Upromise Account

I use www.upromise.com to save for my children's educational expenses. Granted, the progress is slow, but what the hey~it's painless and you don't have to do much to get the savings into your account. I especially like the e-coupons option and I try to load the monthly coupons each month. Then when we use our grocery loyalty cards, if we happen to buy a product that's on their list of e-coupons or if it's a participating product, a few cents are automatically deposited into our account.

Upromise is offering a contest currently, Spin to Win...and guess who won?? Yep, that's right, we won a $50 gift basket from the Popcorn Factory. You can spin once a day, and it appears that you don't have to be a Upromise member to give it a whirl. Good luck!

Electronic Coupons

Another favorite way to save, and a painless one, is the use of electronic coupons (e-coupons). Here are some sites for you to check out~ you will have to register your store loyalty card and select the coupons you want to use. No clipping! Just watch the savings come off at the register without having to take any further action. Read each site's requirements to find out when new coupons are posted so that you can select new ones as they become available.

www.shortcuts.com
www.cellfire.com
www.pgesaver.com

And www.upromise.com offers monthly e-coupons that automatically add to your account balance when you select the e-coupon from their site and use the grocery card you have registered online. In our area these stores are eligible for Upromise e-coupons: Meijer, Kroger, CVS, and Jay C.

Happy Online Black Friday

So you don't want to get out at 4am to shop the early bird specials? Nah, me either. So I'm planning my online attack early. Many stores offer some of the same deals in-store and online, so browse online while your turkey is digesting tomorrow to see if your favorite brick and mortar stores are having great deals on their websites.

My tip? Shop online using a shopping portal like www.mrrebates.com, www.ebates.com, www.upromise.com (assuming you have a Upromise account, and if you don't, you should) and get a rebate for shopping through their site. You will still go to the same retailer website, but entering through the shopping "portal" gets you a rebate too.

And of course, I recommend going to www.retailmenot.com to check out any promotion codes or coupons for your retailer, whether online or in-store. Getting a percentage off, free gift, or free shipping is my idea of hitting the shopping jackpot.

Wal-mart...My Favorite Sample Site of All

It's the best, hands-down, for me. Wal-mart has a great sample site...easy to sign up, fast delivery, consistent results. And sometimes even a coupon or two in the box. Here's the link:

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/In-Stores-Now-Free-Samples.aspx

Okay, I'm a newbie, I don't know how to make links like the fancy bloggers do. But I'm trying my best here, so thank you for your patience.

One more thing....if you're going to be signing up for samples, only do so from reputable sites and set up a separate email account just for that purpose. I don't give my real birthdate either.

So now you have your first tip...if you decide to order a couple of samples from this site, you will be seeing those cute little blue & white boxes in your mailbox in a couple of weeks.

Why this Blog?

My reputation as an online deal-finder, coupon user, rebate-sender is something that's been hard to keep secret. And while I get the occasional odd look and disparaging comment, every now and again I get the genuinely interested person who wants to know where I find deals, samples, freebies, and the like. When that happens I dust off the trusty email that I prepared a few months back, the one that lists my favorite websites and strategies, and I send it off to them.

This blog is my attempt to put those ideas and strategies into one location, so that I can simply direct them to one spot and let them learn from there. In other words, I can give a fish, or I can teach someone to fish.

Get your pole ready, the fish are biting today!

First Blog Entry (again)

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Lao-Tzu

And so begins my second attempt at a blog. Yes, I am a master/mistress of great ideas, exuberant beginnings, half-hearted middles, and limping-to-the-end conclusions. I am, if nothing, hopeful and optimistic that my second try will be more successful than the last, and along the way I hope to learn a little, help a little more, and maybe, just maybe, reach the thousandth mile with my dignity intact. Thank you for joining me for the first step.