Back to School — MomStart

I Saved over 100.00 at Albertsons: Here’s How

August 14, 2010 By Momstart 9 Comments

I haven’t been clipping coupons like I used to. I’ve just been too busy with my blog. I know how much I can save when I’m serious about clipping so I sat down the other day and clipped some coupons while checking out the Back To School grocery ads. Albertsons makes it the easiest for me to save money, especially when General Mills is giving Albertsons a kick back and Albertsons shares that kick back in an extra savings event.

For every 10 items you purchase within the General Mills savings event, you receive and additional 5.00 off in savings. I ended up saving 111.81 with combined in store sales and grocery coupons. I spent 51.27 and had five paper bags packed to the brim with groceries.

All five bags:

This is couponing at it’s best. How do I do it? I sign up for coupons at every turn. I sign up for free product coupons when they come out on facebook, or on all of the freebie sites. You could spend a lot of time hunting everything down yourself, or just do a few searches on-line and you’ll find places that do all the work for you. The Coupon Mom does some of the stores for you and shows you how to get everything for free. She isn’t very big in the Pacific Northwest but she does do Safeway, Rite Aid, and Walgreens.

The coupons I used were just from the Sunday inserts in the newspaper, and a few peelies from products in-store. Peelies are the coupons that you find on package inside the store. Boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes ended up being 50 cents a box and so were Old El Paso refried beans. We eat burritos a lot so I just stocked up my pantry on these items that we use often. Making yourself familiar with brands that are under a particular manufacturer also help when trying to maximize your savings for events like this. For more on this topic see Matching ads with coupons!

Filed Under: personal, savings Tagged With: Albertsons, Back to School, Rite Aid, Safeway, Walgreens

Back To School Savings at Walmart

August 14, 2010 By Momstart 1 Comment

I love to share savings with my readers and I’ve forgotten that. I’ve been so wrapped up in working with brands and hosting giveaways that I forgot why some of you started following me in the first place. Once upon a time I wrote about saving money, where to go to save and how to use coupons. So maybe, just maybe, I’ll make some time to write about that again!

Walmart sent me a list of some of their back to school savings and even though they are not paying me to post this, I thought it might help some of you who are already buying or thinking about buying back to school items.

From Crayola Washable markers to Texas Instruments calculators, parents can check off all the items on their school-bound children’s supply lists at Walmart. The retailer offers the brands, colors and styles kids want and need at unbeatable prices. Walmart also has some great back-to-college prices and sample shopping lists that can help your readers figure out all that they need at www.walmart.com/backtoschool.

Ready for some homework? Walmart stands firmly behind back-to-school savings and invites you to take the “Walmart Savings Challenge.” Put Walmart’s prices to the test by shopping for your whole list and comparing prices with other, local retailers. Get ready to add up the savings!

· Avery Durable View Binder – 1 inch – $2.50

· Pink Eraser by Peachtree Playthings – 2 Pack – $1

· 2-Pocket Folder with Prongs (Brads) – $0.20

· Bic Brite Liner Highlighters – 5 Pack – $1.50

· Bic Mechanical Pencil (7mm) – 10 Pack – $1.50

· Black & White Composition Book- 100 sheets – $0.25

· Crayola Colored Pencils – 12 Count – $1

· Crayola Crayons – 24 Count – $0.25

· Crayola Marker Classic Broad – 10 Count – $1

· Crayola Marker Washable Broad – 8 Count – $2

· Dixon #2 Pencils – 24 Count – $1

· Elmer’s School Glue – 4 Oz – $0.25

· Elmer’s School Glue Stick Twin Pack – $0.25

· Index Card 3×5 Ruled – 100 Count – $0.44

· Sharpie Fine Black Markers – 2 Count – $1

· Spiral Notebook Wide Ruled – 70 Sheet – $0.15

· Texas Instruments 84 Plus Silver Edition Graphing Calculator – $90

· Mead Reinforced Wide Ruled Filler Paper – 150 Sheet – $2.50

Thank you to Walmart for providing this great information.

Filed Under: savings Tagged With: Back to School, Crayola, savings, Walmart

Back To School Shoe Savings With 6PM

August 4, 2010 By Momstart 8 Comments

This is kind of silly but I’ve been posting great deals for 6PM.com for about eight months now and I never took advantage of the savings. One of my friends that reads my blog saw some of the deals a while back and even she took advantage of the savings. So, I’m the one that’s been missing out on the great savings here.

6PM gets all of the shoes that Zappos is done with and they want to sell them as quickly as possible so they mark them down at the best possible rate. So for mother’s like me that like to save money and need new shoes for school or Pre-school if you want to get right down to it; 6PM is where to find the best deals on the best brands.

6pm.com is where “brandaholics”go to get their daily fix on the brands they love in apparel, footwear, and accessories, all at 75% off MSRP – every single day!

When looking at the shoes I saw great brands like Converse, Nike and New Balance. I spent a lot of time looking at the girls shoes because Zoe will be going to Pre-school in the fall. She is so ready to go to school and she’s learning her letters. I picked out a pair of New Balance that were marked down to 15.00. That’s hard to find a name brand pair of shoes at such a low price. You find shoes at Target that are Target brand for that price you know what I mean?

I’m also very pleased with how quickly they came. There are three categories that are all are under $25. Boy’s Athletic Shoes, Girl’s “Sugar” Shoes, and Girl’s Athletic Shoes. The athletic shoes are perfect for kids that play and wear out shoes like my son does. Man, he’s just like his father the way he wears out his shoes. Love ya honey but you know it’s true! The “sugar” shoes are quite cute and I wished they had more toddler sizes in the boots. My daughter needs a new pair of boots for next year. I’m sure they’ll get more in as we get closer to the season.

I received a pair of shoes to facilitate this review.

Filed Under: review, savings Tagged With: 6PM, 6pm.com, Back to School, shoe review

Leap Frog Back To School Review

August 22, 2009 By Momstart 1 Comment

leap-frog-lets-go-to-school Leapfrog has a new DVD out, just in time for back to school. This DVD will get your little ones ready to go back to school or just to go to school for the first time. In this new DVD, Tad and Lilly are back and getting ready to go to school. Leap gets them everything they need and then they realize, we’re going to school and they are afraid they aren’t ready.

The DVD titled Leap Frog: Let’s Go To School hit stores on August 18th, just in time for Lilly and Tad to help your preschoolers get over their nervousness of heading off to school themselves.

SYNOPSIS

School starts tomorrow, and Tad and Lily are nervous! Join Tad, Lily and their magical firefly Edison as he gives them a tour of the classroom and shows them that the classroom is more nervous than they are! As the twins reassure the blocks, globe, clock and more talking ³teachers,² they learn key lessons about phonics, counting, days of the week and animals.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES *

· 5 Sing-along songs

· Interactive alphabet book

· A sneak peek at Math Adventure to the Moon *Subject to change

My daughter loves Leap Frog. She tells us all the time she wants to watch Leap Frog. I love it to because it has songs and everything in it is decent. She can learn how to count and how to read and her alphabet by watching Leap Frog. It’s not common anymore for children’s entertainment to be educational or completely appropriate. As my father would put it:

“Cartoons these days have scary looking characters and are just weird”

But he still loves to sit down with his grandchildren and watch whatever makes them smile.

Filed Under: review Tagged With: Back to School, DVD Review, Leap Frog

Office Max and Peter Walsh have great Back To School Tips

August 13, 2009 By Momstart 2 Comments

Last week I participated with Office Max, Peter Walsh and 200 other bloggers with a back to school learning session. We, the bloggers were able to ask Peter Walsh questions about organizing our children and preparing for a great school year.

Kids need to be taught how to organize and stay organized. We need to sit down with them and help them learn how to file all of their papers they get from school. Most art projects do not need to be kept in the back pack for the entire semester and tons of papers don’t need to be kept at all.

officemax_ball Help your child find out how their teacher wants the folder organized and also teach them how to use all the pockets of the back pack. When purchasing a back pack find one with more than just a center pocket. Many backpacks now days come with at least three sections. The large section is for books, the next section can be used for folders and papers and the final section can be used for a lunch bag.

If you are a family that considers getting a gift for the teacher, then don’t get an apple or a nick nack. Teachers want school supplies, so get them some school supplies. A lot of stores right now are selling paper and other supplies for pennies when they are usually 79 cents each. So check all of your local ads now and find the best prices to get that shopping done.

Also, the collections of school supplies are more than just the plane ones I grew up with. You can find quite the styles even at Office Max. They sent me some to check out and I gave the composition notebooks to my sister and I gave the adorable folders to my cousins that can’t afford cute school supplies.

If my children were going to school or needed school supplies I would have given them to my own children but I know they are going to people who can use them. I have one folder that I received from Peter Walsh and Office Max last year and I keep all of my blogging supplies in there. I go through it once or twice a month and practically empty it out. Everything I have to have I have an electronic copy and my e-mail is backed up on some server in Arizona, or at least that’s what my husband kids me about. So, if you have watched Peter Walsh on Oprah, or TLC then you have learned that his motto seems to be less is more. Get rid of the clutter and remember that at least 80 % of papers you are never going to need to look at again.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: Back to School, Office Max, organizational ideas, Peter Walsh