Starbucks is giving away free ice cream.  Through July 19, those with a Facebook account can sign up to receive a coupon for a free pint of Starbucks ice cream.  You can also send one to a friend and print off a $1 coupon for the ice cream. 

Starbucks is giving away 20,000 of the free coupons each day, but only 800 per hour.  There is also a limit of one per household.  Hopefully, you won’t have any troubles getting one of the coupons.  I’ve tried about three times today to get one of the coupons, but that hour had reached it’s limit.  I will continue to try.

Good luck!

Thanks, Common Sense with Money. Image from facebook.

We’ve been so very fortunate lately to have such great coupon sales.  This week, Kmart is doubling coupons of up to $2.  Visit Kmart’s website and type in your zip code to see if your store is participating.  Also, when I clicked on the Kmart link, it had an offer to get two $5 Kmart coupons when you sign up for their email alerts.  These are probably emailed to you.

Of course, there are a few rules to this coupon sale:

• You must purchase $25 or more of merchandise in order to get your coupons doubled.
• There is a limit of 10 doubled coupons per trip.
• Coupons of up to $2 will be doubled.  No overage will be given.
• Limit 4 like items per trip.
• Internet coupons will be accepted.
• Kmart store coupons do not apply to this offer.

Since there is a limit of 10 coupons per trip, this may not be worth your while.  The value of this deal will depend upon your time and gas involved.  If you live or work near Kmart, you could make several small trips and have a lot of savings.

Good luck!

If you’d like some color this summer, a sunless tanner is the safest way to go, and right now you can score some Xen-Tan sunless tanner for less with the code below.

Why go with an Xen-Tan sunless tanner…

• It actually works - read my review of Xen-Ten Self Tanner.
• Xen-Tan smells nice, like melon, not typical cocoa butter.
• No orange coloring, and no staining your skin or clothes.
• It’s way safer than allowing your skin to get toasted by the sun and harmful UV rays. Learn about sun dangers.

The deal: Visit Xen-Tan and get 15% off purchases with coupon code VACATION09 - good for all orders place before August 30, 2009.

[image courtesy of Xen-Ten]

I just found a pretty cool new thrifty site, and it’s all green! The site, Ecobunga!, features two ways to save on green minded products:

Save green - features coupons and sales on green goods.

Win green - just like it sounds, features green giveaways and contests.

This comprehensive directory also shows current green rebates, free shipping offers, and bulk discounts. Thankfully they also have a green criteria for listings which rocks because it saves you from lame greenwashing companies. They site consulted resources like Green America, Natural Resources Defense Council and Consumer Reports’ Greener Choices, to come up with a good working definition of “green”. Learn more about how products are chosen at the FAQ page.

You can search by recent sales or giveaways or search by category. You can also snag their email letter or subscribe to Ecobunga! by rss to get all the latest in your feed.

Visit Ecobunga! today and start saving some green on actual green products.

[Image via Ecobunga!]

Harris Teeter is having a super double coupon sale. They will double coupons with a face value of $1.98 or less.

I went shopping yesterday with a 3 and 5-year-old. Yay, me!  I made it out alive and with some bargains as well.  I hope to make it back in before the sale goes off, but here’s what I got today:

Starbucks 4 pk Frappuccinos (mommy’s splurge item)
7.19 reg price, 6.49 sale price
$1 coupon
$4.49 final

Hefty one zip bags
2.99 reg price, 2.50 sale price
$1 coupon
$.50 final

Kraft dressing
$2.82 regular price, $2.50 sale price
$1 coupon
$.50 final

100 calorie packs
$2.29 reg price, $2 sale price
$.55 coupon
$.90 final

Ocean Spray Cranberry Grape juice (bought 2)
$3.19 regular, buy 1 get 1 free sale
$.55 coupon (only had 1 coupon)
$2.09 final for 2

Smart Balance peanut butter
$3.29 reg
$1 coupon
$1.29 final

Pringles canister (bought 2)
$2.15 each reg
$1 coupon off 2
$2.30 for 2

French’s Mustard (specialty mustard)
$3.29 reg, $3 sale
$1 coupon
$1 final

Beechnut DHA baby cereal, 7 oz (bought 2)
$3.29 each reg
$1 coupon on each
$1.29 each final

Dr Pepper ice cream topping
$2.99 reg, $2 sale
$1 coupon
FREE

Gold Bond baby powder
$3.49 reg, $2.49 sale
$1 coupon
$.49 final

Suave lotion
$2.97 reg
$1 coupon
$.97 final

Vaseline lotion
$3.49 reg
$1.25 coupon
$.99 final

Activia 4 pk yogurt (bought 2, had 2 coupons)
$2.50 reg, $2 sale
$1 coupon
FREE x2

Bayer Caplets
$7.59 reg, bogo sale for $3.80 (bought 1)
$1 coupon
$1.80 final (for 1)

I got all of these groceries for around $20. It would have been less, but I was supposed to get the 4 oz baby cereals. I don’t need them, but was anticipating buying them for $.39 and donating them to the church food bank. They were stocked in the wrong place. This could have happened with several other items, but I noticed it myself. It seems the people that stock the shelves put things in other areas when they run out of room. It is annoying, but seems to happen at every store, so be careful.

I’m pleased with my deals, but feel like I could have done better if I wasn’t trying to shop with two children. I hope to share some more bargains with you later in the week.

Have you been to Harris Teeter for their super double coupon sale? What kind of bargains did you find?

image (c) Karen Weideman

Avenue’s $10 Event is still going on and more fashion items are being added daily. They have summer styles at $10, $15, and $20.  Plus, for today only, get a FREE Eco tote with any purchase.  The earth friendly canvas bag is perfect for your Avenue shopping trips and as a bonus, you save $1 every time you use it. 

You must have the printable coupon to receive the free eco tote.  Enjoy!

image from avenue

It has been confirmed that there will be Super Doubles at Harris Teeter starting Wednesday.  The sale will run June 24-30.  This means that they will be doubling coupons with face values up to $1.98!  ($1.75 becomes $3.50!)  So if you have some high value coupons, now is likely the time to use them!

Thanks to SavvyDollar for the tip.  You can join the Harris Teeter chit chat at SavvyDollar.org.

Image (c) Karen Weideman

I just got word of CurrentCode.com, and while the site is minimal in appearance and design, there are actually a decent amount of coupon codes listed.

THE IDEA BEHIND CURRENT CODES:

Most of the time, when you shop at online stores, you’ll see a coupon code line during check-out. If you don’t have the code, you don’t get the best deal possible. Current Codes is looking to minimize this issue by providing current coupon codes at their site.

According to Current Codes they’ve got, “A full-time staff of trained individuals whose only job is to find new coupon codes and discount codes and verify the accuracy of the existing database.” They don’t list sales, deals, or holiday events, all they cover is codes.

As noted, the site is minimal in design, but they offer an easy to search website. You can look for codes by category, alphabetically, or check out their box of current code deals.

Have you ever used this resource? What do you think?

Visit CurrentCode.com.

I went to Harris Teeter tonight for the final night of the triple coupon sale.  I’m quite pleased with my bargains.  I got about $160 of groceries for around $60 (including tax).  Not bad, I think. 

Here’s a list of what I bought and some of the prices. Sorry, I can’t remember all of them.

• Harris Teeter coffee beans
• 2 Wisk 2x Ultra laundry detergent (bogo +$1.50 qp +$2 printable qp, 2/$5.09)
• Comet long grain rice
• Diap soap 3 pk (free)
• 2 Mahatma yellow rice ($.75 qp, free)
• 2 Kraft dressing (bogo +$1.50 qp)
• Lawry’s marinade (bogo +qp, $.09)
• Doritos (bogo, $1.99)
• Ragu spaghetti sauce
• Fruiti Loops (bogo)
• 2 Knorr Pasta Sides
• Sunmaid Raisins 6 pk (bogo)
• large French’s onions
• 2 Blue Diamond almonds
• 4 Japanese noodle dinners
• 3 Campbell’s pork & beans (3/$1 sale)
• 6 Texas Pete chili sauce (6/$1 with qps)
• 1 lb Angus stew meat
• 2.5 lbs bananas
• 1 lb fresh strawberries (bogo)
• 2 Nature’s Own bread ($1.50 ea, sale)
• Sargento swiss cheese ($.50 w/sale + qp)
• 3 lbs yellow onions (1.97 sale)
• 2 bottles vitamins, 100 pk (bogo)
• Atkins shakes, 4 pk ($4 w/sale + coupon)
• 2 Indian sauce (bogo, $2 each)
• Capri-Sun, 10 pk ($.99 w/sale +qp)
• 2 Grande tortilla chips
• Snyder’s flavored pretzels, 10 oz ($.25 w/sale + qp)
• Libby’s tropical fruit in can (bogo)
• Texas croutons ($.39 w/ .50 qp)
• 3 Smucker’s ice cream syrups (sale for $2 + qps, $.20-30 ea)
• Spray ‘n Wash (bogo + qp, $.14?)
• 2 Whitehouse applesauce ($.75 qp for 2)

As you can see, you can save a lot of money when you shop during triple coupon week, especially when you combine a coupon with a sale.

Did you shop at Harris Teeter this week?  How did you do?

For quite a while now I’ve been using the same coupon organization system. I was using The Grocery Game to help me find deals on groceries. The Grocery Game tells you which week of the paper to pull the coupons from so that you don’t need to clip the coupons until you need them.

The filing system shown above a great system to use if you’re only using The Grocery Game.  I definitely like the convenience of the system.  The big problem is, I’m missing out on saving money on unadvertised specials, close-outs, and triple coupon sales.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been in a store and seen an advertised special or close-out item.  I know I have a coupon for the item, but since the coupons are not clipped, I have to search through all the inserts and hope to find what I need.

Finally I have switched to a new coupon organizing system!

I am now using the coupon organizer inserts from Smart Spending Resources.  The coupon organizer inserts fit into a regular 3-ring binder which sits on your grocery cart allowing you to flip through the binder and find the coupons you need.  A few things I like about this system from Smart Spending Resources:

1)  The coupons can be easily viewed.
2) The tabs are neat and professionally printed.
3) You can easily find coupons you need for unadvertised specials, close-outs, and triple coupon deals.
4) The system is neat and keeps loose coupons under control.
5) The system is expandable. More pages can easily be added to each section as needed.

A few tips for those who are interested in this system:
1) Be sure to buy an oversized 3-ring binder. I bought a regular binder and I mine is slipping around on the cart. I plan to pick up a larger binder the next time I go to the store. It will make couponing so much easier.
2) I would recommend purchases extra insert pages.
3) You might want to consider buying a zipper pencil pouch for your binder. I purchased one and will use it to put coupons I know that I will be using or to store my pen and calculator.

As always, I try to provide an honest product review, so I will tell you that this system is a lot more time consuming than my previous method.  I feel that the savings will be worth my time though.  As I’ve told you all before . . . Time is Money but Money is Time.

Have you tried the binder organizing system?

top image (c) Karen Weideman, bottom image (c) Smart Spending Resources