Did you get to watch the premiere of TLC’s Extreme Couponing Show last night? I wasn’t able to watch it, but I’ve spent some time chatting with those who did. While some extreme couponers seem a bit crazy, couponing is fun and can save you a ton of money.

I’ve been couponing for about 9 months and estimate I’ve saved almost $1,000. Yesterday I made a coupon run to Target and Cashwise and found some wonderful deals that saved me about $75. In short, I paid $60 for $135 dollars of groceries. While my stories don’t compare to getting a $5,000 bill down to $12 or some such thing, I am experiencing some serious savings.

Opportunity:

If you are in the area of Hutchinson, MN or interested in driving, there is a great class this coming Monday, January 3rd, 2011 taught by a friend of mine. She has helped me considerably, and I promise it will be worth your time and money. Here are the details to her Advanced Coupon Class.

I am so excited. I found out that Pamida is offering to triple coupons two days a week through the month of November! It’s no secret I’m frugal, and I love extreme couponing. Therefore, it’s no wonder why this bit of news has me running for my coupons and scissors. Last week I did a trial run and scored some really good deals. Now that I have a feel for the store, the brands they carry, and how the process works, I’m excited to give it another try.

Here’s my step-by-step guide for finding great deals at Pamida:

1. Go to Pamida.com and search for a store near you. Obviously, if there isn’t one in your area within an hour’s driving distance, this probably won’t be a good deal for you. Unless, of course, you are planning to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. Then search the locations near your travel route. Where there is a will, there is a way!
2. Next, pull up the current ad for sales. Go through your coupons to match up with sales items.
3. Keep in mind that you’ll want to find the highest value coupon for each item that does not exceed $1.00 Pamida will only triple $1.00 coupons or less, so your best savings will be in your $1.00 coupons.
4. Next, be aware there is a 3 “like” coupon limit per transaction. (Yes, you can leave the store and go back in for another transaction) You can only buy three products with the same coupon, but you can use one coupon for each.
5. The cashier will triple the coupons when you check out, but it will be your job to watch this closely, help when needed, and review your receipt before leaving the store.
6. You can get lots of free items, but only up to the price of the item. Therefore if an item costs $2.75 and you have a $1.00 coupon to be tripled, you will not make $.25 on this transaction. Sorry~ BUT the item will be free. Yeah!
7. Look through your coupons for items that may not be on sale, but might end up being free or very cheap anyway.

Last week I got 3 packs of wipes for free, 3 boxes of Triscuit crackers for free, and very low cost toothpaste, Planters nuts, and salsa.

Triple coupon days are every Sunday and Monday through November. Their sales ads seem to run Wednesday through Tuesday. You may go more than once. I’ve already written out my shopping list for this next week’s run to Pamida, where I plan to get lots more great deals. Please leave your questions or coupon success stories here. I’d love to hear from you.

photo credit: MissMessie

Lego’s and Walmart are teaming up to offer a challenge for families looking to have fun, be creative, and try their luck at winning some great prizes.  All you have to do is build your dream home out of Legos, take a picture of your creation, and enter. Then you need to check back to see if you made the top ten. For all the official details and to download your official entry form, go to Walmart-Lego Brick Challenge

Hurry, because you only have a couple more weeks to enter.

Good luck!

Where can I post a whole list of stuff available at my garage sale without paying to advertise each item? Oh yeah, my blog. Please forgive this post if you aren’t from around my area.

Thursday, August 19th from 8am until 4pm

Friday, August 20th from 1pm until 4pm

Baby Changing Table

High Chair

Baby Gates

Pet Gate (Vehicle)

Lots of toys (Fisher Price People, Vtech)

Girls baby/toddler clothes  (ALL CLOTHES $.50)

Girls clothes size 4-12  (ALL CLOTHES $.50)

Shoes

Kitchen dishes

Platters

Shelves

Leather Harley Jacket

Floor lamp

Small TV

Home decor (mirror,shower curtain,rugs)

Books (children and adult novels)

Bug/Lawn Fogger

Tons of other “stuff”

Everything is going cheap!

photo credit: TheTruthAbout…

I’m about to introduce you to the coolest place in town (actually online), unless you’ve already found it.

It’s not the water cooler.

It’s not the swimming pool.

It’s The Conversation Hub, a fantastic blog featuring articles and podcasts of people interviewed about anything and everything. What I love about this site is that it supports my belief that everyone is an expert in something and can offer inspiration and support to others. All you have to do is focus on what you are passionate about and then offer help to others. The Conversation Hub is a creative, fun, and interesting gathering spot of amazing talent located not too far from any of us. Famous in their own right, every person interviewed on The Conversation Hub brings thought provoking ideas and stories from everyday experiences to which most of us can relate. The Conversation Hub reminds me a bit of the show, “Real People” in the 1980′s. Remember that one?

I was lucky enough to be asked for an interview this week on The Conversation Hub, which you can listen to here. I’d invite you to also listen to the other phenomenal interviews collected there; the coolest spot in town!

My town’s music festival is this coming weekend. RiverSong is located along the Crow River in Hutchinson, MN, and it is a full weekend of fantastic folk music the whole family will enjoy. There’s a big park, river, music, food, camping, wildlife, bike trails, and so much more. The best part is that tickets are affordable and kids under 14 years old are FREE! If you are looking for something fun to do this weekend in Minnesota, check out Riversong. Discount tickets are available until Wed. July 28th! If you are there and spy me, Confessions of a Mom, let’s take our picture together and post it here.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Carole Spring, Winner of the Movie and Soundtrack!

I am pleased to announce that on Friday night, July 16th we’ll be sitting down as a family to watch the premiere of “The Jensen Project” on NBC at 8/7c. I was contacted by those promoting the movie and offered a special preview, which we watched. The kids were excited to see some of their favorite American Idol alum on the soundtrack recording clips. I was intrigued by the clever use of sci-fi story line, while maintaining the integrity of family movie. 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS: So now the good part: I have one copy of the movie and soundtrack to give away to one lucky blog reader. All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment below. The winner will be chosen randomly and notified via email. Therefore make sure you leave an email address in your comment! If I can’t contact you, I’ll need to select another winner. Deadline to enter is Friday, July 23rd!

It has occurred to me that not everyone is aware of the site TotallyTarget.com, because not long ago I had no idea it existed. I love checking it for good deals, clearance items, and coupon help.

Don’t have a Target in your area? I still use it for coupon ideas, and I have actually found better deals at Cashwise, EconoFoods, or Walmart with the same coupons/product saving ideas.

Just today I got tons of free and nearly free items, including all the Rolaids our family could possibly use in a long time, lotion, shampoo, and deodorant. I was bummed that the clearance Jello that would have cost about 11 cents were gone when we got there, but we still got some great deals.

Do you have a site you absolutely love that helps you save money and find good deals? Please share it with us.

photo credit: dno1967

What’s worse?

• Driving with three kids an hour to get to Valleyfair?
• Taking three kids in varying age ranges to Valleyfair?
• Paying for a family of five to go to Valleyfair?
• Paying for parking in order to pay for five people to spend the day at Valleyfair?
• Having one child still in diapers while spending a day at Valleyfair?
• Standing in the rain for seven hours while we desperately tried to get our money’s worth at Valleyfair?
• Finding out many of the rides we paid for are not open during the rain?
• Soaking wet and freezing all the way home?
• Seeing the sun come out bright and shining about 15 miles from home?

Despite all of this, we did have a memorable day at Valleyfair. The kids had fun and nobody got hypothermia or extreme chaffing, so all is well.

photo credit: jessicapearsonmn

Congratulations to JoAnn who was randomly selected as the winner!

It’s been a while since I focused my attention on connecting with other bloggers. I want to deepen the connections I have made over the last two years, and meet some more great people. I decided to focus on growing my subscriber base this next week, so that we can get the idea juices flowing again.

Since I started my recent hobby of couponing, I have been able to stock my pantry with all kinds of cool items. For this giveaway, I’m going to fill a “surprise” box full of items. One randomly selected winner will have to wait to open up the box to find out. I promise there will be all kinds of food, health & beauty items, etc! You’ll have to enter and win to find out! Winner will be selected on my 15th Wedding Anniversary, June 3rd, 2010 at 11:59pm!

To Enter:

1. REQUIRED: Subscribe to my blog via email, and make sure you verify the subscription (watch for the email and click on the verification link). Then leave a comment that you “subscribed via email”. If you are already a subscriber, let me know that too. If you have something you’d like to confess in your comment, that’d be great too! Make sure you enter an email to contact you. (1 entry)
2. Subscribe to my blog via Google Friend Connect, then leave a separate comment. (1 entry)
3. Join the Confessions of a Mom Fan Page on Facebook, then leave a separate comment telling me which name (first, and last initial is fine) I’d see in my list of “Likes”. (1 entry)
4. Follow ConfessionsMom on Twitter and tweet this giveaway-Write your own or use this: “Purely for fun GIVEAWAY while helping @ConfessionsMom grow her mom blog connections. You can join in too http://bit.ly/cQDMZN ” , then leave a separate comment. (1 tweet per day)

Since this is purely for fun and non-compensated, I’d love if you’d tell me about your blog in your comments. If you don’t blog, what are some of your passions? The reason I’m doing this is to connect with more people, so let’s have fun.

Winner will be contacted via email. If the randomly selected winner does not leave an email address, another will be chosen. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with a designated name/shipping address or another winner will be selected.

Enjoy!