Borders/Seattle's Best Coffee: Free 12 oz. beverage!

Oh, I'm excited! Borders just released a brand-new coupon and it's a sweet one. Go here to print your coupon for a free 12 oz. beverage from Seattle's Best Coffee. No purchase necessary! Good through May 6, 2009. One coupon per customer.

I think my husband and I are going to have to sneak in a date to Borders here in the next few days!

A huge thanks to Heather for finding this wonderful coupon!

Free sample of Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal

Go here to get a free sample of Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal. (Thanks, Trista!)

Free sample of BabyGanics All-Purpose On-The-Go Cleaner

Go here to request a free 2 oz. sample of BabyGanics All-Purpose On-The-Go Cleaner.

Target: Special K cereal and crackers for $0.39/box

Now that you have an abundance of Kellogg's cereal coupons, here's one way to use them: Target is running a deal this week that when you buy 5 Special K products, you'll get a $5 Target gift card.

Buy any combination of 5 Special K cereals or crackers at $2.39 each
Use 5 $1/1 coupons here, here, here, or from the 4/5 RedPlum insert
Spend $6.95 plus tax out of pocket
Get a $5 Target gift card
$0.39 per box after coupons and gift card

Thanks, Christy!

See more Target deals for this week here.

More Kellogg's coupons!

I guess today is the day for cereal coupons!

Not only can you get eight different Kellogg's cereal coupons here (two of each by using your browser's back button) but you can then go here and get two more of each of these eight different coupons.

Thanks, Wicked Cool Deals!

Shoppers Food Warehouse: Triple coupons through May 6, 2009

Participating Shoppers Food Warehouse locations are currently tripling coupons (up to $0.50) and doubling coupons (from $0.51 to $1) through May 6, 2009. Check out the great deals and freebies you can snag here.

Thanks, Coupon Cravings!

Hallmark.com: Another free personalized card

Did you order your free personalized card from Hallmark.com yet? I'm excited to share that there's another free code out for another entirely free card which comes with free shipping. Use this to order a Mother's Day card or a card for another special occasion or send one to someone just because.

Here are the instructions on how to snag your free card from Freebies 4 Mom:

1. Select your Hallmark paper folded 5x7 card (I selected the "Top Reasons Photos" card because I could put 7 photos on the front, remember that you can select any paper or photo card, not just the ones featured)

2. Personalize the text/photos on the front, inside, and back of the card

3. Sign-in to your Hallmark account (or create one for free)

3. Mail it directly to your recipient so that Hallmark pays for that stamp if you'd be mailing it anyways. Select "I want Hallmark to mail this card for me" and enter your recipient's address.

4. Choose your arrival date (soonest is May 6) and then add the card to your shopping basket.

5. Enter Code: APRILCARD. The code is not case-sensitive. The total cost without the promotion card would have been $3.91. The entire $3.91 will be deducted on the order screen. Your cost - FREE!

6. Check out and "Submit Order Now". You will not be asked for any billing information because your total was $0.00.

Thanks so much for sharing another great freebie, Freebies 4 Mom!

Four free samples from Unilever

There are some great new samples out from Unilever right now:

Go here to get a free sample of the Caress Skincare Collection.

Go here to get a free sample of Hellman's Light Mayonnaise.

Go here to get a free sample of the new Degree for Women Fine Fragrance Collection.

 

Go here to get a free sample of Pond's Rejuveness Anti-Wrinkle Cream.

Thanks, Engineer a Debt-Free Life!

Staples: 20 free copies of your resume plus 40 free business cards

Staples is currently offering 20 free copies of your resume and 40 free business cards. Just stop by any Staples store between now and June 13, 2009 to get these for free. More details here.

Thanks, Frugal Fairhope!

And don't forget that Office Depot is also offering 25 copies of your resume and free faxing through May 30, 2009. More details here.

$1/1 Kellogg's cereal coupons

If you like cereal, be sure to head on over here to print out a number of different new $1/1 cereal coupons, including some for $1 off Raisin Bran, Frosted Flakes, Mini-Wheats, Kashi, Special K, and more!

According to Surviving the Stores, these coupons will make these cereals only $0.67 a box at CVS next week.

Thanks, Lauren!

Our $0.31 night of fun!

Did you get your $0.31 ice cream from Baskin Robbins tonight? We certainly did!

We've missed a lot of the other recent great food freebies and deals since I was too sick to make it out of the house. But the antibiotics are finally kicking into gear and I'm feeling much more energetic (I didn't know that was possible at 40 weeks pregnant, but compared to how sick I was last week, I feel great this week!) so we ventured out tonight to enjoy some very inexpensive and delicious ice cream.

Of course, apparently we weren't the only ones to have decided to hit up Baskin Robbins tonight. In fact, we had a hard time even finding a place to park--there were scores of people everywhere when we pulled up! The line was stretched quite far out the door but that didn't deter us. After all, patience is a virtue, right?

Waiting on the bench outside for Daddy to bring our ice cream. Kaitlynn wasn't too thrilled at having her picture taken!

And still waiting for Daddy to get to the front of the line! The girls were very patient and had a blast watching through the window as the long line of people gradually made it up to the ice cream counter.

 

Ice cream at last! Yum!

Yours truly (aka The Very Pregnant and Swollen Mama!) with my two little precious girlies.

It was a fun and memorable evening--all for only $0.31 per person!

Giveaways Galore

Do you like winning contests? If so, be sure to head over to my other blog and participate in my Baby's Birthday Guessing Game in honor of my due date today. The person who guesses my delivery date and time the closest wins some fun prizes!

Speaking of prizes, the 17 winners of the Giveaway Extravaganza are:

Elizabeth (micedp@)
Judy (jaburton@)
Lisa (lisa.honickel@)
Sarah (sarah.francisco@)
Ashley (ashleytaressa09@)
Kristin (thebrutsmanfamily@)
Bella (bella_dao@)
Arissa (rissarella@)
Kim (jkfieweger@)
Eric (eric_weis@)
Liz (eamaki@)
Tracy (oneretromama@)
Heather (mopsmom27@)
Anne Isabelle (deguatmom@)
Lisa (bljkk@)
Deb (debhallman@)
Heather (vsummerf@)

Details on claiming your prize have been emailed to you. If you failed to receive this email, please contact me.
------------------------------

Are you giving something away on your blog this week or have you found a great giveaway elsewhere on the web? If so, post your link below and let all the readers here know so they can get in on the action!

Your giveaway must be family-friendly and no-strings-attached. In addition, to make it easy to navigate, your link must go directly to your giveaway post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your giveaway post will be deleted.

Worth Reading: Balancing Computer Time and Family Life

If you are a blogger or a work-at-home mom, or if you are considering becoming either of those things, may I strongly encourage you to head over to my other blog and read some of my thoughts on the importance of prioritization and balance when it comes to the computer and family life?

I rarely do interviews, but I recently agreed to do an interview on HomemakerBarbi.com on this very subject as it is something I am passionate about. I've struggled a lot with balance since my first days of blogging and working from home and I've learned a lot of hard lessons along the way.

As I said in the interview:

"If there is one thing I could encourage every mommy blogger or work-at-home mom out there to remember, it is this: anyone can be a pretty good blogger or pretty good business owner, but there is only person who is mommy to your children and wife to your husband. Don’t let all the good things out there take precedence over the best things. You only have one life to live–make it count!"

Go over here to read the three-part interview, I share some of my thoughts and tips for having your priorities in order when it comes to blogging and computer time and what measures I take to make sure my family and home and community are my first priorities.

Carvel: Free Ice Berg (Thursday, April 30, 2009)

Are you getting your $0.31 Baskin Robbins scoops tonight? Well, guess what? There's an opportunity for completely free ice cream tomorrow!

Carvel Ice Cream is offering a free 8 oz. Ice Berg to all customers on Thursday, April 30, 2009 from 3-7 p.m. to celebrate their 75th anniversary. For those of you unfamiliar with what an Ice Berg is, it is your choice of soda blended with ice and vanilla and topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Limit one free Ice Berg per person. Read more details here. Find a location near you here.

As always, I recommend you call your store ahead of time to confirm they are participating in this promotion.

Review: Feed Your Family for $12 a Day

I was recently browsing titles at the library when my eye landed on Rhonda Barfield's book, Feed Your Family for $12 a Day. As you can imagine, I quickly scooped it up and added it to my pile of books to check out.

Although the prices in this book were outdated and most of the recipes looked very uninteresting, bland, and even downright bordering on unsavory, there were numerous practical tips, hints, and ideas in this book making it every bit worth the read.

I appreciated the author's understanding that not all of her ideas would work for every family. We're all in different seasons and situations so what method of cooking and grocery shopping works well for one family could be completely unpractical for another family. Feed Your Family for $12 a Day acknowledges this and offers a plethora of ideas which can be implemented to lower your grocery budget.

The book also addresses many common misconceptions regarding eating healthfully on a budget and walks the reader through a full year of ideas on how to make little changes to not only eat more healthfully but to greatly reduce your grocery bill in the process.

If you are just beginning to attempt to lower your grocery budget, Feed Your Family for $12 a Day would be a very helpful book to add to your reading list. And even if you're like me and have been shopping on a small budget for years, I'm quite certain you'd find inspiration and fresh ideas in these pages as well. At least I know I certainly did!

Have you read any helpful books on frugality or money recently? If so, tell us about them! I'm always looking for new book ideas to add to my reading list!

Printable coupon round-up

Go here to print a coupon for $1.50/2 Velveeta Shells and Cheese. I mentioned earlier that these would be only $0.25/box at Wal-Mart. I'm also guessing that combined with a sale, these would be quite inexpensive at a number of other stores as well. (Thanks, Lisa!)

More printable coupons:

$0.50/1 Malt-O-Meal (Thanks, Eunice!)

$0.75/1 Sure deodorant

Dove coupons (Thanks, Jennifer!)

Johnson's baby coupons (Thanks, Jennifer!)

Keebler coupon

Also, there are quite a few new printable coupons up at RedPlum. Check them out here.

Free samples of Emergen-C

Need a pick-me-up right now?  Sign up here to receive a free sample of Emergen-C, an all-natural non-caffeinated energy-boost!

Wal-Mart: A few new deals

Heather found trial size Evercare Lint Rollers at her local Wal-Mart for $0.97 each. If you find these at your store, you can use this $1/1 coupon here or this $1/1 coupon here to get them free after coupons!

Also, check to see if your store has Colgate Extra Clean Toothbrushes for $0.97 each. There was a $1/1 coupon in the 4/26 SmartSource insert which makes these free after coupons.

And finally, Erin over at Coupon Cravings said that Velveeta Shells and Cheese are on sale at Wal-Mart for $1 per box. Use the $1.50/2 coupon here to get these for $0.25 per box after the coupon.

See more current Wal-Mart deals and freebies here.

24-Hour Giveaway Extravaganza: 17 Different Winners!

As some of you know, I'm having a baby here any day. Well, at least, my due date is in a few days so that means it will be sometime soon. And I think that's cause for celebration, don't you?

So, in honor of this exciting occasion, I'm hosting a Giveaway Extravaganza. Instead of just having one prize and a few winners like we usually do for our giveaways here, we have four different prizes and there will 17 different winners. Does that sound like fun?

Here are the four different prizes you can win:

Giveaway #1: Three Berkey Portable Water Purifiers from More Than Alive

If you know me in real-life, you also likely are well-acquainted with my Berkey Portable Water Purifier. This water bottle goes with me practically everywhere and has become one of my very most-used items.

Drinking primarily water is a great way to not only keep your body well-hydrated and healthy, but it's also a way to save an enormous amount of money. But if you're like me, you want to know that the water you are putting into your body is free from unwanted contaminants. Instead of buying expensive bottled water, you can make a one-time investment in this Berkey water bottle and you'll always have clean drinking water--no matter where you go!

I highly recommend this water purifier and I like it so much that I asked More Than Alive (one of my very favorite companies) if they'd be willing to give away three of these bottles to readers here. They very generously agreed.

Giveaway #2: Three Get Active Prize Packages from Yoplait

To encourage children to stay fit and healthy this Summer, Yoplait is giving away three Get Active prize packages to readers here. This prize package includes a coupon for a free Yoplait for Kids product, a travel cooler, a jump rope, a water bottle, and an outdoor game set that includes a beach ball, paddle ball, Jai-Ali, and a Frisbee.

They sent one of these prize packages to our family and my girls have had hours of fun with this. But their favorite thing of all was the Yoplait Kids yogurt. They love this yogurt and are always excited when it's on sale and I have a coupon for it!

Giveaway #3: One Gift Basket from Betty Crocker

This gift basket includes a mixing spoon, spatula, measuring spoons and cups, whisk, liquid measuring cup, and a Betty Crocker magazine filled with scrumptious recipes.

By the way, did you know that Betty Crocker has recently rolled free online cooking classes? From the comfort of your own kitchen, you can watch these online class demonstrations to learn a variety of cooking and baking tips and techniques--all for free! Go here for more details.

 

Giveaway #4: 10 Free Products from SeaPak

10 readers here will win a coupon for any free SeaPak product--up to a $10.99 value! Choose any of their delicious line of products--from shrimp to crab cakes to tilipia to salmon and more.

To enter to win one of these prizes, just leave a comment on this post in the next 24 hours. 17 winners will be randomly drawn from all the entrants and posted shortly after the giveaway ends. Comments will be closed on this post when the giveaway has ended. Prizes will be awarded to the 17 winners on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sonic: Free CroisSonic sandwich with any drink purchase

Enter your email address here and you'll get a coupon for a free CroisSonic breakfast sandwich from Sonic with any large drink purchase. The coupon is good for 10 days from the time you request it.

Harris Teeter: Triple coupons April 29-May 5, 2009

Harris Teeter is once again offering Triple Coupons April 29-May 5, 2009. Go here for more details and lots of coupon match-ups.

Baskin Robbins: 31 Cent Scoop Night (April 29, 2009)

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Baskin Robbins is hosting their annual 31 Cent Scoop Night. At participating locations, you can get a small scoop of ice cream for only $0.31!

More details here. As always, I recommend calling your store ahead of time to confirm they are participating.

Thanks, Roanna!

CVS: 3M Money-Maker and free Zooth toothbrushes

CVS is running a deal this week where if you buy $15 worth of Scotch 3M products, you'll earn $5 ECBs (limit 1).

The Scotch 3M Command Hooks are on sale for $2.50 each. Buy 6 at $2.50 and use 6 $2.50/1 coupons and you'll only pay tax out of pocket and will get back $5 ECBs!

Thanks, Surviving the Stores!

Also, you can get free Zooth toothbrushes at CVS this week. Here's how:

Buy 2 Zooth Toothbrushes at $1.99 each
Use the B1G1 coupon from 4/5 P&G insert (Hurry, this coupon expires 4/30!)
Spend $1.99 plus tax out of pocket, Get $2 ECBs
Free after coupon and ECBs!

Thanks, Mercedes!

See more deals and freebies at CVS this week here.

Domino's: Free Bread Bowl Pasta (April 29, 2009)

Domino's is giving away free lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, 2009. Just stop by any of their participating locations and you can get a free carry-out order of their new Bread Bowl Pasta!

I have heard that this promotion is not available at every store, so please be sure and call your store ahead of time to make sure they are participating.

Thanks, Shopping! The Musical!

The Emotional Benefits of Becoming Debt-Free

This was such an excellent article by Simple Mom on "The Emotional Benefits of Becoming Debt-Free". Here's a little snippet:

Now, I’m not trying to paint a rosy picture that being debt-free solves everything.  Economic setbacks still happen.  Layoffs still happen.  And unexpected money pits still happen.  But being debt-free means those things don’t hit you like a mack truck - they’re an annoyance. They don’t have to change our entire lifestyle - they can further confirm our conviction that living without debt means having more options, having more peace.

And while we may never be rich, we can be wealthy in those areas where we want to be wealthy - in relationships, in experiences, and in supporting causes that matter for eternity.  I’ll take that over depending on Master Card, any day.

It takes work and effort to stay out of debt. Believe me, I know.

It takes sacrifice, it takes commitment, it takes self-discipline. It means you have to forgo some things others might think you're entitled to, you have to stop worrying what the Jones family thinks, and you probably will come across as rather weird to a number of people.

But it is every bit worth it to be free from the bondage of payments. To not have to worry so much if you are hit with unexpected things like job loss (we've been there twice in the last few years), or a big medical bill (we've had that, too, more than once in the last few years), or an accident which totals your one reliable vehicle (yep, we had that happen to us last year, too!).

We've hit a lot of financial rough spots in the six years my husband and I have been married and life has thrown us a number of unexpected curve balls. But that's life, isn't it? No one is free from crisis or difficulty in some form or another.

There were many times along the way when pulling out a credit card to pay for an unexpected bill or taking out a loan to pay for a bigger expense would have been really easy to do. There have been times when we've both faltered and wanted to throw in the towel. But by the grace of God, we've stayed true to our commitment to stay out of debt--even when we didn't know how those ends were going to meet at the end of the month.

And you know what? Committing to stay out of debt from day one of our marriage has been one of the best decisions we've ever made. After years of scrimping and sacrifice, we're reaping the benefits now of being able to live significantly below our means because we don't have any payments. We're not only able to take care of the needs of our own family, save for our childrens' future, our retirement, and our first paid-for home, but we're also able to give abundantly to our church, to missions, to causes we believe in, and to those who are needy.

To us, that is what it's all about--"living like no one else, so we can live and give like no one else".

Enough said. Go read the article by Simple Mom here.