It’s easy to forget about the e-coupons that you can load to your loyalty cards!  Many stores have them these days.  Here’s my advice on them:

• Try to visit the sites about once a month to “reload” coupons to your card
• Count them as a “bonus”….since I’ve found that sometimes they will not trigger at the register as promised, but sometimes they will….they are not consistent.  So, I just consider them a “bonus” if they come off, and don’t get the item ONLY if I’m counting on them to work.
• When loading to the card, why not load all of them?  There’s no limit, so just choose them all, load to card, and do it again next month!

Remember, there is only one deal (unless stated otherwise) per item loaded.  Example: If I load a 50 cent off Tide e-coupon to my Fry’s card, that is for ONE bottle of Tide.  If I buy 3 bottles, it is still just the .50 savings.

Here are the ones I like the best:

www.frysfood.com (log in to load digital coupons to your card)

www.shortcuts.com

www.cellfire.com (haven’t used this one in a while, but used to)

www.safeway.com (if you always use your phone number at Safeway, you may have to call customer service to find out your actual card number to load these)

www.P&Gbrandsaver.com (sign up for free newsletter and they will send you physical coupons, plus you can then log in to download coupons to your cards)

Here is the link

Lowe’s is doing a “Spring Black Friday” sale, good only until 5/2.  Online only, but glancing at the participating items, it looks like a good deal if you garden!  Plus the banner says free shipping if you spend over $49.

If you’ve been wanting to try Coupon Sense, now’s the time!  I’m offering 2 free inserts of coupons (those booklets that come in the newspaper) to anyone who signs up between April 18th and April 20th at midnight.  Since these are coming from “my own stash” of coupons, I have a limited amount on hand, that’s why I can only offer that for 3 days.  Come on, join now…I’ll send you some of my personal coupons   Just put in the code AZGURU in the Coupon Sense promo code box when you sign up.  As always, you can call or email me with questions along the way.  I want you to be successful!

Buy one of these indoor lighting fixtures, save 75% at checkout with code April75.  I just did a “pretend” order and it worked.

Ideas for easter egg hunts NOT including candy!

I do put some candy in my kids’ Easter baskets, but for their traditional egg hunt, I’m sick of filling eggs with candy that will just give them a sugar high! So, here are some ideas I came up with, depending on ages, to put into plastic eggs.

• Silly bands (those rubber band things that are the pre-teen craze) 1 per egg!

• Get a sheet of cute/metallic stickers, cut them up, and put one or two in ea egg!

• Go to the party store and get little trinket packs like Tinker bell rings or mini cars or those little “pills” that have sponges in them that grow in water (you know what I mean, right???)

• My kids love balloons, so I can get a 25 pk at the dollar store and put one in ea egg!

• If you go to Chuck-E-Cheese often like we do, buy some tokens and put one in ea egg. Then tell the kids you will be going there in the next week or so to use them!

***please note, it’s always great to be a Coupon Sense member.  I sent out a newsletter to my subscribers that had even more Easter Savings ideas, from clothing to baskets, and more. 

I did this last year and loved it.  I brought some gently used clothing/shoes my kids had grown out of.  They counted my items, and gave me a ticket for the # of items I brought.  Then, about an hour later, they had everything organized and the event began.  I was able to pick 30 items (my #) of anything I wanted.  They just counted them up when I was done, took my ticket, and voila!  Done.  I loved it.

Maria, a good friend and colleague of mine, will be teaching people about Coupon Sense during the downtime between ‘giving and getting’.  This is a great time to ask questions and to sign up.  Here is the flier that talks about the swap:

Link to Clothes Swap Flier

Most years, my family takes advantage of the deal Harkins has over the summer time.  In a nutshell, you pick a day of the week that you want to go to the movies (say we pick Wed), then we pick the theatre we want to go to (say Metrocenter 12), and go to that ticket office to purchase the tickets.  It’s 10 movies for $7.  If you miss some due to vacation or something, it’s still worth it.  Say you end up going to 7 out of 10 shows.  That’s still only $1 per movie and you got out of the heat! 

Adults and children are the same price.  For instance, for my family:

Me + 4 kids= 5 sets of passes= $35 total

And every Wed for 10 weeks we can go to the movies together as a family!

I recommend going soon to buy your Harkins passes, as they tend to sell out after a couple weeks.  Have fun!

Zaycon Foods is big in the Northwest for chicken and beef deliveries.  They visited AZ for the first time last fall.  Now they are returning again, this time bearing 93% lean ground beef for only $2.89 per pound.  Here are the dates/times:

MESA, AZ

Royal Garden Reception Hall

1940 East Main Street

Mesa, AZ 85203

Date: Tuesday, April 26^th 2011

Pick-up time: Between 7:00am – 9:30am

PEORIA, AZ

Roman Catholic Parish of Saint Charles Borromeo

8615 West Peoria Ave

Peoria, AZ 85345

Date: Tuesday, April 26^th 2011

Pick-up time: Between 12:30pm – 2:00pm

CHANDLER, AZ

Bright Beginnings School

400 North Anderson Blvd

Chandler, AZ 85224

Date: Tuesday, April 26^th 2011

Pick-up time: Between 6:30pm – 8:00pm

If you want to register, it’s free, and then you can set up to purchase if you’d like.  Here is the link to Zaycon Foods

Remember, you are buying 40lbs at once, but it’s fresh, never frozen good quality meat.    Great for canning and freezing.

Okay I have to admit this so that I can plug one of my favorite places.  You might find this surprising, but I love Starbucks.

I don’t actually drink coffee!  But they have these Vanilla Bean drinks that are like shakes, that my husband and kids love….and of course they have my Green Tea Lemonade.

Now, I know you’re thinking….the Grocery Guru will spend $3.50 on a Green Tea Lemonade?! That’s blasphemy in the coupon world.   BUT I have to say, I do it wisely.  Here’s how they help power my addiction (aahhhh!)

Starbucks has 2 things that hook me in to stopping by so often.   Well, besides that I love the lemonade.

1.  If you buy a gift card (say for $10) and register it online (for free), it will keep track of how many drinks you buy and after the 5th, you get a free drink!  Not to mention other perks as you buy even more.  See, you can reload the gift card to keep going.  So when I’ve bought a couple drinks, I will load another $10 or $20 so that I keep buying the drinks with my gift card, and it accrues those “points” per say so I can earn free drinks.

2. They will refill my Green Tea Lemonade for .55!  I mean, often I will have a meeting at a Starbucks, drink my lemonade, and wish I had another (it’s hot in AZ!).  Well, I’ve discovered that they will refill during the same visit for only .55!  It’s great.  AND I found out that even the Starbucks in the airport will do that.  So if you get delayed, hang on to that cup for a refill

So that’s how I justify my little vice.  Now you know, and if you see me in line at Starbucks it’ll be okay because I’m still being frugal.    See you there!

I love craft stores, like Michael’s, Jo Ann’s, and Hobby Lobby.  Here are some highlights about Jo-Ann’s, my favorite craft store.

• They will accept Michael’s coupons!  You know, those coupons that are in the ads in Sunday’s paper.  You can take one from Jo-Ann’s (usually 40% off one item) AND take the Michael’s one with you (same thing, generally for 40% off one item), so you’re not getting savings off just one thing anymore!  My experience has been that they can do both coupons in one order and you don’t have to split up the items. (caution: the Michael’s coupons cannot be used towards fabric.)
• Jo Ann’s loves teachers!  Sign up at the front desk for a special card that saves you 15% off every time you shop (even on sale items).   GREAT around the holidays.  You just show your school ID when you sign up or a recent school paystub with your driver’s license.
• Jo Ann’s has a few good clearance sections from time to time.  I’ve gotten lots of items for 75% off on clearance, and even sometimes 90% off after holidays.
• Sometimes they run a 50% off clearance fabric sale, which is a good time to stock up on fleece and other fabrics.
• Tip: I love to get birthday presents at Jo Ann’s for kids.  With the 40% off coupons, I can get a bracelet kit, soap making kit, suncatcher kit, etc, for a great price and it’s something creative and different.

HAPPY SHOPPING!