Not much in the form of mailbox love today. I got the July, 2010 issue of Parents magazine, and a bunch of solicitation junk.
A little observation and rant:
I think State Farm really really really wants my business because just today alone I received 2 solicitation letters from 2 different State Farm agents. I know these are rough times for everyone and I know agents need to get their names out to get business, but I'm less likely to give them my business if they keep sending me junk. In fact, I get several solicitation letters from State Farm in any given month and they're all from different agents! Frankly, I don't have the time or patience to contact each agent to ask them to stop mailing me stuff so here's my confession: I throw them straight in the trash and they're a waste of money for those agents who send them out. I wish there was a good way to market to new prospective clients, but for me, sending me junk is a sure fire way to turn me off.
Edited:
I went back through my mail again to discover that I got some Protection One Child Safety Tattoos! The little envelope that it came in was sandwiched between a bunch of junk mail. It was a good thing I went through it again. I'm so excited to get these. I can't wait to try them out!
About a month ago, at the advice of our dentist, I bought some training toothpaste for my toddler, who doesn't quite get spitting out toothpaste. The Orajel Toddler Training Toothpaste was all I could think of to buy because it was the only brand of training toothpaste that I'd seen before so that's what I got at the store. When I came home and opened it up, it instantly oozed out at me into a big huge, sticky mess. Even my husband complained about how messy it was when he used it on the kiddo. Every time I took the cap off, more of it oozed out into a puddle of mess than I would put on the toothbrush. It was utterly wasteful. It was just a huge mess all over the place...on the cap, our counters, our hands, it was every where. It was a runny mess. Needless to say, I was frustrated. The product itself was fine, my kid loved it, but it was just such a pain to use that I wrote an email to Orajel complaining about the issue. In the email I explained how messy it was in a calm and kind fashion and asked that they please consider either reformulating the product or redesigning the tube so that it's not so messy to dispense. Really, that was what I wanted and hoped for because the product itself was fine, just the dispensing method was awful.
To my surprise, I got a response the very next day from a Customer Relations Specialist.
Dear Mrs. ...:
Thank you for visiting our web site recently and taking the time to contact us regarding Orajel® Toddler Training Toothpaste. We are sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction with the product.
We appreciate your bringing this matter to our attention and are concerned that our product did not meet the usual standard of quality you have come to expect from us. Your comments are important to us and provide valuable information that helps us maintain the high level of quality associated with our products.
As we guarantee your satisfaction with our products, we would like to send you a refund for your purchase. Please respond using the link below to provide your full name and mailing address at your earliest convenience.
Again, thank you for taking the time and having the interest to contact us. We value your patronage and trust you will continue to purchase Church & Dwight Co., Inc. products with confidence. If you have any questions or concerns in the future, please call us at 1-800-952-5080.
While I know the email seems pretty canned, the message made me happy. They offered me a full refund of the product, which is very nice. I replied to the message accordingly as instructed. Three business days later, I got another response from the same Customer Relations Specialist:
Dear Mrs. ...:
Thank you for visiting our web site recently and taking the time to contact us regarding Orajel® Toddler Training Toothpaste. We are sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction with the product.
We appreciate your bringing this matter to our attention and are concerned that our product did not meet the usual standard of quality you have come to expect from us. Your comments are important to us and provide valuable information that helps us maintain the high level of quality associated with our products.
At Church & Dwight Co., Inc. we guarantee your satisfaction and under separate cover, via the United States Postal Service, have sent a refund check for the product you purchased.
Again, thank you for taking the time and having the interest to contact us. We value your patronage and trust you will continue to purchase Church & Dwight Co., Inc. products with confidence. If you have any questions or concerns in the future, please call us at 1-800-952-5080.
I am pleased. Very pleased. I'm quite happy with their response to my issue and offering me a full refund. I do like Orajel's products and I sincerely hope that they will consider reformulating their product or redesigning their dispensers. The lesson learned here is, don't be afraid to contact companies about their products. The worst that will happen is you get a canned response or no response at all. (Or a potentially alarming response may change the way you feel about the company, but it really is better to know than not know.) It never hurts to try and no matter how angry you may be at them, it never hurts to try to calm down, write a draft of your email first, read it, before sending it. It's not the customer service rep's fault, and a little kindness just may sway them to go above and beyond to help you.
Get a sample of Dove® Damage Therapy Daily Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner from Costco! You do not have to be a member to take advantage of this sample.
Don't forget to check in on Mailbox Love when you get it. :)
Didn't summer JUST start? Why are we thinking about Back to School shopping NOW?!? Crazy, huh? Well for one, I love school supplies. I think school supplies shopping is very fun. It makes me excited and giddy for some reason. Pencils, erasers, glue, oh my!
Two - prices. I'm a cheapass, but you probably already knew that. The bottom line is, I HATE paying for more than I have to.
With those things in mind, I will admit that I started shopping for school supplies from the moment I got my kids' supply lists back in April. Fo' realz...even preschoolers who aren't even out of diapers yet have supplies lists! Wipes, swim diapers, watercolors, etc.
Appropriately, I came across a post on how to save money while shopping for school supplies from the blog called Organized Home. I really enjoyed the article because not only did it provide tips, but it also confirmed that the way I'd been approaching the whole school supplies thing is right. My husband probably thinks I'm a little nuts for thinking about school supplies so far in advance but the truth is, if I'm prepared with a game plan, I can save us a lot of money. I've been keeping an eye out for coupons, sales, I can afford to play the waiting game on certain items, watching for them to go on sale, then attacking when they do. Time is a great advantage when you work with it on your side.
Here's another justification to my madness though. Most stores have a 90 day return policy so if I see something that's a good deal now, I'll buy it and tape my receipt to the item if applicable. (I'm storing all of my supplies in an old diaper box. If taping the receipt to the item is not feasible, I will keep it in a plastic bag and throw the receipt in the bag so I know exactly where it is and what it goes with.) I know there will be back to school sales when I can get school glue for 10 cents a bottle, but I've also shopped for school supplies enough to know that there are many things...many specific things that teachers and schools want that will not be on the sales fliers come August. Things like an 8 oz bottle of glue will be the same price now as it will be a month from now during back to school sales because it's always the 4 oz ones that goes on sale. Unfortunately, most teachers want the 8 oz bottles instead of a gazillion 4 oz ones even though you can get 20 bottles for the price of one 8 oz bottle.
So yes, I do think of school supplies now, in June while I'm taking my kids to the pool or baseball practice, or while I'm shopping for groceries. I always keep my eye out for things I'll need and stock up if it's a really good deal. The hard part is remembering where you put them. :p
If school supplies shopping is in your near future, now isn't too early to start thinking about it. I also recommend the article from Organized Home. Happy shopping!
And yeah one of the things I have to get is 24 no. 2 pencils, all sharpened. Do you have any idea how uber grateful I am of my husband for finding my electric pencil sharpener that my dad gave me when I was in 2nd grade?!?! That thing is ancient but still works great, and I'm so glad I have it. My blogging carpal tunnel plagued wrists are thankful.
I think my mailbox is trying to compensate for the lack of goodies on Saturday because it exploded with all sorts of goodies today! Check it -
I got:
A Dr. Scholls For Her insole...and it literally is just ONE insole so I get to hop around trying it out but if I want the other one, well I'll have to use the enclosed coupon to spring for a pair lol. If you want one to hop around too, you can still score one from their Facebook page.
Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips - these are yum!
Nature's Bounty pedometer! I am SO excited about this. Tylenol offered one as a promo a few months ago too, but when it came, it was broken so I couldn't really use it. I've been wanting one for a while now so I can keep track of things when I walk my dogs. Of course, it came with coupons too. :)
Curel Itch Defense sample & coupon
Aveeno Nourish + Moisturize shampoo & condition with coupon
A $1 off 2 Pop-Tarts Ice Cream Shoppe pastries. (I totally forgot to throw that in the photo.) This one I got sent to me from Bricks a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully I can get the specially marked ones for more movie tickets. :D
About a month ago, I read about free movie opportunities on Couponing to Disney. There are a ton of free movie promos going on this year. Not sure why, economy, maybe? But hey, I'll take it! Anyway, companies like Hershey's, and Kelloggs are running promos for free movies. The cool thing is, that these movie tickets are even good for special engagements. Some are good until 2011! Couponing to Disney has a running list of free movie promos here.
I've personally either tried or tried for a few of the promos listed on CoD's site. Some worked beautifully, some had finer details to be aware of, others I had no luck with. Here's what worked for me:
Tampax/Always - For each box of specially marked boxes of Tampax or Always you buy, you get a card with a code on it. You type the code into the website and it generates a voucher...eMovie Cash for you to print and take to a participating theater. These are the best deals out of the ones I tried for, because not only are they non perishable, but you basically get one ticket per box you buy rather than having to buy several boxes to collect enough codes to redeem for one ticket, but they're also the ones with a bit of a catch. The eMovie Cash vouchers do not last very long...just 1 month from the day you enter the code. So I'd hang on to it and wait till you're ready to see the movie before entering the code. Be advised though that the codes expire October 31, 2010 so use it before then! The math - a box of Tampax or Always with the code inside in my area is just under $7, so even if the products itself weren't being used, it's still at least a $3 savings assuming the movie ticket is $10.
Pop-Tarts -These also generate eMovie Cash, but you must buy 5 different flavors of specially marked Pop-Tarts to get enough codes to redeem for one movie ticket. (There are other things you can redeem for too.) Even if the flavor is part of the flavor card, if it's not specially marked, it won't contain the code. I learned that one the hard way. The best part of this promo is that you can enter the codes to redeem the ticket, and the ticket is good through October 31, 2011! The math - a box of Pop-Tarts at my local Walmart is about $1.70. $1.70 x 5 = $8.50. It's a small savings assuming the movie ticket is $10 but these vouchers also lasts the longest out of the ones I looked into so it's worth it, especially since you can use them for the fun movies that tends to get released around the holidays.
General Mills cereals - this is the one I had absolutely no luck with. I went to several different stores in my area and none of them had the specially marked boxes of General Mills cereals for movie ticket promos.
eMovie Cash - I've had very little trouble cashing those in. Really, it wasn't trouble at all. Most theater employees just haven't had a lot of practice ringing up the order with eMovie Cash (probably because it's new) so they just either need a manager or someone else who knows what to do to help them ring it up. I would either get your tickets in advance or plan on going to the theater a little earlier. My personal tip is, regardless of which promo you go for, contact the issuer of the ticket voucher to check for expiration. I'm not sure who Hershey's, Energizer, or other companies running similar promos are using to issue the vouchers, but with eMovie Cash, the expiration date varies depending on the company running the promo (as evident in the expiration date difference between the Tampax/Always and Pop-Tarts promos.) Email the companies involved and ask them what the fine print is such as the expiration, and use accordingly.
This really is a great way to take a family to see some of the summer blockbusters this year. Movie tickets easily costs $10 a pop...even more in some theaters, or if you want to see it in 3-D, IMAX, whatever. For a family of 4 that's a whopping $40 for about 2 hours of entertainment at least and that's not including popcorn, candies, drinks, etc. If you included that, a trip to the movies can easily cost $100! So far I've taken my family to see Shrek 4 on opening, and we've already got our advance tickets to see Toy Story 3 on opening night, this Friday, June 18. Needless to say, we're super excited! My kids have been talking non stop about the movie, and me? I'm super thrilled that we don't have to pay a penny for them to enjoy one of their favorites. :)
Now speaking of movies coming out during the holidays, have you see the trailer to Tangled? It looks pretty funny. IMDB says it's coming out November 24, 2010. I can't wait. :)
I will admit that when I first signed up for it, I poked around a little and gave upon it because I was so confused. I didn't know what I needed to do to earn Swag Bucks for prizes like they claimed, other than spend money and that's just not how I roll. I gave up on it for a month if not two until a savings blog I follow kept talking about it. That's when I figured it couldn't hurt to give it another shot and see what it was about. I mean, what's all this swag about anyway?
I took some time out and poked around trying to see just what I could do to earn a few of those elusive Swag Bucks. I checked out the FAQ, poked around and figured there was no harm in following them on Twitter. Within a few hours, they posted a hint to a code on Twitter, I figured out the clue, and voila, I was rewarded with Swag Bucks. The rest was history and I was hooked once I started earning them. I think that was around the beginning of May. By mid May, I'd won and accrued enough Swag Bucks to cash in for some Amazon gift cards. Two of them to be exact. When I received them and plugged the codes into my Amazon account and they worked, I knew for sure then that Swag Bucks was legit and not a scam. I've been helplessly hooked ever since.
They run a lot of promos to help you get Swag Bucks. I watch a lot of their ads (videos on the front page in the yellow rectangular sliding box) I follow them on Twitter and Facebook so I'm up to date on where they've hidden codes and participate in their code hunts (where they provide clues and you have to figure out the riddle to get the code) and I also check their Swidget. Of course, I use their search engine which is one of the most popular ways to earn Swag Bucks. It all adds up. They just wrapped up a week of beaucoup Swag Bucks with some huge wins each day. Admittedly I had rotten luck most of the week until Thursday when I snagged this searching for the contact info for Orajel so that I could write them an email about a product I'm having issues with. (I'll follow up with that when I hear more from Orajel.)
Not too bad for having a crappy week of wins. That was one of my biggest wins ever. (I had a 49 last month.) That, along with their newly launched Trusted Surveys, net me enough to score another Amazon gift card, making my total of 3 of them just in the month of June so far. Needless to say, I'm quite happy and can't wait till the 17th when they issue the codes so I could go do some shopping. :)
If you follow me on Twitter, you can get a glimpse of how often I win by searching. I don't always post every win because quite frankly, that's annoying, but I do post with some...usually the big wins or if I haven't won in a while and it's celebratory for me. :)
I may have saved a lot last month, but it's taught me an important lesson: money that isn't cash needs to be deposited into the "no touch vacation account" right away or it will be spent. And it did. So this month, I'm doing something a little different. I'm making weekly deposits. I've chosen each Friday as my vacation fund pay day...starting with today.
I didn't have a big shopping week this week. In fact, I spent very little money and hardly bought anything. (That's a good thing, right?) So, my savings from purchases and stuff were pretty small...just $15 and some change so I rounded my deposit up to $16.
If you're not already a fan of redbox on Facebook, now is the time to "Like" them. When you do, click on the "Fan Freebie" tab and you'll be rewarded with a code good for a free one-night rental on June 21, 2010.
Here's the fine print: *Promo code valid on June 21, 2010 only and expires at 11:59 PM Central. Promo code is valid for the first night of rental only and does not apply to Blu-ray discs or video game rentals. Your credit or debit card (necessary to redeem free rental) will be charged the applicable rental fee plus tax until 9:00 pm every subsequent night after the free rental period. Promo code is not transferable, not for resale, and cannot be combined with other offers. Promo code not valid for online reservations. Limit 1 promo code per transaction.
The mail has arrived and it's time for Mailbox Love again. :)
Today I got a huge box of samples from P&G. Inside were:
Bounce 4 in 1 dryer sheets
Tide Plus Febreze
Pantene Customized Solutions shampoo & conditioner in Frizzy to Smooth (great for traveling!)
Cascade Extra Action pacs (don't use these if you've turned your hot water down to the recommended 120 degrees if you have kids. As I learned from my friend Dave, if your water isn't hot enough, the plastic pacs will not dissolve in the water, causing hot messy clogs for you to deal with. Pardon the pun.)
Enjoy BOGO tall latte at Barnes & Noble with this coupon. Note that while it is Starbucks, this is only valid at Barnes & Noble Cafes featuring Starbucks coffee. While there are Starbucks inside most Barnes & Nobles, not all are owned by Starbucks. Some are owned by Barnes & Nobles, and that's what the coupon is for. The coupon is good through July 25, 2010.
Remember my post about requesting coupons instead of printing them from Bricks? Welllllll, I just learned that that's not entirely true. You can't always do that with Bricks. You see, I was trying to request a $2/2 Nivea Lip Care coupon and behold, it's from Bricks. I did my little trick and it didn't give me the option to request a coupon to be mailed to me. Here's why as explained by Bricks:
I am unable to install the Coupon Printer. Can you e-mail me the coupon?
Some of our clients have chosen to offer postal mailing of coupons. If the coupon you are trying to print has this option, you would have been presented with a form to enter your postal address. If you did not see this option, we are not able to send the coupon to you via postal or electronic mail.
So there you have it. They can only send it to you if the vendor is willing to allow it. It's still worth a try though.
Walmart has quite a few samples going on right now, including Zantac, Playtex and Cottonelle. Click here for the list of what they have to offer right now.
