Sunday, July 19, 2009

Verizon Wireless---you stink! Ppppppppppp!

Last month we decided to switch to Verizon wireless. Many of our friends and family have Verizon, so we made the switch. We were happy to find a plan that cost about the same as our old T-Mobile bill and I thought we were all set. When the bill came, instead of $60, it was $140!!! What??? I was so mad. After talking to several representatives, with no help, then contacting them through their website, they are basically saying "We're really sorry that no one told you about the fees, BUT we can't do anything abou it." You know, sorry just isn't good enough. I would understand if there were start up fees, BUT as the consumer, I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT UP FRONT!!!! There's no excuse these days for hidden fees from a company as big as Verizon Wireless.

So I let them know that I would make sure to spread the word about the horrible customer service and total lack of communication with their new clients. Ugg. I'm so mad. We were with T-Mobile for 7 years and never had this kind of problem. They were even extra willing to delete charges that we received once because of a miscommunication. Change isn't always good, I guess. Arrrrr.

I did it! A pretty good Huggies deal.

I wasn't quite sure about the Rite Aid Huggies deal, but I think I did alright. Last week, I had a baby shower to go to and I wanted to get a pack of Pampers Swaddlers (awww) for the mommy-to-be & baby, cause I love them--they are so soft. I had a $5/$25 purchase coupon, so I went ahead and bought a Mega pack of Huggies @ $17.99. I came to realize they would be on sale for $14.99 this week (ugg) but I had two gift cards that still had money on them, so I ended up only paying $6.64 for both packs of diapers. Plus I will get $2 each back from Single Check rebates and the $17.99 went towards the "Buy $50 of Kimberly Clark products, get a $25 gift card."

So today was the last day to get more Mega packs for $14.99, so we went in and it went very smoothly. I got:

**2 Mega packs of size 5 Huggies, $14.99 each. Plus I had a $3 off coupon and a $1.50 off coupon to use! :)
**2 boxes of 200 count Kleenex. On sale BOGO. $2.49 total, plus a $0.50/2 coupon.

I used another $5 off a $25 order coupon, plus my other coupons and got my total down to $24.74 after tax and everything.

So in total I spent $31.38 for 3 mega packs of Huggies for me, 1 baby shower gift pack of Pampers and 2 large boxes of Kleenex. PLUS I will receive $4 in rebates and a $25 gift card.

$31.38, Plus $29 BACK! is a pretty great deal! I only come out about $2 in the hole for all those diapers! Yay! I'm glad I went ahead and did it. Hopefully there will be more great diaper deals in the future and I can stretch out my $25 gift card for awhile. :)

Ok, hope that made sense. It's late and I'm tired, but I wanted to jot my thoughts down. Happy Shopping!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

OUT OF THE LOOP! What's wrong with me??

Oh my. I haven't posted my deals in a month! I can't believe that. I do believe it, cause I keep thinking about it, but I just haven't gotten around to it. We had birthday party planning and celebrating going on, so that took some of my time up. We were out of town last weekend, so that was fun. But here I am and I'm going to at least share in words my most recent deal at CVS.

I received a $10 off a $50 purchase out of the coupon machine, so I NEEDED :) to use it. I could have done a little more with it, but I had a $2 off Huggies coupon, plus a $1.50 manufacturer's coupon, and they were on sale, so I encorporated a pack of diapers into my deal. Here's what I got:

**3 Kodak Photo books $7.99 each, no coupons. Received $7.99 each back in ECBs.
**3 Tylenol Muscle Ache. $3.99. Paid $3.99, got back $3 ECBs each. (My printer has been acting up, so I wasn't able to print off the $1 off coupons. :( Sad. But it's up and running again.)
**2 packs of Kotex products 2/$6, used 2 $1.50 coupons. Paid $3, got back 2 ECBs.
**1 bar of Ambi soap. $1.99, used $2 off CRT for any Ambi product. Free.
**1 pack of Huggies. $8.99. Used $2 off CRT, $1.50 off coupon. $5.49.
**1 Honey Nut Cheerios cup $1.00, used $1 off coupon. Free.
**a couple snack fillers to bring up my total (I had a $20 ECB and a $15.98 ECB, so I had to add a couple things to get it up that high.)

Used my $10/$50 coupons, plus other coupons. Paid with my $35.98 in ECBs and some change (I think $0.71 off my gift card--that's still going after almost 7 months of use!!) Received about $35 in ECBs back!!! A loss of $1 ECB, but a gain of a pack of diapers! Good trade off. :)

Plus 3 Photo books that are AWESOME gifts!! I'm so glad the limit was 5 and not just 1. I got really lucky when making these, cause the cashier was giving me a little bit of a hard time saying "limit 1 per household." And I told her that I had previously gotten 2 and my limit wasn't reached. I told her about the cardboard sign that people had seen that says Limit 5. She reached over to the photo counter, picked up the exact sign I was talking about and it said Limit 5! That was a relief, cause I hate when they treat you like you are being bad. :P

Well, that's it for now. I will try and be better about my deals. I think I'm going to do the Rite Aid "Buy $50 of Kimberly Clark stuff, get a $25 gift card." It seems like a good deal, if I can work it out. Happy Shopping!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Back to Kmart

I shouldn't have gone back, but I did. I found some of the Glade candle tins last time I was there. They were marked $3.49 and inside was a $1.50 off coupon. So doubled, it would have been $3 off AND Glade was part of the Buy More, Save More deal. So I thought if I got 4 of those and 2 packs of diapers, I would have about $35 to get the $7 off coupon. I also got a new $1 Cheerios coupon in my e-mail, so I was hoping to get more Cheerios. All in all, the trip was fine, except one of my $1.50 coupons got skipped. Ugg. I hate that. You would think with the --10 COUPON LIMIT-- it wouldn't be that hard to scan 10 coupons correctly. Then if I go in and try and fix it, I'm a "pain" and it takes forever to get fixed. So I lost out on the $3. Here's what I got...

** 2 packs of Huggies diapers $10.49 each, minus 2 $1.50 coupons, doubled. $7.49 each.
** 1 pack of Huggies wipes $2.89, minus $1 coupon doubled. $0.89.
** 2 boxes of Cheerios $2 each, minus 2 $1 coupons, doubled. Free.
** 4 Glade tin candles, rang up $3.29 each, minus 3 (should have been 4) $1.50 coupons, doubled. Would have been $0.29 each, but paid full price for one. So $4.16 for 4. ($1.04 each--going to use as gifts--they are cute, so I guess $1 for a small gift is alright.)
** 1 pack of Diet Coke. $4! minus $1 coupon, doubled. $2.00.

Total was around $47.00, I think.
Used my $14 off coupon I got last trip.
Minus all other coupons ($23 worth)
New total was around $9. (should have been $6, like I had calculated in my head--I should have stopped right there and asked him to recheck my coupons, but there was a long line and only 2 check-out lanes open, so I sucked it up.)
Received a $7 off my next order coupon, like I planned.

WEIRDNESS: Both times I was at Kmart this week (Trotwood) my $$ off coupon didn't print at the coupon machine at the lane I checked out in. It printed on the machine NEXT to the lane I checked out in. ?? Totally doesn't make sense. And both times, I had to say "I should have gotten a coupon from the machine" and they went "next-door" and got them for me. Weirdness.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Old Navy

Oh Old Navy. You booger.


Well, Old Navy has been having weekly internet coupon days for several weeks now, maybe months. I've been trying to get the coupons for the last three weeks. The thing is, you may know what day the coupons will load, but you have no idea WHEN on that day they will load. And all the good coupons (And I mean GOOD--there's a $75 off a $100 purchase coupon!) go really fast, of course. So you basically have to stay close by the computer if you can. I found a chat room where a bunch of people hang out and wait for the coupons. It helps the time go by and it's fun to chat with strangers about whatever is on someone's mind. I have no idea who they are, but they feel like friends. :)


Well, week 1 of me trying, the coupon was supposed to load on a Sunday. So we hung out in the chat room starting around midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Nothing happened until midnight the next day! When it actually loaded, I couldn't get my computer to load the page, so I sat there for 10 minutes trying to figure it out, and missed all the good coupons. :P

So Week 2, I thought, well now I'm a pro, I can do this. Again, it was a Sunday, so we started watching around midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning. WELL, they didn't load until MONDAY AT 8AM!!! Oh, I was mad. I stayed up til about 3am, laid by the computer til 5am in a half-sleep, but I couldn't stay up any longer and went to bed. When I got up and Cooper and I came downstairs, coincidentally, it was 8am, and again and I came right in time for the load. BUT again, my computer wouldn't cooperate and I didn't figure it out until about 15 minutes late. Too late. Nothing for me.

So this past week, Thursday was the day. Again, we started watching and waiting around midnight Wed/Thursday morning. I think I went to bed around 2am, the first night. I thought I'd be up longer, but I couldn't stay awake. I also had a feeling it wouldn't load the first night. So I wasn't as crazy about it this time, but I kept the computer on all day on Thursday and sat & chatted when I had some time. So evening came, we were having a good time, chatting about kids, Jon & Kate Plus 8, movies, etc. Midnight passed, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be long. For some reason I thought 1am would be it. Well, it turned out to be 1am! Wow! But, of course, something else went wrong with my lovely dial-up computer and I missed the good coupons. I seriously thought I knew what to do this time, but it got me again. HOWEVER, someone in the chat room offered her $50 off a $100 purchase coupon to someone, cause she wouldn't be able to use it. Of course, I said I'd love it and she actually picked ME to have it!!! It was wonderful. I felt very blessed. Especially since I hadn't gotten the chance to actually get one for myself because of the stupid computer. So she forwarded the coupon to me and VOILA I was ready to hit Old Navy! I got the coupon on Thursday night/Friday morning at 1am, and I was at Old Navy shopping on Friday by 4pm! I was excited! Ok, long story short, here's what I was able to get:


** 1 pair of comfy black pants (workout/lounge type pants) $19.50 on sale for 50% off. $9.75.
** 1 lightweight sweater/jacket, regular price $19.50, but was on clearance for $8.99. BUT I just looked at the receipt and it is not on the receipt. I guess it was free. oops.
** 2 "Perfect Tanks" $8.50 each, on sale for 2/$15. 2/$15.
** 2 Stretch Tanks $10.50 regular priced, on sale for $6 each. $12 total.
** 1 "Flutter Sleeve" shirt $14.50. Paid $14.50.
** 1 "Braided Tank" $12.50, on sale for $10.
** 1 "Crochet Keyhole" tank $14.50, on sale for $10.
** 2 "Smock Hensley" short sleeve shirts $15 each.

Total Before Sales: $148.50
Total After Sales: $101.25
Used $50 off a $100 purchase coupon!!!
New Total: $51.25 plus tax. Nice.
With tax it was almost $55, but well worth it. I actually sold some of my Creative Memories stuff on craigslist a week or so ago, and I told myself if I could get a good Old Navy coupon, I would use some of it to get some clothes. So, yay me! I'm very excited. Wearing the same 4-5 shirts constantly was getting old. I probably have more around here that I could wear, but I seemed to have gotten in a rut with the same old clothes.

I really wanted some new jeans, but just didn't find any worth buying at Old Navy. I like the dark denim and the wide leg jeans and those are hard to find. I found some at Avenue that I liked AND they had a deal that if you bring in an old pair of jeans, they would give you $5 off a new pair. PLUS a lot of their jeans were $20 or less this week, so I went home, washed my old cruddy jeans and exchanged them for the new pair. AND The Avenue sent out an email coupon for $1 Tank Tops (limit 2) so I snatched those up as well.

So after a couple dinners out and all my new clothes, I think I spent my craigslist cash wisely. It's always good to leave the bank account alone and buy some things you've been wanting with extra cash. I will probably keep trying to get the coveted $75 off coupon (and if, miracle of all miracles, I get it, I'll use it to buy someone else other than me clothes--oops).

K-mart Double Coupons are Back, with a twist!

Tonight I had some time on my own and wanted to try out the “Buy More, Save More” deal at Kmart. It includes Kimberly Clark, Unilever and SC Johnson products. Well, Kimbery Clark makes Huggies, so I was definitely going to check it out. The deal is 1) Buy $20 worth of products, get $3 off coupon on your next order 2) Buy $35 worth of products, get $7 off your next order coupon 3) Buy $50 worth of products, get $14 coupon off your next order. $14 is a big ol’ coupon! That sounded promising. Especially since Kmart is having their Super Double Coupon week (up to and including $2 off coupons).

I stewed over my coupons for awhile, during Cooper’s naptime, and got a small pile ready to go. Ralph took Cooper to his parents to visit, after naptime, so I was out the door. I was really surprised when I got there that there was SO MUCH on the list of items that qualified for the deal. My main goal was diapers, but I looked around at the other stuff. I was going to go straight diapers/wipes, but then saw the Off Clip-On was on sale, so I went diapers and that, because I really want to try it out. So here’s what I got:

** 2 packs of Huggies diapers (I found some of the old packs of size 5’s that still have 30 in them, instead of 26) $10.49 each, minus 2 $2 off coupons, doubled. $6.49 each.
** 1 pack of Huggies Pull-Ups (no Cooper’s not in Pull-Ups yet, but I had a $5 off coupon that I got in the mail, so I thought I’d buy a pack for the future, if we go that route.) $10.79, minus $5 off coupon. $5.79.
** 1 pack of Huggies Little Swimmers diapers $7.89, minus $1.50 coupon, doubled. $4.89.
** 1 Off Clip-On $7.49, minus $2 off coupon, doubled. $3.49.
** 1 pack of Off Clip-On Refills $3, minus coupon for Free Refill when you Buy the Clip-On. Free.
(That was all included in the Buy $50, get $14 coupon off your next order deal.)
I also grabbed:
** 2 boxes of Cheerios $2 each, minus 2 $1 off coupons, doubled. Free.
** 1 jar of Peter Pan peanut butter $2.29, minus home mailer $1 off coupon, doubled. $0.29.
** 1 box of Band Aids $2.50, minus $1 coupon, doubled. $0.50.

Total was $60+ before coupons. ($58.94 plus tax, if I added it up right)
Used a $5 off a $50 or more purchase.
Used $31 in coupons.
New Total: $22.94 plus tax. I think it was about $26 total.
The cashier, again, was quick to scan my coupons, so I missed $1 in coupon savings, cause he hit the wrong button when choosing which coupon goes with which product. Hate when that happens!
Received my $14 off coupon! Yay! It’s not free, but I’m going to go back and I can use my $14 coupon to buy more diapers and get a new coupon for $$ off my next purchase. Depending on how much I want to do this, I can keep rolling them. I may do a $35 purchase and get 2-3 more packs and then get a $7 coupon and get 1 more pack and be done. By then, the double coupons will be over and I will be stocked up a little better on diapers. (I think I have 11-12 packs right now.)

Funny story, when I left Kmart, it started to rain. By the time I got home, it was pouring. Ralph and Cooper weren’t home yet, so I sat and waited it out a little. Not much letting up, so I just went for it. Well, I get inside and realize I’m missing stuff. I run to the car to see if it was there and I forgot a whole bag. BUT I drop 2-3 things out of the bag and they go floating down the river that is forming by the curb where I parked. I had to go chasing my Huggies Little swimmers and my Off-Clip down the river floating down the road. I must have been a riot to watch if any of the neighbors saw me. I was drenched, but it was a good laugh.

I'll let you know if I go back. Happy shopping!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Meijer Trip 6-04

Cooper and I hit up Meijer this week. We had a big grocery trip last week (nothing too exciting to post about, but I did use coupons, of course) so this wasn't too big of a trip. Mainly wanted to get some things that I had manufacturer coupons AND Meijer Mealbox coupons for, so I'd get them cheap/free. And I had a couple Free product coupons (both from home mailers I think--I'm loving those home mailers!) Here it is:
** 2 Diet Pepsi 20 oz. $1.39 each, minus 2 $0.50 Q doubled. $0.39 each. (I was thirsty and I had 2 Pepsi 20 oz coupons I scooped up at CVS--the were manufacturer's, so I tried them and they worked! I don't know why I was suprised, but there's nothing like a cold Diet Pepsi 20 oz.) :)
** 1 Hunt's Ketchup $1.49, minus Free Hunt's coupon. Free.
** 1 Kraft dressing $.158, minus $1 Q and $1 MMB coupon. Free plus $0.42 overage.
** 2 Country Crock margarines $1.99 each, minus $0.45 Q doubled, minus $1/2 MMB Q. (Totally thought I was getting these almost free, but my brain wasn't working.) $2.08.
** 1 Oscar Mayer hotdogs $3.58, minus Free hotdog coupon. Free.
** 1 Chex Mix $1.00, minus $0.50 Q doubled. Free.
** 2 bags of Dole lettuce $0.98 each, minus $1.50/2 Dole coupon. $0.48 for two.
** 1 gallon milk. $1.98.
** 3 boxes of Bisquick $1.99 each, minus 3 $0.50 Q's doubled. $0.99 each!! Great deal!
** 1 Daisy sourcream $1.50, minus $0.50 Q doubled. $0.50.
** 2 cans Dole fruit $1 each, minus 2 $0.50 Q's doubled. Free.
** 3 Nabisco 100 Calorie Snacks $2.50 each, minus 3 $1 Q's, minus 3 $1 MMB Q's. $0.50 each! Yum.
** 2 boxes of Ritz crackers $2.50 each, minus 2 $1 Q's, minus 2 $1 MMB Q's. $0.50 each.
** 12 pack Charmin TP $5.49, minus $1 Q (from P&G booklet). $4.49.
** 1 bag Meijer shredded cheese. $1.50.
** 3 boxes of Chex bars 3/$7, minus 3 $0.50 coupons doubled. $1.33 each.
** 2 Digorno Flatbread Pizzas 2/$10, minus 1 $1.50 Q, minus 1 $1.25 Q, minus 2 $1 MMB Q's. $5.25 for two.

With sales, promotions and coupons, SAVED $53.27! (according to receipt)

Paid $24.75! I thought that was pretty good, with milk, toilet paper, pizzas and the Bisquick. The self scan cashier that helped me (coupons never work that great on those lanes, but they are always OPEN so I do it anyways) was impressed with my savings.