Swag Bucks!

I want to introduce you all to a great way to earn FREE stuff. SWAGBUCKS is a search engine that works just like all of the other search engines with one large exception. You can earn Swagbucks when you search. It is just as easy as your regular Internet search.

My favorite way to redeem my Swagbucks is for Amazon.com gift cards. It only takes 45 Swagbucks to earn a $5 Amazon gift card. I have several links on the right toolbar it is as easy as clicking on one of the links. It will take you to the Swagbucks site a quick registration and you are all set.

COUPON CLASS!!!!!!

So it is official...I am ready to teach a coupon class. That's right, I am ready to come to you where ever you are and teach you the secrets of The Super Coupon Mom. These classes are going t be so much fun, and you will be amazed at the amount of money you will be able to save your family.

Here is how it works...If you are interested in hosting a party email me at supercpnmom@gmail.com. You have all been to or hosted the scrapbook, or cooking party. Now you have the chance to host a party that can teach you how to save money on those items as well.

Once you contact me I will send you invitations, and all the information that you need. In exchange for hosting you will get a special hostess gift, and your class fee is waved. Each of your guests will pay a $10 fee. They will receive the class material, and we will have lots of door prizes etc. I am already working with my first hostess, and I am looking forward to meeting so many of you.

I am available to teach classes anywhere in the Metro Houston Area. I will hold classes at your home, your community center, school cafeteria, even your church gym. Hostesses with groups of 50 or less will receive fill in the blank postcard size invitations. If you want to host a class at your church or other larger venue I will create custom invitations for your event.

I want you all to think outside the box...want to host an event at the church, turn it into a fill the pantry for the local food bank. Ask each guest to bring a non-perishable food item and I will donate special gifts for each guest that makes a donation.

I can't wait to get out there and meet you all and teach you all great ways to save your family lots of money. We can all use the help in these tough economic times.

Logical Media

I am still a relative newbie to the blogging scene. But, I am learning at a pretty quick rate. I am going to start writing a few promotional entries for companies. I will promise you that while I may/may not receive some form of compensation from the company I will ALWAYS give an honest opinion. I may not know all of the tricks but I am not afraid to ask questions. I have been asking a few other coupon bloggers and I have heard nothing but good things from all of them about Logical Media.

A couple of days ago I applied to be an affiliate blogger for them. This is a big step for me. I mean HUGE! But, I am assured by several women that I trust that it is a great program. If you are a blogger and would like to make your blog work for you. Follow this link and see what Logical Media has to offer.

A great way to save on your holiday printing

I went to Vista Print today to order some business cards and address labels. I am so excited to share these deals with you all.

Right now you can order 250 Free business Cards, all you pay is shipping. I even ordered an extra 250 after my original order on a special offer they made. Since I am not in need of these right now I was able to pay for the cheapest shipping and get all 500 for 3.67 and a little over $5 for shipping. I can't wait to get these. I really love the design i chose and I am excited to look for future deals for postcards, magnets, and letterhead.

They have another FREE offer right now for 140 Free Address Labels. All you have to pay is shipping. I joined a Christmas card exchange with a group of coupon/refund women all over the country and I am so excited to use these.

I think I might even order another set as gift tags. I will just leave the address off and only include TO: & FROM:.

One last promotion they have right now is 50% off Christmas Cards. So hurry and get that perfect shot ready and go order some great high quality custom cards.

If you are interested in any of the deals Vista Print is offering I have included a Widget on the right side of the blog. Simply follow that link to take advantage of a special offer just for my readers.

Target Toy Shopping and some groceries too!

It always amazes me that I can get so distracted sometimes when my sidekicks come shopping with me. We still did a great job at Target on Friday. Friday is usually my shopping time, since I get off work at 10:00. I go home get Captain Obvious, take him to pick up lunch and we go to Princess Random's school to join her for lunch. Then I get four hours to shop while Captain Obvious is at school too. This week though they had early release since it was the end of a grading period. So we all went to lunch together and made a quick shopping trip.

We did four transactions (I did two and each kid did one, they love doing their own transaction).

Transaction 1:

8- Chef Michael's Can Food $.87

4- Fancy Feast Appetizers $1.20

3- Scrubbing Bubbles $3.54

1- Windex $2.54

1- Goodlife Cat Food $4.49

1- Archer farms Artisan Bread $.99

1- Loaf Archer Farms Sandwich bread $2.39

4- Aluminum Reusable Water Bottles Clearanced from $8 to $2

1- Skippy Peanut Butter $1.93

6- Glade Oil Candles $2.50

7- Refills $2.50

Coupons Used:

Mfg.-

4-BOGO Chef Michael's

2-BOGO Fancy Feast Appetizers

1-$2/2 Scrubbing Bubbles

1-$1/1 Scrubbing Bubbles

1-$1/1 Windex

5- BOGO Glade Candle Tin get Refill Free

3-$1.50/1 Glade Candle

2- $2/2 Glade Candles

Target-

4-BOGO Chef Michael's

2-BOGO Fancy Feast Appetizers

1- $1/1 Skippy Peanut Butter

1- $.50 Archer Farms Bakery Product

1-$1/1 Archer Farms Bread

1-FREE $5 Gift Card WYB 4 Windex or Scrubbing Bubbles

Total before coupons: $108.61

Total After Coupons: $34.06

Savings: $74.55

Recieved 2 $5 Gift Cards for buying 10 Glade Candles, 1 $5 Gift Card for buying Scrubbing Bubbles and Windex.

Transaction 2:

8- Chef Michael's $.84

1- Skippy Peanut Butter $1.93

1- Archer Farms Bread $.99

Coupons Used:

Manufacturer:

4- BOGO Chef Michael's

Target:

4- BOGO Chef Michael's

1- $1/1 Skippy Peanut Butter

1- $.50 Archer Farms Bakery Product

Total Before Coupons:$10.24

Total After Coupons:$1.47

Savings:$8.77

Transaction 3:

8- Chef Michael's $.84

Coupons Used:

Manufacturer:

4- BOGO Chef Michael's

Target:

4- BOGO Chef Michael's

Total Before Coupons:$7.27

Total After Coupons:$0

Savings:$7.27

Transaction 4:

4- Wii Game $19.99

2- Wii Game $14.99

Coupons Used:

3- Target $10/2 Wii Games

2- Free games from promotion B2G1 Free

1-$5/50 Toy Coupon

1-$.05 Reusable Bag Credit

Total Before Discounts: $132.85

Total After Discounts: $42.80

Savings:$90.05

30 Days of Giving Day 9

For today's giving I went to CVS and bought two of the Nova Max Glucose Monitors. It was a great deal since it was free after ECB's and I know that the food pantry can certainly find someone that will be able to use them. It is never easy to have to deal with diabetes, but I hope that our donation will lighten someone's burden.

30 Days of Giving Day 8

Today's giving was a little different for us. Since it was a weekend for Captain Obvious and Princess Random to be with their dad we had very little family time.

So when they came home tonight I had cooked a great steak dinner and we all gave each other our time. We ate together and then we all went on a walk together.

It was something very special to give each other something that is a very precious commodity.

I am still looking for a few soldiers to send packages to. If anyone knows of a soldier please email me. Supercpnmom@gmail.com.

Target Toy Shopping

I went to Target today to get some groceries and see what Toy deals I could work.

I did two transactions so that I could use the gift cards from the first transaction on the second.

First transaction..

2-Lb Apples

2-Lunchables (Princess Random Really wanted them so it is a surprise for lunch tomorrow)

1-Disney Lunch Pack Raisins Clearance $1.62 (Surprise lunch)

1- Disney Fruit Snack ( Lunch)

1- Archer Farms Ciabatta $.99

1- G.I. Joe Costume Clearance $1.97

2- Candy Corn Clearance $.24

8- Chef Michael's can dog food $.84

2- Fancy Feast Appetizers $1.20

4- Under bed Storage Boxes Clearance $2.98

2- Christmas Mr. Potato Head $5.99

1- 2 Pack Ring Pop Clearance $.09

2- Nintendo DS Games $19.99

1- Windex Outdoor Window Washer Starter Kit $12.99

7- Glade Holiday Scents $2.50

3- Glade Holiday Scent Refills $2.50

Coupons Used

MFG.

$3/off Windex Outdoor

4-BOGO Chef Michael's

1-BOGO Fancy Feast Appetizer

3- $1.50/1 Glade Scented Oil

1- BOGO Glade Candle/Refill

3-$2/2 Glade Candle

2-$5/1 Mr. Potato Head

Target

1-BOGO Fancy Feast Appetizer

4-BOGO Chef Michael's Can Food

1- Free $5 Gift Card WYB Windex Outdoor

1-$.50 Archer Farms Bakery Product

1-$1/2 lbs. Apples

1-$10/2 Nintendo Ds Games

1-$5/50 Toy Purchase

Received 2 $5 Gift Cards for buying 10 Glade Candles, 1 $5 Gift Card for buying Windex Outdoor. Also received 1 $5/50 Toy Purchase.

Total OOP: $79.97

Total Savings: $

Transaction Two:

1-Leapfrog Tag Reader $39.99 (Reduced)

1- My Pal Violet $14.99 (Reduced)

Coupons Used:

MFG

1-$10/1 Leapfrog Tag Reader

Target

1-$10/1 Leapfrog Tag Reader

1-$5/1 My Pal Violet

1-$5/50 Toy Purchase

Used 3- $5 Gift Cards from first transaction and received 1 $5/50 Toy Purchase and 1 $5/75 Purchase.

Total OOP: $11.79

Total Saved: $

Old Navy $1 Scarves

Today only Old Navy is selling all of their Women's and Kids Scarves for $1. There is a 5 scarf limit, but most stores are doing that limit per transaction not per person. I got lots of cute scarves and also donated a bunch to the Boys and Girls club. These will definitely be under my tree this Christmas.

30 Days of Giving Day 6&7

Today giving opportunities seemed to be everywhere for me. It was nothing at all for me to see great ideas for giving of my time or resources.

Day 6: One of the girls on Princess Randoms soccer team has been missing practice, I wasn't aware why until I talked to her mom. Turns out that for financial reasons the mom has had to return to work, and now there is no one to take her to practice. I was able to convince her that I would love to come pick her up each week to ensure that she is able to come to practice. I know it made the mom happy, I know the daughter will be happy, and I know that Princess Random will be so excited. Win, win, win.

Day 7: Old Navy had one of the $1 sales this morning. This time it was their scarves. I went in to buy several for my little family and also for gifts. When I was checking out with my first transaction, I noticed a small sign on the counter asking for coats, hats, scarves and gloves to be donated. I went back and got more scarves and handed them to the cashier as a donation and several other people asked why. I hope that it maybe spurred a few more donations. It was nice to hear from the manager that the donations are for the local Boys and Girls club. SO all of the donations will stay in the area.

There has been a lot of talk about the blessings that come from giving. For me the biggest blessings are the positive thoughts that I have during a very trying time for me and my little family.

30 Days of Giving Day 5

Part of this challenge for me is to focus on Him, and on the amazing good He can accomplish when we trust in Him.

On the Facebook group for the challenge I read this quote someone posted and it has been ringing true for me today.

When seeds of kindness are sown prayerfully in the garden plot of our lives,we may be sure that there will be a bountiful harvest of blessings for both us and others. ~ W. Phillip Keller

One challenge that I face daily is allowing my emotions to be dictated by other people's actions. All too often i allow some small thing someone else says or does to create negative feelings inside me. There are three men that I work with that do just that to me. The industry I am in is a very male dominated one, and it is very typical for young men just starting to have HUGE ego's. As they grow with in the company the ego seems to shrink, but these three are not shrinking yet. They are the one's who think I am a terrible person because I am divorced, and feel the need to share with me and others exactly how they feel.

Today though I had an encounter with one of them and I immediately became so angry I was shaking. A few minutes later I was approached by yet another one...this one has just told us this week that he got married back in May and that he is expecting his first child in December. He was passing out flyer's for a baby shower for them and my first instinct was to mock him. I could not believe that I could be so shallow. So I prayed and regrouped, I realized that it was sad for him, his wife and their baby. See, his family is not being supportive, her family doesn't live here and they have very few friends. So I immediately decided that I would go through the stock pile and choose several great gifts for this sweet baby girl.

It was one of those moments in life where a moment of frustration can be either used for good or for bad. I am so thankful for this challenge for helping me remember to stay focused on the positive opportunities.

Target Toy Shopping

With the holiday season fast approaching I have started looking for great deals for Christmas gifts for all of the people on my list. I of course actually started this summer by watching the toy clearances, so i already have a few things put away.

Since there are so many great high dollar toy coupons out there in the weekly inserts and online, I have been trying to get a hold of as many as possible.

Now Target went and sweetened the deals by releasing all of the coupons from their Toy Book for online printing.

So now you can stack your Manufacturers coupon and Target Coupon.

The best deal i have seen so far is for Wii games. This week Target has all of their Wii games buy 2 get 1 free. This includes the ones that are already value priced at $14.99. So I bought 3 games $45. Minus $15 for B2G1 and then I used the Target Toy coupon for $10/2 Wii games. So I was able to get 3 Wii games for only $20.

It gets even better because it seems that using the coupon also triggers a $5/50 Toy purchase Catalina. This is a great one because it doesn't expire until Christmas Eve. So you have lots of time to collect and use them.

The rest of my Target trip today was to get more free dog and cat food and see what other clearance deals I could find.

Here was my haul.

40-Cans Chef Michael's Dog Food $.87-BOGO mfg c/o-BOGO Target C/o= FREE

5- Bags Purina Cat Treats $1.89- Try me Free Mfg. C/o= FREE

5-Playdoh Value Packs $4.99-Halloween Clearance for $1.24

14-Fancy Feast Appetizers $1.20 -BOGO Mfg C/o-BOGO Target C/o= FREE

1-Fancy Nancy Board Game Clearance $3.74

1-HSM Gem activity set Clearance $3.74

4- Kids DVD's $4.75

1-Transformers Temporary Tattoo Set $3.99 Halloween Clearance $.99

3-Wii Games $14.99-B2G1-$10/2= 3/$20

All told I made a great dent in my Christmas shopping, and I will definitely be going back for more.

Total Saved. $135.56

30 Days of Giving Day 3 & 4

Last night we had a great family talk about giving. It was so Awesome to watch the kids process the things we talked about. I loved the ideas that they had about the gifts that God has given them and how they can use their gifts for other people.

Our day three giving was a family decision to give some classroom items to Captain Obvious' Pre-K Class. Each month his teacher puts a list of things that she needs for the classroom. So we sent two boxes of Huggies wipes and a 3 pack of paper towels. He is always happy to bring things to his teacher so he was super excited.

For our day four giving we decided to give time to each other. We are so often bombarded by the craziness of our everyday lives that we forget to enjoy each other. So we enjoyed a nice family dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We used this time to further discuss giving with the kids. We talked about some of the opportunities we have found already to volunteer our time. We are going to work at the food pantry, help in the community garden and hopefully find a great place o help serve Thanksgiving Dinner to those in need.

My kids may be too young to understand the awesomeness of their actions, but it does amazing things for my heart to see how much they are not only willing but that they are wanting to give.

Target Deal

I have been trying to make time to run to Target for some more Free Chef Michael's can dog food. So On Saturday after our lovely lunch date we went to Target. I knew we needed to buy dry cat food as well, so we took the entire binder in to try to find the best possible deal.

I was so excited when the first page I turned to had my $3 off Goodlife Recipie Dog or Cat food coupons. The smallest bag target had was $4.49. So I was very happy to get 8 bags for $1.49 each. No this is not my lowest price point for cat food, but it was low enough that I decided to stock up until I could find a lower price point.

We were also able to get 16 more cans of Chef Michael's. Both of our dogs absolutley love this stuff. I am going to be spending a lot of time in Target coming up. The coupons expire in two weeks and I have enough for over 200 cans.

This works like this, stack 1 BOGO Mfg. Co with a BOGO Target Co. It is such a great deal that I traded for a lot of these coupons.

Good luck with these deals.

Don't forget to start looking for the great Target Christmas Toy Book.

30 Days of Giving

I have been meaning to write this stuff down and share with you guys. I have been inspired by a fellow blogger Alyssa, to join her movement this month. She has titled it 30 Days of Giving. Check out her blog here Kingdom First Mom.

Here is what we are doing. Starting on November 1st we are asking God to lead us all, to show us an avenue in which to give of ourselves.

It may be any form of giving, from time to money or any amazing gift in between.

God has blessed us all in so many ways, he gave us each special gifts that He wants us to use to spread His word.

So this month, I have chosen to give of myself in any way possible. In a time where my heart is hurting and my family is struggling through some really rough moments, I truly believe that this challenge is God calling me to stay focused on Him.

I realize that I am a day behind on my giving updates but I would like to write about yesterday and today in this first post.

I will take a photo each day just to help keep myself accountable.

Day 1. I was able to find a few extra moments this weekend to sort through my stockpile. I was able to pack up 1 large box, and several grocery bags full of grocery, baby, and hygiene items to donate to my local food pantry. The kids and I took all of this to Katy Christian Ministries. This is a charity that I hold dear.
They were so excited to help. They helped me load the car and they got to unload the car into a shopping cart and push it into the building. The volunteer who was there was so sweet and showed them around. He told us that the last two days they have served more than 300 families.

Day 2. Princess Random and Captain Obvious chose to give to their school's School Supply Drive. They are collecting books and school supplies to send to kids in Nigeria. So they went through the school supplies in the Stockpile. It really makes my heart glow to see them give so openly and proudly.

Iwant you all to know that this is not a bragging post... Oh look at me, look what I did. This is me trying to keep my self accountable.

I believe that as parents we have moments in life where we can truly teach our children what it means to be Christ like. For me this is one of those moments. When my kids see me broken from the stress of the last couple of months, I want them to see that I am not only human. Yes, mom's do cry...but, i want them to see that I picked myself up and stayed focused on Him. I believe that there is no greater lesson for them to learn.

I also believe that as blogger's we are given an amazing opportunity for outreach. What an easy amazing way to spread the message of God's love for us.

I challenge all of you to join the movement. Even if you think you have nothing to give. I challenge you to stop and listen. Pray, that he will lead you, and I am sure you will find a way to use the amazing gifts that he has given to you.