More Amazing Deals

In case you haven't noticed, I'm in love with finding good sales lately!  I've made it my goal to get my shopping done early this year and along the way, I've been watching out for good deals and sales and I really want to make bargain shopping a part of my normal routine.  It sure won't hurt, especially if I can save a few bucks along the way.

Well, my big deal this past weekend was on Saturday at AC Moore.  I did NOT go out Black Friday shopping. There was really no allure to it for me this year. I also feel that the only time Black Friday deals are really worth it are if you're out to buy electronics or appliances. Even then, the sales aren't always worth the effort you put into it.

Anyway, one big thing left on my Christmas list was Victoria's easel, which we were planning to get from AC Moore.  Last Sunday, they had a 60% off coupon - and my sister-in-law and her husband were going to pick it up for me while they were out, but my printer broke, therefore my coupon was useless because I wasn't able to print it.

One of the 2-day Doorbusters at AC Moore was the easel, normally priced at $69.99 on sale for $29.99. Yes, that's right $40 off!!  Of course, I had to get it then, why wouldn't I want to save nearly 60% off?  While there, we also picked up a Melissa & Doug United States Floor puzzle and a set of magnetic dolls for Victoria since she loves them. 

The Melissa & Doug stuff was BOGO Free, which is awesome. I also picked up two small photo albums, which were $1.50 for both.

The bottom line?  I spent $49 plus change for over $100 in retail value!

Monday Shopping Extravaganza!

Yesterday was a special day for me... my birthday!  I decided to take a day off from work so that I could enjoy my day, but busy as always I didn't really take a moment to relax!  I really wanted to take a day off while Victoria was in school so that I could finish off some Christmas shopping - as she is becoming too wise about things for me to properly shop for her and Ben without her remembering in just a few short weeks that Mommy & Daddy bought these items that "Santa" was bringing.


Our first stop was Target, because they had the Tag Reader Books at Buy One, Get One Free! Now, Victoria already has a handful of books for her Reader, and we have two more waiting in Santa's box but there is a new Beauty and the Beast book that we just had to get her. Why not do it while they are BOGO?  So, we also picked up Tangled as well.  Target had a special on select books as well - $9.99 instead of $13.99, so essentially you could get TWO books for LESS than the price of one.  Unfortunately, since Tangled is so new it was still $13.99, but such an awesome deal to get one free. 

While at Target, we also picked up the Lil' Zoomers ramp for Benjamin for $9.99, marked down from $14.99. 

Then we picked up some stocking stuffers, not on sale but small things we loved - like a ViewMaster and some reels for Victoria.  I had a ViewMaster as a kid and I loved it - I'm so happy to see all of the toys from my childhood reappearing.


We then made the next stop in our journey at Wal-Mart.  Here we snagged the Fisher Price Lil' Zoomers Speedway for Ben, on sale for $4 off the regular price.

After a productive morning of shopping, we celebrated my birthday with lunch at The Cheesecake Factory... I was in heaven!

Weekend Sale Extravaganza and a Milestone!

This weekend was such a busy weekend, but it was self-imposed busy-ness. I feel that we got a lot accomplished and hit some great sales!

Yesterday, we went to the new Produce Junction that opened near us. It was amazing... fresh fruits, vegetable and flowers at more afforable prices than the local grocery chains. We loaded up on salad, cucumbers, carrots, apples, pineapple, honeydew, a squash for Ben, and more. It was great- our kitchen is full of fresh foods and I love it!

From there we went to Toys R Us, where we snagged a great sale on GeoTrax for Victoria. She already has a set, so we bought an expansion pack for Christmas and saved over 33%, plus picked up a small toy for Ben that was around 40% off. I LOVE sales.

Then another stop at AC Moore produced more sales. My blog from earlier talked about the wool I had purchased, and in addition to the Alpaca Love and Fishermans Wool, I got some Bernat Christmas Cotton and a skein of Crimson yarn - to be made into Santa hats for the kids. I also got a set of DPNs!!! I saved about $15 thanks to the yarn sale they were running plus a 50% off coupon.

The sales continued at the mall, where Crazy 8 was running a sale plus a Friends & Family discount. My favorite purchase there was this awesome argyle sweater dress for the princess:

I love being able to save money on things I'd normally buy anyway.  I got Victoria 3 full outfits and a full outfit for Ben, all for about what I would have paid for one or two outfits normally. I'm loving the sweater dresses for fall and I snagged two yesterday for Victoria.

OH! And the milestone: This is my 50th post!!!  I hope you enjoy reading, because I'm enjoying writing and sharing my ideas, projects and various happenings.

I love saving money!

I'm on a mission to really start getting a tighter grip on our household budget and start saving money. The savings are out there, I just need to take the time to find them!!
The other weekend, while browsing the Clipper magazine, my husband noticed an add for a website called MamaCheaps because of the drastic savings that were advertised. I was intrigued, so I checked it out. It's AWESOME! She breaks down the sales and savings and talks about couponing, etc. I became a fan on FB and now just browse her status updates which link to her posts.

The other day, she had info about becoming a fan of Ballpark franks on FB and getting a $2 coupon. The coupon site allowed you to print two coupons. I said I'd wait until the hot dogs were on sale BOGO and use the coupons... well, they were on sale already this week! So- I bought 2 packs of all beef, bun-length Ballpark franks for FREE! Yes, FREE... actually, I got a penny back! I used both coupons which were $2/1 pack and then the BOGO discount. Awesome. I was so excited- I think that my first big "free" deal.

That same day, I used two $4 off coupons for Tag Reader books to be put aside for the princess for Christmas. They were on sale at Target for $9.99 (reg. $13.99) and then I used my coupons. I paid $12.70 for TWO Tag Reader books and my receipt showed a savings of $16!

And, just now, I ordered a case of 160 Size 3 Pampers Cruisers from Amazon for $17.82 plus FREE 2-day shipping. That's so much cheaper than $41.99 for the same size package at Babies R Us... what the heck, it's even cheaper than buying a pack half that size at Giant!

It may not seem a lot, but that's a savings of $48.17 just on those sales alone... now if only I can keep this up, we'll be in great shape... though I have to admit, it takes some time to plan, clip coupons, etc but it's well worth it! Thanks MamaCheaps!