Learn how to become a mystery shopper!

Click here to go to my detailed Wordpress post about how to become a mystery shopper!

Review of KQC X-Heat Tourmaline Flat Iron from Flat Iron Experts

Recently I got the chance to review the KQC X-Heat Tourmaline Flat Iron from The Flat Iron Experts. I am not much interested in doing hair. In fact if I'm going to be completely honest, I hate it. HATE IT. It's a good thing that I have a little boy and not a little girl because I would have a hard time doing a little girls hair every day.

But anyway, I got the chance to review this awesome flat iron. My little flat iron is gone with the wind. It lasted for awhile but how long can a flat iron from WalMart that I paid less than $20 for really be expected to last? I was glad that it lasted as long as it did.

Verizon FiOS for Internet and TV

Do you like tv? Do you like the Internet (you’re on it now)? Cause Verizon FiOS is a service that allows you to have Internet and TV and it’s supposed to help you save time. How? Well, you can stream movies with your high speed Internet connection. Everyone wants to make their life easier, especially if you work and/or have kids. Staying at home with kids IS work. The Internet is supposed to be as fast as it can be. FiOS is top rated in their high speed Internet service.

While I don’t currently have FiOS in my home personally, I think I would like being able to stream movies. I am a movie lover! I watch movies as often as I can, which is not that often, unfortunately. There is something called Flex View on FiOS that allows you to buy, rent, and watch on-demand movies on your FiOS tv, your computer, or even your cell phone.

I would much rather watch my movies from the comfort of my home for a few reasons.
1.) We don’t have to get dressed up and pay a ton of money, wait in line, squeeze in some seats, ignore people texting and talking on cell phones, and walk across sticky floors.
2.) No babysitter needed
3.) We can have free snacks. Who doesn’t want some snacks with their movie? I know I do, but I don’t want to pay another $10-$15 just for a drink, popcorn, and something chocolate.

We have satellite and that rarely has interference from weather. We also have cable and surprisingly, weather affects cable often. Even if it is barely raining sometimes our cable will go out for hours. I know my husband would love being able to watch HDTV without weather interference. When it comes time for football season, he wants no disruptions.

One of the features of FiOS that makes it desirable is that it is “future-proofed”. You know how there is always something new coming out with technology. You don’t have to worry about missing out on any of the new applications and Internet tools that are right around the corner.

Another feature that seems like it could be useful is media manager. This service lets you get access to your digital photos, music, Internet videos, and other goodies from a FiOS connected tv. Verizon also has other widgets that allow to tweet, get on Facebook, and YouTube right from your tv. So you can get your social media fix.

FiOS would be worth trying out. I’d love to try FiOS in my home. I’m all for making things easier! Have any of you tried FiOS in your home? What do you think about it?

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Verizon FiOS blogging program for a gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here

Winners :)

Okay, finally time to announce some winners! The winner of the $10 paypal cash for the month of May is marcisjule
The winner of the Therabreath lozenges giveaway is lollimom

And we had a winner for the Olive Oil Desserts cookbook with a bottle of Olive Oil. It was a multiblog giveaway. The winner is Cassie M

I'm emailing all of you to get your shipping info/paypal address. Thanks for the entries :). More reviews and giveaways are on the way. I think there is going to be a really awesome one starting around the time of back to school, so keep tuned for that :)

Safety tips for your road trips this summer

Now that it is almost summer time, you might think about taking a road trip with your family. You want to have your vehicle in the best condition possible so you can be safe. Here are ten tips to get your car into tip-top shape before you head out on the road to make some family memories.


1. When it comes to windshield repairs, forget do-it-yourself repair kits. The resin could easily shrink or yellow, lowering the quality of the repair. Safelite AutoGlass uses a patented repair process… A vacuum is created over the damaged area and the resin penetrates and fills the finest micro-cracks. The technician pulls off the vacuum changer and the UV light hardens the resin. Safelite’s resin is proven to be the strongest and longest lasting on the market.

2. On your windshield a chip could turn into a crack at any time, often when you are least expecting it. Windshield repair is often a safe and economical alternative to a full windshield replacement.

3. Make sure the air pressure in your tires is correct. If a tire is too overinflated or underinflated, a blow out or flat tire can occur.

4. Make sure to have your oil changed right before your trip. It is important to consider your oil as a part of your vehicle that needs to be maintained so make sure to get it done!

5. Make sure you have reliable maps! If you are going with a paper map, make sure that it is one that is up to date. If you are relying on a GPS, make sure your maps are recent so you don’t get lost.

6. Avoid traveling to places that are infrequently traveled. It could be dangerous if your vehicle happens to break down in an area of the country were there are few people living. You could be stranded for a long time while waiting for rescue workers.

7. Make sure your vehicle is ready for whatever type of weather conditions you are going to be in. If you are making a winter trip, make sure your vehicle has proper tires that are suitable for travel in icy conditions.

8. Make sure your tires are not overly worn. If you’ve been putting off that trip to buy new tires, make sure you get them before you get on the road. If the tread on your tires is worn down, it could lead to dangerous slips on the road.

9. Tell your family members or friends where you are going. Tell them when you will be back so they can expect a phone call from you. Anything can happen on a trip and if you do happen to get stranded somewhere, someone should be able to let authorities know where you were so you can get the help you need.

10. And finally, make sure to have enough cash in case of emergency. If you are on a trip, you need to make sure you have more than enough money to cover the trip, just in case something unexpected comes up.

These ten tips should make your trip easier and definitely safer. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Disclosure:
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Safelite blogging program, for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Winners of Purex coupons

The winners of the Purex coupons are JR911 and esluka. I have emailed them both and am awaiting their responses! If you didn't win this time, check out my giveaway for TheraBreath lozenges here and get your entry in. Thanks for supporting my blogging habit :)

Review of TheraBreath New Probiotic Treatment and Lozenges giveaway

Did you know that about two percent of humans have naturally occurring sweet smelling breath? If you are not among the lucky few people who have naturally sweet smelling breath, give TheraBreath's Probiotics a try. I got the chance to review it for a week. It is recommended that you do a one week course of the Probiotics once a month for noticibly fresher breath during the day and NO morning breath when you wake up in the mornings. How awesome is that?

There are a lot of benefits that are mentioned in the booklet that come along with helping to inhibit the growth of bacteria responsible for bad breath. There are studies that go along with the claims in the booklet so that is always nice to see. Some of the possible benefits include:

* A reduction in the production of cytokines which are associated with gum inflamation. This could slow or stop gum disease.

* Results in a neuralization of acidity and eliminates the source of lactic acid production which has been shown to reduce tooth decay and tooth sensitivity

*Softening and reduction of plaque

* Helps support important immune cell functions

 * May offer protection against upper respiratory tract infections

And there may be some benefits that I missed. I liked that it helps eliminate morning breath, that it helps break down and reduce the formation of plaque on your teeth, and that it helps keep you from falling ill. I love TheraBreath's products. Everything that I've tried has made me feel more confident about having fresh breath. I am a customer of TheraBreath even though that means that I have to pay for it :). As a couponer, I usually don't pay for oral care products but these are way worth it to me.

Would you like to try out some of TheraBreath's mouth wetting lozenges? I have a pack to giveaway.

Mandatory entry:

Like TheraBreath on Facebook
and
Like me on Facebook

Extra entries

Follow TheraBreath on Twitter
Follow me on Twitter

The winner of this giveaway must be from the United States and must be 18 or older. Make sure you leave your email address so that I can get back to you if you are the winner! I will need to hear from the winner within 48 hours or I'll have to pick another winner.This giveaway ends on June 4th at midnight eastern time.

Giveaway of Olive Oil Desserts + EVOO

Remember when I did the review of Olive Oil Desserts by Micki Sannar? If your memory is like mine (which is not good, nooo not good at all), here is a refresher.

Well now you have the chance to win a copy of the book for yourself AND a bottle of some of Micki's favorite EVOO. That's extra virgin olive oil for those of you that don't speak Rachel Ray. Micki's cookbook teaches you how to cook desserts with olive oil. Who ever heard of such a thing??? Well, the cookies that I baked were delish. Since I'm doing the Rachel Ray language I figured I might as well throw that delish in there too.

What's the reason for the giveaway? Micki is going to be on QVC this Wednesday at 9 a.m. Eastern/ 6 a.m. Pacific. If you want to watch QVC live online, go to www.qvc.com and click on the “watch live” tab to the left of the page. To view the segment after it airs, you can go to www.qvc.com and type Olive Oil Desserts into the search bar, click on the “video” tab just above the cookbook cover.

This is a multiblog giveaway and three winners will be chosen from among all the entries to win a bottle of California Olive Oil Ranch and Micki's cookbook. The giveaway starts May 18th at 8:00 a.m. eastern and ends on May 25th 11:59 p.m.

Choose your entry method. You can do one or do them all.

1. Tweet this giveaway (1 entry )

2. Follow Micki on twitter  (1 entry )
3. Follow California Olive Ranch on twitter  (1 entry )
4. Blog about this giveaway and link back to me (1 entry )
5. Go to www.oliveoildesserts.com and comment about something you learned about olive oil desserts on my blog(1 entry )
6. Go to www.californiaoliveranch.com and comment about EVOO on my blog. (1 entry )
7. Like COR’s Facebook page (1 entry )
8. Like Olive Oil Desserts Facebook page (1 entry )

This giveaway is open to resident of the U.S. who are 18 or older. The winner of this giveaway will have 5 days to contact Micki with shipping information. Make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you if you are a winner.

Purex Complete with Zout Review and Giveaway

What is less fun than having to do laundry? Having to do laundry that is stained. I mean, if you don’t care about stains on your clothes, you can launder it just like normal and hope that the stains wash out by themselves. A lot of my little boys clothes fall into that category. I’m not proud to admit that but I’d rather not spend a lot of time trying to get stains out of an 18 month old’s clothes. His playclothes get a quick spritz of stain remover and are thrown in the washer. Sometime some of it comes out, sometimes all of it comes out, and sometimes things are not as good and you are stuck with some stains.

Anytime you can get laundry detergent that has a built in stain fighter, it’s worth a shot to try it out, right? Lucky me, I got the chance to try out Purex Complete with Zout detergent. It works against protein based stains like grass and blood; starchy stains like chocolate and tomato sauce; and guar, which is used in many different foods like bbq sauce and salad dressing.

You use it as a pre-treater and as a detergent. This is a great detergent to use if you have a load of clothes that are heavily stained (like any load of my little boy’s laundry). If your clothes have a really tough stain, you can pour a little detergent directly on the stain and let it sit for five minutes before it goes into the washer.

Purex even has a fragrance free version of detergent for people with sensitive skin. It is actually the first Free and Clear detergent with an added stain fighter.

Would you like the chance to try it out for yourself? Well you’re in luck! I have two coupons for a free bottle of Purex Complete with Zout to give away to two lucky readers. Here is what you need to do to get your entries in.

Mandatory


+ Become a GFC follower of this blog

Extra entries

+ Follow Purex on twitter

+ Like Purex on twitter

+ Tweet about this giveaway (can do once per day):

Enter to win one of two coupons for a free bottle of Purex Zout. Ends 5/22 Visit: http://tinyurl.com/3ojoz6s


+ Like me on facebook

+ Follow me on twitter

+ Follow me on networked blogs

+ Blog about this on your blog.

This giveaway will end on 5/22 at midnight eastern time. It is open to residents of the U.S. who are 18 or older. I will draw two winners via Random.org and if you are the winner, I will need to hear back from you within 48 hours or I'll have to draw another winner.

Disclosure: This was not a paid post. All opinions are my own.

How to Save with Coupons, Part Two: Coupon abbreviations

Last week’s article was the first in the series about how to start off saving money with coupons. This series of articles is for anyone who is interested in learning how to save money off of their grocery bill with coupons. The last article went over basics of the different types of coupons, and where to find them. If you are didn’t get a chance to read that article, click here.

This article is about some basic coupon lingo that you should know. It is important for you to understand the language of coupons so you can make sure that you use them correctly. Here are some of the most common coupon abbreviations that I prepared with the help of WUC (read on to find out what that means).

BOGO or B1G1 - Buy One Get One Free
BC/AC – Before/After Coupons
Blinkie – This refers to a machine that has Smart Source coupons. There is a light that blinks when you pull a coupon out.
CAT – Catalina Coupon (prints after a purchase from the cash register)
C/O - Cents off
CRT - Cash register tape (your receipt)
DND - Does not double
ECB - Extra Care Buck (only from CVS)
ES - Easy Saver (booklet from Walgreens)
ETS - Excludes trial sizes
FAR - Free after rebate
GDA - Good deal alert!
INSERTS – These are the coupon flyers that come in the Sunday paper.
IP – Internet printable coupon
MQ - Manufacturer coupon
OOP - Out Of Pocket
OOS - Out of Stock
OYNO -On Your Next Order
OYNP – On your next purchase
P&G - Proctor & Gamble (Sunday Booklet Coupons)
Peelie - Coupon attached to a product.
POP - Proof of purchase
Q - Coupon
RC – Rain check
RP - Red Plum (Sunday Booklet Coupons) (formerly Valassis)
RR - Register Reward (from Walgreens)
SCR - Rite Aid Single Check Rebate
SS - Smart Source (Sunday Booklet Coupons)
STACKING – This is when you are allowed to couple a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon (like you can with CVS)
SUPER DOUBLES or DOUBLES - coupons that are doubled $1 + in value (IE, a $1 coupon - $2, etc)
TEARPAD – A pad of coupons that you tear off from a pad. It may be on a display, shelf, etc.
TMF - Try Me Free - mail in rebate for full amount of product
TRIPLE COUPON - A coupon that a grocery store triples in value
WAGS - Walgreens
WSL - While supplies last
WUC - We Use Coupons (refers to the site)
WYB - When You Buy
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary (It works for some and it may or may not work for you)

Come back next week to learn more about how to save money with coupons!

Win one of two $10 Amazon gift cards

Want to win a $10 Amazon gift card? You can win one of two gift cards that I will giveaway when I get 100 entries. Fill out a short survey here and get your name in the drawing. It is for a project that I am doing. Thanks for your help :)

$10 Pay Pal Cash Giveaway for May

To enter this giveaway for $10 Paypal cash, all you have to do is be a subscriber!

Winner of Nuskin ageLOC kit

The winner of the Nuskin ageLOC kit is jjak2003! I will be sending you an email momentarily.

Thanks for the over two hundred entries! I'm sometimes super slow about counting entries because I want to make sure that I count correctly and don't end up announcing the wrong person as a winner. It takes a time for my house to be completely quiet so I can concentrate to do that! Thanks again everyone. I will keep trying to find awesome giveaways for you to enjoy!

Winner of Pay Pal cash giveaway for April

The winner of the Pay Pal cash giveaway for April is aunteegem! I have sent an email and as soon as I hear from her I'll be sending over the cash. Thanks for all the entries! I will post the new giveaway for May soon so stick around!

How to Save with Coupons, part one

Coupons are kind of popular nowadays. When TLC’s Extreme Couponing first premiered, many people wanted to learn how to use coupons to save money like the people on the show. These people may not have ever used a coupon in their life (gasp!). Before you learn how to be “extreme” with coupons, you should learn some basics. So let’s start at the beginning.

Coupons are available for use in grocery stores, as well as fast food restaurants and retail stores. If you can learn how to cut down on your grocery bills by using coupons, it is like found money.

There are different types of coupons available to be used. There are manufacturer coupons that can be used on the specified product at any store. These can come from a Sunday paper coupon insert, from a company’s website, or they can even be found at a store on a display. Let’s learn some of the different types of coupons and different ways to get coupons.

A store coupon is a coupon that is redeemable only at a certain store. They will normally say “only redeemable at…” There are some instances when these coupons can be used at other stores, but that is for another article.

A Catalina is a type of coupon that prints at the store, usually at the time of purchase. These Catalinas are redeemed at the store from which they were printed. These coupons might print at the end of your purchase and they often come in a few varieties. These include:

* money off coupons for your next order (like save $1 off of your next purchase)

* register rewards (these come from Walgreens and are a reward for purchasing a specific product)

* coupons for a specific product (for example, save $2 off your next purchase of Excedrine Migraine)

Similar to Catalinas are Extracare bucks. These are exclusive to CVS and are store coupons that can only be used at CVS. Learn more about CVS and Extracare bucks here.

An Internet coupon is one that is you print from off of the Internet. Companies may do promotions where they offer a high-value coupon for a “like” on Facebook, or even as a thank you to customers. These coupons are printed from your own printer. Often, these can be printed two times by simply pressing the back button after the first print. These coupons are usually limited to two per computer. Coupons.com, Redplum, and Smartsource are some places where you can get started printing coupons.

An eCoupon is a coupon that is loaded onto a store card. I’ve never had the chance to use one of these yet as the stores that I shop at don’t offer them. But some stores offer coupons that you load right onto a store card and once you take them to the grocery store and purchase the items, the money comes right off of your order once you scan your card.

Another way to get coupons is to call or email companies to ask to be put on the company coupon mailing list. These coupons are sometimes high value coupons so it may be worth your time to make a point of emailing companies whose products you use frequently.

Yet another way of getting coupons is with free samples. I LOVE me some free samples. More often than not, when you get a free sample a company will include a coupon in with the sample so you can purchase the full sized product at a discount. These are sometimes great coupons with high values!

Sometimes people don’t want to start couponing because they think it is too difficult or too time consuming. While it is true that it takes time to clip the coupons and organize them, it might not take as much time as you would think. If you are not interested in extreme couponing, you don’t have to spend nearly as much time as the people on the show. And once you get used to using coupons, it is not difficult at all to remember to take coupons with you when you shop. We don’t leave the house without coupons in our family! Even if we are going to retail store, we use coupons.

If you want to start using coupons right away, you will need to start collecting them. Most couponers buy a Sunday paper (or two, or ten). These newspapers have coupons on all Sundays, except for on Holidays. Once you get your flyers, you can look at the coupons available to determine the best deals. Next week we will learn more coupon basics so stay tuned!

Dove Go Sleeveless Sample

Click here to go check out a free sample of Dove Go Sleeveless. Sample deodorants make great freshen-uppers for your purse!

Take $10 off of a $10 purchase in Aerie stores

When you "like" Aerie on Facebook, you can print a $10 off of $10 purchase. You might be able to grab some great free stuff! Check it out here. Me likee free stuff :)

Winner of Lennox giveaway

The winner of the Lennox tea light set is Audrey! I am sending you an email to get shipping information. Thanks for all the entries everyone! I hope to keep having more great giveaways for my awesome readers so stay tuned!

CVS Matchups

My friend Melissa from Melissa's bargains has great CVS match-ups and sceneraios for those of you who are new to shopping CVS and may not have ECB's yet.

FREEBIES:

Buy Blink Tears (.5 oz) or Gel Tears (.34 oz) – $7.99, get a $7.99 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$1/1 Blink Tears – 4-3 SS
Final Price = $6.99 after coupon
NOTE: Some boxes reportedly have $4/1 peelie coupons, which would make the deal even better!

Buy Dove Men + Care deodorant – $.99 (limit 5)
$1/1 Dove Men + Care – 3-27 RP
$.75/1 Dove Men + Care deodorant printable
Final Price = as low as free after coupon

ECB DEALS:

Buy 7 Up, Canada Dry, Sunkist or A&W – 3/$10, get a $3 ECB (limit 1 per household)
Final Price = 3/$7 after ECBs

Spend $15 on Clean & Clear, get a $5 ECB (limit 1 per household) – PSA $5.49
BOGO free Clean & Clear body wash – 3-27 SS
$1/1 Clean & Clear – 3-27 SS
$2/1 Clean & Clear printable

SCENARIO:
Buy 3 Clean & Clear products – $5.49/each

Use 3 $2/1 printables

Spend $10.47 OOP, get a $5 ECB
Final Price = $5.47 after coupons/ECBs ($1.83/each)

Click here for more of Melissa's match-ups! I suggest you check these out if you are new to CVS shopping, she really breaks it down with scenarios and everything so you know exactly what to do.

Free toothbrushes!

Grab this $2/2 Reach toothbrush coupon and get free toothbrushes at CVS and other stores. Print now before the limit is reached!