Woot!  Check out what FedEx just brought to my door:  My free pair of Lee Jeans.  If you missed this deal let me give you some background info.  This was from a giveaway Lee Jeans conducted on Facebook.  Lee Jeans changed the rules of the giveaway two days after it started.  So to make it up to those who had already entered it, Lee Jeans offered a free pair of jeans to anyone who had entered the giveaway on those two first days.  Since I am always bringing you the hottest freebies, I blogged about it on the first day and a lot of you got a chance to claim this freebie.

I would love to know how many of you followed up to claim the free pair of jeans. And if you doubted they would come here’s proof that they will.

Look at what I got in the mail today:  the TIGI Lip palette I blogged about 6 weeks ago!! yeah baby!  I am so excited.  It has ten different shades and I really didn’t think I would get it.  But there it was, in my mailbox.  I know the site had a lot of traffic problems when I blogged about it BUT I hope those of you who were able to get through get it very soon too.

I have a very cool challenge to share with you today: All You Magazine is asking readers to participate in the Grocery Challenge.  What’s the Grocery Challenge about?  All You Magazine wants to see how put your shopping smarts to use and spend $25 or less to feed each family member WEEKLY!

How generous is that?  I KNOW lots of you are already doing that.  If you are not, then this is the perfect challenge for you, because you can challenge yourself to do this and have a chance to win some pretty cool prizes in the process.

Here are more details about this challenge:

:::  You need to start by registering for this challenge so that you can be an active participant and get credit for and track your efforts.

:::  The challenge lasts five weeks starting on July 13th through August 17Th.  During this time period the challenge is not to spend more than $25 per family member per week. Household supplies and toiletries do not count toward each weeks total. You can spend less by growing, bartering or using stockpiled food to supplement your meals. BUT, if you wish to take a break from cooking and eat out or order take out the cost must go toward the week’s total.

::: You can use the Spending Log provided by All You to track your spending but make sure to keep all of your receipts during this period. if you are chosen a finalist you will be asked to submit them. So, find a shoe box to keep those receipts safe during this five week period.

How will the winner be chosen?

::: All entries and exit forms will be judged by All You’s editors, based on the following criteria: Staying within contest spending guidelines (50%); creativity and ingenuity (25%); and healthy choices (25%). All You will select 10 finalists, from whom a winner will be chosen on or before August 24, 2009. All finalists must submit grocery receipts. Incomplete and/or inaccurate entries and entries not complying with all rules are subject to disqualification.  Check the rest of the contest rules here.

Exactly what could you win?

::: One Winner will receive a $1,000 grocery card and a year’s supply of Knorr side dishes and will be featured in All You magazine and the CBS Early Show in December.

I can’t tell you how much I would love to hear that one of my readers is the winner of this challenge!  And I just know it is so feasible.  You can count on my help providing you with the hottest deals during that time period to make sure you stretch those dollars to the max!

PLUS to get you started on additional savings I am giving away TWO one-year subscriptions to All You Magazine.  You guys know I love All You magazine and the coupons you can find in it.  What a better way to get ready for this challenge than by giving you a chance to get access to these coupons for FREE!

How do you enter this giveaway?

1. Leave me a comment sharing that you have joined the All You Grocery Challenge and are ready to get started prepping for this challenge.
2. Share the  news about this challenge and giveaway with friends and family by sharing it on your blog, Twitter or Facebook.  Make sure to come back and share that link with me in the comment section.

This giveaway ends July 7th at 9PM CST.  U.S. residents 18 years and older only please.  I will pick two winners and contact them at the time the giveaway ends.  If after 48 hrs they don’t contact me back I will select another winner.

Good luck!

Whether 2008 was a good year for coupons I don’t know.  It was my first year using coupons so I don’t have a reference for comparison.  But next year I will.  I actually think that 2009 will be a good year for coupons.  I think a lot of companies will be competing for your business and that will translate into good coupon savings.

These were some of my favorite coupons:

• $1 off Peter Pan Peanut Butter in January and August.  I got several free jars of PB with this coupon.

• $2.25 off an Electrasol in January and August.  I am well stocked up on dishwashing detergent.  I read on HCW that there will be a $2.50/1 Electrasol coupon in this weekend’s inserts so if you haven’t had a chance to use this coupons.  You may be able to do so now.

• $3 off two Huggies Cleanteam wipes in March (or April) and then July.  I stocked up on a lot of these wipes with these coupons  Although I wouldn’t recommend to clean a baby’s bum the clean messy hands very well and now that my oldest is potty trained I can use them for their intended purpose.

• $5 off three Johnson’s and Johnson’s Target coupon (this summer).  This coupon allowed me to get well stocked in baby wash and q-tips for free or cents.

• $5 off three Johnson’s and Johnson’s manufacturer coupons.  Overage from this coupon paid for a lot of my groceries this fall.

• $3 off two Huggies items Target coupon (January).  This coupon allowed me to stock up on baby wipes.  I still have a few more of those tubs and I will probably have left for the next baby.

Those were some of my favorite coupons.  As you can see a lot of them were for baby items and a few of them provided me with free food or overage to pay for it.  What were some of YOUR favorite coupons for this year?  Leave a comment sharing which coupon you liked and which coupon you would like to see again in 2009.

It’s the end of the year and I thought it would be fun to reminisce on the deals I enjoyed during 2008.  Partly because it’s good to remember but also because it’ could serve as a good reference for 2009.

2008 was the first full year that saw me using coupons heavily.  It was also the first year that I played the drugstore and grocery game.  This allowed me to take advantage of rebates, register rewards, extra care bucks, double coupons and other types of promotions, in addition to just plain overage, to help me save money.  The results were extremely positive.  My family has received more than we could ever imagine and we have also been able to give back more than we ever thought we could.

Here are some of my favorite deals of 2008:

• Olay soap deal at Walgreens.  This register rewards promotion earned me about $88 in register rewards that I used to buy paper towels, diapers and other items that usually require a lot of money out of our budget.
• RX Essentials and Viactiv overage deals at Walgreens.  Adding food to cover overage is a tactic I use to cut back on food budget.
• Free food deals were plentiful this year.  Here are three popular ones: Poptarts at Target, Nutrigrain Bars at Walgreens and Omaha Steak Deal (this one ended up bursting at the end but I still got some cheap burgers out of this one).
• Diaper deals: I particularly had fun with the diaper deals at CVS and who can forget the diaper deal at Walgreens this summer.
• I have saved a lot of money thanks to double coupon promotions at my grocery store’.  Even though at the beginning of the year the store canceled the promotion, I helped lobby to bring it back.  The store brought it back at the beginning of the summer.  Hopefully it will remain for a while longer.  I also had a lot of fun the first time Kmart doubled coupons here in Wisconsin.
• We also saved on clothing expenses by taking advantage of these deals: Sears Father’s Day Gift Card promotion and Victoria’s Secret Bra deal.

Those are just some of my favorites.  I would love to hear from you.  What were your favorite deals of 2008?  If you have a blog, I think your readers would love to hear from you.  If you decide to write an entry with impressions of your favorite deals feel free to leave a link to it in the Mr. Linky below.  Don’t forget to link back so they can come read other favorite deals entries.

Tomorrow’s topic: Favorite Coupon of 2008

Would you like to know how much I spent on what you see pictured? $1.93 after register rewards.  I also have $45 in Dale and Thomas Gift Cards.

Earlier, Angie left this comment on the weekly deals post:

I wanted to let your readers know that there is currently a glitch in the system at Walgreens when doing the Robitussin deal. It is producing double Register Rewards. I printed 5 of The Rob. coupons, bought 5 bottles @ $4 each, and it printed the $10 Register reward, and 2 $5 Register Rewards. Profit of $10. They will probably catch this error soon but it is a great deal while it lasts.

Since I wanted to rent a movie using the Free Redbox code and Walgreens is on the way I decided to give this a try.  So in my first transaction I bought 3 Robitussins and two Dimetapps.  I paid $11 out of pocket and got $20 in Register Rewards.  Then I bought three of the Popcorn, Indiana Gourmet Popcorn boxes for $2.49 (My store is already at 75% off clearance on the holiday items) and five of the cloth gift bags.  I used $10 in register rewards and paid $0.93 in cash. Each of the gourmet popcorn boxes have a $15 gift card to Dale and Thomas that expires on 3/31/09.  I can use those for a birthday present between now and then.

Edited to add: There are two possibilities of why this may be happening: either there is a glitch in the way the promotion was programmed.  Or there could be a second unadvertised promotion running along side.  This happened recently with a Children’s Tylenol offer when a  weekly register rewards offer coincided with an offer running all month long.

If you would like to take advantage of these  situation please remember this:  If this is a glitch it may get fixed sooner or later.  So take that into account if by the time you hit the store you only get $10 in Register Rewards instead of $20.  But if it is any consolation, you are still getting the medicine for cost of tax only.

This is a sample transaction.

3 Robitussins 4oz
2 Dimetapps 4oz
=$20
-6 three $2/1 Robitussin coupons
-4 two $2/1 Dimetapp coupons
=$10 + Tax out of pocket and you may get $20 in register rewards back or $10 for sure.

I noticed I could only print three of each coupons per computer.  I will keep my eye out on this deal to update you as soon as I find out, if it is a glitch, when the glitch gets fixed.

Angie has a couple of other scenarios on her blog too.

These was the random number picked:

762

Timestamp: 2008-12-16 03:03:20 UTC

That comment was made by Bonny S, who said:

“I would have to say my best gift is my husband’s family making me one of the family, especially his children.”

Congratulations Bonny! Thanks to Walmart for the chance to host this giveaway.

These are the winners of the five Campbells Gift Holiday Baskets chosen by Random.org.

Here are your random numbers:

24 233 505 693 223

Timestamp: 2008-11-24 16:52:38 UTC

These are the winners email addresses:

kristin76@xxxx.net,
jjpelle@xxxx.com,
cherylbrazerol@xxxx.com,
carly@xxxx.com,
ols.moonmaiden@xxxx.com

Please make sure to check your Spam folder if you are winner to make sure my email to you is not buried there.

Thank you everyone for signing up for my giveaways. I have lots more to come.

Family Fun Magazine rated this toy their top toy pick of the year. My husband and my three year old wholeheartedly agree. This is by far the coolest toy my boys have played with. It is a lot of fun to watch this little car drive up walls. We loved it so much that we wanted someone else to have fun too. So we bought a second one to giveaway. I must really love my readers

This is what you need to do to enter for a chance to win: Head to Classymommy’s Wii Popularity Contest and vote for me. Then come back and leave me a comment letting me know you voted for me. Don’t forget to leave your name and email address or other way for me to contact you. You can vote once per computer. So you can win extra entries on my giveaway by voting for me on other computers. Just remember to come back and leave a comment for every time you vote. I have a long way to go to have a chance to win Classymommy’s contest but I have learned that in life you are for sure a loser if you don’t give it a try.

This contest ends Saturday 11/29 at 8 PM CST. At that time I will pick a winner using Random.org. Thanks to Walmart and Spin Master for letting us check out this fun toy.