Yes, it’s true — I got paid $6.82 to buy $48.43 in merchandise tonight at Rite Aid! I had not been there in a month because the specials were nothing special. But I scored tonight. Even with tax, I only paid $1.76 for all this stuff, including $25.99 in Prevacid — I paid 99 cents!

Now don’t think I figure out all these deals myself. I am helped by Shannon at For the Mommas.com. Each week, she spells out the best deals, the rebates, and the coupons to use. I am proud to say I figured out the Prevacid deal on my own, though.

You gotta love when you get paid to buy products you need anyway.

The time has come to work the Jennie-O turkey rebate deal I mentioned in this post!

I knew if I held out long enough, a “buy one, get one free” deal would come along, and patience paid off, because Vons/Safeway has a BOGO running through Tuesday on the ground turkey. This is normally priced at $4.99, so buy one, and get one free, or $2.50 each.

Then submit for the Jennie-O rebate for up to a $5 refund on any Jennie-O purchase. Your receipt will read that you paid $4.99 for one, and the other was free = $4.99 purchase. Submit it and follow the simple directions, and you will net $10 in ground turkey for free!

Now this is smart shopping!

The rebate is for the first 25,000 submitted, but I just Googled and am not seeing any sites reporting that the rebate funds have run out. In fact, Jennie-O still has the submission form up on its web site. See it here to print yours.

Ground turkey is a great meat substitute, especially when used in conjunction with recipes that involve a lot of flavor, like this one for black bean chili, or even Hamburger Helper.

But let’s face it, free makes it even more tasty!

This is probably my crudest headline ever, but it underscores how so many people lead their lives — literally pissing away $10,000 every year and not knowing where the money went. Believe it or not, if you blow $27.78 a day, it adds up to $10,000 that went out the door in one year. $10,000! Don’t think you do it? Do these scenarios sound familiar?

* John and Mary — John works full time and Mary is a stay-at home mom. In one day, they spent the following: $4 for Mary’s Starbucks iced tea in the mid-morning, John needed lunch so he stopped at the fast food place - $6, the kids begged for a bag of chips at 7/Eleven - $3, the day was exhausting, so they ordered a pizza - $13 with tip. Oh, they needed soda, too, so they added that in on the pizza order. Boom! $28 for the day!

or how about this scenario:

* Mary is too busy to take an hour each week to scout the grocery specials and plan her meals accordingly. She goes into the store one afternoon and buys what she needs. An average dinner ends up being $10-$15. Of course, she throws in some impulse items, and the total quickly jumps to $25 for a “quick stop” at the grocery store. On the way home, she’s thirsty, so she stops at the fast food place for a large drink for $1.99 and a fries off the dollar menu. Boom! She’s at $28 for the day.

or what about this scenario:

* John and Mary driver older cars. The insurance for two runs $2,000 a year, even though based on their value, it makes no sense to carry collision, but it’s just too much a pain to take it off and raise the deductible, when it would cut their bill in half. Just thinking about it makes them feel they deserve a night out for dinner for two at the local national franchise. After all, it’s only $25. Boom! They are at $27.74.

or finally:

* Mary just doesn’t think coupons are worth her time for her family of four. She spends an average of $125 every week at the market, not knowing that by shopping specials and using coupons she could cut that in half. Even with food in the house, Mary and John sometimes don’t feel like cooking, so they usually take the kids to a franchise place for dinner for $40 every two weeks. Boom! They just went through $48.34, covering nearly two days of their $27 per day bill to pissing away $10,000 each year.

Folks, that’s how easy it is. Add in manicures, those few drugstore items, a quick stop at Target and you are on your way, too, to throwing $10,000 out the door.

Now, I am not against spending money, but choose your priorities. Now the article I read says to keep track of your finances for a week. I think sometimes that’s overwhelming for people. But what if you did it for just one day, and perhaps another? Would that make it easier to get an idea of where your money goes?

Are you looking at a charge card balance every month — wouldn’t you like to pay it off each month? Or, how about that down payment on a house you are longing for? Or would you rather go on a 15 night round trip cruise to Hawaii in one year or have fast food every day? I just added up, and it was $6.74 per day in one year for what I spent on that cruise.

It’s not denial — it’s smart choices … and, yes, delaying satisfaction. But man, when you get the satisfaction, it sure beats that burger at Jack in the Box! Hope this gets you thinking.

I admit it, I am a coupon snob. 25 cents off — big whoop. But when I get excited is when I see what is known in coupon parlance as a “high-value coupon.”

These are the ones you come across that are worth $1+ and where you just need to purchase one item. For example, every once in awhile, Snuggle fabric softener will release a $3 off coupon. You bet I grab those! The reason? Because often it goes on sale for $3.99. Sure, you have to wait a couple weeks (because the manufacturer thinks by now you’ve thrown out the flyer), but then you can swoop in when it goes on sale and snag a great deal.

I did as much this week. About three weeks ago, I saw a tip off on For the Mommas that if you “fanned” Stouffers on Facebook, there were two coupons you could get — one for $1.50 off its toasted sub and $2.50 off one of its Famiy Size entrees.

Now normally I do not purchase those items, but with these high-value coupons, it was a waiting game. And it paid this week — the subs went on sale for $1.99 at Stater Bros. and the entrees on sale at $3.99 at Ralphs. Bottom line? I got the entrees for $1.49 apiece, when their normal price is $8.99. The subs we picked up today — 49 cents apiece! Score!

“Buy one, get one free” coupons are also great, because that means 50 percent off. But what you do is wait till they go on special and swoop in. By combining a sale with a great coupon, you are going to net a great deal.

Where do you find these coupons? Usually I am tipped off by following savings blogs, such as For the Mommas and Savings Cents with Sense (I follow them on Facebook). I usually find the highest value coupons on the Internet, specific product sites (watch for notations on TV commercials), and through Facebook.

Keep on the lookout for these type of coupons. They are money — and products — in your pocket!

Just a mini shop at Vons tonight (Ralphs specials beat ‘em this week), but I just had to go in and work the Kraft “Buy 5 Save $5″ special, but by reading a blog, I got tipped off an even better deal! One where I was paid to buy the item!

You see those “Warm Delights Minis” in the photo? These are microwavable cakes (that my Mom just loves). One kind, the dark chocolate, was on sale for $1.99 (I read this in the comments at For the Mommas), but I had a Internet coupon from Coupons.com, which doubled to $1. But it gets better, I had loaded $1 and 50 cent off coupons onto my club card that were available on Cellfire, Shortcuts and Vons.com (all listed on the Vons site). So I ended up making $2 for buying ‘em! I kid you not, they cost $1.99, and I had $3 in Ecoupon savings and another $1 off from a paper coupon.

Now, in this case, don’t expect to walk in and buy this one item for nothing and have the store give you $3 in change. No, you need filler items. But this combined wonderfully with the Kraft “Buy 5, Save $5″ deal, which simply means you get $1 off each item at checkout when you buy five.

Again, by reading For the Mommas blog, I saw the new Philadelphia cream cheese minis were included in the sale, but not marked as such on the shelves. They were on an introductory special for $1.49. I grabbed three. Now with the special, these will be 49 cents apiece. Sweet! I picked up two packages of Kraft cheese singles (a staple in our house), which were $2.99, or $1.99 apiece with the special.

But here’s where it gets better, I added in three coupons for the Minis that I had. This should have taken an additional $2.50 off, but the cashier would not let me exceed the value of the item (grrr), so she would only deduct 49 cents from each, or free. So now, if you’re following, I am left with the two cheese slices at $1.99 apiece or $4.

But because of the overage on the Mini Delights, the additional $2 was taken off the rest of the items.

Bottom line? I got $12.44 in merchandise for $1.97 — for all six items! A savings of 84 percent! Took me all of 10 minutes in the grocery store.

The moral of this story — use those Ecoupons. They can combined with paper ones and the store doesn’t care. I get more steals this way! Read more about them at this post.

By the way, this weekend Vons has 7/Up 2 liter for 59 cents as a loss-leader. On its web site, there is a 50 cents off Ecoupon. Just gonna pop in tomorrow and get my 19 cents soda!

Oh man, this is when I love couponing — when I know I am going to get a super-deal, and this week, it’s at the Ralphs/Kroger/Frys grocery chain. How about Stouffers family size entrees for $1.49 each?! These are normally more than $6 apiece! And you can do it, too!

If you “fan” Stouffers on Facebook (this link should work), you will then be able to open its “News” tab. There at the bottom, you will find a $2.50 off coupon for Easy Express dinners. Click to print, and when it’s done, don’t close the window!

This is a Bricks coupon, which I detailed what that means in this post. So instead of closing the window, click your back button three times, and the coupon will print again. You’re on your way of saving $5 off what would normally cost $12, and end up paying $3 total! My coupons printed with the Easy Express photo but said it was good toward any “family size entree.”

Now, take those two coupons and head to Ralphs/Kroger/Frys, where they have the Stouffers family size entrees on special for $3.99. These are great — and big — lasagna, chicken parmesan, etc. You can easily feed a family of four with ‘em. But with your high-value coupons, you are going to get ‘em for the unheard price of $1.49 apiece! That’s cheaper than any single serve high-quality microwave dinner!

Now, I am not a fan of precooked dinners, but when they are less than $2.50 apiece, I will buy ‘em for the convenience and the emergency “I don’t have the energy to cook” meals. In my opinion, it’s much cheaper than a “value” meal at a fast-food restaurant.

Try this deal this week. I tell you, I’ve been getting some great high-value coupons on Facebook!

Next to a root canal, people dread cleaning the refrigerator. But it doesn’t have to be a nightmare if you break it into steps.

The thought of taking everything out of the fridge, tossing the science experiments, cleaning, and then putting everything back makes most people say, “No thanks,” but it doesn’t have to be so bad.

Don’t take everything out of the fridge, just one shelf at a time. Throw out the disgusting items. Pair down the storage of other items (you don’t need to keep the lasagna dish in there; parcel the leftovers into Tupperware). Clean the shelf with window cleaner or whatever (I don’t buy that “soapy water” cleaning tip the fridge manufacturer tells you to use.) Then put the items back. Boom — you are done in less than 10 minutes!

I just looked in our 25-cubic, side-by-side fridge, and there are 13 different areas — from the veggie bin, to the meat drawer, to the shelves on the door, to the main storage area. Can you imagine doing this in one day? No wonder people would rather have a root canal! But by breaking it down to two areas at a time once a week, you will have a super clean fridge in a less than a month-and-a-half!

But when is the best time to start tackling the task?

Again, don’t do the whole fridge in one fell swoop, but easily you will have two nearly empty areas. Much better to do it now, rather than having to move numerous items after you shop.

You can save time in the future, too, with a strategy for the veggie/meat drawers.

Using this hint, if you let a wayward vegetable turn into a science experiment, you just toss out the paper towels and don’t have to scrub the bin clean again.

Now that you have a clean refrigerator, I have one more suggestion.

Toss the extras and clean the container. Better to do it now, than clean the mold later.

Follow these hints, and soon your fridge will be picture perfect!

I am so loving the deals on body wash lately at the grocery store — last week, I got free Nivea. But tonight, it was even better — I got paid 50 cents to buy these two bottles of Old Spice at Vons/Safeway!

Here’s how it works:

* Old Spice body wash - 2 for $7 (unadvertised special)

* Load $3 off when you buy two from P&G ecoupons

* Use one “buy one, get one free” coupon from 3/7 P&G flyer insert

* Use $1 off from the same P&G flyer insert

Final price — 50 cent money-maker!

I was surprised the $1 off coupon worked, but I gave it to the cashier after the BOGO and it went through no problem. From what I figure, the register reads the second one is free — one coupon — and gives you $1 off the initial purchase (second coupon). The Ecoupon went off no problem at all.

Of course, if this is all you were going to buy, you would need to add in a filler items for the overage, but this worked like a dream tonight at Vons/Safeway when I did a quick $12 shop — oh, and the $7 “purchase” counted toward the $10 minimum purchase to take advantage of the in-ad coupons. Now that’s working coupons right!. I hit three in-ad coupon specials, added in coupons, and walked out for $12 total!

Just wanted to tip you off on how to get $7 in free merchandise this week!

Thanks to This frugal life.com  from the Grocery Gathering blog for alerting me to the initial deal, which I sweetened with the $1 off coupon to make a money-maker!

Oh man, I cannot wait till the 8-hour sale at Ralphs/Kroger this Friday! I am going to hit the sale items hard! When I know I will net great deals at the store, I cannot wait to go! And that’s the way when you grocery shop with coupons — it becomes a game.

This won’t be a huge shop, just about 20 items, hitting some of our staples and the loss leaders. But when I know I am going to walk out of the store with four boxes of cereal at 37 cents a box, and three boxes of Hamburger Helper for 42 cents apiece, I start looking forward to walking in the grocery store door.

I just added up and I will get $22.79 in super-duper sale items for only $10.07 — for 20 items! When I say “super-duper,” I mean those sale items designed to get me in the door — rock bottom prices. The secret is that’s all I buy and then add in coupons. I am already at more than 50 percent off the sale prices; add in what they regularly sell for, and I should be easily at 75+ percent off.

If you want to experience the high of grocery shopping, I highly recommend you watch these great videos by Couponmom on You Tube. Her channel is great!

Just mailed off for this great rebate, in which if you buy one Armor All product $3.49 and above and one new Armor All Wheel Protectant, you get the total price of the wheel product rebated back up to $8.99.

I found the Wheel Protectant at Target this past week for $7.99 and assorted Armor All products on special for $4. Click here for a Target coupon for $3 off any two Armor All products, which brought down the total cost for both items to $1! You gotta love $12 in merchandise for a buck!

Great deal! Here is the link for the rebate form.

I tell you, I have been netting some great rebate deals lately. Search the link at right for Rebates to see what’s still ongoing.