Happy New Year!!!

So with the new year upon us in 7 minutes, I have decided that my resolution will be to say NO more often when it's important to my family not to overload our schedule. AND to learn to forgive a little more. Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give, to YOURSELF! Have a fabulous New Year!

Rewards "R" Us!!!

So today I was randomly going through emails and realized that I had a Rewards "R" Us email from Toys R Us / Babies R Us. And if you don't already have a Toys R Us/ Babies R Us, you should definitely sign up for one even if you don't have children! As I highlight in my classes, TRU and BRU have many none children related items such as cleaning and household items that most people don't think to purchase there. These items also become clearance items often because they sit around and end up getting phased out. With all that being said, when I received my Rewards R Us certificates today, I realized that I had done Black Friday shopping there and my rewards are around $17!! Plus they send other additional item specific coupons along with your rewards. AND right now they are having huge clearance clothing sales, so I bet you can guess where I will be going tomorrow!?! I will be sure to post about my AMAZING deal!

Fails? of 2011 Amazon/Blogger and Ecomom

So when I discuss my blog in a public setting, I say that I only post deals that either I personally try or have tried in the past; or every so often, I list one that I would do but can't due to monetary restrictions or time frames. And yet there is still one other category of deals, the ones I do myself but don't post for others. I do this because they are a gamble. The too good to be true deal or the I've never heard of this company/product before deal. I want my reader to always have a positive experience, so if I think there's a chance something could go wrong, I risk it myself first. The epic fail of 2011 was an Amazon deal for ThinkFun Rush Hour 2. When I seen the deal posted on a different blogger's site, it was for 2 "games" that the blogger had noted would be great stocking stuffers. I viewed the game on Amazon and decided that for around $7 shipped, these seemed like to nice games to add to the present closet. When I received the games, there was a small note on the packaging that basically said they basically were refills for the larger game; so worthless in the gift closet. I have since returned them to Amazon and am waiting for a credit. But this was an extreme hassle because I had to ship them UPS (they don't usually stop by my house) and "IF" Amazon charges me return shipping, it will eat up the entire cost of the refund! So BOO this was a major fail!

The next "possible" fail of the year is a deal for Ecomom. Ecomom is an online company that sells green products and recently did an AMAZING black friday deal, combined with vouchers from LivingSocial, Plum District and at least another daily deal site. I chose not to post this because it definitely seems too good to be true. The deal is: buy a voucher from the deal site for $25 for $50 worth of merchandise. I believe I had a credit with the daily deal site I used, making my voucher's cost around $15. The voucher was then combined with the website Black Friday sale, which was free shipping and $40 off a $100 order! So if you're doing the math, that's around $25 shipped for $100 worth of products!! 75% off! So I tried this deal but did not post it. As you can imagine, the company got extremely overwhelmed! There site crashed and they informed customers via Facebook that they WOULD fix this. That people WOULD get their orders in time for Christmas. And WOULD get the Black Friday deal. First you had to email your order, then for some reason that didn't work out so they sent a form out that had to be filled out. This company is frantically working around the clock to fix this! In the wee hours of the morning last night, I received a message informing me that 4 of my items have shipped and that 4 of my items are in their warehouse awaiting shipment. They have 8 days to go....I'm not sure how this will all work out for Ecomom and although I got a FABULOUS deal if my items show up, I'd much rather forgo the frustration and not purchase a deal that is so random. God Speed Ecomom and Merry Christmas to all!

Victoria's Secret Reward Card Deal!

If you have a Victoria's Secret Reward Card valued at $10, I have a deal for you! Today online you can head on over to Victoria's Secret and add this Cami to your cart. Then proceed to checkout and enter "offer codes": VSFREE for free shipping and PERFUME to receive the perfume set shown below for free!

Then enter your Victoria's Secret Secret Reward Card and pay around $2.99 plus tax shipped for $59.00 worth of Victoria's Secret products. Look like a pretty sweet Christmas gift to me!

Christmas Lights...repair or buy new???

So when it comes to Christmas lights, do you repair them or just buy new? So with everything else manufactured these days, the working life of Christmas lights is LOW. Two years ago when we purchased our home, I purchase three packs of Philips Mini Lights for Christmas. This year, they are dead! So while I like to save a buck, I don't like to add extra waste to those landfills if I don't have too. When I opened the decorations, I found that all three sets are out. They have a 3 year warranty but it most likely won't be covering my issue because all of my bulbs are blown. Also it takes 6-8 weeks to get the lights back from the company, and I don't have that kind of time. So, not wanting to buy a ton of new and toss them, I decided to purchase the Light Keeper Pro. While the Light Keeper Pro is freakin magic and works on "standard" light sets, the Philips sets I purchased have a funky plastic piece that doesn't fit into the standard tester on the Light Keeper Pro. So I have to manually check each bulb. I then realized that I was in need of bulbs and stopped at Walmart last night. I buy things like seasonal items that I need during the season at Walmart because they tend to be cheaper than other stores, also they have Pineapple juice on the super cheap. (More about that another day!) At Walmart, a 10 pack of mini-light bulbs, were .98 cents! I bought three packs and used them in a minute on our light sets and still need plenty more! I am now at around $23.00 total for the Light Keeper Pro and bulbs. Plus, I probably need $10-$15 MORE in lights! The hubby says it's time to call it a wash and go pick up LED lights. What do you do? Is this as big a problem for every one else as it is for me??

Babies R Us Santa Diapers $5 and MORE!

Today through tomorrow, you can grab a jumbo pack of Huggies Santa diapers at Babies R Us for $5.00, you can also use a coupon from the newspaper to grab these for $3.00 after the $2.00 coupon! Awesome price and super cute diapers. The Mentor store had tons in stock. Also, clearance clothing & shoes are 75% off, making for some awesome finds! Even some Christmas outfits are already on Clearance. I will post my deals later but hurry because there is tons to be found!

Groupon - The Body Shop voucher, plus my experience with Groupon!

So Groupon is listed to the left as one of my favorite sites, the reason for this is because they are money-back guaranteed! I have purchased two Groupons within the past year. One was for the Gap and it worked perfectly! I got a great deal that I spoke about in past classes. The second was from Build A Bear, I purchased a Build A Bear party for my son last year and when I arrived at BAB was met with TONS of restrictions that I wasn't previously informed of. I ended up getting a better deal using an in-store special than my Groupon. I returned home and sent them an email complaining and found out rather quickly that when Groupon says "money-back guarantee" they MEAN it with no questions asked! I was refunded almost immediately! I love Groupon, it is safe and secure. So on to today's deal, you can currently go here and purchase a gift certificate for The Body Shop with a value of $20 and pay $10! This is 50% for Christmas gifts you still need to purchase!! The Body Shop has quality products and the best Coconut Body Butter in the world, in case you need someone to buy it for, I love it! HINT HINT HA So hurry over to Groupon and get 50% off at The Body Shop!

Rue La La -$10.00 Free

Go to Rue La La and sign up for an account, you will get a $10.00 credit free. Then refer your friends and family and they will get $10 and you will get $10 for each friend who signs up! Rue La La is daily deal sight that addresses themselves as: We are the invitation-only destination for a life of style. Where Members delight in discovering private sale Boutiques that open daily – and stay open only for a short time. A community where Members shape the experience – and enhance the excitement – by inviting their friends. A place where they discover some of the most sought-after brands in fashion, accessories, footwear, home, travel, wine, gourmet food, local services, and more. We are the invitation-only destination for a life of style. Where Members delight in discovering private sale Boutiques that open daily – and stay open only for a short time. A community where Members shape the experience – and enhance the excitement – by inviting their friends. A place where they discover some of the most sought-after brands in fashion, accessories, footwear, home, travel, wine, gourmet food, local services, and more. So sign up and get your free $10.00 credit by clicking here.

My Favorite Places to SAVE...

I added a new feature to the top right of my blog. Look over here -------------------------->
Now you can search all of the sites I check in with for good deals, when I'm not around to tell you about them! Just click on the links. I will add more as I think of or learn about them. Anyone have one that should be added? Send me a message or post a comment below!

New classes!

Overspent this holiday season? I have updated the available class listings over to the left. Come out and see how much money I can save you! There are currently classes being held in Mentor, Concord and Mayfield Heights (just waiting for a confirmation.)

I also plan to add a new feature either later today or tomorrow and post all of my favorite sites for the best deals. Also, if I have spoken of anything that you can't find; please feel free to email me! webercarol@hotmail.com Thanks

Great Lakes Mall - Black Friday VIP

So back in the beginning of November, I posted about a VIP shopping pass for the Great Lakes Mall on Black Friday from LivingSocial. The VIP package included a VIP parking spot, access to the VIP lounge which would have refreshments and a restroom, and a goody bag with coupons. They set the value at $20 and it cost $10 on LivingSocial. I had a $5 credit for signing up for LivingSocial, so I paid $5 for the pass. I debated over this pass at first because I remember past Black Fridays and how I was so tired after the first store and just didn't see the point, but I got it anyway. While waiting for the Toys R Us line to recede, we drove over to the mall at around 9pm. People were already gathered outside of the food court entrance anticipating their midnight opening, we then drove around and found the VIP parking roped off by the employee entrance by Dillard's. We returned to the mall after Toys R Us around midnight and pulled right into our VIP parking spot, the area was EMPTY! We really did feel like VIP at this point especially since it seemed that many people didn't take advantage of their pass, forgot about it? We went directly to the lounge and checked our coats and got some free coffee and the goody bag of coupons. We quickly headed toward the stores that interested us. This is were some disappointment was found...Victoria's Secret (who had an opening time of midnight) failed to open! People waited outside and inside for their chance to grab the free bag with purchase and then it was said that they would open at 4am so many people walked away empty handed. Next I headed to the Disney Store and got some AWESOME deals! Disney had door busters and then everything in the store was a percentage off, maybe 40, I can't remember but even the door busters were part of the discount! Disney had a line inside the mall to get into their store, I didn't realize this until I was leaving and had purchased all my items but I feel it is very responsible of the stores to do. I then headed down to Hollister and was met with more disappointment. The store was PACKED solid with people and around 80 degrees inside! In the back of my head, I remembered that Aeropostale was also on the want list so I got out of there! Opps, I almost forgot to mention the 15 year old boys in underwear greeting customers out front of Hollister!!! I have a feeling that if it had been girls, the police would have shut it down.... I headed to Aeropostale and received some good deals but the discount there was VERY confusing. Everything in the store was 50% off and then you could take an additional 20% off. So basically it was 60% off but even the employees were confused as they told us several different things. The line there was long but it was definitely better than sweating for over an hour in Hollister! We headed over to Bath and Body Works to spend $40 and buy the goody bag for $20 (retail value of $103.50.) The gal who met us at the door informed me that "today only, you can use all the coupons you have as long as you meet the coupon requirements" with a wink.) I had lots of coupons from random places and ended up purchasing $40 of merchandise on sale, plus the bag for $20 and paid around $31 with tax! It was an amazing chance to use all the coupons I saved up and one of those Black Friday deals that you just don't get online! We then dropped our bags off at the car, which took a few minutes and went back to the lounge to use the restroom and get some water and snacks. This is when I noticed Great Lakes Mall's biggest fail of the day, they had a radio station blasting rap music by Hollister and THOUSANDS of teenagers NOT SHOPPING! Don't get me wrong, I realize that teenagers drive retail but not on Black Friday. And where were their parents? It was 2 am! I was in my early 20's and having difficulty at home coming in after midnight, let alone after 2 am! (Anything a lady can do after midnight, she can do before! My poor daughters! LOL) We made a quick lap of the mall and decided that we weren't comfortable with all the loitering and foul language (yes, I know it's hard to believe but I can't stand teenagers cussing to look "cool"), so we left. The VIP lounge was a GREAT EXPERIENCE! I enjoyed it and would LOVE to do it again, if the mall decides to forgo gangster rap and basically welcoming loitering. I did make it back to the mall in the afternoon of Black Friday with my hubby and baby, and decided that although most of the door busters were over it was much more comfortable to shop when the teenagers were sleeping off their night of energy drinks!

My Black Friday Experience

As expected, Black Friday was full of ups and downs and many surprises. I am going to give a little recap without getting too specific as my children may be able to read this blog ;)
Black Friday started for me on Thanksgiving at approximately 2pm, we had spare time so we ran up to Old Navy and received the Black Friday deals early because I used my credit card. I got some deals there but nothing extremely exciting. Then after an interesting turkey dinner, I headed out around 9pm to Toys R Us. The crowd at Toys R Us was extreme and lead me to sit in my car for an hour and wait for the line to "go down." It eventually receded and we went in. Toys R Us has a line that is insane, both inside and outside the store. My best strategy is to get a cart (if you can) and just get in line. If you shop with someone else, you can leave the line to get what you need and bring it back. The line is so ridiculously long that everyone else ends up shopping in line and all of the door busters are in the isles anyway and you pass them. Now as Toys R Us has a large quantity of most of the door busters, if you want a popular item and are worried about losing out, I suggest getting it and then getting in line. Toys R Us was rather uneventful, I bought the box of Babies R Us diapers for $10 which was a pretty good deal, 96 diapers I think. But the strange part of that was these were size 3 and the size 2 had 76 diapers for $10?? Weird.
We then headed to Great Lakes Mall but this portion of my Black Friday experience definitely deserves it's own post so I will discuss it in a different post.
After the mall, we headed to Target around 2 or 3 am and it was CLEANED OUT! I was shocked. Not a door buster in site! And the line at Target was wrapped around the store, several hours after they opened. I was not interested in waiting in a Target line that would take several hours so we skipped out. I did happen to see Ulta bags and they had shampoo and conditioner in the ad that I was interested in. So we went over. They actually had the items that I was interested in but I was surprised to see that the weekly news-paper coupon ($3.50 off $10) excluded door busters?? This annoyed me but being prepared as I usually am, I happened to have an internet printable that worked so all was not lost.
So this concludes my early hour shopping with the exception of the mall which I will discuss in a more elaborate post shortly.

My take on Black Friday........

So, as usual, Black Friday was brought with it tons of debate and question this year; as it does every year. For some reason, most of the bloggers, news reporters and "finance experts" are telling people that the internet is where it's at. They are saying "Stay home, give the stores a message that we don't want to shop on holidays." Regardless of how you feel about stores being open on Thanksgiving, it really doesn't make a difference. They will be open and millions of us will be out shopping. So if you have decided to forgo Black Friday and concentrate on Cyber Monday, I have a few suggestions for you. The very first thing to consider is what sort of items you intend to purchase. On Black Friday, I concentrate on small electronics were brand doesn't matter much and teen clothing. Lots of stores, ie Walmart, Target, Kmart, etc. will have unbeatable deals on small electronics such as dvd players or portable dvd players. Getting a good deal on these is an essential for me, because I allow my children to control their own which means we go through quite a few of them. My goal is to pay the smallest price, so I know that if it only lasts a few months I'm okay. Another item that is a great buy on Black Friday is teen clothing such as Aeropostale, Abercrombie or Hollister. They usually offer deep discounts on Black Friday and reward you with additional savings if you return either later in the season or in the new year. Some of these deals maybe be available online but free shipping is usually scarce this time of year. And one last thing to consider before you put your jogging shoes away and forgo Black Friday, retailers often offer FREE with purchase or cheap with purchase items only on Black Friday in their stores. Victoria's Secret often offers a pretty sweet bag filled with goodies as well as their partner company Bath and Body Works. And Disney Store has some awesome in store deals as well! I plan to post more about my personal Black Friday attack later in the week, so if I haven't changed your mind yet...stay tuned!

Cheap Huggies Diapers on Amazon!

So normally when it comes to diapers, I like to pay around $5.00 per Jumbo pack. The Huggies Snug & Dry Jumbo pack (size 3) contains 36 diapers and sells for $11.99, which figures out to 33 cents per diaper. When aiming to pay $5.00 per Jumbo pack, it figures out to 13 cents each. While 13 cents each is ideal, sometimes you can still snag a good deal that isn't that low. Currently, Amazon has a box of 86 Huggies Snug and Dry priced at $22.63, with a Subscribe and Save discount and an Amazon Mom discount; that puts the box down to $18.10. There is also a coupon on the page that makes these diapers $15.10 shipped (with free 2-day Prime shipping!) Making each diaper 17 cents! Not too bad considering the average consumer is paying 33 cents retail.
To get this deal; make sure you have your Amazon Mom account set up and go HERE and make sure to scroll down and click on the $3.00 off coupon. Then choose subscribe and save for $18.10. Your coupon will automatically come off at checkout and you should receive free shipping with your Amazon Mom membership. Not bad for not needing to cut a single coupon or leave the house!!

Kohl's Christmas Shopping

So yesterday, I was up to some Christmas shopping! Some may think this is early and some may think this is late...I like to have my shopping done by December 1st, my birthday! Then it's relax, bake and enjoy the merriment of the season. So on Tuesday, I received a 30% off Kohl's coupon in the mail. You must have a Kohl's charge to use this percent off coupon, but wow did I save a TON. The first thing to remember when shopping at Kohl's online is to go through ShopAtHome where you can currently receive 4% cash back, up from a regular 2%. If you've never used ShopAtHome, basically they are a referral link that helps you to build cash back and when you reach $20 you get your money back! All for just going to their site before you shop online! At Kohls.com you get free shipping on all orders over $50, so I definitely recommend spending at least $50. Once you select the items you want, enter code NOVSAVINGS for 30% off (must use your Kohl's charge) and since Kohl's is so kind to let us use TWO codes per order, enter PGO15OFF to get another 15% off! My total before tax came to $110.44, the two codes took off $44.73 so with tax I paid $68.93. So I saved 48% (don't ask me how!) Then I received $10 back in Kohl's cash and will receive $2.63 back from ShopAtHome. So when all is said and down, it's like saving 49%! Not bad for some great Christmas gifts! Happy shopping and come back and let me know what great deals you find!

Diaper Deal Alert!!!

Okay, so lately it seems I am asked often about diaper deals or getting diapers for $5.00. Well, I have to say that since Amazon has changed the Subscribe and Save discount from 15% to 5%, I have been having a difficult time finding a good deal! In need of diapers and randomly searching for a deal, I found one right under my nose. Walgreen's has Huggies Little Movers Slip-On diapers on sale for $9.49. There is a $2.00 off available HERE to be printed. Walgreen's also had a $2.00 off coupon in the Infant Care Booklet, this will be slightly harder to locate but if you don't have one and can't find one in store, I would search Ebay. Using both coupons, you can snag Huggies Slip-On diapers for $5.49. Not a great price but better than retail. :) Anyone else find a good deal on diapers lately??

Groupon for Santa Photos!

So this is one of those local deals that you might not find on other blogs...currently Groupon is offering a photo package with Santa through Worldwide Photography for $11, a $23 value. For $11 you get your adorable child's photo taken with Santa and one 5x7 print and two 3.5x5 prints. I'm not 100% sure what the cost for photos with Santa at the local mall are but I can remember recent years of dressing up my tribe, dragging them to the mall, waiting in line for what felt like a lifetime to have photos taken with Santa and then to get the sticker shock at the end! So in this case, the reason I am posting this is because $11 seems like a good bargain to me. And you would already know what the cost of the photos are before all the hassle. Worldwide Photography has several locations on different dates. If you are interested in getting photos for your kiddos click here and sign up for Groupon to purchase this deal!