Sunday, July 31, 2011

Have you signed up for Swag Bucks yet?

Back to School Deals

In order to get the best Back to School deals, it looks like it's best to pick up a few featured items each week before school begins. After flipping through this week's ads, the best deals that I found were:

Walgreens:
1 Subject Notebook - $.39
10 pk No. 2 pencils - $.39
6 pk Paper Mate highlighters - $.39
Filler paper (130 sheets) - $.59
24 pk crayons/12 pk colored pencils - $.59

Office Max:
Wooden ruler - $.01
24 pk Schoolio Crayons - $.01
10 pk No. 2 pencils - $.10
Composition Notebook - $.50
3 pk Office Max glue sticks - $.50
1" Durable Standard Binders - $1.50

Target:
6pk Elmer's glue sticks - $1.00
5" Fiskars scissors - $1.00

Dillons:
1 Subject Notebook - $.15
24 pk Crayola Crayons - $.39
1" Avery Poly Binder - $1.00
Filler paper (150 sheet) - $.75

Toys R Us:
24pk Crayola Crayons - 4/$1.00 (must buy 4)
Crayola Scissors - $1.00
12pk Crayola Colored Pencils - $1.00

Wal-Mart:
1 Subject Notebook - $1.00

Office Depot:
2-pocket folder - $.05
Protractor - $.05
Vinyl Storage Pouch - $.05
FREE backpack and lunch tote with purchase of $15 or more!

Kmart:
24pk Crayola Crayons - $.24
10pk Crayola Markers - $.99
2pk Elmer's glue sticks - $.50
10pk Bic ballpoint pens - $.50
Composition Notebook - $.50
Fashion/licensed pocket folders - $.50
Stretchable book covers - $.50
10pk No. 2 pencils - $.50

Pick up a few extra supplies to help other kids that are going back to school. Send them with your own child or contact your child's teacher to arrange to drop items off. Every little bit helps! =)

Menards: Save 11% on EVERYTHING!


From July 30th through August 7th, get an 11% mail-in-rebate on ALL of your purchases!

The rebate comes in the form of a merchandise credit check and takes around 6-8 weeks for processing.


Saturday, July 30, 2011

Calling all Teachers!


Tomorrow, Sunday July 31 and Monday, August 1 is "Teacher Appreciation Day" at Office Max.

This means that MaxPerks Rewards for Teacher members will receive:
-  A free resuable tote bag PLUS 20% off everything* you can fit inside
-  Free product samples from brands such as Post-it, Sharpie, Expo, Command and more!
- A free desk calendar/planner filled with coupons valid throughout the next year!

*Offer valid to MaxPerks Rewards for Teachers members or new teacher member sign-ups only. (There's also a long list of things that are not included in the 20% off sale- mostly technology items.) No rainchecks will be given. One coupon per customer.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Welcome to Not-So-Extreme Couponing!

There seems to be a coupon blog every where you turn these days, thanks to TLC's show and series "Extreme Couponing". I will admit, I was a fan when the series began, but as each episode was played, I became disgusted with some of the tactics that a few of these people were using. I guess I don't see why it's necessary for a family of three or so to need to buy hundreds of the same item in one shopping trip. This is where I think the line is crossed from "couponer" to "hoarder". Now some people do in fact donate their loot to local shelters, which is fine with me.

Enough about my thoughts... the purpose of this blog is to create a place where people can follow me on some of my deals and pick up some couponing habits along the way. The deals I'll post about are what I can find in Wichita, Kansas (since I recently moved here)...but since the majority of my friends and family are in Nebraska, I'll try my best to include some of the deals that they can get in on too!

Most "couponers" have a story about how they got started. I guess it's time that I share mine with you! While I was in college, I would clip coupons every once in a great while. I never purchased a Sunday paper so if I came across the inserts, I would try my best to use them. Most of the time, I would go grocery store and forget my coupons at home. Sounds familiar, huh? =)
Anyway, in December my husband was promoted and with that promotion came a move from Omaha, Nebraska to Wichita, Kansas. I was just starting my second semester of grad school in Omaha when we moved. I would now have to drive the four and a half hour drive to Omaha every Friday for class on Saturday, and get in the car after class and head back to Kansas. We had talked about me getting a job after we were settled, but my job would have to be pretty flexible and I was only able to work Monday through Thursday so that I could travel on Friday again.
After just a few weeks of living in Wichita, I stumbled across a "Groupon" deal for half price subscriptions for the Sunday paper. We signed up immediately. Once the coupons arrived, I knew that I was going to be more diligent and I knew that I could save us a lot of money.
After the first shopping trip with coupons (Wes came with), he saw the savings that we could get. He was pretty excited. He told me that we can save more with me couponing than I'll be able to make at a part-time job (since I'll begin student teaching in August). We decided that this was for me!

Learning the ins and outs of couponing have been an adventure in and of itself for me. I've relied on the help of some friendly cashiers and I've been burned a few times at the register too. I'll try to make this as easy as possible for you to follow!

And here we go....