Posts Tagged ‘My Favorite Things’

24
Dec

The 12 Days of MIP 2014: 10 & 9…

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas, MIP readers! Thank you for “tuning in” here to read my posts. I know you have plenty of to occupy your time during the holidays without reading blog posts!

My 10th most favorite blog post of the year is probably one of your favorites, too. At least I get the most unsolicited comments for this MIP feature: Word of the Week. As most of you know, I go to the Word of the Day list at Merriam-Webster Online and create a list of words I don’t know. Then, I write the Word of the Week post on Mondays and offer silly guesses about what the definition for that word might be. The WOW feature is often a good way for this writer to remain humble–most of you know these words and I quite obviously don’t! See what I mean here.

While the WOW feature has been a part of MIP since it began, this feature is new this year: My Favorite Things. I pick out the favorite products, sites, and services in my life and in my home and tell why I like them. Most of you agreed that one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century has to be the evolution of Amazon.com and particularly their wish list feature. Go here to see why my holiday shopping is so much easier with Amazon.com on the job.

Friday’s Post: #8 and # 7!

You Might Also Like: The 12 Days of MIP 2014: 12 & 11; The 12 Days of MIP: 12 & 11; The 12 Days of MIP: 10 & 9; and The 12 Days of MIP: 8 & 7

28
Nov

My Favorite Things: Walmart Savings Catcher…

 

 

savings catcher logo

It’s about to get weird. I’m going to say something nice about Walmart.

This Yankee would seriously rejoice if Target ever came to our sleepy little town, but alas, we are just fortunate to have a tiny JC Penney and one giant Walmart. Thus, much of my everyday and weekly shopping takes place at the latter, whether I like it or not.

The only other game in town for a grocery store is a regional chain that I absolutely adore. There’s only one problem–they have the world’s smallest aisles and the longest checkout lines in the history of man. Despite several efforts on the part of the town and the local management to coax them into giving us one of their “Whole Foods” type stores, we are stuck with this seriously overused and tiny store. H-E-B? Are you listening over here???

Thus, I find myself shopping at Walmart because I just can’t take the claustrophobic nature and lack of selection at H-E-B anymore. But, Walmart does give me one thing that I probably won’t ever be able to get at their competitor–their Savings Catcher app.

This free app does a lot of stuff, but honestly, I don’t use the other features. I don’t even explore them. I just tap the Savings Catcher menu choice and “rock and roll.” When I get a register receipt from Walmart, I click my app, click Savings Catcher and scan the QR code (those square do-hickies that look like ancient video game pixels gone wrong) at the bottom of my receipt with my phone. Almost instantly, Savings Catcher tells me it’s got the entire contents of my receipt in my phone. And, if I want, it will show me the entire receipt in a much easier-to-read display on my phone. Why is this a good idea?

Because Savings Catcher instantly looks for the closest stores to me and compares the prices of all items on my receipt for lower prices at the close stores. Even though I live in a small town, Savings Catcher manages to compare 15 different stores in my area, including dollar stores and a pile of other places that I probably didn’t even know carried the items I bought.

It then sends an email to me telling me that it has my receipt and it’s comparing prices. They warn you that it may take 72 hours to do that. Then, I get another email that the comparison process is complete. If they found cheaper prices at another store, they offer to put the difference(s) on an e-gift card for me. With another click, it’s on an e-gift card!

I started using this app in August and I now have $ 15.47 saved on an e-gift card from 14 receipts. I will grant you that this is not going to buy me the BMW convertible I’ve been eyeing for forever, but it might buy a few stocking stuffers this Christmas. And they did the work for me–I didn’t clip coupons; didn’t have to remind myself how to get coupons on my phone, didn’t have to wait eons for a rebate and didn’t have to type in some promo code in some box. I generally stick the receipts in one of my bags and then when I unload the bags at home, get out my phone and scan the receipt then, so it’s pretty easy to remember to do.

Occasionally, Savings Catcher tells me it couldn’t find a cheaper price, but as you can see, I’m saving about a dollar per receipt with this new little habit of mine. In the beginning the QR reader often didn’t work, but I have noticed this less and less, so they must be working out the bugs rapidly. Even if the QR reader doesn’t work, you just type in the TC# on the receipt which is pretty close to the QR code block. For those of us getting older, you will need your reading glasses to read that, though! And finding my reading glasses sometimes is an effort! But, I’m enough of a Scot to go looking for them for this purpose.

I confess that I haven’t tried redeeming the e-gift card yet, but as I said, $ 15 can get used for stocking stuffers, so I plan on checking out this part of the “equation” soon. Have you tried Savings Catcher? If so, I’d love to hear what you think of it and how much you have saved. I’d particularly love to know if you’ve tried redeeming your e-gift card and how that went for you. Comment below to share your thoughts.

Yes, I suppose I could participate in Black Friday and save even more money, but if I think clipping coupons is too much work, do you really think I participate in Black Friday?

Monday’s Post: Can you pronounce adscititious?

You Might Also Like: My Favorite Things: Amazon.com; My Favorite Things: Flylady.net; My Favorite Things: Misfit Shine; and My Favorite Things: Keurig Machines

31
Oct

My Favorite Things: Misfit Shine…

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Did you read the title of this post and have this response? “Say what?” I’m not sure I agree with the brand naming for this product, but I like the product itself, so I honestly don’t care what they call it.

After my brother’s death, I gained some of my weight back. I’m not proud of that, but a variety of things occurred to help me pack on the pounds. And for the record, I never returned to the “overweight” category, but I got darn close. So, how did I start combating that? I decided to give myself the goal of running a 1K. For runners that probably sounds lame, but after 4 heart attacks and several visits to the ER for anaphylaxis, I think I have to be extremely cautious about this goal. On the other hand I needed a goal that would force me to change up my treadmill routine. I’m now up to 5 minutes of running. That, again, sounds lame, but if you also know I haven’t run since high school, then maybe it’s understandable that 5 minutes of running is monumental.