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!

Great news! You can now have Bargain Briana on the go with our FREE App for Apple Products or for Android Products. My favorite feature is the Coupon Database for easy access to search coupons while on the go!

Other features: 

• Blog Postings
• Giveaways
• Free eBooks Sections for easy downloading on your device!
• Recipes Section
• Sign up for Email Alerts
• Watch my boring (yawn) videos – hopefully more couponing videos to come soon!

Often there will be printable coupons or links you may need to access a full computer for. If you come upon one of those and want to remember later, you can simply click on the arrow at the top of the post to share it with yourself or friends via email, Facebook, or Twitter.

My grandma posted this message about Facebook Scams as someone was trying to take advantage of her:

Beware of scams. I was on chat with who I thought was my niece until she said she was stuck in Londan & needed money, She comes from big family so called one of her sisters & she said that she knew where she was it wasnt in London they wanted $1450 then when I confronted them they told me another story just be careful.

These scammers are getting bolder and bolder. They apparently have hacked into a family member’s account and then started Facebook chatting with this Facebook user’s friends. HOW incredibly bold!

Just another reminder to take the time and go through your apps that have access to your account and get those cleared out. Also, be sure to change your password to something that is difficult for anyone else to figure out.

Have you been approached by any creative spammers? Tell us your story so we can all be on the look out!

If you see this update, you are seeing the new site! :)

I’ve been working behind the scenes for months now to make Bargainbriana.com more accessible and easy to navigate for you! Hopefully, down time will be less and pages will load much faster. I’ve been a little frustrated over the past few months with some of the down time but hopefully this changes will eliminate or severely reduce those outages.

So what does this mean? We will be moving to a new server around 5 p.m. EST today and the site will be down for a little while. Once this happens, some of you may not be able to see the new site right away. There is sometimes a delay in the way that Internet Service Providers update their DNS, which I don’t fully understand. It can take up to a week to see new posts depending on certain factors. You will be able to speed it up (See Below).

Some tips to not miss any of these posts:

• Follow BargainBriana on Facebook as I will be updating the Facebook Page with new posts.
• Subscribe to BargainBriana via email so you don’t miss out on any new posts.

Thanks for your patience! Hopefully, this will improve your user experience!

Are you headed to the Blissdom Conference this weekend?  I’m headed down to Nashville courtesy of my sponsor White Cloud. I’m excited to meet up with old friends and make new ones as well.

Not only do I get to connect with fellow bloggers, I’m going to be giving out FREE toilet paper. You know I love bargains so I’m excited to be able to share this at the conference.

No, I won’t be handing out the actual rolls of toilet paper. I will have a 250 business cards which will have a unique code on it, which can be entered on a specified website to print out a coupon for a FREE 4 pack of White Cloud Green Earth bathroom tissue.

You will also want to follow@WhiteCloudMom on Twitter as there will be a fun scavenger hunt over the next few days! Follow @BargainBriana if you want too!

Are you headed to Blissdom? Find me I’d love to meet you and of course give you some FREE TP!

Disclosure: White Cloud has compensated me for my time on this project. Rest assured, all opinions and thoughts are always my own. My goal as always is to help you save time and money. For more information read my disclosure policy.

Readers and fellow bloggers, I would love to put faces with names in that little box by the comment section. It is VERY simple to do, The Thrifty Mama has put together a very simple tutorial at Savvy Blogging.

So if you would take just a couple of minutes, you can have a picture on all your comments instead of the default one on there now!

Photo by Optical Illusion

It is now 2010! This past year has flown by as all the years seem to do now. In the past year, the readership for this site has boomed. I have some exciting plans in the work for a new feature, which I think will benefit both Bloggers and Readers. Keep your eyes peeled for this new project in the coming weeks.

Last year, in my New Year, New Grocery Budget post, I set a couple of goals. One was to get our youngest child potty trained to reduce our spending on diapers. This goal was met by February mostly due to the Pot-Tee Prize System. This has saved us quite a bit each week by not having to buy diapers.

Another goal was to reduce our grocery spending to just $60 a week. I can’t officially verify if we met or not because I stopped keeping track of my receipts early in the year. Mostly due to time restraints because I was too busy sharing the awesome deals on here instead of tracking my receipts. So all of my 2009 tracking is unofficial.

I know I save at least 50% or more each grocery trip. I make a big grocery trip once a month and spend around $250. Then I make a couple of perishable trips which add up to around $100. We purchased all of the meat for our family from a local farmer and saved money while getting better quality meat products. Part of my goal this 2010, is to keep a better records system of my spending and saving on our grocery so I can share that information better with you.

Another goal of mine is to cook more meals from scratch, and share those recipes with you. Finding meals which can feed our entire family and meeting all their tastes and specification while being nutritionally and healthy is difficult. This is going to be something I’m going to work on for 2010.

I will be joining Money Saving Mom and FishMama for the Eat from the Pantry Challenge in January. The challenge is encouraging participants to eat from their pantry. I know I have numerous ingredients in my pantry I need to use so this will be a fun project. I will still be making trips to the grocery to get the best deals and use the products that are already in my pantry until my stock is reduced!

I would also like to do more Once a Month cooking. I’ve do a few of these in the past and it is very helpful for busy families as you have a freezer full of meals prepared. Which reduces the likelihood of getting expensive take out instead of eating at home. Plus, it is just convenient!

I’m going to make it a priority to have at least one cooking day a month. Also, cooking chicken and ground beef in big batches and freezing helps reduce time in the kitchen. I also like to double my recipes and freeze one while the family eats the other recipe. These are all things I can do to reduce time in the kitchen and help save more money.

Other budgeting goals include paying off a few more bills, using cash/debit card to pay for all purchases, and saving money for more home projects – we have a few we would like to accomplish!

As for blog goals, I would like to write more content for you to help you save money. Not just deals and bargains but timeless money saving tips to help you all year long. This will include some of the inexpensive recipes we’ve enjoyed, ways to budget and save money, and anything else I can think of. Maybe, I’ll include some extreme saving methods people have told me about just for fun!

I chuckled when I read Gina’s Blog Goals Gone Wrong because I can totally relate. While my blogging goals were met this year, I did experience the same behind phenom which Gina did. So I will be working on that this year as well using a FREE program called Spark People and our Wii Fit. Maybe, I will finally open up the EAS Active for Wii which we’ve had for a few months too!

What are your goals this year? It is to save more money? It is to reduce your grocery budget? If so, then you are in the right place! I do all of the hard work of finding the best deals, freebies, and other ways to keep money in your pocket. Start at the the 15 Days of Couponing to get started today!

Please let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to cover. Any suggestions or ideas for me for the New Year?