Extreme Couponing- Fake? Unrealistic?

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This great article by Amy Duran really details how "unrealistic" extreme couponing really is:

"When they film the show they ask the participants to create an extreme shopping trip. So what do the participants do? They pull out only the special sales for that week, special order products from their store, and special order coupons. They buy things that will be free or provide overage, instead of what they need. They buy hundreds of certain items to show extreme savings, not the typical groceries they would buy in an average grocery trip. Yes I could set up a transaction right now where I head to the store and buy $1000 worth of stuff and pay mere pennies. But those items would not include all the items we need for the month."

Read complete article.

Chick-fil-A: Calendar and Coupon Deal

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If you love Chick-fil-A, you'll want to head out and pick up their new calendar for 2012! I just got mine today! It is $6, but has great coupons. Here is what is inside:

Jan. – Free Chick-fil-A Nuggets, 8 ct.
Feb. – Free Small Bowl of Hearty Breast of Chicken Soup
Mar. – Free Simply Orange Juice or Dasani Bottled Water
April – Free Large Diet Coke
May – Free Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit or Large Waffle Potato Fries
June – Free Large Coca-Cola Zero
July – Free Small Hand-Spun Milkshake
Aug. – Free Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Sept. – Free Large Coca-Cola
Oct. – Free Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich
Nov. – Free Chick-N-Minis, 3 ct., or Yogurt Parfait
Dec. – Free Large Sprite



Toys R Us Hot Holiday Toys 2011

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The 15 toys on the Toys R Us list are:

  • Air Hogs Hyper Actives: Radio controlled miniature racing cars.
  • Sesame Street Lets Rock Elmo , manufactured by Hasbro Playskool.
  • Air Swimmers Extreme by Animal Planet, $49.99: Inflatable fish and shark balloons that are radio controlled and seem to swim through the air. Helium tank sold separately.
  • Lalaloopsy Silly Hair Rag dolls with button eyes and bendable hair. They come with an accompanying pet with a bendable tail.
  • LeapPad Explorer : A tablet-like device which children can use to read books, play educational games and take pictures.
  •  Monster High Fearleading 3-Pack by Mattel: Three dolls which are offspring of famous monsters, dressed in "Fear Squad" cheerleading outfits.
  • Moshi Monsters Moshling Mini-Figures : Tiny collectible monsters related to a hit online game.
  • My Keepon by Wow! Stuff: A bright yellow blob-like robot that dances to music.
  •  Nerf Vortex Vigilon : A foam dart gun that launches foam discs up to 50 feet.
  • Ninjago Lightning Dragon Battle  A 645-piece construction set offered exclusively at Toys R Us with characters from Lego's popular Ninjago line.
  • Poppin' Park Elefun Busy Ball Popper  by Hasbro's Playskool: A colorful elephant that can launch plastic balls and plays music.
  • Power Wheels Dune Racer by Mattel's Fisher-Price: A child-size dune buggy that can ride over grass, gravel and mud.
  • Radica Fijit Friends : Robotic toys that dance and respond to squeezes and spoken words.
  •  Sesame Street Let's Rock! Elmo : An Elmo doll that sings and comes with a drum, tambourine and microphone.
  • "Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure," by Activision, $69.99: A video game that includes action figures that can be placed in a portal and then appear in the game.
  •  The Trash Pack Garbage Truck : A garbage truck that can hold 10 collectible Trashies, which are tiny collectible characters. It comes with two special edition Trashies and is a Toys R Us exclusive.

Source: USAToday.com



Krispy Kreme Halloween Donuts

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These are so cute, I wish we had a Krispy Kreme near us!

Krispy Kreme’s Halloween donuts are back. The Jack-o-Lantern, Chocolate Iced with Halloween Sprinkles, Spider  Web and Pumpkin Spice doughnuts are available through October 31.

Spider Web doughnuts are filled with Kreme(TM) filling, dipped in chocolate icing and decorated with a white-iced spider web. More details on the Krispy Kreme website:  http://krispyskremes.com/

Source:Eatdrinkdeals.com

 

Fast Food Meal Deals

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Looking for a quick meal? Fast food restaurants are rolling out the deals. Take a look:

 

•$10 pizzas. Pizza Hut just re-introduced its $10 any pizza deal. "The environment hasn't gotten any better for consumers," chief marketing officer Kurt Kane says.

•$7.99 pizzas. Domino's is rolling out its Artisan Pizza at a ridiculously low $7.99. Although it now offers a $7.99 deal on large, carryout pizzas on Mondays through Wednesdays, this is the first $7.99 large, three-topping, home-delivered pizza in memory, spokesman Chris Brandon says.

•$6.99 meals for two. For less than $7, Burger King is offering two Whoppers, two small fries and two small drinks.

•$5 subs. On Oct. 1, Subway will bring back its $5 deal on any foot-long, except premium subs, says Tony Pace, CMO of Subway's ad group.

•$5 meals.Dairy Queen recently rolled out $5 Mini Blizzard meals, which gets folks a DQ GrillBurger with cheese, fries, medium drink and Mini Blizzard.

•99-cent sandwiches. Taco Bell just rolled out a 99-cent Chicken Flatbread sandwich. "Deals are more important than ever," says Tom Wagner, marketing vice president.

•Freebies. Burger King will happily hand you a free ice cream cone just for ordering its already-cheap value meal.

Source: USAToday.com




Williams-Sonoma Mini Pie Maker

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With cool weather (almost) here, pie is on my mind! In Williams-Sonoma recent newsletter, they  featured their new Breville Pie Maker. You can create up to four individual-sized pies full of your favorite fillings with this simple-to-operate pie maker. Whether its savory meat pies, vegetable pies, quiches or sweet fruit pies or tarts, most pies take just 8 minutes to cook. See more info here.

This is on my wish list now!

Leap Frog Has Created an "iPad" for Kids

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I think this is going to be one of the hot holiday toys for this year!

The LeapPad is a $100 learning tablet for kids that can play apps (games, ebooks, videos and flashcards) downloadable from the LeapFrog store. The LeapPad also supports more robust learning games called Learning Game Cartridges which plug into the top of the device. But the showpiece for this new tablet is a new type of digital book called LeapPad Ultra eBooks.

The Times reports this new LeapPad comes with a 5-inch touch screen, still and video camera, microphone, 2GB of memory and a $100 price tag. It enables kids ages 4 to 9 to create their own stories and personalize them with photos of themselves and their friends. LeapFrog execs promise to add more bells and whistles over time.

Source: Read more about this from Jinny Gudmundsen.

Source: Tom Henderson

Whole Foods Wellness Clubs

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Love to shop at Whole Foods? It might be a little different in the future! They are launching  membership-only Wellness Clubs in a handful of stores, including the first one in Dedham, Mass., which opened last week.

For a one-time fee of $199 and monthly membership dues of $45, shoppers can get lifestyle evaluations and access to classes in nutrition, cooking and health, along with 10% discounts on 1,000 better-for-you foods sold in Whole Foods.

Would you pay for the Wellness Club?

Source: USAToday.com



Create Your Own Coca Cola Drink

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Coca-Cola has a new Facebook app that lets you mix your own Coke drink. After you create your drink online, you will be able to taste test your creation at Coke vending machines!

The Coca-Cola Freestyle app lets you mix a drink using 125 Coke beverages, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta and Powerade. After choosing each, you hold down a “push” button to fill a cup of your choosing. When you fill your cup, you can name it.

The Facebook Page also directs you to Freestyle vending machines in your area. Right now,  there are  about 1,500 machines in restaurants like Wendy’s, Burger King and Five Guys, but Coke plans more in the future.

Thanks Mashable for this info!

 

Hot New Apps (As Seen on The View)

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I saw this segment on The View and had to share with you all. These are very cool!

MobileTag

MobileTag is a free QR code -- or "quick response code" -- scanner that instantly displays the information in all those crazy black and white codes you keep seeing everywhere from bus stops to coffee cups.

Word Lens

Word Lens is an amazing app that scans words and instantly translates them to whatever language you select -- instantly! A must for travel, there is a free version of this app, but there is also a more robust, pay option for $9.99.

RedLaser

Ever want to challenge a retailer to back up their claims to match their competitors' prices? RedLaser scans the ordinary bar code on any product and shows you all the prices of that product in your area. Take it to those big-box stores and show 'em who's boss!

Yelp

In addition to Yelp's crowd-sourced restaurant and business reviews, the app version of the service also instantly updates walking directions and business mapping when you hold it up and aim it any direction. Think there might be a great pizza place hidden around the block? Just point your phone in that direction and have the Yelp app do the walking for you.

Shazam

For $5.99, every time you hear a song you like while you're out and about, Shazam will scan it and tell you who sings it and where you can buy it.

GoSkyWatch Planetarium

Want to see the stars above you but thwarted by pesky daylight hours, bright city lights or the pitfalls of being indoors? For $3.99 you can aim your phone to the sky and see all the constellations above your exact location -- no clear skies or outdoor locations required!




Toygaroo: Netflix For Toys

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Have you heard of Toygaroo? It is the new "Netflix for toys".

Here's basically how it works:

Toygaroo calls itself the “Netflix for toys” because it works in a very similar way. You sign up for a plan that best suits your needs – they offer 4, 6 and 8 toy packages per month – and then add toys to your ‘pouch.’ Pricing for the basic package starts at $24.99 (four toys delivered every other month), which is a great deal considering you don’t pay for shipping or returns. Similar to the Netflix queue, your toys are then shipped to you from pouch and are yours to keep for as long as your kids want to play with them. Using the return label included with each order, you simply send the toys back and then await your next shipment.

Read more here, very cool concept!