Hope for Haiti

January 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

No matter what your financial situation right now, I hope you’ll keep in mind that even a little bit helps–your $1 or $5 adds in with so many others to make a BIG difference. I’m sure you’ve already heard of the amazing amount ($8 million and counting!) raised for the Red Cross by social media through texting, Twittering, and Facebook. That BIG number comes from lots of little people donating small amounts. Please give what you can!

Jenny from Simply Delightful Designs has started the website Hope for Haiti, where bloggers and online companies are donating ad spots, website redesigns, gift certificates, and more in exchange for your donation. For each $1 raffle ticket, you earn a chance for the prize of your choice. You’ll have another chance to win a GC to Pretty Stinkin’ Green (if you didn’t win here last week), and you can win an ad spot on some of your favorite blogs like We Are That Family and A Soft Place to Land. The donation funds will go to the Red Cross and Compassion International.

If you’re a blogger looking for more exposure for your blog, I hope you’ll donate to my raffle–a 1-month ad spot here in the sidebar of Moneywise Moms. I currently have 50,000 page views per month with over 3,000 subscribers/followers and 1700 Twitter followers. Your ad will be seen! This is open to all businesses and personal blogs that are family-friendly. Go enter here.

Filed Under: Donations, Giving to Others

Food Bank Challenge–Safeway

November 17, 2009 By 1 Comment

Food Bank Button

By combining Safeway’s sale prices with coupons, I was able to purchase all of this to donate to my local food bank:

3 Mini Wheats Little Bites 7.47* (used three $1.00 off coupons)
5 Green Giant Canned Vegetables $1.95
4 Quaker Instant Oatmeal 6.00 (used two $1.25/2 coupons)

After coupons, I paid $9.92! *There was also a Catalina promo running for a FREE gallon of milk when you buy 3 Mini Wheats, so I kept that for our family. You can see the weekly Safeway (and partner store) matchups each Wednesday here at MoneywiseMoms.

I hope you’ll join me in my $10 Food Bank Challenge. What can you get for $10?

Filed Under: Donations, Food Bank Challenge, Giving to Others, Safeway, Smart Shopping

Food Bank Challenge: Shoppers

November 16, 2009 By 2 Comments

Food Bank Button

During Shoppers triple coupons last week, I purchased everything in this photo for just $10.18:

2 Ortega Taco Shells, .67 each
2 Cheerios, 1.34 each
5 Del Monte canned vegetables, .68/can
4 Campbell’s Gravy, .13 each
4 Mahatma Rice Mixes, FREE
3 Mahatma Brown Rice, .74 each
4 StarKist pouch tuna, FREE

I try to focus on healthy items to donate to the local food bank. Keep an eye out for coupons for rice, pasta, canned meat, and healthy cereal!

Here in the Northern Virginia area, many schools are currently holding food drives in their lobbies. I’ll be donating my food to ECHO in Springfield. You can also donate at your church, or look online for a food bank in your community.

Filed Under: Donations, Food Bank Challenge, Giving to Others, Shoppers, Smart Shopping

$10 Food Bank Challenge

November 16, 2009 By 9 Comments

Food Bank Button


According to a USDA Survey released today, more than 1 in 7 American households had trouble putting food on the table in 2008. The numbers involving children are heartbreaking: “16.7 million children were classified as not having enough food.”Because of your interest a few months’ back, I want to challenge you to take $10 out of your budget and see how far you can stretch it for charity. Show off your couponing skills and make a difference in your community! Here’s how you can participate:
  1. Set aside $10 this month and work your couponing/deals/promo magic to get the most you can. Shop anywhere–grocery store, drugstore, Walmart, Target, etc.
  2. If you’re a blogger, please post a photo of your $10 purchase along with my orange Food Bank Challenge button. Encourage your readers to join us in this important community service!
  3. If you’re not a blogger, please share your details in the Comments section below. I’d love to see your photo by email if you take one. Please pass the word around to your family and friends. Think about the impact we can make if we each contribute!

Everyone who links up here or posts their results in the comments will be eligible for a special PRIZE from me. I will be choosing 5 random winners on Sunday, November 29th at midnight.

See an example of how to post your results. Thanks for joining in!

Filed Under: Donations, Food Bank Challenge, Giving to Others

Quick! Kleenex Deal at Safeway

October 9, 2009 By 7 Comments


I mentioned this Wednesday in my Safeway write-up, but there’s a Catalina promo running through Saturday, October 10 that includes boxed Kleenex Tissues. Basically, when you buy three Kleenex at .99 each (look for the 110-ct for that price), you get a $3.00 Catalina coupon at checkout. That’s FREE!

You can turn this into a money-maker by using either the .50 off 3 coupon from the 10/4 newspaper or the $2.00 off 4 SuperCoupon in this week’s Safeway ad (you can pick it up in the store). You’ll need to buy four with that SuperCoupon, and remember that you need to make a minimum $20 purchase. Mine beeped but I pointed out that the Kleenex I purchased fit the criteria on the SuperCoupon (75-200 ct).

Go grab your FREE Kleenex, and pick up a few boxes to donate to your school; they’ll appreciate the savings!

Filed Under: Donations, Giving to Others, Safeway, Smart Shopping

Buying Freebies to Donate

June 1, 2009 By 1 Comment

This week, Campbell’s Soup is on sale for .50/can at CVS. When you print this $1.00/2 coupon, you get two cans for FREE. You can print two coupons per computer. Yes–it’s that easy–you don’t need a card, any ECBs, any of that.

If you’re in the neighborhood, consider stopping in to pick up some FREE soup to donate to your local food bank or church. Food banks are continuing to struggle in this down economy. I know that when I drop off my items every few weeks, the volunteers are so thrilled to see me, especially when I come in with a bunch of cereal and pasta. As you read through the weekly store write-ups here and on other frugal blogs, keep an eye out for easy freebies like this one. Even if it’s something you wouldn’t normally buy, it can be worth buying something you don’t need just to help out others.

Filed Under: CVS, Donations, Giving to Others, Smart Shopping

Stamp Out Hunger this Saturday

May 5, 2009 By 2 Comments

This Saturday, May 9th, you can help Stamp Out Hunger with the National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual food drive. Just leave some food items out at your mailbox, and your local mail carrier will pick them up. This is a great opportunity to have your kids get involved in helping others, and you don’t even have to leave the house.

My mail carrier would probably have a heart attack if I left this out, so I’ll try to restrain myself.

Filed Under: Donations, Giving to Others

Safeway Promo, Take 2

April 17, 2009 By 5 Comments

On this transaction, I went in with a plan to buy only items to donate. The One Zip bags are for my son’s classroom, and the rest will go to our local food bank:


6 Rice a Roni or Pasta Roni 5.34 (used two $1.00/3 coupons)
4 Kraft Mac & Cheese 2.36
1 Hefty One Zip 3.00 (used .55 off from 3/29 which doubled)
1 Special K Blueberry 2.79 (used .70 off which doubled)
4 Dreamfields Pasta 8.00 (used two $1.00/2 from 3/15)
2 Select Harvest Soup 4.00 (used the $1.00/2 from 2/1)
1 Bright Green Bleach 1.49 (used $1.00 off coupon)
2 Mission Tortillas 5.00 (used two $1.00 off coupons)

Total was $31.98. I used the $10.50 manu coupons to get down to $21.48, then I used my $10 Cat from the last transaction and paid $11.48, earning another $10 Cat.

If you can spare an extra few dollars this month, consider picking up some items during this big Safeway promo to donate locally. Food banks receive the most donations during the Thanksgiving and holiday season, and in this economy, they are in need more than usual.

You’ll find more scenarios at the Mr. Linky at the bottom of my original promo post.

Filed Under: Donations, Giving to Others, Safeway, Smart Shopping

Walk to support the March of Dimes

March 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

We’ve been taking lots of family walks lately, part of our goal of exercising outside more. Now we’re planning to do the 3-mile March for Babies to support the March of Dimes. It’s on Sunday, April 26th at Cameron Run Park in Alexandria. My son wants to walk the 3 miles, and we figure we’ll push the twins in the stroller. If you’re in the Northern Virginia area and would like to join us, please click over to my March of Dimes page and click on “Walk With Me.” It should be a great family event!


If you’re not up for the walk or don’t live nearby, I hope you’ll consider supporting the March of Dimes through a small donation. Please consider giving $1 or $5 (every little bit makes a difference!). Thank you in advance!

Filed Under: Donations, Giving to Others

Donate to Toys for Tots

December 12, 2008 By 4 Comments

I had two hours with no kids this morning, so my goal was to head to Toys R Us and buy $100 of toys to donate to Toys for Tots. I was thrilled to find two great deals that helped me stretch my dollars:

  • Cranium Games were on clearance for just $5.59! I picked up Hullabaloo, Cariboo, and Cadoo–all of which are great games. I especially like that they’ve changed Hullabaloo from a DVD game (you used to watch a DVD where the announcer would shout out the clues) to a voice box. It encourages listening skills and kids can even play it alone. Cariboo is great for younger kids, ages 2-5, with its color and letter recognition theme. And Cadoo looks like a kid version of Cranium, with charades, sculpting, and drawing tasks; it’s suggested for 7 and up.
  • All Crayola Markers and Crayons were Buy 1, Get 2 Free–so I bought a ton of those as well. I really like the Pipsqueak markers. Their smaller size are great for preschoolers’ hands, and they’re completely washable (of course, we’ve tested that out).

I was able to get everything in the above picture for $92.23. I really felt like I got a lot! If you haven’t donated any toys yet this season, please consider picking up a few while you’re out shopping. While I’m sure you’re aware that food banks are struggling to service their clients because of the economy, obviously toy drives will not meet demand as well. There’s even a Toys for Tots drop box inside the Toys R Us store, but there are plenty of community centers and other organizations collecting toys right now.

I plan to head back again to Toys R Us tomorrow for more of the above games and art supplies. They’ll make great additions to my “gift closet,” where I store gifts for the birthday parties I know are coming up January through March. For the complete list of Friday & Saturday deals, check your TRU weekly ad or look in today’s newspaper for the insert.

Filed Under: Donations, Giving to Others

5th Trip to Safeway

July 24, 2008 By 2 Comments

Sorry I don’t have a big picture of everything. My son was being extra helpful when we got home and put the groceries away while I put the girls down for a nap. What a sweetheart! I went back to take advantage of the Windex deal–buy 2 and get a $1.50 Catalina coupon for your next order. They’re $3.69 and BOGO right now, and I had a lot of .75 coupons from the newspaper, plus most of the bottles had peelies on them for .75 off. With the savings from the Summer Savings Marathon, I’m paying .59 for the two and earning back a $1.50 coupon! I figured that offset the extra cost on the Ragu Sauce that I wanted to donate to the food bank, since I didn’t buy it all when it was on sale for $1.75. Here are the details:

1 Tava 2.50 (used 1.50 off coupon)
1 Curves Granola Bars 2.50 (used .50 off, doubled)
2 Wesson Oil 8.98
1 JollyTime Popcorn 1.99 (used 1.00 coupon from here)
10 Ragu Pasta Sauce 25.90 (used four $1/2–forgot to use 5!)
2 Kraft Deli Swiss 9.98 (two $1 off coupons from 7/20 paper)
8 Windex 14.76 (they’re BOGO and I used 6.25 in coupons)

Total was $66.61. I used the $27.50 in manu coupons, and my $21.50 in Catalinas from the last trip. I paid $29.36 and earned $26.00 in Catalinas (the 20 for the promo and four $1.50s for the Windex). More than I usually spend, but we needed the oil and cheese. On the way home from the store, we swung by the food bank and dropped off 20 jars of Ragu, 20 boxes of Barilla Plus Pasta, some Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice, and a lot of Betty Crocker Frosting.

To see my other shopping trips and LOTS of everyone else’s, check out my Mr. Linky.

Filed Under: Donations, Giving to Others, Safeway
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