HAD to share this awesome pizza deal you can get at Papa John's! Go to Papa John's Coin Toss page and make a vote - heads or tails - for what the winning Super Bowl coin toss will be. If your vote is right, you'll score a FREE large 1-topping pizza!

... But wait! ... there's more. The rules say you can only vote once, BUT up to FOUR members of your household (over the age of 13) can also vote too!! That means - sign up your hubby too! You pick heads, he picks tails (or vise versa, no fighting!) and you are guaranteed a FREE pizza. Awesome right?

The winners will receive their FREE large pizza code via email on Monday, February 4. Your code can only be redeemed online at papajohns.com. The code can be redeemed through Sunday, March 10. Remember one vote per person, but up to four per household as long as they are over the age of 13.

You can never have enough free pizza - Mmmmmm!

Amazon Local is doing Limeberry's again - get your Fro-Yo for half off! Get a $10 voucher for just $5 bucks. Buy as many as you like, promotional value expires 5/26/13.

It's FREE Mexi-Friday all day at Taco Time (at least here in the NW it is)! Which means every customer gets a FREE regular order of Mexi-fries! I already went to get mine and I have to say they were extra yummy when it's FREE.

It's one week away - the shopping trip that starts the season. Deals too juicy not to oogle at, even just a little tiny bit. It takes some serious planning or your going to find yourself empty handed or going home with deals you didn't want (AKA: What was the wait time in that return line again?)

This is a very well planned trip for us Price Snobs. Keep in mind we get a high off the thrill of the hunt. So if you don't, it may not be worth it. (Don't forget our previous post about pricing and Camelcamelcamel.com)

And please. We only run people over in the store if a.) They try to steal your kid  b.) They try to steal your husband. Now let's shop.

(Be sure to go to I hart the Mart's Black Friday shopping guide to hear all about how he thinks you don't have to do much planning at all)

    Plan Your Route
This is one of the obvious ones that most of you probably do. But just sayin' anyways - plan your route and make your time/gas count. Keep in mind whatever store you go to, there's probably going to be at least 45 minutes in line (and I'm being generous here - it most certainly can be an hour or more).

    Always Try Online First
Give it a shot - at least no one here can physically steal kids or husbands (just their identities). So, so many deals that you see in the ad will go LIVE online at 9pm or midnight. Sometimes it's advertised that they WON'T, but they really are. (See our tips from last year on how to prepare for online crowds.) Bust out your Coke Zero's and get ready to shop for all that in store stuff at 9pm and midnight. REMEMBER: 9pm is eastern midnight. (Unless your hitting up the stores that open 9pm on Thanksgiving. My hubby does, but I don't.)

    Don't Get the HOT-HOT Deals
Then we go to sleep, wake up at 4am, let the baby sitter in, and stand in a line. For five hours? No, way. First off all - all those ridiculously low priced computers and other mumbo jumbo aren't top grade. Quality over quantity, padawons. Second of all - only the crazy people on the news get those deals. Leave 'em for the crazies and leave your tents in storage till summer.

   Go for the MEDIUM-HOT/LOW-HOT Deals
I mean, most of those "medium" Black Friday deals would be HOTTER than HOT any other day, right? These are the good ones that WILL sell out fast, but you have a dying chance at getting. As long as your in line about an hour before the doors open, you'll probably have a shot at it. I've done it that way for years and I always get most my list.

    Don't Get a Cart
Even if your item isn't a mad-dasher, you may regret getting a cart. Most stores will be so packed that there probably won't be any fresh oxygen to spare, let alone cart pushing space (although we give a cheer to Lacey Target last year for having a totally awesome system).

    It Takes a Village
Ok, maybe not a village, but you're gonna want people. In two's or three's. The first person is the "balloon man". Balloon man starts standing in line right away and will work as a drop off location since you won't have a cart. Attach a tall helium balloon to their belt so you'll be able to locate them easily (and cell phones don't hurt, either). If balloon man starts to get too close to the cashier, just bump back 15 people or so. Trust me, no one complains when you go BACKWARDS in line.

Person number two goes to electronics and person three goes to toys (or where ever your heart desires).

Then, be sure to have other recruits grab stuff for you at other stores. Make a deal with friends to grab stuff from their store for you and you'll grab stuff from your store for them. Not only does it save you time and gas, but it'll probably get you the deal that you never would have gotten.

    Watch out for the Packers, the Bears and the Steelers
Now you have to watch out for the lunatics who will probably eat you and your stuff for dinner. The "Packers" are the ones who think like a toddler: Everything's mine. You can spot these crazies really easily. They have everything stuffed underneath their arms and they're grabbing whatever seems to jump out at them. Unless you keep your spoils close, they're gonna think mistake your stuff for theirs and grab it.

The "Bears" are the angry ones. Don't let them think for a second that your stuff was not yours. Otherwise they will maul you for that item you already claimed. If you see one barreling down the isle for the last Tickle Me Elmo - you might want to make sure you're nails are sharper than theirs before diving in.

The last are the "Steelers". They'll just steal your stuff. Plain and simple. They'll steal the underwear from right outta your pants if you let them. Toys you have or haven't purchased, or cash flowing out of your purse like milk and honey. Don't make it easy for them.


ENJOY yourself and have fun. Remember, we're all broke and we all want deals. It's tough times right now, but we all know toys and T.V.'s are not worth loosing a toe over. And get the deals you WANT, not just because you CAN! Happy hunting!

It's the homecoming celebration, yet again, this year at the Westside Grocery Outlet here in Olympia. FREE stuff, coupons, games, turkey bowling, bargain bingo (win FREE prizes), and more. here's the schedule, be sure to check it out!

8:00am - ?: The first 100 customers who spend $10 or more receive a FREE turkey!
8:00am -Noon: Bring 2 cans of food for the Salvation Army and Grocery Outlet donates a turkey to them in your name AND get a $3 off your total purchase coupon!!!
Noon-2:00pm: Bargain Bingo! Fabulous Prizes - A winner every 10 minutes!
2:00-4:00: Get your picture taken with Ben Savin and Lois Prices
4:00-7:00pm: Turkey Bowling for Bargain Bucks at the top of each hour!

The Olympia Grocery Outlet has medium eggs for just $0.79 a dozen due to overstock! Time to make up some breakfast burritos and freeze 'em! Here's a great recipe at Money Saving Mom: Freezer-Friendly Breakfast Burritos.

Ready or not, here it comes. Shopping starts yesterday, but how do you know to get the deal now or not? We're just as confused as you are half the time, but we do have some tips that should make you for a more savvy shopper.

Before we move on to the good stuff below, let me give you one big tip that many, many new couponers learn the hard way: Don't buy a good deal, unless it's something you really want.  Get the toys that the kids put on their Christmas list, not the stuff you see on the coupon blogger's list - they're JUST suggestions. I'm glad that the Transformers are $0.50 a piece when they're normally $10, but put that in the emergency birthday bin pile and get what the kids really want (or what YOU really want).

CAMELCAMELCAMEL.COM
No one's trying to sell you smokes here - this site has nothing to do with tobacco. Put camelcamelcamel.com at the top of your bookmarks because this is your holiday go to mentor. Camelcamelcamel.com will tell you the price history of almost any product from Amazon.com, Best Buy, and New Egg.

Just go to the product's page you want on Amazon (or Best Buy or New Egg), copy the address, and paste it into Camelcamelcamel.com's "find product" box. Viola! Price history, sometimes going a couple years back! Now you'll know if that "HOT OMGOMGOMGOMG GET IT NOW NOW NOW DEAL" is really a well-done, medium or rare.

Camelcamelcamel.com also lists the latest price drops on products and current deals. Check back in regularly.

When Do I Buy What?
I could probably tell you when the best time is to buy cereal, peanut butter, or bbq sauce ... but what about stuff? As far as I've gotten with that is All You magazine says get your electronics in November and appliances in December.

What I'm depending on is Toys R' US and Walmart will price match anything except day after Thanksgiving sales. For those of you wanting a deal without hassle - buy it now, price match later. Also remember that you can return just about anything that's unopened with a receipt. So that "I dunno I'm so scared to buy, but so scared to miss it deal" is always returnable and most of the time price matchable if a better deal rolls around later.

Our Day After Thanksgiving Shopping War Zone Guide is just about complete. Kinda excited to show you the awesome strategies we've developed over the years.

What'd you do with your Zaycon? At my place we cut some up into tenders, marinated whole breasts and tenders with different flavors (letting them marinade for a day before freezing), and packaged up the rest in breast sized servings. My hubby and I worked the assembly line, clocking in a total of 1 1/2 hours prepping our chickies.

Frozen Chicken Hillbilly style - Giddy Up.
I put each meal sized serving into a sandwich baggy, sealed it off (some with their own marinade), then threw them all into gallon freezer bags. This allowed me to get creative with flavors and will also allow me to easily reuse my freezer bags. As you can see in the picture, we put our tenders on a cookie sheet and 9x13, then stuck those in the freezer for several hours. Once fairly frozen, we placed them into the freezer bag - this makes it so they don't all stick together. (When it's time to use them, I just run the frozen bag under water until it just barely becomes loose enough to wiggle out. Normally less than a minute. ) Frozen Chicken Hillbilly style - giddy up.

Cost?
Ok - so how much does Zaycon cost me after all the trimming and bagging? Well - I trimmed off about 2-3 pounds of fat and skin. So that means I actually only got 37 pounds in usable meat. I used $0.49 worth of sandwich baggies (36 bags) and $0.25 cents worth of gallon sized freezer bags (5 bags). So how much did I actually pay per pound after all trimming and costs?

40 pounds - 3 pounds of trimmings = 37 pounds usable meat
$67.60 + $0.49 baggies + $0.25 freezer bags = $68.34
$68.34 total cost/37 pounds = $1.85 a pound

Not bad, for fresh high quality chicken. I'll take it. Still, it's good to know if you have to make a trip to the Grocery Store - what the ACTUAL price comparison is. (Hillbilly style, at least. Might be different for those of you with your fancy dancy air sucking machines. :)

Go to Amazon Local to get a FREE BOGO coupon for a Whopper, Fruit Smoothie or Original Chicken Sandwich!

This is a smokin' hot deal that Amazon Local is offering for Aamco of Olympia. Get your front or rear brake pads replaced, rotors resurfaced, and a brake flush for just $59! I'm SO excited about this deal because Aamco is one of two mechanic shops that I'll take my car to. The owner, Dameon, is a real nice guy and we're very happy bringing him our business.