Deal good enough to return stuff to Toys R us and way behind

Wow so sorry for being so far behind on my blog. I started a new babysitting job this week and I haven't been shopping let alone getting back to my blog. It's a short term job so hopefully I will be back to normal soon.

A week ago Thursday TRU had one of their member's only sales where they email you coupons and it's only good for one day and sometimes only for a few hours. Thankfully this one was good all day. (I hate shopping at night when stores are crowded.) They were offering the Early Engineers Thomas trains and sets for 1/2 off. I knew I wanted a couple more trains for Scott so I figured I would pick those up even though I had already bought the sets for Scott. Well I got there and they had combined one of the trains I bought seperately with the set so an extra savings. I was like for that price I can return the set and the train. So a $49 dollar set and a $18 train were on sale for $24. I added another set we didn't have yet and 3 more trains for about $8 more than what I returned. Amazing! Sometimes it's even worth a return trip to take something back you got a better deal on. I did return it when I was near there anyway and didn't have my little guy with me making it easier on myself and not wasting gas while I am at it.

I did do one shop on Sunday and have another one in two weeks so I got a few more freebies doing that.

Kroger is having their mega sale this week and next. They have some really great deals on there and I need to make it back for some more. So far all I got was 10 cans for fruit for 49 cents each. Since the best I can get is a double can for $1.49 it's a great deal and the pears I can't even get for that price. I want to get some more of that and there are other deals I was able to print coupons for and some I found during my shop for the Ronzoni garden pasta which will make it a money maker. :) I didn't even know it was on sale when I snagged the coupons I just figured it would be soon. That store had not done a good job of putting their tags on the shelves telling what was on sale and what was not. Not very helpful to the bargain shopper. Especially since the ads are kind of vague at Kroger.

This weekend is my Shutterfly party that I won. Everyone gets a free photo book and 10 free cards. There is supposed to be a deal with free shipping but something seems to be wrong with the site and it's saying you can't get it so we will see if that part gets fixed. I was happy to find out that www.tripadvisor.com was giving away free photo books when you posted a review. I love reading trip advisor reviews when I am going to stay at a hotel. I want to make sure it's a good one. So I always leave reviews for other travelers. This time I left a review of one of my favorite restaurants right here in Lexington. I am going to use the freebie to get a book for my mom for Christmas. Love saving money on gifts. The other place I have been ordering from is www.artscow.com. I am not over impressed with them and they are in some place like Hong Kong so shipping is slow but the prices are pretty good with all the deals they offer. I have bought prints and Christmas ornaments from them so far and am considering some other deals as well.

Also for blogging about Shutterfly's cards they gave me 50 free ones. To bad that I didn't wait to make my cards. Oh well now I am going to see if they will work to order more invites to Scott's party so I don't have to print any myself and make some Thank you cards for it while I am at it. :) Now that is a money saver.

Oh and the way not to save money just check out Etsy.com. I bought all the stuff for Scott's party but still had not figured out what do about the "cake". It is a Wonder Pets theme party at Gymboree. So I found someone that had Wonder Pet cupcake toppers listed. They really didn't want to make me any character ones though. So I ordered just the W's from her and she pointed me to another seller who had made big faces for cakes and I thought about them but at $15 a piece I just couldn't do it. So I got 6 faces from her even though they were more than the 12 W's I bought from the other person. Got to love how much some charge vs others so be sure and check out all the sellers on there and if you can get from someone who sells for less for the same thing you are good. :) Doesn't always work though. Oh well they are bought and paid for with my work money for this week so now we are ready for the party. All I have to do is make the cupcakes and a little cake for Scott. :) I think that is everything for his party. You only turn 2 once. :)