Friday, May 29, 2009

Free Chocolate Friday!

Click HERE to sign up for a free Mars chocolate bar today and every Friday morning until the end of the promotion! Each household can get up to four candy bars (over four weeks), so go back every Friday morning to sign up for another coupon. But hurry...They go FAST!

Mmm...Chocolate tastes better when it's free...

Monday, May 25, 2009

What's a girl to do with so much time?

Why, make granola, of course!

When perusing a financial blog last week, I ran across a link to a granola recipe that was posted on The New York Times' website. I decided to give it a try today. Here's the recipe for those interested:
Ingredients
-6 cups rolled oats (not quick-cook or instant)
-2 cups mixed nuts of choice
-1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
-1 tsp cinnamon
-dash of salt
-1/2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup to taste
-1 cup raisins or other dried fruit

Preheat oven to 350. Stir together all ingredients but raisins. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. When browned, remove from pan and add raisins. Store in refrigerator, will keep for weeks.

Boy, did this stuff smells good when baking! After serving up the granola on some vanilla yogurt for our breakfast, I decided to try making homemade granola bars for our breakfasts this week. Here's the recipe (which I tweaked):

Ingredients
-3 cups granola
-1/4 cup honey
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1/4 cup butter

Combine butter, honey, and brown sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil. Pour over granola while stirring. When combined, press into a 8x8 pan lined with wax paper. Cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, then cut into 8 bars. Store in refrigerator for up to a week.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

CVS freebies for today

Three weeks later, and there are finally some CVS deals worth blogging about! Thank goodness my CVS takes expired ECBs...Otherwise, I would have been in a tough spot with deals being so scarce.

Here's how things went today:

Bought:
  • Playtex Gentle Glide, $3.99, get $3 ECB
  • 2 x Band-aids, $2.99, get $2 ECB (limit 2)
  • Colgate Total Advanced, $2.99, get $2 ECB
  • Revlon nail color, $3.99, get $3 ECB
  • Clearasil daily cleanser, $3.99, get $3.99 ECB (FREE!)

Subtotal = $20.94

Coupons used:

  • $4 off $20 purchase CVS Q (from scanner machine)
  • $1 Playtex Mfr. Q (came with a sample in the mail)
  • 2 x $1 Band-aid Mfr. Q (from inserts)
  • $1 Colgate Mfr. Q (from insert)
  • $1 Revlon Mfr. Q (from insert)
  • $1 Clearasil Mfr. Q (from insert)

Total after coupons = $0.46. Tax was $0.60. I put the total of $1.06 on a CVS gift card, and then got back $15.99 in ECBs. That's a profit of $4.45 for today!

For those who may not know, it's easy to find which Sunday insert a particular coupon came in by searching the database here: http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/coupon.php. Looking for the Colgate coupon? Search for "Colgate Total" and see what comes up. Even printable coupons are added to the database regularly, so always check for coupons before making your CVS or Kroger trips!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Back in the game!

I haven't posted much about CVS over the past few weeks due the lack of truly good deals. I made a trip here and there, but nothing worth mentioning. Until today, that is!

Here's today's swag:

Transaction:

  • 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, 3/$10, get $5 ECB
  • 2 Adidas deodorants, $3.99 each, get $3 ECB each
  • 1 Colgate Max Fresh, $2.99, get $2 ECB
  • 1 Zantrex energy drink, $4.99, get $4.99 ECB

Subtotal = $25.96

Coupons used:

  • $5 off $25 purchase CVS coupon (from email)
  • 3 x $1 Kellogg's Mfr. coupons (click here and here to print your own)
  • 2 x $1 Adidas Mfr. coupons (from 4/05/09 Red Plum insert)
  • $1 Colgate Max Mrf. coupon (from 4/26/09 SmartSource insert)

Subtotal after coupons = $14.96. I paid with $15 worth of ECBs (adjusted down to $14.96) and put the remaining $0.77 of tax on a CVS gift card. I got back a total of $17.99 in ECBs, which makes today's transaction a decent money-maker!

Wow, I love getting paid to take my favorite cereal. : )

And if that wasn't great enough, I was pleasantly surprised to get a $4/$20 CVS coupon at the scanner today...on BOTH our cards! This might be a universal thing, so all you ExtraCare customers out there should run to the nearest scanner machine! Because after all, great deals begin with a great $/$$ CVS coupon.

Now I'm off to do some planting. In the rain. : )