FAQ’s | Once A Month Cooking tips from Once A Month Mom

Membership Questions

I have a question/problem, who do I email?

You should send an email to info at onceamonthmom.com and please include the following:

First and last name associated with your Paypal Account:
First and last name associated with your membership account (if different than above)
Email address associated with your Paypal Account:
Nature of your question/problem/concern

What does membership get me?

With a paid membership you will get access to the customized ready to cook documents that accompany our menus. This includes recipes cards, grocery lists, step-by-step cooking instructions and labels for all menus from January 1, 2012 to present. You will also receive access to all of our ebooks for free.

Can I customize the menus?

At this time you can adjust the number of servings that you want to make on the recipe cards and grocery lists and they will adjust. These documents do not currently “talk” to one another, they are independent documents. That means if you want to delete recipe(s) from the menu you will need to manually deduct the ingredients from the grocery list yourself. In the future, it is our hope that we will be able to add this functionality and when we do our yearly members will receive some extra financial savings for being loyal members from the start.

Mix-and-Match menus is NOT AVAILABLE at this time.

Can I share the my membership with my cooking partner?

Membership is one per household. Unless you are in the same household we ask that you not share membership resources.

How fast do I get access to membership when I sign up?

Immediately after registration and payment are received!

I paid through Paypal but wasn’t sent to a registration page, now what?

Occasionally, there is miscommunication from Paypal to our system and it doesn’t redirect you properly. Chances are your transaction has gone through, so hold tight. Our membership system will email you within that first hour (at the email registered with your Paypal account used) with information for completing your registration. If you do not receive that email within the first hour, please email us with the above information at info at onceamonthmom.com.

Does membership start on the 1st of the month like menus?

No, membership starts the date you sign up. If you sign up for a monthly membership your membership renews on the same day of the month as the month you purchased (ie. if you purchase on January 3rd it will renew on February 3rd). If you sign up for a yearly membership your membership will renew on the same date the following year (ie if you purchase on January 3rd, 2013 it will renew on January 3rd, 2014).

Will there be mistakes on menus now that I am paying money for them?

Our menus go through a 3 month process before they ever get published; however, given that you can adapt them to our family size and we personally customize the recipe cards by hand, it leaves lots of opportunities for human error. Until we have a new database system that can manage this process more accurately there will continue to be errors from time to time. We have instituted some additional check points to improve our system and we promise to correct any errors we find in a timely manner. We believe that the service and resources we offer are well worth the money.

Can we opt out at any time? Cancellation policies?

Yes, you can sign up for a quarter or a year, cancel at any time. No haggling.

**PLEASE NOTE: There will be no reimbursements for signing up for 1 month of membership and then canceling. All sales are final on monthly memberships. On yearly memberships, if you find you don’t want the service you signed up for you can cancel and get a partial refund (yearly cost minus 1 month) as long as you email us at help at onceamonthmom.com within 30 days of purchase – Paypal DOES NOT notify us, you must. All cancellations after that time will not be reimbursed.

**PAYPAL NOTE: If you choose echeck (paying from bank account instead of credit card or Paypal funds) with Paypal that these transactions take 3-5 days to process. You will be able to register but will not be able to access your account until your payment clears through Paypal. Canceling your membership also takes place immediately, not after your membership month expires. So please wait until the end of a month/year to cancel or contact us at help at onceamonthmom.com if you did so accidentally.

**Please note, after you go in and cancel your account via Paypal, you will no longer have access to the membership system.

Can I gift a membership to someone else?

Yes! You can gift a yearly membership to a person/persons of your choosing. You need to know their email address. You can even choose a date for sending the gift certificate so that it arrives on a special day (birthday, anniversary, etc).

When I purchase membership do I only get access to the current months menus?

No. You get access to ALL menus, ALL types from January 1, 2012 to present and all those months moving forward for which you are a member. That means you don’t JUST get access to THIS MONTHS menus you get access to all previous months menus. If you sign up for a year membership you get membership for the UPCOMING year with access to all past menus as well.

I have never tried a Once A Month Mom menu and I’m not sure if it is right for me, do you have a trial period?

There is no trial period because all the menus prior to January 1, 2012 are FREE. This means you can try those without putting any money into membership. You can also sign up to subscribe once a month and if you find you aren’t using the menus or it isn’t for you, you can cancel your membership.

I am currently a monthly member, can I switch to switch to yearly membership?

If you are currently a monthly member BUT would like to convert to yearly, you can BUT you need to follow some specific instructions to make sure it is handled smoothly. Here is how:

While signed in to you OAMM Account, go to the My Account Page (found in the top navigation bar, under “Membership”) and proceed to the CANCEL links. (If your membership has already been cancelled or is no longer active, skip this step and go to #3).
Proceed to cancel your account through Paypal.
Come back to Once A Month Mom and click on the YEARLY MEMBERSHIP buttons.
Make your purchase in Paypal, WAIT on Paypal to redirect you to the registration page.
MOST IMPORTANT STEP – Instead of filling in the registration information click on the “Are you a returning member?” link. This will now associate your NEW yearly membership with your OAMM membership username.

(Please Note: If you use a checking account or echeck option in Paypal it will connect your accounts but you will likely not have access for 3-5 days while your transaction clears your bank.)

Technical Questions

I don’t remember my username. How can I find out what it is?

You can use the reset password process listed in the question below to find out what your username is. The email sent during the reset password process contains your username. You will have to complete the reset process, but you can change it to the same password you have now. Reset password.

I lost my password. How can I get it back?

We cannot see your password as it is encrypted. You must use reset your password to create a new one.

Click on the My Account tab in the navigation to reset your password any time.
Enter your email address or username and click on Get New Password.
An email will be sent with you containing a link for you to click on to create a new password.
Once you enter your new password, click on the button.
Log in with your new password.

I don’t have a Paypal account, can I still subscribe?

You will need to create an account with Paypal in order to subscribe. Paypal accounts are free. They are method of securely completing transactions on the Internet without sharing your credit card information. An account allows you to manage your payment method in the future and cancel your subscription. On the checkout form, click on the link below the login form.

I have a gift certificate. How do I redeem it?

To use your gift certificate. Click on the Start Shopping button. During the checkout process, you will need your redemption code. You can find this code on the gift certificate you were sent.

I want to change my payment method. How do I change it?

By default when you purchase a membership, Paypal will first try to withdraw from your primary bank account. You can tell Paypal to use your credit card instead by clicking on the Change payment method in the bottom left.

How do I cancel my membership?

If you cancel your subscription, you will immediately lose access to paid content. Click here to cancel now.

Members who purchased their account with a gift certificate, cancellation is automatic. Unless your account is set to automatically renew, you will no longer have access to member-only content after your pre-paid period is up. You will continue to have a user account after your membership expires. This makes it easy to renew in the future. Simply re-purchase the membership and click on the renew existing account link. If you want us to delete the account permanently, please send an email to our support staff.

Why does my account say it is cancelled or expired?

An account can be cancelled for several reasons. For example,

A credit card transaction was denied.
Your paid period is up.
Your credit card was expired.
You asked us to.

To gain access again, repurchase a membership. When you are asked to create an account, click on the existing member link and log in with your existing username and password.

I was notified that my credit card transaction was denied. How do I update my credit card information?

The easiest way to handle this is by purchasing a new membership. After you purchase, you will be directed to a page where you create a new account. Click on the Renewing or Existing Members link above the account and log in with your existing account.

I renewed my membership, but when I tried to create an account, it says that an account with my email address already exists. What do I do?

If you are renewing with us, then you already have a user account. Click on the Existing user link above the account creation form to.

Urgent Problems/Concerns

Please only use this means if you are in a time crunch or have sent the above email (top of page) and not received a response in 24 hours. Customer Service Hours: M-F 8am – 5pm (EST). 330-817-6266.