Forget heavy crème foundations — thanks to today’s Save from Smoky Mountain Minerals you’ll flaunt the perfect amount of polish all season long.

Here’s the deal: $16 for the Perfection in 5 Mineral Makeup Kit, which includes—

Mineral foundation (your choice of shade)
Matching mineral concealer
Be Flawless finishing veil
Vision blush / eye shadow
Joy blush / eye shadow
Halo Glow / eye shadow
Baby Kabuki brush
Instruction card

The Perfection in 5 kit contains everything you need to go from panicked to perfect in five minutes flat. Better yet, since these minerals are chemical- and preservative-free, you can enjoy a flawless look without clogging pores or irritating skin.

Free shipping is included!

YAY!  Restaurant.com just released a new 80% off promotional code that is valid through March 12th. Just use the coupon code EXPLORE during checkout which will take 80% off of $25 Gift Certificates and leave you to pay ONLY $2!

Even sweeter, go through the ShopAtHome.com and you’ll score 25% cash back from your Restaurant.com purchases. That means you’ll end up paying only $1.50 (after cash back) for each $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate purchased!  This is a great opportunity to stock up on Restaurant.com gift certificates for an upcoming date night or to use on dining out during Spring Break!

A great way to get deals delivered right to you is with Text Alerts. Here are my favorites..

Did you know that you can text message for freebies? Maybe you’ve seen other posts around and have been a little skeptical, but read on to see how you can get some hot freebies by sending a simple text message from your cell phone.

Of course, please keep in mind, standard text messaging rates apply per your cell phone provider contract.

You can save yourself a few messages by first setting up your account online at ShopText.

• Register your cell phone number.

• Enter in the code that is text messaged to you.

• Fill out your address information. Credit card info is not necessary.

After that you’re ready to text for freebies! Magazines often have ShopText-enabled advertisements.  You just text the keyword listed to 467467, and you’ll receive a confirmation.  Occasionally they might ask you to reply with to an additional question.

You can even check the status of you freebies under the My ShopText tab.  It lists any requests from the past three months as well as the date requested. I love this feature!

Here is a list of others you can get as well.

• Bath & Body Works 
• Express – Text EXPLUCKY TO  EXPRES ( 397737)
• Famous Footwear
• Fashion Bug – Text BUGBYTE to 50799 to receive a $10 off or more coupon.
• Gordman’s 
• Hobby Lobby – Pull up website on your phone and show the clerk their weekly coupon.
• IKEA
• JC Penney
• Justice for Girls
• K-Mart 
• Kohl’s – Text SAVE01 to 56457 for 10% off coupon on Kohls.com
• New York & Co – Text “WEB” to NYSTYL
• Nine West – Text SWEEPEM to 25179 
• Old Navy
• Office Depot 
• Office Max
• Payless – Text PAYLESS to 747474
• Target 
• Toys R Us
• Victoria’s Secret

Yay! Old Navy has had some great In Store Sales recently and now you can save even more with this $10/$50 Old NavyPrintable Coupon.

Secrets to surviving Black Friday

It’s a family tradition, says Tiffani Mitchell.

She’s not talking about Thanksgiving dinner, but about Black Friday, the traditional beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Mitchell and her family will be at the stores in the early hours of the morning, looking for deals on Christmas presents. Mitchell said she’s shopped the Black Friday sales for about ten years. This year, she’s on the hunt for a tablet, like an iPad.

“My family always uses the department strategy. One person in toys, one person in electronics, one person to get in line, etc. We usually like to visit about four stores and we take two vehicles to store everything. We will have our 4 a.m. store, 5 a.m. store and 6 a.m. store,” she wrote in an email.

300 dpi Tim Lee illustration of a shopper ready to tackle the holiday sales. Raleigh News and Observer 2010 04000000; 04007000; 10011000; 12014000; 12014001; 2010; black friday; cyber monday; FEA; FIN; forecast; holiday shop; holidaysales; krt2010; krtbusiness business; krtchristmas christmas; krtconsumergoods consumer goods; krtfeatures features; krthanukkah hanukkah chanukkah; krtholiday holiday; krtkwanzaa kwanzaa; krtlifestyle lifestyle; krtnamer north america; krtnational national; krtusbusiness; krtwinter winter; krtxmas xmas; LEI; leisure; LIF; mctgraphic; public holiday; retailer; u.s. us united states; ra contributed; lee; super shopper supershopper

 

Whether shopping on Black Friday is a family tradition or you prefer to wait until December to shop, here are some tips to remember:

Be prepared: “Black Friday is like a war. You want to get in and get out and not kill anyone,” jokes Kelly Pressy, who runs the couponing website, Kelly’s Coupon Addiction.

Pressy said she does most of her Christmas shopping throughout the year, looking for sale and clearance items. This Black Friday, she will be looking for an X-box, but she’s still trying to find the best price.

Pressy recommends always comparing prices. She uses Bizrate.com, a website that lets you comparison shop and read reviews of items.

“It’s just a matter of making sure you compare it to other places,” she said.

Have a shopping plan: Pressy has a plan for her post-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping. She’ll start on Thursday night, with some of the early sales. Stores like Target and Macy’s have announced plans to open at midnight, while Wal-mart will offer sale prices on some items at 10 p.m.

“Wal-Mart first, then Target,” she said, adding that while she hasn’t found any spectacular deals this year, she’s hoping there will be some good doorbuster sales. While Pressy recommends not bring your children along to shop the sales, she’s trying to get her husband to help her shop this year.

“If I could have my way, we would have walkie-talkies,” she said.

Jayne Meadows Govar said she usually shops Black Friday sales in a group.

“It helps if you can have someone to wait in line while you shop and also to help look for items on your list,” she wrote in a Facebook message. She makes a list of items she’s looking for, as well as stores to visit, then ranks them according to which she wants to visit first.

Melannie Walker, who runs a couponing workshop at the Phenix City-Russell County library, recommended sticking to a list and limiting the number of stores you visit.

If you’re worried about racking up credit card debt, “carry cash and then that’s all you can spend,” she said.

Double-check prices: Finding a good deal on Black Friday can be a rush — but double-check prices before you buy, Pressy said.

“You get that Black Friday high and then you get home and realize ‘Oh, it wasn’t that great.’” she said. A store might advertise items are up to 70 percent off, but that could mean that only a few items in the store are actually 70 percent off, she said. “Just make sure you are getting the right price,” she said.

Walker recommended shopping the store deals and looking online for coupons. Some stores even offer coupons you can download to your phone.

“You don’t run the risk of losing little bitty pieces of paper,” she said.

Shop online: If Walker shops on Black Friday this year, she’ll do it from the privacy of her own home, she said.

“It’s too much to fight the crowds,” she said. “If you’ve got a laptop and a credit card you can get as good a deal.”

Pressy also said checking out online deals is a good idea.

“Sometimes the deals online are as good as the ones in the brick and mortar stores,” she said.

Be safe: You may want to be first in line for a sale, but don’t camp out on the sidewalks, Walker said. Be safe and aware of your surroundings. Instead of carrying a purse — which can be easily taken from you by pickpockets, she said — put your license and money in a wallet and carry that in your pocket.

Be positive: “Look at it as an adventure,” Govar advised. After bargain shopping for a few hours, she said she usually treats herself to coffee.

Mitchell said she’s ready to shop all night, starting with the midnight sales on Thursday and continuing into Friday.

“Everyone is out, trying to get a good deal to see smiles on their loved ones’ faces, so for those few hours everyone shares a common bond,” she wrote. She tries to keep a positive attitude when shopping and hopes others will do the same.

“Many times I have been unable to get an item on the shelf, but as you walk around the store sometimes people have remorse and leave items and will also leave them at the register,” she wrote “So keep your eyes open and a smile on your face. The other shoppers and employees don’t mind helping you when you are positive.”

No those aren’t typos in the title.  No More Rack is in the middle of a new promotion called Insanity Deals. Basically, throughout the day, a Purple highlighted deal will pop up on No More Rack for a ridiculous discount.  They are doing this to help build their clientel and email list. So, they are selling top Brand Name items like an Apple iPad2 for $44 and a Sony 52″ TV for $60… plus they have a ton of similar deals for insane discounts too.

• First of all, Make sure you are signed up with an account on No More Rack.
• Then, check a few times a day and look for the Purple Highlighted Insanity Deal that will pop up.  Only a few will be available.  But they guarantee that over the course of a month, 1,000 of each item will go up for sale. If they sell out before you get a chance to grab it, keep checking back because they will pop up again!

Get signed up and be watching their site.

We know that there are so many daily deal sites popping up.. I am having a hard time remembering what I got. When it expires. I am in love with Couptivate. I can see in one page all my current deals and how long I have left on each one.It will import in seconds all your vouchers from Groupon, Living Social, Plum District, Eversave and so many other sites  It also shows me what is good online, or what deals I need to grab in a local store.  I can even organize it by the deals expiring soon! It takes less than 5 minutes to get started. A great way to stay organized.

STILL AVAILABLE!!!

If you haven’t snagged your $15 credit yet,  hurry over and get yours now! One Kings Lane is offering a Free $15 credit to everyone that signs up.  There are a TON of items on the site for less than $15, which means any $15 or less is FREE.  All you need to pay is shipping which is $4.95!  I don’t know when this credit offer will expire so you will want to go ahead and at least sign up and if you dont see anything you like then just wait it out, I promise it will pay off.  New sales starts each day at 11 EST!

This sure would make some nice super inexpensive Christmas gifts!!

If you haven’t snagged your $15 credit yet,  hurry over and get yours now! One Kings Lane is offering a Free $15 credit to everyone that signs up.  There are a TON of items on the site for less than $15, which means any $15 or less is FREE.  All you need to pay is shipping which is $4.95!  I don’t know when this credit offer will expire so you will want to go ahead and at least sign up and if you dont see anything you like then just wait it out, I promise it will pay off.  New sales starts each day at 11 EST!

This sure would make some nice super inexpensive Christmas gifts!!