Best Deal Magazines Deal of the Day

The Best Deal Magazines - Deal of the Day Offer for November 22 is Parents. You can get a one-year subscription to Parents magazine for only $4.29!! This is another great magazine, and to make it even better I've always found at least 2-3 good coupons in it and tons of information about new products.

We Have Moved

Yay!! Our transition to Word Press and our new domain is complete!! We have moed and I will no longer be blogging through Blogger or this site.  I have enjoyed having this site to blog but I felt like it was time to move on to more stable pastures.  I've had my own domain for awhile but didn't want to lose you by changing.  I'm hoping you all have an easy time finding us!  Our giveaways and all other posts will be done through the other site now, so any entries here will not be accepted; I will be closing off entries to the contests here as of today.  Any entries before that will count, of course.

Please stop on by and see us at our NEW HOME:

http://makingcentsoutoflife.com

I can't wait to see you all there! 

Best Deal Magazines Deal of the Day

The Best Deal Magazines - Deal of the Day Offer for November 21 is Smart Money for only $10.29!

PacSun Black Friday Deals and More

Pacific Sunwear, or Pacsun as their customers call them, is one of my affiliate sponsors and e-mailed me with some hot Black Friday deals as well as some deals that you can snag prior to and after the biggest shopping day of the year. I couldn't wait to share them with you; they will also be featured on my sidebar as part of my Black Friday/Cyber Monday Christmas Extravaganza so you can easily get to their site from mine whenever you'd like.

Exclusive Promo code: Use code "Thanks" to get 15% off on orders of $75 or more, or get 20% off orders of $125 ore more. You can use this code from Tuesday, November 24 through Tuesday, December 1!!


Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals

Valid 11/27 only-

All Hoodies - Buy One, Get One 50% Off. Valid on 11/27 only! AND All Jeans - Buy One, Get One 50% Off. Valid on 11/27 only!

That's some sweet Black Friday deals!!

Valid 11/28 Only-

Flannel Shirts Sale! All girls flannels $24.50 and all guys flannels $29.50. Valid on 11/28 only!

Girls Long Sleeve Tees - $15 when you buy 2 or more. Valid on 11/28 only!

Valid 11/30 and 12/1 ONLY-

10% Off ALL Orders! Valid on Cyber Monday & Tuesday Only.


Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals at PacSun Stores. Offers vary by location. Check your local store. Not valid online.

When I choose affilaite sponsors for my site, I choose places that either I enjoy shopping at, or places my friends and family enjoy because I only want to bring you offers that you will like and find useful. My brother happens to be a Pacsun fan, so I thought this might be of interest to some of you younger folks or my friends with children of that age. I did like Pacsun when I was a teenager, and I think some of their stuff is just perfect. It's all great quaity, too.

PacSun is a part of my Holiday Extravaganza so you'll see them featured throughout this season as I find deals to highlight for gifts that you might like. Enjoy!

Best Deal Magazines Deal of the Day

The Best Deal Magazines - Deal of the Day Offer for November 20 is Marie Claire!!

A one-year subscription, today only, is $4.29 if you shop through Best Deal Magazines!! These deals are smokin', and remember they only last 24 hours so if you want it you should get it before it's too late. I hate it when I procrastinate and loose out on something I really wanted, don't you? Especially when the bargain was so great.

Please Excuse The Mess

I just wanted to drop you a line to beg you to excuse the mess and concentrate on my content. I have had something go wrong over the last few hours and everything that isn't a post is quite messed up. I know it has something to do with my template, I'm just not sure what happened or how it happened. I will be working on this later today but I really do need a nap right now. I'll be up in a bit and work to get this straight for you.

It looks like this may be my weekend move to Word Press and my new website as well, God willing and if my husband has time. I'll keep this site going until the kinks are worked out but this right now is less than optimal and I've been up all night trying to fix it. Please forgive the huge mess, enjoy the posts (more to come later!), and I'll be back this afternoon with tons of great deals for you.

Thanks so much for your continuous generosity and understanding of my hectic life. You have no idea how much it means to me that you take time out of your day to stop by here and read my words. It keeps me going, more than you realize. This is never a way for me to make money, this is truly something I'm grateful for....and you I am most grateful for!

Kristin

I have shared with you my love of Glade many times, but have I shared with you my source for Glade coupons? If not, here's your opportunity to sign up to get your own awesome high value Glade coupons!!

Join Right @ Home! They will send you e-newsletters and coupons that will get you sweet savings on those great Glade products that I have throughout my home. It's the best newsletter I get through my e-mail, and I hope you all enjoy it too!

Facebook Coupon: $1 off Banana Nut Cheerios

Facebook members can log in and print a coupon for $1 off Banana Nut Cheerios and watch a cute, and weird, video of a gorilla in a grocery store.

I love cereal coupons that are at least $.75 off of 1 box. You can almost always get a great deal on cereal with those, and these Cheerios are SO good!! I love the Strawberry Yogurt Cheerios too.

Walmart Deals

Here are a few great Walmart deals courtesy of Couponing to Disney and The Centsible Sawyer. There are a lot of freebie deals and items under $1 when you pair them with a great coupon!

If you haven't been a regular couponer at Walmart, there aren't any really big tips or tricks to it. There's no reason to "fear" shopping at Walmart with your coupons, even if you've heard horror stories!

Walmart does not double coupons or have any other "gimmick" sales like BOGOs. However, it always differs from store to store, or cashier to cashier even sometimes, as to how easy your transaction will go. For instance, my cashier a few weeks ago refused to accept more than 1 Air Wick coupon during a transaction even though I was buying 6 items and had 1 per item. You will have to ask to speak to a manager often in those situations, or call corporate. However,
sometimes taking a copy of the Walmart Coupon Policy will help. If you're wondering, the manager I ended up speaking to at Walmart did assure me that I was correct and that I should not have had any problems using all 6 of my coupons; needless to say, they expired that day so I didn't get to use them all (the other store was sold out) and I was bummed. That's just part of a day in the life of a couponer.

I try to use a self-checkout whenever I can, and I've developed a rapport with a couple of cashiers who know I use coupons and trust me. That helps!

Nestle Toll House Morsels $1.78
Use $.50/1 Nestle Toll House Morsels 11/1 RP
Final Price: $1.28

Betty Crocker Frosting $.78
Use $.50/1 Betty Crocker Frosting printable
Final Price: $.28

Glade 2 oz. Soy Candles $2.49
Use $2/1 Glade Fragance Collection from 11/15 Parade magazine
Final Price: $.49

Hartz Cat Treats $.97
Use $1 Hartz printable coupon
Final Price: Free plus possible overage (this typically depends on your cashier)

Purina cat food, select varieties 3.5 lb. bag $3.97
Give a Bowl from Purina, and get a $4 coupon
Final Price: Free plus possible overage

Purina Puppy Chow and other select dog food 4 lb. bag $4
Give a Bowl $4 printable coupon
Final Price: Free

El Monterey Tornados, $2\
Use $1 El Monterey Tornadoes 8/2 SS
Final Price: $1

Orange Crush $.78
Use $1/2 Orange Crush 10/11 SS
Final Price: $.28 each wyb 2

Chef's Requested Bacon Wrapped Steaks $3.28
Use $3/1 Chef's Requested printable (NEW LINK)
Final Price: $.28

There are hundreds of deals to be had at Walmart, but keep in mind that Walmart's prices are regional. I don't even find the same prices at my Walmart stores that are 6 miles apart!!

Blessings in a Backpack

I'm not trying to go overboard talking about charitable giving on my blog this season. I don't, however, want us to lose sight of the reason for the season and to forget about those who can't afford to even eat on Christmas. I will be talking about different charities on this blog, though, a pretty good bit just to highlight those that I think people might not be aware of. I'm not trying to push anything on anybody, I just feel led to do it. Thank you for your understanding. If you feel led to help any of these charities, please do!


I found out about a charity today while I was sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office, and it's one that I think all of us, as bargain hunters and couponers, could either help out or even start in our areas easily and without a lot of financial investment. It's called Blessings in a Backpack, and it's almost completely without administrative costs. This simply means that any donations of cash go directly to the purchase of food for families, not to pay workers. How cool is that? It's goal is to feed children and families who may get their only real meals at school because their families can't afford food.
Blessings in a Backpack was started by Stan Curtis and Missy Hammerstrom in 2004 with the intention of finding a way to feed children over the weekend. Have you ever given any thought to the children who get free lunches at school, and where the food for the rest of the week is gotten? What if there is none, or not enough? Chances are they have a family who is going without dinner on a weeknight, or anything on the weekends. Some children get enough to survive, but barely, and you'd never know it by looking at them. Web MD, my discovery source of this charity, states that the effects of malnutrition in a child start with their inner-workings. They'll start to move slower, or feel drained more often. Physically, they look fine. That's scary to me.

By July 2005, Meijer (based in MI) had become a key partner for Blessings in a Backpack and they had 2 schools in their pilot program. Soon after, Hilary Duff adopted a school in Los Angeles. It further gained national attention in 2006 on the NBC Evening News with Katie Couric and again with an article in USA Today.

The article I read today featured Scarlett Johansson. Her work with the organization stems from her childhood, growing up as a lot of Americans do in a single income home with many siblings. The actress said she didn't perhaps realize how hard it was on her parents until she was an adult and saw other children in her same situation. She's now helping to draw more attention to the charity. It got my attention, and I'm sad to say it was only because that was the only thing there was to read in the waiting room. Now, I am excited to see how I can help. I feel as if I have found something I can do to help others within my community in a way that there is a very real need.

We can all help this charity very easily, and it simply depends on how much time you have on your hands as to the degree of your involvement. For those of you who have quite a bit of time, and are in an area with K-5 Title 1 and Free/Reduced Meal Utilization programs you can Adopt a School. I think this might be the area in which I want to begin my involvement. If you are interested, request more information here. This is an especially important thing to do for those of us (including Alabama) who don't have this program anywhere in the state and/or you live in an area with a rather poor economic climate. I know that in my area, jobs are scarce and extremely hard to come by. The number of people who live near the poverty limit is high, and the number of children who do get free/reduced meals at school is high.

For those of you with a Blessings in a Backpack program already in place somewhere within your community, you could also volunteer. You could volunteer to fill backpacks, deliver backpacks, sort food, or any number of things. This would be a wonderful activity for a family to do to celebrate a holiday together, or as the site suggests as a great activity for a school or civic group to partake in together.

One of the easiest ways to help, for those of you who may be short on time but have the financial resources, is to donate. You can donate $80 and it will fill a backpack for one child each weekend for an entire school year. Blessings in a Backpack is a 501(c)3 organization so all donations are tax deductible. Corporations may also donate new backpacks and get taxable documentation. Physical resources can also be donated, for instance if you have a truck or van you could donate this for the purpose of delivering the backpacks.

There really are countless ways you can get involved with any charity of your choice, not just writing a check. Blessings in a Backpack is a charity that intrigues me because I see that the donations go directly to helping children and families get food; I don't have to wonder how many pockets my donations are lining until the few dollars that are left actually go toward helping someone. Yes, that's harsh, but I believe it's a thought that might be in the minds of a lot of people. It is very nice to see donations going straight to work.

I have already submitted my information to see how I can help. There is no Blessings in a Backpack organization in Alabama and I think that needs to change. I'd love to see more of my fellow Alabama bloggers do something like this in their communities!