An Island Life is giving away a Zune!

I love portable MP3 players that also play videos. They're fantastic for the car, especially when I'm trying to get home before nap time. Alex will watch a favorite video and stay awake until we pull into the driveway. Tyler's almost old enough for his own video player, which will help ensure that Mommy and Daddy can make the most of nap time!

Why am I telling you this? To encourage you to head over to Kailani's great blog, An Island Life. She's giving away a Microsoft Zune Digital Player from Best Buy just in time for Father's Day!

Buy $100 of Dockers clothing or accessories, get $75 (maybe $85) back

A couple of blogs I read, including Money Common Sense, have posted about getting a $75 gas card when you purchase $100 of men's* Dockers clothing or accessories (not shoes). To get the gas card, you have fill out a tear pad form and send it in as an entry to a contest where the grand prize is a Toyota Prius. The entry is also your rebate form for the gas card. According to Consumer World, you may also get a $10 Sears gift card - the press release about the promotion states that "when customers send in their receipt along with their entry form, Sears will give them a $75 gas gift card and also a $10 Sears Reward card by mail -- so a total of $85.00 back!"

You can find the tear pad form at stores or print this pdf version.

Thanks to lexerdax for pointing out the deal doesn't include women's clothing.

Today Only: Get a free 8x10 from Snapfish

Sorry I'm posting this so late. It's been a busy day!

Use code GREATDAY to get a free 8x10 from Snapfish. You'll have to pay for shipping, but it's only 99 cents! I ordered a print of the boys as a bonus Father's Day gift for my father-in-law.

Via Baby Cheapskate.

CVS: My ECBs didn't print!

CVS has a couple of great deals this week:

• Buy $20 of select Bounty, Charmin and Duracell products and get $10 in ECBs.
• Buy $20 of select Pampers products and get $5 in ECBs.

I did these deals on Sunday, but I broke them up and my ECBs didn't print properly. (Generally, you can accumulate the required amount over separate transactions.) So I had to call CVS on Monday morning, and finally got my ECBs today. You can read more about the call to CVS over at Chief Family Officer. The post at CFO includes additional Drugstore Game resources and printable coupon tips as well.

I didn't realize that my ECBs were going to print as a total of $15 instead of separate ECBs of $10 and $5. It messed up my planned transactions, and I even had to abort my first modified transaction because the store was out of the Oral B toothbrushes that are free after ECBs this month. But, I got what I needed and didn't have to spend a cent out of pocket since I have a gift card that I acquired for filling a prescription, so I can't complain. Here's how my transaction went:

2 Swiffer refills, $6.99 each - $13.98
2 Lysol wipes, $3.49 each - $6.98
2 Dawn, 2/$2 - $2
Total: $22.96
Coupons: $4 off $20 purchase CVS coupon, $1 off 2 Swiffer, $1 off 2 Lysol & 2 25-cents off Dawn
ECBs: $15
Out of pocket: $1.58 (on gift card)
ECBs received: $5 for Swiffer, $1 for Dawn

It wasn't a great transaction, since I lost $9 in ECBs, but we really needed the wipes (to clean the potties) and I didn't want to miss the Swiffer deal. And I was lucky enough to win a $10 CVS gift card from My Good Cents, and the $25 gift card that I ordered through MyPoints finally came, so I could afford to burn some ECBs. (I'll publish a review of MyPoints next week over at Chief Family Officer.)

What I really love about playing The Drugstore Game is that I can really stretch my dollars. And thanks to ECBs and gift cards, I'll be buying a lot of things my family needs for free!

Read about more great deals at The "Cent"sible Sawyer.

Walgreens: 10 cans of shaving gel, 1 package of printer paper, 1 Kashi bar & 3 mini body washes for $3

Actually, my out of pocket total was $3.07. I hadn't even planned to go to Walgreens this week, but Money Saving Mom reported that there was a Gillette shaving gel deal. The gels are on sale through tomorrow for $2 each, and there is a $1 off coupon on page 7 of the June EasySaver catalog. The gels are part of a deal where you get $5 in Register Rewards if you buy $20 of participating products. $1 for a full size shaving gel is a pretty good price, and I had a gift card from April's monthly rebates, so off I went.

My first transaction went like this:
7 Gillette Series shaving gel (men's)
3 Satin Care shaving gel (women's - it comes in "Alluring Avocado")
Total: $20
Coupons: $10 EasySaver coupons & 3 55-cent coupons on Satin Care (from Sunday's paper)
Used: $8.78 on gift card
Total out of pocket (incl. tax): $1.22

In my second transaction, I got:
1 package of printer paper - $4.49
1 Kashi bar - $1.99 (I thought it was on sale, but must have read the price wrong)
3 Gillette trial size 2-in-1 men's body wash - 99-cents each
Total: $9.45
Coupons: $5 RR & 3 $1 coupons for the body wash (from Sunday's paper)
Total out of pocket (incl. tax): $1.85

We really needed the printer paper, so I'm happy we got all of these things for less than the cost of one ream!

Read about more great deals at The "Cent"sible Sawyer.

Free Gillette Fusion Power razors at Target

Thanks to Mommy Making Money, I knew that Target has an advertised deal through Saturday where they give you a $10 gift card if you buy two Gillette Fusion or Embrace razors or cartridges at $9.44 each. But I learned this morning from Money Saving Mom that some stores have the Fusion razors at $7.99. That was the price at my store. If you have two $4 off Fusion razor coupons from this past Sunday's newspaper, you can buy two for $7.98 and get a $10 gift card. It worked for me earlier today. The razors were actually labeled as $7.99, but if your store doesn't have the sign up and you're wondering what the price is, just take it over to the scanner. The scanner should also indicate that you'll get a gift card when you buy two.

Free Head & Shoulders at Rite Aid

Thanks to one of my favorite blogs, Mommy Making Money, I've learned that I can get some free Head & Shoulders at Rite Aid this week. I'll be using Rite Aid's Single Check Rebate program for the first time. With the SCR program, you purchase an eligible item, then submit your purchase information online and get a check in the mail. You can only receive one check per month, so it's best to wait until the end of the month to request your check.

This week, Rite Aid has Head & Shoulders on sale for 2 for $8, with a single check rebate for $4. Sunday's newspaper had a Buy One, Get One free coupon for Head & Shoulders, so with the coupon, I'll pay $4. Then I'll get $4 back from RiteAid, making the entire purchase free (except for tax). That's a better deal than I scored at CVS a couple of weeks ago!

Chief Family Officer's Third Anniversary Celebration: Giveaway #2 - Heels.com $50 gift certificate

Head over to Chief Family Officer to win a $50 gift certificate to Heels.com!

One Million & Beyond is giving away an Amazon gift certificate . . . but should you root for Matt or not?

One Million and Beyond is giving away an Amazon gift certificate, but with a catch. If Matt doesn't stick to his weekly budget during the next four weeks, he'll give away a $25 Amazon gift certificate that week. But if he does stick to his budget for all four weeks, then he'll give away one $50 Amazon gift certificate.

Although the odds of winning are better if Matt doesn't stick to his budget, I hope he does. There's just something special about accomplishing a goal, no matter how big or small.

If you want to enter Matt's contest, check out his contest post for instructions. And good luck!

Chief Family Officer's Third Anniversary Celebration is underway!

Chief Family Officer turns 3 on Saturday, and I'm thanking all of my readers with some great giveaways. The first one is a KABOOST chair booster, and you can enter to win it now!

Chief Family Officer's Third Anniversary Celebration

CFO Reviews is only a few months old, but mama blog Chief Family Officer will be turning three next Saturday! The week-long celebration will kick off on Monday with the first giveaway, so don't forget to stop by. Here's a sneak peek at some of the prizes:

Thank you to Kaboost!

Thank you to Johnson & Johnson!






This is just a taste - there will be other fun prizes too! Why not subscribe to CFO via RSS or email so you don't miss anything?

Today's Walgreens Trip

See my update on using the $10 off $30 coupon for today at Chief Family Officer.

I wasn't sure if a trip to Walgreens would be worth it, since I can generally do better at CVS. But I had some time to kill this morning, so I headed over to Walgreen with all of my coupons. There are two things I wish I'd done differently: (1) printed out coupons from the June EasySaver booklet, since the store didn't have those out yet; and (2) tried to use the $10 off $30 coupon on a purchase that was just over $30 before all coupons. I assumed that my purchase had to total $30 after store coupons, but if I could have used store coupons in conjunction with the $10 off $30, I would have had an entirely different transaction and probably would have saved another $5 to $10.

As it was, I'm moderately pleased with the transaction below. My goal was to pay less than the list price for the special anti-dandruff shampoo that my dermatologist instructed me to use. The shampoo was $14.99. I paid $13.49 for the following:

Nizarol shampoo - $14.99
Huggies wipes - $2.50 (used 50-cent manufacturer coupon)
2 Chex mix - 99 cents each (used 1 $1 and 1 50-cent manufacturer coupon)
1 Schick Quattro for women razor - $9.99 (used $3 store coupon and $4 manufacturer coupon)
2 Fiber One bars - $1 each

Total: $31.46
Less coupons: - $10 off coupon & $9 in other coupons
Total paid: $13.49

I had another Huggies wipes in there for a total of $30.96 after store coupons, but my coupon for the wipes wouldn't scan. I had the cashier take the second box of wipes off my purchase, which fortunately didn't make the $10 off coupon reset. Because of that, I think I could have used the $10 coupon without accounting for store coupons, but oh well. I did get the shampoo for less than the shelf price, and all of the other stuff along with it.

The Drugstore Game: Walgreens Coupon + Tips

Cross-posted at Chief Family Officer.

This printable Walgreens coupon was in my inbox this morning: Get $10 off an in-store purchase of $30 or more on Friday, May 30, only.

Here are a few tips for using the coupon:

• Combine it with manufacturer and store coupons. You can find printable store coupons in their online weekly ad. (It's the same as the circular in the Sunday newspaper.)
• Have the $10 off $30 purchase coupon scanned first. The total needs to be over $30 in order for the computer to accept the coupon, so start with this coupon.
• Make sure you have as many items as you do coupons. In other words, you can't buy 5 items and use 10 coupons. If you have more coupons than items, you can either put some items back or buy some inexpensive "fillers" like gum.
• Chex Mix is on sale for 99 cents this week. Or at least that's many people are saying. I couldn't find it at the Walgreens nearest me, but it's a smaller Walgreens that doesn't carry everything. There are quite a few Chex Mix coupons out there, so you could get this very inexpensively. In fact, in Sunday's LA Times, there was one sheet of General Mills coupons that included one for $1 off two snacks, including Chex Mix.

If you're heading to Walgreens tomorrow, have fun and good luck! And come back and leave a comment on this post letting me know how you did. I love reading about everyone's successful shopping trips!

Win cash from Everyday Finance

Everyday Finance is giving away a $100 first prize and a $25 second prize via PayPal. If you're a blogger or have something to advertise, you can also enter to win a post all about you or your company or a one-month text link ad. To enter, comment on the contest post and pick of the four options for entering (ranging from subscribing to Everyday Finance's RSS feed to posting about the contest on forums). Good luck!

Win Bob the Builder: The Three Musketrucks from Seven Dogs & a Baby

Seven Dogs & a Baby is giving away four copies of a Bob the Builder DVD, The Three Musketrucks. To enter, just head over to their site and leave a comment with your favorite current HIT Entertainment release. Good luck!

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a Wii!

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting the Nestlé "The Kid in You" Photo Contest. The grand prize is a Nintendo Wii, which is very cool. But the second place is equally cool (at least in my book): a piñata filled with Nestlé goodies.

You have until June 2 to enter. And your chances of winning a Wii just got better since I won't be entering this contest ;)

Curiosity: How many giveaway prizes aren't received by the winner?

The blogosphere makes it so easy to enter giveaways that I've entered quite a few, and I've actually won a few times. It's really rather shocking, given that I'm the person who only wins a door prize if everyone is getting one.

But I've won two giveaways now where I never received my prize, and emails to the host site have been ignored. No, I won't name names, even though I am tempted! It's made me wonder, though, how often this happens.

In both cases, I responded as required. If I'd done something incorrectly and my prize was forfeited, I can accept that. It's the dead silence in response to my inquiring email that makes me, let's be frank, suspicious that these sites are not holding giveaways on the up and up.

So I'm curious:

Have you won a giveaway and not received your prize? Do you think there are sites out there holding giveaways without real prizes?

About Align (a new probiotic supplement) + a free sample

This giveaway has ended.

Align is a new probiotic daily dietary supplement that may relieve common digestive upsets such as constipation, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, urgency, gas, and bloating. Align is recommended only for people who have mild to moderate digestion issues. If you don't have any symptoms, Align probably won't do much for you. Watch this video for more information or visit their web site.

If you're interested in a free three-week sample, all you have to do is be the first person to send me an email at cfoblog [at] gmail [dot] com with your name and address. I'll pass that information along to their public relations firm, which will send your sample directly to you.

Free vitamin samples from Nature Made

Lisa at Nature Made wanted me to let you know that you can get a free 14-day vitamin sample of any of the six new soft gel vitamins. Just visit Nature Made and choose your sample!

Thanks, Lisa!

How to find the best deals in The Drugstore Game

As I mentioned a couple of months ago in my original post about The Drugstore Game, I've known for years now that drugstores like Walgreens and Rite-Aid offer free items. (CVS is relatively new in my area, so I didn't know anything about it until much more recently.)

It was probably toward the end of 2007 that I discovered the forums at Slickdeals and FatWallet frequently list the free items and suggest coupons to use. At about the same time, I discovered that there are blogs that do the same thing, but in much more detail. Since then, I've developed a pretty good list of resources and a system that works for me to help me find the best deals and know what I'm shopping for before I head out to the stores. I thought it would be nice to share that information with you, so here goes:

If you look at only one web site for drugstore deals, it should be MoneySavingMom. The information is comprehensive and sufficient to get you started and keep you going. There is also a robust community of commenters who share additional information about the latest deals.

But there are many more sites that will help you find the best deals. Here are the ones I read, in alphabetical order:

• Be Centsable
• Be Thrifty Like Us
• The "Cent"sible Sawyer
• Hooray for Free-bates!
• I Heart CVS
• Mommy Making Money
  
• My Good Cents
  
• The New Frugal Mom

These sites will not only report the best deals, but they pair the deals up with coupons and link to printable coupons if any are out there. They are repetitive to some degree, but since I read them in Google Reader, it's easy to skim and skip. And the scenarios that each site provides are usually different, which means I can skim them to find the ones that work for me. (By which I mean deals that contain items I want and that I have coupons for.)

If you're just starting out, be prepared to make a few mistakes. The calculations can get really tricky, and it takes some time to get the hang of it. In fact, I've been shopping at CVS for two months now and I still don't completely get it. But I'm getting better and I've saved money in the process. I hope this post helps you do the same.