$10 off next order at Shutterfly

I'm on the Shutterfly.com emailing list. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it is a website where you can order prints of your digital photographs. They do other printing stuff, too, but I personally just order prints.

They are celebrating their 10 year anniversary (REALLY?? How many of you had a digital camera 10 years ago???). Well, Congrats on being ahead of the times, too, I guess! lol.

Their generous offer:
$10 off your next order.**
[Their asteric message reads: **Offer valid for one-time redemption per member per household. Taxes, shipping and handling will apply.]
Use this Promo code at check out:
MARCH10
This offer is only good until March 11, 2010.
See their website for their free shipping offers, as well.

Coupon Clipping isn't just for the Sunday paper anymore!

I admit, there is something exciting about pouring over the Sunday paper looking at the glossy ads that shout "Buy This" and "Lowest price this week only" at me. Perusing all the colorful images of brand new clothes and giant flat screen TVs makes me want to check my budget and run out to find these things to see if they're as exciting in person. Then I'm forced to reel myself back in and close the pretty Macy's ad before I get to the shoes.

It's at that point I reach for the coupon inserts and my scissors. Yes, folks I do have some self control! If you look inside my purse you'll notice I carry coupons with me at all times. Paper clipped together you'll find coupons for groceries, makeup, cleaning products, buy 1 get 1 restaurant deals, dry cleaning...you get the picture. They come in handy, too. I feel bad for the checkout gal who has to flatten out the crumpled up coupon to be able to scan the thing, but hey--I get my $0.50 off nonetheless! This isn't a blog about being neat and orderly...

But the rest of the Newspaper tends to get picked at for its crossword puzzle and that's about it, so I don't have it delivered to my doorstep. Saving those few bucks, right? So where do I get my coupons for the aforementioned grocery and cleaning products? Online!

Amazingly, the same coupons inserted into the Sunday paper have begun to appear on certain websites where you can "clip" them (aka select them by checking the box next to the offer) and print them off right at home.

Here are some of the websites you can find such thrilling features (I'm being somewhat sarcastic here because it's not as thrilling as those pretty glossies):
www.couponcabin.com
couponcode.com
print.coupons.com
www.redplum.com
coolsavings.com
smartsource.com
And last but not least:
Target

I've found that most of these coupons are manufacturer's offers and are the same/very similar from website to website, except for the target link (their coupons are only for use at Target and vary from the manufacturer's offers). I've "clipped" a $0.75 off coupon for Gold'n Plump chicken from more than one of these sites. There is a little variety, just not enough for me to hit every website each week.

As a warning to you, Most of these websites make you download their "Coupon Printer" which is, as far as I can tell, a little program that generates the coupons into a printer friendly format. Eh. It's a bit of a hassle the first time because you have to download and install these little programs. And every website has their own program it appears. You may want to check out a few websites and choose one that suits you best to avoid downloading twenty-something different "Coupon Printer" programs.

Also to note: You are downloading a program from the web. Now, I haven't had any problems with viruses or the such, but I'm not an authority on infectious computer what-have-yous so it's at your own risk. I feel comfortable with what I've downloaded and used. If you're not comfortable, you may want to just continue to clip from your Sunday paper. :)

Deal of the Day: 50% Off Italian Fare at Al Vento - LivingSocial Deals

Deal of the Day: 50% Off Italian Fare at Al Vento - LivingSocial Deals

Daily Deals

It seems the latest money saving craze to pop up is the "Daily Deal" offers. And this is craze in all ways desirable These--we'll call them websites--These websites offer one deal each day, and for that day only. Don't think you can go back the next day to get this deal...Nooooo! (I learned that the hard way, thinking long and hard into the next day about getting myself a 1-year membership for two to the Walker. That was a huge bummer!) You have to jump on those offers!

Get together with your friends: The central idea around these offers is to support a social, interactive lifestyle. You can subsidize almost any activity with these offers: eat at restaurants, get massages, do pilates, visit art galleries or history museums, or even get your teeth cleaned! My favorites, of course, are the restaurants though!! If you know me, you know how much I love the dining experience! Past restaurant offers include Solera, Moto-i, Spill the Wine, French Meadow Bakery, and Rinata. Today's offers are so so tempting...Al Vento and WA Frost!

Value: The certificates are usually offered at around 50% of the face value. $50 certificate to a restaurant for $25, for example. But it varies for each offer. Typically you will have to use the entire certificate amount on one visit. So if your certificate is for $50 plan to order that amount of food and drinks. Tip is not part of these offers, so make sure your lovely wait staffer still gets their deserved tip--or those poor servers will start to groan and roll their eyes at us thrifty diners every time a certificate is presented.



Get Started: You can find these offers by going straight to their websites, having them emailed to you, or even scrolling Facebook (more on that in a later post). Two of my favorites are Living Social and Groupon.
Use these links here to sign up for the emails:
Living Social
Groupon

Get Credits: On top of just getting these vouchers at a reduced price, when you share these deals with friends and they, too, buy certificates you receive $credit towards your next purchase! So by clicking on the links I'm sharing above, you support my sleuthy-ness and generosity for sharing. Then you, too, can share your own link and receive your owncredits too!

Now, I'm going to go get myself a certificate to Al Vento...Dinner anyone??
Deal of the Day: 50% Off Italian Fare at Al Vento - LivingSocial Deals"

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, and my first post!

Why am I doing this?? I enjoy things like dining out and nice restaurants, a new pair of shoes, catching up with friends over happy hour, making my house a home. But I don't like paying full price for all of it, nor can I afford to! So, I seek out deals to support my habits. And I've acquired quite long list of these offers. It seems there are more of them out there everyday! Realizing that I could share these with my friends, I've decided to blog about it.

I will post website links, emailings to sign up for, and any other special offers that peak my interest. If you, as a reader, have anything to suggest please send me a note!

You may see things change as I become more savy with this blogging format--fonts, layouts, etc. I intend to keep them simple and rare--not like the all the changes we keep witnessing on facebook. Of course, this isn't a multi-million dollar cyber site with all sorts of apps and millions of users either. haha.

Enjoy! :)