Free Redbox Rentals

   WHAT? WHO? WHEN? HOW? I bet that's just a few little things you screamed in your head as you read that title. Here's a tip: just search for Redbox rental codes online, as well as send a text to Redbox (send a "signup" text to 727272), and you will get free rental codes. I have yet to pay for a Redbox movie! It's basically free entertainment for date night, movie night, or family night. Do some research and you'll never  have to pay for a movie again!

Savings: $1.38/movie


   What is your favorite date night movie?

Let there be Light

   I just got 8 light-bulbs for super-close to free. How, you ask? I had 2 manufacturers' coupons for $2 off any pack of Reveal lightbulbs, along with 2 Target store coupons for $2 off as well. If you didn't know this, here is a great little secret I am going to let you in on: You can STACK manufacturer and store coupons together for added savings. I bought 2 packs of Reveal lightbulbs, literally for .66 cents.

Savings: $8.00

   I also was at work the other day and lo-and-behold, there were vanity light bulbs sitting in the break room with a note that said "free, these work just fine". What do you think I did? Yeah, you guessed it...I snagged them right up!

Savings: at least $8

   Smile. And say "hello". You never know who's life you might light up by just one simple word with a smile. 

Free, Free, and oh-yeah, Free

You read that correctly, everything that you see in the above picture...yep, got it for free!!!

• The Softsoap was on sale for .99cents/bottle. I now have a handy-dandy coupon book (yep, I am now that big of a geek). I had 2 coupons for $1.00 off each, so at checkout, they were free, as a 2cent money-maker.
• I was also perusing the cough drop aisle, actually looking to see if Ricola was on sale because I had coupons and I find them simply yummy. Sadly, they weren't on sale, but I saw that these Dual action Ricola's were on sale for $1.49. I had a coupon for .75cents off, which then doubled at the checkout, so they were free with a penny profit. 
• Not to sound even more geeky than I already do, I clip Meijer "Mperks". To add to my already-growing geekiness resume, I made my brother sign up, so that I could clip coupons on his account too. These particular coupons were for "FREE" 6 double-roll Meijer TP. With two coupons, I got 12-double rolls, yes, absolutely free.

In total, with coupons, I was able to get everything for Free, with Savings of: $12

Craftstore Savings Madness

  The JoAnn's Facebook page just became my new BFF. They had a 60% off savings coupon, which you could print off and use all day (yep, ALL) day long. I should have waited to buy my paint and ribbon until today! Oh well. I have some cool art hanging up now.
   On this trip, I bought:

• a soft-brush angled paintbrush for projects 
• a box of 14 hooks/eyes to fix the eyelet on the zipper of my tried and true "little black dress"
• 2 gorgeous Swarovski crystal bracelets
• a pack of 4 bra-converting clips that I've been wanting/needing for forever

   The picture of the bracelets does not do them justice. They are absolutely gorgeous and I've gotten compliments on them so many times already. In one day, I got 6 compliments at work! Had I bought similar bracelets in stores, such as the Limited, Express, or Ann Taylor, which I used to do, I would have been shelling out a whopping $30/bracelet at least! With my 60% off each item, I paid approx. $2.25/bracelet!!!

In total, for this entire order, I spent $12.70. Savings: $32

College Football. What could be better?

   So yeah, I'm a football fan. Even better, I'm an Ohio State Buckeye football fan. Born, bred, and raised. I graduated from the University and I'm a proud supporter.  I got a call from my friend telling me that her mom gave her two tickets and "wanted to see if I would like to go with her". Uh, duh! Was that a legitimate question? Of course I did! I asked her how much her mom wanted for the ticket....zip, nada, nothing. To top it all off, it had to of been the most exciting ending to a game in history (or just my memory) with us coming up from losing the game and winning with 3 seconds to go!

   Savings: $70

Neti-pot, Neti-pot, what are you used for?

   Okay, sorry about the title. In my head, I was singing those words to the tune of Phoebe Buffet's "Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat" song....
   I recently bought a Neti-pot and a bunch of Robitussin on a trip to the grocery store. I was perusing the "clearance" aisle and came upon some great deals. Now that the weather is turning colder and the leaves are falling, my allergies are due to pack their punch. For quite some time, I'd been considering getting a Neti-pot to help with keeping sinus infections away (if I don't get at least 3 a year, I would think that something was wrong). I saw this on sale and I just had to get it!

 I've used this treasure every time I feel a tingle in my sinus' and everything clears right up. Add in $1/gallon for clean, purified water and I save myself from having to take antibiotics and feeling downright crummy.  Normally these "pots" run at $15/pop, but I got mine on sale at $3.56.

    Savings: $11.44

    I also got 2 packs of Robitussin from the "clearance" aisle. I don't like to take meds, but usually in the winter, I get a serious-nasty cough, so with these being "clearanced" down to $2.86 from $11.45, I'd be a fool not to swipe them up.

Total spent: $5.72. Savings: $17.18

Crafting

   Well...this is just a picture of ribbon and paint....but really, it's a whole big gift of crafty goodness to me. I was able to get this stuff for 50% off at JoAnn's due to Veteran's Day coupons. I bought the black ribbon to use for gift-wrapping (I like my gifts to be fancy). And the paint? Well, I bought that to paint over the face of my ex-boyfriend. In total, I paid $2.06.

                                                                      Savings: $2.06 (and free art)

   I'm sure you're thinking: "what is this crazy chic talking about, painting over her ex-boyfriend's face?" Well, I was given this totally sweet gift, that had our faces painted on it, for Christmas. I absolutely love it, but obviously don't want his face haunting my nightmares, so what do I do? I snatch up a $1 bottle of glossy acrylic paint and paint right over that sucker!

   Here's the beautiful after-math:

This is scary-exact to what I look like and it was all painted by someone looking at a picture of me. I'm going to buy some more paint and write a favorite quote on it. 

Moving on Out.

Well, sadly, I moved out of my rental house on July 31, 2012. I lived there for 2 years and by far, it's been my favorite place. It really felt like home! In the process of moving, I acquired a few things just because previous roomies didn't feel like taking anything.

• An awesome-size cherry wood desk perfect for being a grown-up
• 3 trashcans, all in great shape (2 small ones, 1 big one)
• an awesome college desk (and I sold for $30)

                                      

• This cookbook:

                                      

   Overall, I was able to use a lot of these things that were left behind, plus, I made $60 in total by selling both my old college desk (since I had a newer, much better one) and the other one that my old roomie left behind. I can't believe people and how much they pay for things and just leave behind. Oh, well, I'm not complaining...it's my gain!

Travel Gifts

  Sooo, not to toot my own horn, but I just got some stellar (well, I like them) new "freebies" in the mail! I don't know 'bout you, but I'm gonna be swag, with a capital "S" toting these around. I got a free travel luggage tag for writing a review on TripAdvisor about a less than pleasant hotel stay. Usually luggage tags of this size are pretty pricey, which I don't want to pay. I used to have an amazingly awesome Hard Rock Cafe luggage tag that was rubber like this one and crazy big, but sadly, it must have been so amazingly awesome that the baggage handlers on my cruise wanted it too. Now, I normally just stick with using the airline paper tags and putting a tag on both the inside and outside of my bags, but now I have this great Free tag. Woo Hoo.

Savings: approx. $7 (free)

  What's the other stellar gift I got, you ask? Well, my friends, it is this Free gift from STA travel, just for filling out my Eurail train pass with each train trip we took. We had to fill it out anyway, to be "train-cred" and all & when I got home, I just folded, taped, and sent. Yep, the lovely STA people even paid for postage. STA uses this form as a survey to help keep Eurail being cheap and sweet, and as a "thanks" they send the pass back for "keepsake memories" along with a gift. I must say: I'm liking the gift. It will come in super handy when I backpack again!

Savings: Free

Say Hello to my Little Friend

   No, no, don't worry, I'm not Tony Montana. Just referencing these little guys, the Command Hook. These things are SUPER amazing. I first found out about them my sophomore year of college and I have never looked back. They are champs at helping me to hang anything and everything and leaving no damage behind at the end of my lease term.
  Today, I used a coupon for these awesome things. I try to stock up on them when I find them on sale because they are pretty darn expensive, but I use them all of the time. Although you continually have to buy replacement stickers, you will always have the hooks. Living apartment-style over the years, these little guys have become my best friend. You can buy big hooks, little hooks, velcro tabs, and a whole slew of other kinds of Command products. These were on sale this week and I was able to use two coupons. Normally, these are $4/pop, but with my coupons, I paid $1.50! Woot!

  Savings: $2.50

Saks Fifth: Fekkai

   As I was on my daily stalking round of my friends on Facebook, I happened across Saks Fifth's page. They were having a "swap your shampoo" event, where if you brought in any shampoo (unused), they would give you a free 8oz bottle of Fekkai shampoo. Mom and I both went to the store and each bought a bottle each of the V05 shampoo. Wanna know how much we spent? Yeah...$1.48 total. We exchanged these bottles at Saks and both got a free bottle of the Fekkai shampoo, valued at $24/bottle!

Two bottles of V05: $1.48.     Two bottles of Fekkai: $48.    Savings: $46.52

   Not that I want to brag, but my hair is turning super shiny and soft with this stuff. I'm liking! Too bad I refuse to pay $24 for one bottle. Praying that this stuff lasts me. 

Samples, Samples, & Samples

   When I got home from Europe, I saw that Target was giving away free cosmetic bags. I signed up for one and when I received it, I got this super cute animal print bag with a lot of samples. I've already used a lot of the samples (which I forgot to take a picture of my loot when I first got it).

    I also received a huge packet of Target store coupons for products that I use regularly. This is an awesome plus! I can stack my coupons to get even more money off of the products I buy.

   Savings: valued @ $10 (free)

 Momma and I went to the mall and we got a bunch of Aveda and Sephora products for free. I'll ask for any samples. I love, love, love trying  new products. The lady at Aveda was a super happy lady and she gave my mom and I a huge bag full of sample products lasting each of us about a good 2 weeks worth of hair-washing and leave-in conditioning. Score!

   Savings: Free

  This awesome hand cream is from the L'Occitane store. I was able to snag a coupon for a free 30ml cream and I love it. 

  Savings: $10 (free)

Free Shutterfly 8x11 Photobook

   Yep folks, you read that correctly: I said free. I am a LivingSocial coupon member (see I told you that you should sign up for their newsletters). They sent an email to members with a code for a free 8x11 hard-cover photobook. All I had to pay was the $8 shipping. That's a savings of $39!

   

I used this offer to document my trip to New England from last summer 2011, as well as my trip to the Bahamas over this past '11-'12 New Years. I am so excited that I got it for free!

Yep, this was put in my book. It's from my day-trip to Rhode Island

And this! Sunset in Nassau, Bahamas

   I also found a coupon from Groupon for a $14 photobook, originally $30. I bought this Groupon, which I used to make a "thank-you" gift for my relatives in Germany, who hosted me while I was in Europe. My travel buddy helped me to pay half of the costs, since they hosted him as well, so in total, with shipping, it was a great deal!!

My German family members who I made the photo-book for.

Over the river and across the ocean, to Europe I go.

   Well, it's official: I got up enough guts to quit my physically and mentally draining job at OSUMC. I was so scared to quit, but going to Europe was a must. I had saved up and was financially prepared to come home to no job. I also had enough in my pocket to cover my entire expanse of a trip. A lot of my trip was prepared only a month in advance (you can always save more when doing your homework), but I must reiterate that I looked for savings wherever I could.

Flight:
   My plane ticket was $1,000. I was going to go to Europe by myself, but Momma got upset and so I searched for a travel buddy. My friend waited and waited to let me know so my price kept climbing. I finally just bought the ticket (with or without a travel buddy, I was going). If I had gone alone and not had to wait for my friend to make a decision on whether he was going or not, I would have been able to buy a ticket overseas for $700.

Train:
   We bought our train tickets together and saved quit a bit by getting the 2-adult saver pass. If it's more than just you traveling, definitely buy the Adult-Saver.
   Had we known that we really wouldn't have used all days of train travel, we would have gotten the Flexi-Eurail pass. This pass allows you to travel for a set number of times, instead of the consecutive day pass. The Consecutive-Pass (what I had) is good for each day that you bought it for. Example: 30 consecutive days. We did not travel by train every single day, so next time, I am going to make my itinerary early and buy the Flexi-pass.

Accomodations:
   Before we left, I told my friend that we would be roughing it and camping a lot of the time. He agreed and said that it was fine, but when we got there, he refused to camp. Let's just say that I was not a happy camper (no pun intended). Instead of paying $12-$13/night for a platform tent, we had to pay $25-$30/night for a hostel room with a bunch of other people. Be sure to really sit down and talk with your travel buddy face to face (I hadn't seen mine in 6 years) before you "agree" on travel accommodations.

   If you are staying in hostels, get the rooms with the highest number of bunk beds. The rooms will be cheaper, but they are still safe. Most hostels have lockers that you stow all of your stuff in, so why not just stay in the cheapest room and bring earplugs and an eye mask. Sure, you lose your privacy, but it's so much more adventuresome to sleep with a bunch of strangers and meet a ton of cool people from around the world.

Make travel accommodation arrangements before you go and sign up for the Hostel World savings plan (you save on booking fees when you become a member). In not knowing where we would be each day, we paid more, especially in Spain and Paris, since we had no plans. For example, my friend did not want to make hostel accommodations for Paris, he just wanted to walk around Paris and find a hostel. Well, they were all booked and it was pouring down rain. We eventually spent $98/person on a fairly crappy hotel room ( we didn't even have a bathroom door).

Making International Friends:
   Chat up fellow backpackers. I got so much advice from people on my travels, which really helped me to save time and money; had I not talked to them, I would have spent more money on groceries, waited in really long lines, and paid a lot more out of pocket.

Food:
   Try to find the hostels with kitchens and research grocery stores in each country before you go.  Shopping in out-of-the-way grocery stores really saves you money. For example: bottled water in a touristy spot cost me 3euro for a liter, whereas when we walked to a residential area, I paid 25eurocents! What a price difference!

Money:
   Plan to get a lot of money out in Euros from your bank at least 3 weeks before you go, as well as find a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees. I regret changing my money over when I got there because I wasted a lot of money in service fees, etc. It was cheaper just to pay by credit card and pulling money out of ATM's. When I got home, I called my credit card companies and simply asked for the ATM and international charges to be removed.

Final Tip:

When traveling, don't make rash decisions and try to plan out as much as humanly possible before you go. You will most likely have tremendous savings and an amazing time!

Happy Traveling my Dear Friends :)

Alcohol Schmalcohol

  This flask is my best friend in my fight for saving money. What, you say? Yes, it's true. It was given to me by one of my best friends as a gift for being in her wedding. 

  I'm sure you all are crazy jealous of this flask. First of all, it's pink (I can see all the ladies running out to get one now). How wicked awesome is that?! Second, it has my initial engraved in it. Third, I save a TON of money on alcohol by carting this bad girl around. I stow it in my purse and drop some delicious rum into my glass of Coke when I am out in a bar or social setting. Obviously, I'm not promoting drinking, but I certainly don't want to be the odd woman out if everyone around me is buzzing more than a swarm of angry bees.

  Bar Scenes: Glass of coke: $1. Glass of rum and coke: $5. Savings: $4/drink

  **Warning: this is technically not allowed in bars, but I just bee-line for the bathroom with my drink & pour in my poison of choice. 

A lot has happened in a year....Use those discounted sites

Well geez, it's been close to a year since I last posted in here! I can't believe it! A lot has happened since I last posted:

• I broke up with a horrible boyfriend who was a leech in the relationship and I am so much happier because of that.
• I 'm a little bit smarter and grad-iated.
• I quit my job at OSU Medical Center 
• I went backpacking through Europe for a month

I really feel that I am growing as a person and loving who I am turning into. Since we are on the topic of frugality, I haven't posted on any of my savings or financial goals for quite some time, so I am going to try to go back and post in chronological order some of the savings that I have accumulated. 

Before I start posting though, I just wanted to say that I never, ever buy anything unless I need it or I will be able to use it and won't buy it without a coupon.

Here are some savings that I've gotten over the past year or two with coupons sites, such as Groupon or LivingSocial:

• Whitewater Rafting Two-day camping trip and rafting day with all of my work buddies

                                                             Paid: $59, saved $100

• An Osprey Daypack with 3L bladder and Teva hiking sandals
• bought 2 Groupons for $50 total, saved $100

• Skydiving. I've always wanted to do it and I finally did it for my 26th birthday

                                                              Paid: $79, saved $119

Coupons sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial, TravelZoo, and Eversave are my go-to sites. I am subscribed to their newsletters. I have gotten so many cheap deals through these sites. I suggest that if you are an entertainment/"living your life to the fullest" junkie like me, get your fix in a cheaper way!

Happy Savings :)