This Reminds Me

Archive for the ‘ViewPoint’ Category

A group of friends at AT&T asked me to document my favorite bottom-feeding online shopping tips.  Any mother of four daughters has them.  

It’s been a few years since I’ve posted any, so, I thought I’d do so again.  And again, I must credit Sharon Durham with many of them.  Sharon and I spent many chuckling afternoons in the original SBC e-channel “tricking shopping carts.”  I still remember her talking about a $50 credit she finangled in the early days of Shutterfly and how she “ate off it a long time.”  My hero!

Here goes….feel free to add your own in the Comments…..I’d love to give ‘em a try!

Online Bottom-Feeding

Turn Me Loose – I Hear e-Shopping Music!  (Part Deux)

Join Online Loyalty Programs

Online loyalty programs reward you for clicking through from their site to an e-commerce site. The rewards accumulate, and the programs are free – so why not?! My personal favorites:

www.upromise.com – Perhaps the most famous. Started by the guy who birthed the American Express program. SBC was a member 2004 – 2006. Grab your wallet and spend about 15 minutes to register all your credit and debit cards. When you click through from Upromise to a member site, a timed mechanical feed updates your account with $x% of the amount you spent. Many restaurants and some B&M (bricks and mortar) stores rebate, too, so, when in doubt – pay with plastic. Be sure to get the Upromise credit card, not because you need another, but because they offer great promos, especially on Exxon gas. The marketing hook is “money for college,” but that’s bogus. It’s your money – for anything – and you can withdraw it any time. You sure don’t have to invest it in any of their college savings plans, but they’ll keep pushing them.

www.mypoints.com – Really growing the last few years. U-verse has had offers in its permission marketing emails. Points are awarded – each point is worth roughly $.008 (not quite a penny.) Redeem points for gift cards. Get points by (1) clicking thru from their one-time, daily emails – you get usually get 5 points just for clicking – don’t have to buy anything (2) clicking thru from their daily or weekly e-mail summaries of the day’s or week’s best deals (some are quite good!) or (3) going to their site and clicking thru to an e-tailer. Be sure to enroll in their daily and weekly email programs.

I always check both Upromise and MyPoints to see who’s offer the better incentive. 4% on Upromise = 5 points per dollar on My Points.

Lots of other loyalty programs, of course like www.shoprunner.com

 ALWAYS Look for a Promo Code

Even if you click-thru from a loyalty site – check for a promo code! Favorites (of scores):

www.retailmenot.com www.naughtycodes.com

No luck? Google for one. Surprising what you’ll find.

Daily Deals – They’re a “Must”

Register at these sites for their daily emails. Also, you can “like” many on Facebook and get their deals in your feeds.

www.woot.com One deal, one day – unless it’s a “woot-off.” In a woot-off, the one item changes as soon as the inventory is depleted. $5 shipping. Deal changes at 12M CST. Worth checking if you’re up anyway – don’t wait for the email!

www.dailydeals.target.com – Not fabulous but truly good and all have free shipping

Amazon  - The Big Kahuna

Groupon – Watch the expiration dates. They’re getting kind of snarky.

Living Social - As good as Groupon but not as well known.

http://deals.mamapedia.com – Mostly baby/toddler stuff

www.kgbdeals.com – Heavier on services than on products

www.midnightbox.com – Heavy on electronics

www.grouppigg.com – Heavy on services

http://www.dealofthedaysa.com/ – Lots of restaurants

www.urbandealight.com – Heavy on personal services like spas

www.dealster.com – All over the board

www.midnightbox.com – Heavy on electronics

www.angieslist.com – (“The Big Deal”) Major home services

During the holidays, www.samsclub.com has a daily deal which is excellent w/free shipping

MyPoints, Upromise & Daily Deals – An Sweet Marriage

Daily deals are sweet, but they can be even sweeter if either (1) the deal site itself is a standing member of MyPoints and/or Upromise or (2) the daily deal is being given MyPoints or Upromise credit. So don’t just “rush” buying a daily deal. Look at Upromise and MyPoints first to see if the deal site itself is a member and if so – click through to buy. If the deal site itself isn’t participating as an entity in MyPoints or Upromise – and you’re a MyPoints member – wait until the daily email arrives just to see if it’s got a one-day point assignment.

Just this week, there was a Groupon for Quiznos. Great! My family likes Quiznos. But by waiting a few hours for the MyPoints daily email, I also got 8 points per dollar by clicking through from it to buy the Groupon for Quiznos. Like that better!

Show Me The (Saved) Money

These sites all feature a variety of deals.

www.slickdeals.net This is my home page. I check it several times a day. It’s a bulletin board site for every kind of deal. The most-clicked deals float to the top, but you can search, too. Fabulous during the holidays. You know the lame “My Coke Rewards” redemptions? Well, sometimes Coke has good ones, like Home Depot cards – but you won’t find them poking around the Coke Site. You’ll often find that someone has posted the URLs in slickdeals.net, however. I <3 slickdeals.net.

www.theblackfriday.com Don’t stand in all those lines!

http://www.dealsofamerica.com/indexc.php Less user-friendly than slickdeals, but still good.

Favorite e-tailers? Register for Their Permission Marketing

Might as well get their coupons, etc. and if you’ve not bought in awhile, they might send you a tasty offer. Remember that your email address is almost always your Account ID. So if there is some great offer out there and you want multiples – you need a few throw-down email addresses handy to establish multiple accounts and take advantage of the offer multiple times. You can have 9 active subaccounts with a Yahoo! Primary account…just saying…..

Buy Gift Cards?

http://www.plasticjungle.com/ – They don’t always have what you want in stock but when they do – nice! You can also sell unwanted gift cards here.

The Best-Kept Secret in Online Shopping

www.auctions.samsclub.com – If I never set foot in a Sam’s warehouse, I’d keep a membership just for the auction site. Their prices are good anyway but add an auction layer – wow! Powered by eBay, but run by Sam’s. Terrific in the weeks after the gift-giving holidays. You pay $1 over the next lowest bid for what you purchase. (So if I bid $100, and Barbara bids $75 – I get the item for $76.) Their shipping charges are very reasonable. My strategy:

• First check http://www.google.com/prdhp and/or http://thisfind.com to find the going price.
• If I’m mildly interested, I’ll bid 1/4 – 1/3 of that price just to see what happens.
• If I am very interested, I’ll bid half.
• If I really want it – I’ll bid 2/3. And I’ll make sure I check my email frequently, because Sam’s will tell me when I’m being outbid.

 Now you do know that any price in a Sam’sstore ending in “1” is below their cost? Right? So be sure to cherry-pick through the store as well as sniffing around that dark back corner.

While We’re Chatting

www.restaurant.com has skyrocketed in popularity. Two things to remember about it:

• Never, ever buy a certificate without a coupon code. Register at their site for permission marketing, and/or check slickdeals.net. There’s almost always a 40 or 50% promo code floating around.
• They’ve gotten really restrictive the last few years. So check the restrictions carefully before you buy. The certificates are a good deal only if you use them.

 http://www.visitsanantonio.com/visitors/save/VisitSaveOnlineClub.aspx – If you host out of town company, you can save a few dollars with these coupons. They’re not great, but they’re better than nothing, especially when people show up without much notice. You need to register and start getting their permission marketing emails before you can get the discounts.

www.squaretrade.com – I totally swear by this company. Great warranty deals and their service is incredible. Yes, I’m raving. They deserve it. Be sure to “like them” on Facebook for exclusive offers. Also register for their permission marketing. They give a 90-day grace period on purchases, so, if you’re planning to buy expensive electronics, start watching for a coupon code, because they’re usually in the 20 – 30% range. After my first SquareTrade warranty purchase, they sent me a paper letter w/a code good for 50% off my next purchase. You do pay extra for breakage, but hey – AppleCare doesn’t cover that at all.

Happy e-$hopping!  And do post your favorite tips in “Comments,” okay?!

It’s a toss-up about who’s more excited for Halloween – 10-year-old Julia, or her three teenage sisters.

Today Rachel bought mini-pumpkins for all to decorate.

Rachel’s inclusive rainbow pattern…

……and on another, a simple reminder of the holiday

Lois’ pumpkin isn’t finished yet.  After this first coat is dry, she’ll continue to decorate it as an apple.  Why?  “To fill the cracks of my heart, since you won’t get me an Apple i-Touch.”   As Keith sing-songs to them at least once a week, “Life is so hard, my parents are so mean.”

Hannah shows her Twilight fixation….

…including painting Bella, Edward and Jacob on the back.  She claims membership in “Team Edward.”  Hourly.

Yep, that’s Julia’s “Trick or Death.”

When all dry – the pumpkins may join other decorations on the fireplace.  Aunt Judy gave Rachel that stuffed white ghost when she was two or three years old.

My favorite fireplace decoration is the candy can toddler Hannah made in pre-school.

Halloween breakfast plates – of course!   I have a terrible, terrible dish weakness.  Breakfast/dessert plates for Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas – I’ve got ‘em.   It’s a sickness.  There was a super-cute set at the Disney outlet store a few months ago that I didn’t dare buy.  I was afraid Keith would set the dishes outside – and me with them.

Halloween flag out front….Thanksgiving flag is on top of the stack, ready to go next….  Did you know Halloween is the second only to Christmas in decorating dollars spent?

Lois and Hannah are soon to host the Halloween party for the Latin Club at school, and we’ll be going to the church “Fall Festival” soon, too.

I know a lot of folks – especially Christian friends – object to Halloween.  “It’s Satanic, its origins are evil, etc.”  Maybe so, maybe not, I don’t care. Whatever primitive people did or do now – just don’t care.  For me, it’s always been about dressing up, feeling down to the bottom of the bag for the caramels and having fun….except in 5th grade, when the only costume in my size was Fred Flintstone.  Having to wear a boy’s costume was more horrifying that any “ghost” in his mom’s old sheet, I tell you.

I don’t argue with anyone about their choice to have fun, or, instead, turn off their porch light.

But for me – we’ll be handing out candy* October 31.  Big boo-tiful handfuls of it.

Enjoy!

*San Antonio friends – We are gathering “stuff” for Samaritan’s Purse boxes.  I will go to Wal-Mart and buy about $100 worth of candy on 11/1.  If you have any left-over, non-chocolate (non-melty) candy or gum you’d like to contribute – just bring it to work, church or our house on or before Wednesday, 11/3 – when we’ll be packing.

Keith and I had been nowhere fun together all year, and the girls were anxious to do Christmas shopping.  So it was off to Nuevo Progresso this weekend, knowing we’d have today to catch up.

I’ve taken a variation of this shot since 2003. There’s something fun about placing one foot in one country, and the other foot in a second country.

Had to chuckle at this text to Keith’s iPhone, which was wisely set in airplane mode.  The last time we’d gotten that message was on last year’s cruise.

The best selection of purses we found was actually in a pharmacia.  “Juicy” was the big brand, in the $28 – $70 range.  Lots of “Coach,” too, plus “Chanel.”   “Chanel” scarves, wallets and sneakers to match.  I was looking for a new backpack purse as mine is three years old and starting to look it, but the only ones I saw were fugly chunky leather.  No “Kate Spade” or “Dooney and Burke.”    Gum wrapper purses – still very available, and in the $10 – $25 range, depending on size.

Best quote of the trip – from Lois, to Julia – “A slingshot – yet another thing you’re not getting.”  Julia is not enamored of purses and dresses, but did score a large plaster parrot for her room, and a stash of Mexican candy.  Actually, you don’t have to buy the child anything to make her happy.  Just plunk her down in a motel.  She loves the entire experience – little bars of soap, a different bed, setting the air conditioner (or – in her case, which endeared her to her sisters in the wee hours – flipping on the heater), the ice machine, the room key – everything about a motel.

Keith had to drive 250 miles to buy San Antonio habanero  sauce?  Hannah’s in awe.

The street vendors loved Rachel, whom I think bought at least one bracelet of every style.

Love this picture of Julia, because it so says whom she is.  Everyone else collapsed at a table during a Coca-Cola Light (Diet Coke) break.  Not Julia.  She climbed onto a bar stool so she could survey her surroundings.  Julia does not walk – she skips, hops, struts or runs.  And she does not sit.  She’s “on the lookout” for what’s next.

Speaking of Coke – Hannah always buys a bottle of “the real thing” with real Mexican sugar.  A jaunt to Mexico is the one time I do not forbid sugared soft drinks.  We now return to our regularly scheduled program.

Our favorite lunch stop – La Fogato – was empty except for our table, and one other. The girls and I wolfed the delicious pico de gallo, but Keith declined, “just in case one of us needed to be able to drag five of you out of the bathroom.”

The eldest three purchased dresses, which they wore to Chili’s for dinner Saturday night (American side.)  We don’t stay in Mexico after dark anyway, but especially not this year. The “South Padre Island Bike Fest” was just up the road, and we figured they’d be coming to Progresso for an evening of partying.  They did.  When we crossed the border at 4 p.m., there were already dozens of hard-drinking, leather-clad bikers roaring down the streets.

As much fun as we had – and we really did – the trip was kind of sad, too. The family-owned-for-generations shop where Keith bought his “tortuga giganta” two years ago?  Closed.   Roxy’s – the upscale shop where we bought so many lovely crosses and talavera last year -closed.   I’d guess half to two-thirds of the side street/alley shops were vacant.  Why?   Even though Progresso has been spared the drug violence that has ruined other crossing spots (Laredo, Tijuana, etc.) for tourists – Americans are scared to cross.  I can understand that.  Even in Progresso, there’s a tank and soldiers at the entrance to the city – though I actually find that less threatening than comforting.  Maybe Mexico is serious about keeping it safe.

I really don’t care how many drug lords and runners kill themselves.  I really don’t.  I know I should.  I know God loves them just as much as He loves me.  I know their souls are precious.  And I still don’t care.  As far as I an concerned, you could lock them all in a cement cage with guns and let them shoot each other to shreds and the world would be a better place.

What I do care about is what this horrendous violence is doing to decent people across the border.  That guy selling gum wrapper purses is trying to support his family.  That woman desperately trying to interest you in her blankets has kids at home – and maybe on the street right next to you – that are hungry.  And yet they are the ones that suffer from this godless insanity.  You can’t make a living from tourism when they are no tourists.  And there are fewer and fewer tourists as more and more Americans are caught in the violence - 48 in the first half of this year alone.

Laredo provided decades of enjoyment for my family.  Then Keith and I acknowledged it was simply too dangerous to visit any longer, so we switched to Progresso.  And now we see Progresso withering, not because of drug violence, but because of the (very understandable) fear of it.

I’m especially glad we went this weekend, because as Keith said before we left, “This trip could be our last.”

I hope not.  Not only for us-the-tourists, but also for the decent people that are just trying to make a living.

I’ve never been patient.

I’m not proud of being impatient.  I’m not looking for a dozen friends to reassure me, “Oh, now, I saw you be patient when…..”   It’s just the way I am.  Though I usually hide it better than I’ve hidden it the last few hot, cloying weeks of summer.

Is it the really heat that’s sucking the life out of me?  Or the humidity?  Or being 54 years old?  Other than financially, summer is my least-stressed time of year.  I don’t cook much.  I don’t rush to fix breakfasts in the morning, or race to fix dinner in the evening.  There’s no child in after-school care anxiously awaiting my arrival.  I’m not in a frenzy to grab Chick-Fil-A and  to make it to church Wednesday night.  I still do laundry daily, but there’s less of it.  Nobody needs an emergency trip to Wal-mart to finish a project.  Yet I find myself less and less patient when I get home and find a mess in the den, or unwashed dishes, or a dozen pairs of cast-off shoes in the entryway.

I always think – and now too often say – “Why have you left a mess?  Didn’t I tell you what to do?  Didn’t I write it down for you?  You’re my child.  Don’t you have any better sense than this?”

I listen to K-Love on the drive to and from the bus stop (and sometimes on the bus, thanks to the iPhone app) not because I am a “good person.”  I’m not a “good person.”  Believe me, I know.  I listen to contemporary Christian music because it helps center me.   Worshiping the one true God of the universe puts my day in perspective.

The other morning, the DJ was reading from the book of James, which is my favorite.  I don’t need a theology degree to understand James.    “Take note of this.  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Hmmm.

And then I thought – God is probably looking at me every evening thinking, “Why have you left a mess?  Didn’t I tell you what to do?  Didn’t I write it down for you?  You’re my child.  Don’t you have any better sense than this?”

James also tells me “…to be patient then.. until the Lord’s coming.”

That could be tonight, or tomorrow – when I’m tripping over the pile of flip-flops by the front door.

Sigh.

Okay.  Tomorrow, I’ll give this patience thing one more try.

Let’s hope I learn it quickly.