shopping | The Angel Forever

Category Archives shopping

Coupon Crazy

Posted on February 10, 2009 9:06 am by TheAngelForever

With the tough economic times more and more people are clipping coupons. Count me into this mix. JL and I work as a team to do this. He has been quite pleased with the amount that I have saved using coupons at places like CVS, BJ’s and the grocery store.

One problem we have had is file folder that we used for the coupons. Here it is:

This was great when we first started to be serious about couponing, but we quickly outgrew it. There were not enough sections for different categories. Plus when we began buying extra Sunday papers it was filled too quickly. Here is a fresh new pile of coupons that I cut yesterday and another stack of inserts ready to be done.

Many bloggers have been talking about systems to use with coupons. Several mentioned binders and baseball card holders for the coupons. We had the binders and tabs already at home. A week or two ago we bought the card holders. This weekend we finally started the process of moving things into the binder.

I usually pull out the soon to expire or expired coupons, cut new coupons and JL organizes them into the binder. It is a great system and we hope to save even more with it. Here is what I bought on my most recent CVS trip. I was using the old coupon system. I had coupons from the Sunday paper, CVS coupons, and ECBs. I spent less than $2.50 out of pocket on everything in the photo.

Hopefully with this new coupon binder we will be able to save even more!

Categories:
deals jl photos shopping

Another camera bites the dust

Posted on January 23, 2009 9:37 am by TheAngelForever

It has not been a very good week with electronics in our household. First, my cell phone decides to spontaneously crack. Apparently it could not handle the extreme cold and the hard plastic just gave up. Of course, my warranty is no longer valid. For $50 they would give me an identical phone, but I am eligible for new phone in June. We will be digging out one of our old phones until after our trip to Disney World.

The real kicker is this:

My precious digital camera is basically dead. The item that I keep with me practically at all times has kicked the bucket. For several months, I blamed our rechargeable batteries for everything that was happening. Little did I know, it was the camera the entire time. The Canon camera that I purchased in the fall just over a year ago is gone! The battery sensors are not working properly. The other day I put in fresh batteries, took 3 photos and the camera started to flash low battery and then shut down. JL took the batteries to work to check their voltage readings. Sure enough, they were 100% perfect. Do you know how many stinking batteries I thought were no good because of this camera? Grrrr!

This will be the second digital dud that I have purchased. It just does not seem right to me for a camera to only last 12-14 months (my last one did not even make it that long – that was a Fuji). Of course, the review for this camera were amazing when we bought it. Then last month JL did some research and others were complaining about the same battery sensor troubles. Canon will allow us to ship it to them to check and then tell us the cost of repair. My theory, it will cost way more to fix this camera than just purchasing a new one. Does this make me angry? YES!

So my question to you today:

Do you have any suggestions on a new digital camera? I want one that will last several years (a fair request I believe), has its own lithium battery within (no more replacement batteries), and is portable for on the go. One other item, I would prefer something other than Fuji and Canon for obvious reasons.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating. Th

Aloha #32

Categories:
Aloha Friday customer service decisions me moments shopping

Nalgene my H2O queen

Posted on January 16, 2009 9:33 am by TheAngelForever

Most people would probably find it strange that my beverage of choice is water. Sure, I like an occasional Crystal Light Peach Ice Tea, but I am not a soda person. In fact, about ten years ago I gave up drinking items that contain caffeine. I did it cold turkey, but it was the best thing I ever did.

In recent weeks, I have not been as good about drinking water. Sure, I may have had one of my smaller containers during the day, but not much more. When I joined Weight Watchers online, I was reminded about the 64 ounces of water that you should consume in a day. My reusable water container only held about 20 ounces.

While out on Saturday I went to the store with my brother and sister-in-law and bought myself this:

Pretty isn’t she? This is my new 32 ounce Nalgene water bottle. Nalgene is made in the USA and is PBA free (says it right on the bottom now). I had a hard time finding Nalgene products, but thanks to JL’s coworker I knew the store that carried them locally. I love that I can fill it up to 32 ounces and chug away the water my body needs and fill it one more time during the day to get my daily water intake.

Of course I learned a hard lesson. Do not drink 32 ounces of water right before heading out into the freezing cold temperatures. What can I say, my teacher bladder is not up to that after having two children.

So my question to you:

How much water do you drink? Do you make a conscious effort to concume 64 ounces each day?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating. Th

Aloha #31

Categories:
Aloha Friday me moments photos shopping

Bargains for under a buck

Posted on December 20, 2008 1:05 am by TheAngelForever

On Sunday I asked hubby if we could stop by CVS. I had some really good coupons and wanted to check out the deals for the week and month. I had not been to CVS since Thanksgiving Day, so I had a lot of ECBs to use. I mentioned to JL that they had a General Mills cereal special. The boxes were on sale 3/$10 and if you spent $20 on cereal you would receive $10 in ECBs back. That would make them $1.67 a box, but I had coupons for General Mills that made them even less.

The six boxes of cereal:

Deodorant (99 cents each after sale $2.99 and ECBs $2.00) and toothpaste (free + overage thanks to sale, CVS/MFR coupons and ECBs):

Now for the math part of the trip:

Price w/out sales –> $43.99
Total of all 11 items w/sale –> $34.95
Mfr Coupons used –> $4.35
CVS Coupons used –> $6.00
ECBs used in transaction –>$23.76
Money spent out of pocket –> $0.84
ECBs earned during the trip –> $20.00

Sure, I lost $3.76 in ECBs, but I still did quite well. I went to another store Thursday and completed the limit of 5 on the deodorant. I also picked up 5 of them for my mother with her CVS card. I was lucky that that store had plenty left.

Categories:
deals photos shopping

Chanukah shopping fun – Game Giveaway

Posted on December 15, 2008 9:48 pm by TheAngelForever

Growing up Jewish in a predominantly Christian society can be tough on a child. For most of the fall months into December, most of world is dressed up and ready to celebrate Christmas.

As a child growing up in the 80’s, living in a moderate Jewish community, we had few items to really decorate for Chanukah. There was only a small store in our synagogue with some merchandise in it. As the years went by, more main stream stores started to carry a few Chanukah items here and there. They would all pretty much have the same few token tchotchkes. Plastic dreidels, cheap looking menorahs and some window clings were available.

In more recent years, people have started businesses online to help keep traditions alive, add modern touches and provide fun for Jewish families. One of these online stores is PopJudaica.com

Last year, post Chanukah, I found PopJudaica.com. I oogled at numerous items and thought about different family members to purchase things for.

The Plush Menorah would be perfect for the little guy. He would be able to safely light his own menorah along with us.

Plush Menorah

The Got Latkes? apron would be perfect for almost any of the women (or men – like my hubby) who prepare the tasty traditional Chanukah food.

NHL loves to wear his kippahs to Hebrew School. The Kroc Kippah would be a fun way for him to personalize it on his own.

Of course for my brother, a recreational poker player, the Poker Yarmulke would be a perfect choice.

Seriously if you are Jewish, know someone who is, or want to learn more about another religion PopJudaica.com is a wonderful source for goodies galore.

The Giveaway:

The founder of PopJudaica.com has offered my readers the opportunity to win their own No Limit Texas Dreidel Game. This game would be enjoyed by both kids and adults, so it would be fabulous for family game nights. It puts a modern spin on a traditional holiday game for everyone of all religions to enjoy.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Leave a comment telling me three of your favorite items from PopJudaica.com
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1Bonus Entry – Stumble this post and leave your Stumble name in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Favorite TheAngelForever in Technorati and leave your name there in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Follow me on Twitter (@TheAngelForever) and tweet once about my giveaway. Leave a link to your comment in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Add TheAngelForever to your blog roll and leave a separate comment.
3 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra credit.

My Chanukah shopping fun game giveaway will run through Friday, December 19, with the winner being contacted over the weekend. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified by e-mail for address information. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me before another winner is chosen. Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only and will be shipped from PopJudaica with the hope (no promises) that it will arrive to enjoy during Chanukah.

Have fun and thanks for participating in my Chanukah!