Great day for snacks!

I have some good interent coupons, that ANYONE with a computer and printer could print them out. Harris Teeter is having some sales that match my coupons too so it is like a double whammy! Then to top it off, I went looking for rebates today and found 2 for $5 each and then I also got some other rebate items too.

Harris Teeter, 5 seperate orders (for rebate purposes I need seperate receipts)
10 -4pk tava (10- $1.50 IP)
9 chex mix (8 -$1 IP +1 $.65 IP that doubled)
12 kool aid packets
4 peanuts (used 4 $3 IP when you buy 3 packs koolaid)
1 Pert Botanicals ($3 coupon)
1 Land O Lakes half sticks butter
1 big bag of charcoal (for camping) (used $1 off BBQ item WT)
1 -12oz kraft singles (free wyb 3 koolaid)

Total saved in store specials $45.35
Total coupons used $42.89
Total out of pocket $13.55


Then went to CVS and got
2 Smart Rinse (used 2 $1 coupon)
1 Take Five Candy bar
1 2pk Oral B toothbrushes (used $1 couon)
1 20 bottle MT Dew (kids drank it)
Used $9.49 in ECB
Spent $3.81
ECBs left $10.48


But here is where it gets even sweeter!
Pert TMF rebate for $3.89
Land O Lake Butter TMF $3.49
Smirnoff $5.00 on Charcoal
Coors $5.00 rebate for Salty snacks, soda purchase of $10

Do the math- I will come out making $.02!

"If you can find a better deal, you better take it!"

We went back to the Toyota place on Sunday morning where we had also spent a better part of our Saturday. The guy would not budge on any prices, whether our trade, the Sienna price nothing! He wouldn't give us a penny more for our trade, would not throw in an option. Plus the best APR he could do was 5.9%, our credit union would give us 5.75%....We would also have to pay $250 for the floor mats, and the "doc stamps" fee was $598. Talk about nickel and diming!

So in a last ditch effort to let him know we were willing to look elsewhere I said "Lets go see what we can find elsewhere."
And this guy said -I kid you not-"I dare you to find a better price. You won't find it. I tell you what, If you find a better deal you better take it, but you won't."
So we said "OK, then we will probably be back later."

When we were getting in to our Van, our salesman came out (salesman tells you about the car, manager does all money things). HE said "so what is the deal?" This guy has been really nice. Taken us for 2 test drives been very helpful and basically did all the work in the SELLING of the vehicle, but the other guy is the one that talks money. We told him we were going up the road to the Honda dealer. He tried to "forewarn" us, they will be more expensive, and they won't budge as much on their price....
I told him, that we never even looked at the Odessey, and that we really should just look to make sure since we never really shopped beyond GM for our current minivan, and are now majorly paying the price.

We went up the road .5 miles to the Honda dealer. I had already looked on line (specifically at this dealer for prices they don't list prices on line) and I ended up looking at Honda's website where they list MSRPs.
Honda vans are very similar. We weren't attached to Toyota so it really didn't matter to us. The MSRP is about the same as the Toyota. They didn't open for another hour so we went out to lunch at Friendly's and fought about it. My husband was just insisting we can get more for our trade. I have already been to the Saturn dealer (where it is no haggle pricing) where they would give me $6000 for the van (on a $24988 vehicle) and Toyota (again no haggle pricing) where he would only give us $5000 (on a $20,988 vehicle). We OWE $11213 on our van. SO After a stressful/bickering -lunch at Friendly's we go to the Honda dealer...Take a test drive, the van really is similar in a lot of ways. They do a few things that are standard in it, like Tinted windows which are important to us that Toyota doesn't doesn't do. Though the Toyota did have a roof rack we wanted -the Honda didn't' have. The insides are a little bit different, different consoles, the seats operate different in the 2nd and 3rd row and honestly we liked how the sienna looked in those departments but we also had spent more time in it, but really does it matter? They both had what we wanted, radio, a/c, rear windows that go down, stow n go seating in third row (wow so much more cargo room than my Saturn), same size engines, cruise control, MPG was the same... I liked the Sienna's color better it was a light metallic green, and the Honda was silver-but as long at it isn't white or black I was good. The Honda has a lot more cubby holes. And this really cool cubby hole in the floor between the front and second row of seats, FLOOR MATS INCLUDED, and doc stamps were $399. Also included in the Odessey are daytime running lamps, and security system (all things that discount your insurance). Honda does NOT have no haggle pricing. We drive the Honda. We go inside....

He takes our info and says "I guess you won't tell me what the other place gave you for trade?" uumm, no! And something else he did say "I am probably not going to be able to match their prices, because our vans are better."
Yeah and at Toyota they can give me 20 reasons why theirs are better too. HOWEVER I will say, I did already know that the Honda rated better in the Insurance institutes crash test, Honda was actually #1 in the mini van class, followed by KIA! Not Toyota...Translated-cheaper insurance rates. Anyway he comes back....Here is the FIRST deal he makes -$7000 for our van, $1000 down, FULL MSRP for the minivan that makes it $575 a month. I was honestly surprised about the $7000 for our van. That is quite a bit, since even Kelly blue book says $6000 something for our van since it is only in FAIR condition (a lot of scratches on passangers side on the ENTIRE length of the van! stains inside, AC button broke, crack in windshield, the 2 back seats- the plastic guards are broken/missing, and 71000 miles on a 2005).
Then my husband says "well we owe $11213 on our van so I would like to meet in the middle on that one and we will not be putting a down payment on it, and I needed my monthly payments to be lower."
The guys says "Ok, well how good is your credit?" Which my husband told him it was pretty good. So he says "Well I can probably do 2.9% financing, and that will get your monthly payments a lot lower." And he did get them down to $540 a month. The Toyota dealer, using our financing was only at $555.
We go back out to the van to look at it, I said "My husband should drive it too, since I am the only one that has driven it."
The guy says "Then you two just take it out, then you can talk." Well, gee whiz, at the Toyota dealer we couldn't even both sit in the front when we test drove it, the sales man HAS to sit in one of the front seats AND he had to drive the car off the lot.
We said "how about we take it home and get the kids?" He was fine with that as long as we are back by 5:30. So off we went.

We got home and showed it to our neighbor who is a car guy. We asked if you had to pick Toyota on Honda which would you pick? He first said they are both the same, then he said "I would pick the Honda, they do a little bit better, Toyota is getting too big and they are loosing quality."
So on the way back we decide that as long as we can get the 2.9% and get the roof rack and gap insurance for $540 a month we will take it. That is a better deal than the Toyota. Well they took it!
We signed the papers and we are now proud owners of a 2008 Honda Odessey, with Free car washes for life (I kid you not, my Saturn van hasn't been washed in a year because of the drought), we go back to get the roof rack today.

We ended up rolling out negative equity into the Honda. We feel as though we were stuck. Either keep them Saturn Relay and have to put over $1500 in it this year. It will need a break job, tune up, windshield fixed, and to fix a dial it will cost $500. Then not included in that $1500- there is something wrong with the engine and transmission. It car won't start every time when you turn the key, and when I stop and put it in park it will lunge when I put it in drive sometimes. The power slide door doesn't shut all the way and from the day we got the van the other sliding door has to really be slammed hard to shut all the way. My 8yr old can not shut the door himself and my 13 yr old has to do it 2 times usually. Also the DVD skips after about 1 hour into a movie. Now we have a van that shouldn't need ANYTHING done to it other than oil change every 7000-10000 miles and a tune up that isn't scheduled until over 100,000 miles. We will be upside down until probably year 3 of this van, and by then I will probably want a new one anyway since one kid should be on his own by then-or at the very least have a job and have a life and won't want to spend 24/7 with us like he does now.

Rebates, I am so addicted!

I never really put a whole lot of effort into rebating, but I did do it. I just never actively sought out to get them. If I ran across them or my friends sent me some then I was happy.

Lately I have found some decent ones at my local store. Rather than ship them all off to my friend and hope she sends me some in return I just decided to take the leap and do it myself. Well, now I am addicted. This week alone I have sent out for over $100 in rebates. Yesterday I sent out for $12 in rebates, plus a S'mores shirt. The day before I sent out for $20 and prior to that it was $75.

I am a somewhat active member at Hotcouponworld.com. I never bothered going into the trading section, but decided to give it a whirl. I am not one for going back and forth on the deal. Just either tell me what you want or don't bother. Also there are some people that just sell them for pocket change and you pay with Paypal or send them the cash in an envelope. Well in the past 2 days since I started "trading" I have managed to get about $60 worth of rebates that are being sent to me. TWO DAYS! And to top it off while I was out yesterday going from Harris Teeter, to Lowes Foods, to Food Lion, to Harris Teeter, to BiLo I found a couple of receipts on the ground. Each of which will get me $10!

Really I never realized how easy it was to find MONEY like this. Truly that is what it is. All it ends up costing me is an envelope and stamp and the 30 seconds it takes to fill out a form!

This months checks received have been $45, and that was me not trying very hard. This also doesn't include Rite Aid or Walgreens rebates either. This is strickly beer/wine retailer rebates.

I personally have quite a few rebate forms I have gotten over the past few days, I have done a few trades for other forms which is how I prefer to do it. It is somewhat difficult since HCW members are across the US and a lot of these forms are specific to certain states. There is one I saw for $10 MIR on Produce from Labotts Blue, in 4 states you don't have to buy the beer. None of the states listed were mine, though there were quite a few states listed. My state is a No Beer Purchase necessary state so we tend to get different rebate forms.

There are rebates out there for lots of things, things you might never thought of too. Like last month I sent in a rebate for the sandals I bought my son, it was for $15 and I only paid $19.99. I actually had purchased the sandals 2 weeks prior, I just keep all my receipts in a big box. I have seen rebates for Fresh Meat, chicken, seafood, grills, patio furniture, sandals, tanning oil, produce, flowers, gasoline, all sorts of things you would never think of. And you don't have to buy specific brands either and most times it doesn't even matter WHERE you purchased them.

This just goes to show, the money is there, you just have to look for it.

Fight if you know your right!

One of the things I highly recommend is for you to know your stores coupon and return policies. Also if they have a "scan right" policy, which I know some states have (MI being one of them). Specifically some of Harris Teeters policies are if you buy a HT product and are not satisfied they have a no hassle return, you get your money back and you get the national brand for free. The meat is double your money back. Their scan policy is if the price you were charged was not the same as the shelf tag (including old sale tags that weren't removed when they should be) you get the item for free. If you bought a bunch of an item you get the first one for free and they will refund the price difference on remaining items. I have actually gotten quite a bit free this way because they missed pulling down the sale tag. A few weeks ago it was Utz Chips, they had a separate display in the deli department with the sale price and no one removed the tag. So that day we got free chips. For this reason it is important to check your receipts. Even if you were only charged $.10 more you may be entitled to that item for free or a certain amount refunded. Walmart's policy is you get either $3 back or the item free if it is less than $3. In MI they make it much more of a penalty for the retailer. I am not 100% positive what the policy is but I know there it is something like you get $3 or the cost of the item free-whichever is MORE-you can search on the internet for the policy if interested.

To my story. I was going over my receipt yesterday. I was busy being disorganized when I checked out. Usually I am watching them scan. Though this particular person is so fast he is hard to keep track of anyway. (Though HTs policy is you have to PAY for the item then go to customer service to complain. Don't just bring it to the cashiers attention, then you won't get it for free). I went outside and was looking over my receipt. I only live a less than 2 miles from this store so on my way home I was glancing at the receipt. I noticed 2 things. The first of which I had a coupon that was "Buy 2 packages of Ball Park franks get free Sara Lee hot dog buns" the amount from the buns was never removed in the coupon section of the receipt. The second item was, a competitors coupon. Harris Teeter (and Lowes Foods) accepts competitors coupons. I was using a Lowes Food coupon. It was "Kraft 12 oz cheese slices 2/$3.00 limit 4", Harris Teeters price was $2.99 for one. I looked at my receipt and it shows where he did charge me $3.00 for one cheese and $5.98 (2X2.99) for another set. I knew he had rang up them as a rain check but it clearly showed he only had rung up 2 of them for $3.00.
I go back to the store. I tell him he forgot the one coupon (I had another one to show him) then tried to show him he didn't charge me right for the cheese, he owed me $2.98, making it $5.47 they owed me. He agreed he forgot the first coupon. But then tried to tell me he did the cheese right. First he said I got 6 cheese, and the coupon was only good for 4 of them. Then he said that I only got 2 of them. Then he said that he actually removed the cheese and charged me $3.00 for them. So I have to say I was getting rather annoyed with him. After he tried to tell me he removed the wrong amount, I decided I would end it. I simply and confidently said "then show me where." He looked at the receipt, paused then decided I was indeed RIGHT! He gave me over $8.00 back.
So moral of this story. Stick to your guns if you know you are right. Or make them SHOW you exactly what they are talking about. I know how to read receipts, it isn't rocket science. There was no minus where he was claiming he 'removed' the wrong price. The only thing I regret is that I didn't catch it until I was on my way home.

Rebates, Rebates Rebates!

In the mail the other day my husband received a "Come by for a Test Drive and receive a $50 Gift card by mail" Well, a year ago I wouldn't have done it. But since I was already considering a new vehicle I figured why not. So I went to the website and looked at how much a new mini van would cost. I was pleasantly surprised it was actually cheaper than what we paid for our current vehicle, 3.5 years ago. I then found a Internet coupon for $500 for this dealership. This was a Toyota dealership and I was looking at the Sienna. I go to the dealership without my kids. I figure at the very least I will get a $50 gift card. Well, it worked, I fell in love with this vehicle. Wow it is so much nicer than my Saturn Relay. No it didn't have the DVD, but we have 2 laptops and a portable DVD player anyway that we can use on that rare occasion. It doesn't have a power sliding door like mine has, but honestly that isn't a big deal since these ones slide easier than what I currently have. I tried it 20 times and figured my 8 yr old should have no problem. The test drive was nice, it has more get up and go than mine too. Prettier color, nicer second row seats, stow n go seating in the back (that is very important to me, we are always removing a seat in the back). It all boiled down to my trade in. Long story short, they are willing to offer me $1000 less than the Saturn dealer. I totally expected it to be less. A car is always worth less if you aren't trading it in at the brand in which you originally bought.
One thing I liked about this dealer is they were willing to let me walk out the door. Unlike the "no haggle" Saturn dealer. They wanted me to sign a paper stating if they met my payment request I would BUY a vehicle. The Toyota dealer, they didn't even look at my ID! I have to say I was rather impressed that they were willing to let me walk out the door rather than try and talk me into a vehicle. Or make me sit there while they dick me around for 2 hours.
On my way home I hit a few Food Lions. They have 2 deals I wanted to take advantage of, and there were 3 of them I passed on my way home. At the second one I found some wine tags for $2 off seafood and also a MIR for Land O Lakes half sticks Butter, which is different from the printable one on line so I grabbed a few. Then I went to my last one near my house. I knew they had some rebate forms that I needed a few more of and I had one more set of coupons left to use. I walk in the front door and I see a long receipt laying in a cart, so I grab it. I look at it, it is full of seafood and fresh meat purchases. I just hit the jack pot. At home I have a rebate form for $10 off a seafood purchase of $15 or more and another rebate form for $15 off a $35 Fresh meat purchase, and the receipt can be copied if it is needed for another rebate.
So to sum it up-I did a test drive that earned me $50, then I went to Food Lion and got a receipt worth $25. That absolutely made my day!

Are car dealers desperate to sell SUVs?

So the other day I went to the Saturn Dealer to find out about a USED 2008 Saturn Outlook that had 18,000 miles on it. We have a 2005 Saturn Relay that we purchased in November 2004. We had to buy a vehicle because my mini van was totalled in an accident a week before. Because we were not prepared to have to make such a major purchase we ended up doing the worst thing we could have done at the time. We bought a NEW vehicle and finacned it for 6 years. What were we thinking? Well, I did really like Relay. It was most definately the base model but came with power windows, locks, ABS and DVD that my old 1998 minivan didn't have any of. So we made it work. The kids loved it, I loved it, and still really enjoy it.

Well, now that the Relay has over 70,000 miles and is over 3 years old we thought we would look at a newer vehicle. My husband said as long as our monthly payments stay about the same AND the vehicle is the same size or larger then go for it. I personally wanted it to be the same gas milage as the van or better. We really like Saturns. Besides the Relay, we also are the original owners of a 1996 Saturn SL, that has over 250,000 miles on it and still gets my husband to the bus stop every morning (3.4 miles round trip) with the occasional drive into work (about 40 miles round trip). The AC doesn't work and it is power NOTHING, not even power steering or power breaks. But it still works pretty good considering it is 12 yrs old and has a lot of miles.

So I took myself and the kids to the Saturn dealer. My husband absolutely hates dealing with car dealers and I personally like doing it. I have no problem walking away from a deal and I don't mind haggling with them. I am open and honest from the begining. So, I make the deal and he signs the papers. I get to the dealer and get out of my van and look at the Outlook. Of course someone comes out to "help" me. She tells me she is going to get the key and then takes it to a shady part of the lot (it was only 100 degrees outside at the time). I am not the kind of person that dilly-dallies. She starts to tell me about the "special features" like the "Onstar" I immediately stopped her and let her know that my van had FREE Onstar for the first year and I personally find it USELESS. I never even used the free 100 satellite minutes I got, never knew the vans phone number. It was just completely useless. I actually let her know how annoyed I was that Onstar would call me twice a month for over the first year trying to get me to subscribe.
Then she says "well it has airbags"
My reply "EVERY CAR HAS AIRBAGS NOW!"
She started to laugh.
I told her "Lets just cut to the chase. I will pay $22,000 out the door for this Outlook and give you my van in trade but you have to pay it off."
And then it starts. She says she has to ask her manager blah blah blah. So then she has me sign some papers and we take the Outlook for a test drive. While we are doing that they look at my van.
Did I mention I have 3 destructive boys? I have scratches down the side of my van from where my son has taken his bike and scrapped it along side of it with his metal handlebars. I have a crack in the windsheild (which I can ge get fixed for free), there are plastic pieces missing from the back seats (not hampering the seat at all, they just covered metal pieces), one seat is removed and all the accessories are not in it-though I still have them. But the one thing that really kind of started all this is a dial that broke off. This dial is actually the dial that controls where the heat/air is going. Like defrost, at your feet, in your face, whatever that controller is called. The dial can not be fixed it has to be replaced. You can't just replace this dial the whole controller display has to be replaced. Replacment will cost $500 FOR A FREAKIN DIAL! If I could find a used one that would be great. But of course I have a vehicle that there are not that many of and I can't find a used AC/Heater Display console for my 2005 Saturn Relay!

So after we come back from the test drive I go in and sit down. Now we play the "waiting game" of course before they were in a meeting so no one could do diddly. I am now forced to just sit there. Well, little do they know, I have absolutely no problem just sitting there staring at the ceiling with just my thoughts. About 15 minutes later they come out and ask my down payment. I told her I don't know if he really wanted to put anything down. Well as it turns out my van is only worth $6000 and the pay off is over $11,200, so of course they want me to come up with $5000 for "down payment" which is really -payoff of the van. I let her know that that is not going to work. SO then after some more debating that takes another 10 minutes they are willing to give me $7500 but I have to come up with $6000 for the down payment, and for some reason they think I will pay LIST on the USED vehicle! Then I was encouraged to find out what my down payment could be. Which I knew it was ZERO! So I told them sorry, no deal and left.

There isn't really anything "wrong" with the van engine wise. I have no problem driving it around. Of course she tried to call me that night...then I got an email 2 days later. I let her know, about 30 seconds after I left the place I figured out that I would actually be paying $1000 MORE than list after all was said and done (no that doesn't include interest or anything).

So I guess the car dealers around here are not "desperate" to sell an SUV like I had heard on the radio and TV. They certainly were not making me any kind of a deal.