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Yes, it’s true, I’m planning another small move for my blog. It really is small, though; you’ll soon be able to see my blog just by typing the shorter http://www.couponfans.com/ into your browser, rather than having to put that extra /blog/ on the end. And of course the location of the RSS feed will be changing, as well, so please be prepared to update your favorite reader to point to http://couponfans.com/feed/. After this, I promise no more major upsets for a while. Trust me, I’m more tired of all the work required to do all this shuffling than you are of updating your links. 
Take care of all of you,
Michelle
OK, maybe it’s not a true way to hack SwagBucks, but it is a way to increase the bang you get for your SwagBucks, so I’m calling it a SwagBucks hack anyway.  Truly hacking SwagBucks would be all kinds of illegal and unethical, plus it would get me banned, and that’s the last thing I want!
Have you noticed SwagBucks’ new limited-entry Swagstakes? To see what they’re offering now, just click on this link, then up at the veeery top of the page, hover over Rewards, click on Swagstakes, then click on Limited Entry in the left-hand menu. I was happy to see these, as even someone with my limited love for math knows, if the number of entries in a given lottery is limited, your chances of winning are increased. And of course, the fewer the entries, the better the odds! But have you ever wondered just how good your odds actually are? After entering a handful of these swagstakes, I started to ponder exactly that question. As a result, I wound up making a spreadsheet that would help me calculate a few important numbers, in the hopes that I would invest my SwagBucks more wisely. Now I’m going to share it with you, so you can do the same!
Below is a screenshot of my spreadsheet, along with an explanation of how to use it. Click on the picture to make it bigger in your browser, so you can read it more easily.
In the hopes that everyone will be able to use it, I’m making it available over on my Goodies/Downloads page, in Excel 97-2003, Excel 2007 and OpenOffice.org formats. If you have any questions or requests regarding this spreadsheet, please leave a comment and let me know!
Not much difference between the two this week, but boy, is it a great week for coupons! The main difference between the two was in the RedPlum insert, but even that wasn’t as large a difference as most weeks. The KNS, because it gets the Parade magazine rather than USA Weekend, got a $1/1 Wheatables Nut Crisps coupon. The Vitamin World coupons have made another appearance in the Smart Source, but if you look carefully, very little about them is better than previous editions; one is the same (Acai), one is better (40% off one item vs 20% off all), and the rest are not as good. So if you frequent Vitamin World, be sure to use the coupons from 2/21 first (they don’t expire until 4/30)!
The pickings are a bit slimmer for this week’s weekly coupon matchups for Food Country USA, but there are a couple of pretty good deals, nonetheless. Here they are, with what I think are the best few at the top:
All Liquid Laundry Detergent 50 oz $2.98
All Liquid Laundry Detergent, Any 50 Oz. Or Larger – 02-07-10 RP $2/1 (this came in the Knoxville News Sentinel)
Final Price: $0.98!
Sunny Delight Fruit Drinks, 48-64 oz $10/10
SunnyD product, any – 02-07-10 SS $0.25/1
Final Price: $0.75 ea if you buy 10 and have 10 coupons
Fresh Express Garden Salad $4/2
Fresh Express Salad Blends, any 2 – 02-21-10 SS $1.50/2
Final Price: $2.50/2 or $1.25 each
General Mills Cheerios $2.50
General Mills Cereals: Basic 4, Cheerios (Any), Chex (Any), Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs (Any), Cookie Crisp (Any), Dora The Explorer, Fiber One (Any), Golden Grahams, Honey Nut Clusters, Kix (Any), Oatmeal Crisp (Any), Raisin Nut Bran, Reese’s Puffs, Total (Any), Trix, Wheaties (Any) – 02-07-10 SS $1/3
Final Price: $2.26 each wyb 3
Charmin Basic Big 12 Roll $4.95
Charmin Products, Any (2) – 02-07-10 PG $1/2
Charmin product, any – 03-07-10 PG $0.25/1
Final Price: $4.45 wyb 2 or $4.70 wyb 1
Del Monte Can Vegetables $1/2
Del Monte Canned Fruits, Vegetables (11-15.25oz) or Fruit Cup Snacks (Plastic 4-pks, 3.75-4oz), Any (5) – 02-07-10 RP $1/5
Final Price: $2/6
Totino’s Pizza Rolls $10/10
Totino’s Products, any three – 02-07-10 SS $0.60/3
Final Price: $8.20/10 wyb10 and use 3 coupons
Folger’s Country Roast 34.5 oz $4.95
Folgers Product, Any 7 Oz. Or Larger Including Singles & Pods – 02-21-10 RP $0.25/1
Final Price: $4.70
Cheez-It Snack Crackers $5/2
Cheez-It Italian Four Cheese Snack Crackers, Any 13.7 Oz. $0.75/1 Printable Here
Final Price: $3.50/2 or $1.75 each wyb 2
Bertolli Olive Oil 17 oz $6.99
Bertolli Olive Oil, Any 17 Oz. – 01-31-10 SS $1/1 or Bertolli Olive Oil, Any 17 Oz. – 01-10-10 SS $1/1
Final Price: $5.99
Kebler Pecan Sandies $5/2
Keebler Cookies, Any 8.5oz + – 03-07-10 RP $0.55/2
Final Price: $4.45/2
Hershey Bliss Chocolates $3.50
Hershey’s Bliss Chocolates any 8.6oz or larger – 02-07-10 SS $1/1
Final Price: $2.50/1
Edy’s Ice Cream $3.99
Edy’s Branded Product, any 1.5 qt. – 01-31-10 SS $1/1
Final Price: $2.99
Bird’s Eye Steamfresh Veggies $5/4
Birds Eye Steamfresh Vegetable, Pasta, or Rice variety, any – 02-28-10 SS $0.35/1
Final Price: $3.60/4 or $0.90 each wyb 4 with 4 coupons
Yoplait Yogurt cups $5/10
Yoplait Yogurt Cups (includes Original, Light, Thick & Creamy, or Whips) or Yoplait Original or Light Smoothie, Any flavor or variety (DND/DNT5) (Bricks Link) $1/8
Final Price: $4/10 or $0.40 each
These Food Saver bags were already on clearance at Sears.com for $5.57, but right now, when you enter through this link, Sears will take an extra 20% off, bringing the price down to just $4.46! Once you click on this link, look on the left-hand side of the page for “Clearance” under “More Ways to Shop,” then choose “Small Kitchen Appliances” in the left-hand menu, and finally click on “Vacuum Sealers,” and these bags should be the only item in the category. But hurry! This sale only lasts from 3/5/2010 to 3/6/2010, then the bags will go back up to their clearance price of $5.57 (still not a bad deal, though)!
If you use the “pick up” option (assuming they’re still available at your local Sears store, you will also save yourself any shipping charges, making this an extra-thrifty deal, on an extra-thrifty item. If you have any of the Food Saver products, you know how expensive vacuum sealer bags are. These zipper style ones are great because they do double-duty (acting as both zip-lock bags and vacuum storage bags), and are heavy enough to be washed and re-used many times! Note that these can be used with both the FreshSaver and MealSaver systems as-is, but use with the original FoodSaver vacuum sealer will require an adapter.
Check your email! If you subscribe to the Malt-o-Meal newsletter, there is a link in it this month to a coupon for 75 cents off ANY M-o-M cereal, 15 oz or larger! If you don’t subscribe to the Malt-o-Meal newsletter….what are you waiting for? They don’t spam the stuffing out of you like some companies do, and these great coupons make it worth the once or twice per month you do hear from them. To sweeten the deal, there are also coupons you can print from the signup page:
75 cents off Honey Graham Squares
75 cents off Honey Oat Blenders products
75 cents off Hot Wheat cereal
Just go here to sign up and start getting great coupons!
There’s a great deal going on right now at eyeslipsface.com, that allows you to get a $25 gift card when you buy $25 of cosmetics. It’s almost like getting your cosmetics for just the cost of shipping! Just use coupon code RDC2525 when you check out to take advantage of this offer. This coupon code will be good through March 31st, so you have lots of time to save!
There are other ELF Cosmetics Coupon Codes available right now, such as SHIPFOR198 (only good thru today, 3/1, so hurry!) that gives you $1.98 shipping on any order over $15. Of course, there’s also promo code 2SHIP, which is good through the end of the year, and gives you $2 shipping on any order over $25. Or, if you’re a fan of ELF’s Studio Line, you can take 50% Off Studio Makeup with code STUD50 , which is good through March 10th.
Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to take advantage of any of Restaurant.com’s offers, as the closest restaurants they have to me are about 2 hours away.  So I can’t exactly test out this deal, or report on coupon stacking possibilities, but I wanted to be sure my nationwide readers are aware of it! Don’t forget that if you’re a member of ShopAtHome.com, you can get 7% back on your purchases at E.L.F. If you aren’t into ShopAtHome, but are a member of Ebates, you can claim 4% cash back on your E.L.F. purchase. If alternative rewards systems are more your speed, you can get 2 SwagBucks per dollar spent, or 3 points per dollar at MyPoints. And remember these cash/point offers apply regardless of which coupon code you use!
I tried to do the Finest Natural Resveratrol deal at Walgreens, but it is not working the way some sites have predicted. In case you’re not familiar with the deal: Resveratrol is $9.99 per bottle, and Finest Natural vitamins are BOGO this week. There is a $5 off q in Walgreens’ March coupon book for Finest Natural Resveratrol, which SHOULD take off 2x$5 when you buy 2 bottles, BUT IT DOES NOT. It beeps, since 2x$5.00 = $10, and the total charged for the BOGO Resveratrol is only $9.99. So the cashier took it off by hand, and it only comes off once then. I suppose you might be able to argue the cashier into taking off a further $4.99 if you’re adamant about it, but I decided not to push my luck, figuring $20 worth of supplement for $5 wasn’t worth getting “a reputation” over.
This week both papers had exactly the same SmartSource insert, so I went ahead and just posted one list under both headings here. I also wanted to let everyone know that Food Country USA, for which I normally do coupon matchups, did not have an ad in this week’s BHC, or at least there was not one in the copy that I received. And of course, since this is a small, local chain, they do not seem to have a web site where I can look their weekly ads up online. If anyone happens to have a scan of this week’s ad, and could submit it to me, I would happily do the coupon matchups. But without anything to work with, I’m afraid I shall have to let that part of my weekly reporting lapse.
If you do any sort of couponing at grocery and drug stores (and who doesn’t, right?) and you have a Discover Card, be sure to sign into your account and sign up for the 5% cash back at all grocery and drug stores during the month of March. Of course, if you’ve already signed up (and you’re like me and normally use another card), don’t forget to start using your Discover Card in a couple of days. It’s only for one month, but even on a budget I can rack up some pretty considerable food & drugstore bills over the course of 31 days!
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