Get Cash Back from your Groceries with Checkout 51! Deals reset today!
Checkout 51 is the easiest way to save money on the brands you love! We’re currently saving over half a million Americans and Canadians money every day and have much larger plans for expansion!
All our members have to do is follow these simple steps:
- Browse the offers that are updated every Thursday
- Buy the products from any store
- Take a photo of your receipt to redeem your deal
- Get cash back!
Walmart Free Shipping Service – Have you heard?
Have you heard the news? The online shopping community is buzzing with speculation about a new potential game changer when it comes to buying your things online. There will soon be a new “Free Shipping” subscription service aimed at competing with Amazon Prime. Walmart has decided to make an attempt at edging out, or at least scooting over, Amazon Prime and its huge share of the online shopping market. Amazon Prime costs $99 per year and provides two day shipping and many other benefits. As many of you regular readers know, I love Prime and think it is worth every penny. When I heard the Walmart Free Shipping service was going to be offering something similar, I had to learn more.
The Walmart Free Shipping service is being held as somewhat of a secret. The only information Walmart has included on their website is the following:
Bestselling products – in Baby, Clothing, Electronics, Health & Beauty, and others.
Unlimited shipping – The more you use it, the more you save on shipping – all year long.
Fast delivery – 3-day shipping or less.
No one really knows too much about the Walmart Free Shipping service yet but what we do know is intriguing. The Walmart Free Shipping service will cost $50 per year, which is about half the price of an Amazon Prime membership. It will offer free shipping with delivery within three days of most orders being placed. The Walmart Free Shipping service will include around 1 million items, a small fraction of the 7 million items available online at Walmart.com. Still, 1 million items is a pretty big selection! I order so many things on Amazon simply because Prime is so convenient, I am sure that selection of 1 million items is sure to contain things I need and use every day. It is rumored that Walmart’s service will not include things like free video and music streaming, free digital books or photo storage. Those are all features included with Amazon Prime.
When I heard about the Walmart Free Shipping service the first thing I did was go look to see where I could sign up. The subscription service is not available quite yet. It will be available by invitation only at first to be tested by a select group of shoppers. Want to sign up to be one of the first to try it? You can sign up to be places on a wait list HERE. I’ve signed up, it isn’t a commitment just a request to be included in the initial offers.
Why would Walmart offer the Walmart Free Shipping service? Look again to Amazon. Amazon found that Prime members want to get the most of their subscription fee so they tend to increase purchases they make at Amazon after they sign up. That means they’re less likely to buy goods from other around town or online retailers and they spend more at Amazon. This is a good sign for online shoppers. Walmart wants our business and they are coming up with ways to get it. Hopefully the Walmart Free Shipping service will be just the first step in Walmart refreshing its approach to luring online shoppers in with good promotions and great deals.
Keep your kitchen cool this summer!
I love almost everything about summer. There are just a few things I don’t like about summer, having a hot house is one of them. I especially hate it when the kitchen gets hot, I really prefer to keep my kitchen cool. Using the oven seems to make my kitchen oh so very hot. Cooking and preparing meals in a hot kitchen can be a deal breaker for me, it makes me want to eat out and get out of that heat. Eating out to avoid a hot kitchen makes no sense; it is expensive and not practical. There are a few things I do that really help keep the kitchen cool and keep me happy.
Use a crockpot
I try to use a crockpot whenever I can. Cooking meat and other things in a crock pot will keep your kitchen much cooler than using the oven. A quick search on the internet will bring up thousands of recipes and tons of great ideas. Yummy food and a great way to keep the kitchen cool.
Use the microwave
Sometimes we forget the microwave is good for more than warming up leftovers and popping popcorn. There are so many things that can be prepared in the microwave. There are lots of tips and recipes online for making many of the usual oven dishes in the microwave. There are even special, and usually inexpensive, dishes made for microwaving more meals that usually require baking.
Cook outside on a grill
This is one of my all-time favorites. It doesn’t take much to convince me to get out the grill. We love to cook meats, vegetables and more on our grill. My husband was just given a pizza stone so we can try cooking pizza on the grill!
Cook outside with a toaster oven
This is a great idea for those things that really do taste better when they are baked. We use a little camp table and put the toaster oven right out on the deck. Works great for so many things and keeps the kitchen cool!
Bake or use the oven at night for the next day
Can you make any part of the meal the night before? Once the house has cooled down it seems so much easier to cook and bake. There are lots of things you can make ahead when you think about it. All of these things will help keep your kitchen cool. It also makes dinner prep go much faster when part of it is already done, another bonus.
Eat more cold meals
I love this one! Summer naturally seems to bring more salads and sandwiches. Fresh garden veggies, pastas, so many good ideas are on the usual summer menu. There are so many different cool meal options that seem to taste even better in the summer months. Another great way to keep your kitchen cool.
Once you start thinking about the many ways you can keep your kitchen and house cooler by changing your cooking habits, it seems easy and totally doable. It will even be fun! You’ll find yourself happily eating at home in a cooler house – such a good thing! We love it and it is another great way to pinch your pennies.
Are you using Walmart’s Savings Catcher?
Have you been using Walmart’s Savings Catcher program? It is available nationwide and if you aren’t using it when you shop at Walmart; why not? You really should give it a try! Savings Catcher compares your receipt to advertised prices from top stores in your area, and if it finds a lower advertised price, you get the difference on a Walmart eGift Card. All you have to do is enter your receipt and Walmart does the work for you.
I signed up for this last fall and I use it as often as I can. (I’ll admit sometimes I forget to scan my receipts.) I find it works best for me if I take my phone out and scan my receipt into the Savings Catcher program as I am walking out of Walmart. That way I don’t forget to scan my receipts. It is so easy to use and the credits you get from the price matching are building up in my account. When I decided I want to redeem the amount for an eGift card the process is super simple and I will have a nice chunk of money to spend at Walmart or Walmart.com. That’s free money folks, why would anyone turn that down?
Do you hear the words “free money” and wonder, “There’s no such thing as free money. There has to be a catch.” Well, there’s not! As long as you sign up for the program and enter your receipts into the Savings Catcher program within seven days of the transaction, it is easy! How easy is it? Super easy, I promise!
Here’s how easy it is.
- Enter or scan your receipt.
Enter your receipt number or scan the barcode by downloading the Walmart App. - Walmart compares prices.
Walmart will match the price of any local competitor’s printed ad for an identical product. - You get the difference.
If Savings Catcher finds a lower advertised price, you get the difference.
And here are a few more key facts:
Is there a minimum purchase required?
No. There is no minimum purchase requirement. Simply submit your receipt to get started.
How many receipts can I submit?
You can submit up to 7 receipts per week to Savings Catcher.
Is Savings Catcher available on my smartphone?
Yes. You can access Savings Catcher by downloading the Walmart app on your smartphone.
What types of promotions does Savings Catcher include?
Savings Catcher compares eligible items on your receipt to items found in the print and digital weekly ads of top retailers in your area. The ads must be valid at the time you made your Walmart purchase and include a specific item price.
Can I submit old receipts?
Your receipt needs to be 7 days old or less.
When you see how easy it is to get free money from your normal everyday Walmart purchases, you’ll want to sign up for Savings Catcher and start saving today! Need more information? Find more information on the program here at the Savings Catcher LINK.
Get cash back from your grocery shopping this week!
Checkout 51 is the easiest way to save money on the brands you love! We’re currently saving over half a million Americans and Canadians money every day and have much larger plans for expansion!
All our members have to do is follow these simple steps:
- Browse the offers that are updated every Thursday
- Buy the products from any store
- Take a photo of your receipt to redeem your deal
- Get cash back!
Have two printers? Save money!
Let’s talk about a great way to save a little money. It is something that almost everyone has and almost everyone spends money on every month or two. Some of us spend a little and some of us spend a lot. Let’s talk about printing and printers. Do you love yours? If you are like most of the people I meet, the answer is probably no. Lately I have met so many people that say they hate their printers. People talk about how expensive their printer was and how much the ink refills cost. They talk about how much they print using black ink and how little they print using colored ink. Many times when you replace the black ink you also have to replace the colored ink. Some printers even take the expensive colored inks and mix them together to print in black ink. That’s crazy! Those things make having a printer and replacing the ink cartridges so expensive. There is so much frustration surrounding ink and printers. We’ve solved that problem at my house in a very different way – we have two printers.
Have two printers? Some people have told me how crazy this sounds but it works really great for us. The printer we use all of the time is a black and white laser printer. A couple of years ago we were in the same ink using predicament. We hated using colored ink up when we didn’t need to. We looked at what we really print at our house and even with four kids; the majority of our printing was just black ink. We found that we rarely use our color printer. We use our color printer for school projects and a few other things but not day to day printing. It made sense to look for something that made printing cheaper.
We love our printer – it is a HP LaserJet Pro P1102w Wireless Monochrome Printer. It is such a fabulous printer. It uses a black LaserJet toner cartridge instead of ink. Toner cartridges do not dry out the way ink cartridges dry out. One toner cartridge for this printer prints about 1600 pages and costs around $50. That’s about 3 cents a page! I love the wireless feature too. We can print from any computer or mobile device from anywhere in our house. This is the printer I use and some of its features.
HP LaserJet Pro P1102w Wireless Monochrome Printer
List Price: $159.00
You Save: $70.00 (44%)
Price: $89.00
- Wireless HP LaserJet printing in the home or office
- HP ePrint – Now, print from your smartphone or tablet from virtually anywhere
- Save with the most energy-efficient laser printer on the planet
- Use HP Toner for great results, print after print
We still have our color printer. We use it when we need color prints, which isn’t that often. We don’t buy color ink cartridges very often anymore – a great money saver. Having two printers has turned out to be a great choice and a great money saver. Do any of you have two printers or a printer you love? What do you use? Let us know, we love to hear from you.
Popcorn – Is it your favorite snack?
Everybody has something they love to do when they want to put their brain on pause and relax. Some people bike or hike, others read or sew. Relaxing activities are as different as the people doing them are different. What is my favorite relaxing activity? I love watching movies – both in the theater and at home. I’ll admit one of my favorite parts of watching movies is the popcorn. Having popcorn when you are watching a movie is an absolute must, there is no skipping the popcorn. My all-time favorite popcorn is what you get at the movie theater. Popcorn made at home is also super yummy! There is just so much about it to like!
One of the best things about popcorn is the fact that it is a super yummy snack that is actually good for you! You can’t say that about most of the other yummy snack foods out there. Check out these facts from the National Popcorn Board:
- Air-popped has only 31 calories per cup; oil-popped popcorn has only 55 calories per cup.
- When lightly buttered, it contains about 133 calories per cup.
- Popcorn is a whole grain, making it a good-for-you food.
- It provides energy-producing complex carbohydrates
- Popcorn contains fiber, providing roughage the body needs in the daily diet.
- It is naturally low in fat and calories.
- Popcorn has no artificial additives or preservatives, and is sugar-free.
- It is ideal for between meal snacking since it satisfies and doesn’t spoil the appetite.
- 3 cups equal one serving from the grain group.
After reading all of that, it is pretty easy to think that popcorn really might be the perfect snack food. Not only is it healthy, it is usually a very inexpensive snack. That makes it a great snack to feed large crowds. Those are lots of great reasons to choose popcorn as your favorite snack too. Now the only real decision to make is how to make it. There are lots of different poppers out there and lots of ways to make your popcorn. Here are a couple of my favorites.
These poppers are SO much fun! My kids love the popcorn we make with this. Easy to use – patented stirring mechanism prevents sticking and burning by stirring every kernel until it pops.
Wabash Valley Farms 25008A The Original Whirley Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper
List Price: $30.00
You Save: $10.01 (33%)
Price: $19.99
This is a great healthy way to make popcorn with or without oil. You can even serve it directly from bowl. You get quick and easy popcorn from your microwave.
Nordic Ware Microwave Popcorn Popper, 12-Cup, White
List Price: $11.60
You Save: $2.65 (23%)
Price: $8.95
These are just a couple of the many fun ways to make popcorn. There are lots of other great poppers available. What is your favorite way to pop your popcorn?
Stay tuned to our blog tomorrow when we share some great recipes for making fun flavored popcorn! Have a favorite recipe? Share it with us and it might just make tomorrow nights blog!
New at Kohl’s – Buy Online, Pick Up In Store!
It isn’t a secret – I LOVE shopping at Kohl’s! Kohl’s is one of my favorite stores. Combine their quality merchandise with great sale prices, stacking coupon codes and Kohl’s Cash and bargains are easy to find. The deals are usually a bit better at Kohls.com than in your local store – you can stack more codes and find great clearance deals. Sometimes it is hard to wait for shipping on an item from Kohl’s that I need or want right now. That’s why I was so excited to learn about the new option for shopping at Kohls.com – Buy Online, Pick Up In Store.
Buy online and pick it up in your local Kohl’s store! Don’t want to wait or pay for delivery? Take advantage of this great new program from Kohl’s! Shop their great selection of clothing, shoes, electronics and home decor online and choose to pick up in store when you add an item to your bag. Once you’re done shopping and you purchase the items, all you have to do is wait for the email notification that your order is ready at your local Kohl’s! Orders are usually ready within four hours—you can’t get much faster than that!
Is it really as easy to Buy Online, Pick Up In Store as they say it is? The answer is absolutely yes. I tried this option recently when I was purchasing some shorts for my daughter. I was able to stack and use all of the great online codes and still get the shorts the same day. Ordering was easy, the pick-up email came quickly and picking up the items was super easy to do. I’ve decided that using the Buy Online, Pick Up In Store option may be my new favorite way to shop at Kohls.com.
Want more information about the Buy Online, Pick Up In Store option? Here are some of the details from Kohls.com.
Why are some products not available at my local store?
Due to variations in the merchandise inventory from one store to another, some items may be available at your local store and some may not. Certain sizes, styles and colors change frequently so check back often or look for the item you want at another location.
Who can pick up my order? What do I need to pick up my order?
Currently, only the customer placing the order may pick up his or her order at the store. You will need: a government-issued ID and your pickup notification email. If you are unable to print your pickup notification email, the Associate can view it on your mobile device.
When will my order be ready?
Orders are usually ready within four hours.
Note: If you place an order after 5:00 PM (local time), it may not be ready until the following day. This time may also be subject to change during holiday season.
How long will my order be held at the store?
Your order will be held at the store for five calendar days. We’ll send you a reminder email one day before we cancel the order and return the merchandise to the store floor. If we cancel your order, your account will be credited for the amount of the order. Merchandise credits, Gift Cards and Kohl’s Cash will also be refunded.
Where do I pick up my order?
All orders (with the exception of fine jewelry) should be picked up from the Customer Service desk. Fine jewelry items should be picked up at the jewelry counter. Please reference your pickup notification email for specific location details.
Get ready for summer TV watching – get the best of live TV for $20 a month AND get a free Fire TV Stick or $50 off Amazon Fire TV when you sign up for Sling TV!
Summer is almost here and school is almost out. As much as we’d all like to say that we won’t be letting our kids watch much TV this summer, we know they will be watching some. If you’ve cut cable (or want to in order to save $) you may be thinking about how you’ll let your kids watch quality TV when they are spending their TV time. A great answer is the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Sling TV. They are a great deal and a great combination. As you are making your summer plans, think of this great option.
I talked before about how much I hate paying for cable. In fact, I hate it so much that about a year ago my family ditched cable and went to using an antenna. At first it was a hard transition, we missed a few of the cable channels and programs. There was a time or two that we missed a college football game, but overall we’ve been happy. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a few of those channels back. I’ve looked at going back to a basic cable package but that is still about $60.00 a month – more than I want to pay for sure! I’d pretty much written the idea off until I saw this new promo from Amazon and Sling TV.
We already have an Amazon Fire TV Stick and we LOVE it. We use it with our Prime and watch so many fun shows. It is a purchase I don’t regret at all. We I heard we could use Sling TV with the Amazon Fire TV Stick for just $20 a month I was interested. We would be able to watch most of the channels we missed. That would be great. In the fall we can add an extra sports package on for just $5 more a month if we want to – awesome! To make things even better right now you can get a free Fire TV Stick or $50 off Amazon Fire TV when you sign up for Sling TV for three months! What an awesome deal!
Here are the details from Amazon:
Sling TV delivers live TV—without the cable company—directly to your Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. Get the best of live TV—sports, current shows, movies, and breaking news—instantly. No hidden fees, just a clear-cut monthly rate. And for a limited time, sign up for Sling TV for three months and get $50 off your purchase of Amazon Fire TV or get a Fire TV Stick FREE.
Get the best of live TV for $20 a month with ESPN, ESPN2, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, TNT, CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Best of Maker, plus more channels to add on.
How to do it:
- Sign up for your subscription on the Sling TV website and prepay three months of Sling TV service.
- After signing up, you will receive a promotion code that can be used for $50 off Amazon Fire TV or a free Fire TV Stick.
- Copy the promotional code, go to www.amazon.com/redeemslingtvoffer, and add one Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick to your shopping cart.
- Proceed to check out. Paste or enter the promotional code in the “Enter a gift card or promotion code” field, click the ‘Apply’ button and complete your order.
- When your device arrives, simply plug it in, connect to the internet, and start enjoying instantly.
Doesn’t this sound like a great idea? I’m signing up today. How about you?
Save Money for Mother’s Day – Skip the Card!
Have you bought your Mother’s Day cards yet? If you are like me, you haven’t. Strolling down the card aisle with all of the pictures, jokes and sappy lines makes me a bit nauseous. It isn’t the silly sayings and bad jokes that turn my insides around. It is the crazy prices on the backs of the cards that always make me feel a little ill.
With greeting card prices on the rise, you can easily spend over $5.00 buying just one card. If you add music, pictures, embellishments the prices climb toward $10.00. Yikes! If you are a bargain shopper like me, you see that as enough money to buy another gift! Who wants to waste money on something that ends up in the trash hours or days later? I sure don’t. This thought of not wasting money on cards has sent me on a quest to find things to use when gift giving, instead of store bought cards.
Make your own card. I know it sounds a little bit like a trip back to preschool but it really can be fun and inexpensive. Use scraps of things that you already have around the house. Recycle old cards and pictures from magazines and ads. Use a photo and make a card that mom or grandma will love. Use anything you have around the house, just make it yourself without spending money on fancy supplies or embellishments.
Make a gift tag. Simple could be the answer. How often do we read a card and then toss it after the party is over. Do we appreciate the gifts with fancy cards more than those without cards? Cards are rarely important to me. I read them and then usually do not give them another thought. I have started to just make a simple gift tag for many of the presents we give. Quick, cheap and easy.
Think outside the envelope. I have really thought about cards and why we are so much in the habit of giving them. We usually use them to convey and idea of love or appreciation. Why not use something other than a card? One of my new favorite ideas is to use a children’s book. Picture books look cute on top of a gift, even when giving the gift to an adult. You can get a themed book and write a note or two on the inside cover, just like a card. For Mother’s Day consider a book about mom or grandma, there are lots of cheap favorites at places like Amazon.com, Walmart or your local book store. Some great and super cheap books can be found in new condition at your local thrift shop.
It must be a store bought card. There are some situations when you may feel like you absolutely have to buy a card. Shop smart when buying a card. Check the dollar stores. Our local Dollar Tree has a great selection of cards and they are just $1.00. Stores like WalMart have $.50 and $1.00 sections for every occasion including Mother’s Day. Look for card multipacks with a number of different greeting cards for a great price.
Whatever you choose to do: make a card, use a tag, use a book or buy a card, remember to pinch your pennies!
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Shoe Box Storage! Get Organized!
I hate clutter. It is one of those things that can make me bonkers. If I open a drawer or cupboard and see piles of clutter, I get a bit cranky. I want things to be organized and easy to find. I hate digging through a drawer full of randomness to find batteries, scotch tape or a glue stick. I hate going into the cupboard for an extension cord and having to dig behind everything to find it. I need things to be organized. I’m not always great about organizing and cleaning out things but I am much happier when I do it.
Another thing I hate is spending money needlessly. I love spending money on fun things but hate spending it on things that really aren’t much fun. Storage containers fall into that “aren’t much fun” category. So how did I solve the problem with organizing clutter without spending a lot of money? Simple! I used shoe box storage. There are shoe boxes in lots of shapes and sizes. They are usually perfect to organize so many things. You can use them in drawers with the lids tucked underneath or in cupboard stacked with the lids on top. You can use them plain or cover them with paper. You can even make your shoe box storage containers cute and pretty if you want. Label the box so you know what is inside at first glance.
Here are just a few of the things I keep in my shoe box storage containers:
Kids Toys
There are so many little sets of toys with a crazy amount of little pieces. Store a set or two of like toys together in this great use for shoe box storage containers.
Games
The pieces of games are pretty much just like the toys. So many little parts! So many games come in crazy packaging and does not fit back into the factory package. Use shoe box storage and put those messy games away.
Art Supplies
Art supplies are a staple of childhood fun but boy can they be messy! Crayons, glue sticks, markers, scissors, and more, it can make quite a mess. Gather them all together and put a shoe box storage container to good use.
Sewing Supplies
Many people have at least a few sewing supplies. If you aren’t a seamstress these sewing supplies tend to get scattered around the house and make a mess. Thread seems to get everywhere. Another great use for a shoe box storage container.
Kitchen Gadgets
I have a lot of kitchen gadgets with random parts and attachments. I hate it when I go to use a gadget and one small piece is missing. I end up digging in the cabinet to find it. No fun! Put gadgets and their parts in a shoe box storage container and you will be able to find it all.
Batteries and Mail Supplies
Both batteries and mail supplies tend to get lost in big junk drawers. I put all of these in one shoe box storage container and finding them is now easy.
Have more ideas for items that could be kept in show box storage containers? We’d love to hear about them!
Philips 60W Equivalent Soft White A19 LED Light Bulb 2-Pack – Just $4.97!
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Buy Online, Pick Up In Store
2015 Entertainment Coupon Book for just $12.00! Free shipping!
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Leftover ham – what to do?
The Easter holiday has come and gone but there are probably lots of remnants of Easter around your house. Are there baskets filled with come candy and mostly wrappers? How about little bits of Easter grass hiding here and there? What is it with that stuff? It seems impossible to clean it all up. How about plastic eggs? Did you find them all? Hopefully you found any and all of the real eggs that were hidden! What about your fridge? Are there lots of Easter leftovers? How about hard boiled eggs? We talked about lots of ways to use them up last week. And how about the ham? If you are like most of the country, there is probably leftover ham in your fridge and you need to find a couple of ways to use it.
Using up the leftover ham might be as easy as just warming it up for an extra meal. But for lots of people the leftover ham goes way beyond one meal of leftovers. What can you make with it? Here are a few ideas for using up that leftover ham.
Ham and cheese sandwiches
This favorite way to use leftover ham doesn’t really need a recipe. Slice the ham thin and use it on sandwiches with your favorite cheese. Yum!
Ham salad sandwiches
This is another is great sandwich option when it comes to using the leftover ham. Put your ham in the food processor, salad shooter or use a hand grater to get it shredded into very tiny pieces. Add some mayonnaise and pickle relish. My family loves these sandwiches.
Salad topping
Ham makes a great salad topping. Dice your leftover ham or put it in the food processor, salad shooter or use a hand grater to get it shredded into very tiny pieces. Use these to top your favorite salad. Try adding some diced beets and shredded cheese too. It turns a plain salad into a great ham salad.
Ham and Eggs
Slice or dice the leftover ham and add it to breakfast with some scrambled eggs. Do you still have left-over hard boiled eggs? Use them with the ham and have a yummy breakfast.
Soup
It is still soup weather in many parts of the country – use your leftover ham and add it to your favorite soup. Make a homemade soup or add it to a store bought soup. It’s a great idea.
Dice and freeze
This is another of my personal favorite ways to use leftover ham. I like to dice or shred the ham and put it in freezer bags. Later on I can pull it out and use it to make a quick and fun dinner. It makes for a quick dinner prep on a future busy night.
Hambone
Many people save the hambone and use it later to make hambone soup or other recipes. Wrap the bone in foil and then place it in a freezer bag or use freezer wrap.
Have more ideas about how to use up the leftover ham from Easter? Let us know – we love to hear from you! Stay tuned tomorrow night when we share some of our favorite leftover ham recipes.