How Montgomery Does Peelies…

Receive these deals & more delivered directly to your e-mail inbox (sign up in the left sidebar) or join EasternShoreMom on Facebook for an inside scoop on all the deals! New to couponing? Read the Couponing Beginners Guide to see everything you need to know to get started saving your family tons of money!

With the peelie coupon controversy (whether or not it is right to peel the peelie from the product without purchasing it) down here in the Mobile region it is interesting how an ESM reader, Sybil, found their peelies at her Publix. Instead of putting them on the product, they just hang the peelies up still on the roll for people to peel off instead of having to purchase the product to get the peelie coupon. Interesting, huh!

Happy Monday Morning!

Good morning y’all! Here are some great things going on today and some things you can do to help your Monday along and start your week off right!

• Monday Money Maker: Swagbucks! If you have not signed up for Swagbucks you are missing out. Just by searching you can earn 50, 100, 500 Swagbucks that you can purchase gifts & gift cards with. I am on a mission, as well as other bloggers, to pay for my Christmas presents with Swagbucks along. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP WITH EASTERNSHOREMOM!
• Moneyless Monday: Moneyless Monday is a series that I am starting where I am making a challenge to myself and you all to not spend any money one day a week. Click HERE to find out more.
• There are LOTS of coupon classes scheduled and available for registration. A couple we only have a few seats left so be sure to sign up now. Click HERE for the ESM Events Calendar to view the classes by date.

Walgreens Ad Deals 3/14

Go HERE to view this week’s Walgreens ad online. Check out the ESM Coupon Help Page for assistance with the wording and the layout of the matchups.

Have questions about couponing at Walgreens? Visit the new Walgreens Couponing 101 Page for tips, tricks, and the official Walgreens coupon policy directly from their corporate office.

NEW COUPON BOOKLETS

• Look for the NEW March Walgreens Clipless Coupon Book.
• Look for a white piece of paper, stapled together, full of Walgreens coupons. It looks copied but this is legitimate and from Walgreens.

Does the weekly matchups look different? Check out the Everday Savings Manual Post for why they have changed.

Colgate Toothpaste $3.99
- $1 PRINTABLE
OR
- $1 PRINTABLE
OR
- $1 3/7 SmartSource
+ Earn $3.99 Register Rewards
= FREE

Excedrin $3.99
- $2 PRINTABLE
&
- $2 March Coupon Booklet (Menstral)
= FREE

Hawaiian Tropic Suncare $6.99
- $1 PRINTABLE
+ Earn $5 in RR’s wyb $15 or $8 wyb $20

Soft Scrub Products $2.99
- B1G1 PRINTABLE
OR
- $1.50 PRINTABLE
= $1.50/2

For more fantastic Walgreens matchups and deal scenerios visit Common Sense with Money.

Remember: Register Rewards are good for your next purchase. You can split your transactions and use them to pay on the following transaction. However, if you use RR’s & coupons, you must have the same amount of items or more than you have coupons. This is when filler items come into play (FREE items with no coupons but earn RR’s i.e. Chapstick this week, low price items like candy, milk or other must-haves).

The Fairhope Publix store also takes Register Rewards. They take $ off of your final total bill at Publix- like cash!

Thinking about stealing a Sunday paper?

–Walking up to the paper vending machine outside your local gas station or grocery store you put in your $2.00 in change and the door opens. Suddenly, all of those paper are sitting there and you feel an urge that says “Well, why can’t I take more than one?”–

Why can’t you take more than one? BECAUSE IT IS ILLEGAL! But not only that, someone is having to pay for that paper you are stealing. I spoke to a girl a few weeks back who throws a paper route. She has been throwing papers for a while so I figured she would have the answers to my questions about newspapers. In my area, there has recently been a huge problem with people stealing Sunday papers for the coupons. I wanted to know if it really was a big deal if you take more than one for the news stand. Here is the answer she gave me:

Who stocks those machines? While it might look like the paper stocks the machines themselves, actually individuals stock the machines. Individuals that purchase the papers then stock the machines. The papers you purchase out of the paper machines are already paid for by the person that stocks them, you are just paying them back. Therefore, when you pay $2 and grab 3 papers, the person stocking the machine loses money from their pocket.

Have you ever purchased a paper to get home and realize their are no coupon inserts? This is happening more and more lately and believe it or not it is not all the paper company’s fault. People have been stealing the inserts out of the papers in the grocery stores and machine so they don’t have to purchase papers. THIS IS JUST AS BAD AS STEALING PAPERS. Be sure to check your papers before you purchase them to be sure they have the inserts and if you do fall victim to this be sure to call your local paper office and ask for replacement inserts.

Don’t Forget: Spring Forward!

Don’t forget to set those clocks ahead an hour- it is time for Sring Forward again! Anyone else feel like this year is just flying by, please don’t make me lose another hour!?

Baldwin County Living Article: Coupon Queens featuring ESM!

Have you seen this season’s issue of Baldwin County Living Magazine? Inside it features a great article on couponing which tells the story of EasternShoreMom(Me), The Bargain Buggy (Shannon), & Couponing Makes Cents (Elizabeth)- three local couponers and bloggers.

Click HERE to find a location near you that has these magazines on the stands. Also, you can subscribe to the magazine HERE and have it delivered to your home for a small charge. I am about to get my subscription now, these things have been flying off the stands at all of the drop locations, I luckily found just 1 today! It is truly a GREAT magazine full of tons of information for locals. Definetely is a local must read.

A BIG thanks to Kim, Kirby, and all of the staff at Baldwin County Living for the excellent article and spotlight. They do a tremendous job on the magazine and a lot of hard work is put into each piece they write. Thanks Girls!

ESM Matchup Announcement

I am so excited to announce what came to me in a dream last night. Yep, that is right, I even DREAM about the blog! In fact I have to keep a piece of paper on my nightstand so when I wake up in the middle of the night I can write it down. I guess I just have so many things running through my head that sometimes they come out in the middle of the night!

Anyways, back to my idea. As you all know, on EasternShoreMom, and many other deal blogs, “matchups” (where we take the store ad and match it with the coupons) is a big help for those of you reading & couponing. I am not sure if I have ever said out loud what I am about to say but I am just going to throw it out there….. I LOATHE putting together matchups. HA! For good reason though, they are a lot of work. Kuddos to the frugal sites out there that crank them out like nobody’s business but for some reason they take me a lot of time. While they are very tedious, they are a very good tool. Not just for you but for me as well. I find that if I miss putting together the matchups for the week I have no clue what is on sale or what I am buying when I go shopping. Most of the time I skip shopping that week because I haven’t put together matchups. I told y’all there were some things rearranging in my life and those things rely on me using my life skill, couponing, to save my family money. Before it was something that I enjoyed doing and it helped out a lot with my savings but now I have shrunk my grocery budget tremendously so there cannot be a week that I slip.

OK, let’s recap: I dislike putting together the “matchups”, matchups are a great tool, couponing is a life skill that has become a must in my life right now, therefore  matchups are a must. Got it- ok here we go!

I have come up with (what I think) is a GREAT idea for a unique and funky twist on matchups. I think that this will make it a lot more fun for me and hopefully an easier and creative experience for you guys. Presenting….

Aubrey’s Everyday Savings Manual

Inside the manual you will find:

• Weekly I am going to put out the matchups, however instead of  listing all of the great deals and “ok” deals I am going to list EXACTLY what I am buying that week. Down to the Coke I typically buy because I have a small addiction (ok, so I am coke-dependent) to CocaCola products, you will know everything on my receipt.  The stores included will be CVS, Publix, Rite Aid, Walgreens, & Winn Dixie.
• The really really exciting new feature is the Everyday Savings Manual that I am putting together using all of the items I purchase (and a little help from some of my frugal buddies). I am going to make a dowloadable spreadsheet with tons of items (in ABC order) and the average price per item or an estimate of what is a good price based on sale ads.

The Everday Savings Manual is something that has been on a long list of “I really want” items for myself. I search and I have never found one so the only thing to do is create one myself! I am always need to know if $.65 for Country Crock butter is really the best price or if the average price I pay is lower. I think this will help all around, when purchasing things with coupons and when purchasing things without. I am excited to know if y’all are going to use this and/or think this is a good idea!

Ok, so here I go. I am off to put together my shopping list for Publix and Winn Dixie this week so stay tuned because I will be posting them in a little while. In the mean time, tell me what you think!

Introducing “Moneyless Monday”

What if for just one day a week you made a concious effort to stop swiping that card or hold on to that cash? A release from the stress of paying bills and how much money is being spent that day, how great of a day would that be?

Introducing a new series on EasternShoreMom called Moneyless Monday. I am challenging y’all along with myself to have one day a week where I don’t spend any money at.all!

I am so excited about this new series. It is going to be a challenge for me as well as I am sure for some of you all. As a working mother, student, etc. it is so easy to stop by the drive through or forget to get gas or run by the 711 for a Coke and all of those charges add up to be one LARGE bill for just a Monday! Monday’s are the worst days for me, still in weekend mode and there is always so much to do on a Monday that there never seems to be enough time in that day. By the time Monday has come and gone I am already behind and it sets the tone for the rest of the day. So alng with my “Moneyless Monday” challenge I am making a personal effort to organize my Mondays a little better so they will go smoothly. We will see how it goes.

Some questions I have received about “Moneyless Monday” pertain to the loss of jobs because I am not spending money on Mondays. Well, one might argue that because I am slimming down my budget I am putting people out of work or because I am buying things on sale instead of full price I am putting people out of work. There comes a point where I have to focus on how much I am spending versus stimulating the economy. Also, I will still be purchasing and paying my bills, just not on Mondays!

Here are a couple tips I have come up with to help you survive “Moneyless Monday”

• Over the weekend be sure to schedule payments for bills and get gas in your car so you won’t find yourself on ‘E’ and cheat on MM
• Use FREE meal coupons that you may have for fast food restaurants if you have to get lunch out
• Pack leftovers from weekend meals for lunch and be sure to pack a water bottle or drinks from your fridge
• Be sure to have snacks/drinks for the kids to avoid “I am hungry!” situations (A coworker of mine calls them “snack packs” and she builds a snack baggy out of ziplocs and her child’s favorite snacks. She keeps them at arms reach and some at work for when she picks him up in the afternoon.)
• Instead of spending your lunch break walking around Target (I am speaking to myself) try taking a walk in the streets around your office or bring a book to read

I am so exciting about this- I can’t wait to see how it goes. I am starting a forum topic on the EasternShoreMom Chit Chat Community for Moneyless Monday tips and tricks. Be sure to join me over there and talk about the strides and struggles of Moneyless Monday!

Coach Outlet 20% OFF

I LOVE Coach and even better, I LOVE Coach coupons! I was able to get a great deal on a bag from Coach on Valentine’s day- it was an over $300 bag and I got it 70% OFF with 50% off in store and the 20% off coupon. Yes, I splurged a little with all of that extra savings from  my grocery bills!  That is right, you can combine these coupons with their in store discounts to get extra savings.

CLICK HERE TO GET 20% OFF AT COACH OUTLET THROUGH MARCH 7TH

SWAGBUCKS 2ND BIRTHDAY: Special ESM Exclusive Code

Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday Dear Swagbucks, Happy Birthday to You!

Today is Swagbucks’ 2nd Birthday! Along with a HUGE birthday bash celebration including tons of giveaways, swagcodes beign released on their blog, Facebook, Twitter, & Toolbar also comes some changes for Swagbucks. Before I get into all of that, I have an EXCLUSIVE EasternShoreMom Swagcode for new registrants today to Swagbucks!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR SWAGBUCKS

Once you sign up, enter the exclusive code below on the Swagbucks.com home page to earn 60 SWAGBUCKS!

AUBREYSCODE

That’s right, all you Swagbucks veterans- the code is worth 60 SWAGBUCKS! Wait a minute though and go and check your account, you will see that you Swagbucks total is now multiplied by 10. No, they have not given you all those free Swagbucks so don’t panic and run over the the Swagbucks store to load up on FREE gift cards and such. This is part of the new Swagbucks 3.0. Now instead of the swagbucks being in single digits (1,3,5,etc.) they will be double digits. If you look to the store and see the prices of the gift cards and free swag has also been multiplied by ten.

Get excited though because 3.0 allows us to earn lots more Swagbucks by using MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FEATURE the Swagbucks Search Toolbar. If you have not downloaded the toolbar, click HERE. I am so excited about the new opportunities to earn that I am finding out from them by working with them on their birthday promotions. If you are hoping to earn some mega extra bucks today you have a really good chance.

New to Swagbucks? Here is a little information:

I have been telling you guys about Swagbucks and how easy it is to earn points. I want to help you earn gift cards and prizes through Swagbucks like I am! I know what you are thinking because I did not do Swagbucks at first because of the same thing- there is no way I am going to have the time to remember to do Swagbucks- but they make it super easy by downloading the toolbar for your browser here and then the search is at the top of the page like Google!

What can you buy with Swagbucks? Gift cards to Target, Paypal, Disney Store, Restaurant.com, Amazon, and many more! My goal is to pay for 2010 Christmas presents with Swagbucks alone!

If you don’t have a Swagbucks account, it only takes a few seconds to sign up & you can connect it to your Facebook to show all your friends how many Swagbucks you are earning! Looking for Swagcodes? Swag Bucks has a Facebook page you can join and they put out Swagbucks that will earn you extra points! While you are there, become a fan of ESM on Facebook!

View Older »