Father's Day

Hi all!
Father's Day is quickly approaching, as well as graduations and tons of weddings.....if you need to pick up a gift or some party supplies check out
www.Joann.com They often have free shipping which saves you drive time and
gas money! Here are some codes that expire 5/25/05:
Take $5 off a purchase of $30 Code: MAYED55
Take $10 off purchase of $50 Code: MAYED510
Take $25 off purchase of $120 Code: MAYED525
Take $50 off purchase of $200 Code: MAYED550
If your family drinks a lot of those drinks in pouches like Capri Sun, call this gal who will pay you cash for your empty pouches: 760-430-1043.
To sell your used kids stuff and get free advertising call 760-967-1063 for "Kids Stuff Etc" magazine.
Cinema Star Theaters in Oceanside (CA) has free movies and crafts for kids the last Saturday of every month! Sign up your kids for a free "Kids Fun Zone" card for more free stuff! The Mission Marketplace is on the corner of College & Hwy 76.
Call your local Lowes and Home Depot to find out which Saturdays they do free kids crafts. Your kids will have fun, learn some handy skills and come home with a cool masterpiece of some kind, perfect for gifts.
One of the Sister Thrifty subscribers, Gil Torriente, has a great learning experience I wanted to share with you all. In Gil's words:
For a long time, I have checked our bank accounts online almost every day.
We have several accounts, such as checking, and a few savings accounts for us and our children, available from the same card. Last week, I noticed a $301.50 withdrawal in our checking account and the same amount from a savings account from the day before. And other charges for account balance inquiry and for using a different bank than ours. I knew neither my husband, nor I had withdrawn money, and besides, we would never use a different bank.
(We are too cheap). And I could tell right away that one withdrawal was done in Los Angeles Chinatown, where we had not been. I called the bank and they could tell by their records that the first withdrawal ($300 plus bank fee) had been with my husband's debit card and his PIN. The other one was too early to tell, but later that day showed up as having used the same card and PIN, but in Upland. My husband still had his card in his possession and he has never given out his card number or PIN to anybody. How did it happen then?
The next day I had my answer. In the newspaper there was an article about somebody who had been convicted of stealing $600,000 from people by inserting magnetic strips into ATM machines and in that way copied the numbers from the cards used. With cameras in place somewhere, he observed people putting in their PIN. I am guessing that gas stations would be a good place for that, since the keypads are high up and very visible. My husband buys all his gas using a debit card, so somebody could very easily have observed him somewhere. Lesson learned: Always cover the keypad with one hand, stand in the way, pretend to punch in different numbers before you put in the real ones, anything to protect your PIN. Watch out for people with cell phone cameras or others watching you.
For us, it turned out OK. We cancelled my husband's card immediately, he changed his PIN. And I changed mine also. And the bank refunded all the money within a few days. But if we had had less money at the time and I hadn't checked our accounts often, it could have been really bad. And the bank may not be as willing to return the money when more time has gone by. I check every day now. And my husband proudly told me that he covered that keypad well last time he bought gas.
Since banks have cameras, they easily get a picture of the thief, but crooks are smart. Going to a different bank makes it harder for the original bank to get the pictures. It takes longer. Also both withdrawals from our account were done at night. That might give the thief more time before the transaction shows up.
Thanks Gil. I'm sooo glad everything turned out ok for you two. Keep those great tips, steals & deals, and other shopping advice coming!
CENTSerely,
Sister Thrifty