Cans of Tomato Sauce

1 Jar of Applesauce

1 Box of Brownie Mix

1 Bottle of Mean Green Cleaner

1 Bag of Ricola Cough Drops

2 Holiday Pencils

1 Container of Baking Powder

6 Cans of Vegetables

1 Muffin Mix

4 Cans of Gravy

1 Bag of Cat Treats

3 Boxes of Rice

1 Stick of Deodorant

As always, I do not share my charitable donations to boast. I share them so that others will see how couponing can be used to help others. My church is currently collecting food for Miracle Hill, a shelter in my area so all of my food last month went to them.

Posted under Charitable Giving

Even though I may have thought of myself as a Bargain Hunting Expert it feels good to have someone else call me that. I was interviewed for an article with Digital Trends, a technology news site with 50 million unique views a month. Reporter Nick Mokey asked me questions about how to find great bargains in retail stores– especially when it comes to gadgets and tech items. Take a look at the article and let me know what you think!

And since I am now officially a bargain hunting expert, consider coming to my free coupon class on Monday, November 16 from 7-8pm at LifePoint Church in Greenville. LifePoint is located at 25 Woods Lake in the Green Gate Office Park in unit 8. It’s something that God laid on my heart a while ago as a way to help others give more, help more, and, of course, do more with their money! I’m really excited about this opportunity to encourage and teach others about something I’ve got a passion for. It’s hard to believe that you can serve God with coupons, but you really can! So come to the one hour class and you’ll leave feeling that grocery shopping is not a chore– it’s an opportunity to bless others.

Posted under Church, News, coupons

We’re beginning an attic renovation that will turn our dirty, dusty space into a lovely, spacious master suite complete with a big walk-in closet and a fresh full bath. We’ve hired a crew to come in and suck out the old insulation, but we had to get rid of some garbage before their arrival. Last night we tackled this undesirable project and started pulling old wood, junk and debris from our rafters.

My husband handed me what I thought was ancient linoleum flooring but when I looked closer I realized it was an old newspaper printing block. As far as I can tell, back in the day they would have put ink on this, rolling it across newsprint to create the paper. This issue of the Greenville News dated back to November 24, 1939.

I was particularly interested in the grocery ads where you could buy two loaves of bread for $.15, three pounds of coffee for $.39 and a bar of soap for a nickel. In just a couple of weeks this will be 70-years-old. We found a couple dozen of these newspaper printing blocks. If you know anything about them please let me know! I’d love to know more about this piece of history we uncovered in our attic.

Posted under Home

I braved a rainy, chilly day to score some free food at Earth Fare today. Earth Fare wants to makeover your pantry and  think about what you’re really eating. So if you bring in peanut butter, jelly, cereal, soda, or salad dressing from your pantry with hydrogenated vegetable oils listed in the ingredients they’ll give you the Earth Fare organic version for free. Create an account and print off a coupon to take into the store. The items you bring in don’t have to be new– I brought in peanut butter that was almost gone and expired salad dressing. I got to pick the salad dressing ($2.19) and peanut butter ($4.49) I wanted in exchange and it was completely free. I would have brought in more items to swap out but apparently we don’t eat much food containing hydrogenated vegetable oils. Not a bad deal and definitely worth getting a little wet in the rain.

Posted under Freebies, Good Deals

Kraft Mac and Cheese was a childhood staple in my family and I’m a little embarassed to say I still enjoy it once in a while for lunch. Check out Kraft’s website for the Share a Little Comfort campaign. Just by clicking on a link you can donate a box of Mac and Cheese to Feeding America. They’re trying to get to a million boxes. While you’re at it, print off a couple of coupons. I used the “Buy 3 Get 1 Free” coupon this week at Publix. Mac and Cheese is on sale there, buy 1 get 1 free which means I got four boxes for about $.40 each. That’s not a bad price for a lunch. Plus I helped feed someone else.

Posted under Charitable Giving, Good Deals, coupons

I hit up Target today and got a great deal on Kashi cereal. It’s on sale for $2.66 a box, regularly $3.49. I brought two Target coupons that give you a free box of cereal when you buy Kashi cereal. I stacked that with two manufacturer coupons that take $1.50 off each box. That brought my total for four boxes down to $2.32. Regular price that would have cost $13.96. Our cereal shelf is officially full.

Posted under Good Deals, coupons

Competitor coupons can be a great way to save big bucks on just about anything. Did you know that Lowe’s and Home Depot accept competitor coupons? You can use Lowe’s coupons at Home Depot and Home Depot coupons at Lowe’s. But it gets even better. You can also use True Value coupons at either store. I’ve used this True Value coupon twice already and plan to keep using it until it expires at the end of July. It takes $5 off a $25 purchase. My husband and I are always running to the hardware store for something, so these will get used.

Another coupon to print off is from Save a Lot. I’m so happy that I came across IHeartPublix.com where this deal was mentioned. Starting July 1, Save a Lot is giving members of their Smart Shopper Club a printable coupon that will take $5 off a purchase of $20 or more. I checked and there is a Save a Lot in my community which means I can take this coupon to Publix since they accept competitor coupons. The one I printed off is good until July 13. Happy shopping!

Posted under Good Deals, Home, coupons