Where is my Order??

I thought long and hard about whether or not to write this post. I never want to say anything negative about anyone. I believe giving people/companies the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately I just can't keep this to myself, I believe my readers should know my personal experiences when it comes to shopping.

As most of you know Kohl's has had some AMAZING discount codes and offers this past month and I am sure most of you have purchased one thing or another from them. I know I did. I couldn't help myself when they had the Dolly & Me Holiday Dresses marked down and they released a 20% off code as well as a free shipping code. Thinking back now after going through what I have had to deal with, I wish I had passed on ordering online from Kohl's.

I placed my order on December 5th. I ordered the Dolly & Me dresses and a shirt for my son to wear on Christmas. Went through the usual online ordering process and received my order confirmation email. Personally I normally dont open the emails, I just leave them in my inbox and delete them once I get my order. Cause typically you receive an email when your order has been shipped. I checked my bank account online and the funds were on hold. So I didn't once think anything was wrong with my order. Well by mistake I deleted the email that had my order number in it. I was unable to retrieve the email or even look it up on Kohl's website cause I didn't create an account when I placed my order. I will fully admit that these two mistakes could have easily solved my problem from the beginning.

After 7 days of not receiving any email about my order being shipped, I called customer service. I explained my problem with deleting the email and not having my order number. The CS rep attempted to look up the information by my email address and my name, but told me that my order never went through. I checked my bank account and the hold was gone, and I was never charged for the order. I was a bit upset, but I just placed a second order on the phone with CS. All was good, I even got the same items a bit cheaper this time, cause the sale prices were lower.

This order was placed on December 11th.

On December 12th I got an email from Kohl's saying my order had shipped. After checking the order number and the order date on the email, this order was the FIRST order that I placed, the one that the CS said never existed. Oh really?? It was being shipped FedEx SmartPost, which means that it will be handed over to the USPS for final delivery and was to be delivered on December 17th.  I called customer service yet again and explained the problem, I asked if I could cancel the order that I placed on December 11th and they stated it was already processed and that I would have to wait to receive it and then return it for a refund. Ok fine.

On December 16th I get an email from Kohl's saying that my SECOND order was being shipped. This shipment was coming UPS and was to be delivered on December 20th.

So I waited. December 17th came and went and no package. I checked the tracking and it stated that it left the Fed Ex Warehouse on December 16th in Northborough Ma, this is just a few towns away from where I live.

December 20th. I received my SECOND order, that was placed a week after the FIRST order. Still haven't received the first order. Today is December 21st, I still haven't gotten the first order. I was charged for it, tracking is not updating, it still is only saying that it left the FedEx warehouse on December 16th.

I place a phone call (this is the 3rd one) to Kohl's to find out what is going on with my package. I am on hold for 15 minutes. Customer Service picks up the phone, I state that I am trying to find out where my order is and I get hung up on. So now I have to call back again..(4th Time). On hold yet again, explain my situation again and the customer service rep has no clue why I haven't gotten my order yet. She says she will place an email to FedEx and the USPS asking them to tell me where my package is and when to expect it to be delivered. This is after her telling me I will recieve it by Christmas. But then again she doesn't know why I haven't gotten it yet, nor does she even know where it is. So now I am supposed to wait for an email from Kohl's, once they hear back from FedEx and USPS.

I am thankful that I did receive one of the DUPLICATE orders, and that the kid's will have their clothes for Christmas Day.

I did place an email into Kohl's Corporate about how unhappy I was as a customer, but I will keep my feelings about that response to myself.

I can only hope that if anyone of you placed an order with Kohl's that you had a much easier experience than I did.

My Christmas Anxiety!!

Don't get me wrong Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I always look forward to spending time with my family and watching my children's eyes light up on Christmas morning when they open up their piles of gifts. Your typical Christmas anxieties don't bother me at all, I actually enjoy them. I find shopping Black Friday an amazing adrenaline rush. Wrapping presents (at least this year) was quality time spent with the Hubby. I will admit one of my favorite things to do during the holidays is eat...hee hee. My step-father and my mother always have the best recipes and foods for all of us to enjoy.

So I am sure you wanna know what my anxiety is all about??? If you ask some of my family members, they would probably tell you that I have OCD when it comes to alot of things in my life. I especially have it when it comes to cleaning and organizing my house. I guess you could call me........

After all the gifts are unwrapped and I have toys and clothes and whatever else all over my house...I start to get anxiety. I need to make sure everything has a place and its put away where its supposed to go. My children's bedroom is always clean (well unless they have dumped out all their toys on the floor LOL). They have plastic bins for specific types of toys. Everything has a place. I remember as a kid we would just leave our pile of toys/clothes and gifts under the tree for days until it slowly made its way into our bedrooms and put away. So I am not sure why I am the way I am now about this. I make my husband put away all his new gifts, and no they can't just be piled up in the bedroom for him to put away another day, it has to be done NOW. Its horrible I know, but if things are done, as soon as possible, then Mommy will not be at peace.

LOL...yes this is exactly how I am.

Pizza Cookie YUM YUM

This weekend was the start of my first year of holiday baking. In the past you would never have found me baking much of anything, but in the past few months I have become more and more in tune with my Rachael Ray twin..hee hee. Not only am I making cookies for all my kid's teacher's this year but I am also making a special request for Christmas Eve for my brother, Sausage/Cheese Balls,  and I am making one of my Hubby's favorite recipes, Apple Crisp. I am also gonna be making Mud Pie for Christmas Day with the in-laws. All this talk of food is making me HUNGRY!!

To start off my baking, I made a Pizza Cookie for one of our Family Christmas Get-Together's that we had on Saturday. I was selected to bring one of the desserts. I wanted to do something a little different and cute. A facebook friend of mine posted a recipe for a Pizza Cookie. I just thought it was the cutest idea, and decided to do my own.

This is a very EASY recipe and can be made with things you already have on hand (especially if you have been following all the sales lately on baking items and candy).

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 12 inch pizza pan.

Spread cookie dough out in a large circle on a 12 inch pizza pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let cookie cool.

Spread frosting over top of cookie. Decorate your "pizza" cookie with M&M's and sprinkles or any other candy you have on hand.

This was SOOO YUMMY. Was a definate "BIG HIT" with the kids.

New Year's Resolutions & Save $$$$

New Year's Resolution's

I have never been good at keeping any of my resolutions. Maybe it's because I make ones that are impossible to achieve or maybe I am just too lazy (probably a bit of both). But you don't have to be like me, you can succeed and you can also save $$$ while your doing it.

I recently told you how I save on my Utility/Monthly Bills, well now I am gonna tell you how to save by getting rid of some bad habits or guilty pleasures you may not need all that much.

It seems like yesterday that I was standing on my balcony in the FREEZING temps puffing away on my cigarette. Yes, I was a smoker and so was Hubby. We are both 10 months SMOKE FREE. Woohoo. It wasn't a New Year's Resolution for us, but it was way more important than that. We quit smoking for our daughter's (as well as ours and our son's) health. My daughter has Asthma. Unfortunately it did take a few times in the hospital for us to finally put down the cigarettes and quit. Hubby did it cold turkey. He is so strong. I used the patch for a day, and the rest was cold turkey. It wasn't as hard as I thought...but I will say you HAVE to be in the right mind set, or it won't happen. So how does this come to saving money?? Easy....

In Massachusetts a pack of cigarettes cost $8.50-$9.00. Can you believe that?

I was a pack a day smoker = $8.50/day

Hubby was a pack every other day = $4.25/day

Lets do the math:

$12.75/day x 365 days a year = $4653.75/yr for cigarettes

NOT SMOKING = Savings of  $4653.75/yr

Guess what my reward was for quitting (other than seeing my daugther's Asthma get under control and our health getting better)!! I got to purchase a new (new to us) vehicle. I got a Toyota Rav 4. Seeing that we no longer were buying cigarettes each month, I took that money and now we pay a monthly car payment and we are STILL saving money each month.

Hee hee...this is my GUILTY PLEASURE. It seemed like I always had one of these in my hands, no matter where I was. It was like an attachment. After realizing how much I was able to save by not smoking, I tried to figure out how much I could save by not buying Iced Coffee. I didn't stop drinking coffee...that would be NUTS. I just started to make it at home myself. Iced or Hot depending on my mood. I was up to about 3 of these a day somedays. So I had to stop buying them. It was like handing Dunkin's my Hubby's paycheck LOL.

1 Medium Iced Coffee = $2.48

$2.48 x 2/day = $4.96

$4.96 x 365 days = $1810.40/yr

Homemade Coffee = Savings of $1810.40/yr

**I do occasionally get my guilty pleasure**

Plus I do have to purchase the coffee, filters, cream and Sweetner (but thats what my coupons are for hee hee)

So here's the deal. Not only is making a New Year's Resolution a great way to get healthy, lose weight, cut back on your guilty pleasures, but its a new beginning and a new way to save and then in turn possibly put that money towards something better.

I was able to save

$6464.15

a Year by quitting smoking and making my own coffee.

Cut my Car Insurance Yearly Premium in HALF

Not only do I save a TON by using coupons at the Grocery Stores and Drug Stores and by ONLY shopping online when I have great discount codes or when FREE Shipping is offered, but I also SAVE by reducing my utility bills and monthly bills.

HOW???

Did you know that you can call your local cable company/phone company and find out if they offer any loyalty discounts or possibly telling them that you are unable to pay the current amount you are being charged and maybe you might be lucky enough that they offer you some discount on your monthly bill. I have done this with Verizon. We use Verizon for EVERYTHING. Our Family Plan cell phones, our Fios TV, Fios Internet and our home phone. We get a discount for having a bundle package. We get a discount for having it all on one-bill. We got a promotional rate when we first signed up, but that has expired. I decided to call Verizon and find out if I cancelled our home phone from our Bundle Package, if I would save money. Well it would have only saved me $10.00 after cancelling the home phone cause it was already discounted due to the Bundle Package, but I was lucky enough that they offered me a $20.00/month Loyalty Discount. They even told me to call back after a year when it expires to ask for it again.

A few months later I asked Hubby to call Verizon Wireless, cause we were barely using any of the monthly minutes we had on our plan. It was crazy to be paying for something we never use. So after talking to the CS Rep, we were able to reduce our monthly minutes to a reasonable amount for us and get $10.00/month off our bill.

Then just a few weeks ago I received a letter in the mail from BJ's Wholesale Club (I am a member) and Liberty Mutual Insurance. They were offering me a lower yearly premium and 5% discount (for being a BJ's member) on my car insurance. I have been wanting to try to get some quotes on new car insurance, cause I was paying just too much. So I called today. After going through all the personal information, car information and insurance coverage questions, I was given my qoute.

$441.00 a year.

WHAT???

I was in shock...I currently pay $877.00 a year using my current insurance company. I couldnt believe it. That is a savings of almost 50%

**Just yet another reason why I LOVE BJ's. This savings on my car insurance has paid for my BJ's membership over and over again**

So let me break this down for you in a simpler form...just by making a few phone calls, 20 minutes out of my personal time..I have saved a grand total of

$796.00

a Year on my Monthly Utility Bills

Rite Aid: 12/19-12/24 Ad Highlights

Check out the FULL Ad HERE 

(Thank you to IheartRiteAid)

This looks like a really good week for some MoneyMakers!!

• Not a Wellness Plus Member yet? Sign Up HERE  Get special sale prices and earn points on each purchase to receive special shopping pass discounts.
• Remember to sign up for Video Value Coupons HERE
• Also submit your receipts to see if you qualify for any of the Single Check Rebates for the month HERE

 

Hershey Kisses 2/$5.00 Get $1.00 UP when you buy 2

-$1.00/2 VV (Dec)

-B2G1 Hersheys 12/5 SS

= $3.00 for3 after coupons and UP Rewards

Hershey's Pot of Gold $3.99 Get $2.00 UP

-$1.00/1 Hershey's Pot of Gold 12/5 SS

= .99 after coupon and UP Rewards

Duracell Batteries, AAA & AA 20 pack, C & D 8 Pack, 9V 4 pack $8.77

Get $1.00 UP

-$1.50/1 Duracell Batteries 11/14 RP

=$6.47 after coupon and UP Rewards

**Submit for the Single Check Rebate and get $5.00 back**

Motrin PM 20 ct (online price $4.99) Get $3.00 UP 

-$2.00/1 Rite Aid in ad coupon

-$2.00/1 Motrin PM 11/21SS

= could possibly be a $2.01 MONEYMAKER depending on price

Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes $1.99 Get $1.00 UP

-$1.00/2 Video Values (Nov)

-$1.00/2 Betty Crocker Potatoes 11/14 GM

= .02 MONEYMAKER when you buy 2 after coupons and UP Rewards

Not that anyone needs MORE candy..but here is a FREEBIE for ya this week.

Reeese's, Kit Kat, Hershey's Single Candy Bar 4/$2.00 Get $1.00 UP when you buy 4
-B1G1 Singles Candy Bar Reese's, Kit Kat, Hershey's 12/12 SS
= FREE if you buy 4 after coupons and UP Rewards

Disney Store: FREE SHIPPING + BOGO Sleepwear & Plush

TODAY ONLY!!

In honor of FREE SHIPPING DAY..Disneystore.com is offering FREE SHIPPING and Delivery by Dec. 24th just use code : FREESHIP

What makes this an even better deal is that right now at Disneystore.com they are having a BOGO Sale on Plush Toys and Sleepwear *select*

You could get 2 Plush Dolls like the one above

$16.50 each

So with BOGO you would be paying $8.25 each plus FREE SHIPPING

Use Code: FREESHIP

Select Sleepwear is on sale for BOGO

$14.50 each

So you can get 2 for just $7.25 each with FREE SHIPPING

Use code: FREESHIP

PLUS

Go through Ebates and earn 5% Cash Back on your order