A Candy Bar is the Next @Kroger #FreeFridayDownload

Up Next Friday!

Kroger Free Friday Download: One FREE Reese's Outrageous Standard Bar (1.48 oz). Download your digital coupon between 12am-11:59pm PT on October 19. Redeem by Sunday, November 4. Available in most stores.

New eBay $5.00 Coupon Code Expires Today! Got Fun Freebies! YMMV

A new eBay coupon code [PERKMEUP] was released the other day. It's good for $5.00 OFF almost any order and was apparently intended for accounts that have not placed an order in more than 12 months --- I didn't see the small print myself, I only saw the coupon code on the eBay front page. But the code seems to be working for nearly everyone, so whether it was programmed into the system incorrectly or eBay simply decided to allow it to function as first come, fist served I cannot say. YMMV. Code is scheduled to expire at the end of the day.

Jolly Rancher Hard Candy (Original Flavors)

As finding this coupon was a totally unexpected boon, I just grabbed a couple of cheap items which totaled $5.45 and thus, were free for me as I have a random eBay GC with a few odd cents left on it that I use to cover coupon overages, tax and such and this GC had enough to cover the 45-cents left post coupon application.

What did I get? Well, I picked up a bag of Jolly Rancher hard candy and a tiny pair of swim goggles for 18" Dolls. Both items included free shipping. This was a fun get!

18" Dolls Swim Goggles

Did you try the coupon? Did it work?

Fun Deals From Last Week's Shopping @Kroger

During last week's grocery sales (most of which ended Tuesday), I was able to score a moneymaker on quick pasta and also some cheap candy!

First, Kroger had Barilla Ready Made Pasta Pouch (microwavable, ready in 60 seconds) on sale for $1.79. There was a $1.00 digital manufacturer's coupon available to load, so after coupon, one pouch cost a mere $0.79 (plus tax). But there was also, a Savingstar coupon/rebate for $1.00, which gives your money back (eventually, when you cashout) plus overage. Nice! Personally, I seldom eat pasta as I greatly prefer rice, but a moneymaker is difficult to resist. (Besides, I have family members who love pasta.)

Also, on sale at Kroger last week were M&M's and Snickers Bars (singles) for $0.50/ea. There was a Save $0.50/2 Snickers Bar Singles digital manufacturer's coupon and an M&M's digital manufacturer's BOGO coupon (Buy One M&M's Singles, Get One Malteser's Candy Singles Free). Thus, I was able to get a pack of M&M's Peanut, a pack of Malteser's Candy and two Snickers Bars for $1.00 (plus tax) total. You don't often find $0.25 candy bars any longer. So this was a sweet (pun intended) score!

These were my best deals last week. Still plotting this week's deals and will probably go out on the weekend due to the various deals available for National Coffee Day on Saturday. What have you found lately? Any good deals?

Happy hunting! -- Ed.

Bought @NostalgiaElctrx @Keurig @Jolly_Rancher: @Kohls #SweepstakesPrize + #Rewards Haul! #GotItFree!

I've been entering a Kohls Twitter Contest* periodically (under a personal account) whenever I happened to be on Twitter and remember to send an entry tweet. The prize is $50.00 KohlsCash (valid for 30 days from activation). Roughly a week ago, my Twitter username was drawn as a potential winner. After I emailed the sweepstakes admin my contact information and confirmed my eligibility, I received my $50.00 KohlsCash code the next day. I also happened to have a $5.00 KohlsCash Reward (valid for 30 days from date earned) from earning the requisite Kohls Yes2You Rewards points to trigger a conversion. As a result, I ended up with a total of $55.00 in rewards money to spend within a limited time frame.

Jolly Rancher Sour Bites 8-oz. Package

Across the board regardless of the rewards program in question, I prefer to use any rewards that I earn to get items for free (as opposed to merely buying something at a discount). This way any rewards that I earn actually make me feel like I've been rewarded, because I got free stuff! For instance, if I have $55.00 in rewards available, I will try to find things that I want or need which cost less than or equal to this amount, so that I can order the item/s for free (or as close to free as possible).

Keurig® Brewer Maintenance Kit

With this in mind, I went shopping online at Kohls.com over the weekend and scored some fun and useful items: a Nostalgia Electrics Diner Style Hot Dog Steamer (MSRP $49.99), a Keurig® Brewer Maintenance Kit (MSRP $29.99) and a Jolly Rancher Sour Bites 8-oz. Package (MSRP $4.99) --- only the Jolly Rancher was purchased at its regular price, the other two items were on sale. The total for all three items came out to $54.97, which I paid for with my $55.00 KohlsCash. (A notice on my e-receipt stated that I'd saved $84.97 total.) Free stuff FTW!

Nostalgia Electrics Diner Style Hot Dog Steamer

I'm hoping the Diner Style Hot Dog Steamer works well. (The product had great reviews on the Kohls site.) I've been searching for a convenient method to cook my veggie dogs to perfection and achieve that real Carnival feel. I own quite a few (at least 15) Nostalgia Electrics appliances and most of them have been well worth the money (that I didn't pay for them, as I netted them all free via rewards programs). I adore Nostalgia Electrics because the company specializes in retro design small appliances. I'm a gadget geek and I love a Carnival/Fair/Circus/Vaudeville motif ---which often plays into this retro vibe.

I'm planning to test cook some veggie dogs this weekend!

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*In case you've been under a rock lately: Kohls has been conducting a Twitter Contest (running M-F for about four weeks) in celebration of its Back-to-School Sales. To participate, follow Kohls on Twitter, reply to any Kohls contest notice tweet by saying what you would use the $50.00 KohlsCash prize to buy, if you were to win and append the contest hashtag #KohlsCashSweepstakes. Obviously, one can pretty much say whatever he wants. Entries do not carry over, so you must create a new entry tweet each weekday (24 hour period). Contest ends 29/Aug, so there's still a few days to enter. Good Luck!