Free Shoes & Toothbrushes!

I've had some pretty good luck with finding deals lately and I just had to share! Thursday I did some mystery shopping at a shoe store and ended up getting these two pairs of shoes for James for free! We needed some water shoes for him for the Keys, so this came at the perfect time. The shoes were buy one, get one pair 1/2 off, so my total came to just under $15. I got paid $15 for doing the mystery shop, so free shoes! It was kind of fun doing my "secret" shopping. The only annoying part was that I had to shop in the store for at least 20 minutes, which James tried to make the loooongest 20 minutes ever :)

A few weeks ago, I got an awesome deal on this Thomas the Train electric toothbrush for James. He hates, absolutely hates, getting his teeth brushed, so I thought an electric toothbrush would at least cut down the time it takes to brush his teeth. I hoped he would think it was more fun with the train shape and the buzzing sound, and I was right! He is much better about getting his teeth brushed at least some of the time :)

I had been thinking about getting him one for awhile when I saw on one of the coupon blogs that I follow that the Thomas the Train spinbrushes were clearanced to $1.97 at CVS! Not only that, but that week they had a promotion that for every spinbrush you buy, you get $2 back on your receipt. Plus, I had a $2 coupon off of one. Since I was heading to CVS anyway, I grabbed the coupon and decided to see if they had the spinbrushes at my store. (Clearance can be so unreliable). Luckily they had two left and I snagged them! So after the cash back and my coupon, I actually made $2 off of getting two toothbrushes that I was going to get anyway. So cool! I love it when you find deals like that, especially when it is on something you were planning to buy anyway.

I've been focusing more of my time on trying to find ways to bring in a little extra income. I'm still doing Swagbucks for my diapers and wipes supplies which has been great, but I've also branched out to a few other rewards websites. Most of them only offer a few dollars here and there, but I figure for a few extra minutes a day it all adds up. I made a spreadsheet that keeps track of all the extra money and gift cards that I have earned so far this year (I love my spreadsheets!! Couldn't live without 'em :) and it is motivating because it makes me want to get that number higher and higher before the end of the year!

Now, if only I could find a way to get the awesome garage sales deals that my sister in law Happy gets I would be in heaven!! I would say it is the location we live in, but that is a cop out because she has been able to get great deals in at least 4 different cities that she has lived in. Tutorial post Happy??? Pretty please??? :)

Free Diapers

You remember my post about swagbucks? I decided that I would try to use my earnings from the website to buy diapers on amazon instead of just buying stuff (trying to curb that shopping habit!!). I set a goal for how many swagbucks I would need to earn a day in order to get enough diapers for a month and so far I have been meeting my goal or exceeding it! Today I ordered my first case of free diapers!! So, swagbucks has now paid for a month and half's worth of diapers. Awesome!

Seriously, if you spend any time on the computer throughout the day I would totally recommend trying it out. I'm trying to see how little out of pocket I can pay for diapers until James is potty trained and I love that I don't have even have to leave my house to do it! He is 5 months old and so far I have only paid $129.19 for diapers and wipes and that is including about 2 and 1/2 months worth that I still have to use.

If you sign up through my link, I get bonus points, so if you are thinking about it, give it a whirl! :) http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/redant21

I *heart* amazon and swagbucks!

I think that I am single-handedly keeping amazon.com in business. Seriously. I order something from them almost every other day since we have a prime membership we get free shipping most of the time. I don't know how many times I have gone on there and found something cheaper than getting it in the store, plus I get it shipped to me for free! Example: James' swing that he takes naps in eats D batteries like they are candy, so I looked on amazon. Sure enough, I found a 12 pack of professional grade duracell batteries for $14 with free shipping! You can't get publix store brand batteries for that price. So I ordered it :)

Recently I've started using Swagbucks.com again as a way to support my amazon habit. In case you don't know what it is, it's a search engine/website were you can earn points for doing different things (searching the web, answering polls, surveys, etc...). Once you earn 450 points you can redeem it for a $5 amazon gift card! It is super easy and you don't get email spam or anything like that with it. I've already earned enough for $10 in amazon gift cards just this month! Anyways, I always like ways to get free stuff, so if you are interested feel free to check it out. I would definitely recommend it. Some people like to earn as much as they can throughout the year and then use it all to pay for Christmas presents. Can you imagine not paying anything for Christmas presents? Too cool! Except I can't wait that long :)

Swagbucks

Farmer's Market

One thing I love about our new city that we live in is that there are so many farmer's markets close to us. Today was our second time going to a weekly one held at the county fairgrounds and it is so much fun! I've never really been to any other farmer's market, but this one is more of  a farmer's market/flea market. Not only did we get some awesome deals on produce, but there are so many fun and interesting things to see. As I walked through, I kept thinking to myself, "I  have to remember to tell Anthony that I saw...fill in the blank". I think you could literally buy anything you could ever think of at that place.

Here is a list of some of the random things I saw for sale (that I can remember anyway): tile cutters, weed eaters, lawn mowers, t-shirts, giant tubs of cheese balls, knock off designer handbags (at least I think they are knock offs. I don't know how to tell the difference really), kettle corn, any and every "as seen on TV" item ever advertised, rugs, dog crates, plants, day old bread, discounted groceries (boxes that are smushed and cans that are dented, that sort of thing), handmade baby accessories, antique tools, samurai swords, hats, jewelry, decorative glass, vacuum cleaners, guns, I could go on and on!!!

I had a really fun time power walking around and looking at everything. It was windy and overcast today and the market is so large, I didn't want to get caught far away from my car should it start raining, so I tried to see everything at a quick stroll :) I've started to get my groove as far as the logistics of going there. I always park in the same section of field. Since it is so far away from the entrance, no one parks there and I can get a spot in the shade. Then I pull out the stroller to use as my shopping cart and put James in a sling on my chest. I put his hat on him, I put my big floppy hat on me and away we go! James is usually asleep by the time I get to the entrance :)

Today I only brought $11 with me with a plan to buy fruit, veggies, and bread. I got everything I wanted for exactly $11!

Here is the list of what I got:

Day old bread: $1

2 Bunches of Asparagus: $3

2 baskets of apples: $5

1 basket of zucchini (locally grown): $1

1 basket of squash (locally grown): $1

I've also started to find which vendors are my favorites as far as price and quality. I am definitely going back to the stand where I got the zucchini and squash. Not only is it locally grown, but you can't beat that price for such yummy looking veggies! It is fun to get to see the same people every week, they always ooh and ahh over the baby and ask how he is doing. It feels very neighborly.

There is also a farmers market every Saturday in New Smyrna, which is much closer than the one I went to today. I think I am going to try it out this week while my family is in town. Hopefully it will be just as much fun!

Attention Publix Shoppers!

To all my friends that shop at Publix, I just went grocery shopping and discovered an awesome deal on shredded cheese! This week (until Saturday) the Kraft shredded cheese with a touch of Philadelphia cream cheese is on sale for $1.66. At my Publix in Edgewater there is a dispenser in front of the shredded cheese with coupons for $1 off one package. That makes one 8 oz package of shredded cheese 66 cents!!!

If you are in Publix, you should totally check it out and see if that dispenser is in your store too. You can't beat getting a deal like that, you don't even have to print or clip coupons before you go! I have some room in the freezer, so I am seriously considering going back and getting some more (I won't tell you how many I got already). We always use shredded cheese, and I usually pay around $2-$3 for one package so it is definitely worth it :)