Target Savings

I rarely go shopping for anything besides clothes and little things at Target but occasionally they have some great deals you can get using coupons!

You are able to combine and regular manufacturer coupon and a Target coupon towards one item (you can get Target coupons from their website or sometimes they have them in Sunday inserts).

There were some good deals this week on a few things I've been wanting to try and I knew we could use around the house so I went to get them.

I got 2 Glade oil diffusers, 2 Glade air sprays, 1 Scrubbing Bubbles Kitchen cleaner, 2 Bic razors, 1 Scotch Tape, and 1 Papermate pens package.

All the Glade products were free after coupons, Bic razors were free, Papermate pens were free, Scotch tape was .50, and the Scrubbing Bubbles was $1.89- that should have only been .89 but there was a mess-up on my part with the coupons I was using and they deleted a $1 coupon I had towards it and I didn't figure it out until I got home, oh well.

I paid $4 for all of that and saved around $25. Crazy to think you would spend close to $30 without coupons if you bought all of that! Why would you not use coupons?!?!

Harris Teeter Super Doubles Trip

I got my coupons prepared and went to Harris Teeter this morning to hit up their Super Double coupon sale they have going on this week.

This is what I got:

Sorry its so dark! The light is broken in our kitchen.

I spent $16.82 and saved $61.58!

Breakdown:

• Ziploc bags on sale for $1.49 each, I had a $1 off 2 coupon which doubled to $2 making each box $.49
• Honey Nut and Frosted Cheerios were 2 for $5, I had a $1 off 2 coupons which doubled to $2 making each box $1.50
• Frosted Flakes were on sale for $1.99, I had a $.70 coupon which doubled to $1.40 making each box $.59
• Dr. Pepper 10 was on sale for $1.19, I had a $1 off 2 coupon which doubled to $2 making each 2 liter $.19
• Tampax were on sale for $4.49 each, I had a $2 off 1 coupon which doubled to $4 making each box $.49, I also had an e-vic coupon loaded to my card which took an extra $2 off the Tampax making all of them free!
• Schick Shave Gel was on sale for $2.49, I had a $1 off 1 coupon which doubled to $2 making each $.49
• Finish dishwasher tabs were on sale for $2.89, I had a $1 off 1 coupon which doubled to $2 making it $.89
• The water was on sale for $2.50

I'm hoping to make a few more trips this week with whatever other coupons I can scrounge up and get some more great deals before the shelves are cleared out!

Home Renovations

As many of you know our house is in a constant state of renovation. As in, it feels like it will never end. If I were to show you what the before and current pictures are this post would have a bazillion photos- it's crazy.

One of the few projects we have finished recently is our fire place. Here's a before picture:

Here's an after picture:

Our original plan was to use the stone all the way up the entire fireplace but we didn't have enough to do that (they were leftovers from something else that were given to us). So we stoned most of it, Adam built the mantel, and we stuccoed-ish the top and painted it. It's really like 95% done, we have to finish the grout in the stones and put a frame around the actual fire place.

In case you were wondering from the original picture we also took down the wall on the left, added a new smaller wall that only sticks out  about 5 inches from the side wall, added laminate floors, new recessed lighting, and painted.

I would be happy to add other before/ after pictures of other rooms of the house if anyone is interested!

Smartphone Savings

I'm always looking for ways to save money, especially for things that aren't necessarily a necessity such as clothes, books, etc.

A few of the couponing blogs that I follow have mentioned an Old Navy app that they use on their smart phones called SnapAppy (you can find it just by searching for Old Navy). You use the app to take a picture of any Old Navy logo and it'll spin a wheel and you can potentially win a prize! One of the first times I used it I won a prize called "Snap 5" which is a $5 off coupon!

I headed to Old Navy today, since it is their annual $1 flip-flop sale, to look around and see what I could find. I managed to snag a pair of flip-flops in my size and a pair of shorts. The shorts I found were normally $15 but they were on sale for $10 and I used my SnapAppy coupon and got them for $5! With the flip-flops being on sale I managed to snag both items for $6.41 with a savings of $12.94!

Thanks Old Navy for putting out a free app and making saving money super easy and letting me get new clothes!

There are many other stores that put out apps of their own that offer special discounts and coupons you can use. I have the Michael's app downloaded and got a 20% off coupon for my first purchase, I also have used a Kohl's coupon through an app called "Coupon Closet". Just check around and you will never know what you will find!

Crafty Canvas

A few months ago I decided to actually do a project I had pinned on Pinterest ( This was my inspiration). I was very excited to finish it and hang it on my wall in my dining room. Adam and I realized that doing just 1 was going to look funny so I proceeded to do 2 more. Here's a tutorial on the last one I did.

I used:
A blank canvas (I can't remember the exact size but just pick a size that will fit where you need it)
Contact paper
Scissors
Spray Paint (I kill the atmosphere but I love spray paint!)

My wonderful Mom helped me with this project :)

Here we are cutting out letters- we printed them out on regular paper then put the contact paper over it and cut them out

Then I set up the phrase on the canvas

Then took the back off the contact paper and stuck the letters on the canvas

Then Adam and I spray painted the mess out of it (mixture of black and grey)

Then after the pain is dry, peel the letters off the canvas

Then hang and enjoy!

Here's all the canvas' I did for my dining room.

Pretty easy to do and a lot cheaper than going somewhere and buying something.

Super Doubles Success!

As you all know I love to coupon :). Starting today through next Tuesday Harris Teeter is doing their "Super Double" coupon event, the only difference is they're doubling up to $2 instead of the normal $1.98!!

Here's a picture of my haul today:

(I also bought some chicken and hamburger that's not in the picture)

I spent $27.39 and saved $49.92!

Here's a break down:

Chinet plates- Free

2 6pack Propel Zero water- $1 each

Hartz dog treats- on clearance so after coupon they were $.28

Front Porch ice cream pints- $.50 each

Nissin Noodle cups- Free

KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce- Free

Smart Balance milk- Free

Glade Decor- Free

The chicken was on sale

The soups, rotel, seasoning, and hamburger were all regular priced.

Again, if there are any questions I would be happy to answer them and help you save money! I have definitely seen a decrease in my own spending whenever I have to grocery shop so it's totally worth it!

Swagbucks! Free money!

A little over 2 years ago I signed up for a website called Swagbucks (www.swagbucks.com). It's completely free and all you do is use them as your day-to-day search engine instead of google or anything else (swagbucks is powered by bing.com). As you use the search engine you randomly win "swagbucks" that add to your account automatically. An easy way to win is to download the toolbar into your browser and then you can just use the search box easily, I use it to get to basic sites like my email or craigslist or facebook instead of typing the address into the web browser. On fridays they have "mega swagbucks" where you can win more often and higher amounts!

With all the gift cards I've earned I've been able to buy books, shoes, pet supplies, and other things amazon.com has to offer.  I've also saved up the gift cards to use around birthdays and Christmas time to buy gifts for people so that we can save some money and not spend so much out of our own pockets.

There are some things you can do every day just to get some little bucks such as clicking through the "NOSO" on the home page (just skip through 5 ads, type in a phrase, then you get 2 bucks), voting in the daily poll, and checking out if you qualify for surveys. For the surveys, if you qualify, you can get anywhere from 50 to 250 swagbucks for completing one! But the easiest way to win swagbucks is just to use the search engine. You can also play games on their website that will earn you swagbucks and watch Swagbucks TV to earn bucks too!

I've usually been able to average three $5 amazon.com gift cards per month that each cost 450 swagbucks. They also have many other gift cards as well as other prizes to buy, like target gift cards, iTunes giftcards, and many other things. 

My referral link is http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/BLStarlin and if you sign up using that for every search you win swagbucks I get the same amount (up to 1000 swagbucks then it stops) and if you get people to sign up with your referral you get the same thing! Now I know that sounds slightly pyramid scheme-y but it's really not. As long as they sign up using your referral link that's the end of the connection you have and you stop getting swagbucks from their searches once you've received 1000 swagbucks from them.

If you have any questions please feel free to let me know and I can help explain and walk you through it! Like I said it's completely free and I've never received anything unsolicited from them. My mom uses is as do both of my sisters so it's safe :). Like I said, if you have any questions please let me know!