Somebody Has to Say It

Don’t forget to stop by your local Home Depot store on April 19th (Earth Day) and pick up your free EcoSmart 14w CFL bulb. Limit one per customer while supplies last. They also have some other freebies giveaways and coupon savings to celebrate Earth Day.

Have you looked at a bar of Dial soap lately and felt cheated or ripped off? Recently I purchased two different packages of Dial bar soap in two different scents - Tropical Escape and Aloe Green Tea scent. I was not happy when I opened the packages. The bars are much smaller now. I understand times are tough and companies are cutting back, but it’s an insult to consumers to so blatantly give less product for the same price. We all know it’s being done - that companies are giving us less product for the same amount of money we paid before - but at least most companies aren’t making it as obvious as the makers of Dial soap! 

The Tropical Escape scent now has a big scooped out section on side of the bar and the Aloe & Green Tea scent is scooped out on both sides. It appears consumers are now getting 1/2 less the amount of product as before, but being charged the same amount of money - if not more money. Needless to say, I won’t be buying Dial bath soap any longer.

Let’s start a poll. Leave a comment and let me know if you’ve noticed the same thing with other brands of bar soap, or with other products?

Do you want to make money from home using the internet? Do you have a blog? If not, that’s the first place to start. There are numerous sites available that will host your blog for free. This site here that I use for my blog is a popular site.

So, you’ve got a blog, but how do you make money with it? By writing about the latest hot topics and popular subjects. Things like celebrity gossip, hollywood scandals, movie stars, “how to” self help tips, recipes, where to find freebies, how to make money, latest hairstyle and makeup trends … the list goes on and on. But how do you know what topics are truly hot and popular? How do you find out what words people are typing into search engines? Click here to find the answer!

According to Valassis, the company who distributes Red Plum coupon inserts, they are going to stop putting the money saving coupons in newspapers. Papers from all over the country are going to be affected, and million of us who rely on coupons will suffer as well.

I don’t know about you, but I rely on coupons now more than ever. Without them, it would be harder than ever to buy groceries to feed my family. I also wouldn’t be able to get extra freebie food items to donate to charity organizations such as food pantries.

There is a website dedicated to this topic at http://www.bringbackthecoupons.com/. You can also see if your area newspaper is one that will stop carrying the coupons by looking at this publication.

Do you use coupons? How will this affect your family or spending habits?

Pledge Multi Surface does clean and dust multiple surfaces if you only have light duty dust, dirt, or scum buildup - and will give you streak free results under these conditions as well. If you have a thick layer of dust or scum, you’ll need to use something stronger to clean with. Simply using this product alone on a heavy-duty household cleaning job will leave you with a streaky spotty mess.

I received my product free but looked online and it sells for around $5.50 at Walmart. That sounds a bit pricey but considering you can use this product in so many different areas, and a can lasts a long time, it’s a good bargain overall. I will buy the product again, mainly to use on my combination wood and glass furniture, but only when I find it on sale and have a coupon.

Want to read more of my review? Click here.

According to a story on the USA Today website, the Snuggie is a pop culture hit. I’m sure you’ve all seen the TV infomercials showing them. It’s nothing more than a big fleece blanket sewn together with a collar and sleeves. Personally, I think the people in those commercials look like a bunch of monks sitting around wearing them. It’s hilarious! Not to mention the cost. Gee whiz folks, just grab a blanket or shawl and keep your money in the bank. Or get up OFF of the couch or out of the easy chair and get some exercise and you won’t need a Snuggie because you’ll be nice and warm. You might even lose a few pounds and gain some health benefits from the exercise too.

If you want a laugh, just watch the YouTube video and read some of the comments.

While you’re at YouTube, you might as well check out the Tiddy Bear commercial. It’s even funnier than the Snuggie.

Come on folks … just turn off the TV, put the Snuggie and Tiddy Bear out of your mind, and move along.

So, did you get your free cosmetics? Surely you heard about the class action lawsuit where retailers such as Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue were ordered to give away $175 million worth of free cosmetics products to consumers. If you don’t know all the details, go to http://www.cosmeticssettlement.com/ and check it out.

Supposedly, the cosmetic giveaway is going to continue for a few more days, or while supplies last. Odds are though, if you didn’t go today, the supplies of free cosmetics are gone. Actually, after seeing the crowds in the area where I live, I suspect the supplies probably ran out around 2:00 pm on the 20^th!

I was right in the middle of the throng of women getting my freebies. The first store I went to was Macy’s and I got there right as the doors opened at 10 am. I was the second person to walk up to the giveaway area. All I had to do was print and sign my name on a piece of paper and pick which product I wanted. The lady in front of me asked if we could get more than one product and was told no, but that we could go to each participating store and receive one product. So that’s all I needed to hear!

I live in an area with a mall which has a Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Dillard’s, and Nordstrom’s … so I hit all of them. I did ask at each store if consumers were allowed to go to different stores and was told yes - but we could only go through the line once and only get one product per store.

After leaving the first store, my next stop was Dillard’s and the line was long this time. There were probably 20 people ahead of me but the line moved quickly. The lines at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom were long moved a bit slower than the lines at Macy’s and Dillard’s. It did seem that Macy’s and Dillard’s were a little more organized and prepared than Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. By the time I got to the counter area at the last two stores, some supplies of certain products were already depleted. Bummer!

After my last stop, I traced a path back to my car and passed back through each store to see how things were going. It was around 1:00 by this time, the lines at every store were very long. Crowds of women were actually running towards to cosmetic counters and some were even shoving and trying to cut in line. I was glad I got an early start, otherwise I would not have participated in the “feeding frenzy”.

Gee whiz! What some folks won’t do for free stuff, huh?! So did you participate in the giveaway? What was your experience?