Snowed In.

Wow, I feel like I haven't posted in such a long time. Although its only been a few days. We got a snow/rain/ice storm here in Massachusetts yesterday. It was supposed to be the kids first day back to school after a 4 day weekend, but they had no school. It's been a long and draining 5 days in this house. Saturday we had an amazing party for my daughter. She was officially adopted by my husband. It was a special day for her and she had so much fun.

This of course was the highlight of our weekend.

Then of course we had Monday off from school. So I got the kids dressed and headed out to hit Rite Aid again for some more FREE Toilet Paper. Well they had signs up in my store stating a limit of 6 per household. No big deal, so I grabbed 6 4 packs and headed to the register. After she rang them in, I paid with previous UP Rewards and change, only 1 UP printed. Come to find out it was a limit of 1. So after a bit of confusion, I returned 5 of the 4packs and they gave me a $5 Gift Card cause they couldn't give me back the UP Rewards I used to purchase them with, cause they were already voided. UGH. Glad I was able to get some when the sale started on Sunday.

This brings us to Tuesday, NO school for the kids and more snow, rain and ice. So we stayed home in pajamas.

Finally the kids are back to school today and I am getting back to my normal routine. I am feeling much better and feel like I am accomplishing things. After dropping the kids off at school, I came home and made a phone call. I called to cancel our old Auto Warranty from the Rav4 we just traded in. I was able to score a pro-rated refund of $792.50. WOOHOO. I am so so so excited about that. Of course that put me in a good mood.

Did some errands this afternoon with Mr J. Went to Target and returned one of the Toy Clearance items I purchased last week. It was supposed to be for my neice for next Christmas. I was so excited about the 75% off that I didn't bother looking close enough at the actual present I purchased. I had initally thought it was a jewelry making kit, but after bringing it home, my lovely husband pointed out that it was candy jewelry and that it expired 10/11. LOL. So that was just not gonna work. I returned that item and I got 4 bottles of Soy Sauce for .84 TOTAL. I also bought a box of Quaker Oatmeal Kids Mix Kit for .75 after using a Target Q and a MQ. Figured it was cheap enough to see if the kids would like it.

We then ventured to Gap and Disney Store. I had to exchange some items that Miss K got at her party. She is almost 8 but is in a size 5/6. No biggie, I always love going to the Disney Store. We hit the Gap first. Come to find out the items I wanted to return were actually purchased at the Gap Outlet. LOL. Oh well. But I was able to exchange the items at the Disney Store. Now Mr J is fast asleep on the couch and I am ready to just sit and relax for the rest of the day.

Sorry I haven't posted many deals lately, I promise to get back into the swing of things :)

Start your Year off with FREE TOILET PAPER

There are somethings in life I would rather not have to PAY for. Toilet Paper is on that list. I mean..having to pay for something you are just throwing into your toilet. Seriously, why not just throw your money in the toilet. LOL.

So I am beyond EXCITED about this deal this week at Rite Aid. FREE TOILET PAPER. How, you make ask? Simple..so Simple that you don't even need a coupon for this deal.

This week 1/16-1/22 Rite Aid has Simplicity 4pk Toilet Paper, Single Roll Toilet Paper and Facial Tissues prices at $1.00 each. You will receive a $1.00 UP Reward for everyone that you purchase. So its getting it for FREE. To make it even more amazing..is that if you have any current UP Rewards lying around, just use those to purchase your toilet paper then receive more UP Rewards back. So you don't ever have to take out your Credit Card or Cash for this deal.

WOW....

I currently have

10 4packs

10 single Rolls

I have $20 UP Rewards and I will be going back tomorrow to get some more. Cause this is not gonna last me that long LOL.

Amazon *HOT* 10 reams of Paper for $6.07 SHIPPED

Hurry and place your order ASAP and hopefully this is not a price mistake and they do not cancel orders.

5,000 Sheets of paper for just $6.07

Get it HERE

Qualifies for FREE SHIPPING as well.

**PRICE WENT UP**

**UPDATE** Amazon.com has sent an email stating that the item was labeled incorrectly. It was supposed to be for 1 ream not 10 reams. So anyone who purchased this deal has had their orders cancelled, including me. Oh well. I am a bit bummed though.

Kohl's 10% OFF Code

Kohl's has a few deals going on right now. They have some really great clearance items available. They also have a .99 Shipping Promotion. Each item you purchase ships for just .99 each.

You can also use the code SWEEPS10 to get an additional 10% Off your order.

Shop HERE

Childrens Place FREE SHIPPING

Childrens Place is offering FREE SHIPPING for TODAY ONLY. They are taking advantage of a Snow Day as well. Use the code FSSNOW to get FREE SHIPPING on ALL orders today.

They are still running their Monster Sale. I am sure you can snag a few great deals today.

Shop HERE

Disney Store FREE SHIPPING

Disneystore.com is offering FREE SHIPPING all week on ALL orders. Just use code FREESHIP at checkout and you will receive FREE SHIPPING.

They have some good deals. They still have some Holiday items up to 60% off. They also have Tees for as low as $5.99.

I got the kids, hubby and I some new Tee's for our Surprise Disney Trip.

My New Baby!

Did I shock you with the title? Nope not pregnant and no new children in this family. My baby is our new (new to us) minivan. Yes I LOVE being a "soccer mom". Don't know why I ever switched from a minivan to a Rav4, but it was time to go back. We did that and did it in style. Over the weekend we purchased a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country Touring. My "New Baby" comes with all the bells and whistles. Installed "babysitter" (DVD Player) and not just any DVD Player, its a 6 disc DVD Changer. Leather HEATED seats. Stow and Go and Tailgate Seating. Sunroof. And to top it all off..it only has 28,400 miles. WOW. So I am sure your wondering what this has to do with SAVING. You can SAVE so much while shopping and purchasing a vehicle. HOW?? You ask.

Purchasing used is a great way to save money. Most, if not ALL, vehicles depreciate a TON right as you drive it off the lot. So why pay all that money on a brand new vehicle if your just gonna lose value in it, in such a short time. If you purchase used, you can get alot of the bells and whistles at a fraction of the original cost.

Make sure to research the vehicle your interested in. Check reviews on the vehicle. Check the value of the vehicle your interested in buying. Also check reviews of the dealership your considering buying from as well.

Sit down and do a budget for yourself. Get your own figures. What payments you can afford a month? How long you want to pay off your loan? Check your credit scores to see where you stand before you even step into the dealership. If you are able to put some cash down, make sure you budget that in as well. If you have a vehicle you wanna trade, check the trade in value of your vehicle before you bring it in to the dealer. http://www.kbb.com/ is a good place to start. It will give you an idea of what your car is valued at as a trade in, as well as what the suggested retail value of your vehicle is. This is the price dealers will most likely resell your car for. It might help to bring it to a few different dealerships to get an idea of what you could get for your vehicle.

After you have done all your research and have come up with all the numbers that work with your budget, take all that to the dealership with you. I prefer to shop online and see what vehicles are available to me in the price range I am looking at before I ever step foot into the dealership. That way I can research that vehicle and get my own numbers in my head for that specific vehicle. Saves time and hassle of trying to find the car by just showing up with no ideas in mind.

Be FIRM with what it is that you want. Just like you do with your coupons and weekly shopping budget and shopping lists, it works the same at a dealership. Use your research as your coupon. Make sure to find out what the dealer cost is for the vehicle you are interested in. This is the cost the dealer paid for the vehicle. This will give you a good place to start your negotiating at.

Be patient and be courteous if what you want is not what they are able to do for you. You just take your numbers and research to another dealership.

There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to save THOUSANDS off the list price of a used vehicle, if you do your research.

When we purchased our new minivan, I wanted to trade in our Rav4 (which we have only owned for a little less than a year and still owed money on). I wanted to have the dealer pay off my loan for the Rav4 then refinance a new minivan, no money down and keep the same payments or pay a little bit more per month. My payment for the Rav4 was $224.00/month. I basically wanted to do an even trade. Not unheard of, I was told. But it did take alot of work for me to do this. I had to do alot of research on what the current value of my Rav4 was. I had to find the perfect minivan that fell in with the mileage I wanted and the price. After coming across the Town & Country, I took my research and numbers to the dealership. The asking price for the Town & Country was $15,865.00. Above the budget but worth a try right??

They did their thing and told me that they would give me less than what I owe on the Rav4 and if I put $2500.00 down on the minivan my payments would be $259.00/month. I stood my ground and told them I couldn't do that. I reminded them that I did not want to put any money down. The salesman, then said "Do you have anything to put down, like just $1000.00?" My response was.."Yes I have money, I just don't want to use it". Ask hubby, those were my exact words. Of course the salesman had to go talk to his manager again. Don't you just love the back and forth. He came back, said if I put $1000.00 down my payments would be $279.00/month. I am not sure what he was having a hard time understanding. LOL. At this point, I said no again (politely) then I told him what I wanted, Yet again. Then explained that there was nothing wrong with my current vehicle, I was just looking for something with more space and if it couldn't work the way I wanted it to, then that was ok and we would just go. So I asked for the keys to my Rav4 (they still had them from apprasing it). He walked away, 15 minutes later, brought back the manager. Manager asked me. "Could you do $500.00 down and payments of $249.00/month?". My response was. "To be honest, the van is just not calling to me. I am gonna have to say no." Manager then says, "Would it call to you if it was no money down and $249.00/month?" I said "Yes". He said "Give me 5 minutes and I will see what I can do". Well I am sure you know what happened next..I got my van MY WAY! They paid off the loan on my Rav4, took $1500.00 off the asking price of the van.  Hee hee. I would have been perfectly fine with no van and walking away with my pride and my budget :).

Just goes to show you, that with a little bit of research you can save THOUSANDS on the purchase of a vehicle.

Also..never EVER underestimate a WOMAN buying a car.