Eco-friendly scotch tape: get it FREE!

When I can score a deal that's a green product and I get it for free, I wear a smile all day. Yes, I'm that nerdy. I just stopped by Staples to get all the extreme deals on the front of the flyer for myself and my church. They still had plenty of everything, and the notebooks rang up $.09, not $.19--even better.

My favorite deal was for Scotch magic eco-friendly tape, made from 75% renewable or recycled materials. The dispenser is made from 100% recycled plastic, the back-card is from 100% renewable materials, and the tape is made from over 53% renewable plant-based materials. I'm not sure how they do that, but that's cool. You can also reuse the dispenser and buy refills separately or recycle it through Terracyle. Since our school has just started collecting for Terracycle, I'm jazzed about this idea, which pays the school $.02 for each item. Love it!

So here's the deal: You pay $3.99 and get $3.99 back in Staples rewards to use on a future purchase. Voila: FREE. Limit 1 per customer. Go green, save green, give green!

Organic Deals for Earth Week-UPDATED

In celebration of Earth Week, I've been scouring the ads and online blogs for the best organic and eco-friendly deals this week. Here's what I found.

Kroger disappointed me big time. Other than marginal deals on Seventh Generation, I didn't see anything to celebrate there.

Ingles is my neighborhood store, but I've been shopping more at Kroger the past few months to save money. I was happy to be one of their patrons today. Through sales and coupons, I spent $31.35 and saved $34.87.

They have excellent prices on Muir Glen products (all organic). You can buy the 15oz cans for $1.25 or the 28oz cans of tomatoes for $1.84. Many of the cans have stickies on them that will save you $1/2. I used 2 $1/1 printables here and will save those for another visit. I also bought 4 jars of MG red sauce for $2.50 each and used 2 $1/2 stickies on those jars.

Cascadian Farms frozen vegetables (all organic) were on sale for $2 each. I picked up 2 16oz bags of peas and used 2 $1/1 printables found here. Organic raisons were $1.50 for 6 boxes; those will be good for lunches. Tip: I save the boxes and fill them with raisons again from a larger box. And Greenworks detergent was on sale for $3.99 (B1G1 but you don't have to buy two). I still had a $3/1 coupon I'd printed months ago, but the paper had a $1.50/1 coupon recently.

Lots of Seventh Generation products were also on sale and you can find $1/1 coupons for lots of their products here. There was a rebate form for 3 products but that seems to have disappeared. Let me know if it's still available.

Finally they're also running a special with Muir Glen and Cascadian Farms: Buy 2 products, get a free Ingles bag (value: $1; limit 1). However, I asked the manager since I was buying 8 qualifying products, would he consider giving me one of their insulated bags instead (value: $2). That I could really use! He agreed and I was thrilled. Now that's good customer service!

So my final costs on organic or eco-friendly products were:

2 28oz cans tomatoes: $1.68

4 jars red sauce: $8

2 bags of peas: $2

6 mini boxes of raisons: $1.50

1 30 load detergent: $.99

1 insulated reusable bag: FREE

Update 4/22 (deals good through 4/27): I just returned from Earthfare, where I spent $39.13 and saved $20.38. I can't say the deals are amazing this week, but I'm glad I went. With this coupon, I got a new cloth bag with snaps (a nice feature) and because I was one of the first 200 customers today, I got another one as well (value: $2). I chose for my bulk item dark chocolate covered almonds (which I will be hiding from the kids--seriously ;-). They are a little bit of heaven on earth that I'll take as my reward for couponing. They are on sale for $6.99/lb (regularly $9.99/lb), and the coupon took another 20% off. Tip: Although this product is already pre-packaged, it qualifies for the discount. My final cost for a container was $4.30.

Though I don't usually buy sausage, I decided to try the Organic Prairie pork links in the freezer section. They were $1 off and I had a $1 coupon from some newsletter. Stonyfield yogurts are on sale for 5/$4 ($.80 each, normally $.86). Apparently you have to buy 5 to get the discount because I only bought 3. Using a $.50/3 printable found here, I saved at least that and I'm not one to squabble over $.18. I also got a free Honest Tea with a coupon I think I picked up at the coupon fair.

I spent most of my money on organic produce:

2lbs strawberries: $3 each (phenomenal price for organic and they looked great!)

3lbs apples: $4.97

5lbs carrots: $4.99

5 Valencia oranges: $5

5lbs red potatoes: $5.99

5lbs russet potatoes: $3.97

Since my total was over $35, I used the $10 off $35 coupon I got at Earthfest. Tip: It's good through May if you want to save it for another trip.

And don't forget to pick up the new Earthfare Spring Savings coupon booklet with coupons worth $85. They had arrived just as I was checking out. Some of my favorite companies with coupons are: the Earthfare line of foods, Seventh Generation, Kashi, Cascadian Farms, Ben & Jerry's, Organic Valley, and Pirate Booty. Tip: Pirate Booty (a yummy snack) is currently on sale and there's a $1 coupon in the book.

I hope you can take advantage of some of these deals and realize once again, you can go green and save green.