Yay!!! Summer is almost here! Kids will be out of school, and we’re looking for fun things to do. And really, some of the best things in life are indeed FREE!

FREE SATURDAY CRAFTS, WORKSHOPS, AND CLINICS  - Fun activities to make things and get creative are offered for free at Lowes and Home Depot on Saturdays. Check the schedule for your area, and pick the ones you know your kids will enjoy.

FREE NATIONAL PARK DAY – August 25th is National Park Service Birthday, which means FREE entrance for all! There’s 10 other free days throughout the year as well!

FREE BOWLING - Kids get 2 free games every day,all summer long! Just sign up at KidsBowlFree.com and find a bowling alley near you!    

FREE SUMMER “DAY CAMPS” – Bass Pro Shop offers free family summer camps with free arcades, carousel rides, and discovery displays with ant farms, bird watching, and more. Camps are usually the second week of June on Tues., Thurs. Sat. and Sun. Dates for 2013 will be announced here:

FREE CONCERT, FESTIVAL or SHOW – Ever wonder why hotel tax is so high? Some of those funds go to grants to promote tourism via free shows and festivals in libraries, parks, and community centers. But you don’t have to be a tourist to enjoy them. Our kids even got free pony rides at a free festival. Check your local city and county websites for free shows and events that are educational, fun and free. Many malls and shopping centers host free shows for kids and families in the summer. Some include crafts. Check your local mall for schedules and events.

FREE ARBORETUM or BOTANICAL GARDEN –Many county arboretums, private or city botanical gardens have free special events or days. Some have regular free days every week. For example, the New York Botanical Gardens are Free all day on Wednesdays and parts of Saturdays. A number of universities and colleges have beautiful arboretums that are free to visit year round. Check your local area websites for schedules and hours.

 FREE ARTS, CULTURE, and MUSEUMS - Grants from foundations and corporations often fund free days at museums, some on an on-going basis. Target’s mission is to sponsor family events across the nation, some of which are free museum days and arts events for families. See if there’s something going in your hometown for Free Target Community Events. Bank of America offers free museum admission to over 150 museums on the first full weekend of every month. Find a local museum for Museums on US weekends, and BofA Visa card is your ticket to enter. Choose a museum where kids are always free, and it’s free for the whole family. Also, check your local museum websites for free admission days through other generous corporate or foundation sponsorship.

BONUS – Pack a picnic, a blanket, balls, kites, and bubbles, and frolic in the park!

Soak it in, and enjoy every moment of your kids’ summer!

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Average savings Family of four – $514 a month

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Don’t you just feel like doing cartwheels when you find a new way to save!?!?!?

Target introduced a new way to save, called “Cartwheel”.

Cartwheel is a new Facebook app that gives you an extra 5-25% off things you’re probably are already buying. Plus, the best part is you can stack Cartwheel with manufacturer coupons!

They make it more than easy to get on board and start Cartwheeling:

1. Log in to Cartwheel.Target.com 

2. Sign in through Facebook, when they ask you to! (really, it was painless)

3.  Find and choose deals

4. At the store, show your barcode on your mobile phone - All the deals and savings you selected will be there for you!

That’s it!

Enjoy the savings!!!!

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Average savings Family of four – $514 a month

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May is National Military Appreciation Month!

Having been married for almost thirty three years to a hero of my own, a Vietnam veteran, I have a first hand appreciation for what our military does for all of us, and the sacrifices they make daily so we can have the privilege of living in the land of the free and the brave.

In honor of NMAM, TheGroceryGame.com is offering a new Military Discount for US Armed Forces and Dependents. After the four-week free trial, those who qualify, get an All Access Savings Pass to every store List in their area for the next eight weeks for five dollars. For those twelve weeks, I know that five dollars could easily reap over $1,000 in grocery savings. This is the best offer we’ve ever come up with, and it couldn’t be for a better group of Americans.

Whether we’re in the military or not, I hope we’ll show appreciation to those in the US Armed Forces and their families, not just for the month of May, but every day we wake up and find that our flag is still there.

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Average savings Family of four – $514 a month

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Well, Happy Mother’s Day…

On May 12^th, Kroger Mid Atlantic regions will stop doubling coupons.  The Mid-Atlantic region covers Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, eastern Ohio and parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. In their Mid Atlantic marketing division, Kroger has been doubling the value of coupons that are fifty cents or less.

Now I have the job of telling you how much this will pack a punch to your wallet.

In looking at the most recent LIST for Kroger Mid Atlantic at www.TheGroceryGame.com, here’s the facts:

• Most grocery shopping trips have 50-60 items in the cart.
• If you sort the Kroger LIST by savings % at www.TheGroceryGame.com and checked off all items 50% off or better, you would have  selected 131 items (most of us would never buy all those items).
• With the current double coupon policy, if you bought those 131 items, you would have saved $353.92.
• Those 131 items without double coupons would cost you $9.55 more.

As explained here when Kroger Cinci Quit Doubling,  coupons used at the right time, at the right place, on the right item, are the frosting on the cake. The biggest savings come from sales.

The good news…

• In April, Kroger began lowering thousands of prices on everyday items, including produce.
• Kroger will continue to accept manufacturer coupons, digital coupons, e-coupons, Catalina coupons and printable coupons at face value.
• Www.TheGroceryGame.com will continue to lead shoppers to easy savings using coupons and deal stacking with both advertised and UN-advertised sales.*

We’ll keep you posted.

*62% of the deals at www.TheGroceryGame.com are UN-advertised, not found anywhere else on the web, nor in sales circulars.

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Average savings Family of four – $514 a month

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We still have time to gather a great Spa Basket for Mother’s Day!

This week, I’ve selected $93 worth of fourteen lovely treats for just under $30:

• CVS – FREE Eye shadow
• CVS – Hair Styler – $1.99 (69% off)
• RITE AID – FREE Hair Styling Putty
• WALGREENS - 2 Nail Polishes – .49 ea (90% off)
• WALGREENS – Hair Styler – $1.99 (67% off)
• WALGREENS – 2 packages of razors (4 ct. ea) – $1.87 ea (71% off)
• WALGREENS - Shave Creme – .79 (67% off)
• WALGREENS - 2 Body Wash – $1.50 ea (67% off)
• WALGREENS - Jar Candle – $4.99 (50% off)
• WALGREENS - 2 Perfumes – $5.90 (50% off)

Blue items are great deals for stocking up.

Green items are FREE!

The Physician’s Formula Quad Eye Shadow at CVS is worth $6.99, and free with one of two coupons from the 04/21 or 03/10 Sunday paper Smartsource insert.

The Garnier Fructis Power Putty Hair Styler at Rite Aid is worth $5.99 and is free with a combination of 3 coupons: a Rite Aid Load to Card coupon, plus a manufacturer coupon printed at Coupons.com or from Red Plum 04/07 Sunday paper insert. Plus use a $2 coupon printed from Rite Aid’s Video Value page after watching a video.

The $5.90 Instyle fragrances at Walgreens are copies of designer fragrances that I think are actually quite nice. Here’s some reviews on Makeup Alley  which gave these fragrances 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely seemed like a nice addition to the basket, when the designer brands cost $60 to $85 or more.

Details on the rest of these deals and over 300 more from the three drugstores are at www.TheGroceryGame.com

CVS and Walgreens deals are good thru Sat. May 11. Rite Aid is good thru Thurs. May 9 or Sat. May 11.

I filled in with a few things from the dollar store as shown here last week, to make a lovely basket! Take a look at what they have!

Hope you have a very Happy Mother’s Day!

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Average savings Family of four – $514 a month

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I’ve started gathering up spa basket goodies for Mom’s Day! Pardon me while I get excited. I LOVE finding deals!!!

Last week, I went drugstore cherry picking. Take a look at what I got HERE - $120 worth for $28 and change!

Now in Week 2, I hit Dollar Tree and found hair bands, microfiber face cloths, facial brushes, eye masks, hair clips, body puffs, bows, and tissue. All things mom can enjoy, AND a dollar each!

Then… I couldn’t resist… I logged in to TheGroceryGame.com and chose 9 more treats for mom. Who doesn’t love candy and gum? And what mom doesn’t need magic energy pills? Especially when it’s all at 71% savings! Sweeeeeet!

Mom also gets a new bottle of clear eyes, because they were a green item, which means FREE! Ummm… How could I say no to FREE???

400 deals to choose from in the drugstores alone, but I was planning to be picky, because I’d already shopped last week.

You can shop any way you like, but here’s a video on how I use The Grocery Game for comparison shopping. Can you say, “cherry picking”?

Yep! 9 frivolous treats, over $40 worth for $11 and change. LOVE it!

The deals I chose for Rite Aid are only good through Thurs. May 2 in my area, and some Rite Aids in other parts of the country go thru Saturday. Hundreds of other deals at the other stores are good through Sat. May 6.

Grand finale to come! New deals start Sunday, and…

Next week’s cherry picking will be the BEST!!!

 www.TheGroceryGame.com – 4 week FREE trial
Average savings Family of four – $514 a month

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