Amazon is my very favorite place to shop online for many reasons.  First of all they have EVERYTHING.  Second, you can usually count on their prices to be the lowest or at least competitive with other sites.  And my favorite reason is the DEALS.  There are lots of ways to find deals at Amazon whether you are shopping for a specific product or just browsing for a gift idea.  But it can take a little bit of knowledge about Amazon.com to find the deals...here is all of my "expert" advice for anyone who is wanting to get a little more out of their Amazon dollar!

Pricing Mystery:

 Amazon.com is a mystery when it comes to pricing.  Many times you will find that they have the lowest price of anywhere online.  Other times the price will be inflated to a crazy level.  And when an item goes on sale, it may only stay at that price for a few hours before jumping back up to regular price or some random price in between.  It is so hard to keep track of prices that move by the minute!  There are a couple of ways to keep track of prices or watch for the price you want.  First, there is a website called CamelCamelCamel.com that will track an item on Amazon and alert you if it reaches a price that you indicate.  This is a great option if you want to buy a specific item at a specific price.  You may have to wait a while, but if your price is reasonable, you will likely end up with the item you want at the price you want.  Another way to watch the price of an item is to add it to your cart and hit "Save for Later."  Every time you look at your cart, it will let you know if the price of that item has changed.  That way if the price drops to a level you want, you can buy it then!  And if you find something that is truly a HOT deal, but it THEN.  Don’t wait a day…you will likely miss out!  (I’m still kicking myself for not buying that awesome dress-up pilot costume for $14 in December…I waited a week and it was $45!)

Also…don’t be fooled by Amazon advertising a really high “regular” price and a huge percentage off on sale or clearance items.  I have found more than once that they have inflated the regular price so that the sale price looks like a better deal.  My advice is to always do a quick search of other merchants when looking at a specific item to make sure the price Amazon is offering is the best one and is actually as good of a deal as you think it is.   

 Save On Shipping: 

Amazon.com has a couple of options for free shipping.  The first is open to anyone and is called Super Saver Shipping.  When you spend $25 on qualifying products, you can get them all shipped for free.  The key is to make sure the products you are buying are eligible for Super Saver Shipping…most products sold by Amazon.com (not a third party vendor) are eligible and will say so on their page.  Something that always seems to happen to me with Super Saver Shipping is that I will want to buy an item that is $24.97 or something and only need a tiny bit more to get that free shipping amount.  Well, check out FillerItem.com where you can search for a very cheap item to bump you over $25 so you can get free shipping.  There are items for as little as $.11 (things like rulers, pencil sharpeners, or individual baseball cards). 

Another option that will help you save on shipping is called Amazon Prime.  With Amazon Prime, you can get free two-day shipping on ANY qualifying purchase with no minimum.  This is awesome when it comes to clearance finds because you can buy something for $3 and get it shipped to your house for free without worrying about spending $25.  However, Amazon Prime has a yearly fee of $79.  You can add up to 4 family members to your membership, but that price is still pretty steep.  There are occasionally free trials available and I highly encourage signing up for those when you can!  Right now you can snag a month trial membership HERE.  Just make sure that you turn off the “auto renewal” option so that you are not signed up for the yearly subscription automatically at the end of the month. 

Shop the Deals: 

Amazon has a few pages that offer hot deals.  These are where I go first when I’m looking for a bargain.  First is the Gold Box.  Every day Amazon has one main product that is marked down to an unusually low price.  There are also “Lightning Deals” each day that are only available for a few  hours or until they are sold out.  The items on this page are usually hot deals, but it is totally random.  You never know what you will find, so if you see something you need, snap it up!

There are also Outlet pages for each category.  These pages are hit or miss.  Sometimes the deals there aren’t all that great, but every so often you will find something amazing.   But if you are shopping for a specific type of product, definitely hit the outlet to see if there is an old model or slightly different product for a better price. 

There is also a Friday Sale each week on Friday.  Again, these deals are hit or miss and require a lot of scrolling through and searching, but you may just come up with a great price on something  you need! 

I also love the Bargain Books page for great deals on books for adults and kids.  Like right now you can get “Llama Llama Mad at Mama” for just $6.40 in hardback.  It’s a great place to look for a gift for anyone! 

And last, I always check the “Movers and Shakers” pages in each category (you can usually find them by clicking on the “Bestsellers” tab and then you will see a tab that says “Movers and Shakers”...here is a link to the Toys page).  This is the page that lists any items that have jumped in popularity over the last 24 hours.  A lot of times the products here have become bestsellers because the price has dropped dramatically. 

Toy Clearance: 

In the fall, Amazon will start heating up their toy clearance deals.  (Even though it is months away, it is worth mentioning!) They always have toys on clearance, but I have found that the same toys kind of sit there all year at the same prices.  But in the fall, they add a HUGE number of toys to the clearance page and start slashing prices.  It is a good time to start keeping an eye on the Movers & Shakers page and also on the Toy Clearance page.  I found a Melissa & Doug dollhouse two years ago for just under $30 (regularly nearly $150)!!  There are so many deals it is hard to hold yourself back from buying them all!  They normally start in October and run through Christmas and into the weeks after.  And then all of a sudden…they are gone!  It is a great way to shop for Christmas gifts while it lasts! 

I hope these tips have helped you decipher some of the mysteries of the Amazon!  It can become addictive once you know where to look for the deals...have fun!!

    It all began about a month ago when my sister was married. Both girls were flower girls and I was the matron of honor. The wedding was in St. Louis and as we were packing to head home, I commented to my mom that I was leaving the dresses behind as we had no where to wear them. My mom mentioned in passing that we should have a tea party and all dress up with our dresses.

    Well, Ally must have heard her and the wheels in her brain started churning and so for the past several weeks, Ally and my mom have been hard at work planning “The Fancy Tea Party”. Ally would call my mom each morning at 8:00. Mom would drink her coffee and Ally her chocolate milk while they discussed the details. The event was to be held over spring break. We arrived at mom and dad’s on Sunday and Ally got right to work. She cleaned and polished the silver tea sets and cut out the nametags (my brother asked if anyone besides family was coming to the party. I answered “no” and he commented, “but aren’t we wearing nametags?” Details).

    The day of the party we were hard at work decorating mini-cupcakes (with homemade roses made by my mom’s dear friend), baking cookies, putting together finger sandwiches, buying balloons, decorating the house and making sure everything was ready for the grand event. Fake fur stoles and boas were pulled out of storage. People were dressed and roles were assigned (my 5-year-old nephew played the piano, Tori was a server, etc). I think of all things Ally planned, my two favorite were that she had my mom buy bottles of water (for the helpers) and that everyone got a quarter as they left the tea party. We left “fancy” up to each person’s own interpretation. We had everything from jeans to suits, long gowns to t-shirts with ties clipped on.

    After the party Ally commented that “The tea party turned out just like I had hoped!” She and my mom had a ball putting the event together and I know that she has memories of grandma that will last her a lifetime!

Last night we went to Disney on Ice: World of Fantasy (Ticket Information for Kansas City Show through Mar. 20)!

We started our night with a pre-show "Disney Dinner." Emily planned the menu: Mickey Chicken Nuggets (available at Target), Mickey Mouse homemade Mac N Cheese (pasta at Target), Rainbow Fruit Salad (picture below), Hot Dogs (tribute to "Hot Diggity Dog" song on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Princess Wands (chocolate dippped pretzel sticks with sprinkles) and a Rice Krispy Treat Castle Cake (used castle cake pan we had from Cinderella birthday party). We used Mickey paper goods, sent an evite to grandparents to join us, and the girls dressed up as a Princess and Minnie Mouse. We had a blast! I love to make fun events "extra special" and I especially like to do it affordably. The girls and I prepared all the food together and they had almost as much fun before the show as they did at the show!

We went to the Sprint Center early for the Princess Preshow. Disney set up exhibits for each princess with her dress and a few mementos. Then Cinderella and Tiana took turns for photographs (note: You can take photos of the Princesses and your child "watching the Princess" but you don't get pictures with the princesses.).

When the show began, Kayla was on the edge of her seat cheering and clapping for Mickey Mouse (her favorite)! The show included Cars, Lion King, Little Mermaid, and Tinker Bell. The animated characters for Cars were ingenious and the scene was just long enough to be fun for the kids, but not too long as that particular scene was all about the cars and didn't include skaters.

Little Mermaid was next with a colorful and well choreographed adventure "Under the Sea." This was Emily's favorite part and I can see why! It included big dance numbers and the loveable familiar Flounder and Sabastian dancing with Ariel.

The Lion King performance was beautifully done and the choreography for the animals was visually stunning. It was magnificent to watch the wildebeast, giraffes, zebras, and other animals portrayed through ice dancing.

Tinker Bell was the grand finale and it was GRAND! With flying, glitter, and numerous special effects and beautiful costumes adding to the ice skating, this was the best part of the show. The final scene was gorgeous... and of course, Mickey, Minnie and the Gang were back for the finale bringing tremendous joy to my daughters and all of the children in the audience who left cheering for more!

We had a fantastic time and can't wait for next year! You can still buy Tickets for the Kansas City Disney on Ice Show!

Bonus Tips:

Concessions and Souvenirs are expensive at live shows. You can purchase Disney light up toys at Target or the Dollar Tree for much less and the Quik Trip at the Sprint Center sells juice for just 99cents!

A few months back, I opened a package of Kraft Sliced American Cheese.  I handed our youngest daughter a slice.  Immediately after doing so, I smelled a horrific scent in the kitchen.  I immediately kicked into bloodhound mode and began to sniff my way around to track down where this horrible smell was coming from.

As I closed in on our daughter, the smell worsened.  Then, I did it – JACKPOT – I found the smell.  It was the cheese I had just given her.  What upset me was that it was a brand new package and this was the first slice.  So, I immediately picked up the remaining slices and tossed them into the trash can…..tears rolling down my face for throwing money away like that.

As the day went on, I wondered if it was just me or perhaps others had the same issue.  So, I sat down at the computer and brought up Kraft’s “Contact Us” page.  They had a great form to fill out to provide complaints or compliments on products.   

I ran back into the kitchen and did a little dumpster diving to retrieve the packaging which contained the lot number, UPC and other information I was required to include in my submission.

They allowed me to make my own comments, and so I left a message that read a lot like this:

We love Kraft cheese.  In fact, it is the only brand that we purchase for our family.  We have never had anything but positive feedback from your product. However, we recently purchased one and upon opening it, realized that it was spoiled.  The smell was horrible.  We had to toss the entire package of 16 slices into the trash can.  This really surprised us since we have never had this happen to us in the past.  We wanted to let you know so that you could look into the matter to ensure it wasn’t a problem with the batch – or perhaps this was an isolated incident.

Within 3 business days I received a response from them.  They apologized for what happened to use and immediately mailed us a coupon for a free product.  I didn’t contact them to get anything free.  I did it because I felt they needed to know so they could look into it.

I will say that I have also emailed companies and complimented them and gotten free products as well.  I emailed Pepperidge Farms and received high value coupons.  Breyers Yo Crunch sent me coupons for free products.  In the emails of compliments, I am honest and tell them what my family loves about their product.  And usually, I get something in return for taking the time to write to them.

Here are a few things to always keep in mind when sending your email:

1. Be Polite.  The old saying “You’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar” couldn’t be more true.  Even when complaining, don’t “yell” at them.  Do not use all caps.  Always remember that emails do not show emotion or facial expressions, so you want it to be taken in the correct way.

2.  Be honest.  If you don’t love a product – don’t lie to get free products.  On the flip side – don’t say you hate something if you love it.  Be forthright.

3.  Provide actual information.  Don’t make up information about yourself.  If you are taking the time to contact them, you need to be honest with who you are.

Taking the time to contact companies can get you high value coupons or even coupons for free products. Just taking 2 minutes every day can really help you build a great coupon supply to help save you on the products you use and love.

    As a general rule, bloggers like comments.  However, I couldn’t have been more relieved to not get any comments on my post last week.  I wrote about spring cleaning and invited readers to clean along with me.  However, I realized I like Spring Break more than Spring Cleaning.

    I completely forgot that this week is spring break for many area students.  My kids even have a break from preschool.  There is nothing quite like having three children five years old and under who are home all day to put a damper on my plans to do a bit of deep cleaning.  I couldn’t be happier.

    Rather than spend my week cleaning our cabinets and scrubbing the stove, I’ve hosted two play dates.   We’ve made pizza and cupcakes.  We’re working our way through a large stack of library books and videos.  Aside from one trip to the library and a few trips to the gym, we have no plans to go anywhere special.  Rather, we’ll spend time at home enjoying each other.  I have a few surprises planned as well as some special ideas for our days.  We’ve already enjoyed “Bubble Day” and “Friend Day.”  Of course, today will be about all things green.  My daughter is looking forward to “Crazy Craft Day” which will happen later this week.

    Perhaps it was filling out the Kindergarten registration paperwork last week that made me realize I wanted nothing more than a quiet week enjoying my little ones.  Either that or it was the constant driving around town to two preschools, MOPS, and dance class that made me decide to stay at home as much as possible this week.  Either way, I’m happy for our quiet week.