So far so good on stuff for next year

I did not make it to Target Sunday morning it was just more trouble than I wanted to drive across town before church. I did run to Walgreen's after church and picked up a few fun things for next years stocking for Scotty. Then I went ahead and ran into Kroger for a few minutes. They had some good deals with coupons on Charmin, Duracell batteries, and a few other things. I also got some ground turkey for $1.49 a pound on clearance. It's hard to find it for anything close to that price. I saved over half and was very happy with my finds. :) Monday I finally made it to Target and did find a few fun stocking stuffers like fun balls. They also had some Creme Brulee almonds that looked yummy and for $3 for about a pound and a half it was a great deal. I am waiting on some of the stuff until they go at least 75% off because they have so much there are bound to be some left. So back next week to check that out. I also got some wrapping paper for Scotty's stuff for next year. Trucks and cars! I also went over to Bed Bath and Beyond. I had planned to get a kid camera for Scott but after reading some reviews decided it wasn't a good deal after all. I got Scotty a new ball for now because he was obsessed. I found a kit for making bouncy balls for next year, a set of Shrinky dinks for next year, the coolest set of mini lincoln logs that are supposed to be party favors but they are so cute so I will save them until Scott is big enough. I also picked up a new door mat with snowmen since my old Christmas one is to tall to use now that we have a storm door. I spent about $12 thanks to the fact my sister works there and we got an extra 20% off the already reduced prices. I still need to go to Aldi and to Meijer this week but am not getting much. I used most of the grocery budget for next years Christmas. :) Good thing we have a good stock of food on hand. This is how I don't break the budget at the end of year. I start buying after Christmas and by the next year we are ready go without going into debt.

Avoiding the stores if at all possible

This time of year just makes me crazy to try and get in and out of stores so I do my best to stay away. I didn't really go back out last week to do anything else. My find of the week was a Radio Flyer wagon on sale for just $49 on Amazon with free shipping. I had a $10 gift card from some reviews I wrote and was able to cash in some money I had from doing online surveys for another $16 so I ended paying about $26 for a nice new wagon. We had one but the wheel broke and it was not really the kind I wanted so I sort of used it as an excuse to buy a new one. At that price I can't go to wrong. I have already put it together and it is ready for Christmas morning. Now if I can get the trampoline put together on Christmas Eve we will be in business. I bought it from a yard sale for about $25 if I remember correctly I know it wasn't more than that though. It thankfully is most of the way put together so it shouldn't be to big of a deal other than I don't have the instructions. Maybe I should see if I can find those online.

This week I did most of my shopping at Sam's club. Every 3-4 weeks I go out there to pick up some stuff I have used up that I cannot find cheaper anywhere else. I got frozen strawberries for smoothies, peanut butter, a rotisserie chicken, 6lbs of ground beef, and I know there was something else for $40. I spend a lot when I go there but at least I know the stuff lasts a long time. :) Well except the chicken but it's a great deal and we get several meals from one usually more.

I did run into Aldi and pick up some bananas, oranges, some coffee for my husband to take to work ($5 for a huge can) hopefully it is good. On top of that I had a shop so I picked up a few things such as more honey nut cheerios on sale with coupons for about 72 cents a box and some other stuff like gum that was on sale. I also am using these shops to get my coke for free. I spent about $3 more than I made for the shop but I also did a pizza shop and made $5 on that so I actually was still $2 ahead on that one. I combined the two in a neighboring town so I saved on gas as well.

I also picked up the iron on transfers to finish the capes for Scotty's birthday party and a present for a friend from Amazon.

This morning I ran to Rite Aid to pick up a few deals I had read about. I needed toothpaste and they had the kind I wanted on sale and I had a store coupon and a manf coupon (to bad I got home and realized it had not been taken off my receipt) I got some stuff for Brad with coupons as well. While I was there I took a look at their toys that were 60% off and found a fun tent with a tunnel that we will hopefully use as a gift for just $8. It gave me the option of using a $4 off coupon so technically I only paid $4 for it so I am happy. I also got some hot wheels on sale for 50 cents each to save for when Scotty is a little bit bigger. If I stock up on sales I won't end up paying full price later. :) So pretty much I have spent my money for the week but that's OK because I don't really want to go anywhere anyway. I could have picked up another shop but being in the grocery store this week just does not sound like fun to me the one on Monday afternoon was insane!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I am excited to get out after Christmas and start finding bargains for next year. Hopefully I will hit Target before church on Sunday for Stocking stuffers for next year. They go fast so I want to get there early. Then as they start to clearance more out I will get some other stuff as well most likely. It's the time to stock up for all those holiday needs next year for sure. The middle of January also brings lots of sales and deals. It's a great time to stock up on toys at Target and Toys R Us for sure. It's also a good time to stock up on winter stuff in that next size up for those little ones. Not only do regular stores have sales but so do the consignment stores so I try to hit them when they are 75% off. It's as good as yard sale prices then. Time to take inventory of what I already have to I won't get more than I need.

Some great deals and trying not to spend as much

I am doing my best to figure out how to save even more money due to the fact I am not sure how much our health insurance and other things are going up for the next year. I wish they would just tell me so I know. I am thinking I might cancel our home phone. We don't use it all that much and it makes my husband upset when it rings we don't have caller ID on it and for some reason even though we are on the Do Not Call list they still call constantly with you have been selected to receive a free_____________!

Anyway onto the deals and savings. Last week I had another couple of mystery shops so was able to get the deals from mega sale with only a couple of dollars out of pocket. I stocked up on honey nut cheerios for my husband and a few other things. I did not hit Meijer as their deals were not good last week. I did go to Aldi and pick up the basics and the bakery store for 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, a pack of whole wheat buns, and a package of whole grain crumb treats for less than $5. They have some great clearance deals there. :)

I spent some of my weekly  on a gift for my dad for Christmas. We got him a personalized picture from from personalization mall and it turned out great. Now I just need to print the picture to put in it.

I found a deal to get 50 free prints from snapfish with free shipping with my new camera that comes in handy.

I picked up my pajamas at JcPenney for Scott. They are very cute and worth the $3.17 I paid for each one for sure. :)

I also picked up another deal on Amazon for a Color Wonder drawing set with sounds that I think will be great for Scott for next year. It was around $10 and there is a $3 rebate for it that I will mail off for. It's still on sale if anyone is interested. Let me know if you need the link for the rebate.

This week I have already done most of my grocery shopping. I knew it was going to be cold and nasty due and one of my deals needed to be quick because my coupons were expiring on Wednesday and I was afraid they wouldn't restock by then. I got 8 1/2 gallons of free Smart Balance milk and 2 16oz bottles of olive oil absolutely free. :) Meijer is an amazing place some times. Stacking those mealbox coupons with the manf coupons is awesome. :) They also had eggs for 99 cents a dozen and since they have been so high lately I was very happy about that. I used a 55 cent off two to get an even better deal. I also got 3 jars of Classico Pasta sauce for just 33 cents a jar. It was on sale buy 2 for $4 get one free and I used 3 $1 off coupons to make it just $1 for all three. It depends on the cashier you get to whether they will let you use all 3 coupons or not. It's not illegal to use a coupon on a free item but some places/cashiers will not let you do it.

Kroger really doesn't have any great deals this week but I had a shop so I did pick up a few things. I was also lucky to find some closeout deals that will help with the budget later on. Scott has super sensitive skin so I like to use the Aveeno bath products for him and they are so pricey. They were clearing out the moisturizing shampoo which I am pretty sure is close to what the bath soap is like so I got two bottles for less than the price of one. I wish I had coupons but they are pretty rare for Aveeno.

Our big save last week was getting the Children's museum membership I had been planning to buy anyway for $25 off. Now we have free admission to not only our museum locally but the one in Cincinnati and COSI in Columbus as well! Very very happy about that one. Also a lot of other ones throughout the US if we do any traveling as well.

Soon I hope to start post some other things I do to save money besides looking for bargains. I hope they will be helpful to everyone. Since it was just approved that our water bill that is already high is going up as well as probably the electric bill and I know our insurance I am going to need every single penny I can save. :(

Til next time happy saving!

More online deals

In case anyone isn't already following the deals I post on Facebook so you can get some of the great deals too look up "Marty and Stacey Save you Money" and "like" the page so it will show up in your news feed.

I did find a few more deals online this week and skipped Kroger all together this week since the sale should continue next week. Lots of shops in next 2 weeks which will help with the budget.

I did hit Meijer last night and was happy they fixed the problem with the money they promised on my Mperks card so I got an extra $2 off my order. My husband loves the fake crab meat but I won't buy it at $3 a pack. This week is was on sale for $1 so I picked up a few for his lunches. They also had 3lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes for $1 so I got some of those as well. YUM

I was also happy to find that they had the little Christmas ducks that Walmart was sold out of to finish Scotty's collection. :) They were only 99 cents.

I got a set of Melissa and Doug Magnet Joey Dress up for Scott for maybe next year. It's hard to find good deal on boy toys like that. They make so few and they sell out so fast. I paid only $6.50 with the great free shipping on Amazon. I am loving my Amazon Mom right now. They give me free shipping just for being a mom and buying baby products IE diapers that they discount and drop at my door less than 2 days later. Oh and as a Christmas gift they gave me another free month. :) Oh and for every order of $25 or more of baby products they give me another free month. Smart of them to keep me buying. :)

I also got a great deal on some pajamas for Scott they had a great $10 off $10 coupon that I was able to use twice and ship the item to the store so no shipping. I paid $3.17 for each one. Now that is my kind of deal. Unfortunately the coupon was gone fast and a lot of people couldn't get the deal not to mention the site was moving so slow and if I not been up early I wouldn't have got the deal either. Can't wait to get them.

I would encourage you to check the paper and watch stuff online to see what kind of fun stuff your area has going on. We have gotten free pics with Santa, a free Christmas event that would have been great if my child was older, and a free build a train Workshop just in the last week oh and the police made Scotty an ID card with his pic and thumbprint just in case for which I am very thankful. I know that TRU also has free events every month or so as well as Home Depot so that would be a couple of websites to check out.

Until next time happy saving!

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