New In-Store Affiliate Network Partner RevTrax

Hello Everybody,

We are pleased to announced that we are approved for the new in-store affiliate network RevTrax! What this means to you is that you can now visit wantedcoupons.com and print out coupons that you can use in-store at your local retailers.

It's a real simple 3 step process:

1. Click on the coupon

2. Print the coupon

3. Use the coupon at checkout in your local store

Here's an example of what one of the coupons looks like:



We are still in the process of applying to merchant programs and waiting to see which ones will accept us, but wanted to inform our wonderful community of the update. While there are not many merchants currently participating in the network, we expect online to in-store coupons to become much more popular in the near future. We will keep you posted on the new in-store coupons available through our site on this blog and through our twitter account. In the meantime, as always keep on coupin' on!

Top 3 Reasons I Use Twitter & Some Twitter Tips

Many times in life I find myself going through the motions and not really realizing why I’m doing certain things or the benefits of doing them. Twitter can be like this sometimes, however I made a list of the top 3 reasons I use twitter to remind myself why I’m sharing with others my miscellaneous ramblings and why twitter has become so popular recently.

1. Get the most up-to-date information- Ever heard of the phrase “what have you done for me lately? Remember when that plane landed in the Hudson River in New York? Twitterers’ were the first to report that with live pictures. One of the big advantages of twitter is that it operates in real-time, so you know what’s going on right now. When you first start using twitter you may not know what to expect. One thing you can count on is that the information on twitter is the most current you can possibly get. Twitter will always be doing things for you lately. Keep in mind some of the most influential people and brightest minds in the world are using twitter. Barack Obama (@barackobama), Al Gore (@algore ) and many other business owners, marketers, bloggers and celebrities are regular tweeters as well so you can get access to information that you probably would not have otherwise or might take much more time to research.

2. Viral Conversation- like anything it may take some time to get the hang of twitter and find all the people you would like to follow. But once this happens twitter can become a very valuable and enjoyable tool. As you join the conversation and people get to know you, they may be able to give you some valuable insight and perspective about your situation. Of course, you would have to take the initiative and ask people most of the time, but like the saying goes “Ask and you shall receive”.

For example, if you are undecided about a certain product to buy, you can simply ask your followers if they have had any experience with the products you are considering. Chances are somebody will be able to give you some feedback that will help you make a more informed buying decision. Or you can ask about something more casual like which movie to go see. If you have some movie-watching followers they may give you some good feedback about their thoughts on some movies.

3. Market your business or yourself- if you have a website or blog like I do (www.wantedcoupons.com & www.wantedcoupons.blogspot.com), you can utilize twitter to gain more notoriety and drive more traffic. For example, if you make a new blog post you can simply make a tweet telling people that you have made a new post and many people will click on the link in your tweet to read it. If you are an affiliate marketer, you can make a tweet about a coupon or update from a merchant that might help monetize your website as well. Make sure that you are not only tweeting about your business though, there is nothing more annoying than following somebody who only says “hey go check out my blog” or “hey go to my website”, but just know that you can use twitter to build your business.

For those that don’t have a website or blog, you can simply use twitter to market yourself or build your brandname. Many employers are checking facebook and myspace pages nowadays to make a more informed decision about the candidates they may potentially hire. If they find you on twitter, it may give you another opportunity to make a good impression and show them you are socially conscious, which is always a good thing. Also keep in mind that people are much more likely to buy things from people they know, so if you are selling anything or plan to sell anything in the future, twitter can definitely be beneficial to you in this way as well.

The bottomline is that twitter is more than just telling people about what you are doing. I would recommend starting off slowly to see what others are doing and how they utilize twitter. Then as you gradually get the hang of it, you can get more involved and it will become much easier. You should be advised that twitter can get very addicting though, and like everything I would also recommend using twitter in moderation :).

As a general rule, the more people that you follow, the more people will follow you. So you might have to do some legwork in the beginning and do some searches to find people. Search for topics that you are interested in and you will find tons of interesting people to follow that will provide valuable information. Chances are that many of these people will follow you back. This will be well worth the time because the more people that you have to converse with, the more enjoyable twitter will be for you.

Keep in mind though that content is king in twitter, so don’t forgot to make good tweets and people will find you. You can also re-tweet other comments that you think people will be interested in, just make sure to keep their @name in the beginning of it so the person that made the original tweet will get credit for it. Here is a good site to help find and manage followers web2mom.com.

Some will still prefer to socialize with only people that they know on FaceBook or MySpace, which I can understand. Many others will probably think they are too cool for twitter. I would argue that you can get to know people pretty well through socializing with them on the internet and that many people thought they were too cool for MySpace and Facebook when they first came out and now more than 30 million people have a FaceBook account. Whichever you prefer, it's all about being social and having fun. Thanks for reading and hope to catch up with you soon!

P. S. If you'd like to sign up for twitter just go to their website twitter.com. Don't forget to follow us if you are so inclined @WantedCoupons and @DaveSeidl ;) and as always Keep on Coupin' On.

DreamWorthy Gifts Wins The 2009 Most Wanted Coupon Tournament

The winner of the 2009 Most Wanted Coupon Tournament is DreamWorthy Gifts! Congratulations to the wonderful owners of DreamWorthy Gifts Mike & Kali Kunkle. They have been working (and tweeting) very hard and deserve all the recognition they receive.

For those who are not familiar with them, DreamworthyGifts.com is a webstore that features thousands of gifts for all occasions. They have gifts for men, women, holidays, weddings, jewelry, sports, electronics, gift cards and more. The site came about because sometimes even they themselves did not know what to get for their friends and family when it came time to show they cared. They are dedicated to providing a safe, enjoyable online shopping experience with many opportunities to save from their refer-a-friend program to our exclusive coupon WantedCoupons20 that can be used at checkout to save 20% on all purchases. Here are a few words from the owners:

"We first met the team from WantedCoupons.com months ago when we both did a press release on the same day. As e-commerce biz owners with similar ideals, we made an immediate connection with these wonderful people and their awesome coupon site and blog. You can imagine how pleased we were when they included us in their Coupon Tournament! We run a business based on principles of kindness, service and common sense, but we're a small player compared to the likes of Sears, Amazon, Target and Kohls (where we shop), and compared to legends like Skechers, Football Fanatics and Restaurant.com. These are e-commerce players whom we respect and admire. In fact, even when we look down the list of the initial March Madness contestants, it's a list of coupon-offering e-biz players that we are proud to associate with. I doubt you can imagine our surprise as we wind down the Final Four contest this week, where we remained a contestant. Literally a few moments ago, we heard that we received the most votes and won the contest. We're a little stunned, but I believe this is a real tribute to Social Media, where we have made some phenomenal friends and fans on Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn - and especially - Twitter. Thanks to everyone who voted for us - especially our friends/followers from Twitter, where we hang out as @DreamWorthy. To our friends at Skechers, Football Fanatics and Restaurant.com... congrats to you for being in the Final Four and for being businesses to emulate. If we can ever do something to support or help you, please let us know. Mike & Kali Kunkle of http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com. "

Recently voted one of the Dallas areas top twitter users, these two work dilligently to provide their followers and friends with updated information pertaining to DreamWorthyGifts.com and all sorts of other cool stuff. Frequently found on cheaptweet.com for their fabolous deals, digging articles for others and making informative posts on the blog, social networking and marketing is like second nature to them. Here is a listing of all the places you can find DreamWorthy on the web:

DreamWorthy Gifts LLC
Write to us: Mail@DreamWorthyGifts.com
Shop at: http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com
Read our Shopping Blog: http://DreamWorthyGifts.blogspot.com
Read our Networking Blog: http://DreamWorthyFriends.wordpress.com

Refer-A-Friend Promotion: Refer friends and they each get a coupon for 25% off. When they buy, you get a coupon for 40% off! There is no limit to the number of friends you can refer or the number of 40% coupons you can collect. See the Refer-A-Friend banner at http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com to participate.

JOIN US AT:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/DreamWorthyGifts
http://www.linkedin.com/in/MikeKunkle

http://www.tinyurl.com/KaliOnFacebook
http://www.tinyurl.com/MikeOnFacebook
http://www.tinyurl.com/DreamWorthyOnFacebook - become a fan!
http://sta.rtup.biz/profile/KaliKunkle
http://sta.rtup.biz/profile/MikeKunkle
http://www.twitter.com/DreamWorthy
http://digg.com/users/Digg4DWF

Congratulations again to DreamWorthy Gifts, we couldn't have had a better champion. Thanks again to all our participating merchants and fans, we truly appreciate all of your support and look forward to a great rest of the 09' year. Don't forget to buy your official NCAA basketball championship North Carolina Tar Heel gear at Football Fanatics and Keep on Coupin' On!

All the best,

Wanted Coupons Staff

Most Wanted Coupon Tournament Final 4!

The Final Four is here! Drumroll please...DreamWorthy Gifts, Restaurant.com, Football Fanatics and last but not least Skechers. Congratulations to the final four! An interesting mix, however all of the them worthy, one is even DreamWorthy LOL!

Again you can send your votes to info@wantedcoupons.com or simply leave a comment from now through the weekend. As always Keep On Coupin' On and don't forget to get your ncaa tournament final four gear at Football Fanatics.

DreamWorthy Gifts

vs,

Restaurant.com


Football Fanatics

vs.

Skeckers

Most Wanted Coupon Tournament Elite 8

Hey Everybody,

Some great matchups and unlikely upsets in this past round and now we're down to the Elite 8! How bout those pesky Football Fanatics beating out Target? Btw you can get cool sweet 16 t-shirts from the actual ncaa basketball tournament teams at Football Fanatics now!




Also, the awesome people at DreamWorthy Gifts continue to impress and pulled a big upset over Amazon.com. Don't forget to keep on coupin' on with our exclusive coupon code from them at checkout WantedCoupons20 to save 20%.

Get your votes in by the end of the weekend to select your final four. Here are the remaining Elite 8 merchants:

Bracket 1

Sears


DreamWorthy Gifts

Bracket 2

Kohl's

Restaurant.com


Bracket 3

Football Fanatics


Zazzle

Bracket 4

Walmart


Skeckers

Most Wanted Coupon Tournament Sweet 16

Only 16 merchants left in our most wanted coupon tournament. We're getting down to the knitty gritty. Lots of questions to answer. Who wants it more? Who is final four worthy? Let us know what you think!

Second Round Results:

Bracket 1

Sears

www.GoDaddy.com


DreamWorthy Gifts

Amazon

Bracket 2

Kohl's

SeanJohn.com


Restaurant.com

KMart

Bracket 3

Target

Football Fanatics


Zazzle

RadioShack

Bracket 4

Walmart

Buy.com


Skeckers

OverStock

Most Wanted Coupon Tournament First Round Results

Ok, the results from the first round of our most wanted coupon tournament are in. There have been many close games and upsets which made for a very exciting first round. Noteworthy upsets include #13 Emitations over #4 Eastbay and of course there was a #12 FootLocker upset over #5 1-800-Contacts. Don't forget to vote for the second round which will take place over the weekend and Keep on Coupin' On. Even Barack Obama is filling out brackets, check it out here:



Thanks again for everybody's participation, here are the results:

Bracket 1

Sears

Fathead

FootLocker

GoDaddy

DreamWorthyGifts

Eastbay

DiscountWatchStore

Amazon

Bracket 2

Kohl's

Ent. Book

Famous Footwear

SeanJohn

iGourmet

Restaurant.com

BabyPhat

Kmart

Bracket 3

Target

Acai

Irv's Luggage

Football Fanatics

Peapod

Zazzle

RadioShack

Priceline

Bracket 4

WalMart

PetsWarehouse

TigerDirect

Buy.com

Skeckers

OfficeMax

Armani Exchange

Overstock

Most Wanted Coupon March Madness!

We are excitged to announce the 1rst annual Most Wanted Coupon Tournament! It's that time of year again, March Madness and the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is getting ready to start so we thought we would do something fun for everybody along those lines.

We've paired up 64 of our top merchants in a single elimination format similar to the college basketball tournament that can be seen below. Sorry we weren't able to actually show the tournament in bracket form but we will post the results after each round so everybody will know what's going on. They way it works is you vote for the merchant you like the best, the merchant with the best coupon or the merchant you would most like to see a coupon from. We then tally up the votes and the winner moves on to the next round. There is a total of six rounds with two rounds taking place each week over a three week period. The tournament starts on Thursday March 19th with a winner announced on Monday April 6th.

We know who we like, but we'd like to get a feel for what everybody else out there thinks. Your participation is greatly appreciated, feel free to send us an email to info@wantedcoupons.com with your selections or just add comments below to vote. In case there are no votes for a particular matchup, we will go by overall clicks generated for each merchant. Hope everybody has fun filling out their brackets, good luck to all the merchants out there and as always we encourage you to Keep On Coupin' On!

Bracket 1

1) Sears

2nd Round

3rd Round

4th Round

4th Round

3rd Round

2nd Round

1) Target

16) 4Checks

__________

_________

16) Sports Authority

8) AutoPartsWarehouse

__________

__________

8) AutoAnything

9) Fathead

__________

__________

9) AcaiBurn

__________

________

5) 1-800 Contacts

5) Irv's Luggage

12) FootLocker

__________

__________

12) ProFlowers

__________

__________

4) Eastbay

4) Football Fanatics

13) Emitations

__________

__________

13) Apple Bottoms

6) SitterCity

6) Peapod

11) GoDaddy

__________

__________

11) Nascar.com

Final Four

Final Four

3)DreamWorthyGifts

__________

__________

3) Zazzle

14) BabyUniverse

__________

__________

14) EverythingFurniture

Final Game

7) CompUsa

__________

_______

7) RadioShack

10) DiscountWatchStore

__________

__________

10) Priceline

__________

__________

2) Amazon

2) Priceline

15) Closeout.com

__________

__________

15)Batteries.com

Bracket 2

1) Kohl's

Champion

1) Walmart

16)Magazines.com

__________

__________

16) Bluehost

__________

__________

8) 2009 Ent. Book

8)Starbucks.com

9) Delivery.com

__________

__________

9)PetsWarehouse

___________

_______

5)FamousFootwear

5) TigerDirect

12) ScrapbookPal

__________

__________

12) BlueNile

__________

__________

4) SeanJohn

Final Game

3) Buy.com

13) Calendars

__________

__________

14) Hotels.com

6) FinishLine

6) Skechers.com

11) iGourmet

__________

__________

11) ShopNBC

__________

Final Four

Final Four

__________

3) Restaurant.com

3) OfficeMax

14) Boscov's

__________

__________

14) BuildOffers

7) BabyPhat

7) Armani Exchange

10) RocaWear

__________

__________

_______

___________

10) Cellar's Wine Club

2) Kmart

__________

__________

2)Overstock.com

15) Abt Electronics

__________

__________

15) QualitySmith

Bracket 3

1) Target

16) Sports Authority

8) AutoAnything

9) AcaiBurn

5) Irv's Luggage

12) ProFlowers

4) Football Fanatics

13) Apple Bottoms

6) Peapod

11) Nascar.com

3) Zazzle

14) EverythingFurniture

7) RadioShack

10) Priceline

2) Priceline

15)Batteries.com

Bracket 4

1) Walmart

16) Bluehost

8)Starbucks.com

9)PetsWarehouse

5) TigerDirect

12) BlueNile

3) Buy.com

14) Hotels.com

6) Skechers.com

11) ShopNBC

3) OfficeMax

14) BuildOffers

7) Armani Exchange

10) Cellar's Wine Club

2)Overstock.com

15) QualitySmith

Coupon Code for Loan Services!

Hello All,

We've partnered with some reputable loan service providers to save our WantedCoupons.com friends money on loan services. If you need a loan, could use some credit repair or even if you are behind on your current mortgage payments, you may be able to put this coupon to good use. Don't feel bad if you find yourself in this situation, the combination of a struggling economy and decreasing home values has many Americans in the same position. That's why the government offered a $700 billion bailout last year.

You may be very surprised at what the banks are willing to do nowadays. You could try to negotiate with the bank yourself or you could let one of their professionals get you the best deal available. We've learned that the banks do not want to foreclose on homes. If you are in danger of missing your mortgage payments or have missed some mortgage payments already and can establish a hardship (loss of job, divorce, adjustable rate mortgage, etc.) you may be able to significantly lower your rate, payment and maybe even your principal balance.

Check out iloanmods.com and see for yourself. Use the code wantedcoupons to save $25 on any services (enter into comments section of contact form). Use the same code when you visit loanmodassistant.com through their do-it-yourself loan modification page and save $25 as well.

Just a reminder that our Most Wanted Coupon March Madness Tournament will be taking place soon. Be sure to check back with us next week for more information and as always Keep On Coupin' On!

Going On Vacation Soon?

Are these two beach chairs your next destination? It's about that time of year when I could really use a vacation. The next best thing to actually going on one...writing about one. The weather here in Chicago is back to normal winter conditions after a couple seasonably warm weeks. I'd love to be in California, Florida, Vegas...almost anywhere except the midwest right now.

If you'll be going somewhere soon, I hope you have booked a flight already. If not, don't worry you can always find good flight deals from priceline, orbitz, hotwire and more on our travel and vacation coupons page. You can also find hotel deals, rent-a-cars, cruise coupons, luggage and all kinds of cool stuff you might want on a vacation.

Speaking of luggage the wonderful affiliate manager for Irv's Luggage and Executive Essentials Karen McMahon has given us some exclusive luggage coupons:

• Receive an Additonal 15% off Your Order with Exclusive Code WANTED15 + Free Shipping on $99+. (some exclusions apply)

• Executive Essentials: Take an Additional 10% off of Your Order of Fine Pens, Desk Sets, Briefcases, Handbags, Clocks and More with Code WANTED10 + Free Shipping on $99+. (some exclusions apply)

Hope you enjoy them! Feel free to share your upcoming vacation destinations or stories and as always "Keep on Coupin' on"

All My Single Ladies...

Okay ladies, single ladies specifically...I know that many merchants have been catering to the couple's crowd for Valentine's day, so I just wanted to let you know that we haven't forgot about you :).

All my single ladies, we just added new health and beauty products to keep you on top of your game. All kinds of lotions, moisturizers, creams, sprays, perfumes, oils and even foot massagers. Treat yourselves with all of our products from name brands like Baby Phat, Neutrogena, Loreal Celine Dion and more. Stay confident with everything you want to look stylish, sophisticated and sexy and be able to shop guilt free with our online coupons, discounts and deals. You may even feel so good that you'll want to grab Beyonce's new hit from our music category as well :).

Don't worry moms and all my other ladies in relationships, we have all your needs covered too. We have added new baby, toy, home and even a scrapbook category to go along with all of our other great categories to meet all of your needs and wants. You can always find a great deal with our deal of the day affiliate as well.

We're always looking for ways to improve our site, so feel free to drop us a line anytime and as always, Keep on coupin' on!

A Beginner's Guide to Creating Your Own Website. Tips & Coupons for Webmasters & Affiliate Marketers

Ever thought about having your own web site? Do you have your own website but looking for some affordable solutions for improvement? The freedom of working from home and being your own boss that being a webmaster or affiliate marketer offers is very attractive to many. More and more people are turning to the internet as not only of source of information, but as a source of income as well. I thought I would share with everybody some tips and coupons for webmasters and affiliate marketers, as I am learning how to become one myself.

Webmasters know that developing a good site is much more than just programming. You need a wealth of knowledge that deals with more than just codes and html. I feel it's important to focus on what you do best, in my case sales and affiliate marketing, however understanding the big picture of creating an effective website should not be overlooked.

Finding a niche that you can be successful at can be difficult, but it is very important. Try using a keyword tool to find the popularity of your potential topic and use that information to judge if it's something worth pursuing. The smaller the niche, the better chance you have at making an impact and engaging regular visitors or members of your site. One of your goals should be to become an authority on a topic so that people will trust you enough to buy things based on your recommendations. Once you figure out what your site will be about, you'll need to pick a domain name and set up your hosting. We've got some great deals from godaddy to take care of all your domain and web hosting needs.

Creating good copy and content is probably the single most important aspect in web development. It's often said that "content is king". Writing about things you are passionate for is widely recommended. In other words, don't just write about making money because it's something that you think people will want to know about. If you know a lot about grocery shopping, then the information you create about grocery shopping will be much more useful to your audience and thus much more effective for you. Adding high quality photos, images, widgets, videos and other useful media to help convey your points can be very effective as well.

Search engine optimization is another important aspect for webmasters. Optimizing your sites for search engines like google and yahoo will allow people to find you on the internet much easier. This involves creating title, meta and description tags that mention the keywords you are trying to target, along with on page optimization and link building. For example, if your site will be about Chicago restaurants, you would want to mention those words in all of the tags and about three to five times on your actually website page depending on the amount of content. This helps google determine what your site is about. You can find more information about search engine optimization at xebradesign.com.

Link building is also very important in determining your site's rank in search engines. The more high quality related sites that you have linking to you the better. For example, if you have a small plumbing business, you would want links from other sites related to plumbing. Good places to start would be any associations or organizations that you are a part of. General directories, article directories, facebook, myspace, craigslist, google maps and yahoo local are also great links to have. The age of a site is very important in the eyes of google too, so the sooner you get started the better!

If you are not a designer or not familiar with website design at all, it might be easiest for you to get started with a free blog from google. They supply many free templates and everything you need to get started with having a web presence for free. Otherwise you can find a plethora of high quality template choices from joomla or templatemonster. As time goes on if you want to be taken more seriously, you should consider upgrading your blog to a wordpress and using a custom coded site.

Now it's up to you on how you would like to monetize your website (not as easy as it sounds). Most people don't make or sell anything themselves, so affiliate relationships have been growing rapidly in the past couple years. The way this works is pretty simple; you send traffic to a merchant that sells products or services via a text link or banner placed on your site. They pay you a percentage of each sale that comes through your site in return. One site that I came across has a very affordable comprehensive solution to getting started with affiliate sites for only $49.95. I would also highly recommend the AbestWeb forum. You can learn from some of the best affiliate marketers in the industry and stay abreast on current webmaster and affiliate trends.

Websites are widely regarded as the best marketing tool available nowadays. Whether you have a small business or just looking to make some extra income, gaining a web presence is very important and will only continue to increase in effectiveness as the popularity of the internet grows. Getting a website or making your existing one better is much more affordable than most people think, especially with the help of some coupons and deals from wantedcoupons.com. Check out the webmaster page and get started with one of the best investments you can ever make.

Even Better Deal of the Day Site!

Good news, we've hooked up with yugster to provide you an even better deal of the day now. The yug part stands for "yours until gone" btw.

Yugster is daily deal site that features electronics, gadgets, computer peripherals, kitchen appliances, cool products, useful innovations, and much more for almost always the lowest prices you can find. Here are some benefits to becoming a member:

• First chance at all their products (they tend to sell out quick and once they're gone, they're gone)
• Private item offers
• Email notifications so you'll know what the deal for the next day is and have more time to decide if it's something you'll want
• Yugpoints for purchases, referring friends and posting on the discussion board
• Yugster points can used to get additional discounts and other great benefits

They also have have great values as 50% of profits generated by their comparison shop portal are given to a charity selected by their members each month.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that they have a 90 day full refund satisfaction guarantee called the Assurz Program. So, what are you waiting for? See what they've got today!

Twitter Widget Added To WC Facebook & Myspace pages

Hey Everybody,

Just added the twitter widget to our blog (see upper left-hand corner), facebook, and myspace pages.

Now you can see what we're up to even if you're not on twitter, cool stuff!

Will you be our friend please LOL?

FREE $10 GIFT CARD FROM DILLYEO TODAY ONLY!!!

Hey Everybody,

Don't miss out on this great freebie. Today only Dillyeo is giving away a free $10 gift card. Dillyeo is a deal of the day site that features all kinds of cool stuff like consumer electronics and gadgets. Don't forget to participate in the community by leaving a comment or voting to bring back past dillyeos. You can find them right on our home page today at WantedCoupons.com.

How to find and deal with Contractors

Hey Everybody,

I came across a pretty useful website this weekend that I thought you might find useful. I've written a little something about them below and you can find more about them on our site here:

http://www.wantedcoupons.com/home-improvements.html

With home values in America decreasing, you may want to think about investing in some home improvements. You may have had some things that you always wanted to fix, but weren't sure how long you were going to be in your home. Now that you may be staying in your home a little longer than you originally thought, it's a perfect time to make some improvements so you can enjoy it more.

You may also want to help sell your home faster by adding some additional value. Heating, air conditioning, windows, kitchen and roofing tend to be the areas typically looked at first. While making the decision about what home improvements to make can sometimes be difficult, finding and dealing with a contractor to fix your home may be equally stressful.

Many people have heard of horror stories regarding dealing with unprofessional contractors or scam artists. Doing home improvements yourself can save money, but if you're not really a handy man or woman, don't have much time or just think you could benefit from professional home improvement services it's probably worth a shot to look into.

There are websites that specialize in connecting those in need of home improvements with licensed, insured and reputable contractors that can prove to be very useful. One of them I read about started when the current owner's wife had an unfortunate incident with a roofing contractor that left her out of over a thousand dollars after she left a deposit and never heard from him again. Some will even get you three free estimates on the home improvement that you are interested in from prescreened professionals.

Some tips for dealing with contractors; ask them to give you detailed proposals with costs, make sure you communicate well with them, try to show them what you want with photos or illustrations in addition to talking with them about it, expect messes and delays depending upon conditions.






Jewel-Osco Deals 1/25-1/28

Jewel-Osco Deals for 1/25-1/28:

Coupons Through Flyer:

Free Valentine's Day Plush w any 3 card purchases (in-store only)

Digital 4" x 6" prints only .15 cents ea. Share your memories and create photo books. Order online at www.jewelosco.com

Create a Great Gift, 8" x 10" Instant Collage Print $3.99 ( limit 1 per customer expires 1/31/09)

$5 off Picture Movie DVD (create in store). Add music and motion to your pics

Specials For Your Valentine:

20% off Valentine Candies

$2.99 Vaentine Deluxe, Tatto or 3D cards

10/$10 Valentine Party Favors, Swankies or Gel Clings

$9.99 Snuggle Toy w Blanket 3" x 5" Clear Expressions Frame or Heart Shaped Box

5/$1 Valentine Paper Treat Bags

2/$3 Valentine Scrunchies, Pencils or Tattoos

$1.99 American Greetings Paper Party Goods

$1.99 Innovations Valentine Novelty

2/$5 Valentine Frames, Notepads, Boxed Cards, Sticker Treat Box or Heart

$4.99 Valentine Plush w Socks or Hair Bands

2/$10 Valentine Fleece Throw, Word Pillow or Photo Pillow

$5.99 Truth or Dare Game Candy Dish

Weekly Deals:

Jewel Milk $2.28 per gallon

Banquet Brown n Serve breakfast sausage $.99

Dannon Traditional or Light Yogurt 20/$10

General Mills Cereal or Fiber One Toaster Pastries $2.49

Large Manog or Avocados $.99

Pepsi or Mountain Dew 3/$8.88 (6 pk 24 oz. bottles)

Charmin Bath Tissue $6.99 (12 blg roll or 6 pack mega roll)

Bounty Paper Towels 8 Giant Roll Pack $9.99

Carlo Rossi Wine $7.99 (4 Liters)

Iams Dry Dog Food $16.99 (15.5 -17.5 lbs)

Iams Dry Kitten or Cat Food $6.99 (3.5-4 lbs)

Tide Laundry Detergent $17.99 (150 oz. liquid or 211 oz. powder)

Dawn or Ivory dishwasing liquid 2/$5 (22-30 oz.)

Puffs family pack facial tissue 2/$4

Charmin fresh mates moist wipes 2/$4

Febreze Air Freshener 2/$5

Downy Concentrated Fabric Softener $5.47 (41-51 oz.)

Bounce or Downy Fabric Softener Sheets $5.47

Cascade Automatic Dishwasher Detergent $4.99

Swiffer Sweep & Vac Kit $29.99 (1 ct.)

Swiffer Cleaning system starter kit $17.99

Swiffer WetJet Pad Refills $5.99 (12 ct.)

Swiffer Cleaning Products 2/$9

Mr. Clean Disinfecting Wipes $4.99

Crest Premium Toothpaste or Oral-B Cross Action Toothbrush 2/$5

Crest Whitestrips $29.99 (38 to 42 pack)

Pampers Big Pack Diapers $19.99

Pampers Baby Wipes $6.49 (180 to 231 pk.)

Gillette Razors for Men & Women $8.99

Old Spice Anti-Perspirant/Deodorant 2/$5

Clairol Natural Instincts Hair Color $5.99

Herbal Essences Selected Items 2/$5

Olay Skin Care 20% off

Gillette Body Wash 2/$8

Zest or Old Spice Body Wash 2/$7

Olay boday or Old Spice High Endurance 2/$11

Vicks Formula 44 Custom Care $4.99 (6 oz.)

Metamucil Fiber Laxative Supplement $9.99

Always Infinity 2/$10

Pringles 10/$10 (5-6 oz.)

Dunkin Donuts Coffee $6.99 (11-12 oz.)

Folgers Coffee $7.49 (27.8-33.9 oz.)

Duracell Rechargable Batteries $7.99 (4 pk.)

Duracell SD Flash Memory Card $4.99

Buy One get One Free, Kodak one-time-use Camera

Irish Spring 3-pack bar soap or Softsoap hand soap 3/$4

St. Ives Facial Care, Lotion or Body Wash 2/$6 (6-18 oz.)

Slim-Fast 4 or 6 pack shakes or 5 or 6-pack bars 2/$11

Ensure 6-pack Nutritional Drink $6.99

Equaline by Osco vitamins & supplements Buy one get one free

40% off Neutrogena or Wet n Wild Cosmetics

Mucinex or Mucinex DM $8.99 (20 pk.)

Melitta Cone Coffe Filters 2/$5 (100 pk.)