SCAMS

Beware all you Facebook fans who enjoy entering your name into draws with intriguing rewards, free trips, and cash money, is any of it really real?, I warn you to watch carefully what you are putting your name in and who really is getting your personal informations. for the past three days, I have been receiving calls telling me I won 2.5 million dollars in a western lottery that I put in for on through the world wide web. Now really, how dumb do people think I am? Thats a rhetorical question no need to answer lol. During the phone call, all was going well, he had all my information, could verify where I lived and of course had my phone number, but what he didn't have was a credit card number, thank god for that. so after the conversation was finished, and he gave me all the verification codes to claim my prize, told me to be excited as prizes like this only come around once in a lifetime, Huh, and all I needed to do was go to a Western Union and get what they call is a clarification receipt and the cost was 150.00 made out to a Frank French from Niagara falls Ont. how original is that? and why the charge, well this is due to the fact that the prize was over 10thousand dollars and I would have to pay taxes on it, so I continue to play along with him, once I had the number he could let the television crew come and give me my winnings, and I can then tell everyone I knew, Oh did I mention that I was not to mention any of this to anyone before hand or I would be disqualified. I asked him what draw did I win it from, and he says he didn't know, he was only working on behalf of the western lottery company,  So he said he would call me back in 1/2 hour to verify the receipt number.

So like the untrusting person I am, once i hung up, did I go to western union, absolutely not, instead, I called western union and asked if there was such a thing as this receipt, she says yes, people collecting money use it all time, once I claim my prize, I bring back the receipt and get my 150.00 back, no money out of my pocket, I then contacted a friend in the western canadian area and had her call the number he left me if I had any questions, and of course, some guy's answering machine picks up asking to leave a message, I then contact Western Canada lottery company and as I expected, this scam has been going on for some time, anyone living in a canadian province knows you can not claim a prize outside province you live in, you can purchase tickets, but you need to personally go back to that province and claim the prize. great detective I was becoming. once the 1/2 hour was up, he did call back, and I told him I couldn't get to western union in time they had closed, so he made arrangements to contact me the next day and try again. Wow this man was dumb, who does he thing he is trying to rip innocent people out of their hard earned money. The next day, he had the nerve to call again, asking if I had a chance to get the money receipt. Wow, the nerve, I told him I couldn't understand why i had to pay anything If I won a prize,  again the same story, when i said i was having difficulties getting the money, he said he would put the cashiers check on safety hold, and again call me back the next day. Well, this went on for 3 days and finally I told him I was on a disability and could not get the money, and did I hear from him again NO,. So folk, let this be a lesson for you, don't give your personal information to anyone unless you can really trust the site and they do not give your info out to 3rd party companies. I'm not saying don't enter the draws because a lot of good reputable companies out there and do hold great draws for wonderful prizes, but be sure to read all the regulations of any draw you do enter, and remember winnings in Canada is tax free, so if someone call you and say you won but you need to pay the taxes or dues before you can claim your prize, hang up on them, their just trying to scam you .

Coupons

Coupons, a great way to save money, but how much money is the thing. You watch the shows on Television and see the lengths people will go to in order to save, and when you have children, food can cost as much as putting them through school.
The stores in the United States permit consumers to double and sometimes even triple the coupons, allowing them to get hundred of dollars in savings at the register. I ask, why is this practice not permitted here in Canada? after all, most of our stores originated from the States, they follow the same corporate rules in Canada as they do in the States, so why do they not permit us here to double or triple our coupons and allow us as Canadian consumers to save hundreds on our groceries and household items? what makes the consumers in the United States so special? Don't get me wrong, I think getting free food and household items is brilliant, and if it were me, I would more then happy to do the same.
 I have to admit, I use coupons, a lot of coupons to help save at the register, after all isn't that the reason for the food/Good industries providing the coupons, but how much can one person keep in one area before being labelled a hoarder? it can be a fine line between stock piling and hoarder, when do you say "ok I have enough to last me months, maybe even years, everything does come with an expiry date" so why not donate to family, friends or local shelter.
You think there would be many more families in the States better off financially, after all they save millions a year in free food and goods, Oh how I envy our Neighbours across the boarder. I would be very rich if I was able to double or triple my coupons when I shop, the more I saved on food& goods, the more I could put on my mortgage, credit cards and maybe even my dog. Maybe all us heavy couponer's out there should get a petition circulating to our local stores allowing us follow the same corporate rules as our cross boarder friends, right down to the last coupon in our folders.

Happy Saving
Nashota