As most of us (if not all?) know October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I have teamed up with 12 other bloggers to create awareness among our community about this illness.

To kick things off we will be hosting a twitter party this Friday (9/17) with over $1800 in prizes to giveaway!  What is a twitter party and how do you join?  At a Twitter part is just a gathering of people on twitter.  We will be chatting about breast cancer awareness for one hour (starting at 2PM CST).  Plus like I said we will be giving away stuff!  Melissa has secured some awesome prizes from our sponsors among them: Fast Fixin’, Otterbox, Ju-Ju-Be, Mabel’s Labels, SignifyPink and MORE.  See the full list of sponsors here.

So, just to recap:

Party Details:

When: September 17th, 2010
Time: 1:00 CST or 2:00 EST
Hashtag: #ClickIt4BC
Twitter: @ClickIt4BC,@ConsumerQueen & @FastFixin

You can help spread the word about the party by tweeting: RT @ClickIt4BC Pre-Register for the Click It 4 Breast Cancer Twitter Party (over $1800 in Prizes) http://bit.ly/buWLOM #ClickIt4BC

Plus you may also want to “Like” the Click It for Breast Cancer” Facebook Page.

You must Pre-Register here (just drop your twitter profile link) for prizes and you must be present to win.

ALL YOU has partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to help raise money for women whose lives have been affected by breast cancer.  Right now anyone who donates $15 or more to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® will receive a special gift from ALL YOU – a FREE copy of their Fashion & Beauty Special Issue (Value: $4.43) filled with over $30 in coupons for popular products and from popular retailers.

If you are interested in making a donation and receiving a free gift from ALL YOU,this is what you need to do:

1. Click here to donate directly to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®

2. Forward your donation confirmation to ALL YOU at aypromo@allyou.com. Please include full contact information: full name, address, city, state, zip and phone number.

You may also want to stop by All You and share your own personal story well as read stories of other women who have been impacted by breast cancer.

I was not happy to see this set of news on The Wall Street Journal this afternoon.  Kelloggs has issued a voluntarily recall of select packages of Kellogg’s® Corn Pops®, Honey Smacks®, Froot Loops® and Apple Jacks® cereals. Consumers should not eat the recalled products because they do not meet quality standards  Please check your cupboards if you have bought these types of Kelloggs cereals recently.

The products included are:

Only products with the letters “KN” following the Better If Used Before Date are included in the recall.

Kellogg’s® Apple Jacks®
UPC 3800039136 17 ounce package with Better if Used Before Dates between APR 10 2011 and JUN 22 2011

UPC 3800039132 3 8.7 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between JUN 03 2011 and JUN 22 2011

Kellogg’s® Corn Pops®
UPC 3800039109 12.5 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

UPC 3800039111 17.2 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

UPC 3800039116 9.2 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between APR 05 2011 and JUN 22 2011

Kellogg’s® Froot Loops®
UPC 3800039118 12.2 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

UPC 3800039120 17 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

UPC 3800039125 8.7 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

Kellogg’s®Honey Smacks®
UPC 3800039103 15.3 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

If you have product affected by this recall and have questions or would like a replacement coupon, you may contact the Kellogg Consumer Response Center at 888-801-4163.  More information about this on the Kelloggs website.

If you have a Tropicana Rewards account you may want to login and check out the balance. I just got an email from Amy at WSNLF to check my account because it seems that I have had 9 points credited to my account. I looked into this a bit more and this was posted on Tropicana’s Facebook Page yesterday:

We are SO sorry for all of the issues that some of you experienced during our Deal of the Day yesterday. Our server picked an VERY bad day to crash…unfortunately resulting in a bad experience for many of you. We want to make amends. If you participated and points were deducted from your account here is how we are resolving the issues.

Were you unable to provide us with your mailing address to receive your coupon? An email will be sent to you on 5/28 asking you to confirm your mailing address. Your coupon should arrive within 10 business days.

Were you unable to redeem your Deal of the Day reward? If you have not redeemed your Deal of the Day reward by 2:00 pm CST today, 9 points will be credited to your account for you to use on a reward of your choice.

Our server is up and running once again. We apologize and hope that you will enjoy your coupon and free reward with this correction. Thank you!

So, I missed the date to due date to claim my coupon again. But when I did request it on Wednesday it went through fine. So I wonder if I will get it or not. Anyways, make sure to check your account particularly if your request did not go through. Amy said she got a pop up asking for her address to have the coupon mailed to her and she had the points credited as well.

Just a reminder that Stamp Out Hunger takes place today.  You can place a bag of non-perishable food items by your mailbox and your mail carrier will deliver it to your local food pantry.  If you are unsure whether your mail carrier will be picking the bags up, make sure to cann your local post office to confirm.

Also, if you have cleaned out your stockpile and set aside items to donate, make sure to shares your photo and story if you wish on the Couponing for Community Facebook page.

The makers of Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec have recalled certain lots of these medicines.  Since I share so many deals on these products I feel compelled to share this information with you.  Please check your medicine cabinets for lots numbers as listed in this recalled list of product inclusions.   If you find some of these products in your cabinets you can fill out this coupon/refund request form to get your money back. If you have more than 6 affected products, please complete a second form with the remaining products or call the Consumer Care Center at 1-888-222-6036.

Thanks Marcia and Faithful Provisions!

One of the first things I realized when I started using coupons is that coupons are not only an amazing tool for saving money but also for helping others.  Using coupons has allowed me to give so much more  to others  than what I could afford on my own.  Over the year I pick up items that are moneymakers, free or very cheap to take to my local food pantry or shelter.

This week (5/2-5/8) I want to challenge you to do the same.  If you have been using coupons for a while I would love for you to take a look at your stockpile and consider donating items you already have available and that maybe you won’t get to use before they expire.  Maybe you have stockpiled more of an item than your family can use for a long time (Stayfree, razors or body wash anyone?) and you know these items will be free again in the near future it.  If you are new to using coupons, how about some free bodywash, free toothpaste, cheap Campbell’s soup, or carefree products.

RSVP to the event Couponing for Community that Kaley over at Cha Ching on a Shoestring has organized for this week.  Join this community of couponers across the U.S. by giving a part of your stockpile away to a homeless shelter, food pantry, or a friend in need during the week of May 2-8.  You are also invited to share comments or pictures of the items you are giving away.

To make it even easier for you, this coming Saturday 5/8 is Stamp Out Hunger, a national food drive organized by the Association of Letter Carriers.  To participate all you need to do is place non-perishable food in a bag by your mailbox.  The mail carrier will pick it up and deliver it to your local food pantry. I have participated in this food drive for the past two years and hope to do the same this year as well.  How easy is it to give when you have people coming to pick it up?

I would really hope you would consider joining us.  Every little bit does help.

If you took advantage of the deal I shared with you yesterday for the $20 off at The Company store I have two things to let you know:

1)  The offer is no longer available

2)  Please check how much you have been charged for your order.  It seems people are reporting being overcharged.  So please check your account statement and call the Company Store if you see an overcharge.

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Over the last few days I have received emails from some of you asking me about some coupons you received via email.  These coupons are saved in pdf format and are for free items.  Anybody see the big red flag there?  Well, you emailed and I answered back.  Some of the couposn you listed are already reported as counterfeit by the Coupon Information Center.  Others are not, BUT I am 99% sure they will be soon.  Here are some of the coupons you emailed about:

Free Doritos
Free Duracell Batteries
Free Freschetta Pizza
Free Pepsi
Free Dannon

I have written about Counterfeit coupons before and how to spot them and also tips on how to become more “printable coupon savvy.”  Here is the cliff notes version though:

• Don’t trust coupons in pdf format that are NOT hosted on the manufacturers website
• Don’t trust printable coupons you get via email that are too good to be true.  Chances are they are NOT true.

Also, don’t be tempted to use them because someone told you they scan.  Just because it works doesn’t mean it’s OK to do something!  The bottom line is this:

The store will NOT get reimbursed for these coupons.  This results in a loss to the store from accepting fake printable coupons which makes the store less willing to take printable coupons in the future.  In short:  This is a short term gain but long term loss for EVERYONE.  YOU included!

So if you have friends that emailed you coupons that you suspect are too good to be true, do yourself (and them) a favor and explain to your friend in a very gentle manner that by using fake coupons they are committing coupon fraud.  That in the end they are hurting their own chances of saving money in the future.  This is NOT worth a free bag of Doritos in my opinion.

This post is for my WI readers.  This morning I received the following email from Norah:

I just thought you might want to know, that there is a bill in committee today making mail in rebates illegal in Wisconsin. I head about it on 1130 WISN on Bellings show and thought I should pass it on. It seems it will pass out of committee and the legislator seems to want to pass it on party lines. I would encourage people to let their representatives know they don’t want this, or we will no longer be able to participate in rebate programs. Belling has his podcast up where he takes about this. I believe it was the 4 o’clock hour.

You may want to take the time to tune in to the podcast this afternoon and consider voicing your opinion about this.  Thanks Norah!