What Could Be Better Than Free...

Today’s score was better than free! I actually made money with my purchase.

Go to the travel size section of your Walmart store. Find these little $0.97 Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste boxes and grab two. If you printed off your coupon at aquafresh.com you will make $0.03 a box. Now give yourself a high five for earning a whole $0.06 and scoring two free toothpastes!

Break Down:

Aquafresh Extreme Clean Travel Size - $0.97 regular price at Walmart

Used Coupon: $1 off any Aquafresh Extreme Clean (aquafresh.com allows for two printings per computer.)

Paid: Earned +$0.03 a box for a total of $0.06.

Now Walmart’s coupon policy does allow for either cash back or you can take your earnings and put them towards your other purchases (which is what I did). I had no trouble at all. However, it might be wise to print off Walmart’s Coupon Policy in case you happen to run into trouble.

Note: Click the Aquafresh link and scroll down the page to find the correct coupon. There are several different coupons on the site and you want to make sure you print off the right one.

Why Not Me?

I’ve always been intrigued by people who coupon. I’m especially curious when customers come through my check-out line with a handful of coupons and I see their totals shrink dramatically. I always think “Why not me?!”

So, why not me? I always thought couponing would be time consuming and not worth the hassle. However, I ended up scoring a couple free Sunday papers from work last week so decided to give it a try.

I noticed a coupon in RedPlum (6/5) for $2 off 1 Nivea Body Wash for Men. My husband uses Nivea so right away I was excited for saving just $2. However, since we were going to Target I wanted to check out their online coupons to see if I could score more deals. Low and behold Target had a coupon for $1 off Nivea Body Wash! YAY!

I quickly checked out Targets coupon policy online and they do, in fact, take one manufacture’s coupon (my RedPlum coupon) and one Target coupon per item.

Here’s how my first coupon adventure broke down:

Nivea Body Wash for Men - $3.04 at Target regular price (your Target prices may vary from mine)

Used Coupon: $2/1 Nivea Body Wash for Men from 6/5 RedPlum ad

Used Coupon: $1/ 1 Nivea Body Wash from Target.com

Paid: $0.20 (that includes my tax) for a 16.9 fl oz bottle!

I snagged four of those bad boys! So overall I paid $0.80 for 67.6 fl oz of body wash and it only took a couple minutes of my time! I instantly fell in love with coupons and now there’s no turning back. I’m a coupon-er for life. I’ll try my best to document my savings and I’ll try like heck to break down how I saved and pass said savings along to you.

I should be honest with you though. It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. I had to do them in four separate transactions (technically, Target didn’t tell me this. I did it of my own free will because I was nervous and didn’t want the Target people to yell at me; which was silly of me because they were fantastically nice). I also had to tell the cashiers that the Nivea price tag read $3.04 instead of the $3.99 which it rang up as. They, of course, changed it right away without even blinking an eye.

It's Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus

The last few days of summer are coming to a close and for most of us the chill of autumn is already in the air. I love this time of year! The leaves are turning from green to glorious red and vibrant orange, pumpkin and squash are abundant, and the wonderful aroma of wood burning fireplace smoke fills the air. Halloween (my 2^nd favorite holiday, with Christmas winning by only a nose) is right around the corner. To pay homage to my runner up, I’m going to review my all-time favorite Halloween movies.

We’ll get this fright-fest started with the classic Disney movie Hocus Pocus (ok ok so maybe “fright-fest” wasn’t the right word to use when describing this movie, but…)

The Movie:

Hocus Pocus

Movie Summary:

300 years ago, The Sanderson Sisters were sentenced to death by the townspeople of Salem for practicing witchcraft. Before the sentence could be carried out, they vow to return to Salem on All Hollow’s Eve to take their revenge. Legend has it that a virgin must light The Black Flame Candle on Halloween night in order for the 3 sisters to return. Now, it’s 1993 and Max Dennison, a Halloween-hating teenager, lights the candle to scare his little sister Dani and his love interest Allison, and brings the sisters back from the grave. They have their sights set of immortality and must suck the lives out of the children of Salem by sunrise in order to get it. Max and his friends, along with a cursed talking cat named Thackery Binx, try to hold the witches off until dawn when the spell will be broken.

Starring:

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, and Thora Birch

My Thoughts:

I adore this movie and would watch it over and over and over again (and most times I do!). Hocus Pocus is a childhood favorite and never fails to put me in the Halloween spirit. Sure, it’s cheesy at times and may be a tad childish but I love it and always will.

The Road....to nowhere

Movie: “The Road”

Based off the novel by Cormac McCarthy “The Road” is about a father and son’s struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptical world. This film stars Viggo Mortensen as “The Man” and Kodi Smit-McPhee as “The Boy” with appearances by Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, and Charlize Theron. Realizing that they may not survive another winter where they are, The Man leads The Boy south in hopes of finding warmth and safety with just a pistol and 2 bullets to protect themselves from the cannibalistic groups that haunt their path.

This movie got rave reviews which, to be honest, I really don’t get why. “The Road” was very raw and an incredibly depressing movie. If this movie had a point I sure couldn’t see it. Perhaps if I had read the novel first I would have enjoyed the movie more. However, after seeing the movie all hopes of reading the book have vanished for me.

Whip It Real Good!

Movie: “Whip It”

I thought I might as well do the last movie I watched for my first movie review.

Based off of the book Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, ‘Whip It” stars Ellen Page (the girl from ‘Juno”) as a young misfit who wants nothing more than to get out of small-town, USA and break free of the mold by joining an all girls roller derby league.

Drew Barrymore sure has a talent for acting and I think she’s struck something with her directing as well. Ellen Page gives an excellent performance and reminds us all why she’s on her way to the top. Of course, Page and Barrymore aren’t the only ones: Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Daniel Stern, and Alia Shawkat also lend their talents to the movie.

I’ve heard mixed reviews about the film, but I really enjoyed it. While it may be a little predictable, it was funny, energetic, and had a good, albeit cheesy, message to just be yourself. “Whip It” keeps your attention and tickles your funny bone. I’d recommend it to anyone.

A Fresh Start

Yes, yes. I know I have been the worst blogger in the entire universe. I know this, you know this, now let’s put it behind us. I know I’m already forgotten it.

Now I originally intended this to be a cooking blog with the occasional “life story” thrown in. However, it’s quite difficult to blog about cooking when you do not have your own kitchen. I’ve been living in several different places the last few years and all of my amazing cooking gadgets are either packed in boxes in New York or packed in boxes in England. Now that I’m in a place that I’d assume I’ll be for at least a year, you’d think I could finally get down to it and cook, cook, cook. You’d be mistaken. The house I’m in now has no oven…you heard me right…no oven. The man who built the house decided that he no longer needed an oven and would be content with just a microwave and stove-top. Yeah, it’s complete madness I know.

Anyway, I miss the blogosphere too much to stay away any longer. I’m now going to blog about whatever I want! Neener, neener, neener!

I pick movies! I adore movies. Scary movies, funny movies, bad movies, good movies. I’m constantly on the hunt for movies. I always thought it would be so neat to be a Movie Reviewer, and now I get to be one (for the few remaining readers I have).

Daddy's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads!
(I know I'm a day late, but better late than never)