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Old Navy Outerwear - So many choices!

Thanks to the Old Navy Style Council and Crowdtap, I was chosen to particpate in a Sample & Share promotion involving Old Navy Women's Outerwear.  I was given two coupons, so that I and a friend could pick out new coats for free!

I usually find it very hard to find a coat that I really love, and usually just wear my ski coat all the time.  Unless I'm going somewhere dressy, then I have a heavy leather coat, that is uncomfortable and not at all good at keeping me warm!  Oh the things we do for fashion...

I chose my friend Rose to go with me.  She's not one to usually shop Old Navy, but after seeing all the different styles they had available on their website, I thought for sure that this would be a great way to introduce her to all that Old Navy has to offer.  She does rave about Old Navy socks though, she loves them!

So we met up at Old Navy on Thursday evening. We had a blast! So many styles to chose from, and all in so many amazing colors and prints!

We picked a bunch to try on, because we all know that things can look very different on a body than on a hanger!  

So cute!! The colors were gorgeous!

Great style, but didn't need a Large!

One thing that really stood out to me, was that I didn't need to go up a size or two like I usually do with outerwear. I had originally grabbed all size Large, even though I wear a Medium because it always seems there is never enough arm movement room if I wear my normal size.  But with every Old Navy Outerwear item I tried on, the Medium fit perfectly! The each were cut perfectly to allow movement without looking bulky. 

She loved this coat, which surprised her because she normally doesn't wear white!

We finally narrowed it down to two coats each, and made our final decision.

I never expected to find so many amazing styles of outerwear in one store. But Old Navy really outdid themselves this year. I was expecting lots of fleece and puffy vests, but they had a style and color for everyone. 

Thank you Old Navy and Crowdtap!!

Disclaimer: I was given vouchers through Crowdtap and the Old Navy Style Council to receive two free Old Navy Outerwear items at no cost, one for me and one for a friend. My thoughts and opinions are my own, and were in no way influenced by Crowdtap or Old Navy Style Council.

Have you heard about the Sodastream Fountain Jet Soda Maker??!!

I've attended several twitter parties sponsored by Sodastream, and I must say that the company is truly committed to customer service and the love of home-made soda!

It's amazing the flavors Sodastream has available, and they definitely encourage experimenting with combining your favorite flavors into your own personalized soda. How much fun is that?!  They offer over 30 flavors, including diet and caffeine-free varieties. They even have energy drink and sparkling iced tea flavors.  

The bottles are BPA-free and can be re-used for up to 2 years. Can you imagine how many plastic bottles that saves? They even have a glass bottle that can be used with their Penguin Soda Maker indefinitely!   

Speaking of the soda maker machines, Sodastream offers several stylish models to fit your home's needs. Most models also come in a variety of colors, so they will match your decor.  Remember what I said about the company's commitment to their customers? 

Now, if you're going to be making carbonated soda, you're going to need a Carbonator to infuse the water with all those fun bubbles.  Sodastream offers two sizes of carbonators, which make up to 60 or 130 liters of sparkling water or soda.  When they run out, you exchange the online or at select retailers, and they are cleaned and refilled and reused - another great way to "green" your soda! 

Be sure to check out Sodastream and all their products and accessories they offer over at their website, http://www.sodastreamusa.com

Disclosure:

I'm a BzzAgent and have written this review for the chance to receive a free Sodastream Fountain Jet Soda Maker Starter Kit to review and Bzz about as part of a BzzCampaign.  Find out more about BzzAgent HERE

About.me - A Free Online Business Card

Have you ever wished there was an easy way to share all your social media links? Thanks to the about.me service, now you can easily share contact information, twitter, facebook, website, email and more.

When you join about.me (it's even FREE!), you can customize your own about.me page with a photo, stock or one of your own, you name, a short bio and then the fun part... You can add all your important contact links right on one page.  On mine, I have links to my Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, Blog, and email.  The address is easy to remember too - http://about.me/ and your user name comes after the slash. So mine is http://about.me/renea - how easy is that!!?

You can browse featured profiles to see how others have really used about.me to market their "brand", whether they are an artist, musician, blogger, or business person - you can really make your about.me page work for you!

And for a limited time, you can receive 50 free MOO Business Cards showcasing your about.me page, when you sign up for your own about.me page.

I learned about about.me through the bzzagent program.

Tango Card Review

I wanted to share a new gift idea I recently found out about - it's called Tango Card and you can check them out on their website http://www.tangocard.com/ and find them on twitter @TangoCard

Basically they are a way to buy someone a gift card, but allow the recipient to decide how to actually spend that gift card.  They can choose from quite a few popular retailers, give to charity or cash out for cash!

I recently won a $10 Tango Card from Tiny Prints - a great place to buy personalized greeting cards, stationary and more.  You can check them out at http://www.tinyprints.com and on twitter @TinyPrints .  My prize arrived in the form of a personalized Tiny Prints card, with the Tango Card information printed right on the card.  You can actually order cards the same way at Tiny Prints!

So after I received the card, I went online to check out Tango Card.  I had never heard of them before, and wasn't quite sure what exactly they were!  The process of registering, entering your card information and choosing how you want to use your Tango Card is very easy and user friendly!  I was intrigued to see that you can also use the Tango Card mobile app (available for both the iPhone/iPad and Android) to keep track of your gift cards, and works like a mobile wallet - you can actually have the retailer scan your phone to use your gift card! 

Now came the hard part - actually choosing how I wanted to spend my $10 in Tango Card Dollars.  Here is a list of available retailers as of the time of writting this review:

Recipients can choose a gift card from one of the retailers or below:

• Amazon.com
• Gap
• Home Depot
• Nike
• Pottery Barn
• REI
• Rixty
• SpaFinder
• Starbucks
• Target
• Zappos

Or donate to any of the following charities:

• America Scores
• Grameen Foundation
• Habitat for Humanity
• InSTEDD
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• National Park Foundation
• Summer Search
• USO

(list thanks to Tiny Prints!)

After selecting the retailer I wanted, Target, and which design card I wanted, the gift card arrived by mail quickly. 

I haven't purchased a Tango Card yet - but plan on doing so for the holidays. It will be great for those picky people on your list - or those who you just never know what to get.  You can also purchase gift cards from the above retailers as well, and you can choose to have cards sent to multiple addresses in one order also.  So Tango Card can be a one-stop-shop!  I'm really looking forward to using Tiny Prints though - I think it will be a great way to look like I spent a million bucks on my family, but they only cost the same as an average greeting card!


Disclaimer - I won the Tango Card from Tiny Prints - but was not compensated in any way for this review. This is simply my opinion on the Tango Card service and product.

Spring sure did Spring! Into Action

I'm not sure where spring went. It seemed like the last few months have went by in a flash. The poor blog has been gravely neglected, and I'm going to try and change that - starting now!

I've become much more active on Twitter. I had no idea the amazing resource it had become! I feel like it went from a place to occasionally go check out and tweet a blog update or blog contest entry to a place to get connected, educated, and really have a ton of fun! Companies are realizing the importance of social media - and not just having a Twitter or Facebook page - but actually USING social media to connect with potential, as well as loyal, customers. You can now chat with tons of companies - tell them your likes, dislikes, questions and suggestions.

Companies are also realizing the power of the Twitter Party. That is, a group of people all chatting about a product or company - or even just a topic, like keeping your child healthy, all using a common "hashtag". A hashtag is simply a word prefaced with the number sign "#", such as #spendingimpaired, that allows a Twitter user to quickly search for a particular topic and read what people are saying about it. You can also use web-based or even smartphone-based programs like TweetDeck or TweetChat or TweetGrid to follow the conversations easily. Sometimes the party moves quite fast - but all the more fun, and all the more chances to connect with more people!

You don't need a cell phone even to use Twitter! Just follow along on the web - which I find easier.  I only send some people's tweets to my phone - such as when a company may be having a contest or giveaway.

A tool with the power to Save $10!

I’m talking about an exclusive Vocalpoint promotional card you can use on any Craftsman^® C3^® power tool. Use it to buy that perfect Father’s Day gift. Use it on a C3 lawn tool for that gardener in your life. Heck, use it to get a gift for yourself and unleash your handy side.

Just make sure to get yours soon before they run out!

As a Vocalpoint member, I received information on Craftsman^® C3^® power tools sent by Vocalpoint, on behalf of Craftsman.

Ball Park Coupons

It's getting to be that time of year again - cook out time!  Ball park has two new offers today:

Visit Ball Park Franks on Facebook, 'like' them, and then click on the "Coupons" link on the left hand side to get a coupon good for $1.00 off ANY Ball Park product.  This is a Bricks coupon, so you can get 2 prints from one computer, and it has a 30 day rolling expiration date I believe.  (I printed today, 4/13, so it expires on 5/13)

And on Coupons.com , there is a 55 cents off any one Ball Park product coupon as well!  (Leave zip code blank) Same as above, you can print 2 from one computer, and it has a 30 day rolling expiration I believe.  This will be even better at Giant Eagle than the $1.00 coupon, as it will double to $1.10!

The Factor Tree - BzzAgent Campaign

BzzAgent recently added The Factor Tree to my list of campaigns, and having a daughter who will be starting kindergarten this fall, and a son in 6th grade, I thought it would be a fun program to try out.

The Factor Tree is regularly $20 a month.  But you can get a free 2 week trial for you own kids, using promo code BZF

After signing up, it was easy to add both my son and daughter, and choose the correct level for each child.  From there you can dive right in!  I sat with my daughter and my 2 year old son and started on some of the kindergarten curriculum.  There are topics such as shapes, beginning to tell time, and counting.

We started with shapes.  Even my two year old could do this one!  A shape is shown on the screen, and you much choose from a list what the shape is.  Later we did time telling and counting, both of which required typing in the numbers.  So this is definitely not a program where the younger kids can sit and do the tasks themselves.  I was in charge of reading and clicking during the shape task, and later on typing in numbers.

Most of the tasks did seem very age appropriate. My daughter did have some problems with sorting numbers from smallest to biggest - but it opened a discussion on numbers and how to start with 1 and work up to 10, looking for the numbers.  There is no 'instruction' with this program - it's only quiz like tasks to help reinforce what they already know or to help you teach while going through.

I had fun introducing time telling.  It gave me an easy way to show my daughter to look for the hour hand and minute hand, and since they are all whole hours, she quickly learned to look at the hour hand number and then say "O'clock" for the minute hand.  Her face beamed with pride as she got more and more confident at saying the times for each question.

When my son gets home from school later this afternoon, I'll ask him to check out the 6th grade curriculum.  He'll be able to tell me if it's close to what they are learning in school or not.  There is also a placement test that I'd like him to check out for me and give his opinion on.

Update on Savings with Technology

Over the last couple weeks, I've been using Checkpoints and Shopkick any time I ran errands. 

I found the checkpoints rarely had stores available that I actually frequent often.  But, they do have points available for many of the small businesses in the area, which I think is great!  While trying to use the app at Target, it completely froze up and took me quite a while to figure out how to exit out of it and get back to my home screen.  But I keep trying, it takes only a couple seconds to enter the app and see if my location is available.

Now Shopkick on the other hand, I'm having a lot of fun with!  There's a bit of a learning curve, and you have to get over people looking at you strangely while you scan a package of cheese (for example) to get bonus kickbucks!  But I was happy to find not only checkin points for my favorite stores, like Target and Giant Eagle, but just this Sunday I was surprised to find Rite Aid on my list now, and bonus kickbucks inside too!

Now to the topic of rewards.  When I originally signed up for Checkpoints 2 weeks ago, there was an option to redeem 300 points for a $1.00 Amazon gift card.  It claimed that prize was temporarily out of stock - as I tried several times to redeem my original bonus points.  Now that prize is completely gone, and only a $1.00 Home Depot gift card is left at the 300 point range.  Next prize tier is 600 points, and that's for a $2.00 CVS gift card.  After that, you pretty much have to get 3,000 points to get up to the $10.00 gift card range.

And with Shopkick, you can donate your kickbucks with as little as 3k (k=symbol for kickbucks, not thousand here) or Facebook credits starting at 25k.  Gift Cards don't start being available until 500+k depending on the retailer.  Best Buy cards start at 500k, but a Target card doesn't become available until 1250k!  But, they do have some high end rewards available, like a Coach bag or a Sony Bravia!  Or even a cruise for a mere 6,250,000k!  That's a lot of cheese scans!

And finally - a bit of advice with Shopkicks.  I didn't realize that you have to scan the barcode upright for it to work and totally missed out on a 75k bonus scan for Philadelphia Cooking Creme one day at the grocery store.  It wasn't until several days later that, while scanning some bonus makeup UPCs, that I realize it only accepted the barcode if the number were at the bottom and right-side up.  So it doesn't work like a price-checker or the checkout scanner, you can't be scanning UPCs all willy-nilly!

So my opinion is that I'll definitely be using Shopkicks a lot.  I'll keep Checkpoints on the back burner, but unless they offer more of my local shopping haunts, and remain consistent with their rewards, I may stop using them all together.

Saving with Technology: Checkpoints

Checkpoints:

Checkpoints has partnered up with Swagbucks - so now you can earn swagbucks while you earn checkpoints!  You'll get 20 SB for downloading the app and using the bonus code "swagbucks" to register.  You'll see the credit in about 2 weeks.  Then, every month that you scan at least one product, you'll earn an additional 6 SBs.

In addition to the 20 SB you'll get for using the promo code, you'll also get 300 CheckPoints (enough for a $1 giftcard) and you'll get 2 pulls on their bonus slot machine.

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Here are the directions from the Swagbucks Blog to ensure you get credit for signing up:

Getting CheckPoints and earning your SB is simple:
1. Download the app from Apple by clicking here.
2. Register for your account in settings->My Account with bonus code: swagbucks
3. Enter your Swagbucks Username in settings->My Loyalty Programs (if you’re not sure what your Swagbucks Username is, go to Swagbucks and check under “Account Details”)
4. Use the app to checkin and scan products while shopping!

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I found the app in the Android App Market on my phone by searching for Checkpoints.  Signup was fairly simple, and I received the 300 checkpoints, and won 40 checkpoints with my 2 bonus spins on the slot machine.

I'm looking forward to trying this app out soon!

Saving with Technology: Shopkick

Shopkick:
 After you download the app and sign up - enter the promo code : cheetah5090 : to get bonus kickbucks for both you and me! 

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shopkick is the first mobile app that gives you rewards and offers simply for walking into stores, for scanning products, and for signing up friends. You can collect kickbucks and bonuses at millions of stores and restaurants in America. That means at many places around you.

Walking In: Collect kickbucks just for WALKING INTO Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Macy's, American Eagle, Sports Authority, Target, Wet Seal and major Simon malls, in 18 major markets: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, and Atlanta, Boston, D.C., Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis.

Scanning: Collect kickbucks by scanning products with your phone at 250,000 different stores in America.

Redeem your kickbucks for rewards! Get cool rewards like iTunes gift cards, restaurant vouchers, Best Buy/Target/Macy’s/American Eagle/Sports Authority gift cards, Facebook Credits, movie tickets, and more. You can also donate your kickbucks to 30 different causes!

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I haven't tried this out yet, but it sounds like a fun way to earn free giftcards any time you run errands.  Reviews on facebook look mixed, so it may be something you have to try for yourself and see if it works on your phone properly.

P&G Everday Savings $110 in Savings Coupon Book (from Facebook)

If you were lucky enough to get through the day P&G offered the $110 in Savings Coupon Book on their Facebook Page, here is what you'll be getting:

Over $35 in Savings for Jan-Feb (all expire 2/28...doesn't give us much time to use these!)
Over $35 in Savings for Mar-Apr (all expire 4/30)
Over $36 in Savings for May-June (all expire 6/30)
There are no "start dates" on these coupons, just the different expiration dates.

Here are the coupons - There are 3 of each, 1 in each section:

Tide - $1.00 off any 1
Gain Detergent or Fabric Enhancer - $1.00 off any 1
Downy - $1.00 off any 1
Bounce - 50 cent soff any 1
Dawn - 50 cents off any 1
Cascade - $1.00 off any 1
Gain Dish - $1.00 off any 1
Swiffer Wetjet - $3.00 off any 1
Swiffer Duster/Sweeper - $1.00 off any 1
Swiffer Refill - 50 cents off any 1
Charmin MegaRoll - $1.00 off any 1
Bounty Towel, 6ct+ - $1.00 off any 1
Pampers Diapers - $1.00 off any 1
Luvs Diapers - $1.00 off any 1
Duracell Coppertop, 8pk+ - $1.00 off any 1
Pringles - $1.00 off any 2
Iams Dry Dog or Cat Food - $1.00 off any 1
Pepto-Bismol - $1.00 off any 1
Metamucil product - $1.00 off any 1
Always product - $1.00 off any 1
Tampax 20ct+ - $1.00 off any 1
Crest Toothpaste, 4oz+ OR Liquid Gel (excludes Crest Cavity, Baking Soda, Tarter) - $1.00 off any 1
Crest Mouthwash 946mL+ - $1.00 off any 1
Oral-B Manual Toothbrush - $1.00 off any 1
Olay Facial Moisturizer - $1.00 off any 1
Pantene Shampoo AND Conditioner - $1.00 off wyb BOTH
Herbal or Aussie produdct - $1.00 off any 1
Head & Shoulders Shampoo AND Conditioner - $1.00 off wyb BOTH
Clairol Hair Color - $2.00 off any 1
CoverGirl - $1.00 off any 1
Olay PCC or Body Lotion (UM) - $1.00 off any 1 (No idea what those abbreviations mean)
Venus Embrace - $1.00 off any 1
Secret - $1.00 off any 1
Old Spice Deodorant - $1.00 off any 1
Old Spice Body Wash - $1.00 off any 1
Zest Bar/Bodywash OR Safeguard Bar/Liquid Hand Soap - $1.00 off any 1