This will be a short and sweet tip about saving money with Warranties! WHenever you buy things with a warranty, make sure you activate it ant keep track of it. We have saved a ton just by using our warranties when necessary-they are like limited time insurance for your stuff. We own a Hyundai Elantra that came with a great warranty that we used many times during thes period it was covered (I estimate we saved about $3000 in repairs-at least-over that time period). Also, when my laptop hard drive was fried a couple weeks ago-we were able to get it replaced and fixed through our warranty thus saving us the cost of repair or havign to buy a new laptop.

So, my Thrifty Thursday tip today-use your warranties!!!

WOW-This is fantastic!! My daughter has been saving up money for Build a Bear so this will make her day! Right now there are 7 different Build a Bear animals for only $7 (usually about $12-$20). GREAT deal!! It only goes through tomorrow, so you should check it out soon!!! See the animals here.

Thanks Freebies 2 Deals.

Yesterday Couponing to Disney did a round up of all the working Pampers Gifts to Grow codes she has. I thought you might want to check that out if you are participating in this program. Please see her post here.

Request a free sample of Goodnites from Walmart here.

Thanks Tricia's Frugal Finds.

John Frieda is offering free sample packets of their Strength Restoring™ Shampoo (0.28-oz.), Strength Restoring™ Conditioner (0.28-oz.) and Strength Restoring™ Smoothing Lotion (0.15-oz.). Just click here to request yours. If you want to get the same email alerts from John Frieda that I get (then you will know as soon as the samples like this become available) just sign up for their email list when you are over at their site!

This is awesome! I know some EXCELLENT cooks in Utah that really need to enter this (my mom and mother-in-law should for sure)!

Do you live in Utah and do you love to cook? Are you pretty good at it? If so, you should enter the Utah's Own Recipe Round-Up Contest! Just create a recipe using at least 3 Utah's Own Products. Then, bring your dish already prepared to one of the locations listed below.

Each week there will be cash prizes of up to $100. AND the Grand Prize Winner will win a 7- Day Cooking Cruise for 2! WHAT!! That is awesome!! Check out all of the details and rules for the Utah's Own Cooking Contest here.

July 17th -11am-1pm
Sandy Macey’s, 7800 South, 1300 East

July 31st – 11am-1pm
Bountiful Fresh Market, 535 South 200 West

August 7th – 11am-1pm
Riverton Fresh Market, 1784 West 126th South

August 14th – 11am-1pm
Bountiful Dick’s Market, 2280 Orchard Drive

August 21st – 11am-1pm
Murray Fresh Market, 5632 South 9th East

August 28th – 11am-1pm
Orem Macey’s, 880 North State Street

September 11th – 11am-1pm
Provo Macey’s, 1400 North State

Thanks Freebies 2 Deals.

Sam's Club members, grab your membership number and head over here to request a Free Sample of Axe Body Spray for Men! I love the Sam's Club samples as they are usually pretty big as far as samples go!! This will be a nice one I suspect!

Thanks Frugal Living and Having Fun.

Click here to request a free sample of either Flexitol Heel Balm or Medicated Foot Cream-you can choose which.

Thanks Frugal Living and Having Fun.

This is a great coupon available! Go here and print out the coupon for $3/2 Johnson and Johnson Red Cross Brand Products. Many people are reporting that their Walmarts have the small travel size first aid kits for around a dollar which means you can get 2 free and possibly overage. I have not seen these at my Walmart, but MANY others have reported seeing them so I wanted to let you know.

Thanks Who Said Nothing in Life is Free?

This might seem like an odd freebie, but if you go here and fill out the form you can get a free bikini bra from American Apparel.

Thanks That Freebie Site.

I wrote before about the fact that in many cities, there are multiple websites like Groupon that offer group discounts each day. Back when I wrote about this, Omaha only had Groupon, but now as we have Living Social Deals and are about to get DailyDealOmaha.com, to help you get all the deals going on in your city, you may want to check out the website, City Deal Tracker that tracks them all for you.  It is like one stop shopping for all the one-day group deal sites in town. They are still updating Omaha, but I am sure it will soon include the other sites besides Groupon and I wanted to make sure to remind you about this resource.

Here is what the email I received says about their site:

Citydealtracker.com - That one-stop shop for all deals in your city

After Groupon.com became one of the most wanted webpages in the USA, the trend of local group buying gains momentum all over the country. By now a large number of companies copied Groupon’s successful concept. Inhabitants of cities like New York or San Francisco can already choose between a dozen websites and their offers. But it’s not just NYC and SF, the trend has spread through more than 60 major cities in the USA and Canada.

For fans of those deals, the new "all in one" portal has arrived:
www.citydealtracker.com.

Citydealtracker.com tracks all available deals for every city in the US and Canada. It also acts as a platform for sharing experiences about each Groupon style website. For people who like to use Twitter, RSS or Email Newsletters to keep up to date all the tools are in place.

This looks nice and convenient for those in a city with many deals. So far Omaha only has Groupons though...Go check out this website to see what deals your city has! And remember that if you are planning a trip it is always a great idea to check sites like this for your vacation city. You can save a lot of money on your vacations that way!

Click here to see Citydealtracker.com!

FYI, Living Social Deals, which is a company similar to Groupons, has now finally arrived in Omaha!!! Today's deal is $80 for a Massage, Facial, and Mani/Pedi at Tru Salon and Spa. If you are interested in this or future deals, please use my referral link here to sign up now. I cannot wait to see what other kinds of deals they come up with each day!

Groupon...why do you tease me so!!! Oh how I wish I was back in Spokane to use this one!!!! WOW! Maybe Uncle's Games will be next and I will cry like an infant to miss it...

Today's Spokane Groupon is $10 for $20 Worth of Books and More at Auntie's Bookstore.

As with all the deals, make sure you check out the fine print before purchasing. To sign up for Groupons, click on my referral link here (this does NOT commit you to buying any deal-you choose what you buy) and to see the Spokane page, including today's deal, click here.

Not sure what Groupons is? Then click here to read all about it!

Today's Omaha Groupon is $40 for Two 40-Minute Private Lessons, One Month of Unlimited Dance Classes, and a Practice Party at Simply Ballroom ($135 Value).

As with all the deals, make sure you check out the fine print before purchasing. To sign up for Groupons, click on my referral link here (this does NOT commit you to buying any deal-you choose what you buy) and to see the Omaha page, including today's deal, click here.

Not sure what Groupons is? Then click here to read all about it!

Today's Salt Lake City Groupon is $7 for $15 Worth of Australian Barbecue Fare and Drinks at Wallaby's Smokehouse in Lindon.

As with all the deals, make sure you check out the fine print before purchasing. To sign up for Groupons, click on my referral link here (this does NOT commit you to buying any deal-you choose what you buy) and to see the Salt Lake City page, including today's deal, click here.

Not sure what Groupons is? Then click here to read all about it!

I just want to start out the day by mentioning a couple of things. Last night it was 94 degrees in our house (no AC) and with the humidity it felt like well over 105 degrees. So by the time Wes got home from work, I was done with it all and we decided to take advantage of the kids eating free at Sizzler (that was a FANTASTIC deal BTW-we fed 6 people for less than $30 including tip!)

After eating, it was 7 pm and still really hot and humid so Wes suggested we go walk around the mall for a while. Well, we did, and as we walked in the tornado sirens started so we just walked around for 2 hours until the storm was mostly cleared up and the mall was closing.

I have to tell you that I don't know what is going on this week, but there were MASSIVE, amazing sales everywhere!! Just about every store had HUGE clearance going on-like 60-80% off sales. I mean EVERYWHERE!! In fact, I actually bought something for my daughter (and I regret NOT buying something for me that looked SOOO cute and was such a great deal)!

In my church, kids get baptized when they turn 8, and my daughter turns 8 in December. So we have been kind of looking for deals on nice white baptism dresses, and last night we scored-big time! We learned that usually the dresses we were looking for would run about $50-$150. Last night, we found this dress:

Take a closer look at the beautiful waist on this thing:

It was a bit too big, but easily altered and beautiful-best part, our girl LOVED it! So, we looked at the price tag and BOY WAS THE PRICE RIGHT!!! Look:

In case you could not read that it was marked $79.99, on clearance for $9.99. Can you believe that?! What a steal!! And now I don't have to worry about finding a dress anymore-I am way ahead of the game now!!