Boots and Stuff

The adorable convertible combat boots that my daughter purchased from GoJane.com arrived with manufacturing defects (missing a lace hook and popped stitching on the toe). She was so bummed, she had planned on wearing them with several outfits on our upcoming vacation. I emailed the Go Jane customer service department yesterday afternoon and received a reply this morning. I figured that I would have to send them back at my cost before they could do an exchange or refund, so in my email I asked if it would be possible to get a credit for the return shipping since it was defective merchandise. Much to my surprise, they are shipping out a new pair for her and we don't have to return the defective pair. I love a good customer service outcome!

Yesterday, while the Hubster was checking over our truck in preparation for our vacation (Yes, I am consumed with vacation preparations!) he noticed that the air conditioning on our 10 year old pick up wasn't getting very cold anymore. He did some internet research and then made some phone calls and ended up taking it up to a local (Christian owned) auto repair shop that had several good reviews on Yelp. The mechanic was able to diagnose the problems-it needed a freon recharge plus the motor on the condenser fan was blown. The mechanic took care of the recharge and then explained to the Hubster about the fan and gave him a quote of over $400 to replace it. He also told my hubby that it was something he could easily replace himself in about an hour. Mr. "Gem of a Mechanic" suggested to my hubby that he shop around for the part because the dealer price ($200)  was probably about twice what he would pay at an auto parts store.
While the Hubster was on the phone getting prices of between $89 and $109 I hit the internet and found it for $67 plus shipping. Hubster called the customer service line for the parts website and talked to them about shipping costs ($30)  and times (2-9 days) and found out that they ship out of a warehouse only 15 miles from us. Mr. "Gem of a Customer Service Agent" gave my hubby the phone number of the warehouse and he ordered the part directly and picked it up from them in under an hour saving big on both time and shipping costs. It's so nice to know that there are business out there that are dealing fair with their customers. Sure, the mechanic could have probably convinced the Hubster to have the work done at his shop, but by being honest he has won over a new customer-we will certainly think of his shop the next time we need to take a car in for service. And the customer service agent from the parts website has also earned a new customer for his company as well.

Also, I'm working on my review of the Reverse-A-Purse-look for me to be posting that very soon!

This Week's Frugal Wins-Part 1

I did a bit (okay, a lot) of online shopping this month in preparation of our upcoming family vacation. As you might imagine, I love, love, LOVE to score a bargain and I love it even more when I can score multiple discounts on a purchase so this week I was in frugal hog-heaven!

One Stop Plus: I scored this adorable 3 piece set of shorts, capris and hoodie, regularly $59.99, on sale for $44.99. I used a 50% off coupon code (OSPFB9) to score the outfit for a bargain basement price of $22.49! To maximize my savings I used my 1.5% cash back debit card AND logged into One Stop Plus using my Big Crumbs account to score an additional 3.5% cash back. Total cost for each outfit- $21.36.
After it arrived I put it on and wore it around for the day and decided it was THE most comfortable outfit in my wardrobe so I went online and ordered a second one in Dark Taupe. My plan is to wear this during our 4 hour drive-it's comfy enough to stretch out/curl up in and nice enough to get out of the car and go into a casual restaurant in.

Next stop-Macy's: where I picked up these 2 blouses by Elementz:

Originally $44.00, on sale for $17.99. I used the Macy's Mother's Day discount code (MOM) for an additional 20% off to get it for a bargain basement price of only $14.39. I logged in for shopping using my Big Crumbs account for an additional 2.1% cash back and paid with my 1.5% cash back debit card for a final total of $13.87.  I think this little gem will look great with my blue jeans and boots for a fun and exciting night on the town!

This blouse was originally $44.00, on sale for $27.99. I used the Macy's Mother's Day discount code for the additional 20% off to bring the cost down to $22.39. With my Big Crumbs 2.1% and cash back debit card 1.5% the final cost on this blouse is only $21.58! I have both black and khaki slacks to wear this little beauty with!




The total original cost of my purchases (2-3piece outfits and 2 blouses) would have been $207.98. After subtracting the sale prices, discounts and cash back, my final cost for everything is only $78.17 saving me a whopping $129.81! That's a 62% savings over the original cost. Not bad for less than a half-hour of work on the computer!

Tomorrow I'll post my Frugal Wins from my daughter's online shopping spree at the Forever 21 and Go Jane websites.