It pays to call Customer Service

Look at my brand new food processor! She retails for $99.99!  I got her for free! Yes FREEEEEEEE!  Thanks to my ingenious husband!  Last summer I bought a much less gorgeous model on clearance for $30.00.  The box was damaged and I knew it had been returned but I took a chance.  It worked! We were so thrilled!  At Christmas time I took it over to my sister's for what must be the 1oth annual Cookie Baking Day, and it would not start!  I brought it home and told my hubby and as most men would, he assumed it was user error.  I put it away and did not think of it again.  Two weeks ago I wanted to use it, and, surprise surprise,  it still did not work.  Hubby tried it, and well, he must not know how to use a food processor either.  He took out the manual and called Oster and we did not have a receipt but these come with a two year warranty-which we also had no paperwork for.  Unfortunately, Oster does not make that model anymore so we were just going to have to make do with a shiny, beautiful new model, with her attachment for making juice, and french fries, and an extra blade, and the little spatula, and they all come in this cozy little attachment container (pictured below).    Yes, those are canned Green Beans behind it- on sale at our local Price Chopper for $1.29 per lb this week.  Oh, and in the picture above?  I made my own homemade peanut butter tonight!  The can of peanuts was $3.49 at Target and will make about 5 jars!  The added benefit-I can add as little sugar or other additives as possible!

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Enfamil Family Beginnings

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Redbox- Free Movie Monday

 

Join the redbox text club and receive a promo code for a free movie on the first Monday of every month

June 4th is National Donut Day

Friday June 4th is National Donut Day! Dunkin Donuts is giving away a free donut with any drink purchase!

If you have a Krispy Keme near you go here to see how to get a free donut and for a list of participating stores.

Free Sample Pampers Cruisers

 

Vocalpoint is offering a free sample of New Pampers Ultra Thin Cruisers!  These will surely run out FAST!

Free Samples Every Day in May!

All You is giving away free samples every day in May!  So far they have had a sample of Dove Haircare, GasX, a pet safety kit, and today is a Tampax Being a Girl Kit.  Go here for the details.

Free Thank you cards

Go here for a chance to win free thank you cards from Dove...no purchase necessary

Free Calendar from Annie''s Homegrown & Kiwi Magazine

Annie's & Kiwi Magazine have teamed up to give you a free 2010 calendar when you buy one Annie's Homegrown product. The calendar has over $11.00 in coupons inside! Go here for more information!

Free Samples from Unilever

Get a Free Sample of Hellmann's Light here

Free Sample of Degree Women Fine Fragrance here

Free Foil from Reynolds Wrap in Honor of Earth Day

In Honor of Earth Day Reynold's wrap is offering you a $3.99 rebate. The Form is available here and limited in quantity. Be the first to print one April 22nd starting at 4:22AM.

Also, you can sign up here for free Eco Living Tips from Ideal Bite. They send you a daily email with a eco friendly tip that you can work into your life. I personally subscribe to this site and it has been great learning how to increase my recycling and eco living habits to help the planet.

Walgreens is offering a free reusable shopping bag and a coupon for 15% off your in-store purchase. Go here to print your coupon.

Aveeno is also offering a free reusable bag to the first 1,000 respondents here

Free Rabies Clinic!!!!!!

Tonight we took our little guy Gizmo to the FREE Rabies Clinic sponsored by the Saratoga County Animal Health Shelter and Saratoga County Public Health Nursing Service. He just turned 13 and was in need of a shot, and we decided to try this. We were about an hour and half early, got in line and then got Gizzy out of the car when it was close to his turn- or so we thought. the fresh air did him wonders anyway, and now he is vaccinated until 2012 and it was completely free!!!! This is a wonderful resource in these tough economic times. The vaccinations are free for dogs, cats, and domestic ferrets. The schedule in Saratoga County for 2009 is as follows: May 19th, June 16th, July 7th & 21st, August 4th & 18th, September 8th & 22nd, October 20th, & November 17th. The vaccinations are held at the 4-H Training Center, 556 Middleline Rd., Ballston Spa, NY. Cats are vaccinated from 7PM to 8PM & Dogs from 8PM to 9PM. Ferrets are between 7PM & 9 PM. If you provide a certificate of previous vaccination your new certificate will be good for 3 years. Cats & Ferrets must be in carriers, and Dogs must be on leashes. You will want them too, there must have been over 200 animals in line-barking and crying. The were so cute though! We made some nice friends! the number to the animal shelter is 885-4113. If you do not live in Saratoga County contact you local county office to find out if they offer the same program.

Now, Gizmo will be getting his license updated and is off to the groomer!

Why do I buy things I don't use?

Here was a question posed to me this weekend regarding my Wags and CVS'ing - Do you really use all of those things? Will you really use 5 bottles of Listerine? Well, here is my answer - Somebody will! Somebody will use it! Well...like who? Here are some ideas...

1. Barter ~ I have diet shakes that my sister likes and she has Children's motrin and no children. Sometimes when a friend does me a favor like watches my kids or cuts my child's hair for free, it's nice to be able to give her a little goodie bag in return. Wouldn't it be great if we all started stockpiling free items and could trade them with others for things we really need?

2. Food Pantry or Shelter ~ These places are very hard-pressed for food and household items right now. Wouldn't you feel great if you could drop off a box of brand-new health & beauty items, food and cleaning products every month? Helping others while helping yourself save money (plus it satisfies my shopping urge) is a great way to share the wealth! I'm sure a woman's shelter would be happy to get extra make-up and nail polishes to help woman getting back on their feet, re-entering the job market, etc. I know I feel better when I look pretty!

3. Friends & Family ~ I bet if you thought about it for a few minutes you could come up with at least 3 families you know who are struggling right now. Drop an anonymous bag off on their porch one night.

4. FreeGift It ~ Have items on hand so you don't have to do last-minute (pay full-price) gift shopping. Nail polish, body washes, razors, shaving gel, etc. make nice gift bags for friends. Each year at Christmas, I have a specific budget for every person/couple on my list. This year I spent my usual budget on their gift but because of all my freebie shopping I was able to gift everyone little extras in their bags - nail polish, razors, truffles (yummy), cans of nuts, etc. With the recent economy TANK, it's nice for me to be able to GIVE MORE, instead of cutting back.

5. Garage Sale or Ebay ~ One blog reader told me that she's been shopping this way for over a year and made $200 at her yard sale summer with her Freebies! That's good business "cents!"

I'm sure a box of "free" diapers you bought at CVS would go really quickly on craigslist for 1/2 price!



I rarely buy food we won't eat because it's cheap (unless it's a CVS moneymaker) but I have found that using q's and rebates has allowed me to buy some more expensive brand-name products for less. We've also gotten to try some foods we might not have otherwise tried if it wasn't dirt cheap and didn't fit into my grocery budget.



And while we're at it, let's go over one of my recent CVS transactions to show why I "buy" something I don't need to get something else for free ~ I just want to make it clear that I don't spend real money to get other things for free.

Transaction:

5 bottles of listerine at @ $2.99 (w/ $2.99 ecb's) = $14.95 (with 14.95 ecb's back)

1 jar of peanut butter @ $3.29 = $3.29

Total = $18.24

-5 $1.00 listerine q's

-$.35 skippy q from newspaper inserts

-$3/$15 CVS q that they emailed me

Gives me a grand total of $9.89 for 5 bottles of listerine and 1 jar of peanut butter

I pay with $10 ecb's (you don't get change with ecb's) and I get $14.95 ecb's back. I used no real money out of my pocket and I made $4.95 on this deal.

Next time I go to CVS I will have $14.95 to spend!

I have used this method so many times with only spending very little out of pocket, that I have "earned" more ecb's than I've spent. Right now I have $45 ecb's to spend.

To some it may be a waste of time to figure it all out and that's okay. For me it's a thrill and a challenge and I love it! Why pay $2.29 at Wal-Mart when you can get it at CVS for free?
-Heather

25 Free Music Downloads !!!!!!

Everyday through December 25th Amazon.com is unveiling a new Holiday Song to download for FREE!!!

Go to Amazon to get yours!!!!!!