ShopaholicSavers

Doing My Taxes for Free

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 18, 2013 No comment

So this year for the first time ever, I thought I might owe money on my taxes. This was because of a stream of income from last year that had no taxes taken out of it and in addition I am no longer a student so I can’t claim that as a deduction. I tried asking various people what percentage of someone’s income goes towards taxes and I received various different answers that led me to the conclusion that it’s not that simple.

So for the first time ever, I decided to run my tax information through two different free tax services. Turbo Tax and HR Block. This took me less than an hour to do and to my relief, while I do owe money on my taxes, I owe less than $100 and both programs told me that I owe the exact same amount. While it is a little disappointing not to get a check back from filing my taxes for the first time, it is also a huge relief that I won’t have to take money out of my savings to pay my taxes either. Next year I will be back in school and I will likely qualify for a tax refund again so I can’t be too disappointed.

Note- I am in no way associated with any tax program. This article is simply meant to share my own personal experiences.

Too Many Newspapers and Publix $5 off of $50 Purchase Coupons

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 16, 2013 No comment

This is what my couch looked like Saturday morning when I started trying to organize my coupons from the past few weeks. Do any of you other couponers have this problem??? Sometimes I am so busy that I’m not able to go through my 4 Sunday Paper subscriptions to get the coupons out for longer than I would like. So after a vacation and a packed work schedule I ended up with three weeks worth of coupons to sort through before I would be getting even more the next day.

I was excited to find that last Sunday 3/10 there was a Publix $5 off of $50 Purchase Coupon. Usually we don’t get these in Volusia or Orange County, FL. So if you still have that paper you may want to look for it.

I filled an entire laundry basket with the newspapers. We will probably recycle them or burn them in our fire pit. It is a major frustration to me to try to decide what I will do with all of these newspapers. I give as many papers away as I can get people to take. We use them as pet bedding, as fire kindling, as drop cloths when painting, and as many other ways as I can come up with but most of them still end up getting recycled. If anyone has come up with any better ways to use old newspapers please let me know.

Why I Don’t Pay For Underwear and How I Get Free Underwear at Victoria’s Secret

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 16, 2013 52 comments

That’s right, you read that title correctly, I generally get all of my underwear for free at Victoria’s Secret! If you join Victoria’s Secret’s Mailing lists and e-mail lists they will send you coupons for free pairs of underwear no purchase necessary (like the ones in the picture above) and they send them out fairly frequently.

A couple of years ago I lived behind an outside shopping mall that had a Victoria’s Secret Store and I developed a system. I signed up for all of the Victoria’s Secret Mailing Lists and would collect all of the coupons I could for free underwear and other items. When I received a coupon for free underwear (no purchase necessary) I would go and pick it up. You won’t pay a cent and they are really nice about it. This was easier to do when I lived behind one of their stores but I still live close enough to our mall that I’m usually able to swing by the store to get my free items before the coupons expire. I do have a Victoria Secret Credit Card which will earn you more free offers but that isn’t necessary to get free stuff. I have also received free gift cards (like the one in the picture above), free perfume, and free $10 at the store. Their underwear really is high quality and lasts a long time.

I often think that frugal living is about figuring out how to get the things you need or want for free and this is a great and easy way to do that if you live near a Victoria’s Secret Store. You can also do this with their other store Bath & Body Works to get free candles, lotions, and hand sanitizers. Remember that this is a marketing strategy designed to get you into their stores in the hopes that you will pick up your free item and also buy something but it isn’t required. I do occasionally buy stuff from their stores when I find great deals.

If you follow the links below and sign up for their mailing lists you will start receiving communication from them about sales and events and also FREE items. Note- I do get a certain amount of e-mail and snail mail from them that doesn’t contain free offers but I find it worth sorting through.

Click HERE to join PINK Nation

Click HERE to join Victoria’s Secret E-mail List

Click HERE to join Victoria’s Secret Store Offers And Events E-mail List

Click HERE to join Victoria’s Secret Mailing List

Note- The information provided is meant to be helpful. These aren’t affiliate links, I am in no way affiliated with Victoria’s Secret and receive no compensation for mentioning them

You can check out my Victoria’s Secret category HERE were I only post about deals from them. Check back often to see when I receive Free Victoria’s Secret coupons.

I also post when I receive free coupons in the mail and e-mail as well as other things I get for free in my Free In The Mail category and you can find the link HERE.

Shopping at CVS and Walgreens Without Coupons

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 15, 2013 No comment

Usually when I got to CVS and Walgreens I plan my trips around the best couponing deals and prepare accordingly. I write a lot about my couponing trips but what happens when you need to go to the store last minute for one or two things that you just have to buy?

I really needed mascara and dishwasher detergent. At CVS there was a deal on Almay but it turned out to be a better deal to buy NYC brand, which is cheaper even without a sale. There was an old tag for B1G1 half off of any NYC products and the nice cashier honored their sign and discounted the mascara anyways. She even gave me half off the more expensive mascara in the teal tube. I decided to try the $4.99 teal mascara and the $1.99 black mascara and then compare them so I would know which one to buy in the future. The teal mascara was definitely better. I also bought the Free After ECB (CVS Store Dollars) Jelly beans.

Then when I went to buy the dishwasher detergent I realized that it was between $7-9 at CVS and they didn’t have a store brand. I had a hundred things to do that day but instead of overpaying at CVS I made myself stop at Walgreens on the way home. I made the right choice because luckily it was on sale for $3.99 and I was also able to pick up some cheap .69 cents macaroni which was also on sale. We like to make black beans and macaroni and cheese as a cheap and easy lunch.

Today’s shopping trips only prove how much money I really save by stocking up when I find great couponing deals on the things I use, but they also show that even without coupons you can still save yourself a decent amount of money by smart shopping.

Yard Sale Find $1 Lanterns

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 15, 2013 No comment

I recently stumbled across some Moroccan lanterns that I fell in love with! I may end up saving up my free amazon.com gift cards from Swagbucks.com (see Why I Print My Coupons Through Swagbucks) to buy some but in the meantime I was really excited to find these metal and glass lanterns at a yard sale for $1 each. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them yet but I have a bunch of tea light candles that I can use with them.

Free MyCokeRewards.com Points = Free 20oz Soda

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 9, 2013 2 comments

A long time ago I wrote about mycokerewards.com HERE and said that I had started using it. However, I never got around to updating how it went. Well since I first started using the site, we have received Free subscriptions to People, All You, and Wired Magazines and also free soda. They also offer no points needed free deals from time to time. And we rarely drink soda! People give us their caps! We simply input the codes and redeem them for free stuff.

Currently, they are allowing everyone to enter the following three codes for 40 free points! This is enough to get a free 20oz Coke!

– 10099041542625 (10 points)

– 10099144423516 (10 points)

– 10099755715372 (20 points)

So if you haven’t yet joined mycokerewards.com then now is a good time to start. The site is easy and fun to use. Click HERE to check out the site. (This is not a referral link)

Thanks, moneysavingmom.com for this deal idea.

3-2-13 Target Shopping Trip

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 8, 2013 1 comment

Up & Up Bleach 64 oz bottle and Up & Up Dish Soap $1.64 and $1.99
– $2/2 Up & Up cleaning items (excludes items under $1) Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons- $0.64 + $0.99

RE Picture Frames starting a $1.79
$2/1 Picture Frame Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons- Free

Up & Up Antacid Tablets 72 ct $2.03 (through 3/2)
Use the $1.50/1 up & up digestive health item Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons- $0.53!

Target Boots 70% Off
Cost- ~$11.00

Up & Up Printer Paper 400 Sheet Ream $3.14 (Regular Price)
-$1 Off Up & Up® item $3 or higher Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons– $2.14

February Grocery and Household Item Budget

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 3, 2013 No comment

This February (I can’t believe that it is already March as I write this), we did a good job sticking to our grocery budget. Our Totals Were-

Spent- $221.62

Saved- $334.31 (not including savings from stores such as Aldi and Dollar Tree which are hard to calculate)

*Don’t forget that this is for all household items including personal care items, not just groceries*

We did go over our $200 goal for each month but it was actually for good reason. I stocked up on a ton of canned goods like I do every year during Publix’s Viva Italia Sale- click HERE to see the trip. We would have gone much farther over budget but a couple of our relatives had given us Publix gift cards totaling $45 that we used towards this stock up. This is the 3rd year I have stocked up during this sale and the canned items usually last us until next year’s trip, click here to see last years shopping trip.

Free One Night DVD Rental from Redbox

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 3, 2013 No comment

Through March 6, 2013, use coupon code DVDNIGHT at checkout for a free one night DVD rental. Remember these codes work once per card!

Why I Have A College Degree and Choose to Be a Server

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 2, 2013 No comment

To make this article more interesting here are some things that you should know about me-

I graduated college in 2010 with a double major bachelor’s degree and a 4.0 GPA. And I did this with zero debt!

Part of how I accomplished this was by being very frugal and also by being a server in a restaurant. Most of my pay (servers make less than minimum wage hourly) was in tips which can vary but I’ve always had more good nights than bad so the pay isn’t really that inconsistent. After graduating from college I was hired for a full time job. I could write a book about how horrible that job was but for the sake of time I’ll just say that they wanted us to work a huge amount of unpaid overtime and also there were safety concerns including gun violence and arson. In addition, I felt suffocated by commuting an hour each way to work and working around 50 hours a week.

Making the decision to return to serving wasn’t an easy one.

Americans are taught that we should always be progressing and moving forward. Going back to serving after receiving my college degree felt like going backwards. However, for many reasons I was very unhappy working 9 to 5 which was really more like 8 to 7.

I started really considering what I wanted out of a job. This should be a requirement before choosing a college major but I assure you it is not.

Here are the things I decided I wanted in a job right now-

– A job that I could enjoy

– A job with a flexible schedule

– A job where I made at least enough money to pay my bills and save a little

– A job where I make a maximum amount of money in a minimum of time

– A job where I could take off if I was sick

– A job where I got to interact with people

– A job with a reasonable commute

Here are the things I want in a job in the future-

– All of the above things I want in a job now

– A job where I make a lot more money

– A job where I will use my education

– A job where I can help people

– A job where I am challenged intellectually

– A job where I am treated with respect

Even for an educated person the job market isn’t great right now. In our area, many full time jobs pay less than I make serving. I realized that going back to serving would meet the requirements on my wish list of things I wanted in a job right now. Yes, there are disadvantages to serving including being treated badly by customers, slightly inconsistent pay, and it can be a high stress job (People want their food and people want it now!) but I feel that the advantages outweigh them. In addition, serving allows me the flexibility to go back to school for my Master’s degree which will qualify me to teach at college level which is what I really want to do for a career.

However, when I made the decision to go back to waiting tables I hadn’t yet decided to go back for my M.A. I decided that I would rather have a job with a flexible schedule that I actually like (at least most of the time) rather than a full time job that paid a little more (in the area we live in it’s really not that much) even if I was miserable. In addition, I would rather work less and spend my time doing things that save me money rather than spend all of my time working. For now, the advantages of serving far outweigh the disadvantages and I’m really happy with my decisions.

What reasons do you have for choosing your current profession?