This is just a warning if you have a American Express eGift card, have purchased one as a gift, or you are planning on purchasing one as a gift. You will have to call the number provided on the eGift card to update your information with your name and address so that you will actually be able to use it online.

I learned this the hard way! I received one as a nice gift. I was able to use at some merchants online but others it would say that my address didn’t match the number. When I checked out the website where I could see my transactions, I was unable to update any of my information or see any kind of information on what I should do to update this information as I would love to be able to use it anywhere!

Nowhere on the documentation that came with the card does it say you have to call to update this information. I did call eventually because I was getting frustrated. It took several steps to finally get a customer service rep, who then said she would have to send me to someone else in the eGift Card department after she mentioned the name of the person who purchased it for me. This was also confusing because it clearly showed on the American eGift Card that the card was purchased by her for me.

I had called the number listed on the papers of the eGift Card, which seemed strange. Instead of being transferred, I was transferred back to main menu of the phone system. Either she didn’t transfer me properly or didn’t want to deal with my issue.

The next person I talked to was able to help me very quickly and I was finally able to use my eGift with places that require address verification.

Part of the issue with this eGift card was I felt a little uncomfortable taking a piece of paper to the store and having them type in the numbers. I felt this would be confusing to my cashiers. So I decided to use it only for online purchases. About 50% of the places I tried to use it, did not allow me to use as it didn’t match my address on file.

Now that it is fixed, I thought I would share in case you had the issue too. I was nice about it to the customer service reps but they need to get a system in place where you can add this information as you are activating your American Express eGift Card like other companies do with their eGift cards. This would simplify the process for everyone. At the very least, make it very clear that you have to call the customer service phone number to make these updates!

If you have small balances left on prepaid Visa, MasterCard, or American Express cards that you don’t want to forget to use, I often will buy a Amazon gift card with that amount. You can purchase Amazon gift cards in any denomination, they never expire, and there is ALWAYS something for me to order on Amazon!

This is a great graphic from AllYou.com to help you determine if you should keep it or toss it! Sometimes, I’m not for sure – now I will know!

[Source: Daily Savings from All You]

In my mail, I noticed a envelope that had a hand written address on it with no return address. It almost looked like a letter from a friend, which made it instantly suspicious to me. Who writes hand written letters nowadays, anyway?

Of course at this point with my natural curious nature, I opened it before even pulling into our garage. The letter was from US Airlines. This struck me as wrong, right there. US Airlines? There was United Airlines and US Airways but the logo didn’t match either and was very non-descript.  The letter told me I had qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airlines tickets for anywhere in the U.S. up to $1,400.00. Wow, this sounds too good to be true, right?

February 18, 2012

My Name

My Address

NOTE: You must respond no later than February 29, 2012.

Dear Briana,

I am pleased to inform you that you have qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere in the Continental U.S. from any major international airport. The retail value of this award is up to $1,400.00. Certain restrictions apply.

We have attempted contacting you several times without success. This is our last attempt. If we do not hear from you soon, we may need to issue the ticket vouchers to the alternate.

Please call me today at 1-866-540-8432.
Regards, 
Hand Written Signature to look real
Kelly Mane
Vice President
FS-55183

Upon further inspection, the letter had no contact information besides a phone number to call. After googling the number, nothing came up at all. What kind of company sends out a legitimate letter without a address or a website to check out.

None.

This is most likely a scam to get your personal information such as your credit card. They will try to trick you by saying that they need that to hold your tickets. They may even ask for your social security number for tax purposes. This should all scream out SCAM to you.

Run away people. Run away.

Of course, they tell me this is their last attempt to contact me and I only have until February 29, 2012 to respond. It is February 24, 2012 when I receive the letter so they are pushing the urgency to respond right away.

Scammity, scam, scam!

Together we will fight to eliminate these scam attempts!

What kind of scams have you seen out there lately? 

Not only can overcharging your electronic batteries waste energy but it can ruin your battery or battery life in your favorite products. Also, products that are turned off can still “phantom draw” power, which these outlets can prevent from happening.

A solution? Belkin Conserve Socket Energy Saving Outlet. I purchase several different types of energy saving outlets last month including  Belkin Conserve Socket Energy Saving Outlet ($9.99), Belkin Conserve Power Switch ($6.99), Belkin Conserve Switch Energy-Saving Surge with Remote ($34.97), and Belkin Conserve Smart AV F7C007q Energy-Saving Power Strip ($29.00) in an effort to conserve energy.

My favorite by far is the Belkin Conserve Socket Energy Saving Outlet ($9.99 on sale right now for $7.99). I use it to charge our electronics as well as having one for my flat iron. I would often leave my flat iron all day long, which not only used up unnecessary power costing me money but also left some brown marks on my counter top as well as being a fire hazard. Oops! I set my timer for my flat iron for just 30 minutes and now I don’t have to worry if I turned it off as it will automatically shut off power.

It is very easy (think idiot proof!) to set the time between 30 minutes, 3 hours or 6 hours.   I use the 3 hour mark often with our iPods or iPads as that is generally enough time to get a full charge. It would also work great with fans, heaters, lamps, electric toothbrushes, battery operated drills,  and many more items!

I also bought several of the  Belkin Conserve Power Switch ($6.99). However, if I did it again, I’d spend the extra $3 and upgrade to the timer switch as it’s effortless! I do use the Belkin Conserve Power Switch for my coffeemaker, since I don’t use it but every few days and I don’t need an additional item telling me what time it is. I also don’t use the delay or set ahead function so there is absolutely no reason it needs to be plugged in all the time. You simply flip a switch to turn the power to the item on. It lacks the convenience of the timer but it does allow you to have an item on for longer the 6 hour period if you need too.

I haven’t explored the Belkin Conserve Smart AV F7C007q Energy-Saving Power Strip ($29.00) as much as the other two. It basically will allow you to plug in one master item like a television or a game console. When it is turned off, the items you have plugged into the specified slots will also power down. It also has two slots for continuous items you need plugged in like a satellite or cable box. I need to get behind our television to get this one plugged in and functioning as it would be much simpler to just turn off the main item instead of turning off 2-3 additional items (DVD, sound system, etc.) each time we want to power off the television.

I also purchased the Belkin Conserve Switch Energy-Saving Surge with Remote ($34.97) to try this one out. This one I am using in my office area with my laptop, monitor, and a couple of other chargers. This one relies on a remote control to turn off the power to the specified items. There is a couple of always on outlets too for routers. I keep forgetting to turn off the power to this when I leave this area. However, if we were going on a long trip, it would be easy to remote control it all off with the switch.

I haven’t been using these products to see a drop in our electric bill and I don’t suppose I will see a dramatic difference but those small amounts do add up. If I did want to be nerdy, I could buy a Energy Use Monitor, which now thinking about it, I may do so I can really see the savings.

How do you conserve energy? 

Ships free with Amazon Prime or Super Saver Shipping. Find out how to get a FREE one month trial to Amazon Prime.

**This is all my own opinion and not sponsored or affiliated in any way with Belkin. The links provided are affiliate links to Amazon, which I will make a little commission when purchased through the links above – THANKS!**

I have a frugal confession to make. I’m not always 100% frugal. In fact, I recently violated one of my favorite tips to give others.

Make a list and STICK to it.

So here’s the situation.  We had returned home recently after a vacation. We needed all the necessities from the store like milk, bread, fresh vegetables and fruit.

Instead of doing one of my coupon shopping trips or make a trip to Aldi, I shopped the grocery store in our town to pick up these items. I was really short on time and needed a quick in and out after work and before our evening activities.

I headed to the produce. I wanted to get some fresh fruit. I made a major splurge, which is completely ridiculous and frivolous looking back. Even my husband thought it was ridiculous that I made this purchase.

But I wanted it.

I thought I deserved not to have to chop fruits this week.

So I made a impulse purchase in the produce department.

A $18.99 fruit tray.  Yep, I said it. Completely, ridiculous, right? It was the kiwis that hooked me. The store didn’t have any fresh kiwis for me to cut, even though I could have purchased every other item by itself and saved at least 50%. I felt like I just had to have those kiwis.

They were tasty and the entire fruit tray was eaten. Eaten in about 1.5 days, which is why it was ridiculous for me to purchase it. It was oh, so good, though.

This week, I made the right decision and bought all the fruits separately. It only took me around 15 minutes to make my own fruit tray while costing just a fraction of the price I paid at the store. It probably didn’t really save me much time either because I had an internal debate with myself when I was making the purchase.

Let’s break down the cost of this fruit tray:

• 1/2 – Pineapple – $0.98 (price for one $1.99) purchase from Aldi
• 1 – Kiwi – $0.33 (price was 3/$0.99) purchase from Aldi
• 1 – package Strawberries – $1.49 purchase from Aldi
• 1/4 package Blueberries –  $0.37 (package cost $1.49) purchase from Aldi
• 1/4 package Red Grapes – $0.50 (package cost $1.98) purchase from Aldi
• 3/4 package Blackberries – $1.25 (package cost $1.67) purchase from Meijer

Total Cost: $4.92
Time Spent: 15 minutes

Saved $14.07 by purchasing separately and preparing at home.

I paid almost 4x the amount for convenience. My wallet says: Ouchy, ouch, ouch!

Paying $18.99 for the same thing now makes me a little sick. At least it was a rare occurrence for me to splurge on the fruit tray. In the future, I will tell myself, I will save

Are there any produce items you will pay for convenience? 

I’ve always suggested people shop at ALDI if they didn’t want to spend time couponing. When ALDI invited me to participate in their Switch & Save Event a few weeks ago, I jumped a the chance to learn more. Not only did we get to visit a ALDI store but we were able to participate in a blind test taste of several of ALDI’s holiday items.

ALDI is challenging you to “Switch & Save” during the holidays and throughout the year to prove that you can find high quality products while saving up to 50%, without clipping a single coupon or scanning any type of loyalty card.  In fact, ALDI is so confident in their products, they offer a double guarantee. If you aren’t satisfied, you will not only receive your money back but you will also receive a replacement product. I don’t know of any other store that offers this type of guarantee.

My first question was if the quality is the same or better, how can the prices be so low. We’ve been trained as consumers that higher priced equals better quality. However, this is not necessarily the case.

One of the first ways that sticks out in my mind is the $0.25 cart deposit. Simply, deposit a quarter in your cart to have access and you will get it back when you put the cart back in the cart corral. This eliminates having to pay employees to do this task and is really quite simple for consumers to do, especially since the stores are small, which means a smaller parking lot compared to super stores.

ALDI is able to keep their prices low by stocking only 1400 of the most purchased grocery items so they are able to keep their stores smaller and more controlled.

Instead of shelving units, items are packaged so they can be stacked upon each other in the store, which eliminates employee hours from having to manually stock the shelves.

Products also have multiple bar codes, which I would have missed if not pointed out, which makes check out a breeze.

ALDI has a large wine selection at very affordable prices. We taste tested several of the wines the night before and I was impressed with the quality.

ALDI has great prices on fresh produce. Their stock will vary slightly by store, region, and season.

There are also “Special Buys,” which are not overstocks as I once thought but carefully planned purchases for ALDI shoppers. These are seasonal items which are available for a limited time. If these items do sell extremely well, they do consider adding it to the regular line.

Next, I’ll share my Switch & Save event….we were the first group of bloggers to ever be allowed in the ALDI test kitchen….

Today’s Guest Post is from Erin Gifford, who blogs at Coupon Cravings. You can check out more of her great money-saving tips for Halloween in her free eBook: Halloween on a Budget, which features 25 tips to help you save on costumes, candy, decorations and more.

Halloween is just around the corner and I’m already starting to see dollar signs. I definitely over-spent last year (in particular, on one very over-priced Cupcake Fairy costume) and have vowed to rein in this year’s spending. Costumes can be a primary expense, but they really don’t need to be, so I jotted down five easy ways to get new-to-you (your kids!) costumes at a fraction of brand-new costume prices.

Trade Costumes: October 8 is National Costume Swap Day so why not swap costumes with friends or neighbors. If you belong to a mother’s group or go to a monthly Bunco night, suggest that moms bring costumes for an informal swap before or after the program. Check out GreenHalloween.org for more tips on organizing a costume swap in your neighborhood.

Hop on eBay: There’s a big selection on eBay, almost too big. A quick search turned up more than 400,000 items related to Halloween. If you have a specific costume in mind, start looking early, and don’t forget to save your search and sign up to receive a daily email from eBay when items show up that match your search.

Try a ThredUP Costume Swap Box: Head to clothing swap site, ThredUP, and participate in their Halloween Costume Swap through 10/22. Last year, more than 2,000 costumes were swapped. Just head to the ThredUP website, click “Browse Boxes” at the top of the page to start searching for gently used costumes.

Dig Costumes Out of the Basement: If you’re like me and have more than one child, you probably have a handful of old costumes in the basement ready to be reused. Take a few minutes digging through boxes of old clothes before you open your wallet for new costumes. All four of my kids have used the same 2T Bumblebee costume, and I heard no complaints.

Try Thrift Stores & Consignment Shops: Now is the time to start browsing local thrift and consignment stores for Halloween gear. Not only can you find gently-used costumes, but also party dresses and cowboy gear that may be perfect for a make-it-yourself costume. Head to the Goodwill website to check out costumes created from items found in their stores.

So, what are your best tips for saving money on Halloween costumes? Please leave a comment or feel free to drop me a line on my blog at www.couponcravings.com.