Target Baby Registry Freebie Bag

I was tipped off that, if you create a Target baby registry, you could get a bunch of free coupons.  I have to admit, I was very surprised when I actually saw what I got for having to spend no money.  Not only were there coupons, but there were a lot of good samples!

Ah, well, ya know, a picture is worth a thousand words so let’s just get to it! 🙂

In no particular order, and while probably leaving a few items out by mistake, I received:

1. a reusable mini-bag,
2. Dreft sample,
3. Mam pacifier,
4. “breastfeeding sample,” which I think are storage bags,
5. 4 oz Avent bottle,
6. a Pampers pocketbook with a diaper and wipes inside, 2
7. Honest diapers and wipes,
8. Dreft detergent sample,
9. Babyganics detergent sample,
10. Aquaphor (sp?) mini tube,
11. Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo mini bottle,
12. Prenatal Olly gummy samples,
13. Zarbee’s Naturals baby vitamin sample.

    Coupons Include:

14. Buy 1 Get 1 Free at Target Starbucks for coffee,
15. $2 off any Olly product at Target,
16. $2 off Seventh Generation Wipes,
17. $4 off Seventh Generation diaper pack,
18. $2 off One A Day prenatal,
19. $2 off any 2 Johnson’s and/or Desitin Products,
20. $2 off any Avent multi-pack of bottles,
21. $0.75 off any Avent pacifier pack,
22. $5 Target Gift Card with Mustela baby purchase of $35+,
23. $1.50 off Babyganics detergent,
24. $2.50 off any Zarbee’s baby vitamins,
25. $2 off Zarbee’s baby immune support,
26. $5 off Zarbee’s 60 ct elderberry gummies for adults,
27. $2 off Zarbee’s cough & throat relief,
28. 10% off nursing bra/cami purchase at Target,
29. 15% off Liz Lange for Target maternity apparel,
30. $25 off of an Honest Company cumulative purchase of $50+,
31. Buy 1 Get 1 Free 6 pack of 2oz Enfamil bottles at Target.

 

Please be aware, these bags are finite in stock and not guranteed.  They may also be discontinued or have the items changed at ANY time.  But, my experience was great and it’s worth trying for one of these bags.

 

Forever Blessed Cassava Supplement Review

I bought a product called “Forever Blessed” on Amazon with the hopes of helping my fertility, and I assume that most of you are reading this article looking for reviews on the product.  Let me be clear – I do not work for Forever Blessed, and I do not work for any of their competitors, or any other pharmaceutical company.  This is a review based on my personal experience, I am not a doctor, your personal mileage may vary, and I am listing side effects that could be coincidental and are potentially unrelated to Forever Blessed.  Now that we have that out of the way:

Since I am usually sensitive to medications, the “no reported side effects” boast from Forever Blessed (shown in the screen shot at the bottom) really caught my attention.  It’s made out of Cassava, which is a plant, and I try to look for natural products over chemical concoctions.  I took the Forever Blessed Cassava supplement for 27 days and I have felt “off” the entire time, with no other changes in my diet or lifestyle while I took these pills.  I am not saying that my issues were definitely caused by Forever Blessed pills, or that you will have the same experience if you take them.  However, I am concerned enough that I want to throw out a generalized caution.

I would like to say that, based on my research and personal experience, this product is BOGUS. It is designed to make a few bucks on hopeful parents-to-be who are likely having issues conceiving. How can I say this with any certainty? Because
1) that’s why I bought it, and
2) if this product was legitimate, Pfizer, or a similar drug company, would have bought out this business and made it available in every drug store next to the pregnancy tests.

As for the side effects, I’d say that they started within a few hours.  After a while, the symptoms went from mildly noticeable to very consuming.  Over the course of those 27 days I’ve felt lightheaded, dehydrated, dizzy, extreme nausea, moderate on-and-off cramping, feeling unable to get out of bed, burning up and freezing at the same time, and I have had problems making out smaller print words recently.  I’ve also had a number of migraines, which I am prone to already, but they usually don’t hit me without some kind of light provocation (a bad glare off of a windshield, or the like).  I thought, well, I probably caught a bad cold, or maybe the flu, and I kept going with the pills.  However, it’s been four weeks, and I seem to have worsening symptoms, which were topped off yesterday with kidney pain and a bleeding rectum as I raced to the bathroom (sorry – TMI, I know).  Something is wrong, and while I can’t, and am not, proclaiming definitively that the Forever Blessed supplements caused all, or any, of my issues, the timing is very suspicious and I was not having most of these symptoms before.  Now, for full disclosure, I do have an ulcer, but there are no side effects or warnings to not take this product or to consult a doctor if I have an ulcer.

Personally, I did not want the issue to be these pills, because, if this supplement was real, then it would save tens of thousands of dollars in fertility treatments.  I had put some desperate hopes into these pills, so I held firm to the “no reported side effects” claim from the manufacturer (shown in the FAQ screen shot in the bottom).  But, my husband decided to do some digging when I couldn’t get myself out of bed today.  http://herbpathy.com/Uses-and-Benefits-of-Cassava-Cid3805 claims that Cassava has dizziness and vision troubles as side effects right off the bat.  http://www.pyroenergen.com/articles08/cassava-cyanide-poisoning.htm claims that Cassava Root in particular can be like cyanide if not prepared properly (and there are NO comments on the Forever Blessed website about where or in what type of facility the supplements are prepared – see screen cap at bottom of page).  In fact, the threat of Cassava is so real that the Japanese Ministry of Health forbids Cassava for human consumption.  http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/cassava.html then goes on to list that symptoms for eating raw Cassava Root include “vomiting, nausea, dizziness, stomach pains, headache, and death.”  Obviously, I haven’t died, but all the others have applied, which makes me wonder how these supplements are being made.  http://www.kidney-symptom.com/kidney-failure-diet/789.html#6d likewise mentions that patients with kidney issues should not take Cassava, as the toxicity can build up in organs like the kidney (I have not had any kidney issues before this pain started yesterday).

Then I found, http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/medical/cassava_poisoning.htm – which lists 18 symptoms for “Cassava Poisoning,” which are:

• Diarrhea (check)
• Nausea (super check!)
• Vomiting (mild check)
• Abdominal pain (check)
• Headache (migraines!)
• Dizziness (check)
• Lethargy (check)
• Dilated pupils
• Spasms
• Irregular breathing
• Weakness (check)
• Excitement and depression (check)
• Labored breathing
• Chills (check)
• Sweating (check)
• Visual disturbance (check)
• Convulsions
• Intermittently flaccid muscles

With 12 out of 18 symptoms matching this description, it seems like Cassava poisoning is likely the culprit causing most of my symptoms.

I also found an article warning against supplements in general, and that 23,000 people go to the emergency room every year over them http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/23000-people-us-end-er-annually-because-supplements .  While Cassava isn’t specifically mentioned here, it certainly makes a strong case that “no reported side effects” is a b/s response.  The article also warns that you should not take any supplements without a doctor’s recommendation, because they have zero benefit if you don’t need them.

Now, the Forever Blessed website says that there is no cyanide in their pills, because they use “Ultra Fine Cassava.”  However, I’m having difficulty finding that term anywhere that isn’t on a page about Forever Blessed or another obscure product.  I would still question where they are getting this product, and how they know it’s reliable, especially if they’re a home-based company.  I mean, they say on their website that they cannot offer phone support, or else they’d have to charge an extra $2 per bottle, which sounds like a very smart business plan if you don’t want to get calls hounding you about selling goods that don’t do what they claim.  There’s a reason we don’t see many mom-and-pop supplement stands in America…  Like I said before, my symptoms could all be a coincidence, but it’s a little horrifying to see that they match very closely to issues associated with Cassava ingestion, especially with the link to kidney pain, which I’ve never had before.

—

Side effects aside – something seems strange about the supplement’s packaging.  With Forever Blessed, the product feels very homemade, which is not necessarily a good thing when you are putting a crushed up powdered substance into your body.  The manufacturer is listed as “Forever Blessed Twins LLC,” which, you know, it’s always a good sign when the name of a supplement is the same as the manufacturer – super legit when no reputable brand or factory name is attached to a creation that you are going to ingest.  There isn’t even a full address listed for the company, which means a lawyer would have to do some digging if someone wanted to sue from unlisted side effects.  And the pills are not stamped or marked, so you can’t be sure that there were no mix-ups – this is essentially a take-at-your-own-risk situation.

The bottle itself seems generic, like it may be from a craft store; and the label seems non-professionally designed to me (I work in graphics, and that is my opinion). The UPC code, while valid, is so squished up and blurry, I doubt a retail scanner could read the barcode.  There are no copyright logos on the bottle, and the expiration date is also printed on the label, not stamped, as you would find on any typical factory issued bottle (factories don’t tend to reprint labels for each batch of pills they produce, so they stamp the bottles).

The directions read: “Take one (1) capsule in the morning daily.” There are no remarks about warnings or the standard “consult a doctor if,” and there is no labeling about this product being FDA approved.

The lack of FDA approval isn’t necessarily unusual for supplements, most of my store-bought supplements say they have not been FDA evaluated – but they SAY that on the bottle.  This is one more reason to question what you’re getting and how effective it truly is.  After all, we are in a day and age where companies like Your Baby Can Read are sued and shut down for false/misleading advertising, and claiming to help women conceive twins is a tall order to fill or prove.  Also notice that the bottle doesn’t make the no side effects claim.

The Forever Blessed bottle also doesn’t include much information on what the dosages contain. The bottle says “900mg per capsule,” but is that 100% Cassava? Every other supplement I’ve ever purchased has listed the ingredients, as well as what that dosage is towards your daily intake recommendations. The FAQ on their website says it is 100% Cassava, but it seems odd that the bottle does not describe this.

Their website also comes off as more of a personal blog than a professional site, and that concerns me in hindsight, now that I’m mentally absorbing the possibility of having side effects, because we really have no idea what all could be in these pills or who is putting them together, where their product is coming from, if it’s being handled in a consumption safe manner, etc.  Their website has a “How It’s Made” section that shows generic stock photos and tells you no real information on where, or how, this product is made.

It basically says Cassava grows from a seed, it’s harvested, it’s ground up, and it’s put in a gel cap.  Oh, wait, they do mention that any Cassava with brown specs in it will cause upset stomach and diarrhea.  Gee, if you count nausea as an upset stomach, I’ve had both of these issues!  Hmm, who is doing the Forever Blessed quality control?  I’m starting to envision one woman ordering a powdered substance off the internet and filling gel caps in her kitchen…  Honestly, I could be taking sugar pills and actually have some extended type of flu that’s making me feel awful, because there is zero proof that the website is truthful or accurate.  Even the testimonials are all cherry picked, and you cannot submit an instant review to be seen on the website.

Plus, the general lack of directions on the packaging are weird.  When I received my bottle, I wasn’t really clear on what to do next. I had a 30 day supply with no instructions on when I should start taking the pills. Should I start at the beginning of my period? The day after it ends? The middle of my cycle? What?! Since this is a product that supposedly stimulates fertility, wouldn’t the time that you start taking it matter?  I had to go to the FAQ on their website to read that I can take the supplements at any time. What if I didn’t have the internet and needed answers?  Who would I call?  Who would I write?  The company does not provide any contact information aside from an email address.

These are all things that I overlooked or chose not to look into at first because I wanted to believe in this product.  That was my fault for taking Forever Blessed at face value.  I hope others will be wiser than I was.

I’d like to share the Forever Blessed FAQ screen shot that verifies several things I’ve mentioned in this blog.  You may also note a typo or two (“Out Cassava can be taken right away”), which, again, speaks to the general “professionalism” surrounding this product.  At the bottom of the website, it says “powered by WordPress.”  So am I, and that’s worrysome that a supplement product that’s been around since 1999 can’t even afford a professional website.

The final nail in the coffin for me is the bottle’s own description of “with peak chances [of twins] occurring after 6 months of supplement use.”  You can see this on my personal images of the bottle above (in the directions).  That, to me, sounds like a hidden disclaimer for a no-good product, as it offers no statistics, no scientific data, no guarantees, just a lot of hype that gets negated by saying buzz words like “odds,” “percentages,” “individuals.”  Six months of use is a way to get about $100 out of you before you realize that this product may be no good.  “Peak chances” also basically implies that it’s your fault if the product doesn’t work like you expect it to, because your body is different.

Basically, these pills are like claiming that wearing yellow socks can help you run faster.  Can you prove that they don’t help you?  Are you measuring in microseconds?  Well did you run with them on everyday for six months so that the socks could better form fit your body’s needs?  See, there’s lots of wiggle room to not hold the manufacturer accountable for their claim that this product boosts your odds for twins, because you can’t ever prove what your odds of twins are unless you are constantly being medically evaluated during each cycle.  While would-be-future-parents often get desperate, I don’t believe that Cassava is any miracle supplement that will give you twins, and I, personally, feel foolish for having tried it.  This is all just my two cents, use your own judgement.

Forever Flawless Store Review

So, I very rarely ever go to the mall without my husband because I get swarmed by those overly pushy, highly aggressive, often Middle Eastern sales people who reach out and physically grab you in the mall to shove their junk products down your throat (think:  Dead Sea Spa types).

BUT, lucky for me, today the kids and I were killing time in the mall waiting for my husband to do job testing.  I was actually after the Inside Out button from the Disney Store (a weekly freebie – trying to get the whole set), then we thought we’d walk around.  Unfortunately, we were also out of town, so I did not know the dodge points in this particular mall.  Yes, I am the type of anal that I plan routes to not cross the paths of the rude sales kiosks whenever I can help it.

We walk by this shop called Forever Flawless.  I had no idea what it was, and no interest in it either.  But there was a guy with very fake red hair (by the blonde bits, it looks like he threw peroxide on himself to try and look more “white”) standing outside and trying to hand me a free sample.  Usually, I’ll put up my hand, say no thank you, and keep going – but this sample was in the shape of a diamond, and my daughter reached out for it.  As she clasped her hands around the sample, the man simultaneously put his hand around my wrist and drug me into the store, insisting he had to show me something and it would just take a minute.

Alright, I thought I’d do what my husband does when he gets cornered like this – let them carry on, show me whatever, then say “I’ll think about it” and rush out of there, never to return.  Well, as Magneto said when the police started using plastic weapons against him, “they’ve finally learned!”

This guy, who barely speaks English, gets me in a hair dresser’s chair and starts putting this goop on my face without my permission.  Some kind of skin exfoliation cream.  He starts carrying on, asking me what I do for a living, then insisting that I don’t take care of my skin and that I need to be doing so.  I said that I use soap, and that I don’t really care about my skin because I’m already married, my husband isn’t vain enough to be concerned with my skin, and, being a photographer, my job means that I care about what my clients look like, not myself.  He tried to say that my face was my business card, and I told him “no, my work is my business card.”  He didn’t like that much and just tried to talk circles around me – because, how dare a dumb woman try to talk back to a man, I guess.

After putting three different products on my skin (all of which he applied without ever asking my permission before using it and touching me), he then starts talking prices.  For three products, it was something like $500.  I told him I wasn’t interested, and he started trying to wheel and deal with me to give me his “one voucher for the day” and to give me the items at cost.  I insisted I wouldn’t use it, that I’ve bought crap like this before and I don’t use it.  His response to that was that his crap included diamond dust and would 100% clear up acne.

At this point I was ready to go, but the man would not stop talking in circles.  He was physically blocking me in the chair.  I did not have enough space to even stand up.  Every time I said “no,” he insisted that I needed it.  He said “well, you spend money on clothes don’t you?”  I looked down at my clearance Regular Show t-shirt and said “not really.”  He sighed, getting upset, “well, you spend money on handbags!”  He was good, and he almost had a point, being that I was holding a huge Dooney and Burke bag, but the truth was “this cost $6 at a thrift store.”  He sighed again and got really irritated.

“Listen,” I said, “the photography business isn’t that good, my husband lost his job in April, and these three things that I will never use cost more than my mortgage.  I won’t use this, I could care less about my skin.”

He just kept telling me not to lie to him and say that, everyone cares about their skin, and I’ll feel more beautiful and confident.  When I would laugh with annoyance, he would get mad and ask why I was laughing at him.  I said “I need to go.”

Then, he pulls out his desperate, last trick.  He pushes the other two boxes back and hold up the exfoliation product.  “The other stuff is junk, really, but this you really need.  I tell you what, I’ll give it to you for cost because I know you’ll be my model and then your friends will come buy from me.  $60!”

He wouldn’t stop the sales pitch, he wouldn’t stop blocking me in the chair, and I finally broke and said, “ok, for $60 I’ll take it.”  Mind you, they claim the retail is $180, but there are no stickers on the box to prove this, but I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

Then, I’m trying to check out.  I hand him my card and he walks off and tries to add the other two products back into my purchase.   Uhh, didn’t he just say those were junk anyways?  “NO!  I don’t want those!”  He tried to fight with me and speak more nonsense, but I shot it down.  I guess I looked annoyed enough that he gave up on that – but then he walked to the side of the store and brought out a gift box.  It had the exfoliation cream and a moisturizer, and he told me that it was a left over gift set from Mother’s Day, and he was going to sell me that instead for $100.

I said “no, I’m not going to use the moisturizer.”  “Oh, of course you will,” he told me, “and it’s only $40 more so it’s a better deal for you.”  “I don’t think so.”  “It’s going to save you money, that set, I can sell for $300!”  “I don’t have it, I am living off of $600 a month right now, I don’t have the money to blow on stuff I don’t need!”  “But it’s okay, because this is a years supply so you’ll save money!”  “Look, if this is wonderful stuff, I’ll come back and get this if I want it.”  “It’s on sale now, not later.  It’s only $40 more, it’s a better deal for you.  I save you money!”  “I don’t care.  I will pay full price later IF I want it, but I do not need to pay another $40 for something I’m not going to use.”  “Ohh, no no no, you will use it.  Just use it when you brush your teeth every morning!”  Then he tried pulling out an iPad and trying to show me how much more expensive the creams are online.  “I don’t care.”  “Don’t tell me that!”  “Give me my card back or I’m going to call mall security.”

He finally relented and checked me out for just the $60 exfoliation cream.  Had he not been holding my credit card in my hand this whole time and trying to force an up-sell, I would have already walked out.  Oh, and half the time when I said “not interested,” he acted like he couldn’t understand me and kept going.

I also strongly considered having my husband promptly return this product after his testing ended, but, alas, the receipt says “No Returns” (always a sure sign that a product is garbage).  The product also isn’t sealed, so there’s no way to know if it was ever used as a tester on someone else.  But, the sales people are definitely bullies.  I haven’t seen Dead Sea Spa in a while, I think they finally got enough complaints that the mall we were at today shut them down, but they seem to have just repackaged their stuff and thrown their employees into a different company name.

Now, since I was stuck with it, I did use the creme once.  I used it as directed – applied it to clean skin and washed with warm water after I was finished.  My face feels softer, but also very dried out and itchy.  My eye also feels like it has tiny shards of glass in it (I think I got a little dab of it on my tear duct).  I may update this post if I actually like this product, but I will never step foot in that store again.  I may just scream “rape” and run the next time a Middle Easterner puts their hands on me in the mall again – I’m really over their behavior in every store that they run, and this one was definitely was more terrible than the others I’ve encountered.

I’m also finding online reviews saying that this stuff is not FDA approved, that diamond dust has no proof of being a good exfoliating agent, that the $6 cheap-o stuff works better than Forever Flawless, and that all the sales people are just as horrendous (with the claim that the staff is illegally here from Israel and work in the store to pay for their room and bored – which, if true, is highly illegal on many different levels).  I don’t know about all of these reviews, but I can attest that the staff has no tact or manners, and the men seem to have no problem with bullying female shoppers and putting their hands all over them.  Very disrespectful.

And, as a final note – just because there are Middle Eastern people who work in the mall and act like this does not mean that every Middle Eastern person is this way.  The mall workers definitely tend to fit a stereotype of being rude, aggressive, and pushing high pressure sales, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to the behaviors of an entire region of the world.  Just, you know, stay the hell away from them in the mall if you don’t want to end up in a screaming match.

Loot Crate Unboxing March 2015

Last month I did a post on the February 2015 Loot Crate, and I thought I’d continue with the March crate.

Maybe it’s just me, because I’m not a big spy fan (except in the case of Archer), but this months crate felt like a whole lot of nothing.

The most notable items were:

• James Bond T-Shirt
• Agents of SHIELD Exclusive ID badge
• Orphan Black comic
• 2 Field Notes mini-notebooks
• Stealth Watch
• Spy Themed Mad Libs
• Ninjak #1 Digital Comic Download Code

Now, I know that when a shirt gets involved, the other items in the box tend to go down in quality.  If it was a great shirt, I’d be find with that, but when was the last time that James Bond was cool among geeks?  Archer, I could understand, but Bond is a relic thrown in among modern pop culture items.  Plus, the shirt was white, and a really thin fabric where you can see the nipples of whomever is wearing it.  And the graphic, if you notice in the video, has some flaws.  Overall, not impressed…

Now, Loot Crate had been plugging an exclusive Agents of SHIELD items all month long, and it’s not a bad item, but it’s not that noteworthy either.  It’s an orange ID badge with a holographic SHIELD emblem on it and a corresponding clip/string to hang it on.  There’s a barcode on it too, but no other identifying features.  I’m not sure if this is what they used in the show or not, but the way they were plugging the item I was expecting more of a mini-figure/model of one of the agent’s gadgets.

The Orphan Black comic is pretty standard, and also a Loot Crate exclusive.  Orphan Black is picking up more steam as a newer BBC series, so this comic may end up being a nice gateway intro into that show.

The Field Notes books are just on the “blah” side.  They’re cheap, they’re cheesy, and I’m pretty sure that yellow caution strip was supposed to be wrapped around them.  I know that’s a small detail, but presentation makes up for a lot in these boxes, and this was just bad filler.

The Stealth Watch, however, is actually pretty cool.  I didn’t quite understand the concept at first – why push a button to see the time “secretly” if you’re already wearing a big, black watch on your wrist?  My son got it though.  He explained that it’s for when you’re walking around at night, trying to sneak around like a Ninja, and you can’t see an analog watch in the dark, and you don’t want the glow of a digital watch making you a target.  Pretty neat once he explained it.  Probably the best item in the box.

But next there’s Mad Libs?  Seriously?!  Why not just say “we’re out of ideas, so have some cheap junk.”  Not only could I buy a similar item for $0.50, but I like Loot Crate for the collectible items.  I don’t like paying for paper goods that are meant to be used and tossed, and having two of those items in one box is just wasting my money.

Then we have the digital comic, which you have to make an account on ComiXology to redeem.  You can store it online and download a backup file, which is a nice feature.  I glanced over the comic and it isn’t my cup of tea, but I’d say my 10 year old will like it well enough.

My son was given a 3 month long gift subscription, and I do believe this will be the end of the line with us and Loot Crate.  My son is pretty happy with the box, but as a parent looking to continue paying for this service, I’m irritated.  Last month was a neat first box, but a number of those items were pretty iffy.  This month, between the Field Notes, the Mad Libs, and the white shirt, I am beyond unimpressed with the March 2015 box.  Next, we plan to try out Geek Fuel and/or Brick Loot (a monthly Lego box), both of which seem to offer a better value.  But, check back in around April 20th to see my son unbox his final Loot Crate.  Maybe that will be the box that wows me.

GlodieBlox Review

So, I saw this commercial a few years ago and I fell in love with the idea of GoldieBlox:

I could relate to this commercial so much that it made me want to cry.  Certainly, little girls get pink, dolls, and cooking/cleaning toys shoved down their throats.  Back in my day, Lego was about the only thing that was gender neutral-esc., and Lego today seems to think that female Legos should be mostly princesses and “friends” with little tiny wastes.  There is definitely a clear divide on how they market Legos to boys versus girls right now.  Bleck!

So, I finally bought my daughter GoldieBlox and the Dunk Tank this past Xmas (she’s a bit on the mean spirited side, so I thought she’d like to keep dunking the poor little dog figure, lol).

Long story short, while I love the principle behind GoldieBlox, I did not think much of the Dunk Tank kit.  It took my 7-year-old about 10-15 minutes to put the kit together, then she played with it for another 20 or so minutes before being completely bored with it.  The kit is fairly limited to where it basically acts as a set toy once you put it together (ie, like when you open up a Monster High house – you put it together, then it’s permanently together).

Now, the dunk tank does come with a handful of extra pieces, and some other ideas of what else you could build with the kit.  But, that did not interest my daughter at all.  The kit was together, it matched the box, so she was finished.

For the recommended age range, which is 4-9 years old, I can see where this would be their mindset.  GoldieBlox is newer, and kids may not really understand that it’s supposed to be similar to K’nex or Legos.

But after seeing how few pieces a $20 kit came with, I have to admit that I was disappointed as a consumer too.  As far as building pieces, there are only 51 in the kit.  That doesn’t sound like a number to sneeze at, granted, but when you consider that the kid is mostly a combination of hollow, plastic straws and square connector pieces (you can only make things that are square/rectangle shapes, essentially) and it feels more limiting than liberating.  Also consider that a box of 521 K’nex, or a 303 box of random Lego bricks, are also $20.  Then you start to feel screwed over as a buyer.

GoldieBlox has such a strong concept, I’m disappointed that they seem to get in their way by trying to make very specific kits.  What I would like to see from GoldieBlox in the future are boxes full of random pieces and an idea book.  Give girls more of a push to create and think on their own rather than be so limited to create a few specific things with each kit (yes, I know that Lego is just as bad for kits, but you at least get the option to buy a box of generic bricks).  I’d also love to see some items geared more towards the 10-13 crowd of girls, because that is the age, in my opinion, where the meaning of “being a girl” starts to get heavily defined.  That’s when the idea of being popular and glammed out starts to take over and create biases.  So, GoldieBlox, I know you have it in you to open the minds of a lot of little girls, and I hope you keep pushing forward to get there.

Student Loan Repayment – Mission Impossible

I’m a little more than frustrated today.  I’ve been trying to get my hard working husband set up to request the federal student loans Income Based Repayment plan.  He has a four year degree, and despite the student loan office at Ohio State swearing that would earn him $50k a year, he makes about $12 a hour in the ONLY full time job offer he’s had since being honorably discharged with the military.  This will be our second year that both of us are applying to defer our combined $70k+ in debt (roughly $30k a year income for a family of four), and it’s getting ugly.

In 2012, my husband’s student loans were sold off to Sallie Mae.  You may think, “well, it’s supposed to be a government affiliated, so that is the same as the Department of Education owning your loan.”  That’s not quite true on several levels, especially if you need assistance.

First, Sallie Mae will appear to have tons and tons of repayment options available.  It’s true, they do exist, but finding them can be a particularly challenging task.  Somehow, I stumbled upon the Income Based Repayment (IBR) form and got it ready, had my husband sign off on it, and mailed it away along with our 2012 tax return copy.  Simple right?  WRONG!

Magically, the IBR application never reached their office, despite being mailed a little over sixty days before repayment was set to beging.  I don’t know how many letters they get in a month, but you would think that sixty days would be enough to get to my husband’s deferment application.  Who knows, perhaps the papers will resurface in the future, but it seems like offering an option to mail the application is a trap.  If they say they didn’t get your application in time, you are paying money you may very well not have until they get the matter straightened out.  Sure, it will probably go to an IBR plan eventually, but you are screwed until that time comes in, even when you did everything right on your end.

If you think I’m being paranoid, try applying for any kind of government assistance (which I have in past years).  Daycare assistance, food stamps, medical coverage – many applications will suspiciously get bounced around and disappear no matter how they were turned in, or how much need a person has.  I remember going back to school and asking for daycare help, based on income I was supposed to pay $1 a month with assistance, but what happened to my applications?  No one knows, but I was stuck spending $250 A WEEK until that was straightened out, and if I had not had signed/dated receipts for our two dozen application turn ins, and a furious husband willing to fight for the assistance, that would have NEVER been refunded.  I would have dropped out of school from a lack of money to pay for daycare.  Every time they lost my application, they had the potential to save their department $1,000 a month in child care costs.  In short, you as an individual are not as important as the budget, and that is especially true in populated areas that are short on funds.

Back to Sallie Mae.  My second issue is that their website is confusing and unstable.  When I tried to log in and redownload the IBR form, it was nowhere to be found!  I looked everywhere, even went into the online forms section, and there was no IBR form.  I filled out the “See if You Qualify” preliminary form, and all I got were “error” messages and glitches that sent me to the loan homepage.  I even Googled “Sallie Mae IBR Form” and NOTHING could directly link me to get this document again now that the loans were due!  Notice that the section to submit payment never acts up like this.

Worried, I checked my Downloads folder on my computer, and luckily for us, the previous IBR form I had downloaded was still there.  So, I printed it, filled it out again, got my husband to sign it, and went to upload it online this time.  Simple right?  STILL WRONG!

Sallie Mae is a student loan company, and that’s pretty much all it has ever been.  So, dealing in forms and fees is all they do.  Now, I’ve learned that forms disappear and hide, both online and when physically printed and mailed in, but electronically submitted forms leave a trail that’s harder to lose.  However, despite being a big, money oriented company, Sallie Mae offers a confusing upload process.  You must log in, find the proper section to upload into (I suspect many forms get “rejected” for not going into the proper folder) and then find out that the document you are uploading, no matter how many pages are involved in the form, has to be UNDER 5 MB!

Why is the upload size so small?  Surely they can afford IT professionals and larger capacities to make this a non-issue.  I had to rescan and reformat the document three times to get even two pages to upload without rejection.  This, to me, is like Google blaming the users for click bombing (I’ll let those of you who are unfamiliar with this term look it up yourselves) when Google writes the codes and could easily disable people from multi-clicking advertisements.  If Sallie Mae makes it nearly impossible for you to upload or snail mail your applications for IBR, or other deferment plans, it is still your problem, your fault, and your responsibility.

I’m sorry, but once you teach the dealers to cheat in a casino to avoid losing money, you’ve ruined the system for everyone, and that is exactly what this is.  Sallie Mae is a company that sets out to make money, the fact that it is government sponsored does not change that fact.  If they were here to help students and truly keep them out of default, forms would be more readily available, uploads would have much larger limitations, and mailed forms would not vanish off the face of the earth.  Funny that I never had an application to apply for student loans or a payment go missing like that, don’t you think?

All companies making a profit WANT you to DEFAULT.  Why?  Because then the government pays your tab AND the bank still gets to come after you for the rest of your life to pay the loans.  The laws have made these loans nearly impossible to discharge in bankruptcy, so the banks can come after you legally for the rest of your life, and inflate you interest rate to just about whatever they want in the process too.

Pretty sweet deal.  You get an education, find no decent paying jobs anywhere, and then have a swelling debt over your head for ages to come.  If that weren’t stressful enough, you have to worry about these petty games when you have no money to pay the loans back, even though these places are supposed to be there to “help” you.  This could only be worse if the loans were private instead of federal!  I am sorry to all of you poor souls with private loans – truly!

American Girling

So, I’m still being very lazy about getting my blog back together (Girl Scouts seems to have me running around like crazy), so here is a long overdue post from my vlog.

I’m quickly learning about American Girl dolls these days, so expect some posts about them to come up in the future.  My daughter got into Caroline, and I recently got wind of the Today Show deal and got ahold of Cecile and Marie-Grace for an amazing price.  I made a little show off video below: