Internet printable grocery coupon websites- A lot of sites have you sign up- they will email you an update when the coupons refresh or update or they email you special coupons. I recommend that you get an email address dedicated to couponing- that way it won’t junk up your inbox.

Here are some of my fav. coupon and frugal living websites:

Coupons.com

Smartsource

www.wow-coupons.com (it’s a list of links to printable websites)

Coupon Cat

Delicious living 

Printable Coupons- A blogspot Blog

Coupon Surfer

Coupon Tool Bar Web Edition

My Savings 

Hot Coupon World- A great Couponing and Frugal living Board.



Couponing 101  It's an awesome couponing and savings blog!

Free Samples:

Great blog for free samples and coupons:  Free sampling 

Wal*Mart offers great samples each month

Survey Companies:

For more Survey companies, check out this entry.

Visitors to CA Coupon Diva!

As I was going through my clipped coupons today, I realized I have over 500 coupons, and I will probably only redeem a fraction of them before they expire.

I thought, what better way to get rid of, uh, I mean... share my coupons with others than to do a coupon train.

Here is how is works:
Email me your snail mail address.
I put your name on a list inside the envelope and email the envelope to the first person who emails me. 
She receives the envelope, takes out the coupons she wants, puts in any coupons she has that she doesn't want (this part isn't mandatory, especially if you are new to couponing -- I am trying to get rid of my extra coupons!).
Then, she reuses the envelope or uses one of her own and mails the coupons to the next person on the list.  And so on and so on.
The envelope of coupons will get passed around to everyone on the list.

It's a great way to get new coupons.  It will only cost the price of probably 2-4 stamps (it's a large envelope with about 300 coupons in it) for each person who participates.  Many of the coupons are not from the Sunday paper- they were mailed to me from companies or came with samples.  There are a lot of baby coupons, including formula checks, diaper and wipe coupons. There are a lot of high value coupons ($1.00 or more off) and I have included a couple "frees"- coupons for free merchandise.  If you are new to coupons or savings- it is worth the price of 2-4 stamps to sign up for the list!

If you are interested, please drop me an email.  I would like to mail the envelope out no later than Weds. the 10th.  Each person should hold onto the envelope no longer than 4 days, then mail it to the next person. 4 days is plenty of time to sift through these coupons and pull out the ones you want.

Once the envelope has been mailed, I will email out the list/order of mailing.

I hope you all can join!  If you know someone else who would be interested in joining our coupon train, please forward them this info and have them email me.

Using multiple points and awards programs together (when permitted) to earn extra rewards.

Example: Mypoints and Office Depot Work Life rewards.

When you shop at Office Depot through MyPoints.com:
( Cut for details on their rewards )


And when I shop at Office Depot.com, I can enter my Worklife Rewards (WLR) card number.
( The Deets on their program... )

So for our example, I am going to order $68.00 worth of toner cartridges.  I will receive 500 mypoints.com points.  I also receive $6.80 in my WLR "account" which, if I have over $10.00 in rewards before the end of the quarter, I'll get back in the form of a gift card, which I can then use to buy more inkjet cartridges for my printer.  If I take my empty inkjet cartridges to Office depot and recycle them, I'll be $3.00 each for them as well, and that gets added to my WLR "account".

A quick check of my WLR account today shows I have $12.50 earned between 1st quarter purchases and the 2 inkjet cartridges from our little HP All in One Printer that I have recycled. 

WOO HOO!  So I am earning points from MyPoints.com and getting a gift certificate from Office depot that I can use on my next purchase, which will get me MORE  POINTS on stuff that we use and need.

Mypoints.com and other similar programs are great because you get rewarded for the shopping that you do anyway!

 This mornings' birthday freebies (in my inbox): 

Free large Soda at AMC theatres (AMC movie watcher club!)
Free Birthday Dessert at Jack in the Box (Jack's Club)
Free Medium Drink at Sonic (Sonic Drive in Club)

A great article from Yahoo Finance - Best sites for Coupon Lovers!

The freebies I've received in the past few days:

Celestial Seasonings tea (from Facebook)
Dried Plums (Prunes!)
Playtex Sport Tampons


Free entree from El Torito (Birthday)
Free Entree from Benihana (birthday)
Free Dessert from Islands (Birthday),

If you are interested, drop me an email at akeen02037@gmail.com.

Here's how the train works- I fill an envelope with coupons- I mail you the envelope.  You take out the coupons that you want and then add the coupons you don't want and then mail it to the next person on the list (inside the envelope)- the next person does the same thing, until the envelope makes it all the way around.

You get rid of your unwanteds and you pick up new coupons!

I will start off the train with an envelope of about 100 or so coupons.  Each person can have the envelope no longer than 4 days.  If it is something you'd like to do, email me your mailing address and I will put you on the list- I'll mail the envelope out on Monday, and I will post the list of the participants.

All you do is pay for postage (about .88 cents-or 2 stamps-) and supply a new envelope when the old envelope wears out.

Safeway/ United Airlines partnership is ending.

Program update: On March 1, 2010, the GroceryMiles program will end. However, you still can enroll and earn miles through February 28, 2010. All miles will be posted to your account by April 30, 2010.

For me this is one less reason to shop at Safeway Stores, and I am pretty low on reasons.

5 of my RSVPs have cancelled, leaving less than 5 in attendance.

If I don't get at least 5 people to attend, I will have to cancel.

Sorry, but, these classes are a lot of work for me to do. They take a lot of time to put together. I do them for free. $3.00 barely covers the copying costs for the hand outs.

If you are interested in coming, please email me at akeen02037@gmail.com. Please let me know by tomorrow night.

My Birthday is next week and my inbox and mail box have both been overflowing with birthday freebies!

Free premium shake from Del Taco (NOM!).

Free lunch (up to $7.00) from Rubio's.

Free premium burger from Red Robin.

$10.00 gift card from Torrid.

A free piece of pie at Coco's.

The less exciting freebies:  Bogos from Pick up stix, free coffee at Brueger's Bagels, free app when you buy an entree at Lone Star Steak House, Free Dessert at Chili's. 


It pays to sign up!

Save money when buying meat

For those of use with an iphone and a plethora of store cards, check out CardStar.  Enter your membership numbers for more than 350 stores like CVS, Ralps and Petco.  Instead of carrying you card, the checker scans your iphone and you reap the benefits!  Much easier than carrying a separate wallet of club cards!


In other swanky iphone app news, RedLaser is an app where you photograph the UPC (bar code) and RedLaser searches the internet for the best price!  If you have a Droid, try is a similar app called Shop Savvy.

And finally, iphone users, Check out this great app: Shopper.  You make your grocery list and a syou check the items off your list, you input the prices to keep a running total.  Stick to your budget, easy peasy! Blackberry users can buy  SmartShopper, a similar app.


iphone users- check the app store, and other smart phone users, check your application shopping outlets and you'll be surprised at all the free or $1.00 programs that are available to help you save money!

I'm not going to talk about adjusting your withholding to bring home more money or how to maximize your IRA contributions, or even the benefits of an MSA (also called a flexible spending account).  Things like that need to be discussed with a tax professional.

I'm talking about paying less for tax preparation services.  You could save a lot of money and do it yourself on paper, but if you are like me, and like the shiny things and movement of computers (and for me, it takes a lot of the guess work out of it), using a computer program or paying someone else to do it is the method you chose.

1- Check with your bank or credit union and see if they have partnered with a tax preparation service to offer a discount.  My Credit union offers a $30 discount at Jackson Hewitt.  They have coupons in each branch. 

2- Check with your state's website, your state might offer free state online income tax filing.  California offers free Cal-File for those who qualify. 

3-TurboTax offers free federal and state tax filing services for those who qualify. 

4- Make sure to check your newspapers and junk mail.  Tax preparation services will start to advertise and offer discounts and coupons.


This goes without saying:  If you chose to have a service prepare your taxes, make sure they are licensed and are on the up and up.

If you are thinking about using a service and getting a tax refund anticipation loan, which is where the service completes your tax paperwork and loans you the money that you would be getting back from the the feds and when your tax refund comes, it goes straight to the tax preparation service (you also pay the service a percentage of the amount they are loaning you- so in essence you are paying for being impatient!).  There are a lot of articles online warning against it, and I have to agree. If you file your taxes and have the refund deposited into your checking account, you will have the money, in most cases in 10-14 business days.  Do the research for yourself- look online, ask questions. If you have to do it, comparison shop.

Waiting 2 weeks for your refund is worth the extra money, which can sometimes be up to 40% of the amount of the refund.

3 ways to save $100

Courtesy of Yahoo Finance.

I still have space for about 8 more people!

If you are interested, please shoot me an email or message.

I have over 500 coupons to trade at the class. 

If you can't make it, but are looking for coupons, drop me an email, and I can pull together an envelope for you.

Courtesy of HCW:

To try the new Eggland's Best eggs, simply call us at (800) 922-EGGS (3447) or send an email to ataylor@eggland.com with your name and mailing address. Mention code THEBESTJUSTGOTBETTER to receive your coupon. And then let us know what you think of our eggs. We always love to hear from you!

The mailman has not been one to disappoint!

This week I have received:

Feminine supplies from beingirl.com (tampax and always) and a coupon for a free box of pantyliners
Dove Heat Defense Therapy samples
International Delights product coupon


I traded two free Jello Mousse coupons for a free creamer coupon (we drink a lot of coffee!) and a free sausage coupon.

I also received some stickers in the mail from Disney.

Sorry for the sporadic postings, I've been encouraged to take the handout from my previous couponing classes, add to it and turn it into an E-book.

When it's done, it will probably top 100 pages, and will be full of info on couponing, frugal living that isn't crazy, and how to be frugal in the digital age using all of the great resources online we have available.  

Right now I'm about half way done.  I anticipate finishing it by mid February.  It will be available for purchase on my blog for around $5.00 per copy.  It will be available in PDF format.  B&W Paper copies can be purchased for a slightly higher price plus shipping.

You can pre-order a copy at my couponing and money saving class on 1/31/10 in San Diego, CA. 

I have a Starbucks Rewards card- today's free was my complimentary Birthday drink.  My birthday isn't for 2 weeks, but I thought I'd use it early.

I redeemed my postcard for a tall cinnamon dulce latte. NOM!!

 I've been working on the hand out and it's getting massive!

Tons of great ideas, and I'll be including a bonus section on healthy, cheap meals as well.

It will be the best $3 you've spent on a class handout EVAH!!

For those of you who can't attend, you can purchase the handout for $3.00 plus the cost of postage (I need to figure that out once the copying is done).