Recycling not only helps the earth, but sometimes offers incentives. I found a few programs to keep in mind.
You can sign up on the Brita Website for information as to how you can recycle your spent Brita filters. Stores in selected locations have had collection bins where you can drop off those spent filters. If you don’t have a collection site in your area, you can mail them in to a certain address. Visit http://www.brita.com/support/filter-recycling/

Mission Foods promotes Terracycle and Share Our Strength. Mission® partners with upcycling company TerraCycle, Inc.® to create the Tortilla and Tostada Bag Brigade™. For each unit of packaging waste collected and sent to TerraCycle through this program, two cents will be paid to either Mission® Foods’ charity partner Share Our Strength® or a Brigade™ location’s charity of choice. The collected tortilla and tostada bags and salsa/dips lids will then be repurposed into innovative consumer products. Visit http://missionmenus.com/makeadifference/utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tile-text-getfacts&utm_campaign=feb2011
Staples gives $2 for each returned printer cartridge. Check for their double days and double rewards.
Bring your gently used women’s, men’s and children’s prescription glasses, bifocals and non-prescription sunglasses to your local LensCrafters. Our associates will then clean, repair and hand-deliver them to those in need.

After being a devoted refunder and couponer for years I’ve found some of the best sites to find coupons. My own site:

www.couponqueen.com has upwards of 100 assorted free printable coupons, coupon codes, digital coupons, and phone applications among many money saving tips and more.

But specific companies offer some of their own coupons too. Here’s a few of the top ones.

Over $25 in coupons from Eat Better America
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/coupons/?WT.dcsvid=MzQ4NjY4ODU2NQS2&rvrin=A1E617CE-8126-40A3-BC59-DA5994952FA1&WT.mc_id=Newsletter_EBA_2011_5_18

$19 in coupons from Betty Crocker
http://www.bettycrocker.com/coupons-promotions/coupons/default?wt.dcsvid=mzyyotq4njq2mws2&rvrin=6ce24513-5e46-483d-9d8c-0564013ee5de&wt.mc_id=newsletter_bc_05_12_2011_icons

Aveeno printable $2 product coupon
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=yenifcl42497348&bt=vg&ci=1&o=86469&c=JJ&p=GTfAmxB6

Nestle coupons worth $4

Scotch Brite has a printable form for a free reusable shopping tote, plus a printable $1 coupon good towards any Scotch Brite Greener product
http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/scotchbrite/images/coupons/emailcoupon_20100903.pdf?WT.mc_ev=clickthrough&WT.tsrc=email

$14 in coupons from Arm & Hammer
http://www.armandhammer.com/Resources/SavingsCenter.aspx?utm_source=Multibrand_April_2011&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Get_Your_Coupons_Header_Image&utm_campaign=Multibrand_April_2011

Kellogg’s has over $8 in printable coupons for various Kellogg’s family products
http://www2.kelloggs.com/Coupon.aspx?utm_source=newsletter042011&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_term=v2_coupons_image&utm_campaign=kcrm_aprilobty_v2

There’s something for everyone on the web from free books, to recalls to the do-it-yourselfer. Here’s some that were recently sent along to me.

Help With The Law, Recall
Navigate the law: How to protest a traffic ticket…prepare a financial power of attorney…determine liability in an accident…avoid foreclosure…resolve disputes with neighbors… and more at www.Nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia

Recall notices: Find out about recalls of appliances, medications, toys, and so on at www.Recalls.justia.com

Deer defenses: Products to keep deer away from your garden…deer-resist ant plants…other deer-proofing strategies. www.Gardening.Cornell.edu/factsheets/deerdef

Feed A Friend
Friend-to-friend: Free online service to coordinate meal deliveries for new parents, sick neighbors and others. http://MealTrain.com

Just For Fun
Online fun: Play Cyber Darts, IQ Trivia, Wheel of Fortune, card games, etc.—even multiplayer games. Free. www.Riddler.com

Bargain Finder
Find out where you can get good deals on laptops, video games, TVs, cameras and more. www.SlickDeals.net

Rewards programs are a great way to save especially if you’re a loyal user of the product. Companies wanting to recognize preferred shoppers are offering rewards for multiple purchases. A few of my favorites include:

www.Mycokerewards.com: enter codes from various products to earn coupons for freebies, items such as T-Shirts, and even donate to some of your favorite charities.

www.lorealparisusa.com/rewards is L’Oreal’s program. It works this way. Sign up for the L’Oréal Paris Gold Rewards Program, and when you purchase any 5 L’Oréal Paris hair color products, you’ll receive the next one FREE! Simply enter the code found within each box prior to coloring and it will count toward your reward.

www.Diapers.com Loyalty program, gives $5 off every case of diapers, every time you order. It’s easy! No complicated reward point systems to navigate. Just a cool $5 off every case of diapers, every time. For first time customers, get $10 off.

Enter code TAKEFIVER at checkout (the one and only time you’ll have to enter a code for this program), and start saving on your diapers today!

I’d love to hear about some of the programs you’ve found. Send them along, and we can all share in the savings.

Inmar, the nation’s leading promotion transaction settlement provider, reported that annual coupon use is on the rise for the first time since 1992 and coupon distribution hit the highest level recorded since the company began tracking trends in 1988. For the first time in 17 years, consumers used more coupons than they did the year before, with 3.3 billion consumer packaged goods coupons redeemed, an explosive 27% increase over the 2.6 billion redeemed in 2008.

The rise in coupon use started in October of 2008, coinciding with news of the U.S. financial crisis. That has led to five double-digit growth (based on percentage change from the same period of the previous year).

The increase in redemption goes hand-in-hand with an increase in distribution. Despite the tight economy, marketers invested heavily in coupons, boosting the number available to the highest level in over 30 years.

Online coupons also contributed to the rise in coupon distribution and redemption, with Internet distribution up 92% and consumer redemption of these coupons up over 360%.

With this news it’s a great time to be a consumer with coupons filling not only our supermarket basket but also our other retail purchases. For over 125 free printable and digital coupons and coupon codes go to my site www.couponqueen.com.

Today I filled up at Shell gas station with a free gas card from the Verizon Business Link rewards. I’ve been using this program for quite some time, at least 4 or 5 years.

I’m not quite sure how I found out about it, probably an email or mass mailing, but I remember calling and setting up my online account.

Here’s how it works. Register any business phone you have provided by Verizon service. You earn points for each dollar spent. Throughout the year, there are email blasts offering bonus points as well.

Over the past year I accumulated over 6,000 points. The $50 Shell card was 5400 points. I requested the card online, received it, and have used part of it today.

In past I’ve gotten freebies for Starbucks coffee, 2 lovely Coach mini-handbags that I was able to use as Holiday gifts.

If you’re a Verizon business customer you can sign up too and start earning rewards. Let me know some of your gifts.

Lately a lot of attention has been given to Extreme Couponing. This is exactly the way it sounds, couponing taken to the extreme.

It’s not like buying 4 boxes of cereal because they’re on sale 4/$6. It’s like buying 40 or 80 boxes because of the sale; or toothpaste on sale for $1.49 and buying 2 tubes, it’s buying 100 tubes. Of course each purchase would also have the additional coupon savings, bringing the cost way down.

The situation is that some folks have 1000 tubes of toothpaste, or 1400 rolls of toilet paper, or enough detergent for 20,000 wash loads of clothes. Where are all of these items stored and is freshness ever compromised?

I live in comfortable-size home and at times I do buy in quantity. For example, 5 cans of tuna for $4. I bought 10 cans, or 4-12 packs of Coke for $10. Combined, in addition, with my coupons naturally. I’m able to store these and use them easily within the printed dates

My feelings are that everything should be in moderation. And perhaps more important is that these sales constantly repeat themselves so there’s no reason to stock up just for the sake of it.

There are always items on sale, and with 350 billion coupons being issued yearly, coupons readily available. My advise, buy what you need on sale and with a coupon, but buy that quantity that fits the size of your home and use.

For over 100 free printable and digital coupons go to my www.couponqueen.com site.

Tropicana started an ongoing rewards program more than 2 years ago, called Juicy Rewards. There were some good rewards associated with the program. It worked like this.

Whenever you ought Tropicana orange juice, a code was printed usually under the cap. After signing up for the program, you entered your codes and could use your rewards for various savings. I got Steve a buy one get one free for golf.

Recently, Tropicana Juicy Rewards has updated its program. The codes that have been inside the caps of participating products can no longer be entered in your online account. The last date you could enter them was 2/28/11.

There is a new alphanumeric code on the outside of the participating products that you now enter.

The cap codes on 59 oz. & 64 oz. cartons had been worth 15 points each. Now the alphanumeric codes are worth 6 points each! Read about the new changes in the link below.

http://juicyrewards.tropicana.com/JuicyDetails

Coupon and refund offerings are often dictated by a season, an event or any promotional tool developed by creative gurus.

For example, two of the biggest if not the biggest cook outs take place during Memorial Day and July 4. BBQ Season is kicked off by Memorial Day.

Supermarkets take advantage of these events and present savings on all related products.

There will be sales and ties-ins with meat, hot dogs, hamburgers, buns, mustard, ketchup, chips and everything in-between. Looks for tie-ins, such as buy hot dogs, get the mustard free. Or purchase hamburgers and get a free pack of buns.

Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) are advertised heavily. Look for these deals on BBQ sauce, ketchup, side dishes and all of your favorites.

The more inventive a store can be, the more likely they’re able to grab your attention, and your dollars.

The truth is that you will find the best deals on all of these items during BBQ season. Buy enough of the non-perishable products to last throughout your cookouts.

It would be impossible to count, but the average supermarket contains about 70,000 different products and variations of the product that could make any shopper dizzy.

How do manufacturers manage to get your attention with yet another new product? COUPONS. Coupons are still one of the best forms of promotion, and as good shoppers we want to please the manufacturers by using them, and using them a lot.

Most new products never make it past the first year. Depending upon its’ budget, information about the product floods the market during that time. Which mean more promotions, more coupons and more sales.

General Mills is one of my favorite companies for coupons and new product introductions. My family has always been a fan of Honey Nut Cheerios, but when Chocolate Cheerios was recently introduced it captured the palate of one of my sons.

When I found a sale 2/$5 I bought 4 boxes, using a coupon on each, and getting double value to boot. My final cost was 2/$3 or $1.50 per box, about a 75% savings. General Mills made the coupon value so attractive it was hard to pass up the special deal. And it served its purpose, we now buy Chocolate Cheerios on a regular (sale of course) routine.

Enewsletters from many of the manufacturers also alert you to the new introductions and high value coupons on their web sites. That was the case with Comet Cream. The product was introduced with a $1 coupon.

Using high value new product coupons you will reduce your grocery bill and get to try lots of new items, so now it’s time to give it a shot.