Father's Day Special

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for everything you do. For making my room so very special just for me. Thank you for the snuggles and kisses and bath time fun. Thank you for taking care of mommy when she's tired, so she can take care of me so well. Thank you for making yummy dinners for us and for working so hard at work so I can have nice things.

I know I'm too small now to run and play and catch a ball, but I'm growing fast and I can't wait to learn and play with you Daddy. One day you can teach me all about the big black car that makes the monster noises, and how to cook, and build things too.

I love you Daddy! Thank you for being YOU!
Happy Father's Day.

Well I feel all special

It seems I have a few regulars who check daily to see if I have posted anything. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So I wanted to say THANKYOU to whoever you are and tell you not to be strangers! I'd love to 'meet' you and know what brings you back each day!

I don't have any fantastic deals for you this week as the flyers seem to be a little on the dull side (at least for the things I need) but I did purchase two Febreeze on the Go's at Walmart which were $1.97 each and I had a coupon for $3 off when you buy two. Yes that's right two for $.94!! I am not a great lover of the product because the strong smells give me migraines but since my darling husband was so kind to fall asleep holding a not so empty beer can, I was in need of something to take the bar odor out of my couch.

Also an update on the telephone company and their antics. After receiving 14 calls in a single week I finally picked up the phone and let them have it! I told them to stop calling me, I wasn't interested and to leave me alone! They called back an hour later to try again. I had a mild flip out possibly burning this mans ears with the fire breathing dragon routine and haven't heard from them since.

Those are my updates for now. Thank you again for following along. Stay tuned for a Father's Day post as well as My Journey to Becoming "Mommy". I leave you now with all the hopes and dreams of Canucks fans as we cheer our boys into victory tomorrow!!! Go Canucks Go! Bring it Home!!

Where has the trust gone?

Remember when things were simple? When people didn't lock their doors, and kids played outside by themselves as long as they could hear mom calling them for dinner? When you paid the neighbor kid to run to the store for you and people trusted each other

Granted some of that was not in MY lifetime but I do remember stories about such things even as recently as my parents lifetimes. Things are so different now. We don't leave anything unlocked for fear or theft or home invasions. Children aren't allowed out of the front yard without supervision for fear they'll get taken or worse. You drive to the corner store before you give some random kid money to go there for you (see above: not allowed to leave front yard anyways). And nobody trusts anybody anymore because when we do put our faith in the greater good of human kind most of us get bitten and torn to pieces.

It's a sad state of affairs really. I used to be the girl that had blind faith in everyone around me. Nobody wants to hurt me, I'm kind to everybody why would anybody want to do something bad to me? Maybe it's happened enough now that I know better. Or maybe I watch too much tv, or the news. Maybe it's that I have a baby and that mother bear instinct has taken root and taken me to a place of 'protect at all costs' even when no protection is necessary. I'm wary of everything and everybody.

This afternoon my son and I were at the food court of our local mall enjoying a snack before we continued our walk. There was a young man there, and to be honest he caught my eye before I even sat down. He seemed to be quite upset and he was sitting alone with his face in his hands. I almost went over to him. That nurturing mother inside me wanted to give him a giant hug and tell him that everything would be okay. The other voice, the mother bear voice, told me to sit and wait first. So we did and within seconds I saw something play out in front of me that I simply couldn't walk away from without doing 'something'.

There were two little old ladies sitting at the table next to this boy. They were just getting up to leave as I was sitting down. He stopped one of them and asked the time and the other lady noticed, as I had, the red face and wet cheeks of this poor young man and asked him if he was okay. He shook his head no and thanked them for the time, rubbing his eyes to emphasize the crying (or maybe just to get the tears out?). They both sat back down and asked him again what was wrong. I couldn't hear all of the conversation but it became evident that this boy had been through the ringer and was now giving them the never ending saga of his life.

At first I thought, "oh good, somebody is going to help him", but when I heard the words 'hungry' and 'no money', I began to worry there was something else going on. He was laying it on pretty thick and all of a sudden that mother bear inside me turned on him. I suddenly wanted to wrap my arms around these sweet little grandmas and escort them away from the big bad wolf. One of the ladies got up and went off to order him something to eat leaving the other poor defenseless woman to stay there by herself. It was smart of her to purchase the food rather than to give him money, and if it had been me that's what I would have done.

Then I heard the words "get home to mom" and saw him show this lady the vast, gaping, empty hole that was his wallet. I couldn't decide what to do and didn't want to have to leave them alone to go find security. The universe was co-operating though and I saw one of the ladies that cleans the trays in the food court by the garbage cans. I stopped her quickly to ask her what she thought we should do. She informed me that she'd seen him there before and pointed out her supervisor, instructing me to talk to him about it. I did just that and he went to go check it out.

I left at that point so I have no idea how it all turned out. I told the supervisor that I was concerned that this boy may in fact actually NEED help but that I was also worried about these ladies. I had images in my head of him asking for a ride somewhere and stealing their purses and car once he got them out of the public eye (and god knows what else). 

It saddens me that I was so quick to jump to the conclusion that he was some kind of monster. He is somebody's son after all. I hope he wasn't and that he does find the help he needs. I'm not sorry for what I did though. I trusted my gut instincts and while I'll never know if they were right or wrong, I may have just saved a couple of old ladies today, and maybe I saved a young man from doing something awful or by bringing more attention to his cause.

Canadian Couponing - Part 2 Organization!

Couponing requires a great deal of organizational skills! They aren't kidding when they tell you to get a binder and get sorted out. I have so man coupons right now, they are just in piles and to tell you the truth, I started avoiding them!!

Actually I am trying to start a coupon train in order to share the wealth - now I have so many coupons I can't possibly use them all and I most definitely need to pass them on because something in my head has clicked and says "NO you can't throw that out, it's MONEY". Here's the big thing about saving money that a lot of people don't GET: You are not 'saving' money by purchasing something on sale if you aren't going to use it.  That my friends is pretty much as good as burning your money or tossing it in the garbage.  So with all these coupons I now have, I really won't be able to use most of them but that doesn't mean that somebody else couldn't use them and in turn send some that I could use back to me! That's how the train works so I'm excited to get started - if only we could find more people who are interested - two people doesn't make much of a train.

Back to organization. I need to get organized. I don't like the idea of having a big huge binder so I'm thinking small scale. Perhaps a business card holder from the dollar store? Or maybe one of those cute little photo albums where you slide the pictures in. I think something small like that would work just as well and not take up quite so much space. (I do still have to haul around a diaper bag and purse after all) I'm also going to pick up some paper clips and one of those erasable note boards from the dollar store. I have a pushpin board and some sticky tabs already so I'll put those to good use. I want to use the erasable board so I can keep track of great prices on specific items so I know a great deal when I see it.

I also think that making some lists may come in handy. A list of which items my household uses all the time that don't expire so I have something I can look out for. If I get really smart I may actually start to schedule purchases like these so that I'm only needing to restock one thing at a time.

I also want to draw your attention to a couple amazing deals I've come across!

This week Walmart has Gillette shave gel on sale (20% bonus cans) for $2.46 each. I had a coupon from the most recent P&G Brandsaver where if you buy 3 Gillette products you get $5 off making it $2.38 for three or 80c each.  I went to pick them up and had to double check the flyer because on the shelf they were marked regular price. I grabbed three and went to check out. They rang up at $1.88 each!! We paid 64 cents for ALL THREE! That's 21 cents a piece!

Also, Zellers has Charmin toilet paper on sale this week. It's a pretty good price for Charmin which is usually a little on the pricey side. I believe it was $8.99 and I used a coupon to increase my savings but the kicker is that the package comes with $20 in coupons!! This is also a big thing to watch for when choosing the items you are purchasing. Watch for on product coupons! Like I told you before once you open your eyes they are everywhere!

That's it for this week - hopefully I'll have some awesome deals to tell you about next week too. If you happen to be interested in being part of the coupon train let me know! Happy Shopping!

Update: Identity Theft? I'm always so careful.

I received a phone call from a wonderful man at Telus today. He was extremely pleasant to deal with and sounded genuinely concerned about my issue.

Basically, all is well in the world. My identity is safe and the man I had dealings with before was in fact calling on behalf of Telus. I got the impression that he is contracted out (and probably has a quota to fill) so not a direct employee but legitimate all the same. I was able to voice my frustrations with being 'pushed' into something that wasn't what I had wanted and he did confirm that what I was told I was signing up for was not in fact what I was getting so I was right to look into it further. Had I not done so I would've ended up with several hundreds of dollars in charges that were not covered in the plan I was put on.

I want to say thank you very much - you made my day Mr G. from Telus.

So now what should I have done to begin with? I should've just hung up on the guy!! Seriously nobody was forcing me to stay on the phone - I know it's rude but in these cases its really just better all around to hang up! It doesn't matter that this particular situation wasn't a scam.  It was still a huge headache that could've been avoided had I had the balls to just hang up the phone when the guy started being persistent.

Identity Theft? I'm always so careful...

Below is a copy of what I have forwarded to Telus in hopes of resolving this issue and alleviating my fears that I have just been a victim of identity theft.

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I'm currently on a prepaid plan. I was contacted by a gentleman at 1-866-360-1448 telling me he could put me on a monthly plan that would be a better deal than what I'm currently paying. I receive mail from Telus requesting this all the time so I listened to what he had to say. He wouldn't take no for an answer and pushed to verify my information. He essentially HAD all my info to which I answered yes to verify everything. Then he requested my pin in order to prove it was me. Then he requested my DL# and SIN # I gave the DL without thinking first (I have an infant that was babbling in my other ear at the time) and then refused to give my SIN to which he suddenly changed his tune and didn't need it. I felt weird after getting off the phone and went to my Telus dealer to verify that everything he'd said was true. It wasn't. He had somehow changed my plan but it didn't have the special deals he'd told me I would have. I requested that they change me back to Prepaid immediately and they have done that. I am to wait 3 business days to receive my previous balance back on my account. (nearly $100 because I had just purchase a new card)

I appreciate the help and service I received at my local store in Prince George BC (ABC Communications) they were very helpful and the lady even gave my son a toy to play with while I dealt with everything.

I'm VERY concerned about the information this man has about me though. I was told it wasn't Telus that was making these calls. If that is the case then how on EARTH does this man have my account information? He obviously has access to your systems somehow.  I am seriously concerned about my identity at this point and am considering closing out my account and both cell phones on it in order to prevent this happening in the future. I'd like to know if there is anything that you can do to alleviate my fears. Who was this man that called me? Does he even WORK for your company? If not then how is it that he has access to your customer information?

Thank you so much for looking into this for me. I greatly appreciate the service I have had from Telus in the past and today.

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PLEASE be careful everybody - LISTEN to your gut! Even if you are distracted, it's not worth the headache when you don't.

Canadian Couponing

OK I admit it, I'm fascinated by this Extreme Couponing show on TLC.  They go in with coupons and come out with 4 carts of groceries for less than $50 bucks every time! It's insane!! But guess what fellow Canadians, that just doesn't work here.

Why? Well we have rules on our coupons, and our stores don't have slack policies like the ones of our Southern neighbors.  Our coupons have limits per items purchased, and limits of how many coupons you can use (not 50 of the same in one visit like you see on the show).  Their stores do double and triple coupon savings where ours definitely do NOT. A lot of their stores allow overages which are basically $ back if the coupon is more than the sale price of the item.  Only one store that I've found has a policy that will allow this in Canada and that's Walmart (American company, go figure).  Some of their stores offer coupons to be used at the next visit that are issued on the purchase receipt (they call these Catalinas) but there is only one store that I know of that does this here too and that's Safeway.

So how do we Canadians even begin to save that kind of money? Well, I'm learning as I go, and I've only just started but here's some of the awesome things I have found so far.

You have to get coupons first and foremost. You can't use them if you don't have them! So where do you get them? Newspapers, magazines, stores, online, they are EVERYWHERE when you open your eyes and start looking!

Newspapers usually have a weekly flyer bundle that comes out before the weekend (ours is Thursday) which is good to have, you want to know where the sales are. I've noticed that once a month (approx) there will be a coupon flyer in one of these papers. They are EASY to miss so keep your eyes open. If the deals are good, I would consider purchasing a couple more papers. I'm serious if the coupons are great, the couple dollars you spend on the papers won't even matter!

Magazines are a good place to look for beauty coupons and things. Sometimes you can get them free by asking people in your office to bring them in when they are done but remember there's expiration dates so make sure you check them before you get too excited. I've also recently heard about a magazine distributed by Walmart called All You.  This magazine has coupons in it and is only a couple dollars to purchase (again worth buying more than one if the deals inside are ones you'd use).  I've not had the chance to confirm All You's availability in Canadian stores, but you can order the subscription from their website from Canada so my hopes are high.

Stores are a great place to find coupons. When I was young, money was tight and my mom used coupons a lot especially for baby items when my little brother came along. I remember when we'd go grocery shopping I would take the stroller and keep him busy wandering the aisles looking for coupons.  They are still there but they're harder to find! You really have to keep your eyes open and 'scout' for them. They quite often will be in a machine that dispenses them but this machine might be hard to see. Just scan the shelves and anything sticking out from it could be a coupon.  I just picked up 9 in one store for a total of more than $23!

Online is a wondrous new world for people looking for coupons. There are forums where you can share your deals and look for others people have found. There's even instruction videos from some of the long time couponers that you can watch! I have found four websites so far that offer the ability to register, then choose the coupons you want and have them mailed to you at absolutely no cost! I'm sure there's others out there but I haven't found them yet, if you know of some let me know so I can check them out. Here's a list of the ones I've used so far.

https://www.websaver.ca/en_ca/
http://www.gocoupons.ca/home.html
http://save.ca/
http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/pg-brandsaver-samples-coupons.jsp
I just found that last one this morning actually and I should mention they do have free samples available from time to time and are also the same as the coupon flyer I mentioned above. It actually tells you on the website that the next one will be issues June 5, 2011! How's that for a good tip!

I'm going to stop there but I'll be back with more info on HOW to use coupons for the best benefit and other tips I've found to save $ so start collecting those coupons and if you have any tips for me please leave a comment and let me know!