FREE Kindle Cookbooks!

Let me just say that I think these are great for kids as well as adults. I downloaded all three to my IPad (for FREE) and will be using them as a bonding oulet for me and my kids as we all love to cook.

Snag your FREE copies before the start charging for them.

Circle of Friends Cookbook - 25 Mac & Cheese Recipes
Circle of Friends Cookbook - 25 Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
Circle of Friends Cookbook - 25 Meatloaf Recipes

**HOT** Baby Bjorn Baby Carrier - $68 (FREE SHIPPING)

If you're familiar with the Baby Bjorn baby carriers, then you're also familiar with their hefty price tag! This on is regularly $119.99 but right now it's on sale for $68 with FREE 2 days shipping via Amazon Prime! That's a wicked sweet deal! If you want in, don't delay. Amazon's price change without notice.

The secret to shopping for FREE at CVS!

A few years ago, I wrote a tutorial on how to shop at CVS, with little to no money out of pocket. Recently, I've been asked by numerous people, to explain how it works. So, in order to help all of my fellow freebie seekers and deal finders, I am republishing my "how to" tutorial.

You'll want to make sure to set aside some time as this is a long read.

Step 1 is to signup for an extra care card. This is a discount card used at CVS. Without it you will NOT get the sales prices listed and you will NOT earn rewards!! You can signup in the store and instantly get your card, or you can signup online at www.cvs.com and wait about 2 weeks for your card to arrive.

MAKE SURE TO HAND THE CASHIER YOUR EXTRA CARE CARD WITH EVERY TRANSACTION YOU DO!!

Abbreviations:
OOP= Out of pocket
MIR = Mail in rebate
ECB = Extra care buck(s)
HBA = Health and beauty aids
Bogo or B1G1 = Buy 1 get 1 free
YMMV = Your mileage may vary
FAR = Free after rebate
MFR = Manufacturer

The above are commonly used abbreviations when posting about CVS.

What is an ECB exactly?
An ECB is a reward that you earn. There are weekly ECB deals and monthly ECB deals. The weekly deals are found in your sunday paper (the CVS sales ad) and the monthly deals are found at your local CVS (usually at the front of the store). Another GREAT place to find the deals in ADVANCE is by going to www.iheartcvs.com

In order to earn ECB's, you must complete the necessary requirements for the qualifying purchase(s). Let's say one of the deals this week is for Dawn dishsoap (this is just an example). For every 2 bottles of dawn that you buy, you earn $1 in ECB's, but there's a limit of 5. That means you can earn $1 in ECB's, 5 times. So, if you want all $5 in ECB's you would have to purchase 10 bottles of dawn.

I'm sure you're thinking "but that would cost me way more then I would earn. What's the point"? Well, here's how you play the game...

It says in the cvs ad that dawn is $1 a bottle. You'd have to spend $2 to earn $1 in ECB's. Well, you now look through your coupons (save EVERY COUPON...even ones you would NEVER think to use). Wait, you just found $1off of 1 bottle of dawn.. even better, you have 2 coupons for $1 off!! Not only will you get both bottles of dawn for FREE, but you'll earn $1 in ECB's! Note: You can check ebay in advance for bulk coupons that match up coming sales.

ECB's print at the bottom of your receipt as SOON as you earn them. You do NOT have to buy all qualifying items at one time to earn the ECB's. As long as you fulfill the requirements within the time frame (a week if it's a weekly ECB deal or a month if it's a monthly ECB deal) then you will be rewarded with ECB's. They will print as soon as you complete the requirements.

Don't have coupons to go along with the sale? No problem. You can do a google search for coupons that accompany the items you wish to purchase. You may (or may not) find printable coupons. Most printable coupon websites only allow you to print the coupon 2x. So if you want to buy coupons in bulk I recommend ebay.com

Again the above product deal was just an example. This was a deal they ran a couple weeks ago. Each week there are different ECB deals..and each month there are additional ECB deals.

What can I do with my ECB's I earn?
This is the best part. You can use them on ANYTHING in the store except prescriptions, tobacco and alcohol.

How soon can I use my ECB's?
You can spend them the SECOND you earn them. ECB's DO expire though. You have 30 days to use them from the date you earn them. There will be an expiration date printed on them for your convenience.

How can I keep getting things without using all my ECB's?
This is what we CVS'ers call "rolling". In order to "roll" your ECB's, you want to use them towards other deal's that earn you ECB's. Here's an example.

Let's say that this week CVS has revlon blush for $9.99 and you earn $9.99 in ECB's for that purchase. Now let's say you have $10.00 ECB. You would pay for your revlon blush with the $10 ECB. You would now have your blush AND $9.99 in ECB's.

So to break it down, you get FREE makeup AND you earn ECB's. Since your $9.99 ECB just printed, you now have another 30 days before it expires. You just "rolled" your ECB to last longer.

What about tax?
You will be required to pay sales tax on your purchases. Each state has a different % that they tax but it's never more then pocket change.

CVS's coupon policy
You are allowed to use one manufacturers (mfr) coupon and one CVS coupon per item. So, if Huggies diapers were on sale for $8.99, and you had a manufacturers coupon for $3 and a CVS coupon for $3 off, you can combine them together and only spend $2.99.

To make it even sweeter though, you can also use your ECB's too. Here's another example:

Let's say your total after coupons is $4. You have a $3 ECB and a $5 ECB. What do you do? Well that's really up to you. You can pay with the $3 ECB and then pay the difference OOP (out of pocket), or you can give them the $5 ECB and pay nothing out of pocket.

VERY IMPORTANT.. If you decide to use the $5 ECB, it is in your best interest to ad an item to your order that is worth about a dollar. The reason for this is that you do NOT get refunded the difference. So if your total is $4 and you pay with a $5 ECB, you're gonna lose out on $1. So your best bet is to find something in the store worth about a dollar.

Are there any other ways to save even MORE money? ABSOLUTELY! If you signup at www.cvs.com and link your email to your account, you will occasionally get coupons sent to you from cvs. These are WONDERFUL!

The most commonly emailed coupon is $4/$20. This means you get $4 off your total if you spend $20. This means you have to spend $20 BEFORE coupons, NOT AFTER coupons.

Example:

You have 10 coupons for $1 off of 1 johnson and johnsons buddies bar soap. These are a dollar or less. So your total so far is about $10 BEFORE coupons. You need to add another $10 worth or stuff before you can use the coupon.

You decide you wanna get some cereal. But wait! They cereal is b1g1 AND you have coupons for $2 off per box!! That's great since the cereal is normally $4.29 each! Even sweeter deal! Turns out the cereal earned you $2 in ECB's if you spent $10 on it!

Now let's calculate this. You already have $10 worth of stuff in your cart. You need to spend atleast $10 more. You would need to buy 3 boxes of that cereal (and get 3 free). Lucky for you, you have 6 of those $2 off coupons (yes, you CAN use a coupon on a free item).

So here's your total so far..

10 bars of buddies soaps = $10
6 boxes of cereal (bigi) = $12.87 (plus you'll earn $2 in ECB's)

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS $22.87

After the cashier rings up your items, hand them your $4/$20 FIRST!!!!!!!!! Then hand them your other coupons. Here's what will happen..

$22.87 minus $4/$20 coupon = $18.87
$18.87 minus 10 coupons for $1 off buddies = $8.87
$8.87 minus 6 coupons for $2 off cereal = -$3.13

I bet you're thinking "but that's a NEGATIVE balance". yes it is. So what do you do about it??? Remember, we talked about this earlier... You add items to your cart to fill in that balance.. Yep, MORE free stuff!! Go ahead, pick up ANYTHING you want that will fill that balance. How about a 12 pack of coke? Or a tub of baby wipes? Whatever your choice is, just keep it around the $3 mark.

All you'll be left paying is sales tax AND YOU LEAVE WITH $2 in ECB's!! You just made a profit and got 10 bars of soap, 6 boxes of cereal, and whatever item(s) you added to your cart to fill out the negative balance!

I have a BOGO coupon and CVS is having a BOGO sale. Can I use the coupon?

ABSOLUTELY! These are the best! You pay NOTHING out of pocket and get twice the amount of product. If you're wondering how this works, it's simple. The manufacturer pays YOUR portion of CVS's BOGO sale. So you pay nothing but tax and get 2 items (for each BOGO coupon you have)

You can also join the CVS advisory panel. They'll send you a survey every once in a while and pay you in ECBs! (Thanks to Nikki for reminding me to add this)

I think this is pretty much all for basic CVSing. Here are some photo's of my great finds at CVS. If there are any questions or maybe things I forgot, please let me know!

HAPPY CVSing!

 

FREE Pizza Hut Pizza!

Keep your eye on the Pizza Hut Facebook page today. They'll be giving away 1,111 FREE pizzas! Good luck!

*FREE* $10.00 credit to Gaggle Of Chicks!

Sign up for Gaggle of Chicks and get a *FREE* $10.00 credit. Refer your friends and get $10.00 after they make a purchase!! Today's Deal is a $30.00 gift Certificate to Head Chefs for $20.00, use your credit and you get a $30.00 gift certificate for $10.00!!!! Head Chefs has fun cooking utensils for your kids, like the ones in the picture!! Gaggle of Chicks offers a New Deal every day. So if you don't like this deal, hold on to your credit and save it for something else. I used mine for a personalized kids book that I got for $3.00 shipped after my credit. I love their deals!!! If you sign up, let us know what you spend your credit on!! Happy Saving!!!

Join Smile.ly for *FREE* stuff!!

If you like FREE stuff, you should join Smile.ly! From time to time they post new 'missions' for FREE product tests. When they post the new 'missions' you can choose to accept them, then your products will be mailed out by a date specified on the site. You can then earn smiles to bring your status up. You get smiles everytime you share, refer a friend, review the product, etc. I signed up a few months ago and got a pack of FREE Schick Quattro for Women Disposable Razors. They currently do not have any new missions available for me at this time. But they also show you missions available for your age and info. I'm sure a new sample mission will be coming up soon. So why not join today so you will be the first to know when new missions become available. You can head over to the Smile.ly page and join, then let us know which missions you get accepted for!!! We'd love to hear what others are getting as well.

*FREE* Stuffed Crust Pizza from PizzaHut on New Years Day (first 1,111 people)

Become 1 of 1,111 Who Gets a Stuffed Crust Pizza
To take advantage of the offer, "Like" Pizza Hut on Facebook (facebook.com/pizzahut) and keep an eye out for Pizza Hut's status update that announces the offer (and terms) on Jan. 1, 2011. Then, act fast -- the first 1,111 to click on the link on Pizza Hut's Facebook wall and provide contact information, will receive a $10 Pizza Hut gift card good towards the purchase of a Stuffed Crust Pizza.

To read the full story, go to the press release HERE.

This is a **HOT** offer and will probably go FAST! I'll be there trying to get my FREE pizza...if I remember LOL It is New Years after all. Do you have any New Year's Eve plans?? A tradition? A party? Staying in for the night? Tell us...we'd love to hear it!

**HOT OFFER** $10 off $10 or More with FREE shipping at TomToms.com!!!!

Head over to TomToms.com and use Code: Welcome123d for $10 off $10 or more with FREE shipping!!! Search to find the best deal for you! They have GPS cases for $5.95 and $4.95 making your total after entering the code around $1.00!!! Hurry, they will be selling out fast!!!! Let us know what you snag with this code! :)

*FREE* Leather Keychain from Marlboro for Smartphone users

If you have a smartphone, go to Marlboro.com on your phone and select your FREE gift of a Leather Keychain!! If you are a new user, you will have to register. Note you must be 21 or older to register for Marlboro. You can get free coupons as well. Plus they offer great freebies all throughout the year. This freebie may not be for you, but we try to post all the deals and freebies we find.

**HOT** Sterling Silver and White Sapphire Inside-Outside Hoop Earrings $23.45 (FREE SHIPPING)

Ooooh....shiney! I love these earrings. They're beautiful and oh so reasonably priced (now that they're on sale). These gorgeous Sterling Silver and White Sapphire Inside-Outside Hoop Earrings are marked WAY down from $98.00 to $23.95! You also get FREE 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime! Uh-may-zing!

**HOT** Sketchers Shape Ups - $49.90 (FREE SHIPPING)

STOP THE PRESS!! This is one sale you DON'T want to miss! If you're like me, you've been wanting a pair of Skechers Shape Ups for quite a while. The only thing stopping you from buying them, is the hefty price tag. I just can't afford to spend $115 on a pair of sneakers (which is their retail value). What I can afford though, is $49.90 plus FREE 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime!

These comes in several different colors (even plain white). All of which are on sale! Be sure to snag this deal right away. I KNOW they won't last!!

*FREE* LeapFrog Tag Book still available!!!

Create your childs LeapFrog Learning Path and get a FREE Tag book. You can choose between Tag Junior ABC Alphabet Orchestra (ages 2-4) or LeapFrog Tag Ozzie and Mack (ages 4-8). These are GREAT freebies!!! And I've received one of each books for FREE. One for my youngest and one for my oldest. Let us know which Freebies you snag. :)

*FREE* 10 day supply of Bare Escentuals new matte foundation (in store)

Print this page and bring it to your Sephora counter at your local JCPenneys for a FREE 10 day supply of Bare Escentuals NEW Matte Foundation.

*FREE* Lancome 10 day Custom Foundation Supply + Lash Drama Makeover (in store)

Click here to print out the card and take it to your local Lancome counter to receive your FREE 10 day Custom Foundation Supply + Lash Drama Makeover!

*Free* Sample Program at Sweet Libertine Mineral Cosmetics

Read about their FREE sample program here.

If you want to get a Sweet Libertine Mineral Eyeshadow Sample pack, please send a self-addressed stamped business size envelope to:

Sweet Libertine Cosmetics
2621 Ashland Ave. Suite 2
Cincinnati Ohio 45206

INTERNATIONAL FOLKS: Please include an International Reply Coupon, available at your local post office.

*FREE* Clear Trash Bags!

Request 1 free sample of 43x48 .0008 Clear Trash Bags by clicking here and submitting the form. Let us know if you snagged this freebie! We can all use trashbags!!!!

*FREE* Decal with your school/team name/colors!!!!!

To get your FREE decal personalized with your School/Team's Name and/or Color, click here and fill out the form. Your kids friends will all want one of these!! Let us know if you snagged this freebie!

Join Tarte Tokens for a *FREE* Birthday gift and earn tokens for *FREE* samples and giftcards!

Sign up with Tarte Tokens and you can get a *FREE* gift on your birthday. Also you can earn tokens to get FREE samples and even FREE giftcards! To join now click here! Let us know what you get with the tokens you earn!!! My birthday is coming up - so I'll be sure to share the 'gift' I get! :)

*FREE* Save Wikileaks T-shirt

Some will want this, others will not. If you do want this FREE shirt, click here and submit the form. We definitely do not want to offend anyone. We just try to post all the deals and freebies we find. :o)

Extreme Couponing on TLC at 8pm (est)

If you are in to saving money and couponing or maybe want to see how some people do it, then you don't want to miss this show!! Starting tonight at 8pm (est) TLC premieres their new show Extreme Couponing! You can read up on the show here and get a sneak peek at some of the savings these people snag! Set your DVR's or the auto-tuner! You don't want to miss this show! I know I could personally use some tips at how to best use my coupons to save big and sometimes 'stock up' on a few things. I tend to not be very organized with my coupons. So I will definitely be watching this show! Let us know if you plan to watch. Do you coupon? Are you a BIG saver? Do you stock up on items? Or could you care less? lol Let us know!! We'd love to hear what you have to say!

FREE Sample from HydroPeptide!

Head on over to the HydroPeptide Facebook page, and request your FREE sample. Hurry, these won't last!

Make Money with Twitter!

Have a Twitter account? Want to use it to make money? Now you can! Sponsored Tweets is a program that allows you to to make money, just by auto tweeting for advertisers. You choose which advertisers you want to work with, as well as how much you want to be paid. When your followers click on a tweet that's been posted on behalf of an advertiser, you make money. It's as simple as that!

Sign up NOW to start earning that $$$

*FREE* Zoodles web browser for kids! A must have for parents!!!

You can get Zoodles web browser for FREE for your computer, iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Android! You can set up a personalized play area for each child with games and activities just for their age and skill level! Zoodles is a kid oriented web browser free of inappropriate ads. Your child stays on the zoodles browser and only goes to kid friendly pages. Visit the Parent Dashboard to learn about your child, set time limits, customize it to your families needs, and more.

I am so happy I found Zoodles. My 3 year old loves to play on 'her' browser. Once she learned to work the mouse (with the help of her Mimi and the 'magic' button), she became a pro! No more worrying about her going to all kinds of sites by accident or getting off of her game page. It's all right there... safe, easy, and fun! She's learned so much from the different activities. She has her 'favorites'. She now knows how to navigate the browser, which is very easy, just the click of the 'magic' button. She loves to feed lucky and do art on the doodle pad. Any parent who has a child who likes to get on the computer should check out this site. You just download Zoodles, personalize it, and your all set! For more information and to download Zoodles for FREE, click here.

FREE NFL reusable tote bag - First 20,000 only HURRY!

Enter to win a $15 giftcard from Dollar General and if you are one of the first 20,000 to sign up you get a FREE NFL reusable tote bag!!!! Hurry - this one will go fast! (Limit one per household)

Year End Deals on Amazon - Up to 75% OFF select clothing items with FREE super saver shipping!

Year End Deals on Amazon - Up to 75% OFF select clothing items! Head over to Amazon to get some great deals on clothing! Up to 75% off Holiday Clearance, Up to $25 off stock-up sale!! Now's the time to spend some of your Christmas money or Amazon Credit and snag some AWESOME deals! Have a great new look for the New Year!!! Be sure to share with us here or on our Facebook page the deals you snag, we want to know! :)

Moon Dough Magic Barnyard 60% OFF at Amazon and eligible for FREE shipping! Only $7.99!!

Moon Dough Magic Barnyard
Price: $7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on Amazon. Regularly 19.99, that's 60% OFF!!! Just put your Dough in the Barn, turn the handle and your favorite animals come out. Great gift for your creative kids. Moon Dough NEVER dries out, so you can keep playing and creating over and over again! Let us know if you snagged this deal!!

**HOT** Fisher Price Easy Link Internet Launch Pad - $9.99 (FREE SHIPPING)

You may remember a fairly recently post where I mentioned that the Fisher-Price Easy Link Internet Launch Pad was marked down on Amazon at $12.99. If you did not purchase one or you wish you'd snagged another, NOW is a great time to do so.

Amazon has this item liquidated at $9.99 with FREE shipping via Amazon Prime! This is one heck of a deal and I doubt it will be this low again. These are regularly $39.99!

Product Features:

• The Easy Link Internet Launch pad makes it easy for kids to visit preschool appropriate websites to play online games!
• It connects easily to your computer via USB and when kids plug a character figure into the Easy Link Internet Launch pad, they are taken directly to that character's website.
• Once a character is plugged in, kids are only allowed to visit pages on that website until they plug in a different character, keeping them away from unsafe websites and from getting into your computer's files.
• Kids play the online games on the different websites by using your computer's current mouse and the arrow keys on the Easy-Link Internet Launch pad.
• 3 easy link figures included are Elmo, Dragonland, and Fisher-Price. (8 additional Easy-Link figures sold separately) When parents want to go back to normal computer use, they can enter a pass code to turn the Easy Link off.

**HOT** Colby Digital Photo Keychain - $7.66 (FREE SHIPPING)

Well lookie here! Yet another fabu deal! The Coby 1.5-Inch Digital Photo Key Chain is marked down from $29.99 to $7.66! That's 74% OFF!!! To top it off, you get FREE shipping with Amazon Prime!!! I LOVE awesome deals like this!

Do you teach your kids how to budget?

As a mother of 5, being conscientious about spending is a MUST! It's not easy to provide for once child, let alone 5, so I have become quite the frugal shopper. It's become a large part of my lifestyle and so I started teaching my children VERY early on, about the value of a dollar.

My children earn an allowance but there's more to it then a quick buck. I have explained to them that their chores are like having a job. You cannot expect to be paid for a job that you did not do, or did not complete. They are expected to earn their money, which is turn makes them value it much more then if I had just handed it to them.

On of my favorite moments was when my daughter asked if I could take her shopping (with the money she had earned and been saving). We went to walmart and browsed through the isles. There were several items she was interested in, but decided against them as they were over priced. Her words were "that's to much money".

We eventually made out way down the clearance isles and she found several items that peaked her interest. She had been asking to redo her bedroom and this helped. For $40, she was able to get a rug, a lamp, 2 throw pillows, a comforter and a picture frame. She even left the store with plenty of money in her wallet.

I was very proud to see that she not only enjoys saving her hard earned money, but that she's a smart shopper. Teaching children about frugal shopping is a must these days.

Have you had "the talk" with your kids? Have you explain how important it is to budget?

Note: Be sure to check out the iVillage app!

Gillette Gift Sets 44cents at WalMart!!

Some Walmarts have the Gillette Gift Sets on sale for $4.44 - Use the $4/1 coupon from the P/G Newspaper Inserts from 12/26 or 11/26 and your total will be 44cents! Can't beat that! These are AWESOME razors! Let us know if you snagged this deal!

**HOT** Kinect Games for XBOX 360 - Buy One Get One 50% OFF!

SWEET deal on Kinect games! Amazon has these awesome Kinect games Buy one get one 50% OFF!! Snag these before they're gone! Shipping is also FREE with Amazon Prime!