To Remember Your Shopping Bags:

How great an idea is this??? 

Get a FREE Static Window Cling for your car!

Go HERE to get this static cling, to help you remember your bags. This is NOT a sticker (I hate stickers on the windows -- they never come off when I want them to) -- its one of those clingy things that somehow magically holds itself to the window for you.  You can put it in the corner of your windshield like the oil-change reminder or the beach pass sticker.  Or I'm thinking I can cling it right to the glass of the dashboard --- over some little used and unimportant dial  --- )at least until my husband and I trade cars again and he has a stroke and removes it)  

(Limit 2 free clings per household. Please allow 2 - 4 weeks for processing.)

I just got done ordering mine --- Look out CVS – I will not be forgetting my bag and bag-tag again soon. 

Super Thanks to Frugal Living and Having Fun

Quiz Time!!

Okay friends --- its quiz time.  One of my favorite bloggers, FishMama has posted the Top Ten Ways to Know You're a Grocery Geek (her term and I love it --- I usually call myself a Coupon Maven --- same thing)

So -- I dare you!!  Go here to her post and see how many apply to you.  Come back and put your score in the comments section. 

How geeky are you??? (personally, I scored a perfect 10 and some serious laughter from my husband on this one)

So --- how'd you do???

Free Hallmark Card for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is coming up (in case you hadn't noticed) You can create a FREE customized paper card from Hallmark. This is a $3.49 value!

All you need to do is head over to Hallmark, pick out a card that is priced at $3.49 and personalize it. (Watch the price --- this won't work if you pick a card that isn't $3.49, silly) The personalizing is actually kind of fun -- you can play with all kinds of things.

Enter promotional code CARD4MOM when you check out. Your final cost, with shipping and handling, will be $0.

Now, if you're like me, you have a mother and a mother-in-law, both of whom would love cards for Mother's Day and both of whom have a deep appreciation for my skills at hunting down free stuff. So --- there is a second code that will get you a second card --- Wow.
Go to Hallmark and get another free card by using code APRILCARD.

And the best part of all ---- it doesn't have to be a Mother's Day card --- if you need or want to do some other kind of card, they work too.... Have fun. And remember to say "thank you Hallmark" (that was my mom channelling through me!)

Moderately Ridiculous: But Thrifty!!

Okay, some of what I do to pinch a penny borders on the ridiculous, I know. But I love when someone else sets up a deal that seems like way more work than its worth (to me). That's when I remind myself that this is a game!!

Oh, it saves me tons and tons of money --- that's true. But I have to approach it like a game -- its a sport -- shopping for sport. Like any other puzzle, I manipulate the pieces until it clicks and I "win" by getting free stuff, right?

And if you look at it that way ---- well, how much work is any game or puzzle worth?? You do it for the fun of it, for the sheer joy and exhiliration of LEGALLY walking out of a store with free stuff.

So, here's the deal that started me on this rant ---- see what you think: Do it if the game of it appeals to you -- or just giggle slightly (like I did) and pass on it. Doesn't matter -- just fun!

Go to mycokerewards.com

Enter this code: 100869373819

You have added O points..... (this is looking ridiculous already, isn't it?)

But you have a special reward from Walgreens (YAY!!!)

Click on DONE

Then Get it

Then Continue

Click on the link and a coupon will be sent to your email

Print off a coupon for a BOGO 20 ounce Coke at Walgreens

After having done all that

Save it for just a little while...

3/29 - 4/4 at Walgreens when you buy a 20oz Coke - get a free candy bar.

Follow these steps and you will receive two cokes and two candybarsfor the price of a coke.

Thanks to the CherryPicker for the strategy and the giggle.

May Flowers in February

I love flowers. I really love flowers. They just brighten the day. During the summer, I have a patch of garden just for things that bloom. I have this one silly rosebush by the end of the driveway that blooms, and blooms, and blooms. It just won't quit. And it makes me smile every single time I pull into the driveway.

This time of year, there aren't many flowers around to prompt a smile. And the ones I've seen lately have had outrageous pricetags on them.

We have an agreement at our house. No flowers on Valentine's Day. I'd rather have the same dollar value of flowers in the form of several bouquets at times when flowers are much, much cheaper.

Well, someone heard my prayers (hmmmm, maybe there are shopping gods after all). There are two flower deals this week that are too good to miss. One is a coupon, one is a sweepstakes. I'm taking advantage of BOTH

Here they are:

1. The coupon: $20 off! TravelZoo and 1-800-Flowers.com have joined marketing forces to give us a $20 coupon off any order. All you have to do is click here and register for the 1-800-Flowers.com e-mail list and they’ll send you a coupon code. The coupon codes are all individual, so you'll have to get your own -- no sharing. The offer is good until 2/14/2009. Once you get your code, it must be redeemed by 5/31/09. They do tell you up front that the coupon code may take 3-7 days to arrive in your email, so if you're planning on using this for Valentine's Day --- don't wait!! They have one or two special deals that are only $19.99, so its possible that you could get flowers by only paying tax and delivery. Free flowers are always welcomed!! (unless you raided the neighbor's garden without permission.)

2. The sweepstakes: Whole Foods is having a flowers giveaway. Ten winners will each receive a punch card good for a bunch of Whole Trade roses or Whole Trade flowers every month for a year. No purchase necessary. One per person. Click here to enter. Think about it!! Flowers every month!! Free flowers every month. I'll give it a try.

Silly Things That Make Me Feel Good: Rubber Gloves

There are some things that just make you smile. They aren't big or important. They aren't expensive or even dear. They just bring a smile to your face. Usually they are silly, stupid things. It struck me tonight that one of the silly, stupid things that brings a smile to my face every single time are the rubber gloves I wear to wash the dishes each night.

My grandmother would faint if she saw my rubber gloves. My mother makes fun of them. They were women of sturdy stock and utter practicality. Their rubber gloves were the standard yellow kind. Very functional, but nothing to ignite even the smallest of smiles.

Mine are silly, funky gloves with big cuffs printed with flowers, hearts, or leopard spots. The ones I wore tonight are pink and have pink and purple hearts all over the cuffs. They're fun. They're silly. They make me smile.

I got hooked on silly rubber gloves a few years ago, when my sister-in-law got a pair with little sponges on the fingers as a gag Christmas gift. Both she and I loved them. We didn't take them as a gag for sure. I went on the prowl to find a pair. I found them online --- for $15 a pair. They're cute and they make me smile. But for $15 they would have to make me giddy for a week at least.

Later, I found them at Marshalls and other discounters for around $3-$4 a pair. This I could live with. I could by the standard yellow gloves at BigLots for around a dollar -- or--- I could by silly gloves and a smile each night doing the dishes (or other dirty work) for $4. Seemed like a bargain to me.

Wandering through the aisles of CVS the other night trying to spend and roll my ECB from the huge free after ECB event just before Christmas, I found a box of these silly gloves in the dollar sale aisle. You know, the aisle with all of the red cardboard boxes holding all manner of silly things. There they were --- in about six different silly patterns. Sounded to me like the perfect use of extra ECB. So --- thank you CVS for buying my smiles for the next month or so. I appreciate it.