FREE - Splenda No Calorie sweetener

I don't use this product but I thought I'd pass this freebie on to you in case you do use it. Livingwell is giving away samples here, hurry as supplies are limited.

Free Crest regular toothpaste

If you have a NoFrills near you, or if you can get your hands on a NoFrills flyer this week, they are having the Crest regular toothpaste for $1. Pricematch at LD and use the .50cents coupon from save.ca and the .50 one from the P&G insert to get free toothpaste!

Ziploc bags - free/cheap at Zellers!

If you received your Smartsource coupon insert last weekend, you can put the $2 off any Ziploc product coupon to good use. The Ziploc Enviro bags are $1.99 at Zellers so you would only pay the tax on them. Check around the area to see if you can snag any other Ziploc products for free/cheap - I think some of the Steamer bags are a few cents extra.

Didn't get your Smartsource insert? Call your newspaper distributor and see if they have any extras, or ask your neighbours for theirs if they are not using them. Another favourite place to get coupon inserts? McDonald's. Yep. They have weekend papers and guess what, weekend papers have coupon inserts!

Lipstick Powder N Paint - Product Testers

Lipstick Powder N Paint is looking for product testers for the Dove Damage Therapy System. If you are interested in applying for be a product tester, go here before March 11 and fill in a survey to qualify.

According to the LPNP site, testers will be asked to use Dove Damage Therapy System™ Intensive Repair Shampoo and Conditioner and complete a survey, providing their detailed feedback. Results will be shared on Lipstick Powder N Paint in April, 2010.

SC Johnson - Chance to win a TV

You've been stockpiling all that SC Johnson products, here's another great way to put them to use! From March 8 - 14, enter the Spring Collection Early Bird contest daily, for your chance to win a TV. And from March 15 onward, enter for your chance to win a $10,000 NYC shopping spree!

You have a be a SC Johnson online member to enter (it's easy, and free). Go here for the entry form. You'll need the UPCs of any of these participating products: Armstrong®, Drano®, Fantastik®, Future®, Scrubbing Bubbles®, Toilet Duck®, Windex®, Shout®, Nature’s SourceTM and Pledge®.

While you're logged in, don't forget to click on the "Right At Home" section and print out your coupons as well - there are currently $10 worth of coupons for Scrubbing Bubbles, Glade, Windex, Ziploc and Pledge!

Support the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association

Here's an easy way to use the power of Social Media! From now til April 9 2010, Royale will contribute $1 to the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association for the first 10,000 people who become fans for their Facebook Page. You can also send Jenn Heil your personal message of congratulations by posting on the wall.

Go, Canada!

(graphic borrowed from the Royale FB fan page)

Free cards!

Need some cards? Here are a few freebies for you!

Give the special child in your life a boost with a free encouraging card from your local Hallmark Gold Crown store. Choose from 9 designs, up to a value of $1.99! Go here to get your card and brighten up a child's day! Valid til March 13 2010. Good only in USA.

Receive up to 5 sample cards here, good for both US and Canada.

Shop with Mrs.Smith - US trip, March 2010

I went across the border into Bellingham, WA yesterday with Marcy on an informal test of my Extreme Shopping USA Edition class, and we had a blast as she followed me along as I hit up some deals. The whole point of the trip was to introduce Marcy to a few US stores, to introduce her to some lingo and programs that only exist in US and which are not available in Canada. We talked about store policies (even had an example to show her in real life), and I shared some secrets and tips that can extend the coupon value, or enable her to get more items for free. I had Marcy print some coupons as well, so she was able to follow along with some deals as well.

Note: Each week's deals are different, this week's purchases are representations of deals available this week and mostly to act as aids to show Marcy how to work some deals, and may not reflect MrsSmith's regular weekly purchases. That means, sometimes I actually buy fresh stuff and not just sugary treats! :)

We hit Target, Albertson's and Walgreens while we were there. I also usually like to go to Walmart, Safeway and RiteAid/CVS but there was no time, and also, we were happy with what we'd gotten.

Looking at the picture above, I got 69 items for $11.22 - although I forgot to add the last item to the photo - it was a Starbucks Frappucino bottle which I got for $0.25. The regular price from Walgreens was $2.19!

So, 69 items for $11.22 - that is less than 16.3cents per item! That is fabulous savings! Here's what I got:

From Target:
- 2 4-packs of GE lights
- 4 SOBE drinks
- 13 individual Kashi cereal cups
- 5 boxes Kashi crackers
- 3 boxes Kashi cereal
- 1 box Kashi frozen Chicken Pasta Pomodoro
- 1 24-ct Excedrin
- 1 Degree trial sized deodorant
- 2 J&J Soap Buddies

From Walgreens:
- 1 Starbucks Frappucino bottle (not shown)
(everything else I wanted was out of stock)

From Albertsons:
- 4 boxes Cheerios
- 1 loaf of bread
- 1 10-piece Oreo Cakesters
- 25 boxes of Roll Ups, Stackerz, Gushers
- 5 rolls of Starbursts

At Target, I had an opportunity to show Marcy how important it is to
1) know your store policy
2) know exactly how much you are going to spend before going to the till

We had a cashier who did not know that if you have a coupon for $1, you can use it on an item that is less than a dollar. She said I could not use the coupon and called over her supervisor who agreed with her. I knew this was not the correct policy and since I had a printed copy of Target's coupon policy with me, I showed it to them and was able to use the coupons. However in all the mix up, the supervisor accidentally deleted my entire purchase and had to restart over, and in the end instead of paying $2 I ended up paying about $5, and I didn't fight it because I didn't want to go through all that again and we had spent a bit extra time there because of them not knowing their own policy. They had wanted to charge me $14 but because I knew the policy, I ended up paying $5. My savings at Target totalled $54.69 and I spent a total of $5.32.

On to Walgreens, where although they were out of everything I wanted, I got a chance to show Marcy how to work the instore specials with the monthly coupon booklet and manufacturer coupons. I showed her moneymaking scenarios and we perused the weekly ad for deals.

Lastly, we headed to Albertsons where I knew they were running rolling catalinas (see, that US coupon lingo again), and we went crazy there. The Betty Crocker Roll ups, etc were on sale for $1 each, and for every 5 that you purchased, you would get a $3.50 catalina back. On top of that, there were doublers available and we had coupons to double! Here's what my deals looked like at Albertsons:

Transaction #1:
5 Betty Crocker Rollups at $1 each = $5
2 .50/2 coupons, doubled
OOP: $3
Got back a Catalina of $3.50 which meant I made .50!

Transaction #2 and #3:
5 Betty Crocker Rollups/Gushers at $1 each = $5
2 .50/2 coupons, doubled
Total cost: $3
Used a Catalina of $3.50 which would have meant everything would be free, but I bought 2 Starbursts, using a BOGO coupon ended up paying .19cents total for each transaction.

Transaction #4:
5 Betty Crocker Rollups/Gushers at $1 each = $5
1 .50/2 coupon, doubled
Total cost: $4
Used a Catalina of $3.50, paying .50.

Transaction #5:
5 Betty Crocker Rollups/Gushers at $1 each = $5
no coupons used
Total cost: $5
Used a Catalina of $3.50, paying $1.50

Transaction #6:
1 Oreo Cakesters at $2.99 each
used 1 FPC = $0
4 Cheerios at $1.77 = $7.08
used 2 $1/2 Cheerios, doubled
1 Starburst, .69cents
Used a Catalina of $3.50, ended up paying .27

Received a free loaf of bread as a Thank You from Albertson's!

Total spent at Albertsons: $5.65
(NOTE: If I had chosen not to purchase the Starbursts, I would have paid $0 for Transactions #2, 3 and #6.

Total SAVED at Albertsons: $92.00!

Total spent: $11.22, for 69 items.
Total saved: $148.63.
Total savings of 93%!!!!
PLUS, I came home with a $1.50 Catalina for cereal that doesn't expire until April 30!

Want to know how to save 93% off your groceries just like I did yesterday? You might be interested in the Extreme Shopper US edition, please read this post for more information.

NOTE: Currently I do not have access to any US coupon inserts, so if you are worried that you can't get great deals without these inserts, I hope this post shows you that you can still get coupons and a 93% discount rate without them!

Video - cheap antiperspirant/bodywash at RCSS

Hi Extreme Shoppers, sorry for the late video, unfortunately I believe this sale is over. I could not post because Blogger was giving me trouble with accessing the blog - still having some trouble and I'm hoping this video will actually post! Anyway, here you go. I got 4 items for .28cents!

Facebook and Coupons

There are some great coupons to be had on Facebook, although most of them are for the US. I'm going to list some here because I have a number of students/FB fans who shop across the border and can use these coupons. Enjoy!

Note: for all the printables you may need to download a printing software (provided) to enable the coupons to print.

$1/1 Wheat Thins: Become a fan of Wheat Thins and print out a $1 off coupon (scroll down their page on the left) here - looks like you can print this twice (hit backspace).

$1/1 Wheaties: Get your coupons from the Wheaties fan page.

Get your BOGO Starburst coupon here. You can print twice.

BOGO Skittles: Become a fan here and go to "Coupon the Rainbow" tab to print your coupon.

New York Fries has been having some great coupons lately, go here to check it out.

ONLY if you have a valid mailing address in the USA:
Get a coupon for a free bag of SunChips here (supplies limited).

Get a free sample of Zone Perfect Caramel Toffee or Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse bar when you sign up here.

I'm sure there are more, and I will add as I find them. There were a couple other Fan pages I had joined, like the Louisiana Hot Sauce promo, but that promo is currently over. Keep your eyes peeled on your favourite manufacturer FB pages though, as I think we will be seeing more and more of specials, coupons and samples being given away on social media sites like Facebook.

New - Stevia sample! (US/Canada)

Go here to get your free Stevia sample! Good for both US and Canada.

New Smartsource insert

Heads up, Extreme Shoppers - there is a Smart Source due this weekend (March 6) - look for it in your local papers!

Tim Hortons' Breakfast Deal

Today, get a free hash brown with a purchase of any breakfast sandwich at Tim Hortons. Has anyone tried the hash browns there? I haven't, so I can't vouch for them. Don't forget that McD's is still giving away free small coffees til March 14. I don't drink coffee so this freebie is no good to me, but maybe some of you out there might like the free daily jolt of java?

Free Heluva Good product coupon

Become a fan on Heluva Good on Facebook and sign up here for a free product coupon which will be sent in the mail. Hurry as offer is good for the first 5,000 people who sign up!

Happy March - the lion is here.

My March started off like a lion. None of this gentle, lamb thing. March 1 brought me a busted pipe, a few inches of water in my furnace room and lots of wet stuff that had been in boxes on the ground. Clothes I'd been meaning to donate, now have to be rewashed and repacked. Hopefully this time, they will make it out the door to the donation center. Which reminds me that if you do it right and do it once, it will save you money. Sigh. I have to learn that.

March is here and my garden is not turned over yet so that is my goal today, even though it is slightly wet and cold out. It's warm enough to have started a garden already but I am a little behind. But I will persevere because I want to reap the financial gains of having a vegetable garden this summer.

I posted a link to a fun "how many meals can you get from one chicken" post on the Facebook page, do take a look, and maybe share your ideas there as well.

Happy March, dear readers.