You, too, can save money! (clipart from MS Office, 2010)
Showing posts with label Shutterfly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shutterfly. Show all posts

Monday, September 27, 2010

Halloween Costume = FREE Shutterfly Photo Book!


For those of you out there who are not going to hit up your favorite consignment shop, best friend with bigger children, or something else equally cheap (me? All of the above, folks!) for a costume, here is an idea:

Purchase a Halloween costume (or other things including a Halloween costume) and have a receipt totaling $35.00 or more from Party City from now till October 31. If you do this online, the website states that a Shutterfly photo book will "automatically" show up in your cart (which means you will receive an email shortly thereafter with info on how to redeem your free offer). If you choose to purchase in-store (which is smart, considering all the cool things I have found in the clearance section), simply save your receipt and go to http://partycity.com/shutterfly to request your Free Photo Book. The process might take a little longer, but it will be worth it.

Enterprising young types such as yourself might foresee a photo book as being a nice Christmas present for a faraway relative (or an in-town grandmother), a neat way to chronicle family recipes (just use the text feature and use appropriately-sized font) along with cherished family photographs, a brag book for a dad on the move, or a fun record of someone's first pumpkin-picking expedition. Leave a post and let us know how you might use yours.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Ebates....Online Savings 101

One of my husband's favorite things to do is to shop online. It is very easy for him, and he can do it anytime. I love shopping online, too. Now, there is something that can make it even more profitable for you...

Ebates.com is a shopping referral site which connects consumers with popular companies, offering discounts and coupon codes in addition to the opportunity to earn rebates based on your purchase amount. For instance, if you shop with Shutterfly after going "through" Ebates (so they can track your purchase as having come from their site--don't forget to sign in first), you can oftentimes earn 10% or more in cash back.

The catch--the cash is given in a rebate check format every quarter, which means that you only receive a check every 3 months. The good part? When you sign up as a new member, you automatically earn an extra $5 when you make your first qualifying purchase. Make sure to refer new family and friends to this service, too, and you may get some extra perks.

Not every store in creation is on Ebates....but a great many of them are. I even checked out the categories of stores to see what childrens' stores they had to offer, as I needed to get a baby gift. And, I could easily see which store would earn me the best rebate.

I have gotten two rebate checks so far. I am pleased!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

3 Free Cards from Shutterfly

Oh, there is nothing like finding a deal! It works on me like a medicine!

Log on to Shutterfly today to get three cards (5x7 folded or invitation-size) for free plus shipping. Each card is about 36 cents after postage. I just made the cutest card with pics from our beach vacation, and I will use them as stationery to send a letter to my grandmother in Kentucky and some other relatives.

The coupon code is SUMMERCARDS. Enter it at checkout, and the discount will come off immediately.

If you are new to the site, you will get 50 free digital 4x6 prints.

Please sign up through one of the cash-back sites before completing your purchase (just got my "Big Fat Check" from Ebates yesterday and did a huge deal on ShopAtHome last night and this morning, so that check should be rolling in shortly). I promise you, you won't be sorry. Come on! I clip coupons that are worth 25 cents. You better believe that I will get cash back anywhere I can.

I will post more information on these websites later in the week. Until then, just try it if you are interested. TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Rewards Programs for Diapers...Scam or Deal?

It all started three and a half years ago, when I was beginning to show during my first pregnancy. I was making a diaper cake for one of my friends at work when I noticed a sticker-thing stuck to the inside of the pack of Pampers. I looked, and it was a sticker with a numerical/alphabetical code, a website, an expiration (which, it turns out, is fake), and the promise of free stuff.

For those of you who know me, that's all it took.

I began keeping and entering codes for Gifts to Grow, which is the Pampers diapers, wipes, and training pants rewards program. Basically, you keep up with the stickers, found inside the packages of diapers and training pants, or the code etched into the top of tubs of wipes/printed on the side of wipes refills, and enter them at the Pampers website. Thereafter, you can use the points earned from the codes to "buy" rewards.

So far, and I have been doing this program for 3.5 years.....I have earned a Melissa and Doug flower pot toy, a Sesame Street book (both with free shipping), 12 free birthday invitations from Shutterfly (only had to pay shipping)....and I now have 970 points, which means that I am ready to order my baby girl's birthday invites for this fall! It doesn't sound like much, but there are many opportunities to order other things that are as cheap as 400 points. At 150 points, you can earn a $3 credit to Diapers.com....which is a great site that many of my friends have used with success (don't forget...you can mail in coupons to your diapers.com account for use on your next order!). I just happened to want to save my points toward things that are a little pricier (and many times I would forget to keep codes/save tubs, which would have meant more points). Interested? Sign up here.

What I have been less successful with is the Huggies rewards program, which they began a few years back as their answer to Pampers' program. It is called Enjoy the Ride Rewards, and it seems to be pretty cool. They have many things, such as entries into raffles, that you can buy with your points for cheap, but I'm not the lottery type. So I have faithfully socked away my Huggies points, also stickers found inside the packs of diapers, swim pants, and training pants, as well as refill packs of wipes, and have....172 points total. I am very (VERY) patiently working toward coupons for a free tub and free refill of wipes. Grrrr.... Again, this would probably not be the case if I had rescued every sticker from the garbage after DH threw the empty bag away, or if Huggies had not been trying to offload every old pack of diapers at the start of this summer (lots of deals on packs that had no stickers). Unlike Pampers, however, you can earn points by completing polls, reading things from their websites, and so forth. Long story short, you can go for it here, but maybe it would be more fun to spend points on the instant win giveaways than just wait, like me.

Some free rewards codes (which are completely legit, as they are not the actual codes from within the packs; it is unethical and impossible to share those, as they are unique) for Pampers include:

WELCOME2PAMPERS (50 pts)
FACEBOOKJUL10
ENJOYYOURSUMMER (10 pts)
15GTGSUMMERFUN (15 pts)
25GTGSUMMER2010 (25 pts)
GTGSPRINGFREE10 (10 pts)
THRIFTYMOMMYGTG (10 pts)
WELCOME2VILLAGE10 (10 pts)
JOINTHEFUNGTG09 (10 pts)
WELCOME2GTG2010 (10 pts)
GROWWITHVILLAGE (10 pts)
GTGLEARNMORE089 (10 pts)
GETSTARTEDNOW10 (10 pts)

That oughta get you on your way!




The only one I can share for Huggies is BDTXQ-TXPHP-GXPGB (5 pts).

Ever gotten a reward from one of these programs? Share with the group! (Or let me know if one code has expired....since I've already used them, I don't really know.)

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Finding Coupons, Part Two

When I re-read my posting on places to find coupons the other day, I rolled my eyes. There are TONS of places to find coupons, and I covered only a few of them. So, without exhausting you (or belaboring the point), here are some more ideas for coupon-hunters:

1. Be a concerned consumer. By emailing, snail mailing, or calling the toll-free number of a company, they are very likely to respond to you in a positive manner, whether or not you have anything positive to say. To give you a couple of examples, I have bragged on Calmoseptine ointment (for diaper rash), Breyers yogurt, and Land O'Lakes butter and found INCREDIBLE samples and coupons in my mailbox not long after.....but Kraft did right by me when I complained about the recent re-formulation of some of their salad dressings and sent me high-value coupons. Simply find a place on the website that says, "Contact Us", and do so.If t he task seems daunting, pick one or two companies whose products you are faithful to and email them; it will take five minutes .You might be pleasantly surprised about who will offer you something in return.

2. Surf. As stated in the previous post, most printable coupons can be found on one of three major sites, but there are many companies who provide one or a few coupons to be printed from their own website. For instance (don't judge me!), Little Debbie's website provided one or two coupons for chocolate cupcakes and the like on their web page.

3. Keep your eyes peeled. Other than blinkies, peelies, hangtags, and tearpads, also discussed in the previous post, one of my favorite Rite Aid stores in Bowdon, Georgia has displays set up with small manufacturer booklets that explain more about the product with coupons as well. They were on a lower shelf with only one specific product in the display; in the past, I have also seen some awesome allergy coupons in this format as well. Some small informational booklets are just that, but it always pays to check.

4. With free samples. Not that getting a little tiny sample in your mailbox (score!) is not enough, but....many times, there may be a coupon included with the sample. I have gotten Nivea, Pampers, All-Bran, and Garnier coupons this way.

5. In or on boxes. This is a tricky one, but again, it pays to pay attention. There may be a small graphic on the item to indicate that there are coupons inside the item, which is of course enticing you to purchase it--but if the item is on sale, who cares? Printed on the actual item boxes....Cheerios, Pampers, Betty Crocker Warm Delights, and Banquet Family Meals. Found inside the item (in a booklet, etc.).....Biore, Schick, and many, many packages of Pampers, where I have found coupons for Cheerios, Kandoo products, and Easy Ups.

6. Magazines. Hopefully, "all you" guys know about the All You magazine, which can be found in Wal-Mart only (or through a home subscription). This magazine is your average folksy women's rag with fashion, home, and beauty stories, but includes coupons that range from a total of $55 to $85 in savings!! But, there are many others in magazines for the taking. I have found them in Redbook, Glamour, Parents, Family Fun, Ladies' Home Journal, to name a few.

**Related savings news...Thanks to a great friend, Knowly, who pointed out that the photo websites, particularly Shutterfly and Walgreens, have super-duper deals on a regular basis! Walgreens even has a feature where you can ship photo items to ANY Walgreens....which means you can send new pics to your great-aunt and -uncle who don't get on "the email" (thanks, Haley!).

Also, one more observation.....I noticed that in this week's Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, a newspaper that I buy religiously every week, there was a line at the top proclaiming "Over $150 in savings". Pretty impressive, unless you also got the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which stated that it contained wayyyyyy more than that (perhaps twice or three times)....... Just goes to show you--if you can, be sure to purchase Sunday papers from the largest possible newspaper.