Cha-Ching on a Shoestring™

Living Large on a Limited Budget

Winners AND Giveaway #3!

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We have our winners for the Coast to Coast Giveaway #2!!

Congratulations to our three grand prize winners:

Andrea: vickers@xxx
Victoria: vic2430@xxx
Krystal: bankgriff@xxx

and our second prize winners:

Lindsay: lbotzenhart@xxx
Nicole: drewnnic@xxx

I have e-mailed each of you.  Congratulations and ENJOY your gift certificates!

AND if you were a first time entrant in this contest, you will be receiving an e-mail from Coast to Coast Florist with a $10 e-voucher to use on their site.  Be looking for it in the next few days and ENJOY!

***And now we want to give you ONE MORE CHANCE to win!!***

If you did not win first or second place in the first two contests, we want to give you a final chance to win some AWESOME prizes from Coast to Coast Florist.

Here’s what we want to give away. Just like our previous contest, we are offering some GREAT odds–this time we will offer FOUR grand prizes and one second prize!

GRAND PRIZE: $50 gift card

SECOND PRIZE: $25 gift card

AND

EVERY new entrant will win a
$10 e-voucher, courtesy of CoasttoCoastFlorist.com!*

(Check out their extensive ‘Under $50’ section.   They offer not only beautiful bouquets, but birthday cakes, party baskets and more.)

This giveaway will only last until Wednesday evening in order for you to receive your gift cards before Mother’s Day!

*PLEASE NOTE: If you are a previous grand prize or second prize winner of this giveaway, we ask that you not enter this time around.  However, if you entered the previous Coast to Coast Florist giveaway and did not win, you may enter again.  $10 e-vouchers will only be given to completely new entrants.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

  1. If you haven’t subscribed yet, subscribe to our feed by e-mail or in a reader (see right side bar).
  2. Enter the contest by leaving a comment telling us that you are a subscriber.
  3. If you tweet or blog about this contest, add an additional comment for each to receive extra entries in the contest.

This giveaway ends at 8:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009. We’ll use Random.org to select the winning comments. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

WE DID IT!!!

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KaleyandMeg

Thanks for all of your encouraging comments about my race this past weekend.  It was a cold, rainy day, but we survived!!  In fact, I was very happy with my time–it was much better than I had hoped.

Now…who wants to join us next year?!

Please tell me I’m not CRAZY

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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

We are heading out the door to Philadelphia, where we will stay with my brother and his family.  We will then get up on Sunday morning bright and early and head into the city with about 26,500 other people who will be running the Broad Street Run Ten Miler.  I will be one of them.

I just need a little reassurance that I’m not crazy, maybe a few ‘go get ’em, Tigers’ and a whole lot of prayer.  Other than a half marathon a few years ago, this is the longest race that I have run and I feel much less prepared than I’d like.

Thankfully, my cousin is running it with me and we plan on taking things at our own pace.  It’s Ok if we don’t win. =)

Besides, If I need to feel like a winner, I always have swagbucks.

Now pardon me while I go sing “It’s the Eye of the Tiger” at the top of my lungs.  I need the inspiration.

New Huggies Rewards Codes

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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

There are two new codes out for the Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards program.

  • Enter code: LNXBX-DXTSH-BSPGB and receive 5 points to your account.  (Expires 12/31/09)
  • Enter code: RSZNG TJNPH DHPGB and receive an additional 5 points.

You’ll also be glad to hear that they have added new instant win prizes, such as a $25 Visa Card, a $25 Applebee’s gift card and a $10 Subway gift card. I’m considering using my points all willy-nilly on some of those sweepstakes, however.  Why not?

Coast to Coast Florist Giveaway #2!

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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

If you missed our first Coast to Coast Florist Giveaway OR if you simply didn’t win the first time around HERE is your chance to enter again!

We are delighted to team up again with Coast to Coast Florist to offer you a whole new chance to win some FABULOUS prizes.

If you’ve ever ordered flowers from coasttocoastflorist.com, you know that every floral arrangement is “hand delivered”, NEVER in a box.  No assembly required.  We like that fact.

Here’s what we want to give away. Just like our previous contest, we are offering some GREAT odds–three grand prize winners and two second prize winners.

GRAND PRIZE: $50 gift card

SECOND PRIZE: $25 gift card

AND

EVERY new entrant will win a
$10 e-voucher, courtesy of CoasttoCoastFlorist.com!*

(Check out their extensive ‘Under $50’ section.   They offer not only beautiful bouquets, but birthday cakes, party baskets and more.)

We will also hold this giveaway one more time
before Mother’s Day!

*PLEASE NOTE: If you are a previous grand prize or second prize winner of this giveaway, we ask that you not enter this time around.  However, if you entered the previous Coast to Coast Florist giveaway and did not win, you may enter again.  $10 e-vouchers will only be given to completely new entrants.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

  1. If you haven’t subscribed yet, subscribe to our feed by e-mail or in a reader (see right side bar).
  2. Enter the contest by leaving a comment telling us that you are a subscriber.
  3. If you tweet or blog about this contest, add an additional comment for each to receive extra entries in the contest.

This giveaway ends at 8:00 p.m. EST on Monday, May 4th, 2009. We’ll use Random.org to select the winning comments. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Coupon Database

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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

I have updated my coupon database.  You can view it by clicking here.

These coupons are from my Sunday papers, beginning March 1.  Yours may vary depending on where you live.  Feel free to check it out to see if it can be a help to you!

To find out how I use this database and organize my coupons, go here.

A ‘Twist’ of Fate

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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

I had to chuckle when I found these three ice cream offers shortly after writing the last post.  I haven’t decided yet if it’s irony or the hand of God. =)

Carvel Free Ice Cream

  • Carvel Ice Cream will be handing out free Ice Bergs on Thursday, April 30 from 3-7 p.m.  Go here to see if there is a store near you.
  • Try a free scoop of Haagen Dazs Bee-Built ice cream flavor on Tuesday, May 12 from 4-8 p.m.  To find a shop near you, go here. Participating locations only, so be sure to call ahead!
  • Go here to get $1 off one of Wendy’s new Frosty flavors: Coffee Toffee Twisty and Frosty-cino.

Ice Cream Dilemmas

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One of our favorite rites of passage each spring is our first trip to the ice cream store.  We have a great mom and pop ice cream store up the road that promises heaping scoops of decadent flavors for lower prices than the national chain stores.

This past weekend was glorious and we upstate New Yorkers emerged from our dens, squinting at that unfamiliar bright orb in the sky.  Finally…

I mentioned the ice cream store to Wes and his arm twisted quite easily and painlessly.  So we packed up the boys and happily made the short trip.

Since I’m a creature of habit, I opted for my two favorite flavors: peanut butter cup and cookie dough.  Does it get any better than that?

And then it happened.  The unthinkable.  A few licks in, those two beautiful scoops of ice cream slid right off my cone and plopped into a heap in the dirt.  I was horrified.

So I hopped back in line, empty cone in hand, and waited to tell my tale of woe.  Surely, they would understand my dilemma and place two more fat scoops of ice cream on that cone, right?  (I’d be happy with even just one…)

I was wrong.  When I finally made it to the window, the teen-age girl inside listened to my story with a blank look on her face and said, “You’ll have to pay for it.”

Would you believe me if I told you I teared up a bit?

I don’t know if it was the fact that we had left the rest of our money in our car across the road or that I didn’t feel like I should fork over the $2 that could be spent elsewhere.  Or possibly it was the injustice of it all.  (It became obvious to me that this wasn’t my fault when I saw someone else lose their ice cream just minutes later. )

I certainly don’t know what the typical protocol is when it comes to this dilemma.  Possibly this is a national standard.  But it simply didn’t feel right to me.

So, my question to you all is this:  What would you do if you faced this dilemma?  Would you simply walk away like I did?  Would you ask to speak to a manager? Or maybe you agree with the store’s policy?

I certainly don’t plan on boycotting the store or sending hate mail.  I simply will be extra careful licking my ice cream cone the next time we stop in.

Epilogue:  My super kind husband gave me the rest of his cone that day.  My hero.