Fort Stewart/HAAF Wives: FREE VIP Dining Club Card

Savannah Menu is offering a free VIP Dining Club Card to local Active Duty Military. You can sign up HERE.

This card is absolutely amazing, if offers discounts from 10-15% off your over all bill to free entrees, desserts, or appetizers at restaurants all around the Savannah area. You can check out participating restaurants HERE. I was really excited to see Spankys, La Nopalera in Richmond Hill, and so many restaurants that I enjoy already on the list.

The card needs to be in the name of the Service Member, but Spouses can order their own card for $10. You can either pick up the card at the Savannah Menu office or have it mailed via USPS for $1.48. Trust me when I say this card is worth every penny. If you eat out just once a week at one of these restaurants, you're looking at a $300 a year savings.

REMINDER: Tip the total BEFORE discount was applied.

Game Stop Expanding Their Trade-Ins!

I know I am not the only one who has a gaming husband. My husband loves to play his PS3 and man, those games are pricy at $60 a pop! But Game Stop with their trade-in program, we haven't paid actual cash for a game in years. Honest!

And now Game Stop has raised the bar. They are now taking your old iPhones, iPads, and iPods!

Check out HERE for more information.

Trade-in programs have saved us TONS of money. Check out HERE and HERE.

Saving Money on Formula

Formula is ridiculously expensive. As we're having our second baby in two years, we know all too well the cost of formula. I have found a few ways to save money on the formula my son uses.

1. Sign up for coupons with the company. Enfamil and Similac offer $5 coupon checks that they will mail to you.
2. Know price per ounce. Babies R Us offers great prices and deals to their Rewards R Us members. This is when I stock up on formula. (Sign up HERE)
3. Know what is in your pantry. Running out formula and having to run out last minute will end up costing you. Keeping a decent stock when prices are low helps avoid last minute runs.
4. Don't forget about warehouse stores and online. Sometimes these have the best prices on formula. And Costco takes the coupon checks!
5. Share with a friend. If you use one brand and your friend another, trade coupons!
6. Ask a friend who doesn't need the coupons they receive for their coupons. It never hurts to ask!
   

How do you save money on formula?

Note: Please do not start a debate about breastfeeding vs formula. This is not the place. I am only sharing for those moms who choose to use formula and give them options to save money.

MacBook Air on the Cheap

My son is a laptop destructor, he's already destroyed two. Saturday my MacBook Pro started acting weird, took it into an Apple store to discover red fluid near the battery and tract pad. I guess my son decided my laptop was thirsty. This left my husband and I in a conundrum as the four year old family laptop was dying a slow death and just not able to perform at the level I needed for this blog. We had to buy a new laptop.

Now I am the proud new owner of a MacBook Air. AND we purchased it, a $1,299 laptop, from Best Buy for only $1,070 out of pocket (as well as accidental warranty coverage, the external hard drive and Buy Back guarantee). How did we do it? Easy. And you can do it too.

Breakdown:

• External DVD player - $59.99
• MacBook Air - $1,299.99
• 2 year Buy Back guarantee - $25
• 1 year accidental warranty coverage - $149
• Total: $1,641.36 (7% sales tax included)

How we knocked the total down $570.80:

• Price matched to Best Buy online - $1,299.99 to $1234.99
• Traded in MacBook (purchase Jan 08) - received $473 gift card
• Used $10 Reward Zone gift certificate
• Used 10% off computer accessory coupon (Reward Zone members receive these)

$1,641.36 - $65 (price match) - $473 (laptop trade in) - $10 (RZ certificate) - $6 (10% off RZ coupon) - tax difference from discounts = $1,070.56

We could have saved even more with our ShopKick gift certificates, but we're saving them for something else.

Now you know the math behind the deal, how can you duplicate this kind of deal for your family? Simple. Follow these simple rules:

• Join ShopKick to earn gift cards (more details HERE)
• Sign up for Reward Zone
• Research and trade-in! We looked at several different websites before going to Best Buy to see what our old MacBook was worth. Best Buy offered us the most.

It did take a few extra steps and about 30 minutes more of our time to gather coupons, print rewards certificates, and get the gift card for the laptop trade-in. But I feel saving $570.80 was worth the time and effort.

Brand new iPhone 4 for only $38? Yes we did.

A few weeks ago it was time for my husband and I to upgrade our phones, we both had an iPhone 3GS. We checked with our cell phone plan and made sure we were eligible and headed to Best Buy. We walked out with two brand new iPhone 4s and it only cost us $76 for both or $38 each. And you can do this as well.

Here's how:

• We're signed up for Shopkick (learn more HERE) and cashed in for a $10 Best Buy gift card
• We used Best Buy's trade in program and sold Best Buy our two old iPhone 3GS for $156 each

The math:
iPhone 4 $199 x 2 = $398
- iPhone 3GS trade in $156 x 2 = $312
- Shopkick gift card - $10
= $76 or $38 each

Never thought you could coupon for new phones, huh?

Shopkick: Earn free giftcards, great coupons, and more!

Have you heard of shopkick? It is a completely FREE app for both iPhone and Android markets that you use to earn gift cards to stores like Best Buy and Target (yes, Target). Shopkick also has an amazing selection of coupons available.

Use my invite code: jambul100 to earn 100 free kicks (points) when you download the app on your smart phone. How to get your bonus 100 kicks (points): Download App onto your Smart Phone > Click “Me” bottom left corner > Click “enter bonus code” on right > Type in jambul100

Two main ways to earn kicks:

1. Walk into select stores
2. Scan select merchandise

Check out more information HERE