Freebie: Gooseberry Patch Cookie Swap Cookbook

Get a free Kindle download of the Gooseberry Patch Cookie Swap Cookbook for free on Amazon.com. You can get yours at this link:

Download your free Kindle Edition of the Gooseberry Patch Cookie Swap Cookbook now!

If you don't have a Kindle, you can click this link to download free Kindle Reading Apps.

Looks interesting! I don't have a Kindle, but I think I will download the Reading App. I love cookies. And, I am always interested in new recipes to try out on my willing family!

Sonja ♥

Free Hugo Boss Frangrances & Philips Avent Bottle

I got a lead today about a free sample of Tom's of Maine. I followed a couple of links, only to discover that the samples were gone. Sorry, Miss Cherie, I thought of you and was so looking forward to posting that link, but alas! it was not to be.

On my travels, I did discover a few other freebies along the way. These were a few of my favorites.

Hugo Boss has free samples of your choice of three delightful frangrances. I chose Boss Orange. You can get your sample HERE. Which sample will you choose?

I also found a place HERE for a free Sample of your choice of one of three Hugo Boss Men's Fragrances.

You can get a Free 4oz Philips Avent Baby Bottle when you "like" their facebook page, while supplies last. You can get yours HERE.

My littlest baby is already 11 years old and in Middle School, but I have friends having babies and family having babies. This can be added to a gift bag with some other goodies for any expectant mother in my life.



Have you found any interesting Freebies this week???

Sonja ♥


Today's Freebie: Fiber Choice

Today's free sample is Fiber Choice.

I have never tried taking fiber, so I have not had the opportunity to try this. I have a good friend who usually uses Benefiber, but I thought that she might like Fiber Choice.

Click HERE for your Free Sample.

Did you come across any interesting freebies this week?

Sonja♥

Freebies in my Mailbox

I love getting free samples in my mailbox! I mean, what's not to love about trying a new product before buying it? Or, having single size packets of products to leave out for visiting guests? Or, to pack in your carry on bag when you travel? Or, to use in hundreds of other useful ways? 

Today in my mailbox I received a lovely, little, feminine bag of goodies. Among these were samples for Ponds facial cleansing cloths, Tresemme Shampoo & Conditioner, Garnier Fructis Shampoo & Conditioner, John Freida Full Repair Shampoo, Conditioner, & Repair, L'Oreal Youth Code lotion, Burt's Bees facial cream and a coupon book with $20 in money saving coupons exclusive to Target.

In another packet, I received 2 pair of disposable underwear for women from TENA Women. It included a booket with helpful hints on dealing with adult incontinence. My Nana was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease many years ago. As her health deteriorates, sadly, this kind of product becomes more and more necessary. And, these products can be very expensive! I intend to keep this packet in my first aid/emergency bag in my vehicle. If I need them on an outing with Nana, they will be waiting, just in case.

A friend of mine gave me a tip about using baby diapers for absorbing domestic animal household "accidents". Perhaps, these would suit that purpose, too?

The last item in my mailbox was a sample of Biore facial cleanser. I have not actually used this product before, but I wanted to try it out. I love that now I can... for FREE!

I do not pay anything for samples. I find them very frequently available on facebook, couponing webpages, and blogs. Proctor & Gamble's program will send you free samples and coupons each quarter when you sign up. This quarter I am expecting to receive free samples of Crest 3D White Toothpaste, Crest 3D 2 Hour Whitening Strips, and Herbal Essense Shampoo and Conditioner. I was pleased to see some high value coupons for Tampax Pearl, CoverGirl NatureLuxe Foundation or Lip Balm, and Venus Pro Skin Moisure Rich system. Sign up Here. You can Sign up for Target Samples Here and Sign up for Walmart Samples Here.

What freebies came in your mailbox today?

Sonja ♥

20 Free Prints from Kodak

 

Today's Freebie is 20 Free Kodak Prints from Facebook. This offer is good until 10/23/11. Just "like" Kodak on facebook HERE to print the coupon.

For our area, we have a choice of printing them at CVS or Target. The Target offer is buy 5 prints, get 20 prints FREE. I did not see any limitations on the CVS site. If you do, please, let us know!

Sonja ♥

Free Organic Cold Medicines at Rite Aid this week



(3) Duract Cough Quick Melt Tabs, (3) Organix Defense Cough Drops, (3) Blistex Cold & Flu Lip Balm, (3) Sucrets, (1) Similasan Kids Cold & Mucus Relief, (3) St. Joseph's 81mg aspirin, (1) Saline Soothers, (3) Fun Size Candies (These were "fillers" and sadly, they suffered some casualties on the drive home.) ALL for a total cost of $6.06.

So many people I know are interested in using all natural, organic foods and medicines for their families. The complaint I hear often, though, is that these items are more expensive, there are not coupons for them, and they rarely go on sale. These things are not true. At least, not entirely. I will admit that coupons for organic foods and medicines are more rare to come across than their counterparts, they are not entirely lacking. I was pleased to see that Rite Aid is carrying a larger selection of these items AND are offering them on sale, with RRs, and with Single Check Rebates (SCR). Because of the limits imposed on this sale, I called in some family and friends and with 3 wellness cards in hand, consider me ready.

My shopping trip today, as usual, took many transactions to complete. I was glad to be in Bucksport. The crew there is just wonderful. I hate to inconvenience other shoppers, so I try to give some advance notice to the store about my check out needs. When I let the manager know that I was going to check out in nine multiple transactions, she opened a register herself to assist me. This is the way they do at Bucksport's Rite Aid, every time.

I began with $2.50 on RRs from last week. In order to use as little of my out of pocket money, I started with purchasing (1) Organix Defense Cough Drop and (1) Blistex Cold & Flu Lip Balm for $2.99. I paid with $2.50rr and .64¢ cash. I received $1.49rr and $1.50rr. Next, I bought (1) Sucrets for $2.99. I paid with $1.49rr and $1.50rr and .15¢ cash (for the tax) and I earned $2rr. Then, I purchased (1) St. Joseph's 81mg aspirin for $4.99. I used $1/1 coupon from Sunday insert, $2rr and $2.24 cash and I received $4rr. Finally, I purchased (1) Duract Cough Quick Melt Tabs for $6.00. I paid with $4rr and $2.30 cash and I received $6rr. Total out of Pocket equalled $5.33 and I ended with $6rr, which gave me a net profit of .67¢. So far, so good.

At this point, I switched to a second card. Because I now had $6rr to work with, I did not need to make as many small transactions. For my first exchange, I purchased (1) Sucrets for $2.99, (1) Blistex Cold & Flu Lip Balm for $1.49 and (1) St. Joseph's Aspirin for $4.99. I used a $1/1 coupon for the aspirin, the $6rr, and $2.95 in cash. And, I received back $4rr, $2rr, and $1.49rr. Lastly, I used those RRs to purchase (1) Organix Cough Drops and (1) Duract Cough Quick Melt Tabs. I paid .39¢ cash and I received $1.49rr and $6rr. Total out of Pocket for this set of transactions totaled $3.34 and I now had $7.49rr. One last card to use to complete my shopping.

On the third card, I began with purchasing Sucrets, St. Joseph's Aspirin, and Organix Cough Drops. I flipped the $6rr and $1.49rr from my last purchase, a $1/1 coupon for the St. Joe's and added $1.46 cash from my wallet. I received $2rr, $4rr, and $1.50rr. This is where I needed a filler item. The last two items I planned on purchasing were going to cost me $7.49, so I would either use more money out of pocket and keep some RRs, or bring my total .01¢ over the RRs I had available to spend. The Twix were on sale for $1. This was not the cheapest option available, but Twix are absolutely, addictively, delicious, and that is what I opted to buy. I purchased (1) Duract and (1) Blistex Cold & Flu Lip Balm and (1) Twix "fun size" candy for $1.52 cash and my earned RRs. I received $6rr and $1.49rr back. The net total for this set of transactions was $2.98 cash and I finished with $7.49rr.

My RR shopping complete, all I had left to buy were items that would be free after the Single Check Rebate. In planning my shopping trip today, I had intended to buy (1) Zarbee's Natraflu Nighttime Cough & Sleep Drink ($6.99), but the store was out of stock on them. I was offered a rain check, which normally, I would accept, but I did not need this medicine immediately and I will be near another Rite Aid tomorrow, so I will check there first. I did buy the $1 Saline Soothers Moisturizing Nose Wipes and Similisan Cold Relief for Children for $3.99. The Saline Soothers was a complete freebie and I had a $1.75/1 Similisan coupon which made this item a .76¢ money maker.

I love SCR. It is a great way to turn coupons and RRs back into cash. Rite aid mails me a check each month for my rebates. I only use the single check rebate program on items I am getting free. Additionally, I use any left over RRs to pay for the cost to purchase the items and because I have also used a coupon when making the original purchase, most of the time, these become better than FREE. I just happily deposit the money into my checking account each month. Gotta love that!

I am waiting for the first sign of scratchy throat complaints to use the Organix Defense Cough Drops. They are sugar fee, gluten free and all organic. I am tempted to try the New Mint Chocolate flavored ones now- cold or no cold. Maybe, I better just have a mini Twix and call it a night instead.

Good night, all.

Sonja ♥

Rite Aid: Free Cold and Flu Medicines

Rite Aid has been very kind to me lately. Last week, it was the awesome deal on Dove line hair care products. Read about that HERE. This week it is the place to go for cold and flu medicine, sore throat spray, cough drops, chapstick and hand sanitizer. And, most of it is FREE.

My husband, Sean and I, are a team when it comes to couponing, finding sales and saving money. When it comes to the actual shopping, though, it is usually me at the register figuring out in what order to buy things and how to group my transactions to use the least amount of cash possible. I don't mind that because it can get confusing when more than one mind is trying to put things on the counter and keeping track of RRs. But, yesterday, I challenged Sean to go to the Bucksport Rite Aid solo and come home with the best deal he could find. He did GREAT! With no coupons to use and no RRs to start with, he brought home this: (4) bottles of Hand Sanitizer, (1) Burt's Bees Cough Drops, and (1) box Cepacol Sore Throat Drops. He spent $2.85 and brought home $3.50 in RRs for a PROFIT of .65¢. I'd say he successfully completed that challenge!

Transaction #1:
He bought (2) Hand Sanitizers for $1.00 each, with tax, cost out of pocket= $2.10. He paid with cash and earned (2) $1 RRs. Total cost .10¢.

Transaction #2:
He repeated this purchase exactly, except he paid with $2 RRs. Cost out of pocket= .10¢ and he earned (2) $1 RRs. Net cost. $1.90 money maker.

Transaction #3:
He purchased the Burt's Bees Cough Drops for $1.49, with tax= $1.56. He paid with $1RR and .56¢ out of pocket and earned $1.49 RR. Net cost= .93¢ money maker.

Transaction #4:
Sean bought the Cepacol Sore Throat Drops for $2.50. He paid with $1 RR, $1.49 RR, and .09¢ out of pocket and earned a $2.50 RR. Net cost= $2.41 money maker.

He paid a total of $2.85 out of pocket and left with $2.50 RR and $1.00 RR, so he made a profit of  .65¢ buying his items. I will gladly admit it: he did better than me! I spent money on my shopping trip, but I am still pleased with the overall results.

I purchased (6) bottles of Hand Sanitizer, (2) Chloraseptic Sore Throat Spray, (2) Defend (liquid) Cold & Cough Relief, (3) Comtrex: Cold & Cough, Severe Cold & Sinus, and Cold & Sinus, (3) Burt's Bees Cough Drops, (3) Cepacol Sore Throat Drops, (3) Blistex Medicated Lip Ointment, and (1) Zarbees all-natural Children's Cough Syrup.

When I reviewed the flyer online, I knew that I was going to want to stock up and that my friends and family may need some of these products in preparation for winter's cold season. Most of these items had a limit of one, except the Hand Sanitizer (which had a limit of 4 per reward card) This meant that I needed to call on my friends and family to see if I could use their reward cards. This saved them from having to shop and allowed me to stock up on more than the limit allowed. With four reward cards in hand, I was ready to visit the Broadway, Bangor Right Aid. I was going to have to be very careful to keep track of which cards and items I used together.

I started with a $5 RR (from Dove last week). My shopping was broken into seven transactions that went like this:

Transaction #1
I purchased one Defend Cold & Cough Relief for $5.99. I paid using my $5RR and $1.30 in cash. I earned a $5 RR. Total cost out of pocket $1.30.

Transaction #2
I purchased one Chloraseptic Throat Spray for $3.99 and one box Comtrex Severe Cold/Sinus  for $3.99. I paid with $5RR and $3.38 out of pocket and I earned (2) $3 RRs.

Transaction #3
I bought three Hand Sanitizers at $1 each, one Blistex Lip Ointment for $1.49, one box Cepacol Sore Throat Drops for $2.50, and one bag Burt's Bees Cough Drops for $1.49. I paid with (2) $3RRs and $2.91 out of pocket and I earned: (3) $1RR, (2) $1.49 RR, $2.50RR. (Total RRs $8.49.)

Transaction #4
I bought one Chloraseptic Throat Spray for $3.99 and one Defend Cold & Cough Relief for $5.99. I paid with the $8.49 RRs from the previous sale and $1.98 cash out of pocket. I received $5 RR and $3RR.

Transaction #5
I purchased one Comtrex Cold & Cough for $3.99, one Blistex Lip Ointment for $1.49, one Cepacol Sore Throat Drops for $2.50, and one Burt's Bees Cough Drops for $1.49. I paid with $5RR and $3RR and $1.95 out of pocket. I received $3RR, (2) $1.49RR, $2.50RR.

Transaction #6
I repeated transaction 5 for items purchased. I paid with $3RR, (2) $1.49RR, $2.50RR and $1.47 in cash and I earned $3RR, (2) $1.49RR, $2.50RR again.

Transaction #7
I purchased three Hand Sanitizers for $1 each. I paid with $3RR and .15¢ out of pocket. I earned (3) $1RR.

When I had completed my purchases, I had spent a total of  $12.68 out of pocket. I left the store with (3) $1RRs, (2) $1.49RRs, & $2.50RR =$8.48 RRs total. My net cost was $4.20 for everything I purchased.

These are the items which cost me NOTHING to purchase, I only had to pay the tax on them.

I also bought a Zarbees all-natural Children's Cough Syrup for $5.99. This item has a Single Check Rebate of $5.99, so it was free, too.

We are all stocked and ready to go for cold season. I sincerely hope that we avoid the flu again this year, but if we become ill with a sore throat or a cold/cold & sinus thing, we will have the medicine on hand to combat it.


One additional thought that I wanted to share. I had seven transactions to complete. I was not the only Customer in Rite Aid shopping. When another Customer was ready to check out their selections, I paused and moved aside and waited for them to complete their purchase. Did I have to do that? Wasn't I a Customer, too, and in line first? Well, yes, you could reason that way. But, I consider this to be in a similar vein to NEVER clearing a shelf at the store. Read more about it HERE.  It is just good manners and it is the right things to do. Most Customers are coming in for a couple of items and need to get on their way. I, too, don't want to be in the store longer than necessary, but I also choose to save money by breaking things into smaller transactions, so I can roll my RRs and use them to the best advantage. Please, readers, be considerate to others.

One additional perk to kind behavior: in my experience, the cashiers really appreciate it and I cannot repeat this enough, you WANT them on your TEAM.

Sonja ♥

Free Betty Crocker Give Away Package

A good friend of mine has been blogging for MANY years. Occasionally she is given some super prizes from companies to give away to her readers. Her current give away is sponsored by Betty Crocker and interested me immediately. Maybe I won't win. Maybe I will. But, it cost me nothing to enter and gives me a chance to win this goodie package.

And, I can really use new cupcake tins.

You can enter to win HERE.

Sonja ♥

FREE M&M's at Swan Lake Grocery

Swan Lake Grocery has M&Ms on sale for
2/$1.00. Use (2) $1.50/3 M&Ms from Sunday Insert to get Six Bags for FREE!

Yummy Little Freebie!

Sonja ♥

Oops! I reviewed my coupon just as I was at the checkout to discover that the offer was for $1.25/3. Final Cost for 6 bags of M&Ms .50¢ for all. Still, not a bad deal, but not free. Sorry.