Score(s) of the Week! And updates!

Hey y'all! Hope you are having a nice week!

I realized I haven't posted much about my couponing scores lately so I wanted to bring you a couple of my favorite couponing trips.

But first, some small talk:)

After putting in a bunch of resumes, I finally got an interview at Charming Charlie last week.

(it's an accessory store)

Less than 24 hours later, I got a call back and I'm hired! Yay!

I had my orientation on Monday and they put us Charmers straight to work!

We learned how to merchandise and spent a couple of hours organizing all of the purses in the store. 

(which was a TON of purses, by the way)

As of now, the job is part time and seasonal, but I'm glad to be back working retail and adding more experience to my resume.

For now I have four (yes, that's FOUR!) hours a week. 

Laughable, but they should go up according to my sales.

Fingers crossed those fish will be biting.

Hours at the theater aren't so good right now.

Last week I finally had 20 hours for the first time in a couple of months,

but next week I'll only have 15.

My boss transferred another employee to the theater in spite of short hours,

but we have had two people quit in the last week so hopefully hours will be better soon.

I find it kind of funny that the two jobs that I have carry the titles "Charmer" and "Cast Member"

Fitness wise I haven't been doing so great, but today I bought a new fitness aid that I will talk about in a few weeks once I see how it ends up working out.

Anywhoo, here are my scores, complete with clever titles:

"Color My World" 

14 L'Oreal Excellence Hair colors for free!

I scored these at Rite Aid!

These retail for 8.99, making retail value $125.86

I have a "Gold" 20% off discount, making them 7.19 each or $100.66 total

Subtract 7 $5/2 manufacturer coupons and 7 $5/2 store coupons, and you get $30.66 total

Add $8 tax, $38.66

There's a deal going on right now that gives $10 in +Ups for each $25 spent on L'Oreal,

so I got $40 back, giving me a $1.34 money maker after tax.

I also snagged two Schick Hydro Silk razors and two refill packs (approx $57 retail)

and four lip smackers products for free.

I also purchased a package of hair ties and one of bobby pins.

While they weren't exactly free, the purchase earned me +Ups which made them pretty cheap.

Something to keep in mind is that certain items you may need might not end up being free, especially if they are brand-specific.

You can still save by buying them at a store like Rite Aid or CVS if you have a  gold or silver discount, or a one-time percentage off pass.

It also helps to wait until register rewards come along, which is bound to happen once in awhile.

"CV-YES!"

I don't post a whole lot about couponing at CVS, mostly because I usually don't do many deals there.

While Rite Aid, my preferred store, usually offers at least two rewards per deal offered,

a lot of CVS freebies end up being one-time uses, and often on a single product.

There are couponers that do a lot of business at CVS and do a great job at it, 

but so far I haven't had much luck with that.

If you're looking for a great CVS couponer, check out Jackie on youtube at Islandcoupongal

She posts awesome deal and haul videos every week and has quickly become one of my favorite subscriptions.

But anyways, yesterday I was super excited to get my first big score at CVS.

The Gain dish detergent you see above is on sale this week for 97 cents this week, and it just so happens that P&G made a boo-boo on some Gain coupons they released last month.

In the Sept. 16th Red Plum, there were $2/2 and $1/1 off of any Gain detergent coupons.

They had pics of laundry detergent, but did not state that it was exclusively for laundry detergent or list any size exclusions for products to which it could be applied.

I had 6 of each coupon, so I ended up buying 18 9oz dish detergents absolutely free!

I also picked up a bottle of Di-gel which was one of those one-reward deals I was talking about.

Since I've started couponing our medicine cabinet has been stuffed FULL of miscellaneous free OTC's.

Guess those will come in handy now that it's getting cold:)

Mark 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Twotip:Put work boots on huge hauls! While things like this dish detergent are super useful to have around the house, when you're getting a lot at a time you can afford to hand some off to friends and fam. I've set aside a few detergents for my Mom and Nana and given some to my Dad already, and still think I'll have enough to last us a few months at the apartment. Next time you get a large quantity of a useful item, make sure you consider the work it could do in others households as well as your own:)

What are some of your best hauls?

Who do you share your goodies with?

Keep me in the loop!

-Madeline

Couponing for a Cause

Hey y'all! I hope you're having an awesome week!

I wanted to take a chance today to blog about the opportunities we have to make a difference in other people's lives with couponing.

As those of you who read my posts regularly know, I try to incorporate a little bit of giving back into each of my posts with "Twotips".

The name of these tips comes from Matthew 22:39 when the Pharisees decided to test Jesus by asking him which was the greatest commandment. Jesus gives two answers, saying that the first is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.

I believe strongly that one of the greatest ways to lead others to the love of God is by example, showing them His love through your words and actions. 

A great way to show your love is through stewardship- Christianese for giving of your time, talents, and treasures to further the kingdom of God.

            Now if you're reading this blog because you want to save some cash, you may feel that time, talents, and treasures just aren't in the books. As a student with a part time job who is doing independent resale, has various commitments at church, is trying to lose weight, and is looking for another steady job, I understand that time isn't always easy to find. As someone who doesn't have a lot of time and has very few practical talents, sometimes at the end of the day it feels like those talents won't do much easier. And as someone who brings home minimum wage, even with the help I receive I know how it feels to doubt the impact that my (seemingly few) treasures could have. But a story from scripture tells about someone who had far less than I giving of herself to further the kingdom: 

The Widow’s Offering

⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

⁴³ Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

          Here we see that the small offering of a poor widow meant more to God than a large sum of money given by the wealthy. The widow risked everything by giving all she had, while those who put in more gave what they were comfortable to share. That's not to say that if you have plenty your gift means nothing- on the contrary, whatever you can give, if given in the right spirit is wonderful.

           What I want to say is that you shouldn't fool yourself into thinking that you are unable to help because of your circumstances. Even the smallest of gifts can have an incredible influence on those to whom you give. The physical impact of the things that you give may be important- but even more impactful can be the love and compassion you show. Couponing is an excellent vehicle to allow you to give where you may have otherwise been unable. By picking up free products at the store even if you know you won't be using them, you are able to donate without going bankrupt by using your time and talent for couponing. You can also use overage from items you get "better than free" to pay for specific items that an organization or cause you donate to needs, or set aside a percentage of all items that you coupon to give away.

          If you are looking for a cause to donate to, try asking around at a local Church or school. While I don't think that people have to donate exclusively through religious organizations, Churches can be a good way to start because they are often involved in at least one donation program at a time. There are often supplies or donations needed for missions trips, opportunities to give to local charities, or even opportunities to give to others in the Church body. My Church even has an "excess table" where you can simply drop off anything you have and don't need that someone else could use. Schools are a good place to start for similar reasons. There are often programs to give to needy students, sister schools in impoverished areas, and many other organizations.

While the Christmas season can be a time of great joy for many, for others it's a time when the burden of their unmet needs weighs more heavily than ever. The good thing about this is that our opportunities to give are greater as well. Keep an eye out for donation bins and you'll find them everywhere this time of year. The way I'm choosing to give this year is through a Men's Club that my dad is a part of. Each year they donate 50-75 "Christmas Bins" full of essentials and gifts for low income families in our hometown. They include everything from food to age-appropriate gifts for the children in each family. Because shampoo is one of the items that I most often get for free, my goal is to donate one shampoo and one conditioner for every bin that is given out this year. Hopefully I will be able to find some other items to give as well, but we'll see what the stores give me in the next couple of months:)

Here's a pic of my "donation basket"- so far I have enough for 17 families!

How do y'all use your stockpile to help others?

What are your favorite organizations to give to?

Let me know and God bless!

-Madeline

Cleaning House

Hey y'all! I hope you're having a great week!
I've been crazy busy lately but wanted to shoot you all an update.
I'm still job hunting, couponing, and trying to sneak in some eBaying and exercise edgewise.
Today I FINALLY got my old room at my Dad's cleaned up and organized into a storage space and project studio for my stockpile, crafting, and eBay items. 
It's still in desperate need of a good vacuuming and I have some more organizing to do, but it's a huge weight lifted to have the room cleared and have some open space to get things done, especially considering the prior state of my ex-room. (now that I think about it, I wish I had some pics of what it looked like before!)
These are just a few pictures of what the room looks like now, probably not all that exciting to anyone else, but I'm just happy to have it cleaned up:)

The view from the door

My little sewing station and some supply storage

Some of my (incredibly messy!) stockpile, stored in free couponed laundry baskets.

Lots of eBay inventory that will be much easier to clear now that I can see it all clearly.

My old dresser is storing purses and shoes now (along with some stockpile in the drawers:))

My Bass:) I got it for Christmas and hopefully I'll get some more learning done now that the room is clear.

Dry-erase walls

Paintings, finished and unfinished.

I'm looking forward to having the space for new projects, and I'll update you guys soon on my latest savings:)

Have a great week and God Bless!

-Madeline

Mark 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

TwoTip: Give it up! Like I've said before, in my opinion stockpiling can be a huge waste of valuable and useful products. I watched a video the other day in which a couponer gave a "tour" of the room where she kept her stockpile. It was crazy to me that she talked about how she "didn't have very much" 

shampoo when I counted at least 15 bottles, and that she had a separate shelf of items that she felt were too nice to give away. I totally understand that if you find a great deal on something that you use a lot, you may want to keep it for yourself, but I take issue when something that could be useful to someone else is collecting dust in your closet. I get super excited about scoring awesome deals, and sometimes there's a little part of me that wants to cling to free makeup or mouthwash for dear life when I get them free. The reality is though, that while it's nice to have a trophy room of freebies, it's a whole lot nicer to use them for the greater good. Whether that means handing off some shampoo to my roomies or toothpaste to a local charity, it feels great to help someone out, and it is incredibly liberating to feel unattached to all of those material things. If you feel like hanging onto something for a little while at first, that's totally awesome (you earned it!) but make sure that every once in awhile you take an honest look at your stockpile and put to use what's collecting dust.