Clean your house - Adopt a Soldier

Ok, hopefully my title caught your eye!

I have a confession to make to everyone:

I really really hate sample and trial size products. While it is GREAT to get a sample or trial size item free, I hate trying to store them. They don't always stack well. They take up space. They usually only have enough product for a couple days which means more trash or water to clean out plastic bottles to recycle. My list goes on and on why these little bottles of products annoy me. Fortunately, for me I was informed of a WONDERFUL website that will solve my angst and get the clutter OUT of my house!

Adopt a US Soldier is a 501 (c) 3 non profit organization that focuses on connecting supportive Americans with currently deployed soldiers. You can register on http://www.adoptaussoldier.org/ and a soldiers information will be emailed to you within a couple of days (at the latest!). You can then write letters, send cards or even care packages full of items to your soldier while he is deployed overseas. Some soldiers may contact you back on anywhere from a daily basis, to no contact at all. There are some 'silent soldiers' that have no access to internet or mail, so please do not be discourage. These soldiers need even more support than others! If anyone is interested in more information, please visit http://www.adoptaussoldier.org/.

Reader Jennifer contacted me and informed me she currently is a member of this organization and has two adopted soldiers. She has been sending care packages and was hoping to get together several items for gift bags for her soldiers to share with others in their unit. If you are local to the Katy area and want to contribute without adopting a soldier of your own, please contact Jennifer(jennifer @ theextremehousewife dot com) for more information.

For non-locals, take a look at the website. Trial size items are PERFECT for soldiers stationed overseas. This is a WIN-WIN situation. You help those serving our country with much needed items, and for those with families, you take that expense OUT of their budget AND you get a decluttered house! I know I have more Blistex, deodorant, razors, toothpaste, and fruit snacks then I will EVER be able to use, and these much needed items would certainly be appreciated by those soldiers stationed overseas. Judging from the quotes I read from the soldiers, this program is a SUCCESS.

FREE Chick Fil A Yogurt Parfait for St Patty's DAY!

WOW! I just got an email from my local Chick fil A letting me know tommorrow I can get a FREE Yogurt Parfait for wearing GREEN! Well, I planned on wearing green anyway, now, it looks like the girls and I are making a stop on the way to school/work! YAY

Might want to check your local store to see if they are offering a similar promotion.

Randalls- Last Big run for this ad

I just couldn't keep away from Safeway knowing today was the last day of the sale on cereal, fruit snacks and salad! Found a few more GREAT deals to hit while there so thought I would share what I found. You can click on the picture to zoom it for detail if you want to see items closer, just wanted a good pan view that you can see everything(you can tell photography is not my strong suit).

This was my moms card, since she had a few loadables I already used. Oh, which reminds me, Shortcuts added several loadables so if you have not been there in the last couple days, you might want to check it out.

Ok, let me relay some of the details of deals first, then I will give you my breakdown, might be easier to follow that way

1. Cereal/BC fruit snacks/NV granola bars and nut clusters, these items sale all end today and were save $5 wyb 5
a. Buy 5 BC fruit snacks in one transaction, get $3.50 oynso catalina(ends Sunday)

2. Fresh Express salad sale also ends today, save $5 wyb 5

3. Hamburger Helper unadvertised sale- buy 4 in one transaction and they are only .99 each (unsure of end date)
a. Buy 3 HH in one transaction and earn $2 off beef, chicken or tuna purchase catalina
b. Got catalina for $2 off ground beef wyb 2 HH catalina

4. Found display sign for purchase 1 Bush's kidney beans, Hunts diced tomatoes or tomato paste, and ground beef in single transaction, get $2 oynso catalina

5. Scrubbing Bubbles on sale for $1.99 each wyb 3. Current catalina deal to earn $4 oynso wyb 4(cat ends Sunday)

6. Frozen food promotion continues, Earn $10 oynso catalina wyb $25 worth of participating products(tagged in store)



So now, my transaction:

1 Chocolate Cheerios $3 - .75 cellfire
1 Honey Nut Cheerios $2.50 - 2 .55 cellfire - .55 shortcuts - $1/2 insert
1 Nature Valley granola bars $2.50 -.40 cellfire - .40 shortcuts - .40 IP
1 Nature Valley nut clusters $2.50 - $1 shortcuts - $1 IP
1 Reese cereal $2.50 - .55 cellfire - .55 shortcuts - .55 IP
-$5 wyb 5 = -.65


1 gallon milk $2.38 - free wyb 3 GM cereal peelie = FREE(I got this in trade)

5 Betty Crocker fruit snacks $2 each - 2 .50/2 cellfire - 2 .50/2 shortcuts - 2 .50/2 IP(1 doubles)
-$5 wyb 5 = $1.50 (earns $3.50 oynso cat!)

5 Fresh Express Salad $1.99 - 2 $2/2 blinkies - $1 blinkie(got in trade)
-$5 wyb 5 = -.05


1 Wanchai Ferry Orange chicken $6.99 - free home mailer = FREE
2 Digiornio 200 calorie pizzas $3 each - free home mailers (one from kraft first taste) = FREE
4 Red Baron Singles pizzas $3 each - .75 blinkies(found at Walgreens) = $9
1 Ore Ida fries .99 (to reach $25 mark) = .99

4 Scrubbing Bubbles 1.99 each - $2/2 peelies = $3.96 (earns $4 oynso)

4 Hamburger Helper .99 each - .75/3 shortcuts -.75/3 insert = 2.46
1 Bush Kidney beans .89
1 Hunts Tomato paste .79
1 Club pack 93% ground beef $10.47 - 30% off reduced sticker - $3 store IP(no longer avail) - $2 off ground beef wyb 2 HH = $2.33 (earns $2 oynso)

=$21.22
-$10 oynso from frozen deal
-2 $3.50 oynso
-$2 oynso
Tax: -.32
= $1.90 ooop and earned

$10 for frozen food, $3.50 for fruit snacks, $2 for Hunts/Bush/ground beef, $2 off meat for HH, $4 for Scrubbing bubbles

So final tally:
$10 + $7 + $2 + $1.90 - $10 - $3.50 -$2 -$2 -$4 = -.60!

50 MORE free Disney Movie Rewards Points

I learned another easy way to score another free 50 points to your Disney Movie Rewards account. Just log into your account and click on the Blu-Ray button at the stop of the screen. It should pop up an intro to Blu-Ray which you can skip. You can choose to watch a video about HD and Blu Ray and at the end they will reward you with 50 points! How easy is that? I had it playing in one window while checking email etc and it played about 10 minutes. Had some pretty interesting things to say too.
And now I am 50 points closer to that High School Musical Bike, lol.

5 More Free Points from Disney Movie Rewards

If you received your March e-newsletter from Disney, you should have gotten a code at the bottom for 5 free Disney Movie Rewards points. If you deleted and forgot to get the code first, here it is: FM39V03SSW. You must enter code before 3/31 and don't forget to check the bottom of your monthly newsletter for these 5 point codes.

While on the subject of Disney, if you have plans on purchasing The Princess and the Frog this week, head here first for $10 printable coupon off the Blu-Ray or Blu-Ray combo pack that comes with DVD.

Randalls run - spent .39 real money!

I had a great friend supply me with a few more Quaker Squares coupons since my dh can't get enough of this cereal(thank you Courtney!)

Since I was going anyway, decided to take advantage of a couple more sales deals going on.

One is the Suave deodorant. They are just $1.25 if you buy at least 4 in one transaction. Combining that with the $1.25/1 and $3/2 IPs nets free and profit deodorants.

Another is the Colgate toothpaste. I had $.75 insert coupons expiring tonight and found they were $1 if you bought at least three in a transaction. Coupling that coupon with the $1 Randalls booklet coupon made each a .75 profit

I also found $3/3 store coupon peelies for coke and they were $3.33 each if you bought at least 3 together. I had $1/2 peelies I had from before and scored a great deal on those too.

I think I faired rather well. I didn't give my Randalls coupon until after everything was scanned(got distracted) and my total was pennies above $200.

Here is my breakdown:

3 $5 off cereal aisle deals
2 $5 off dressing/salad deal

4 Betty Crocker fruit snacks $1 each -.50/2 IP -.50/2 IP = 2.50
1 Kelloggs fruit snacks $1 - $1.50 home mailer = -.50
10 Quaker Oat Squares $1 - $1 insert 2-14 RP = FREE

8 Fresh Express salad mix .99 each - $2/2 blinkies(yay! found some tonight) = -.08
2 Marie's dressing .99 each - $1 IP = -.02

4 Coke 12 packs $3.33 each - $3/3 peelie -2 $1/2 Randalls booklet - 2 $1/2 peelies = $6.32
1 Barilla picollini .79 - .55 insert 1-3SS = .24
1 Tylenol Sinus caplets $5.99 - $1 tearpad = $4.99
12 Colgate Total* toothpaste $1 each - $1 Randalls booklet - .75 insert 2-21SS = -$9
1 Blistex lip $1 - .35 insert 1-17 SS = FREE
1 Olay Cleansing Clothes $5.99 - $3 Pg loadable - $3 insert 1-17PG = -.01
7 Suave deodorant $1.25 each - 3 $3/2 IP - $1.25 IP = -1.50

2 Monkey bread $3.99 each (I didn't have my coupons, but there are printables here- use zip 20178) = $7.98
3 Contessa meals $5.99 each - $2 peelies = $11.97

-$10 frozen food previous catalina
-2 $4 catalinas(Kelloggs)
-$3.50 catalina(BC snacks)
Tax: -.95
Cost oop: .39

Earned $10 for frozen food deal, $2.50 for BC snacks and $2 for Tylenol

So total cost for everything:
$10+$8 +$3.50 + .39 - $14.50 = $7.39
(DH called and said he needed sinus medicine so I bought the Tylenol because the cat deal was advertised, making it the cheapest, turns out that was my BIGGEST expense, lol!)

Also, was excited to get the monkey bread as my MIL gives it to the girls as a breakfast dessert, so I wanted to treat them tommorrow if they clean their plates!

*In my excitement to see the toothpaste on sale and to confirm the size for the coupons, it did not dawn on me the Randalls coupon specifies Total and I bought Max Fresh, oops, thanks for pointing out my mistake reader Mary.