TIPS- Shopping on Amazon

Since I LOVE to shop on Amazon I thought I would do a post today and share some tips on how I shop on Amazon and are able to save money by doing so.  I have talked to a few people lately that didn't know that buying toilet paper, paper towels and other good items including Christmas Gifts can be cheaper Amazon.  I love doing my shopping on Amazon because #1 they offer a lot of great programs that provide free shipping right to your door and #2 their prices can change at anytime providing great steals on items to stock up on.  Around the holidays I start usually buying little CHEAP stocking stuffers, teachers gifts and hey if I can get something for myself for super cheap why not?!? :)

PROGRAMS offered to provide FREE shipping:

AMAZON PRIME

You can sign up for a FREE 30 day trial here Amazon Prime (which is perfect to try out through the holidays!)  You can cancel for free prior to your 30 days being up and if you decide to keep it then its only $79 a year after that.  Remember you can add additional addresses under one account and credit cards as well.  Amazon Prime also offers FREE Amazon Instant Video Streaming and  Kindle Owners Library! Also when you have Amazon Prime a lot of items will qualify you for free two-day shipping which is great when you need a quick gift or some household items and you don't have to even leave the house! So why not sign up for your FREE Amazon Prime trial today?!?

AMAZON STUDENT

If you are a college student than this will work out great for you!  You can get  Amazon Student membership for 6 mos. for FREE! Then after the 6 months is up it is only $39.00 a year.  All you need to do to qualify is have a valid .edu email address, list your college, year and major.  Amazon Student provides two-day shipping, and all the things Amazon Prime provides as well. So sign up today!

AMAZON MOM 

Calling all moms! I LOVE Amazon Mom. I have used it many times. With  Amazon Mom you get 20% off diapers and wipes and other family essentials.  You also get FREE two-day shipping.  You can sign up today for a FREE 3 month trial and after your 3 months is up it will be the $79 a year just like the Amazon Prime.  If you already have and Amazon Prime account you can sign up and they will just add it to your Amazon Prime account. 

Amazon Super Saver Shipping

Amazon also offers FREE Super Saver Shipping if your items qualify on orders $35 or more!

There you have it all the ways to qualify for FREE shipping through the holiday season.  Here are a few other awesome perks to Amazon:

Subscribe and Save Items

Certain Amazon items are eligible for Subscribe and Save.  First select an eligible item (Choose from laundry supplies, coffee pods, baby care products, and more).  Second choose the quantity and delivery schedule (pick the number of units you want to receive and the frequency of your delivery).  Third click "subscribe now" and thats it your subscription will be activated.

 Subscription Benefits

• Save up to 15% on your entire order when you receive 5 or more subscriptions on your monthly delivery day (my mom & I go in together on her account & we can each pay for our items separately however they will need to be shipped to 1 address but that way we get the 15% off)
• Receive free shipping on every Subscribe & Save shipment.
• Cancel at any time - there are no commitments, obligations, or fees
• No upfront charges - pay only when the item is shipped

Usually I will lock in a killer deal with a coupon on Amazon and use the Subscribe and Save option so I will "subscribe to it" and then put it to be delivered like 3 months down the road and then once the item is delivered I will go into manage my subscribe and save items under "my account" on the homepage of Amazon and make any further changes on if I want to cancel it or have it delivered again soon. We always have TONS of subscribe and save items under our account so we just double check them each month and make sure we actually need them delivered and that it is the correct price (because if you "clip" and Amazon coupon it will only be applied to your order once so that could effect the price for the next month)  if not we will either delete it if the price has changed due to not having another coupon or move it ahead a few months if we don't need it yet.

You can find out more info regarding the Subscribe and Save options by clicking below:

Learn more about Subscribe and Save here

Yes, Amazon has coupons that you can clip! :)

 If there is a coupon for a certain item you will usually see it under the price like shown above. You just have to "clip" it and it will be applied at check out.  You can also see all the coupons that are available here:

Amazon Coupons

Amazon Warehouse

Amazon also has an Amazon Warehouse where you can find great deals on groceries up to 50% off.  Usually these items are approaching their sell-by dates but usually when I have gotten them they still have a month or two to go.

I hope you found this post helpful and you are ready to shop from the comfort of your home! 

My Garden: Lettuce Anyone?

If you know me you know that I love to garden! This year I just did a small garden just to make sure our dog could not get to it but so far it has been a success.  Lettuce is super easy to grow and grows like a weed.  This year I just did 2 small rows but as you can see below it is producing a lot! We have been eating all kinds of yummy salads over here and giving some away to our friends & family who want some as well.  I just picked all that lettuce about a week and half ago and its ready to be picked again! I love fresh lettuce...super easy and cheap to grow! Nothing beats it.

New Target Cartwheel App- Are you using it yet?!?

Just want to make sure all you Target shoppers are using the new Target app, Cartwheel! If not sign up now! :) It is super easy you just have to have a Facebook account as it is linked to your Facebook.  This app is amazing! Here is a little bit about Cartwheel:

Welcome to a whole new spin on saving. Yes - it’s the first of its kind, but it’s super-simple. Just sign up and instantly choose from hundreds of exclusive discounts (starting at 5% and up to 30%), all available on your computer or mobile device. These aren’t one-and-done discounts. Use them as many times as you want before they expire. You can even use Cartwheel deals on top of the 5% you save everyday with Target REDcard.
The app keeps your discounts neatly organized, all ready for your next Target run. Cartwheel is a simpler, easier way to keep track of the offers you want most.

I love that you can stack these exclusive discounts on top of a Manufacturer coupon, Target coupon & your 5% Target Debit Card or Red Card! Score! Let me know if anyone has any questions. This app is really easy to use I have just been signing in on my computer and clipping the exclusive discounts & it will give you an option to print your list out & it will be printed with a barcode on it that you just show when you are checking out!  It only lets you add about 12 exclusive discounts at a time!

Free, Free & Free! -Couponing Tip

FREE box of cereal, bag of chips, 2 liter of soda, jar of pickles & buy one get one free Sabra Hummus!

Here is a little couponing TIP.  All of the above coupons I was able to score off of Facebook by "liking" their pages, they are most likely not available anymore.  Most of the time companies offer coupons whether it be for FREE items or just a high value coupon on their Facebook page.  I know a lot of people like to make a separate Facebook page just for all their couponing stuff however I usually just "like" the page and print my coupon out and then "unlike" them just so my news-feed isn't filled up with advertisements and stuff.  You can also go on your significant others account and do the same to score 2 coupons unless it says only 1 per household! Another tip is when filling out any personal  info that may require an email address I never use my regular email address either I have a separate email that I use just for couponing stuff so that my regular email doesn't get full of junk emails!

Hope this was a helpful tip!

Happy Wednesday!

Homemade Play Dough

Sorry I have been MIA for the past week and half.  It gets busy around our home around the holidays.  We have had school Christmas parties, friend/family Christmas parties, Christmas baking, out of town for 4 days and to make it even better we all got super sick over here and I ended up with strep throat! I love this time of year though being able to spend it with the ones you love and remembering the true meaning of Christmas.  Don't ever take the family time for granted especially if you live close to them because you never know what the future may hold whether they move away for school, take a job far away or have some kind of family event happen.  We have been lucky this year to spend it with most of our immediate family on both sides of the family. I love the fun that we have had and the great memories we have made with them as well!  I will be back more consistently after New Years! I hope you all great ready for some deals! :)

I know a lot of you have probably made homemade play dough before but I decided to share the recipe that I use.  I love homemade play dough because I find it a lot less sticky than the store bought kind. Its very easy to clean-up as well.  We were stuck in doors for about a week when we were all sick and the kids needed something to do so thats when I whipped out the play doough! :)

1 1/2 cups of flour

3/4 cups of salt

1 1/2 cups of water

1 TB of vegetable oil

1/2 TB of cream of tarter

food coloring

Just add all the ingredients in a saucepan on the stove and add a few drops of food coloring.

Keep mixing until the dough starts to stick more together and looks like play dough.

Remove from heat and drop onto some wax paper.

Wait a min. until it cools down and then knead it together.

After that you are done and can store in some zip lock bags!

We also use cookie cutters to play with the play dough, my boys love it!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy and safe New Year!

Our Thankful Tree

This year I decided to make a Thankful Tree for the kids for our family night. Everyday we will move a leaf from the ground up to the branches for something we are thankful for until Thanksgiving. My kids are still little so I put a picture on the leaf so that my 3 year old can visualize what it is that he is thankful for. So far so good, it has been fun to have him point to the pictures and tell me what is on the leafs and have him say "I Am Thankful for.." This was really easy to make. You can use brown trash bags for the branches or you can get some brown paper at a local school supply store for pretty cheap.  I wrote out about 23 things on paper that he would understand he is thankful for such as Jesus, Churches, Family, Food and Trains just to name a few. Then I just Google searched the images and had the leafs laminated.  You don't have to get them laminated I just have 2 small boys who like to tear, rip and eat everything so if I want to keep this tree looking good for the future it was best for me to laminate it! :) 

We have a lot to be thankful for this time of year!!

What do you use a Classico Spaghetti Sauce jar for?

As you know we like to eat pizza around (homemade pizza recipe) here, we also like to eat Spaghetti (one of my hubby's favorite meals!) Well I have found that with couponing I can usually get the Classico sauce for $1.50 or less with a coupon.  I know that Ragu can be cheaper at times, however I am picky with my sauce and I am not a fan of Ragu for some reason. Anyways I have found many useful ways to use a Classico jar around our house that makes it worth it, since it is a mason jar!

#1 The Sauce
#2 I store my yeast in the refrigerator in these jars. If you read my homemade pizza recipe one of my tips is buying the yeast in bulk at Costco is cheaper for me than buying them individual in the store. I think I remember filling up 3 jars of yeast after I bought it from Costco last year and I still have a jar and half left!
#3 We store our change/coins for our bubble gum machine (for the boys treats we let them put a coin in our bubble gum machine and out comes a piece of candy, they think its the best!)
#4 I have found that most of the Classico jars are reusable to can with when I have made jam. I just buy new lids for them, which saves me lots of money in the long run!
#5 I put some rock with a candle in some of the jars and put some wire around the top so that I can hang them out on my patio and light them when we have company!

What are some ways that you would use a Classico sauce jar for? 

Entry Table Makeover

This was my first piece of furniture that I have re-done but I think it turned out pretty well! I got this table from my really good friend and she had painted it bright green. Although I loved the color it just clashed with the green in my front room. That paint was so thick on there and was already starting to peel so the only option I had was to get it all off before I repainted it.  I know that there has to be an easier way or product to use but since this was my first time doing this and learning on my own I used some paint remover from Home Depot however it still took me 2 weeks to get all of the paint off! 

But in the end I was really happy how it turned out.

Before

Finally got all the paint off!

The finished product! I also took my old baby crib spring from when I was a baby to use to hang pictures on!

Cheap Printer Ink Refills

Just found out from a friend that Costco refills printer ink.  I stopped by there yesterday to get the details! Here is what I found out.  

Inkjet Cartridge Refill Service $7.99 or $9.99. They do some Hewlett Packard, Dell, Canon, Epson & Lexmark! Give your local Costco a call to see if they re-fill yours!

I use HP 61 & that is on the list for a $7.99 re-fill! :)

Do you Recycle?

We are BIG recyclers over here. I save every can & bottle! I just found out a few weeks ago that the PennySaver usually puts coupons out for different Recycle places for you to get more money for your bottles & cans.  The Recycle place that I go to in the Stater Brothers parking-lot will even except competitors coupons, so make sure you check it out!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I finally made my own laundry detergent! Its super easy, cheap and works great! 

I got everything at Walmart and it cost me about $10. From what I hear it last anywhere from 9-10 mos. doing about 6 loads a week. I am keeping track of mine right now and will keep everyone updated!

Here is the recipe that I used:

1 box of super washing soda

2 Zote boxes of laundry flakes

1 box of Borax

1 box of Arm and Hammer (you usually can find a coupon for this)

Optional: If you can see in the pic I had a HUGE box of Oxi Clean well I only used 1/2 of that box in my detergent. Also this was not included in the $10 I have had this box sitting around my house for awhile.  You probably could get a small one at Walmart for less than $5.

Mix everything together in a large trash bag and pour into a sealed bucket or container. Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load.

The finished product!

TIP:Couponing for Newbies-Ad Cycles in Cali

For everyone learning the basics to couponing here is a little tip for you!

Every Sunday the New Ad cycles start for:

CVS

Walgreens
Rite Aid

Target

Walmart

Every Wednesdays for all grocery stores!

Hope this helps!