Savings - 98% at Target

One of the things on my list to do before I'm 41 is to do an Extreme Couponing trip.  I believe I crossed that off the list last week.  I decided to see how much I could get for under $10.  I got out all the coupons that I knew could get me free stuff at Target and things for 90% off.  Basically it was a big math problem.

I had a $5/$30 in groceries coupon and $5/$15 in hair care.  Plus I always bring my own bags and use my Red Card for 5% off.  And finally, I had $5 gift cards from before to cover those items that hubby put on the list but I didn't have any coupons for.  One thing I didn't have was mobile coupons which would've helped me save more.

After an hour of shopping, I made my way to the registers and chose a cashier whom I had worked with before and was coupon friendly.  The subtotal was about $102 and then I handed her a huge stack of coupons...

$3.18 including tax

Then I went home, submitting my receipt to checkout51 (4 pics long) and got back $1.75.

Then a couple days later I found 2 coupons worth $2 total that I forgot to give the cashier.

So it should've been $1.18 plus $1.75 cash back = $ .57 moneymaker!

What did I get?  I got - greeting cards, hair spray, canned cat and dog food, Honest juice, fresh berries, hamburger, yogurt, rice milk, cheeses and more.  Most of it is stuff we'll use, the rest is to donate.

And now I'm sort of back to being burnt out on couponing.  On the plus side, we have enough stuff stocked up that I don't have to go shopping for awhile.

4 Free Kindle Books 3/25

These books are free for a limited time, so double check to make sure they are still free before buying them.
Crafty Girls Talk - Jennifer Forest

How to Crochet - Beatrice Crimbleton

Naomi's Story - Melanie Schmidt

A Warrior's Redemption - Guy Stanton III

Free Kindle Books 3/19

Always check to make sure these are still free before "buying."  If you accidentally purchase one, you can return it to amazon within a week, check your "manage my kindle" page on amazon.com for info.

The Children's Busy Book - Trish Kuffner

Penumbra (YA inspirational fantasy) - Samantha Bennett

The Seasons on Henry's Farm - Terra Brockman

The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnet, plus you can get the audible version with this for only $2.49 more

The Unlikely Missionary - Dan King

Strike Two for Coborns

Shopping at Coborn's for me is about as frustrating as figuring out this coupon

Warning: rant ahead

Strike One
Early February I got over $10 worth of groceries, had a coupon for 2 free cans of veggies with $10 purchase, no restrictions stated.  Of course there were more coupons and my total came down to about $5-6.  They didn't let me use the free coupon so I returned the canned veggies.  This would've been okay other than the fact that I've used the free item coupon before with over $10 total before coupons.  The cashier said they were told to hold the coupon to the end in case the total after coupons was under $10.

I stayed calm, maybe there was a policy change.  So I emailed their corporate a polite note to ask to clarify their coupon policy on Feb 6.  There was no response, just an automated acknowledgement of my email and

Snow Days and Coupon Burnout

Last week I started to feel like I had "couponer's burnout."  My last straw was when I went to Target, got $155 worth of stuff for about $40 but was disappointed because it should've been closer to $20 (my biggest trip yet).  I was right, there are a few things I have to take back that didn't ring up correctly which will take my total to about $24.  But at the time, I felt a little distressed because I blew my weekly budget with that and other shopping.  Plus my in-laws were coming that weekend and I needed to clean.  And it was going to snow again.  It was time to take a break.

I searched online and found others who had experienced Coupon Burnout.  Many of the big coupon

Free Kindle Books 3/16

Always check to make sure these are still free before "buying."  If you accidentally purchase one, you can return it to amazon within a week, check your "manage my kindle" page on amazon.com for info.

How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home - Derek W. H. Thomas

How to Believe - Tommy Tenny

Intimidation - Wanda Dyson

Plain Living - Rachel Bauer



Independently Published with at least 4 star review rating

Claire's Prayer - Yvonne Cloette

The Mystery of Hurtleberry House - C. L. Ragsdale

The Proof - Cheryl Colwell

The Truth About the Sky - Katharine Grubb

Unmending the Veil - Lisa Heaton

Updating Free & Cheap Activities

A week or so ago I started to look for free and cheap activities that are coming up.  What I found were lots of things and I didn't look at every link that came up.  I started to update my Free & Cheap Activity page with dated events and then realized something.

This was taking and would be taking too much time away from other stuff like couponing, knitting and enjoying some down time with my hubby.  So I decided to nix the idea of a dated list and just list the places to go to for ongoing activities.  I'll let the list run out through the end of April and then no more.  Of course I'll always post about an exceptionally good deal, but just not every single one that pops up.

Check the list here, I'll update my sources as we go along.