Homeland Double Coupons

Homeland in Tulsa at 31st and Harvard also doubles coupons up to and including $1 everyday. However, they do have a coupon policy. It is as follows:

HOMELAND DOUBLES COUPONS WITH YOUR ONE CARD

* Coupons will be doubled when customers use their Homeland One Card.

* WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES. Limit one like item per customer per day please.

Additional like item coupons will be redeemed at face value.

* Manufacturer’s coupons with a face value of $1.00 or less will be doubled.

* Coupons with a value of more than $1.00 will be redeemed at face value only.

* Doubled amount cannot exceed the retail of the item purchased.

* Offer does not include any retailer, carbonated beverages, soda pop, cigarette, beer, free item, in-store, and coupons stating “cannot be doubled”. See manager for additional details.

* We reserve the right to limit or reject internet coupons.

* Expired coupons will not be accepted.

* Coupons must be redeemed for items indicated on the coupon.

* We do not accept photocopied coupons.

* Offer good for a limited time only.

The Homeland One Card is free to sign up for, and is well worth it for saving money with double coupons. However, I suggest price comparing for the items you purchase most. Homeland is slightly more expensive, so keep track of how much you are spending. It may be worth it to wait for Harps double coupon week, or to just go to Walmart or Target if you need the item sooner rather than later.

Harps Double Coupons

Once a month, Harps (31st and Garnett in Tulsa) has a double coupon event. They will double coupons up to and including $1. If it says " Do Not Double" or DnD for short, it will not be doubled. You are allowed to use up to 3 coupons with corresponding items. For example, 3 coupons for 3 packs of cheese, all will be doubled. If you want to use more than 3, you will need to make a second transaction.

This starts the 3rd Wednesday of the month, goes to the following Tuesday. Here's the schedule for the rest of the year:

June 16-22
July 21-27
August 18-24
September 15-21
October 20-26

There wasn't a double coupon week last year in the month of November or December.

This is how I saved some major money on groceries this month- spend around $75 for $160 worth of groceries and household items. Even got some Herbal Essence Shampoo for about a dime each since they were on sale and had coupons for $1/1.

Diapers for Swimming

Huggies Little Swimmers are on sale this week at Walgreens for $6.99. They have an in store coupon for $2 off, and you can print one from coupons.com for $1.50 off one. These 2 can be combined at Walgreens only making a pack of Little Swimmers only $3.49. If you have a pool or go to one often this is the week to stock up. Sale ends this Saturday!

Finding Coupons 3

Another place to find coupons is in your mailbox. Once a week around here, (Tuesdays for me), we get coupons in the mail. Sometimes you can hit the motherload, sometimes there is nothing. This week there was nothing. I live in an apartment complex, and right next to the mailboxes there is a trash can for people to throw away their "junk mail." My husband called it savings mail yesterday when we got it, which is normally true. No matter which one of us picks up the mail on Tuesday we always check the trash can for extras in case their are some major savings. I check everyday to see if someone has thrown away any coupons. The other day, I found some for Huggies diapers which is the kind we use. It was mainly for Pull-ups, but when you have friends who need them like I do, pass them on! I use Huggies, and my neighbor uses Pampers. I usually give her the coupons for Pampers, and if she ever gets them, she saves the Huggies coupons for me. It is a great trade off!

Finding Coupons 2

Okay, I just realized that I had already posted about the Sunday paper. Sorry about that. My next favorite place to find coupons is online.

There are 3 main websites that you can print coupons from.

Coupons.com is the first one. They change out every month. Some stay the same, some change. Either way, it is a great way to save money by printing coupons! Smartsource.com is another, and RedPlum.com is the third one. All 3 of these can have some amazing coupons, most of which can be doubled!

Check out target.com as well. search coupons on site search, and it should pull up. If not, look under "see more" and it should be there. Walgreens.com has them as well. Sometimes these are in store only coupons such as with Walgreens.com, sometimes it is a mix between store coupons and manufacturer coupons like with target.com. You won't know until you print them at Target.com though. At Target and Walgreens both, you can "stack" coupons together. This is when you use both a store coupon and manufacturer coupon for even more savings! Match these with a sale, and yippee! Bigger savings, and sometimes free or extremely cheap products. I did this and got 3 bottles of shampoo at Walgreens for .99 each when they are normally close to $7/bottle!

Finding Coupons

So, you've decided to start saving money using coupons. Where do you start? Well, first you need to find the coupons. I have a few favorite places to find the best coupons. Today I will tell you about the first.

Sunday Paper! Every Sunday, there are inserts in the paper with coupons for a variety of items. You can buy the paper at your local store, whether it be the gas station or grocery store. Another way is to make friends with your neighbors and co-workers who don't use coupons. Let them know that you will gladly take any coupons they won't use. Sometimes you will wind up with so many you don't know what to do with, other times, next to nothing. But it doesn't hurt to ask!

Birthday Savings Report

Went to Spaghetti Warehouse for free Spaghetti Dinner and ice cream sundae. Then went to Harps for their Double Coupon Week. Spent around $75 for $160 worth! Was very happy with everything we got. Went and picked up my son then came home put everything away. Turned around and went to dinner at Red Robin and got another free meal and desert. Went to Target and stocked up on diapers and formula. Not my best savings there, but still better than full price. There are very few things that we will buy full price. I have found bread and lunch meat at Aldi's for cheaper than Walmart or even with coupons. Bread at Walmart for Honey Wheat is 1.78, Aldi's honey wheat is only 1.29. Their lunch meat is 2.69/lb at Aldis while it is $3 + at Walmart. I think that I saved some pretty good cash on everything we got, but still need to make our budget work for us.

Birthday Savings

My birthday is tomorrow! To help celebrate, I signed up for emails from a variety of my favorite restaurants around town. Some are BOGO main meal, or buy meal get free appetizers. Some are completely free meals! (Zio's is one of them!) Then when you are there, they usually will give you a free dessert for your birthday as well!

We are also going to go shopping for clothes at Goodwill for me and my son both. We will also be heading to Harps for their double coupon event to save even more money on groceries. I will post my findings and deals after it is all said and done. Put it this way, I have some coupons that will get me completely free groceries for food that we do use everyday (like cheese for my husband's morning breakfast sandwich)

Interviewing for a job can be interesting. Always think of what your strengths and weaknesses are before going into one. I had one today, and it went well, but not sure if I really want to take the job or not. I would be working full time in a daycare setting again, which I do have the experience in, but when trying to be a SAHM, it is the opposite of what I want to do!

Want to Laugh?

Find a way to make your baby giggle and grin and before long you will be giggling and grinning yourself. I can't help but smile even when I am upset if I see my son grinning or hear him giggle.

Sick Baby :(

My son was sick yesterday, to the point we took him to urgent care. Luckily, it is not RSV or croup regular seasonal flu. Still waiting to hear on what it is from the swabs they took. His fever had gotten to one point up to 102.2 and started giving him the baby Tylenol. It finally broke last night while he slept.

Anytime your child feels warm to touch, or more so warmer than normal, check his temperature. Another sign is if he/she is not acting like themselves. Since my son normally sleeps through the night that was a sign to me that he was really not feeling well when he woke up multiple times in one night. Another sign was that he normally likes to play with us a little bit each night before bed. He wouldn't even act interested in playing 2 nights in a row. He didn't scream in his carseat like normal either. He just kind of sat there looking around, with a pititful "why aren't you holding me?" look on his face. It was as if he didn't have the energy to cry.

He is much better today after sleeping well last night, and actually played again with us last night! He even slept through the storms and power outage we had last night for about 10 minutes.

Cleaning

When you only have 30 minutes or so to get chores done while your baby is sleeping, start with what needs it the most. In my house, it is always laundry, dishes, and trash!

I start by gathering all the laundry and moving it to the laundry room. Sort and get the load started you need clean most.

Next, gather all the dirty dishes that may be scattered throughout the house to the kitchen. Stack like items (bowls, plates and cups) and fill a cup with hot water to soak any utensils. Empty dishwasher if needed. Then pick a rack, top or bottom, to fill first. For me it is always the top rack since the cups take up the most space on the kitchen counter or in the sink. Rinse well, and scrub any that need scrubbed, and fill the dishwasher. Those utensils should be the last thing to put in the dishwasher. Since they were soaking, all they should need is a quick rinse maybe a quick scrub for stubborn pieces then straight into the dishwasher. Run the dishwasher.

Trash is last. I usually get together all the wastebaskets into the living room, and pour them into one or 2 giant trash bags. Tie off and either set outside or by the door to take them out once your baby is awake.

By the time you get done with dishes and trash, the laundry should be ready to transfer and get the next load going.

Take a bow, the main things to help keep the house clean are done!

Parade

Taking kids to a parade is always an interesting experience. Today my husband and I took a 6 year old, almost 4 month old and almost 16 month old to a parade. We used a double stroller for the two little ones and the older one just held our hands or onto the stroller. We got there early, parked near a park that the 6 year old can run in, and moved to a sunny area (it was chilly!). The younger 2 fell asleep and slept through most of it, including the bands, fire trucks, and motorcycles. We had toys for the 6 year old to play with before hand and she had a blast. I used my front passenger seat as a place to change their diapers before they fell asleep, and they were set! Only thing I wish I had thought of was to have chairs for my husband and I to sit on. Our rears were sore from sitting on the ground! However, we had forgotten them, and didn't have room for them anyways with the double stroller and diaper bags in the trunk and 3 kids with 2 car seats in the back seat. We survived and are home resting now!

Freebies!

There are lots of freebies available to you, if you know where to look. My most recent favorite is signing up for free pictures. When you sign up with CVS.com in their photo department, you get 50 free prints which you can pick up free in your local CVS store. Also, when you sign up, opt to have them send you email updates, which often give you the details of special deals in advance, before they are posted on blogs. I did this when I signed up for Walgreens pictures, and have scored some really cute collages for free for Mother's Day. Yes the codes showed up on Walgreens website itself, but I still had the email before it was announced on any blogs.

Another freebie I am taking advantage of is Kindle for PC. Amazon will mark down ebooks to free on occasion, which you can download to Kindle for PC for completely free. Kindle for PC is free itself, which makes it an easy way to enjoy books without having to buy them, or finding ways to re-sale them or anything else of the type.

Saving on Clothes for Kids Part 2

Clearance racks are an amazing place to find clothes for your little ones. I can normally find the items I am looking for, at prices I can afford. Walmart will mark down their seasonal items, right before they get their new shipments in. This can mean major savings sometimes. Other times, just enough savings to get a few extra items. Besides just clearance racks, I also shop at Goodwill. Their infant clothes up to size 24 months are only .99 per piece. If you live close enough, you could go once a week, or even 3-4 times a week, and find some really good pieces in good shape that your child can wear.

Another thing to consider is to watch for the Just Between Friends sale. They almost always have a half off day (usually the last day) where it turns into basically BOGO sometimes (buy one get one).

Look up your local Moms of Mulitples group even if you don't have multiples. Moms who are part of this one always have doubles of everything, and just want to sale it. This can range from clothing to toys, to items for nursing. They also sell toys at both of these sales.

Saving on Clothes for Kids Part 1

My son is growing so fast. As he grows, I have learned to start shopping in advance of sizes and what size he should be wearing during which season. For example, I have already started buying winter clothes for him in the size 12-18 months, since he will be a year in January. I have also started looking for toys in advance of what he needs. All of these things I am buying on sale or at garage sales. This will save money, and I can usually find good stuff at amazing prices at garage sales.

The main thing I have been looking for are zip up sleepers with feet. They are normally around $7 minimum in stores, all the way up to $20 or so. When I can find the top brands at garage sales for these items, they are almost always $1 or less. I have found these sleepers for my son, all the way up to 18 months at $1 or less a piece. Now consider the math. Let's say each sleeper costs $10 in the stores, and you need 4 sleepers a week, for each size range. That's $40 per size up to 18 months. If your child is in 3-6 months (like my son) you still have the 6-9, 9-12, and 12-18 month range that you would want sleepers for (3 size ranges). 3 x $40 = $120 you could easily spend on sleepers alone! Buying these at garage sales for $1 each, for 12 sleepers that is only $12! That is a savings of 90% by buying used at garage sales!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on saving money on clothes for your kids!

Sad Times

When taking a child to a funeral, take the time to explain to them as best as you can what is going to happen, or why you are there. My son is only 3 1/2 months, and this is his second funeral. At this time I do not need to tell him what is going on. However, for toddlers and older that have never been to a funeral, or may not understand death, take the time to explain. They may have questions. Answer as best as you can.

Tip#2 for today

Have 2 places where the kids can sleep. Whether it be a bouncer, swing, crib or pack n play, have 2 different places. This way they can both sleep at the same time if need be. When one is asleep, play with or take care of the other. If they both are sleeping, take a nap yourself if you can or need one. If you can't take a nap, do some household chores really quick. Load the dishwasher, fold a load of laundry, or wipe down the kitchen counters. If you have all of that done, but still can't sleep for one reason or another, take time for yourself by reading, watching a show, or cutting coupons! I usually do a combo of these all, since I always have some sort of cleaning to do. I leave the tv or radio on in the background, and clean away. Or I turn off the tv and read, or catch up with friends online.

Taking Care of Multiple Young Children

Whether it is in a daycare setting, or in your home, more often than not, you will end up caring for more than one child at some point. Today, I have my 15 month old niece and my 3 month old both in my apartment. To keep my niece busy, I have her in an activity center (which I found at a garage sale for $6) and my son in his bouncer. This way, they are both up off the floor, which I still need to baby proof. I would've had the apartment clean by this point, except that it was a last minute babysitting thing for a good friend who may as well be my sister. Throughout this blog, I will have more tips on how to care for multiple young children. The tip for today is- always have more than one place, whether it be bouncer, activity center, walkers or wherever, that you can place the child(ren) as you are cleaning your house, or the room if you are in a daycare setting.

Coupon Tip of the day

Buy the Sunday paper! The coupons in there alone are worth the cost of buying the paper, even if the coupons are the only thing you buy it for! I personally read the comics as well for a laugh! Every Sunday there are quite a few coupons in the paper, everything from pet food to diapers/wipes and groceries! Save these for a day you really need them, or for the double coupon event at your local grocery store. In Tulsa for example, there is a store, Harps, that once a month has a double coupon event up to $1. This can really add up if you have the right coupons! For example, last month, I had a coupon for $1 off honey mustard, one of our favorites! The original price was $2.35. After doubling the coupon, this means I only spent .35 for a container of honey mustard sauce! I only wish that I had 2 of those coupons that day so we could really stock up!