$.07 Prints at Snapfish!!!

Ok, I couldn't hold off on some of these deals until after the New Year. Christmas has been wonderful, full of adventures and laughter (my son got double-ear infections, poor kid) and my husband got a nasty spider bite. But we have been having a great time with family members we don't get to see often!

So to capture many of the holiday memories, check out this deal: Snapfish is offering 99 prints from $.99 (plus $5.89 shipping) when you use the promo code "2011PENNY". That comes out to be $.07 per print. You have to order exactly 99 to get the deal (and it is only valid for mail-order purchases, not store pick-up). This is a great time of year to get this deal!

This deal is good through January 9th, 2011!

Celebrating Christmas...

Just in case anyone is stopping by my blog, I wanted to let y'all know that starting today (Dec. 22nd) I will be off-line until January 1st, spending time with family and celebrating Christmas. I will be back after that, helping hunt down coupons, bargains, and freebies on our everyday life stuff like groceries, toiletries, and household supplies.

In the midst of a busy season, finding the perfect gifts, the best deals, etc... I continue to think about the fact that the entire reason we even have "Christmas" is to set aside a day out of the year to celebrate one of the most selfless acts in human history: our very personal God sending His Son, Jesus, to be born on this earth as a precious little baby boy, so that all people could have a personal relationship with God. Yet we've turned it into one of the most selfish days of our year.

The verse that keeps coming to my mind the last few weeks is the beginning of James 3:17- "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..." I look around me, and can't help but think of all the good gifts God has given me this year: my incredible husband who supports me, challenges me, and loves me through the ups and downs of life, my healthy little boy who brings me so many smiles, a home that keeps me warm, money to pay the bills every month, healthy food on our table, friends to laugh & cry with, healing with various health issues, and so much more! It's not even Christmas Day yet, but I have been receiving gifts all year long from a heavenly Father who loves all of us so much.

The best gifts of all really can't be wrapped and put under a Christmas tree, can they?

Beautiful Downloadable Patterns for FREE...

Not everyone loves to sew, but I do. "Homespun-Threads" is offering ALL 29 of their downloadable patterns right now for FREE. They have some absolutely adorable patterns, like the little chef hat, apron, and oven mitt pictured above, or all the little baby booties. Download them now, and enjoy a fun craft sometime this winter! (be patient, the site might be running slow with so many people trying to get these free patterns!!!)

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Restaurant.com: $25 gift certificate for $2

Restaurant.com offers gift certificates to various places at a discount, and right now you can take an additional 80% if you use the promo code "PRESENT". Last week, I bought a $25 gift certificate for $2 (usually $10) to a mexican restaurant, and my sisters and I are going to have a "girls night out" together. It's been awhile since all four of us have been in the same place since we're scattered all over!

Usually there are conditions for the gift certificate: the one I bought can be used on a purchase of $35 or more. So I paid $2 for the certificate, and might spend another $10-$15 out-of-pocket. Not bad at all!!!

You can print the gift certificate immediately after purchasing, so there is no wait for anything to be shipped to you!

Earn an extra 15% cashback through Ebates or 30% cashback through Shop At Home!!! (Not registered with either? Sign up for Ebates or Shop At Home, and either place will start you off by adding $5 to your account!)

Swagbucks: Sign Up and Get 30 Free Swagbucks!!!

If you haven't signed up for Swagbucks yet, this is another great opportunity: Register now and enter "JoinIn2010" in the SwagCode Box to snag 30 free Swagbucks!

How do you earn Swagbucks and what do you do with them? When you use the Swagbucks Search Engine, you are randomly awarded "Swagbucks". You can also earn them for taking surveys, watching videos, printing & using coupons, recruiting friends, and more!!!

You can redeem your swagbucks for giftcards. My favorite are the $5 Amazon cards for 450 Swagbucks!!! I got to order multiple Christmas gifts on Amazon with my Amazon cards, spending nothing out of pocket!

*The links above are my referral link. One of the ways to earn Swagbucks is to refer friends. If you would rather sign up directly with Swagbucks, go to www.swagbucks.com.

Earn IPod Stuff by Inviting Friends (and no one has to buy anything!)

"No More Rack", one of the many online sites offering daily deals, has posted a great deal: Get friends to sign up under you, and you can earn IPod stuff!!! All you have to do to sign up is go here, enter your email address, and you're done! The catch? It has to be done by noon tomorrow (ET, Dec. 16th). Neither you nor your friends have to purchase anything! How do these places do it?

35 Friends: iPod Shuffle
100 Friends: iPod Nano
170 Friends: iPod Touch, 8GB (My husband has an iPod Touch, and I LOVE playing with it while he's at work!)
400 Friends: iPad

When you sign up, there should be a promo code: write that down (usually P1070) to claim $10 off your first purchase of $20 if you were interested in buying something. "No More Rack" changes their deals every day, and offers $2 flat rate shipping on everything. But this is worth signing up for even if you never make a purchase!

*And yes, that's my referral link so I can try to earn one of these in the next 24 hours!

Online Shopping: I Can Earn CashBack?!? Yep!!! (on top of your credit card cashback program)

Several deals I have posted recently have mentioned the websites "Shop At Home" and "Ebates". These are two online Cash Back sites that offer online shoppers coupons and cash-back if you shop at your favorite retailers through their site. You might be wondering, how in the world does that work? What does it cost me?


Create an Account with Ebates or Shop At Home. Both sites offer a $5 incentive* automatically offered to new customers. And membership is completely free (Shop At Home also has a huge online printable coupon database).


Shop at the online stores you already purchase from regularly. Both Ebates and Shop At Home have hundreds and hundreds of stores to choose from. They have everything from normal stores (like Sears, JCPenneys, Kohls, etc...) to stores I have never heard of. By the store's name, you will see the percentage (as well as any available online coupons that store is offering that you could use) that is available for cashback, usually between 3%-10%, but it changes regularly, so sometimes there is a "sale" for 10%-50% cashback for certain stores!


Earn Cash Back by signing in to your account, then clicking on the store you want to make a purchase from. It will redirect you from the Shop At Home or Ebates website, to that particular store's website. As it opens the new window, it will tell you it opened a "shopping ticket" or "tracking number". Make sure you stay in that window so you get credit if you make a purchase.


Make your purchase from the store. You still buy directly from that retailer, you don't pay Shop At Home or Ebates. Once the purchase has been confirmed by Shop At Home or Ebates, your account will be credited.


You will receive a check or PayPal credit (your choice). For Ebates, you have to have $5.01 in your account to receive a check. Ebates sends out their checks quarterly (every three months). Shop At Home sends out their checks monthly, but you have to have $20 accumulated. I recommend signing up for both, because each site varies in their offers (like last week my husband and I purchased a deep freezer from Sears and earned 10% cashback from Shop At Home! Ebates was only 4%)


While this isn't immediate cash in hand, you will start seeing checks coming in small amounts for purchases you already make on a regular basis, and as we all learn to live more frugally, every dollar really counts! The best part? All of this is free. We all do online shopping anyway, so why not find ways to save even a little more (on top of already earning cashback on our credit cards)?


A current great deal? 35% Cash Back on the 2011 Entertainment Book!


*Shop At Home and Ebates both have a "Tell-A-Friend" program that offers both $5 to the friend who signs up (you) and the friend who refers them (me). It's a great way to not only save money, save your friends money, but also earn a little back. Once you've signed up, refer your friends and family, too! I have posted my referral link in this blog, so if you feel uncomfortable with being a referral, you can go directly to the Shop At Home or Ebates website personally. 

RedBox Groupon: 3 Rentals for $1!!!

This deal has been posted across the web on numerous blogs, but I decided to post it just in case some of my friends might have missed it. Groupon is offering 3 RedBox rentals for $1. From what I'm seeing across many websites, the 3 rentals can be all on the same night, or spread across several nights. I usually wait for when I get a free RedBox code to rent, but those are usually on random days like Mondays. This deal makes for $.33 movie date nights, and the codes don't expire until March 10, 2011. If you don't watch RedBox often, but know someone who would, this would be a super-cheap Christmas gift (or stocking stuffer).

Sign-In or Register for Groupon.

Then click here to purchase the deal (it's a national deal, so I'm having a hard time finding it just by city, so here's the direct link to it).

* Disclosure: The links above do contain my affiliate/referral link, so if you're a new customer to Groupon, I will earn referral credit. If you would rather sign up on your own, just go to www.groupon.com yourself. As I continue to share various deals, freebies, and coupons with friends & family, there are some websites that help compensate a little of the time I put into this new adventure!

It's Real: Earn FREE $10 giftcards to Starbucks and other places!

A few weeks ago I posted about how you could earn FREE $10 giftcards to Starbucks, Old Navy, Gap, Amazon and other places through an online website called "Shop It To Me." Basically, for every 10 friends who sign up under your referral link (that's mine linked here), you earn a $10 gift card to a variety of places (you choose--I chose Starbucks for right now, but you can change it anytime you want). Your friends don't have to make any purchases. So it's literally free!

I wasn't sure if it worked, but Money Saving Mom just posted that she received some of her gift cards in the mail this week! So sign up, then get your friends to sign up...I am learning there is a lot more free stuff out there than I ever thought there could be!

If you haven't already, I recommend setting up a free email account that you use only for couponing, deals, freebies, etc... to help keep mass amounts of email out of your personal email account. Gmail is my personal favorite, and I get almost no spam!

Entertainment Books: $19.99 + 35% Cash Back!!!

Entertainment Books are on sale for $19.99 with free shipping. If you've never owned one, you should check out the coupons Entertainment offers for your area. They offer coupons for restaurants, fast-food places, bowling, golfing, movie theaters, dry cleaning, retail stores... Not only can you use the coupons in your book, you can sign in to your entertainment account and print coupons offline for your city, or cities you are traveling to (like when we visit family in Texas).

Anyway, Ebates is a website you can use to earn 35% cash back on your purchase of a book (when you shop through the Ebates website). You can also earn varying amounts of cash back on hundreds of other online retail stores (like Kohls, Target, JCPenney's, Sears, etc...) So here's how to get your new 2011 Entertainment Book for as low as $8 after rebate! (new Ebates members get an automatic $5 added to their account)

Register or Sign-In to Ebates and then Select "Entertainment.com"

Entertainment Sale: $19.99 (extra books are $15 each)

Ebates 35% Cash Back: $7.00

Out-Of-Pocket: $19.99

Ebates Rebate Check: $7 or $12 ($7 + $5 for new members)

These also make great gifts for people, because it's truly a gift that keeps on giving all year!

Target Deals: Party Paper Goods for $.83, Huge Lotion for $1, Light bulbs for $.74...

Target Coupons continue to amaze me... For a store I used to rarely shop at, I sure do buy a lot there now! But since their coupon policy makes it easy to score some great deals, even FREE things, I definitely think it's worth finding these deals! So here goes some one's I've found recently...

Target Christmas Party Goods: $1.50 each (on sale through Saturday, Dec. 11th)
- use $2/3 coupon from Target Coupons (look under "Home")
Total: $.83 each when you buy 3


Vaseline Lotion: $5.19 each (31.8 fl.oz.)
- use $1.50/1 coupon from Target Coupons (look under "Beauty")
- buy 2, get a $5 target gift card (to use on your next shopping trip)
Total: $1.19 each bottle


GE Reveal Lightbulbs: $2.24 pk
-use $1.50/1 from Target Coupons (look under "Home" or "Household Goods")
Total: $.74 each


Wheat Thins: $2 box
- use $1/2 from Target Coupons (look under "Groceries")
- use $1/2 from "liking" Wheat Thins on Facebook*
Total: $.50 each (when you buy 2)


* Target's Coupon Policy allows you to "stack" a Target Web Coupon with a Manufacturer Coupon!!!

Free Sample: Seattle's Best Coffee

Head over to Walmart to request a free sample of Seattle's Best Coffee. I love Wal-Mart samples. They are easy to sign up for, come quickly, and you don't get a bunch of junk mail or email with them!

HURRY: Free $25 Groupon Credit!

These never last long, and this time I actually got them! Sign-in or register for Groupon, then...

1. Go to 'My Stuff' on top right
2. Click 'My Accounts'
3. Click 'Redeem Gift Card'
4. Enter code fvx12-8n19sf, then rh712-6n115r (one will give you $10, the other $15)
5. Done!

If you've been thinking about joining Groupon, this would be a great opportunity. Groupon offers so many great deals, but they change every day. $25 will definitely score something really fun!

Starbucks Daily Deal: Tumblers for $6.99 or Mug for $3.99

Today's daily deal at Starbucks is their "Red Cup Tumbler" for $6.99 or the "Red Cup Mug" for $3.99. This is valid in-store and online. Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas 2010 Card

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I got my Christmas cards from Shutterfly in the mail today, and I love them! Oh my goodness they look so great! I can't wait to give them to all of our friends and family!

Starbucks: 16oz. Tumblers for $6.99 (TODAY ONLY)

As part of Starbucks "12 Days of Sharing", today (Day 5), their 16oz. tumbler is on sale for $6.99 (usually $10.95) in-store or online. Enjoy!

JCPenney's: 20% off plus FREE Shipping to store!

JCPenney just released another coupon code for 20% off your entire purchase online with the promo code "4RELVES". Orders over $69 receive free shipping, or you can get free shipping by choosing the "in-store pickup" option (all shoes ship free). What great deals did you find?

Some Creative Gift Ideas For Those Hard to Shop for People!

Christmas is only weeks away. Like many people, it's my favorite holiday of the year. I love the sparkly lights, the spicy smells in the kitchen, Bing Crosby crooning "White Christmas" through my speakers, and of course, I love shopping and seeing all the new things the season brings!

Sometimes it's challenging thinking of the right gift for a family member or friend. And the last several years I've been discovering a really fun way to give that perfect gift: give a gift to someone else. Here are some fun gifts to give:

- Choose an item from the World Vision Gift Catalog*. You can buy two chickens for a village for $25, or a variety of other things like food, seeds, trees, goats, Bibles, help for exploited women/girls, and many more things!
- Or browse the Compassion Christmas Catalog*, similar to World Vision's, that can provide necessary items to someone on the other side of the world!
- Partner with Angel Tree*, a program of Prison Fellowship, that provides gifts for the sons and daughters of men and women in prison. Local churches often set up an "Angel Tree", so you can grab a tag with gift ideas for a child, and go purchase the items, or you can go to Angel Tree and sponsor gifts for 2 children for only $11.44. 
- If you attend a church, find out if there is a family in need this Christmas, and consider adding them to your holiday shopping list. It might be a single mom who needs a new pair of pajamas, some babies who need diapers, a little girl/boy who would be delighted with a new toy, or a dad that needs a new pair of jeans.
- You can also contact Salvation Army, a local food pantry, homeless shelter... the options are limitless!

For several years Nathan (my husband) and I have chosen one or two of the things above to buy in lieu of gifts for our parents and grandparents. We gave each set of parents/grandparents a Christmas card, with a smaller card inside of it that told them what item had been purchased in their honor. This year, God had to get a hold of me in a new way...

The church where my husband and I attend has a Christmas tree set up in the foyer, with a bunch of tags attached to the branches. Each tag represents a child from Angel Tree (who has a mom or dad in prison), or a member of a local family, with needs/wants written on it. I was humbled as I read through the tags last week. They listed items like toothpaste, shampoo, razors, jeans, socks, pajamas, lotion, etc... Basics that I don't normally think of as "gifts". My husband has been asking me for weeks if I had any ideas of what I wanted for Christmas, and I suddenly knew: I wanted a couple of those tags and a day to go shopping for the items on the tags.

I think this is going to be one of my favorite Christmas's yet. I had so much fun going and picking out the various items on those tags. I chose quality items, items that would hopefully bless the recipients, and let them know that there is a God who loves them so much! If I had unlimited cash, I'd go take the rest of the tags off that tree and go shopping for a whole day! God has been so faithful to provide for my little family's every need, that I can't clutch His blessings to myself!!!

* World Vision, Compassion International, and Angel Tree are all organizations that seek to meet physical needs of families/individuals around the globe, so that they can ultimately share the greatest gift of all: the message of God's love for them.