BzzAgent

I, Sister C, received another box in the mail the other day with products to try from BzzAgent!  I am starting to really like this company!  I really love trying new products.

This time around, I received CoverGirl Natureluxe Foundation and Lipstick.  I hate trying to pick out a foundation color based on an online picture, but I think I did pretty well.  I'd go out in public with this foundation lol It's a pretty good match.  I've used Artistry products for the last 12 years, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Although I'm not sure I'd ever switch, I really don't have much to complain about this product.  I've been wearing a powder foundation for several years now, and this CoverGirl was liquid.  It went on easily, covered up my dark circles under my eyes pretty well, and felt light.  I've tried other foundations that were in my mom's or sister's makeup kits when I go home and forget my foundation (mommy brain) and I never like them.  They feel "cakey" or something.  Natureluxe did not leave that heavy, makeup-y feeling on my skin.  I was quite surprised. 

I have not tried the lipstick yet, as it's in the drawer out of the kids' reach and I have to dig it out :o) 

Go HERE to find out what BzzAgent is all about, and how to become one yourself!

Walgreen's Run

Sister C also made a run to the Downtown Walgreen's today.  They had their Mixed Nuts on sale for 99c each.  They ring up as $2.99, so make sure they fix that.  They are on an end cap in the far left corner of the store.  I don't care for some of the nuts in them, but for 99c, I'll eat the ones I do like lol

Hy-Vee Run

Sister C made a run to the Downtown Hy-Vee.  We are going to start potty training Little V.  So I bought some bribes. The Crunch bars were on sale for 50c each, and I used 5 - $1/2 Coupons that I had snagged from a gas station.  I actually have like 15 more coupons since I saw them every time I went into a gas station, each time I snagged a few more.  Hubby R loves Trident Vitality, and the Hy-Vee store always seems to have his gum on clearance, so I ran down there.  They had them for just 25c each.  I paid $5 for all of them, and normally I'd get only 3 of them for that price.  And they still had about 200 more.  I also grabbed 2 Reese's Eggs for 37c each.

If you like jelly beans, they had lots of bags of them for 13 each.  WOW  I might go back and get a few of those bags for additional potty bribes!

Financially Fit Friday

Emergency Fund - Stocked

Colorado Fund (Goal is $500)

• Deposited $200 of fun money from tax return
• New Total - $240.16

Indiana Fund (Stocked)

• Previous Total - $250.80
• $6 paid surveys
• $9.19 in spare change
• $234.69 leftover from paychecks and tips
• Current Balance - $500.68

Credit Card Beginning Balance 4/12/11 - $5,668.02

• Current Balance - $6031.08 I messed up.  I "prepaid" the credit card knowing something was going to be charged on it, so that's why it is more.  Oops. And the interest was tacked on.  Holy crap.  I think I might try to find an interest free for a year card to put it on.  That's ridiculous.

     *If you follow Dave Ramsey, he says no matter what to pay down your next lowest balance.  This is not our next lowest balance, but it's our highest interest rate one.  Now that we've paid off so many loans in the last 2 years, we believe this is a better route to go, where as our other loans have such a small interest rate on them, this is by far the worst "loan" we have.  So...Ready...Set...GO!

Financially Fit Friday

We will be headed to Indiana on Sunday.  I hope our new debit card comes before then, I don't want to travel with that much cash lol 

Emergency Fund - Stocked
Indiana Fund - Stocked

Deposited $30 of my fun money into Colorado Fund
Colorado Fund ($500 Wanted) - $40.16

Deposited

• $3 paid survey
• $5.22 in spare change

We have a lot of extra money left over from my tips and our paychecks, but since we are heading out to Indiana, we are keeping that in the account right now until we get our next paychecks just to make sure we have everything covered - we don't receive vacation pay at all.  But I can't wait to start knocking down the balance! 

Credit Card Current Balance - $5,617.67 - was 5668.02 on April 12th

     *If you follow Dave Ramsey, he says no matter what to pay down your next lowest balance.  This is not our next lowest balance, but it's our highest interest rate one.  Now that we've paid off so many loans in the last 2 years, we believe this is a better route to go, where as our other loans have such a small interest rate on them, this is by far the worst "loan" we have.  So...Ready...Set...GO!

Keyboard

Now, remember several keys aren't working on my keyboard, so make sure to LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all the deals we find.  You'll see a few posts here and there on the blog if I can copy and paste numbers into my posts, or borrow Hubby R's computer lol

Sunday Coupon Preview

There's quite a few coupons I like that will be coming out in Sunday's inserts!  Yay!  :o)

Go HERE to see that list. 

Upromise Bonus

Are you a Upromise member yet?  If not, it's an easy way to get some extra cash to put towards your children's college education.  (There is also a way to just get it as cash.)  If there is anything on Walmart.com that you have wanted to buy, now is the day to do it!  You'll get 10% of what you spend into your Upromise account when you use the Walmart link on the Upromise website, and use the debit/credit card that is linked to your Upromise account. 

For Mankato, both Hy-Vee and CVS are linked to this program.  For Hy-Vee, you have the cashier scan your Upromise card.  For CVS, you just scan your CVS card.  So, go link up your CVS card to Upromise, and request a Upromise card to be used at Hy-Vee now!  If you don't have kids, find a friend that does and help them build a fund for their children's education. 

On the first of the month, you are able to download new coupons to your Upromise card (coupons are on a monthly basis).  Nice thing about this, you can match manufacturer coupons, store coupons AND Upromise coupons all on the same product for triple savings!  I personally don't have a lot saved up yet, but my kids are just getting into school, so I have time yet. 

Store Coupon Policies

Cub has released a revised coupon policy for its stores, and I thought it would be nice to list a bunch of different store policies.  Make sure to print them off and have onhand when you are shopping in case you get a cashier that doesn't know their own store's policy.  I've even had to do this with managers!

Cub - Pocket Your Dollars has a comment about each part
     Why I like Cub...Cub accepts expired coupons, from inserts, online or catalinas (including Register Rewards from Walgreens)!

CVS
     CVS doesn't have a coupon policy, you just email the company your questions about a certain senario.  Hard to email them all your questions when you don't know what might happen at the register.  :o(  But I still love CVS because of their ECBs.  And that they keep track of it for you on your receipt, so you can buy some on Monday, and come back on Friday when the shelves have been restocked to buy the rest needed to get whatever ECB deal they have going on!  (Walgreen's requires that you purchase them all in a single transaction). 

Hy-Vee
     Why I like Hy-Vee...They ad match and coupon match any store in town!

Target
     Why I like Target...I think they do ad match, even though it's not stated.  Correct me if I'm wrong.
Walgreens
     Why I like Walgreens - Register Rewards.  But lately they haven't been worth my time.  Although I do get my diapers there for dirt cheap with sales!

Wal-Mart
    Why I will make an acception to shop at Wal-Mart ;o)...They will not reduce a coupon if it is above the price of the product.  So if you have a coupon for $3 off and the item is only $2.50 at the store, you'll get  the other 50c off your total bill, just make sure to have a "filler" item. 

These are the most popular stores for Mankato.  Are there any other stores that you'd like a link to?  I'll update this list!

Financially Fit Friday

OUR TAX RETURN CAME!  Woo-who!  :o)

So far, with our return we have...

• Paid off another stupidity loan!  ($221/month to snowball into the next loan!)
• Set aside money to pay for a second vehicle IN FULL.
• Bought Hubby R some much needed contacts for the year. 
• Bought $35 worth of extra groceries :o) 
• Will go out to eat WITHOUT KIDS on Sunday! 

The rest we need to sit down and figure out where it needs to go.  Part of it will go to pay for entry fees for Hubby R's tournaments this year.  We decided that we each get $X to go into our "Fun Money" accounts.  We were very short in this category since I went on maternity leave, so in a way it's paying back the "IOU"s. 

Summary -

Emergency Fund - Stocked
Indiana Fund - Stocked
Colorado Fund ($500 Wanted)- Roughly $30 Right Now, I still have to get to the bank to see my balance.

Next on the list to pay down -

Credit Card - $5668.02
     *If you follow Dave Ramsey, he says no matter what to pay down your next lowest balance.  This is not our next lowest balance, but it's our highest interest rate one.  Now that we've paid off so many loans in the last 2 years, we believe this is a better route to go, where as our other loans have such a small interest rate on them, this is by far the worst "loan" we have.  So...Ready...Set...GO!

Sister C switched her availability to work evenings which will hopefully bring in a lot more money to get that debt gone! 

Update on my BzzAgent Products!

I received the following in the picture on March 21, 2011.

• The Smart & Easy Spring Cleaning BzzGuide - My friends know I hate cleaning, so any tips are welcomed!
• 1-4oz Glade Limited Edition Spring Collection jar candle, Sparkle of Spring fragrance - This is very subtle, which I like.  I'm not into strong fragrance.  I'm actually sniffing it as I type this post :o)
• Update - I still use this candle.  I'm not a big candle person, so I have only light this one a few times, but I like that it's not a strong scent.  This would be perfect in a little kitchen or in the bathroom.  I have used mine in our kitchen. 
• 1 Glade PlugIns Scented Oil refill.  I have a Long Lasting PlugIn already.  This one is Crisp Waters fragrance, which is also really nice.  I love spring fragrances (not so much big flowery smells, more like hang-your-laundry-out-to-dry type smells.  My refills ran out, so this was PERFECT timing!  So far I really like it.
• Update - This was a stronger fragrance than I thought it was going to be.  It was still "fresh" smelling, which I normally like.  But it's been a few weeks and I no longer smell it.  So it didn't last as long as I had hoped it to.  But I'd like to get another one of it to use when I can open up the windows and get air moving through the house to spread the smell around :o) 
• 1 Pledge Lemon Clean aerosol spray.  I have a limited amount of wooden furniture in our house, so I haven't used this yet.  The main furniture is our bedroom set, which really needs a nice dusting.  So I'll give this a shot whenever I have a day off to clean.
• Update - I forgot to try this out.  I am in the midst of repainting, so all our wooden picture frames are off the walls and all over our bedroom (so I can't even get to our wood furniture!).  This task should be completed tonight, so I will have to use this not only on the furniture, but also on the frames that are very dusty!
• 1 - 20oz bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer with Extend-A-Clean.  Anything that will clean my shower for 4 days at a time, I'm willing to try!  LOL!  Will keep you updated how this goes.
• Update - I also have not used this product yet because I'm still using up my other bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles.  When that's gone, I'll use this one.
• 1 Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel Kit.  I've wanted to try these, but never wanted to buy them and always missed a great sale.  It's already in the toilet.  And I just cleaned the toilet yesterday, so we'll see how well it does with a family of 6 (4 1/4 of us are potty trained haha!).
• Update - I have tried the Toilet Cleaning Gel Kit and I must say, I like it.  I have been good about keeping it "stocked" in the toilet so that it's been working continually.  I have no ring-around-the-toilet rust stains that normally start to accumulate pretty quickly.  I did forget how to put it in the toilet the second time I did it.  Oops.  And got it all over my hands, it's really sticky!  I might just watch sales to get this more often. 
• A booklet of coupons!  And I just read I had to share with people.  I don't like to share.  But I will.  Stay tuned in the next 2 weeks and I'll put together a giveaway!  And they are nice coupons - $1-$3 for a bunch of them!
• Stay tuned!  There will be a coupon giveaway on our Facebook Page! 

HERE is my previous post about what BzzAgent is all about!

 <img src="http://img.bzzagent.com/image/scjohnson.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=2706048701&Campaign=3953203761&Uid=1186989&token=84ca704c9ac6cdb286589e171deac3dc" alt=""/>

Also, when I take BzzAgent Surveys (to get me qualified for more product reviews, etc) I will usually get a few points to put on my MyPoints account!  So double bonus!  MyPoints is another way I earn gift cards.  I just click through their emails and receive points.  If you'd like an invitation to MyPoints, just let me know :o)

Town & CountryMarkets Ad 4/7/2011

Thanks, South Suburban Savings, for putting together this week's coupon/ad matchups!

$5 Amazon Gift Card from Viewpoints

Viewpoints is offering another $5 Amazon gift card for those of you that write 5 qualifying reviews!

"Fine Print" -

	Be written between April 7 and April 18, 2011
	A minimum of 700 characters
	Within the following categories: Home Appliances, Kitchen Appliances catagories
	About real products; inappropriate or bogus content be removed

New Huggies and Pampers Codes!

Click HERE to see the new codes for Huggies and Pampers!  Carrie's got it all listed out on Pocket Your Dollars nicely, so I don't have to rewrite it all :o)

New Coupons - FREE Candy at Walgreen's!

Head on over to http://www.coupons.com/, enter zip code 80003 and on page 2 (well, that's where I found it) in the food category you'll find this coupon for $1/2 Mars Easter candy.  Use this coupon to grab some FREE candy for those Easter baskets you'll be filling next week!

I also found a $1 off any box of Glad 2-in-1 bags.  Never heard of them, but I'll keep an eye out now.  There is also a 75c off Kix Berry Berry or Honey, 55c off Wonder Smartwheat Bread and a B1G1 Harvest Bar Power Bar. 

Print these off your Swagbucks account to earn Swagbucks once you redeem them (does take a few weeks, but it's a nice surprise when they all go through!). 

Thanks for the heads up, Wild for Wags!

Another Way to get Coupons!

One of my favorite ways to get coupons is to do Kristin's 5-A-Days.  This is how I got hooked on Couponing to Disney!  In a world with so much negativity, I thought this was one way to give positive feedback to companies, and in turn I've gotten several high-value coupons.  It's fun to send out emails and to get letters and coupons in the mail shortly afterwards!  So, check her list out.  She does a new list of 5 companies each day.  I don't know some of them, I only email companies I know of and have tried their products.  Have fun, and let us know what you get in return!

(FYI, sometimes I just get emails back stating "Thanks for your kind words".  And I'm ok with that!)

Where to Buy Bread

I love going to Taystee on 169 here in Mankato for my bread.  I've gotten the Sara Lee Soft & Smooth bread for as low as 25c each!  The bread is usually at the "use by" date, but we all know, bread lasts a long time, especially if you freeze it or keep it in the refrigerator.  Plus on Wednesdays, you get an additional 10% off!  If you spend more than $7, then you get something off their FREE rack (I got another loaf of bread).  So, I received 5 loaves of Soft & Smooth (no HFCS), Soft & Smooth Wheet hot dog buns, a loaf of Brown Sugar Cinnamon bread and a box of Animal Crackers for $7 plus tax.  I usually only have to go down there every other Wednesday.  It opens at 830, so run a quick errand after dropping the kids off at school and head on over there!  They also have punch cards where you get a punch each time you spend $6.  Fill it up (20 punches) and you get $5 off your next purchase. 

Kohl's 99c Shipping

Keep an eye out on Kohl's this week!  They are running their 99c shipping/item.  Last time they had this, I snagged a few shirts for E (age 5) for less than $2 each shipped!  I saw these cute little number for Baby S :o)  I've been saving my gift cards and Mom is sending me a coupon so I can get lots of things cheap!  C'mon clearance! 

Oh.  That's a tiny picture.  Sorry.  I can't get it to not be blurry if I increase the pic size. 

FREE Nerds Candy!

My face is puckering up just thinking about eating these candies!

Go HERE to request your free Nerds! 

Cub Ad 4/3/11 or 4/5/11

Cub is having their own version of Walgreen's Register Rewards!  There are lots of items where when you buy 1, 2 or however many of the product it says to, you'll get a catalina printout to use on your next purchase!  Thanks, Pocket Your Dollars, for putting it all together for us!

There's actually a few good ones right now.  Check out the list! 

I'm excited that our tax return came!  Now I can restock our grocery budget (we've been living off my couple hours of tip money the last few weeks) and I can take advantage of some nice meat deals hopefully soon!  We're running low on protein!

Menards Ad 4/3/11

Thanks, Pocket Your Dollars, for putting together this week's list of FREEBIES/CHEAPIES at Menards!

Sister C went there for paint because of their FREE after rebate cheapy kind.  It expired yesterday.  Darn it!  I lost track of my days!

FREE Suave Professionals

I tried doing this last time it was up and running, and it wasn't really up and running lol  I got 2 FREE this time!

So, head on over to Suave and watch a few videos and guess the right answers!  Four correct answers gets you 2 FREE Suave Professionals products! 

Thanks for the reminder, Couponing to Disney!

Buy your Groupons through Swagbucks!

Crystal from Money Saving Mom shows you how to use your Swagbucks account to buy your Groupons and get bonus Swagbucks!

Walgreen's Deal Senarios 4/3/11

Christie from Wild for Wags has her senarios up!

Update - rumor has it the coupon for the Scotch Packaging Tape will beep at you because it's coded for a B2 get $1 off.  So, you need to buy 2, making them $1 each.  Still not bad. 

PLUS you can get a FREE 8x10 photo today only!  Enter the code DEAL8X10.  This does not include collages.  (But stay tuned, there is a deal for collages towards the end of this week, so I'm sure it's a free or cheap one!)

Free Tombstone Pizza WYB Any Hasbro Game!

Hasbro is offering up to 5 FREE Tombstone pizzas WYB ANY Hasbro games!  This offer expires the end of April, so if you are needing something extra for your kiddo's Easter Basket, you may as well get dinner out of the deal also! 

CVS Ad 4/3/11

Thanks, Pocket Your Dollars, for putting together this week's coupon/ad matchups for CVS!  She also posted a few ideas for some deal senarios for you to keep in mind. 

Walgreen's Deals Starting 4/3/11

Thanks, Christie, from Wild for Wags, for putting together a coupon matchup for this coming week's deals at Walgreen's!

The one thing I know I'll be getting for sure is the packaging tape for 50c!  Make sure to print off the coupons before you go - the Scotch Packaging Tape coupon is found on page 2, along with a great coupon right below it for $1 off a roll of Scotch Magic Tape!  You can just print page 2 if you want, I did, and do that twice :o)  This is great to have for all those Christmas presents you'll be starting to wrap in 8 months lol!

Financially Fit Friday

Welcome to Financially Fit Friday (on Saturday lol). 

Do you ever have those days, weeks or even months when you just can't seem to get back on track?  It's not like we were derailed or anything, but the Money Train in our house is taking it's good ol' sweet time coming back to the station.  I was joking with Hubby R the other night that it seems like whenever we get our emergency fund all filled up and we are either almost done saving for a trip to Indiana or we are knocking out other debt, BAM!  There goes the emergency fund.  Don't get me wrong - it's why it's there!  But for one year I'd like to not having any more emergencies.  (Truth be told, I'd rather NEVER have them, but life doesn't work that way, but it would be nice to feel like we are constantly on track and not have anything thrown at us.)

Sisters S & C have chatted with Cousin C and decided to take a much needed vaca out to Colorado at the end of the summer.  I think this is what I need to stay on track with everything.  Sometimes, you need a goal other than just being debt-free to keep you on track to becoming debt-free!  I will have to pick up a few extra shifts a month to pay CASH for this trip (no cash = not allowed to go) and it will be a vacation that has been EARNED, not one that will have to be repaid after I get back (aka, no using plastic). 

With that said, here's what's going on...

Emergency Fund (Goal $1000) - STOCKED


Indiana Fund (Goal $500) - $419.37 - only $80.63 left!


Colorado Fund (Sister C's fun $) - Can't find my statement :o(  $20+

I made a deposit into our regular account (instead of the Indiana fund, oops) of $9.89 - $3 survey, $6.89 in spare change.  I have no checks to get that money out of that account.  So I'll just leave it there.

Where to Print Coupons

I just found The Coupon Network where I printed off a few new coupons I have not yet found on Coupons.com.  On The Coupon Network I printed off $1 off Kellogg's Frosted Flakes with Fiber, Less Sugar (16.3 oz or larger), $1 off Farm Rich Frozen Snack and $1.10 off WYB 3 Nestle Toll House Morsels. 

I like finding new coupon sites! 

Plus don't forget to print off your coupons from Swagbucks so you can earn 10 Swagbucks for each one you redeem!

Another New Code for Pampers!

CesarChavez2011 is the new code for anyone collecting Pampers Gifts to Grow points!  You also get 100 points just for starting if you are new!

Check out My Previous Post on all other codes to add to your account!

Thanks for the heads up, Couponing to Disney!

Free Crafts for Kids at Home Depot

Tomorrow, Saturday April 2 at 9am, you can take your 5-12 year olds to Home Depot to make this cute Planter/Basket!  For FREE! 

New Month - New Coupons!

It's the first of the month - so coupons have been reset or added! 

For those of you that use Swagbucks, remember that you can now print coupons (same coupons as the link above) and earn 10 Swagbucks per coupon that you use!  So, make sure to print your coupons from there first!

Also head on over HERE for a preview of what coupons are coming out in Sunday's paper!