Man saves money and loses 250 pounds by shopping the 99 cent only store

This was a neat story about a man losing 250 pounds by doing the "99 Cent Store Diet" 

Thought I'd share. ;)

The heart of a good business.....Customer Service

Over the past few days I've had some experiences with customer service I'd like to share. I work in a customer service oriented job. Some times "policies" needs to be bent to keep good customers. Here are two examples:

I have a friend that works for Banana Republic. She had a lady come in the day after Black Friday with her Black Friday receipt saying she forgot to use her coupon on Black Friday. (this is in a new outlet mall so they had coupons for the whole mall) The manager informed my friend to void everything on the receipt by hand, then re-ring it everything up by hand with her coupon at the Black Friday price.  She didn't require the lady bring back all the items so they could be scanned which would have been easier and quicker for the company and cashier. She took care of the customer, helped her and made it right by her. For advertising purposes this is the Banana Republic at the Outlets at Traverse Mountain in Lehi, UT. Highly recommend them, great customer service.

On the flip side...

I went to a store yesterday to pick up a Facebook claim offer for $2 vinyl that they do every week and have for years. I'm a returning customer and I've always just gone to the desk and asked for the $2 vinyl.
Yesterday I was greeted by a lady that made me feel like my very presence and the fact that I was asking her anything was an annoyance to her. I asked for the $2 vinyl and I got a snotty "Do you have a coupon or code for it?" I told her I didn't know I needed one and that I could pull it up on Facebook on my phone. I struggled with poor phone service, slow phone, my phone froze as I showed them I was on the last step...and the whole time the employees watched me struggle and didn't say a word. 40 minutes later I gave up trying to pull up the offer and left the store with nothing.
Frustrated I went to Facebook and voiced my frustration on their page. (ah, the power of social media) I got back what I thought were two VERY rude responses. They implemented the "claim code" policy 3 weeks ago. They basically said the policy is you HAVE to have a coupon. The owner has told the employees no exceptions. Sorry for your inconvenience but they are doing what I told them to do. Then they alluded that I was trying to "stretch" the rules. You can read the whole dialog HERE. (on the right side under Michelle Smith)

Good customer service would have been to tell me in the store "We can see you've been struggling trying to get this offer up. Next time make sure you have it beforehand, but we'll give it to you today." Or after I wrote to them on Facebook maybe offering to comp me shipping if I still wanted to claim the offer.

Because I voiced a complaint on Facebook and because their response was so poorly managed, there are now 29 comments under my post and they all are stating how rude the owner is being in their response and some are stating that they will not shop their again. All this negative publicity over a $2 vinyl and sticking with your "policy". Customer Service is the heart of a business. It's not always about the mighty dollar.

I am even more disappointed in their reply then I was with them yesterday. I wasn't trying to get away with anything. Good grief, it's a $2 vinyl! I will NEVER shop there again. And lucky me, I have a blog that I can vent this all on. And as to not show any bias.....for advertising purposes this was the Vinyl 4 Decor store in the South Towne Mall in Sandy UT.

Advice Needed.....When to move kids to their own rooms

I need advice.

My boys are constantly fighting.

2 of them (6 &9) share a room with a bunk bed.

I constantly hear "Do I only have to clean up MY mess? That's not my mess! He won't shut up! Tell him to be quite! He woke me up!..."

We have an extra room we could move someone into. (my 12 year old has his own room)

So my questions are......

1. Do I separate them because they drive each other (and me) crazy? 
2. Or do I force them to stay together until they can be friends?
3. What ages did your kids get their own rooms?

Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated!!!!  Thank You!! :)

How to get the most out of your Airline Miles

Over the weekend I purchased 4 airline tickets to Washington DC for $604.00 total for all 4 tickets!  I got this awesome rate by using a combination of award miles and by using an American Express Delta promotional companion ticket.

When you are planning a vacation to use your airline awards on, be sure to check when the "low" mileage fares are available.  For Delta, there is a calendar that you can pull up that lists which days are low, medium and high mileage days.

On the chart above I did a search for flights from LAX to Maui Hawaii May 1 through May 17th.  The dates have the little dark blue squares on them.  As you can see from the key below the calendar, yellow means it's a "medium mileage" day and the blue squares are "high mileage" days. 

• Medium mileage for this flight is 65,000
• High mileage for this flight is 90,000
• (This destination does not have low mileage days)

So, as you can see, if you can select days on a medium or low mileage day to travel you can get more bang for your miles this way. (our DC trip low mileage was 40,000 each ticket)

Tips for using your airline miles:

1. ALWAYS link your awards travel number to your reservations.  Even if you don't have an award number when you book the flight, sign up for the FREE program and take your number with you to the airport, they can put it in there for you.
2. Keep a chart handy of all your mileage number and which airlines. I have all my families award miles on an index cards.  Their names are on the left margin and each airline is across the top.  My kids have had airline miles since they were two years old (when we needed to start paying for their tickets).
3. Sometimes it's worth paying for your flight rather then using your miles.  If you can find a great airfare price it might be worth saving your miles and paying out of pocket for your ticket.
4. Check with your airline to see if/when miles expire.  Delta Skymiles NEVER expire. 
5. Click that your dates are flexible on the "book award travel" link and select low mileage days.
6. The extra leg work to redeem your miles is worth not paying for your ticket.  When we booked our DC trip we had to do two separate transactions. One over the phone and one online....it was worth it.

The downside of Rewards Cards

I am a Smith's Rewards card member. (That's Kroger for those of you without Smith's)

For every 100 points we get .10 off per gallon.  So 1,000 points in a 3 month period gets us $1 off per gallon of gas.  My local Smith's is a five minute drive away so we are very loyal to Smith's and hoard our points to get the full $1 off per gallon of gas. ($35 max discount)

I check my points after every transaction.  I knew we were nearing the 1,000 points this period that ends on March 31.  So imagine my surprise when I got my receipt yesterday and it said I received 20 points in this transaction for a total point count of 57.

57!?!?!? What the.....!?!?!  I KNOW I was around 800 the last time I went to Smith's.

I immediately called the 800 number on the back of my card. I spoke to a nice lady in Ohio that told me my phone number had been used that day to purchase gas at another Smith's 40 minutes away!  I told her it wasn't us and that my husband was home sick and I worked all day and we didn't go to Smith's at all.

She told me she would put the points back on my card and then asked if I wanted to remove my phone number from our Smith's Reward account.  I didn't want to. It's convenient to punch in your phone number when you forgot your card.   Problem is....it's also convenient for others to punch in your phone number. 

The nice lady told me "It happens quite a bit that people will put in phone numbers of others to get their reward points at the gas station.  I suggest not linking your rewards card to any phone numbers."

So after removing our phone number from our account and getting our 800 points back we are back on our way to earning $1 off per gallon of gas and I echo her advice.  DO NOT link your rewards cards to your phone number.  If you do, use a cell phone number or something that not many people have access to.  It's all too easy for someone to take your hard earned points.

Keeping up with growing boys...advice needed.

I grew up with all girls.  We fought, called names and argued over clothing. 

Now I am the mom of 3 boys.  The fight, call names and go through clothing like it's toilet paper!  I can't keep pants on them that don't have holes in them or look like floods or shoes that aren't worn through.

My oldest is 11, almost 12, and he's so tall he's wearing size 16 pants with adjustable waist bands.  Now his size 16 pants look like the above photo!

This far I've been pretty loyal to Old Navy to buy the boy's clothing.  I've loved the adjustable waistband and for the price, it's easy to replace pants that get holes.  Now that I'm in the market for "teenage clothing" I'm wondering if the quality is better at a name brand store and if I could find size 12 LONG pants for my oldest.  Maybe I need to venture out beyond Old Navy. (?)

So my question to my readers is:

1. How do you keep you kids (particularly boys) in clothes that last and that fit them?
2. Where do you shop to find good deals on nice clothing?
3. Any other "tips" you can give?

Hotel Breakfasts.....you are NOT in your own home here people!

My family and I headed to Southern Utah to do some hiking this past weekend.  We stayed at 2 nice hotels that had a free hot breakfast in a common area. 

I was SHOCKED that at both locations people came down to breakfast in bare feet! YUCK!  I understand if you are headed to the pool (although I'd still wear flip flops), but this was a public eating area!  I couldn't believe that the hotel staff didn't say anything or at least have a sign that said "Shirt and shoes required".

I also get little kids coming down to breakfast in pj's, my boys did.  But seriously people, wear some shoes!  Would you walk into IHOP with bare feet!?

What do you guys think? Am I exaggerating?

How to turn off the Subscribe option on Facebook

I have been wondering why Facebook allows people to "subscribe" to your Facebook page that you have not accepted as friends.

Personally I have privacy settings and filter who I accept as friends to keep my privacy intact.  I don't like the idea of anyone subscribing to my status updates.

So I did some research last night on how to turn off the subscriber option on my page.  I found this video:



It's a little long, but skip to the middle at about :44 and he shows you in just a few steps how to remove this setting from your page.  There is even a link below the video so you don't have to write it down as he tells you where to go.
http://www.facebook.com/about/subscribe

I just did this and it worked perfectly.  Pass on this info to others that might want their FB page to actually BE private.

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2012 everyone!

We celebrated the new year with the East Coast this year. Watched the ball drop in NYC, lit of some fireworks, ate a ton of snack food and were in bed by 10:30. :) Then we were woken up to the rest of the neighborhood's fireworks at midnight. LOL

The holiday season is over there is no sign of Christmas at my house. We still have no snow on the ground here in Utah. So if you have a ski trip planned here any time soon, I'd look into canceling. lol The resorts have an average of a 24" base which is horrible this time of year. (great for us in the valleys though, we don't have to drive in ice and sludge)

Without any snow on the ground and temps in the high 40's low 50's I'm already looking forward to Spring. ;) That being said we will probably have snow until May. lol

My dad sent me this video. It doesn't have anything to do with deals or new years but it was a neat "get up and do something" video that in my opinion is great for starting the new year off with new goals.

Happy Thanksgiving (and Good Luck on Black Friday!)

I will be spending Thanksgiving with family and friends so I will not be posting DIY Thrifty Thursday this week.  Come back next week to link up your great ideas!  Especially ideas on what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers! :)

Breaking Dawn......what did you think?

My sister and I went to see Breaking Dawn at midnight last night. (we did a girls night out, not a crazy-fan night. ;) It was just like the book.....I didn't like it. I don't want to give anything away for those of you that haven't seen it yet, but I didn't like the part where Jacob tells the pack.....those of you that have seen it know what I'm talking about...it was like something my kids would watch...horrible.

Those of you that have seen the movie....what did you think? Please don't give anything away if you can help it.

Gift Giving Value.....Reader Responses Needed!

I find a lot of deals.

This time of year I start to find & share deals on a lot of items that can be given as gifts.

That brings me to my Ethics question of the week:

"Do you give a gift based on the value of the gift, or based on what you paid for it?"

Meaning do you tack a few other items onto the "discount" gift you bought, or do you base it on the retail value of your gift and leave it at that. (?)

I wrote a little about an experience I had last Christmas HERE. But I'd like to know how you as a reader would answer that question.

"Do you give a gift based on the value of the gift, or based on what you paid for it?"

And as a follow up question:
"If you knew the item you just received was on a super sale last month and didn't cost the giver much, would you care?" Let's say the item is regularly $50 but you knew it was on sale for $15.....does that make a difference?

There are no "right or wrong" answers. I am just curious about your thoughts.

Thanks! :)
Michelle

Adventures in Failure: Bread Making

 I'm pretty good at making breadsticks and cinnamon rolls....bread that gets rolled out before it's baked and is expected to be slightly chewy.

I am NOT good at cooking rolls/bread.  It is something I'm planning on practicing over the next month.  I've had numerous people tell me "baking bread is really easy" but I have yet to see that side of it.  The rolls I made taste fine, and I think my kids might eat them out of desperation in the car while we drive to Yellowstone this weekend, but truthfully they are as heavy as rocks.  They are still soft on the inside and out but they are so dense that when I accidentally dropped one last night I heard a "THUD".

So my bread making adventure continues.  Do you make homemade bread?  Do you have any tips for me? Or recipes that are "no-fail" that I can dis-prove? ha ha

The value of your time

I took some great notes from the conference and I will blog about it over the next few days. I finished my bathroom makeover yesterday and in doing that makeover I've neglected things like cleaning, laundry and day to day activities for the past week. And being at the Smart Women Smart Money conference all day today didn't help in my catch-up attempt.

There was one thing that a speaker said at the conference about the value of your time and money as far as serving and doing favors for people or giving into your kids that I've been thinking about. She said to remember it's OK to say NO. You don't have to feel guilty because it's YOUR time/money and YOU are allowed to do what you want with it.

She stated that if you give your time or money WILLINGLY to some person or cause you are doing more good then if you give because you feel OBLIGATED to. It benefits you more and the person or organization receiving your donation will also benefit more.

At the Smart Women Smart Money conference Zions Bank gave away $16,000 in grants to women that needed funding for their grassroots ideas to better the community. It was inspiring to see people entirely devoted to an idea and willingly donating their time and money to make it happen. A 13 year old girl was providing garden plots and classes for low income families. A teacher was branching out her College Placement Testing technique lessons. There was a domestic abuse shelter and a low income assistance group that also received a grant.

Motivational stories like that make you take a step back in your life and think about what you can do to help someone else. With the holiday season coming up there are always opportunities for Sub-for-Santa, Salvation Army Angel Tree, Toys for Tots and tons of local opportunities available.

Our family always participates in some kind of not-for-profit during the Holidays. An easy way to start a donation is by starting a change bucket. Add spare change and any donations your family wants to give then use the money you save up to donate to a charity. Kids can help in on this easy donation by gathering coins they find or earn by doing household chores.

"I'm going to be RICH!!!"

I was on my computer earlier today when I heard my 5 year old son say "I'm going to be rich!"

I got a little dis-heartened thinking about how the world is for him and how everything is based on money. How when I was little no one had portable electronics and the kid in the neighborhood that was envied was the kid with the puncher proof tires on his bike. We weren't flooded with toy commercials in between our Saturday morning cartoons....see, we didn't have cable with Disney, Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network streaming cartoons at all hours of the day, we actually played outside all day.

As I'm reminiscing about innocence lost, I turn around to look at my son who is doing this:

He's following a treasure map on a Sponge Bob blanket.

Guess I was thinking a little too deep on this one. ;)

Unexpected Dental work....now what?

My sister found out today that she needs quite a bit of dental work done. Almost $4,000 worth of dental work done. She instantly started panicking about how they were going to be able to afford it. Here are some things I suggested to her.

1. Get a second opinion. The place she went offered a free exam, x-ray and cleaning to new patients. This place is known to be the "posh" of all dentist offices in the area. I told her to go to another dentist (or 2) and get a second opinion. Chances are the estimate will be lower and possibly some of the work might be considered "cosmetic" and not "necessary" at another place.
2. Check prices with other offices. They gave her a print out of what needs to be done and the cost of each item. I suggested she call her old dentist and ask for prices on each of the items listed. She could scan or fax them the estimate and see if they can do better. I'm sure they will want to see her for an office visit (no dentist would do work based on another dentist's exam) but at least she could get a ballpark quote from another dentist to put the "posh" dentist's quote in check.
   
3. Financing through the dental office, or even paying it off on your credit card are not the BEST options, but they are still options and should be considered.
4. Have a $1000 emergency fund set up. I know this is "too little to late" in this circumstance, but going forward follow the advice of several financial advisers and have AT LEAST $1,000 in savings.
5. And last but not least..........STOP DRINKING SO MUCH SODA!!! hee hee
   

It's amazing how things hit you like this when your life (and finances) are going so well. This is where the $1,000 emergency fund comes in. No, it' won't cover all her dental expenses, but I'm sure it would put her mind at ease that a big chuck of it was able to be paid off quickly. The emergency fun will also lower any payments she would have to make on the work.

Do you have any tips on dealing with payments for Dental Work?

"It may seem like a mountain right now,
but when you look back on your life,
it will be a bump in the road."
~Michelle :)

Shopping Clearance Items

I just got back from Smith's and thought I'd share a few good clearance deals I got.

First I picked up this package of Capri Sun for .99 because one of the corners was damaged was $1.99.  All juice pouches were accounted for and not damaged.

 2. I bought this huge container of Clorox wipes for $2.49 was $4.99.  I don't use these and I'm not even sure this is a GREAT deal.  I know it's a GOOD deal, but I figured it was worth $2.50 to donate to my sons classroom.

 On clearance because the package was ripped.

 3. Purina Cat food with ripped bag.  Was $13.79 now to $5.99.....but wait....there's more......

 BOOYAH!!! -$2 coupon = $3.99 for a package of cat food normally $13.79

 On a side note I bought this cute little "Puppy Playdoh" set yesterday at Walmart for my "gift stash" for $9 was $14.97.  They have a lot of toys on clearance as well as summer toys and baseball equipment.

A few "Clearance sale" tips:

1. Know what the sale price is normally for the item.  I disregarded this tip today when I purchased the Clorox wipes, but like I said...I am okay with a $2.50 donation to my child's class.
2. "Clearance" does NOT mean "GREAT DEAL" (refer to #1)
3. You CAN use coupons on clearance items (sale items too FYI)
4. Check for packages that are TOO damaged before you purchase them.  Be sure it is something still usable and worth the amount left. Like the cat food I bought.  The bag was ripped and taped back together.  I'm sure there was some missing (the bag did rip at some point in time) but the amount missing was so little that I was okay buying the item damaged.

"5 Things I wish I knew when I started blogging"

As most of you know, I started Thrifty 101 just over a year ago. I had never blogged before so I jumped right in and had some great "blog friends" reach out and help me out when I started. I thought I would "pay it forward" to someone else with a list of "Things I wish I knew when I started blogging"

1. Blog about what you love. I love to find deals and DIY projects. There a PLENTY of both of these type of blogs out there, but not many that combine both. So when I find good deals I blog about them and when I find DIY projects or I do a project I think someone might be interested in I blog about that. If I didn't enjoy Blogging, I wouldn't do it.
2. Marketing is HUGE. When you first start out you only have family/friends as followers. It can get discouraging very quickly when you put so much into your posts and only 15 people are reading them. Leave your link back on comments you leave on other blogs or on facebook. Add your web address to your email signature, send bigger blogs your ideas and join in link parties to get your name out there.
3. Don't worry about you statistics. Early on I noticed a fun little "Stats" button on the top of my page. This tells you the number of viewers you've had that day/month/week/year/lifetime. It's encouraging when that number is going up, but when it drops it makes you wonder what's happened to your readers. If your content is interesting to them...they'll be back. Don't get caught up in the numbers game.
4. It takes a lot of time and effort to run a blog. I spend endless hours blogging every week. I take weekends off to be with my family, but during the day I'm usually on my blog. There is a balance you must obtain to stay sane.
5. The pay non existent, then minimal until you build a LARGE following. If you are getting into blogging to make money, plan on it taking a long time before you see any real profit. Google AdSense is an easy addition, and directly working with advertisers is a way to "cut out the middle man" and get a little more money. But most of these advertisers work on a "per click" or "per page view" status. The more links/views you have the more money you will be paid.

One of my favorite sites, All Things Thrifty, is doing a 10 week series titled "The Blogger behind the blog" and it starts today. She's got about 8 blogs answering 1 question per week. This will be a great resource for those of you thinking about getting into blogging or those of you wanting to kick your blog into gear.
Click HERE to go check out the series.

Flat tire....."I can make it to Costco!"......

After doing my "good deed for the day" by taking my sister to the rental car agency (her car's in the shop) I pulled in the driveway and hear a sound that I thought was my neighbors sprinklers. "psssshhhhhh"
I went inside when my sister follows me in and says "Michelle, you ran over a nail, your tire is leaking bad!" I went outside to check, she was right. She stayed home with my kids and I booked it down to Costco to get my tire fixed hoping to beat the leaking air from my tire.

I made it 1/2 way there behind 1 slow car and a construction worker with a "STOP" sign and realized I wasn't going to make it before I was driving on rims. So I pulled into an Elementary school parking lot and called my husband.

"Hey, you need to come help me, I have a flat tire." "Are you serious?" See, he just got back to work because we had lunch together an hour before I took my sister to the rental place. So after I tell him where I'm at, I decide that I can at least jack the car up for him. (please, it's the least I could do) ha ha

• I get the jack out and I'm surprised at how easy it is to work. Pretty straight forward. So I jack the car up.
• I think "okay, these Lug-nuts are going to be crazy hard to get off..." then I realize the handle for the jack looks an awful lot like it fits the lug-nuts. I try it.....it does.
• Thinking this is my stopping point, "there's no way I can get these off" I easily get all 5 off and realize changing a tire is a piece of cake and call off the reinforcements.
• Reinforcement doesn't pick up his phone
• I swap the damaged tire with the horseshoe sized piece of metal sticking out of it with the spare. And call off reinforcements again, twice. No one answers.
  
• In the process of tightening the lug-nuts on the spare, in comes the reinforcement...a little annoyed that he had to come and I was done. (hee hee)
• There was a small victory celebration in the parking lot by me, and a "tip of the hat" from my husband. I was (and still am) proud I did it all by myself....can you tell? ☺

And for an even happier ending to the story, it turns out the tire that was punctured was the same tire we purchased from Costco not too long ago. Apparently they have a "Pro Rated Warrenty" standard on all their tires. I was pro-rated $97 on the $108 tire that I had to replace (yes, I had to REPLACE the hole was that big and too near the edge to patch) so after taxes I paid $12 for a new tire. woot woot!


I went over some railroad tracks in a remote area of town today, I think that's where I picked up my sharp little friend.

So moral of the story is "You can do it!"

Florida Update

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to drop in and say "HI"! I hope you are enjoying the guest bloggers, I think they did a great job and had some awesome ideas.

Florida is great. We've found some fun beaches and spent some wonderful time together as a family. Not too impressed with Miami....or the number of mosquitoes we are encountering here in South Florida. We are more worried about mosquitos in the Everglades then we are of Tropical Storm Emily! lol

More guest blogs to come on Thrifty 101, PLUS a giveaway starting Monday for a family 4 pack of tickets to a Utah event...(hint to be posted on Saturday)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

~Michelle