Zellers - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging and couponing in general for the Christmas season. It was quite a busy one as it s Big B's first Christmas and my boyfriend was able to get Christmas off this year and was home for 18 days straight. I managed to get some more dog food for my big lug of a lab for near free courtesy of stacking at London Drugs. I got some good food deals - near free frozen pizza, cheap pop and juices. But we have such a well stocked pantry and freezer the only time I really ran to the grocery store was for fresh items and we all know that coupons for those things are few and far between.

As for Boxing Day sales - we didn't bother going out shopping that day at all. I'm sure there were some really good deals out there but there isn't much that we need in all reality.

Yesterday night while cruising my favorite forum I came across a popular thread that had stories of people getting Kitchen Aid mix masters for a ridiculously low price - under $100! I wanted in on that for sure. I've always wanted one and since moving out from home and from the one my mom has, I've always thought how nice it'd be to have one. My best friend gave and her Hamilton Beach one when she got a new Kitchen Aid and it is great but starting to putter out.

Zellers, of all places, had a Boxing Week promotion running on their Facebook page. Buy any item for 50% off. They even stated on the coupon that this deal COULD be used on sale items. Zellers had their Kitchen Aid mixer on sale for $189.99 (reg. $299.99). With the 50% off coupon, that would make the mixer around $95. Excitedly, I found the coupon online and printed it out. I planned to get my boyfriend to get a second on for a friend of mine. All is good.

The next morning I log into the same forum to see that Zellers has put out a retraction. They will only honor the coupon on NON sale items. WTH. This coupon has been being used since Boxing Day, so why, now over half way through the promotion, are they nixing it? I phoned the number on the Zellers website and spoke to some women. She stated that they were loosing too much money from this sale and that is why eh are removing the 'can be used with sale item' clause. I basically, and politely, told them that is not my problem. How fair is it that less than 24 hrs ago someone got a get deal from your store and now I won't be able to when we were all under the assumption that this coupon was good until December 31st? She took my name and asked me what location I was planning on going to. She said she would phone the store and speak to the manager there and I would be able to use my coupon on a non sale item as long as I went to the customer service desk.

So, off the three of us went. I found my mixer. They only had one, so the boyfriend grabbed a piece of luggage that was $300 marked down to $60 and off to the customer service desk we went. I got to the counter and explained what I had been told. The girl called her manager who said she did not receive a call and then went to go check her email to say they didn't email her anything either. Mmmm. I showed her my cell phone with the time I called the customer service number. She then called her District Manager who ok'd one transaction for my family. We ended up buying the luggage because we can really use it. And buying the mixer at 50% saved us $95, vr the $30 on the luggage.

The Good - I stood my ground and got my mixer!

The Bad - The way this store operates. I worked there when I was 19 a few nights a week on top of my job at a law firm. It is a horrible place to work. It is a horrible place to shop. It is always dirty, messy and has zero consistency.

The Ugly - because this coupon was offered on a social networking site and because there are numerous forums out there, people have taken this very personally. Facebook, Smart Canucks and now the local news are all calling Zellers on this shady business practice as they should. They are claiming that it was a misprint, yet they honored it for 3 whole business days before 'realizing' their error. C'mon. Zeddy, the Club Zed bear must be rolling in his grave from the amount of negative bad press HBC is getting over this. It will take another deal of a lifetime to get me to darken their doorstep again. The stores of abusive behavior towards customers trying to use this coupon today are mind boggling. I feel sorry for the poor, under paid cashiers working in this chaos. *shudder*

Happy baking I come!

New York!

My little family and I went to Niagara Falls, ON / Buffalo, NY / Hamilton, ON over this past weekend. While my boyfriend went to go watch a Buffalo Bills game on Sunday (his favourite NFL team - he's a die hard), Big B and I ventured out and shopped the shops of Buffalo Area. We had a great day together! I managed to get two coats - a short Tommy Hillfiger Peacoat and a long style Calvin Klein down/feather winter jacket for just over $200. I found a bunch of clothes for Cal's nieces for Christmas and for one of their birthdays this January. The 3 little boys and 1 little girl of my cousins were bought for as well. I was a little surprised WHERE I found the deals - I didn't expect to find much there and where I expected to find deals, I walked out without purchasing anything.

Burlington Coat Factory - why this store chain does not exist in Canada is beyond me. It is basically like the best Winners in the world. It is messy - you have to dig to find what you're looking for, but the selection is the best I've ever seen! It is about the size of one of our Superstores. 1/4 of the store is dedicated to baby gear; cribs, bedding, strollers - basically a well priced Babies R Us. 1/4 is for housewares. And the other half is just for clothes. All different brand names, styles, ages. Like I said, it was messy. I had a hard time getting the stroller through the aisles of coats without running over at least a dozen along the line. But it feels like a treasure hunt.

Target - walked in, expected to find some nice clothes for the kids, was shocked there was nothing really, walked through the rest of the store, walked out. I hope this is not a sign of things to come when they take over the Zellers up here.

Walmart - tried and true, found tons of great things, great clothes, great everything. Perhaps I'm partial, but an American Walmart and I get along well generally.

The surprise store - K-Mart. I found the best deals here for kids clothes. Shirt/pant sets that were normally $25 on for $3.99. Lots of selection. And for the young ladies / adult clothes.... wow. They carried Bongo, my favorite brand of jeans! And Sophia Vergara (Gloria from Modern Family). Her line is gorgeous and afforable. If I would have had someone with me to watch Big B while I was in the change room, I would have done some serious damage there.

Marshall's - The American version of Winners. It was so so. Found one really cute jersey material overall set for Big B. Messy and hard to navigate.

Outlet Malls - either than Carters, who always has a sale when I've been to one; the rest, no deals. Just the lure that it is an 'outlet', when it really isn't anything special. I guess because it is so close to the Canadian border and because a lot of those stores are not in Canada or do not have the same stock as Canadian stores - that is the lure and good thing about it. I wasn't impressed.

I figured with all the money that I save with couponing, I'm due for a trip or two like this a year. Happy to be home! Glad I have most of my Christmas shopping done!

Free Pledge Dusting Cloths

Pledge had a promotion running in one of the last coupon inserts for free Dusting Cloths. Purchase any Pledge product and receive a free package of Dusting Cloths. I love using Pledge for dusting. The lemon smell reminds me of cleaning my parents Real Estate office after hours. A few of the board rooms had lots of wood furniture that attracted dust like no ones business and my brother and I cleaned for allowance money. Now, I love using it on our leather furniture and living room furniture. Superstore had a 'Coupon Zone' coupon for $1 off any Pledge product and I had a few Pledge coupons from the insert, so I was able to get $2 each can. I believe they ended up costing around $2.50 a can that way. I mailed off my receipt with the redemption forms and viola - a month and half later, I have 2 2pks of Dusting Cloths for the price of a stamp. Pretty spiffy.

Dove

I love me a good Dove sale! The last time I was able to stock up on Dove, it was for the mens line. I was able to get my boyfriend and his Dad a bunch of hair/body washes and bars of soap from a great deal they had at London Drugs.

This time, it's for the ladies! I had enough coupons from trades and trains to acquire 9 bottles of shampoo and 9 bottles of conditioner for nearly free at London Drugs. I could have got more with the same amount of coupons I had if I had price matched from Walmart ($3 each as opposed to London Drugs' sale of $3.99 each). London Drugs limits 4 price matches per visit and because I have Big B and I've been by myself for several weeks (his Dad is away at work), I am not capable of hauling him all around and making several visits just yet. How I worked it out:

$3.99/bottle
-$1.50 Dove Haircare Coupon
-$2.00 When you buy two different Dove products
-$2.00 When you buy two different Dove products
= $0.49 a bottle

My "$2.00 When you buy two different Dove products" had different UPC's on the coupon, so I was able to use this when purchasing 2.

Regular price of this Dove Shampoo and Conditioner was $5.99. I saved $5.50 a bottle, and $99.00 total. I'll have lots to share with my Mom and my boyfriends Mom, Sisters and Niece.

Next I was able to stack for my Dog's food. He eats Purina One Smart Blends and there are quite a few coupons out there circulating.
His food wasn't on sale, and was $12.49 for a 2.7 kg bag.
I was able to use $11.50 work of stacks which means I paid $0.99 a bag - which is awesome!



London Drugs is a promotion, buy $66 worth of items (after coupons) and get $10 gift card. I purchased the above and a Christmas present for my boyfriend. Then made another separate purchase for his birthday present and was able to score $20 worth of gift cards. I was able to apply the one $10 gift card to his birthday present, which was great!



I ran into Walmart with my fellow couponer friend and good lady friend and didn't see too many good sales on much. She was able to save a lot on Frank's Red Hot Sauce, some Glade sandwich bags and a few other things. I just picked Big B up some jarred (*shudder*) baby food. We are leaving a week today for a trip out east and it will not be possible for me to safely transport his homemade baby food for the duration of the trip. Oh well, only so much I can do!

Hope you all found great Black Friday deals!

Sephora

I'm very frugal (read: cheap) when it comes to things for myself. I do, however, have a soft spot. Over priced cosmetics from Sephora.

They primarily carry lines that are not available anywhere else in Canada, and a few that are, but from high end boutiques that believe it or not, charge more than they do. Any of the products I've bought from there are 10 times the quality of that of drug store cosmetics (Cover Girl, Maybelline etc.). But it can also be a hit and miss thing when it comes to brand new lines that may not work for you. That's why I hesitate to shop there. But when Sephora has a sale... mmmm, I don't mind trying it out!

As with most retailers, this year Sephora jumped on the 'Canadian Black Friday' sale boat. I got an email from them with their Black Friday sales list and my eyes widened as I saw a particular brand that I've always wanted to try but never ponied up the money to. Stila. They are offering, for Friday only, a Stila eyeshadow pallette with lip glaze for only $12. This is usually $76. I thought I would get one for me and one for my boyfriends niece for her stocking - she's becoming quite the young lady now.

This is what I ended up ordering:

Josie Maran Argan Color Stick - Petal Pink ($22 Value) - Petal Pink - On Sale $12

Stila Glitz and Glam Palette & Lip Glaze ($76 Value) - Glitz and Glam Palette & Lip Glaze - Ordered 2, $12 each

Tarte MultiplEYE™ Primer and Lights, Camera, Lashes! ($30 Value) - MultiplEYE™ Primer and Lights, Camera, Lashes! - Ordered 2, $12 each

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals All Decked Out™ ($44 Value) - bareMinerals® All Decked Out™ - $12

I decided to go with the online route this time. I do not usually have the ability to get to a store when it opens because of Big B. And this way I know I have the products without waiting in line with a thousand other women just to find out that they are sold out of the hot items (Stila and Bare Minerals). Down side? I have to wait for it. But then it feels like Christmas when I get the package from the delivery person, so that evens out. I also got 3 free samples to choose from (I chose two perfumes and a Bumble & Bumble face mask) - which I would not have got in store. And I added to my Sephora points account - I'm so very close to that free full sized product now.

With this sale, I saved $206. Shipping was $9.99, so I guess really, just under $200. And I saved a piece of my sanity to not be standing in line with a bunch of hormone crazed 16 year olds hoping to get their hands on a 'Stripper Powder Blue' eyeshadow.

It feels good to treat myself every once in a while. Between getting my hair done this week and now a revamp to my makeup bag - geez, I should be good for a long while!

Near Free Toothpaste!

There are few products in life that I am extremely picky about. Toothpaste is one of them. I am cursed with sensitive teeth, so cheaping out on an off brand 'sensitive' toothpaste just doesn't work when I have a drink of something cold and it feels like I have needles being shoved into my teeth. Painful and annoying.

I've been stuck on Sensodyne for the last 10+ years because of this. Arm & Hammer, Crest - all their sensitive formulas don't cut it for me. I've heard from a good friend of mine the Colgate's new Sensitive Pro-Relief is a miracle paste. Like Sensodyne, it is a lot more expensive than most toothpastes. In a recent coupon insert, there was a coupon for $3 off a 75 ml tube of the said Colgate toothpaste. That $3 off takes it down to about normal price of regular toothpaste. So, not too bad, but I still wasn't going to give up my Sensodyne for that price. I can usually get it down to that price as well.

While in my local Sobey's the other day, I noticed they had theirs on an instore sale.


So, with my $3 coupons, this makes it $0.49 + GST a tube! I had 8 coupons, so I scooped 8 of them up for a grand total of $4.12! That's $1.64 LESS than one Regular priced tube.



This type of toothpaste is a relatively new product. And the higher dollar coupon was in the insert for that very reason - to give people the incentive to try it. And it worked for me - but mainly because I got it really cheap!

I actually didn't have any toothpaste in my stock pile, so this is great!

Good Mail Day!

Today was a great mail day! I got my Costco Brandsampler in the mail, my Kettle Chips FPC (Free Purchase Coupon), the digital camera I won off a Facebook contest and my Similac Club package!

The Costco Brandsampler was available for anyone with a valid Costco card to apply for online. I did so back in October, I believe. What I got in my box was a trial size Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner, Scope Mouthwash, a 2 pk of Cascade Action Packs, a Mr. Clean Magic eraser and a Gillette Fusion Pro Glide. All for free!


The Similac Club is a program Similac runs for new Moms. I applied for mine a while ago and just got it now. It consists of:
1 365g can of Similac Advance Omega 3 & Omega 6
1 385 ml (soup can) of Similac Sensitive Lactose Free Formula Concentrate Can
1 $10 Similac Cheque
1 $5 Similac Cheque
$5 off Similac Sensitive Lactose Free coupon
$5 off Similac Advance with Omega 3 and Omega 6 Ready to Feed Nursers

So, if you're a first time Mom, or have a little one on the way, check out Similac's website and sign yourself up! I personally have no use for this package as Big B gets his formula from Costco and all the new Mom's I know are using different brands. I put a thread out on Smart Canucks to see if anyone there could use it. If not, it'll go to the food bank.

I also recieved a FPC for Kettle Chips. This was through a giveaway they were doing a few weeks ago. Will be perfect to use for Christmas company!

The next thing I got in the mail was a Canon Point and Shoot Digital Camera I won from a contest on Facebook. I had to describe a scent that reminded me of Christmas for the Glade fan page. I wrote about the smell of Cloves and Oranges. When we were little my Mom used to get us to stick cloves in an Orange in an abstract pattern and we would hang that on the tree. It's a great scent and totally reminds me of Christmas when I was little.

All in all, a great mail day!