Fight for EVERY penny!

In my quest to becoming an extreme couponer, I have really starting to look at the price of many different products.  As a once brand-name-only girl, I have found great value in buying the store brands of some things (not everything!) and I have also found that many of the generic brand foods taste exactly like the expensive name brand ones.

This brings me to my latest shopping trip:  A big trip to Walmart!  Now I don't know about you, but I hate Walmart... I hate it with a passion.  It is always over crowded and there are never enough registers open so you wait in line for 35 minutes before you can even check out.  I. hate.it.

But in the interest of saving the most money, I also am fully aware that they usually have the best prices, mainly on non-food items like deodorant and razors, which was the primary focus of my shopping trip!  I cut coupons for hours and went in with my guns blazing to get great savings!  I gave up many of the brands that I like to buy to buy things that I could get a better value on.

  This was my cart after the toiletries section.  Before coupons the total was about $50... I got all of this for $15!  I was pretty excited about my savings.

Unfortunately in the food department there wasn't too many things I had coupons for and only really saved a total of $5, but I bought a lot of food that was the Walmart brand and food that was on sale anyway.  All produce and meats I had already purchased at Giant Eagle because I don't like Walmart's variety!

So, we get to the register and there is only ONE person in front of us.  Thank goodness!  When I am using a ton of coupons, I try to pick out the most competent looking cashier so that our transaction runs smoothly.  So I picked Jean, who proudly wore a badge that said "10 years of service" and wore her plastic gloves on her hands with pride.  I figured this would be a piece of cake.

Well, Jean, I'm guessing your 10 years of service have not been behind the register because let me tell you... you are by far the worst cashier ever!

First off, I have been working in customer service my whole life.  I know it sucks and I know people can be rude, but I try really hard to have everything on the belt ready to go, line up the divider for the people behind us and have my coupons organized by the time you start ringing.  So when the items weren't in the right order on the belt like Jean wanted, she very meanly would yell to hand her things.  Ummm... pretty sure that's your job to get them in the bags Jean, but whatever.

So then we get to the coupons.  The first coupon was for $2 off Right Guard when you buy two (which we did).  She couldn't get the coupon to scan so she hands it back to me and says we didn't buy two.  I correct her and tell her to look at the receipt she clearly scanned two.  This goes on for every.single.coupon.  about 3/4 of the way through I had to pee... hey, small bladder here at 9 months pregnant! So I left it up to my husband to finish.

When I come out of the bathroom he is handing me the receipt making sure she got everything.  She didn't.  She missed a $6 off coupon!  Now I am not leaving the store with a $6 off coupon missing... if it were $0.50 maybe but definitely not $6!  So we get a manager and he goes back, finds the coupon and tells Jean to fix it.

Now Jean should be VERY happy that my ever-so-patient husband told me to wait at the benches as I was getting very cranky and he would get our refund.  As she handed him the money she exclaims "I'm not sure why you are doing this, you clearly saw me scan the coupon and are just trying for extra money!"  Kevin just politely showed her the receipt and said the coupon was not on there.

I didn't hear about any of this until we got in the car or I would have demanded an apology and a manager immediately.  I am the customer and regardless of what was going on, we did not deserve to be talked to like that in front of other people.  Not to mention it was Jean who made the mistake in the first place!

I will make sure I never choose Jean as my cashier if I ever see her in Walmart again, but I am NOT sorry that I fought for my $6 off that was rightfully mine!  When you are pinching your pennies, every single one counts!!

Don't Ever Underestimate Discount Stores

I grew up with what I call an extreme bargain hunter.  We would spend every Saturday at thrift and discount stores looking for the best bargains.  One of my fondest memories with my mother is spending her last mother's day antiquing in a little town about an hour from our house.  I bought her a wicker stool to hold a plant for $5.  She was unbelievably happy and we had a wonderful day!

I always enjoyed the savings but being that we have moved around so much, I never got back into the habit of finding the best deals.  Sure, I always shopped the sales racks at Target or in the malls, but I forgot how much fun getting extreme bargains really is!

I am all about thrift and consignment shops and truly believe that something does not have to be new to be great.  However, there is something about brand new that I also greatly enjoy.  Therefore, discount stores are the way to go!

Sure, TJ Maxx and Marshalls have good deals, but truthfully there are better deals out there.  For instance, last Christmas I wanted to get my husband and dog a few stocking stuffers so I headed out to Big Lots to find a few "junky" items.  While digging around in their $5 bin, I found three seasons of my all-time favorite TV show, 7th Heaven, each for $5.  These go on amazon for about $25 per season!  I was overjoyed!  And yes, I still found the Christmas presents I originally came for, but who can pass up a fantastic deal for themselves too! :)

Anyway, today I was feeling down in the dumps.  I lost my job on Monday (It was a contract job and they didn't need me any longer) leaving me without an income and in an extreme depressive state as I know it will be impossible to find a job at 8 months pregnant.  We really counted on that little income, especially as the due date nears.

So I did what every responsible saver and adult who just lost their job should do... I went shopping!  OK, probably not the best move, but I needed something to lift my spirits!  Since we moved back to my hometown I know where all the best bargain places are.  We have this store called Gabriel Brother's where they sell overstocked and damaged items from many different retailers.  This is where I used to buy the majority of my NY and Co clothes from because they were seriously $3/sweater!

I needed a rug for the baby's room and I just wanted to walk through the baby clothes!  Well, I found a rug with no price tag on it, and another rug for our hallway (we are so not used to all hardwood floors!).  Each rug was only $4.99 (the hallway was a runner and the baby's room was a large area rug that covers most of the floor!)  Onto the baby clothes -- they were having a buy one get one 50% off sale!  I got a few little outfits... many of them Disney or Dr. Seuss and two packs of Disney washcloths.  Total spent $21!!!!

I know many people who won't go to these type of stores because they don't like checking the merchandise to make sure it is damage-free or they don't like the clientele that frequent these stores.  Well all I can say to that is they are missing out!!!  My discount-shopping days are coming back to me and I love the hunt!  My next challenge is to find some cowboy boots for a wedding I'm in....  here's to hoping!

Happy Bargain Hunting Friends!!!

Nesting

I think I have finally started nesting!  With 10 weeks left to go, I have such a huge urge to get everything set up and ready top go!  I guess this started about two weeks ago when I started panicking that we didn't have a crib yet.  The price of cribs, not unlike changing tables, is kind of ridiculous!  I refuse to pay $300 for a crib!  Originally I had planned on getting the crib for free using swag bucks and other savings sites with gift cards I had accumulated, but when I realized what else that money could go for, I decided to try good old Craigslist.

Wouldn't you know that I found a perfect, white sleigh crib that matches the rest of the furniture in the nursery perfectly!  I am so happy with it and it only cost us a mere $50.  So in total in the nursery we have spent $80 on nursery furniture.  I would say that is quite a steal since many people I know have spent hundreds and honestly, our stuff is just as nice (I'm a picky bargain hunter!!)

While getting everything ready upstairs it inspired me to look downstairs in the basement for things that may not have gotten unpacked.  While I was down there I found a cute little wooden table that would be just perfect for the nursery and perfect for next to my rocker to set a drink on!  I grabbed a can of purple spray paint that I used to make letters for baby girl's dresser and set to work painting the table.  Then I found a wicker shelving unit that we had in a bathroom in our old house that would be perfect to hold some everyday items in the baby's room.  I grabbed some white spray paint and set to work on that!  The only problem is that it was once black so it is going to take a few coats of spray paint to get it white and looking good enough to hang up.  That means that nothing else is needed in the nursery... no tables, no shelves, we have everything (well, minus all the stuff we registered for that we hope to get at the baby shower!)


All in all, I think it was another winning day in this bargain hunters quest to not spend money and still have great stuff!

Wasting away again on invitations....

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to decide between two things and you really have no idea which way to go?

Yeah, I was so there the other day.  I was working on baby shower invitations for my upcoming shower and I couldn't decide whether to order these really cute ones on Etsy or should I design them myself?  Both gave me the option to print from my own computer so printing wasn't even a consideration.  I needed to choose whether or not to spend $15 on having them done for me or spend hours at the computer messing around with my design programs to get them to be what I wanted.

Ultimately, I picked designing them myself.  I went with a VERY simple starfish invite and printed them on colored cardstock.  I do admit, they looked pretty nice.  I also included a nice poem insert about bringing a new or used book instead of a card and addressed and sealed all 48 invitations.  

I hand-delivered them to my office co-workers to save on postage and was all set to buy stamps on my way home to mail the rest. That's when it all went downhill.  My boss came in and was asking me about the shower and casually asked where I was registered.  I found this a little odd, since there was a registry card in with the invitation.

That's when I had my OMG moment.  I totally meant to go to my car and include those registry cards before I sealed the invite.  FAIL.  Major FAIL!  To make it all worse, I took off the part on the invite that stated where I was registered RIGHT before I hit print because I had those handy little inserts.

So here I sit, on my day off, opening, re-addressing and re-stuffing the envelopes and mailing out the invites that were already done.  Maybe I should have saved all the time designing them and spent the money to order them... at least I wouldn't have wasted hours and hours doing this and instead only wasted a few hours re-doing the envelopes.

I guess the silver lining is that I never got around to putting those stamps on the ruined envelopes....

Health Benefits

I posted before about using your company benefits to save yourself money on everyday things that you might not even know you have benefits for!

Well, today I learned the same goes for your health benefits!  We have good health coverage under Kevin's plan.  I have always known that, especially being in the health insurance business myself.  I know what our copays and our deductibles are and what is covered and when.  What I didn't know about was the other benefits that it carried.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I were chatting about breast pumps.  Awesome, I know... the things you talk about what you are getting ready to have a baby!  Poor Kevin...   Anyway, I was complaining that they are $450 in the store and that it is ridiculous!

I was contemplating applying for WIC since I won't have a job and by my initial contact, we are on the boarder of qualifying.  But I just can't bring myself to do it.  I am not about abusing the Welfare system and I know that we can make it through without it.  Nothing against those people who do use WIC, as I think it is a great program and helps many, many women.  I just don't think in our situation it is fair to  use when we are OK without it.  At least for now...  But for those of you who DO need it, one of the benefits they offer is a breast pump!

But anyway, she was telling me that her health insurance covered her breast pump! Umm.. what?! That is so crazy!  So low-and-behold, I called UPMC today and they cover it at 100% as long as my doctor writes a script for it!  YES PLEASE!

That is such a weight off our shoulders as this was a huge baby expense we were dreading! If my friend wouldn't have mentioned it, I would have never known that this was even available!

And this goes for much more than pregnancy-related things also.  I did know from work that many times insurance will cover oxygen and other health-related necessities in your home at 100% under your durable medical equipment benefits!

What I was unaware of is that our insurance also offers discounts on things like spas and gym memberships!  That in itself is so amazing!  Maybe after we pop this little one out, we will invest in the gym membership deal...  One thing is for sure.... we need it! :)

So go and check out all your health benefits and start saving money!!!

There's Nothing Better Than Free!!!

Sorry for the long delay in posting!  We finally moved and have been using all of our spare time trying to get settled in and trying to clean/paint our old place!  I will be so happy after this week once we are all done with the other place and can just concentrate on our own place!

In addition, we are starting to kick into gear with getting ready for baby!  One thing that I totally knew, but I think refused to admit, is that babies need a lot of stuff.... and that stuff is expensive!

Although I am hoping to get most of my goodies from my baby shower and my registry, there are still certain things we are going to have to buy.... like the furniture!  A crib at Babies R Us is about $300!  Yeah... so not going to happen!  I have a few ideas for that, but I will get to them in a later post!  What I was concentrating on was getting a changing table.

I am not one of those people who can just stick the changing mattress on top of the dresser and can call it a day.  I am a total knick knack person and I need the dresser space to display all of the unnecessary things I am going to get for Lily!  So, I need a changing table for the actual diaper stuff!

Well if you have never looked for one of these let me tell you... they are NOT cheap!  They are ridiculously expensive for what they are... averaging over $100.  Yeah, again, not going to happen!

Lately I have been all about garage sales and consignment shops so I thought I would start with looking online!  Well, I found a great one on Craigslist!  Although it was about a 40 minute drive from our house, it was only $30 and it looked like it was in great condition!

Since I really hadn't budgeted the extra $30 for said changing table, I was trying to get creative, and since we were in the process of moving, I figured it was time to get rid of our unwanted stuff!  So we took a box of books to Half Price Books and made $30!  I had to control myself to get out of the store without spending any of that money as books are my weakness, but we did it!  That means that the changing table was FREE!!!

I sent my husband to get the table since I am not all about going alone to a stranger's home, especially while pregnant and it is in perfect condition... not even a scratch!  They even had the directions in plastic.  When I searched the table, it came up $120 new and they still sell it!

The saying is true... one person's trash is another person's treasure!  I adore my second-hand changing table!!!

Use Your Company Benefits!

If you work for a big company, chances are you are entitled to a benefit package.  Most people take advantage of their health care, short term disability and voluntary life insurance.  What many people don't realize though is that most companies offer much, much more!

I found this out yesterday and scored a serious savings!!

I was aware that my company offered discounts at many places, including Verizon (at 20% I was on top of that the day I got my first paycheck!), Sams Club and Dell Computers.  What I was unaware of were the other useful things they offer.

First off, they offer a service where you can call and they will do research on a product or service you are looking in to.  For instance, if you need to take your dog to a pet resort while you are on vacation, they will do the research for you and come up with a few options, including a full report on why they chose them.  That's pretty awesome!  Too bad they wouldn't do my job for me too...

Anyway, as I was exploring the website of things offered, I noticed that they have a contract with Microsoft.  When I bought my new laptop in December we went for super cheap and functional over anything extravagant. I can't complain... I love my laptop and it's been great for the $200 I spent on it!  What I didn't want to spend money on was the software I so desperately needed.  

Microsoft Office is essential to any computer.  I have an older version of Office that I can install, but many of the programs are not compatible and there were quite a few documents I couldn't open.  I was desperately trying to get by without it, but you can only do so much on a work computer where they track your every move.

Even in my most frugal state, I refuse to buy used software.  I feel that unfortunately people are not always honest and CDs and DVDs get scratched very easily.  If something is wrong with them, many times, you are out of money.  And what is the point losing money when you are trying to save it!

So after many weeks of looking online, I came to the conclusion that I was not spending $100-$150 on the software and I would just have to "borrow" my husband's computer to do my office stuff.

WELL, as I was searching my company Microsoft benefits, I found out that all employees get Office 2010 for $9.99!  Yes, only ten bucks!!!  Ummmm yes please!  So now I am happily creating documents and budgeting spreadsheets once again!

The moral of this little story -- use your company benefits -- ALL of them!  Or even if you don't use them, at least know what they have to offer in case you need them!