SwagBucks?? What is THAT??

Look - if your not hip to SwagBucks, you need to be!!
I'm including a link for you to sign up at the end of this, because trust me, you will want to!

I really didn't want to use it at first. I love my google search, and I didnt want to use this SwagBucks search. Yea well, that's all changed.

Four simple steps make earning free SwagBucks all the more exciting!

1) Sign up!
2) Like them on FaceBook
3)Follow them on Twitter
4) Enter the codes in the "Gimme" box!

I'm telling you, they have a WIDE range of things you can spend your SwagBucks on! They have everything from stickers, to CDs, to electronics, clothes, school supplies, and baby stuff too!!

Seriously, you have to check this thing out!

Here is just a rundown of how I have earned so many SwagBucks so quickly!

I joined on 1/11/2013 - ok, so I wasn't so fond of it, and I really didn't understand it. I don't like to ask too many questions - seriously, if I really get into something (like free stuff) it gets addictive. I honestly think I . was just scared I would get addicted to finding & earning swagbucks. Guess what? I am lol

On 1/11/2013, I earned 96 SBs. I didn't log in again until 1/17, and I am still kicking myself in the you-know-what!
On the 17th - I only earned like 3 SBs. Why? Because I was still a little confused.
On the 18th - I logged back in and searched for this Toolbar I heard of. I hate toolbars, so I figured I would hate it, but I would try it anyways. Plus, I would get 1 SB for each time I used it to search. Look, I search for things all day long (free samples, images, recipes), so why not earn stuff for it?
On the 19th - I just used the tool bar, earned 1 SB.
On the 20th - Used the toolbar, 1 more SB.
On the 21st - whoopy! Used the toolbar, 1 more SB.

This was getting old, there had to be a way to earn these things faster!!!!

On the 22nd - I decided to poke around, and really figure out what this SwagBuck thing was all about.
I did some searched, scored some bonus bucks for things I went looking for, did some little surveys, entered some SwagCodes I had found, watched some short videos (seriously, they are lik 2-3 minutes long), and signed up for this SavingsStar coupon ap for my phone (love it! it loads coupons right to my store cards so I don't have to clip them!) I earned 148 SB! AHHHHHH-MAZING!!!

On the 23rd (today) - I was back fist thing in the AM, checking facebook, clicking the little "Check for Swag Code" button on the toolbar, and reading the blogs. I found a SwagCode on the SB page, and earned some more bucks for some searched. In total, I earned 97 SwagBucks!

Seriously, this is so easy! Earning about 100 Bucks a day, and they even have hourly give away! You check the page, and every hour they announce a new winner, if its you, you just click on the button, and it awards you the SwagBucks. So far, I've seen amounts from 100-1,000 SBs.

Look, you get SBs for refering people (so I would LOVE it if you could use the link below to sign up so I can get some bonus points :-), you get points for simple surveys, and you get mega points for 60 SBs for more in depth surveys.

And the toolbar is the best!! It gives you a little search box, and a button to see if there is an active swag code. It will say "Check FaceBook" or "Check HomePage" or "Check Blog". You just go to the page and check for the hints, or the code itself!

Seriously, you have to check this out!! Plus, you can use those gift cards for grocery shopping, birthday gifts, or Christmas gifts!!

Head over there now and check it out!!!

SwagBucks Sign Up

Happy Searching, and Happy Swagging!!!

- Patty
E-Mail The All-in-One Parent today with any questions!
OR
Check us out on FaceBook!

Hawaiian Skewers

This is a great appetizer or party snack food!

Ingredients

1 lb Thick sliced Baked ham (not honey or glazed)
1 can Dole Pineapple Chunks (or 1/2 fresh pineapple, grilled) + 1/2 cup juice
12 - 6-8"wooden skewers, soaked in water for 12-24 hours
2 Tbsp. Low sodium Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp. Sprite

Instructions

Slice ham into 1/2 inch strips, 2 inches long
Place ham and pineapple on skewers, alternating.
Fold ham strip in three (like a snake) and place on Skewer, and then add a pineapple chunk.
Mix The Pineapple juice, and remaining ingredients, and use as a marinade for the skewers.
Marinade in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Grill for 10-15 minutes or until heated through, using the marinade to baste.
OR
Broil for 2-5 minutes till warmed through, basting once, halfway through.

For additional taste - mix remaining marinade with 1/4 cup honey, and 1/4 cup yellow mustard for dipping.

Walgreen's Balance Rewards

** All information was gathered from Walgreens.com **
(you HAVE to sign up for Balance Rewards to get these points!!)

Walgreen's introduced an new Balance Rewards program last year. On the surface this program looks a lot like KMart's Member Rewards Program. But, they are not the same.

Here are some ways you can earn free Money with Walgreen's Balance Rewards Program!

-> Purchase items that offer you rewards points! (I will post a blog with this weeks offers, and how much you can earn later today)

-> Use your Walgreen's online account to track your walks! Use a pedometer to track your steps, and then log them at Walk with Walgreens. For every mile you walk, you will earn 10 pts.

-> use coupons (don't I always say this??) to pay an even lower price for your sales items!

OK, here's the deal with the points. Every week Walgreens has items in the local ad, and in stores that will earn you Balance Reward Points.
Once you earn 5,000 points, you get $5 off your next purchase. But the more you spend, the more you save.

5,000 pts.   = $5
10,000 pts. = $10
18,000 pts. = $20
30,000 pts. = $35
40,000 pts. = $50

Trust me, these points can rack up quick!!

Here are some home needs that will rack you up points with this weeks ad! Lots of great buys for the Superbowl coming up too!!

Grocery Items
(great way to use food stamps to buy grocery items, and earn points to buy house hold needs)

You can earn 3,000 pts just by spending $15 in participating items by Aquafina, Pepsi, or Frito-Lay.
Here are the items that were showed on the ad this week.

Aquafina 24 pk. - $3.99
Doritos, Lays, or Tostitos chips (9 - 13 oz.) - 2 / $5
Frito-Lay Dip or Salsa - 2 / $5
Pepsi 2 liters - 4 / $5
Pepsi 12 pk cans - 4 / $10

Here are other grocery items you can earn points on

Smart water or Vitamin Wanter singles - 5 / $5 (earn 500 points when you spend $5)
Walgreens Brand Nice! Select Nuts - 2 / $5 (earn 500 points when you spend $5)
Select Keebler (8.5 - 16 oz) or Cheez-It (7 oz.) crackers - 3 / $6 (earn 1,000 when you buy 3)
Walgreens Nice! Brand Honey - $4.99 with in-ad coupon (earn 1,000 points)
Walgreens Nice! Hard, gummy or Chewy candy - $0.69 - $0.99 each (earn 100 points when you buy 2)
Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Meats or Kraft Cheese Slices - 2 / $6 (earn 1,000 when you buy 2)
Wrigley's 15 piece gum or Mentos 14 piece gum - 3 / $2 (earn 100 points when you buy 3)
Biscoff or Nutella spread - 2 / $7 (earn 250 when you buy 2)
Mentos candy - 3 / $2  (earn 250 points when you buy 3)
Select Post* cereal - 4/ $10 (earn 1,000 points when you buy 4)


Other Household Items you can earn points on!

Cottonelle toilet tissue (12 roll) - $5.00
Viva Paper Towels (6 roll) - $5.99
Scott Toilet Tissue (12 roll) - $7.49
--- Buy any 2 or more and earn 1,000 points

Spend $20 on DayQuil or NyQuil and earn 4,000 points

Spend $15 on CoverGirl cosmetics, and earn 3,000 points

Spend $40 on Finest* Nutrition Vitamins and earn $5,000

Spend $10 or more on select Nice! Cleaning products and earn 1,500 points
(Concentrated Bleach - $1; Laundry Detergent liquid or packs - $4; Glass cleaner - $2; Toilet Bowl Cleaner - $1)

Spend $10 on Revlon cosmetics and earn 2,000 points

Spend $15 or more on select Dove, Caress & Level 2000 and get 1,500 points

Spend $20 on Jergens or Curél Lotion and get 5,000 points, or spend $10 and get 2,000 points

Buy two CeraVe lotion and get 1,000 points

 .... there are so many more!!!

But here are the two big buys I saw -

If you spend $20 or more on select* Edge, Skintimate or Schick products and get 10,000 points! (that's huge, and there are TONS of coupons for these products)

If you spend $30 or more in select Gillette products, and you will get $10 in Register Rewards on your NEXT visit.

There are so many different ways to earn points, you just have to research it!
And remember, MATCH YOUR COUPONS!!!

Keep a list of coupons you have, or keep your binder organised so you can find your coupons easily!

When your going through your weekly ad, look to see if you have coupons to match those deals.

Happy shopping!!
- Patty
SAHMandD@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/SAHMandD

Free toilet paper at CVS!!

This week CVS has a "Spend $30 get $10 free CVS bucks" deal going.

Here is a link to CVS, where you can pull up the ad and view what is included on the $10 for $30 deal!

CVS Pharmacy 

Some of the items are food items, which means - if you need these items, or even have coupons for these items, you can buy them with your FoodStamp card, get the $10 in CVS bucks, and use that $10 on toilet paper, or what ever else you may need for the home!
Also, REMEMBER to use your coupons and save more money!!!

Here is just a small list of items which are included in the ad in my area (Cleveland, Ohio)

Food Items-

Coca-Cola 12 pk cans. - 3/$9
Coca-Cola 8 pk cans -2/$6
Coca-Cola 2 liters - 4/$4
Nabisco Tricuits, Wheat Thins or Ritz - 2/$6
Power Aid or Vitamin Water Multi Pack - $3.99 each
Planters Peanut - 2/$6

Non-Food items -

Tide or Gain Detergent - $5.49
Old Spice of Gillette deodorant - BOGO 50% off
Always Infinity pads or Tampax Pearl tampons - $6.99
Kotex light days, Pads or Tampons - $4.99

They also have a variety of other items too! Just walk around the store and look for the green dollar hanging off the shelf in front of the items.

If you spend $30 on groceries, then you get a free $10 to spend as you wish!

Well, this week, CVS had a great coupon deal

get upto $2 off a pack of Scott's Toilet paper.
Here is the link - >

CVS Scott's Toilet Paper Coupon (you can print off TWO of these!!)

Also, in the 1/13 SmartSource coupons insert from the Sunday paper, there were coupons for Scott's Tissue for $50 off one, or $1 off two.

The Tissue is on sale for $7.49
Use the $2 Store coupon to make it $5.49
Then, use the $0.50 off one coupons.
Your total (before tax) would be $4.99

Now, you can double that, and get two packs of toilet paper for $9.98 (before tax)

So, you spend $30 on grocery items, and get the $10 CVS bucks, and then run a second transaction, and pay only tax for the toilet paper!!

- Patty
SAHMandD@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/SAHMandD

Starter Coupon Tips! Tip #3

Coupon Tip #3
Keep organized!
You never want a Coupon to expire when you can use it to save money.
There are many ways to organize your coupons, and everyone is different.
Me personally, I have a binder that I have separated in alphabetical order. It has 27 dividers (one for each letter, and one for numbers) and I file according to the brand name. Each section has baseball card pages in it - eachpage has 9 card holders, and you can file multiple like coupons in each sleeve.
Some people like to sort by grocery type, or isle, or store. I prefer it in alphabetical order because its easier for me to find what I need quickly.
Keep the coupons that are expiring soon on the top, and the ones expiring later towards the bottom.
DON'T let your coupons expire! Its like throwing away money! And, if you have coupons you just know you will never use, offer them to someone else, or buy the product and barter with a neighbor for fresh veggies from their garden, or some canned/jarred fruits/veggies from their personal pantry.
At any rate, DO NOT THROW THEM OUT!!! If you have absolutely NO USE at all for them, you can send them to military families. There are commissary stores on base and over seas that will take coupons that are no more then 6 months past their expiration date.
(If anyone would like info on where to send these, let me know and I will be more then happy to find the address for you!

- Patty
SAHMandD@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/SAHMandD

Starter Coupon Tips! Tip #2

Coupon Tip #2

Get to know your local grocery store. There are three reasons for this
1 - most stores have sales in cycles - 12 week cycles. Every 12 weeks an item will go on sale. If you know WHEN that item will be on sale, then you will know when to stock up on it :-) If an item is usually $5, but goes on sale for $3, and you know you use 4 each month, you could buy 4 when its on sale, and save $8, and then spend the $40 for the next two months, OR...
Buy 12 at the sales price, and spend $36. This will save you $24. Honestly, that's half a tank of gas, a date night with your spouse, or money into the Christmas Account!
2 - You NEED to know your stores coupon policy. You can ask the manager, OR, you can go online on the store website and get it. IF you are unable to find it there, e-mail the company, and they will be more than happy to send it to you. Its a great idea to print this out and keep it in your binder. That way if a cashier, or manager questions your coupon using, you have the policy, and you can point out to them that you are doing it per the company policy.
3 - Double or Nothing? Yep - some stores DO double coupons, and some stores don't take coupons at all. I know Giant Eagle and KMart near us double, but I know if Aldi's has name brand items, I cannot use coupons there. Also, a lot of mom&pop shops don't take them.

- Patty
SAHMandD@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/SAHMandD

Starter Coupon Tips! Tip #1

Coupon Tip #1

ALWAYS grab a coupon booklet (or two!) from your local drug store, or KMart ad. The coupons on your ads, or that are in these booklets are STORE coupons. 99% of the time, you can combine the store coupon with a manufacture coupon (this is called "stacking")
Sometimes you see coupons for $0.50 or $1 in your store ad, and you don't think you need to clip them, but sometimes you do! If they show a dotted line, clip them just to be safe!
These are known as store coupons. These are discounts the STORE is offering on the product. These coupons usually are only good for the length of the ad (usually 1 week).

Example-
In the Sunday paper, I got a ad for KMart. On the ad was a coupon for a 14 oz. can of Maxwell House coffee. The coupon says I can get a can of the coffee for $3.99 instead of $5.99

I also got a coupon flyer int he mail that week. It had a coupon for $1.00 off any Maxwell coffee.

If I put these two coupons together, I can get the coffee for $2.99 instead of $5.99. I'm saving $3.

HERE IS THE BONUS - a LOT of KMarts will double Coupons upto $1. A LOT, but not all of them.

If you happen to be near a KMart that does, the $1 coupon will be doubled, and you will get the coffee for $1.99. Awesome right?

Bigger deal - the coffee will stay fresh on the shelf UNOPENED for up to 2 years.

This would be a great item to stock up on!

- Patty