Blogging | BargainBriana

#WorldsLargestBakeSale Twitter Party on 4/25

by Briana Carter on April 24, 2013

It’s hard to believe in our great country that 1 in 5 children in America struggles with hunger. To help end childhood hunger, Kmart has teamed up to sponsor the World’s Largest Bake Sale in New York on May 1, 2013 to benefit No Kid Hungry and the Food Bank of New York.

To promote the bake sale and to share ways people who don’t live in New York City can help with the Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, please join us for the World’s Largest Bake Sale Twitter Party on 4/25 to learn how you can get involved and for a chance to win prizes. Here’s more information on the Twitter Party:

DATE/TIME: Thursday, April 25th from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. CT/1 p.m. – 2 p.m. ET

HASHTAG: #WorldsLargestBakeSale

HOST: @Kmart

CO-HOSTS: @SandraLee @BakeSale4NKH @@typennington @foodbank4nyc @shopyourway

Be sure to follow @BargainBriana too as we will be tweeting during the party as well!

If you live in New York or will be in the area on May 1, 2013, you can take part in the World’s Largest Bake Sale at Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal on May 1, 2013 from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

From now until May 31, 2013, Kmart will donate $1 to Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry up to $10,000 each time you spread the word on Facebook and Twitter or share a Sandra Lee recipe card with friends and family. You can also find out how you can register to be a baker and find a bake sale near you here.

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#GrocerySavings Twitter Party on 3/21/2013: $300 in Prizes

by Briana Carter on March 20, 2013

What is one of the easiest ways to reduce your household expenses? Cut that grocery bill! And we love helping people do just that. You can easily cut your grocery bill by 50% or more with some strategic shopping strategies!

Let’s chat about how to save money on groceries this Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 6pm PT/9pm ET with the #GrocerySavings hash tag and our awesome DealPro hosts!

RSVP here and follow these hosts:

Hosts: @cleverlysimple @sistersshopping @frugalfinders @mindicherry @bargainbriana @savings @savingsclasses

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Tune Into The Talk for the Hottest Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas on 2/12 (Plus Upcoming $400 Value Giveaway!)

by Briana Carter on February 11, 2013

BargainBriana would like to give our readers and followers a chance to WIN a package of the featuring Valentine’s Day gifts worth nearly $400.00! Yes, $400! Super exciting! Plus, you will get some fantastic ideas for last minute Valentine’s Day gifts for your sweetie!

Tune in to THE TALK on Tuesday, February 12 when Lifestyle expert Kristan Cunningham will be showing her picks for the hottest Valentine’s Day gifts this year. Once the gifts are revealed on the show, we will kick off our giveaway here at BargainBriana.com with a winner will be announced and contacted on February 19.

CBS’s Daytime Emmy-nominated talk show THE TALK (airs Weekdays 2:00–3:00 PM, ET; 1:00–2:00 PM, PT) features a panel of well-known news and entertainment personalities discussing current events, pop culture, contemporary issues, family, celebrity and the trending topics of the day. The daily one-hour series is co-hosted by Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood and Aisha Tyler. The hosts swap stories, challenge each other on issues and engage the studio audience and viewers at home about events in the headlines and their own homes. Show segments include guest interviews with entertainers and newsmakers, musical performances, appearances from extraordinary people with stories that engage and inform as well as how-to demos and real-world advice and tips from the leading experts in fitness, diet, health, home, relationships, finance and fashion. The show was developed by Gilbert, who also serves as executive producer.

For More Information on THE TALK go to: thetalk.com

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Updated Grocery and Sale Shopping List Formats

by Briana Carter on February 1, 2013

BargainBriana.com has some exciting news and changes within the grocery store shopping lists. Some of you may have already noticed these changes but I wanted to give all of you a full update. Plus, at this time I’m having some technical difficulties in updating my navigation bars so I want to make sure you have the most updated information in one place.

We now have dedicated pages for all the major store lists that we cover in just one click. All you will have to do now is bookmark your favorite pages and check those pages before you go shopping to get the most updated shopping list.

Here’s the stores covered under this new list making feature – more to come in the future:

ALDI (Sunday – Saturday ad)
CVS
Giant Eagle
Kroger - Cincinnati
Kroger – Great Lakes
Meijer – Ohio (Sunday – Saturday ad)
Meijer – Indiana (Thursday – Wednesday ad)
Rite Aid
Target
Walgreens

New Icons

This is a new feature to our site, which I hope will make it easier for you to look at the list and find the items you want or should be purchasing for the week.

The Gold Star means it is a top deal, which is something you will want to stockpile for the week since the price is at a very low price.

The Green Keyhole means it is an unadvertised deal. These are not deals found in the weekly circulars. There are people visiting the stores each week to find these unadvertised deals to give you the best possible deals weekly! Please share in the weekly posts, on Facebook, or in the Facebook group if you find an advertised deal so we can all save!

Expandable Shopping List View

On our previous list tool, you were only able to add the items to your list. The new list will allow you to add the item as well as expanding the view so you can print the coupons directly from your list. No more opening a new page to print your list!

Socialize or Share Shopping Lists

The new shopping lists has easy ways to socialize, share, or email lists. Simply use the buttons at the top of the list to share or socialize. It’s great because you can share with the person who is doing the shopping in your household for the week and it tells them exactly what to buy.

Upcoming Deals List

Another awesome feature is the upcoming deals list. You will notice a tab on many of the lists that the next week’s ad is ready! This means you can plan your shopping trip the night before or know maybe you should wait until the next ad starts before buying a certain item.

If for some reason you are not seeing these updates, you may need to do a hard refresh of every deal page. It’s really easy to do:

Mac computers: Hit Ctrl+Shift+R at the same time while you are on the particular page
Windows Computers: Hit the Ctrl+F5 at the same time while you are on the particular page

We still will be using the previous list system for Marsh Supermarkets, Kmart, and Kroger (Central) at this time.

Let me know what you think about these changes!

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Dove: Show Us Your Skin + Dove Visible Care Toning Creme Body Wash Review

by Briana Carter on June 21, 2012

Want to be featured on a billboard in Time Square? Yes, the Time Square in New York! Dove has a fun Show Us Your Skin promotion going on right now that features REAL women just like me and you! Simply submit your photo featuring your beautiful skin and you will be featured on the billboard in Times Square.

I love that they are featuring real women like all of us and not those air brushed “people.”

I’ve always been a fan of Dove and the newest Dove Visiblecare Toning Creme Body Wash lived up to my high expectation of Dove products. The product does claim to have visibly more beautiful skin in just one week but it was hard for me to determine a huge difference. However, I did notice my skin was softer after using Dove Visiblecare Toning Creme Body Wash.

The smell was great and it lathered very nicely. The only thing that bothered me was that the bottle is a little hard to squeeze once you get to a certain point. I feel like I would have to squeeze in odd spots to be able to utilize all of the body wash.

Once your photo is approved after submitting via the Show Us Your Skin Facebook App, you will receive a confirmation email with your picture IN Time Square. I received mine several hours after submitting it. Have confidence in YOUR skin and share! Leave me a comment and let me know if you have shared YOUR skin!

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Save ‘Up LA 2012 Recap

by Briana Carter on May 2, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, I headed out to Los Angeles for the Savings.com Deal Pro Event. This event was the kick off to the Savings Nation Savings workshops I will be offering! It included training on the program, sessions to help our blogs, networking with other bloggers, and of course a little fun mixed in.

If you missed my previous post on the Savings Nations Workshops, I am partnering with Savings.com as one of the first phase DealPro Ambassadors for their new Savings Nation program. Savings Nation is a series of workshops all over the Nation to help you save money and maximize YOUR savings on everyday essentials. I will be teaching classes in throughout Indiana with a focus on Central Indiana. These classes will help YOU learn to live better on a budget because we believe there is no such thing as small change!

<<—Pictured: Maria, Mitchell, Sara, Andrea, Melissa, Sami, and me

By the time I got into Los Angeles on Thursday, it was around 3 a.m. Eastern Time so I was a little off my game. You don’t know how much a three hour time difference is going to affect you until it hits you hard the next morning! At least I was very motivated to wake up early the next morning so I could take a walk along this….

Yeah, who wouldn’t be motivated to wake up when there is BEACH waiting for you! Oh, the beach air and smell! The brief 45 minute walk along the beach in Santa Monica was all I got at the beach so don’t be too jealous! Thankfully, the sessions were fantastic so I didn’t feel too deprived by being cooped up in the office all day.

Loren Bendele, CEO of Savings.com, kicked off the event with a warm welcome to all of us Deal Pros…

Toni, The Happy Housewife, showed off the Savings Nation workbooks, which is what all of you who attend the classes will receive! I’m very excited about this professional put together presentation and workbook!

On Friday night, we dined at the Sonoma Wine Garden for dinner and wine. The pumpkin ravioli is delicious!

Melissa (Saving Cents with Sense) and Me

On Saturday night, Savings.com hosted a red-carpet event with a DJ (me + dancing = not pretty), drinks, dinner. There was this thing I thought was a margarita fountain but it was really a lemonade fountain. Now I have the idea that a margarita fountain would be a big hit at any event! ;) Better yet, they brought in a ice cream sandwich truck, Coolhaus for a yummy treat.

The event itself was fantastic. Getting home was another issue! About 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot came on the intercom and gave us news that you don’t really want to hear on a plane, “Sorry folks, I have some bad news for you. The landing gear hatch is stuck and we are going to have to turn around and go back to Los Angeles. It’s nothing to worry about but we are going to have to turn around as we can’t fly with the wheels hanging out.” (the technical stuff is paraphrased – I just heard Bad News.Landing Gear.Have to turn around.)

About 45 minutes of circling the airport, where we were probably dumping fuel, and getting closer to land on each rotation, we landed at LAX greeted by emergency personnel, which seemed to surprise my fellow passengers. HELLO people, the pilot did say we were having landing gear issues, whether or not it was because it wouldn’t tuck up into the airport or not, I still thought it could be an issue when we landed.

We did make a safe landing, obviously, which was fabulous, but it did affect my travel plans. I think I was awake for about 36 hours before I finally made it home. I think I’m still trying to catch up on that sleep to this day!

Oh, and they did give us a $6 meal voucher from the ordeal! I’m very grateful that we didn’t crash but I considering it took me an additional 14 hours to get home, I would have thought some type of compensation was appropriate. Of course, I emailed my airline and they did offer a $75 travel voucher and some miles for my inconvenience. It never hurts to email companies when you are satisfied with their service or in this case dissatisfied.

This did not put a damper on the Savings.com trip, though. Even completely exhausted, it was fun to hang out with some of my long time blogging friends and meet new friends too!

A special thank you to all of the Save Up ’12 sponsors:

Andrea, Jen, Erin, Melissa, Mindi, and me

Interested in a coupon class? You can find more information about the Savings Nation classes or see a calendar of upcoming events. If you would like me to come to your town or your organization would like to know how you can host a coupon workshop as a fundraiser, please fill out this coupon class interest form.

Photo credit to John of Cizmas

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Budget Halloween Facebook Chat w/All You Magazine on 10/12

by Briana Carter on October 10, 2011

Join me on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 2 p.m. EST for the first All You Magazine Facebook Chat over at Facebook.com/AllYouMagazine. I will be sharing my tips for celebrating Halloween on a budget and answering any questions. This reminds me, I have to figure out what the little ones are going to dress up as this year.

As you may know if you follow this site, All You magazine is a favorite of mine for the coupons as well as the awesome money saving tips, recipes, and affordable fashion advice! The magazine is full of tips that all of you can enjoy. I’m very excited to be participating in this inaugural Facebook chat.

Here’s a few links to get you started:

Halloween Party Ideas: Throw a Halloween party with enchanting appetizers, festive table settings and spooky treats.

Homemade Halloween Decorations: Haunt your whole house with these easy homemade Halloween decorations.

Halloween Finger Foods: from polenta pumpkins to skewered eyeballs made with olives.

Pumpkin Face Ideas: Mask your pumpkin’s face, which is an easy and non-messy way to dress up your pumpkin!

Candy Dessert Recipes: What to do with the huge piles of candy afterwards – beside just eating the candy straight up!

Halloween Costumes: 5 easy ways to save on Halloween costumes.

I would love if you leave a comment on this post with any questions or TIPS you have for celebrating Halloween on a Budget!

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Cheap Sally Bring Home the Bacon Contest: $100,000/year Job!

by Briana Carter on August 14, 2011

The Cheap Sally Dance Party I’ve been talking about for several weeks was a huge success and so much fun! The food was fantastic, which is a rarity among these types of parties, there was an incredible turnout, the music was rockin….

As you can see, I had the chance to see Cheap Sally in person…

But the best part of all was the huge announcement….

What was the huge announcement? Cheap Sally announced the “Cheap Sally Bring Home the Bacon” contest, where one lucky winner will win a $100,000 job for 2012.

There are many things I love about this contest. Of course, the $100,000 is incredible. I also love that you won’t have to quit your job or relocate to fufill the position. All you have to do is write a couple blog posts for Cheap Sally each week about money saving coupons and deals!