ricketyus/Flickr
Are you getting ripped off? Coupon clippers are angry at Target for automatically de-valuing coupons.(Common Sense With Money)
Coupon Cookin’ shares three very frugal ways to host a birthday party. With pictures from the parties!
It’s Your Money has a fun post on what retailer workers hate about shoppers.
Reasons to walk away from your car dealer, aka signs you are getting ripped off. (Valuing Today)
Here is a touching story about how $.99 hot dogs united one family for a final summer picnic. (Balancing Beauty and Bedlam)
Hi everyone,
We had problems with links in the newsletter today – none worked – and similar problems with reading entire posts on BargainBabe.com. It looks like everything is working again, but if you’re still having problems please contact me.
Thanks,
Julia
aka Bargain Babe
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of MY spaghetti, so this will have to do.
One of my favorite frugal dinners is my sister’s hearty spaghetti sauce, which uses ground turkey instead of beef and carrots instead of sugar. A batch of this sauce, which feeds a hungry family of five or two with leftovers, costs about $5.65, plus another dollar to serve over pasta.
Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey, $3 (try to get one sale for $2)
1-2 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped small $.50 (more…)
jonclegg/Flickr
Back to school – This morning I updated the back to school supplies freebies and deals. Staples has the best deals this week.
Quiznos – The $3 Quiznos coupon is back! I love this coupon because it makes lunch so cheap. For $2.99 you get a small sub, regular fountain drink, and chips. Not too shabby!
Smashbox – The beauty sale going on at Smashbox has limited edition and discontinued products marked down by 25-50% off. Ends Sept. 10, 2010.
Free gym – Get a free 7-day pass to Gold’s gym. Unclear when this offer expires.
Check out all the coupons and deals on my WalletPop blog. Got a coupon to share?
deb roby/Flickr
Here is an update on what produce is currently in season and a resource for what to plant in your late summer/fall garden. The below list of in-season produce is a good indicator of what fruit and vegetables will have the best prices. Greater supply…lower prices. Plus, in-season produce is often grown closer to home than out-of-season produce, which we import from Chile, Mexico, and other countries. Expect prices for early summer fruits and vegetables to rise.
The following list of fall fruits and vegetables comes from FruitsAndVeggiesMoreMatters.org. The list includes many hardy lettuces and squashes. If you can’t remember what is in season, price is a good indication.
Acorn Squash
Belgian Endive
Broccoli (more…)
inga_beretta/Flickr
Gap – Use these two Gap coupons to get 20-25% off your next purchase. One expires today and the other is good through Aug. 22, 2010.
TGI Friday’s – Print this TGI Friday’s coupon for $5 off $15, good through Aug. 18, 2010.
REI – Get 20% off any one item at the REI Outlet online. Unclear when this REI coupon expires.
Sephora – Get a bonus free sample at Sephora (you already get three) with any online purchase.
Body Shop - Students can get a free $10 Love Your Body membership at the Body Shop. Members get 10% off purchases, plus special coupons throughout the year.
Check out all the coupons and deals on my WalletPop blog.
Make sure to comment on the original post about the $249 swag giveaway contest by tonight, Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST to be eligible to win. The above link has a long list of every item in the hefty swag bag, which weighs 10 pounds!
Illustration by OConnorCartoons.com
My frugal friends at Savings.com shared these coupons.
Buy a Mac for College & Get a Free iPod Touch at Apple. Expires September 7, 2010.
Get 15% off full-priced merchandise at Crocs. Expires August 17, 2010.
Get $20 off full-priced orders of $75 or more at Ann Taylor Loft. Expires August 5, 2010.
Get 15% off storewide at SpaLook. Expires August 31, 2010.
Get 25% off all orders at Lock & Mane. Deal ongoing.
Some of the hottest new apps on the iPhone are using location -based information to connect place with social networks. A new money-saving application for the Apple iPhone promises to find consumers savings just by using their location!
Myzerr, a start-up social network for coupons, provides users with the ability to download free online coupons directly to their iPhones.
This application’s handy “Nearby” function shows the user’s location on a map and displays restaurants, retail stores, gyms and other local businesses who have signed up to Myzerr to promote their business. After selecting a business, the app generates a Myzerr iPhone coupon which the user can then show to redeem the discount.
Another useful function for users and businesses is the ability to “share” the coupon on Facebook, Twitter or by email. Myzerr also allows users to form groups to share discounts with friends. With these tools, shopping centers (or any community) can form groups for their local loyalty programs.
“Everyone loves to save,” says Myzerr CEO Slade Sherman. “Now Myzerr takes all the hard work out of it! In effect, the business finds YOU – which is just as it should be. Best of all, the service is completely free, both for you the user and for the business offering the discounts!”
The ability for these businesses to easily set-up their own loyalties programs and provide exclusive discounts to local communities is set to revolutionise the coupon marketing industry.
Sherman says “We are encouraging any small business and franchise chain that understands the benefits of location based services and social media to register, there really is no risk”.
Myzerr Beta can be viewed online at Myzerr.com.
The app is available from the iPhone App Store by searching for ‘myzerr’ or you can click here.
This is paid content. Interested in an ad? Read my Advertise page.
Darwin Bell/Flickr
This post is sponsored by Mint.com, a good place to find a budget calculator and many other free financial tools.
Yazmin’s post yesterday on three green habits that are pricey – eating organic food, using organic beauty products, and installing alternative energy sources – got me thinking about green moves that DO save green. Here’s my list.
- Shopping for clothes at swaps, thrift stores, and garage sales. Expect prices to be a third of discount chains like Ross, and a fifth of main stream retail. I found the most fabulous dress at Ross yesterday for $13!
- Donating possessions to Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other charities, then remembering to record the tax deduction.
- Drying clothes outside on a drying rack or clothes line. In the summer heat my clothes dry in two hours. Thick towels take about 3-4 hours. The dryer is getting lonely. More tips to save in the laundry room.
- Collect gray water in the tub before the hot water comes on and in the sink when washing vegetables. This saves you a few gallons every day. Rain barrels will collect storm run off, too. Here are even more ways to reduce your water use.
- Growing vegetables and fruit at home or in a community garden. But watch out, it’s easy to spend more on a garden than what you would pay in the grocery store. Another benefit to gardening is peace of mind.
- Carpooling or riding your bike for in-town errands.
- Recycling cans, bottles, and newspapers is a no-brainer, but did you know you can make a lot of money from recycling electronics?
- Eating vegetarian more often that you currently do. Protein from eggs and vegetables is so much cheaper than meat, and leaves a smaller carbon footprint.
Plus, check out these reader tips:
LisaL knows a way to make solar panels affordable:
Solar panels do not have to cost tens of thousands of dollars…. many companies will do a lease for little or NO money down. I just got solar for my whole house through SOLAR CITY (no I don’t work for them!), I will pay approx. $35/month for electricity to the solar company for the lease of the equipment for the next 30 YEARS–it will never go UP (which DWP can’t guarantee). Also, it’s their equipment so if anything breaks, they will fix it. This is a fraction of my monthly energy bill AND I will still use CFL’s and conserve energy, too. I think it’s still frugal…
DeniseinArk shares natural beauty secrets that are cheap:
Organic skin care products do not have to cost more than the non-organic ones, if you’re even a little bit inclined toward DIY. Mostly it takes research to figure out what does what, and a trip to the grocery store. Glycolic acids are a great example: AHA ingredients in cosmetics are fruit acids: juice from citrus and papaya, (or powders can be found in the vitamin/supplement aisle) lactic acid is found in dairy products such as yogurt and milk. BHA is salicylic acid – aka aspirin (can you say CHEAP?) Fruit and seed oils are well known antioxidants – olive, sunflower, grapeseed, etc. Fresh avocados do the same thing. At age 50, my oily skin is coming under control by using (SURPRISE!!) a couple of drops of grapeseed oil with a drop of ylang-ylang essential oil mixed in my hand and smoothed on my face after cleansing and exfoliating. I also keep a bottle of grapeseed oil in the shower and apply it the same way you’d apply baby oil after a shower, because the rest of my skin is very dry. It soaks right in very quickly and leaves my skin soft with no white lines. Each morning, I pour a little of my freshly brewed green tea into a tiny spray bottle and use it as toner and a little extra moisture spritz throughout the day. None of these items are expensive at all. It makes me wonder why the skin care items supposedly made from all natural ingredients have to be so expensive.
DeniseinArk, have you read Return To Beauty? It is a gorgeous book with dozens of homemade beauty recipes. Sounds right up your alley!
Chandra Bun
Pinkberry, the overpriced hip frozen yogurt chain that I have a very weak spot for, just announced two deals.
- The new summer flavor, watermelon, is half off during Pinkberry’s happy hour, 5-7 p.m. daily beginning Friday June 25. Unclear when this deal ends.
- Get half off any one Pinkberry product when you bring in your receipt from the day before. The fine print is a little unclear – it’s possible the discount is valid two or three days after your original purchase.
Pinkberry has tons of locations in California, and a few in Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Texas and abroad. Find one near you.
Become a Pinkberry Groupie if you want to find out about deals like this.
Four of the five winners from yesterday have already gotten back to me so the last winner has another 24 hours to reply to my email or I will move onto the runners up. To be eligible to win prizes today and the rest of the week, sign up for my daily or weekly email list.
So far Wendy from Irvine, CA claimed the $20 Target gift card, Susanne from Redondo Beach, CA snagged the $10 Marie Callender’s gift card, Robin from Valley Village, CA will receive a hot pink Bargain Babe T-shirt, and Josha from Pensacola, FLA gets The 99 Cent only cookbook by Christiane Jory.
The only prize from yesterday that has not been claimed is Secrets of a stingy scoundrel by Phil Villarreal. Hilarious read.
- 8GB iPod Nano in your color choice courtesy of Savings.com
- $100 Sephora card courtesy of Friendgiftr.com
- $50 Amazon card
- $50 Goldstar.com card
- $25 Starbucks gift card (5 of them!)
- $20 Dollar Tree gift card
- $15 Quiznos gift card (5 of them!)
- $15 Save-a-Lot gift card
- 4 Bargain Babe hot pink T-shirts
- Savings.com red canvas reusable bag and water bottle, BargainBabe.com notepad, calculator and mouse pad, 4 Starbucks VIA mugs, 1 can of Starbucks instant VIA coffee, and five books.
- Five $15 Quiznos gift card (five winners)
- A woman’s guide to investing by Virginia Morris and Kenneth Morris
- One Bargain Babe hot pink T-shirt
To win, sign up for my daily or weekly email list by 5 p.m. PST today, Jan. 26, 2010.
If you don’t win one of the five Quiznos cards, consider entering their Choose 2 sweepstakes. Basically you enter your email, watch one of their commercials, and then answer questions about it. Every correct answer is worth one entry into a drawing for $4,000 in cash, kitchen appliances, electronics, 500 tree plantings, or $4,000 in Quiznos gift cards. That’s a lot of sandwiches!
If you live in Long Island, tune in tomorrow to hear me on KJOY 89.3 with Steve and Maria at 9 am EST. I’ll be on for about 5-10 minutes talking about bargains and how to save.
BargainBabe.com’s one-year anniversary is coming up and to celebrate I’m going to have a week of fabulous reader giveaways.
Every day we will give away at least one prize, including gift cards, books, and T-shirts. The daily prizes begin Monday, Jan. 25 and conclude Friday, Jan. 29, 2010.
Your feedback will help me decide what to giveaway!
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