Thomas The Train & Coffee

This past weekend, I woke up on Saturday morning and checked my usual coupon blogs for any new deals. I came across a coupon for Toys R Us. It was good for a free wooden Thomas the Train train. I went ahead and printed out 2 of them so both Mark and I could use one and we decided that after breakfast we would head over to the store.

Toys R Us opened at 9am but we didn't get there until about 10:15. Apparently there was a huge line waiting when the store opened with these coupons. There were still a few trains left but the cashier said it was definitely a madhouse.

We ended up getting Mady two different trains from the Thomas the Train series. She loves them! I loved that I got a deal! At $12.99 a piece I felt like I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day :) Who wouldn't when getting $26.00 worth of trains for FREE!!!!!

** And then, as if it wasn't already a good deal day, I headed to starbucks to get some gift cards for a game night we were having. My receipt printed out and she said "today is your lucky day." I had to fill out a quick survey online with my receipt but in turn I get a FREE drink of my choice!

Free RedBox Movies on Wednesdays

Apparently, it’s March Movie Madness at RedBox, and you can get a free movie rental each Wednesday this month.

I'll try to update this blog with the new codes every week. However, you can also view them on one of my favorites blogs www.cravingthesavings.com

Mark and I love to get free movie rentals! I hope you all enjoy!

UPDATED:
So you don’t have to go find it on the redblog, here’s the code for a free DVD rental at redbox on 3/4 only:

75EA16

Free Dinner and A Movie

So, lately I've been making it a game to find out how much stuff I can really get for FREE. I've been getting tons of coupons for free yogurt, free cereal, and other foods but now I'm trying to branch out and see what else I can find. Mark suggested that I start adding things to this blog that I get for free. Today it was ... a dinner and a movie.

Yep, that's right. I found a coupon for a free sub from Quizno's so I signed up both Mark and myself. I will "unsubscribe" us from the newsletter as soon as it starts coming. So, we both have coupons for free subs. I also found a code for a free RedBox Rental. We've only rented about 2 of these ever but looks like tonight we'll be getting one for FREE.

Any bit helps, right? Plus, I love being able to find great deals like this!!!!

Here's the link for the free sub.. there's still some left... Sign up here! Oh... and make sure to sign up you AND your hubby!

Painting

I recently started doing some remodeling on our home. I'm well aware that paint is rather pricey. I went over to MAB here in Champaign. I didn't really care what specific color I purchased. I asked them if they had any type of cream, tan or light brown that was a "mistint." Sure enough, they did, a cream (a perfect match to the rest of the basement). I was able to buy it for $1. Can't beat that! It pays to ask. Saved me about $30.00!

Insurance vs no insurance

I had something interesting happen at Meijer pharmacy yesterday. Dr Davison, my doctor ordered some new meds for me. (an antibiotic called tetracycline). When I showed up, my co-pay was $9.63. Normally my co-pays are $10,$20 or $40. I asked him if they had run this med through my insurance. He said no, so he ran it through.

It came back after insurance that my co-pay was now $10. I was like without it, I only owed $9.63! This was by far the first time that that's happened. I got to get it for the lesser amount. For what it's worth, it doesn't hurt to ask (on the flip side, I have a med that I get for free, since it's a specialty drug, that costs $4400 for a 28 day dose. That one I'm happy about!)

Marriott Rewards

I've mentioned in the blog a few times that I stay at Marriott's when I travel. Well, it's not because I think they have the nicest rooms, or anything like that. It's because they have the best rewards system for staying there that I could find. A colleague used to stay at Hilton because of their rewards, but he has seen the light and made the flip.

Let me just say that I don't stay at hotels all that much. I don't like being away from the fam. However, if we go on a trip as a family, I'll pay the extra buck and stay there. For work, if I go on the road, of course they pay for it, so it works out well. Plus, we can get the government rate at Marriott since I work for the University, so even then the prices are quite reasonable. (Gov't rate often drops the price by 1/4 or even in some, by 1/2).

I've earned enough points to get 3 free nights when we go to Charleston, South Carolina next month. I stay at a hotel on average maybe 2 nights a month. I also signed up for the Marriott Visa card (I HATE credit cards, but I pay them off, and I encourage you to do the same) The reason that I did this was because I got 20,000 free points and an E-ticket for a free night's stay. Plus, when you pay for your hotel with the Marriott Visa, you get triple the points.

Some hotels only "cost" you 7,500 points a night (like the Fairfield Marriott in Galesburg, IL). When you head to bigger cities or the coast, I've seen them as high as 55,000 points. I would say the average is around 20-25,000 points a night. My average points per stay is about 1-2 thousand.

I also signed up for promotions on their website. I'm in a Megabonus promotion right now, and so every few stays, they through in an extra 5,000 points. I also signed up someone for the rewards system, that's 1000 points for each night they stay, up to 5000.

Even with the three nights free in SC, I'm already back up to 20,000, so I have another free night stay. If you stay in hotels, look into this program, but by all means, let me know so that I can give you my number so that I can get the referral!

Free Digital Prints

For a while now, I've been getting my digital photos processed online and sent to my home. It's a lot easier and 9 times out of 10 I am able to get them cheaper than if I were to go to Walgreens or CVS or even Sams Club. I'm always telling Mark, "I just got another 20 free prints." Today I surprised him and said, "Wow, I found a way to get 95 free prints from CVS!" He then asked me to blog about my "ways." So, let me explain...

First of all, here's the scoop on the CVS deal. In order to take advantage of this you need to have an ExtraCare Rewards Card. If you haven't registered your card online and made an account online then you are able to redeem the full 95 free prints. However, I've already registered my account online so I was only able to get 60 free prints I think. Go to this link : http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=752669 and just follow the instructions. It's really simple. I got this link off of www.slickdeals.net (another great site for good deals that are posted many times throughout the day). Happy Free Picture Getting!

Here's my other advice.. If you've never signed up for online photo printing sites like Winkflash, Shutterfly, or Kodak, do it. Almost all of these sites give you free complimentary prints when you sign up. Then all you have to do is upload your pictures and pay shipping (unless you have free shipping codes - which you can search for online or I can tell you some places to start looking..) I have signed up for about 10ish different photo printing sites and used my free photos. The other nice thing is that once you sign up they send you out emails with different promotions. Sometimes they put their photos on half price which is better than what they are at Sams or Walgreens. I've even had a couple of sites send out emails saying they were having some problems with their site and because of the hassle, they were applying 20 free prints to all of accounts of their members. Nice! I'm always getting emails about good deals they are running or ways to redeem free prints. I've also signed up both Mark and I so that means double the introductory free prints and double the specials that are running.

Just an idea if you're a picture addict like I am. I enjoy looking for deals and the CVS deal made me super happy today!!!