Drive on a Race Track

Ever wanted to take a spin around a race track? You can do just that today at the Miller Motor sports Park. Those who bring non-perishable food items to the park Saturday will be allowed to drive three laps, at no cost, around the park's 4 1/2-mile course. You drive your own car behind a pace car. The offer is from 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Go to here to read about this fun "Drive Away Hunger" event Saturday to benefit the Utah Food Bank.
Thanks to She Shops Smart reader for letting us know about this fun Saturday activity!

New Poll- VOTE

Be sure to vote in this week's poll!

Do you use coupons at the self checkout?

P&G Rebate Offer

Cooking Up Early Detection from P&G

Proctor and Gamble are spreading the word of early detection of breast cancer with a great new "Cooking Up" promotion!

Step #1: Purchase $25 in participating products BEFORE tax and coupons in ONE transaction from a participating retailer before 11/20/09. Participating products include: Align, Always, Aussie, Bounce, Bounty, Braun, Camay, Cascade, Charmin, Cheer, Clairol, Cover Girl, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Duracell, Era, Febreze, Fixodent, Gain, Gillette, Gleem, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Hydrience, Iams, Ivory, Joy, Kandoo, Luvs, Max Factor, Metamucil, Mr. Clean, Natural Instincts, Nice & Easy, Olay, Old Spice, Oral B, Pampers, Pantene, Pepto Bismol, Prilosec OTC, Pringles, Puffs, Pur, Safeguard, Scope, Secret, Swiffer, Tampax, Tide, Vicks, and Zest. Participating retailers include Babies R Us, Publix, Target, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart and more. You can call 1-877-733-5849 to find other participating retailers in your area.

Step #2: Write your name, address (no P.O. boxes), phone number, and the name and last 5 digits of the upc for each product on a 3x5 card.

Step #3: Send 3x5 card and your dated store receipt with items circled (photocopies are acceptable) by 11/25/09 to:
P&G Cancer Awareness Promotion
P.O. Box 49221
Strongsville, OH 44149-0221

Step #4: Receive a FREE pink kitchenware set from Good Cook’s Hope line which includes a 10” covered deep saute pan, set of four plastic measuring cups, ribbon timer and high temperature chef spatula (a $40 value) by mail within 10 weeks.

The fine print:
This offer may not be combined with any other offer. No group or organization requests will behonored. Submissions must be mailed in a first class stamped envelope. Use of multiple addresses or P.O. Boxes to obtain additional kitchenware set is fraud and may result in prosecution. Incomplete or illegible requests and invalid addresses as determined by the U.S. Postal Service will not be honored. Not responsible for lost, late, damaged illegible, incomplete or postagedue submissions or mail. Submissions become sole property of P&G and will not be acknowledged or returned. Offer good in the U.S.A. Questions about this offer? Please call the Promotions Helpline at 1-877-733-5849.

Thanks PYP and She Shops Smart Reader Lauran for this find!

I am sure many of you have seen my pink KitchenAid in my a lot for less photos (hey I am the only girl) so I am for sure doing this! I am all about matchy matchy =)

Free Activity with the kids!

Tomorrow at Home Depot stores the FREE November "Kids Workshop" event will be held. The workshops are designed for kids 5-12. The activity starts at 9:00 am.

Click here to go to the Home Depot site for more information.

"Fun Facts about the Kids Workshop

Since 1997, 17.5 million projects have been built at Kids Workshops

More than 1 million children built their first toolbox at The Home Depot.

More than 845,000 birdhouses have been

constructed at Kids Workshops.

75 children per store attend a Kids Workshop on average while

many stores have 200 kids attend regularly. "

fun facts taken from the Home Depot site.

Walmart's Pre Black Friday Deals

Tomorrow morning at 8am, Walmart is having a pre-Black Friday sale. Quantities are limited and there will be no rain checks issued.

Check out what is going to be on sale here.

I have my eye on this
$29.00 Magnavox DVD Player 1080P Up-Conversion, DP170MGX.

While you are there be sure to check out their Turkeys that they have priced at .40 a pound! They are limiting it to two per customer, but that is an AMAZING deal. Thanks to Utah Deal Diva for letting us know about the Turkey deal!

Mega Swag Bucks

A few weeks ago I shared with you about a new way to search the internet called Swagbucks. You get paid in "swag bucks" to search the internet the same way you already search for things. After you earn your swagbucks you can redeem them for gift cards and other prizes from the swag store. You can read my post about swagbucks here for all the details.

As if it was already sweet enough to get rewarded for doing something you are already doing, how about having a MEGA swag buck day!

"Every Friday, Swagbucks gives you a chance to win huge, gargantuan, oodles, tons of....Mega Swag Bucks with your searches. From 3 to 100 Swag Bucks, we give away up to 10,000 Swag Bucks in Mega Bills every Friday!"
Taken from Swag Bucks official blog

So, make sure on Friday's you do some MEGA searching to win MEGA swag bucks! Be sure to check out our Swag Bucks tips here.

If you don't already have Swag Bucks go here to sign up. After you sign up check your e-mail and they will let you start searching!

Check out the SwagBuck store and share with us what you are saving up for!

Taking Your Kids to the Grocery Store

Thank you for everyone who voted in our last poll!

Here are the results.

Do you take your kids to the grocery store when you are using coupons?

57% of you TAKE your kids with you

42% of you DO NOT take your kids with you

It seems to be half and half doesn't it? Shopping with kids can be a great experience or one that makes your never want to take your kids with you. Here are a few tips that will help make shopping with kids easier.

1. Before you go to the store let your kids know where they are going and what you expect from them while you are there.

2. Keep some snacks in your purse or bag just in case they get restless or hungry.

3. Ask you children to help you while you are at the store. Sit down and make a grocery list with them and tell them what they can help you with, pick out 4 apples, or if your children are old enough ask them help you match your coupons to your items. A lot of times we open up the ad and we cut out the pictures of the items we are buying and put them on index cards. I assign index cards for my children and then they each have their items they are in charge of to find when we are at the store.

4. I plan my trips around when I know my children will be the best behaved. If I took them during nap time and they caused a scene that would be all on me.

5. Keep your children close by. To do this I just keep my children engaged and involved in what I am already doing. I talk to them and tell them exactly what I am doing; I am checking the prices, the nutrition facts, or how many are in each box, can you help me?

6. Ask your children questions. I like to turn our shopping trips into a learning experience. I ask my children about the foods we are purchasing. For example; Where do eggs come from? What color apples do you see? Find the small, medium and large bags of sugar.

7. At checkout I have them count the items as they go up on the conveyor belt. If they were older I would have them guess to see what the total might be. Because we are using coupons this would be a great learning experience to show the value of a dollar and how we work hard and there are ways to stretch our dollars =) Let them see the total before and after coupons. Let them know that your work to clip coupons paid off.

Shopping and meal planning is already difficult enough. Add checking out with coupons and restless kids and you have a stressful situation on hand. Make the grocery store a place where you can teach and have fun with your kids . Ask them questions and point things out to them.

Now, we also know that there are weeks that you should NEVER bring children. Especially on weeks when there are sales that you have to count how many items you have or total up your items cost to get the sale prices. If there is a week when I know I will need concentration I leave them behind. Do you have any tips that makes shopping with kids easier?

Meal Planning

This week I am planning my meals around the Smith's list. To read how I plan my meals check out this post. This is a great weekly meal plan, but there are plenty of items to stock up on too.

Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs, Toast and orange juice
Yogurt, Granola bars and milk
cold cereal and fruit cups
Waffles and fresh fruit
Hot coco and German pancakes
Oatmeal and bananas with orange juice

Lunch
Lean Cuisines (everyone pick their own)
Peanut butter and jelly and goldfish crackers
Chili cheese fries
Grilled Cheese with tomato pepperoni soup
Play date with lunchables and fruit
Turkey sandwiches, grapes and Ritz crackers

Dinner
Ribs, steamed vegetables and side salad
Slow cooked pork Roast with carrots and potatoes
Rotisserie Chicken, macaroni salad and rolls
Whatever Wednesday
Bear Creek Potato cheese soup in homemade soup bowls with Saltine Crackers
Pizza Night with salad and bread sticks

Snacks
Veggies and dip with fruit snacks
Deviled eggs and celery sticks
crackers and cheese with raisins
popcorn

Dessert
Cake Bites
Brownies
Carmel apple dips

Sweet Tooth Fairy

Have you heard of the Sweet Tooth Fairy? They sell the most delicious baked goods in Provo! I ordered my sons birthday cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy and everyone ended up eating more than one! If you're ever near Provo be sure to check them out. Here is the info you'll need to visit:

Sweet Tooth Fairy Gourmet Bake Shop

1227 S University Ave Provo, UT 84601

#801-375-3484

www.thesweettoothfairy.com

I wish I could tell you what item to try, but when I go in I always leave with WAY more than one thing and I can never choose my favorite thing. Everything is AMAZING! The owner is super sweet too. Every time I go in, she makes me feel like a friend of hers. If you end up going in be sure to ask her how she started Sweet Tooth Fairy. It is a neat story!

Here is a link for a FREE Double Fudge Cake Bite. One offer per customer and the coupon expires 11.31.09.

Enjoy!

A Lot for Less

This week's A Lot for Less is from She Shops Smart reader Cindy! Cindy was at a class of mine last month and this was her very FIRST time shopping with coupons after my class! I would say she is an A+ student! Way to go Cindy!

"I wanted to share with you photos of my first trip using this coupon system. It was quite an adventure, people were commenting on my cart while I was shopping, it was pretty funny. I really did have super full cart! Then I got to the checkout and I started sweating I was so nervous. I was thinking what if this didn’t work, there is no way I could afford all this, so I had a plan of running out of the store in case it didn’t work."

Well Cindy, it looks like it worked out great for you! Thanks for sharing this with us and showing those newbies out there how easy and successful shopping with coupons can be!

Total: $398

Paid: $154

Saved $244

Bought:
2 6packs of quilted northern toilet paper
2 ALL detergents
2 Snuggle fabric softeners
2 Krusteaz pancake mix
4 Del Monte canned tomatoes
2 Kroger Honey Bear bottles
4 Kroger Gravy Mix packages
2 V8 Fusion Juice
2 Welch’s Juice
8 cans of chili
2 boxes of Swiss miss hot chocolate
3 lbs of gala apples
4 bottles of Langers apple juice
4 boxes of Giradelli brownie mix
2 gallons of skim milk
1 gallon of 2% milk
3 ½ gals of chocolate milk
2 4 packs of dannon yogurt
3 Avocados
2 Dole salad bags
Tbone steak
3 loafs of smiths bread, wheat
4 bags of Ore Ida Fries
3 Stoufers entrees
7 Tony’s pizzas
1 Kroger Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
8 packs of Keebler cookies (my husband and little boy are happy)
7 Chex Mix bags (may be Christmas gifts!)
1 box of Saltine crackers
2 bags of Lays potato chips
1 42 ct. box of fruit snacks
4 lunchables
1 pack of Franks
Pork Loin Chops
2 cans of Campbell's crm of chick
2 cans of Campbell's crm of mushroom
2 boxes of Blue Bonnet butter
1 Tub of I can’t believe it’s not butter
7 Sure Deodorants
2 tubs of cottage cheese
2 tubs of sour cream

Wow, I bet Cindy's food storage looks incredible after a trip like this!

The 10 Item Mega Event Continues

The new Smith's list is up and the 10 Item Mega Event is continuing! In case there was something you wished you would have picked up, you have a second chance! I know there are a couple things on my list to go and get more of. Be sure to check out the list here! There are some new produce and meat items on sale too. Be sure to check out my unadvertised Mega Sale items here in the post I did from last week!

Another.....New Kid on the Block

Albertson's officially made the switch over to Fresh Market. Fresh Market is an Associated Foods Store, but they have their own unique ads each week. This week in my mail I received a one page advertisement with various prices. I wandered over to the store by me to check out the change. I was told that stores have 6 months to make sure all Albertson's logos and signs are switched to the new store logo. They are just going to send out small ads for these first couple weeks and then they will start regular full ads in the coming weeks. They are not expected to have their GRAND opening until closer to January or December. They are not wanting to interfere with holiday shopping.

Right now if you bring in your old Albertson's Preferred Savings card, they will exchange it for a FREE 5lb bag of sugar! Fresh Market is taking pride in keeping the prices on the shelf's as the price when you check out. You will not need to be a preferred member to get the lowest prices.

I am excited to see how their prices compare to the other stores we all like to shop at!

Here are this weeks weekly deals:
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.29/lb
Boneless Pork Loin Roast $1.79/lb
Large Fuji, Gala or Jonagold Apples .59/lb
Mini Carrots 1lb bag .79
Coke products 2liter .79
Home Pride Bread, white or wheat 3 for $5
Western Family Corn, Green Beans or Peas 11-15.25oz cans .48
General Mills Cereal, select varieties $1.88
Gain Detergent 50oz $5.88
Rice or Pasta Roni .88
Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice or Cocktail 3 liter bottle $2.98
Banquet Dinners 5-10.25oz .88
Stouffer’s Family Size 57oz Chicken Enchiladas or 90-96oz Lasagna, $9.88
Chocolate Chip Cookies 13ct Buy one Get one Free
Fried 10pc dark meat or Baked Chicken $4.50
Bounty of Charmin Basics Paper Towels 8 rolls $5.88
Bounty of Charmin Basics Bath Tissue 12 rolls $5.88
Thanks to PYP for typing up this weeks ad!

7 Swag Bucks Tips

Okay, so how is everyone doing with Swag Bucks? Maybe you have 5, 10, or even 40 Swag bucks by now! I just redeemed some of mine for an i-tunes gift card, but I currently have 196 swag bucks in my account. I am convinced to save up enough for airline tickets this time a round. I am going to share with you my tips on how I earn and find Swag Bucks, so right before Christmas you will have enough bucks to redeem for a cool prize!

Tip #1

You have to use Swag Bucks search engine consistently. Before using Swag Bucks I used Google Search habitually. It took me a while to remember to use Swag Bucks search engine, but it has paid off tremendously. A great way to remember to use Swag Bucks is to make Swag Bucks your home page or download the Swag Bucks toolbar. The tool bar is my best friend and is how I earn the majority of my Swag Bucks.

Tip #2
Remember to perform searches! The more searching I do, the more profitable my bucks are. I am earning at least 5 Swag Bucks a day now, but I do at least three searches a day. One in the morning, afternoon and before I go to bed.

Tip #3
If you are making an online purchase, check to see if the store you are buying from is in Swag Bucks Shop and Earn section. For every $5 you spend you earn 1 Swag Buck! When I bought our Halloween costumes online I earned Swag Bucks for it.

Tip #4
Stay up to date with Swag Bucks blog, Face book and other social networks. A lot of times people share the codes they find and other winning tips! Once you download the toolbar I shared with you in Tip #1 you can access all those places from there, so it only takes a second to see what codes are out there! Codes are free Swag Bucks just waiting to be earned so always be on the lookout for Swag Codes!

Tip #5
Trade in your old cell phones. I have to admit I haven't done this yet, but I just went to check and I had 6, yes 6 old cell phones laying around our house. I checked to see how many Swag Bucks each one was and I have a total of up to 112 Swag Bucks worth of old phones. I am going to send them in this week and I will let you know how many points I get for each one. The best part is, that Swag Bucks even pays for the shipping!

Tip #6
Friday's are Mega Swag Bucks day, so be sure to do some extra searching. We will do a reminder post each week, so you don't miss out!

Tip #7 Tell your friends about Swag Bucks! When a friend signs up under you, you make their first 100 Swag Bucks as well!

The best advice we can give is to be consistent and make Swag Bucks your new search tool. You are already using an online search tool, so you mine as well be using one that pays you for what you are already doing! Stick with it, I promise you it will pay off. It seems slow when you first start off, but eventually you'll have an account full of Swag Bucks! Good Luck and let us know how many Swag Bucks you start earning! Have no idea what Swag Bucks is? Be sure to check out our post here for how to get started.

Free Red Box Code

Today is the first Monday of the month, so you know what that means..... FREE Redbox Monday! Today's FREE code is

TEGJ6FDHappy Movie Watching!

Check it Out

Did anyone catch my name in the Salt Lake Tribune yesterday? Lesley from the Salt Lake Tribune interviewed me for an article about early door buster deals for Christmas shopping. If you didn't see it or you don't get the Salt Lake Tribune be sure to check out the article here. I shared with Lesley about how I am shopping using coupons and waiting for the best deals. I told her how I was looking to buy the Leapster Tag Junior reading system for my 2 year old and how I saw it on sale for $40, but thought that was too expensive so I left it behind. Sure enough I opened the ads yesterday and I saw it at Target for only $28! It paid off to wait and see if the cost would go lower! I also shared with her how I was able to get the Busy Ball popper and Walk n Go Wagon for only $5.99 for my one year old for Christmas. I must say shopping with coupons and waiting for the best deals has been paying off for my family!

Coupons in Sundays Paper

In my Daily Herald I received:

1 SS insert

1 RP insert

1 P&G insert

In my Parade Magazine I also found a coupon for .75/1 Surf Laundry Detergent.

The SLT/DMN paper had:

1 SS insert

1 P&G insert

To start your newspaper coupons right away, learn about the awesome newspaper deal we can get you here.

*If you ordered the paper and you didn't receive your paper or didn't get the correct number of papers please call the newspaper company first and let them know. Their numbers are on the left side of the blog. Occasionally if you are new to a route your carrier may miss your home. The newspaper companies are super easy to work with and will make sure your papers are delivered.

Online Coupons Reset

It is the first of the month, so you know what that means! The online coupons, Group A-Group C have reset. Some of my favorites were $1/2 Pillsbury Refrigerated Dough, $1/1 Nature Valley Nut Clusters, $1/2lbs of any cheese, $1/1 Corn Flakes and the toy coupons reset! Here are some tips about online or Internet printable coupons:

The IPS

• Manufactures set limits on the amounts of coupons printed. When the limit is reached they pull their coupons off. That means occasionally you will go the print a coupon and it will be gone unless you printed it off at the beginning.


• This is even more important toward the end of a month. Coupons group A-C are reset at the first of the month, so on the FIRST, when the coupons reset, they start out at zero.


• Sometimes manufactures will reset their coupons after the limit is reached, but don't count on it. Just consider yourself lucky if they do.


• I know some people are having problems with IPS. I wish I could help out in that area, but I am not tech savvy enough. I have heard that switching browsers can help. Example: On Internet Explorer and they won't print try Fire Fox or vice virsa. Another great resource is pinching your pennies. They have an entire forum to troubleshooting your IPS.

Some questions to commonly asked IP questions answered:

• Where are online coupons located? All over! You can see over the the left hand side of this there are online coupons, group A-Singles . You can also find coupons on manufactures websites, you can receive them via-email and sometimes websites will give them to you after you join their mailing lists or take a survey for them. When the Grocery Smarts lists are up you will see links that take you to online coupons. The best part about those lists are that if there are coupons online, they are on the lists. You will never have to search for coupons for items on the list yourself! Grocery Smarts lists do all the work for you.
  
• "Are IP'S worth it? It seems like a lot of paper and ink to be wasting." My answer is it depends. I think after you have a couple months worth of newspaper coupons its hit and miss. I only print ones of that make things close to FREE or if it is something I really like or know I will need. You'll never catch me printing of cereal coupons or toothpaste coupons. That is because I have DOZENS of them from my newspaper.


• Now, if you are staring out and only have a few coupons from the paper on the list then I definitely recommend using IPS to maximize your savings. My sister in law started out and only had a weeks worth of coupons, but wanted to start saving right away, so she maximized her coupons by using IPS. She told me her husband was frustrated by all the paper in ink she was using, but after she shopped she had saved over $50. That paper and ink WAY over paid for itself. IP'S are a great way of subsidizing newspaper coupons, but not a great substitute! Newspaper coupons will benefit you way more in the the long end.


• "How long do IP'S last". IPS have expiration dates on them the same way other coupons do. Most times they expire WAY faster than the ones in the paper. That's why I only print the ones off from the list that week. Otherwise they tend to expire before I have a chance to use them.


• "Can we print them off in black and white?" It depends on your store. Some stores will take black and white, some will not. Be sure to ask if you are planning on trying black and white. There reason behind that is they are trying to protect themselves from illegal photocopied coupons.


• Do all stores take IP's and the answer is no. Not all stores do take IPS. I do know that Albertsons and Smiths DO and as of August first Associated Foods started accepting IP's again. My suggestion with other stores is call ahead and ask if you are planning on using them on your shopping trip.

Also don't forget the two IP's per HOUSEHOLD rule! Have fun printing!