Yard Saleing

I rarely go to yard sales. Mostly I don't have the patience or the desire to run around town in search of great deals, but also because I try to only go shopping when I'm looking for specific things. If I'm "just looking" I might end up going home with things I don't really need or have space for but will try to find a use for, and I'd spend money I didn't need to be spending.

A couple weeks ago I went to a used curriculum sale in the parking lot of the local Sam's Club. I had a couple things I've been wanting to buy, but have put off for one reason or another, so I looked for them at the sale. It was actually a curriculum sale/yard sale, so not just school books.

My haul:

Rug pad: $2  (brand new, still in package)
Peter Pan DVD: $10 (excellent condition)
3 books: $2
Phonics game: $1
Teach your child to read: $2 (very good condition)
total spent: $17

I definitely got some good deals at this sale, but I also got the items from four different sellers- there was 15 or so families selling stuff, so it was super quick to walk around and find things we needed/wanted. I like big group sales- they're much more efficient :)

Easy little girl skirt and leggings

LMS insists on wearing skirts most days, so I recently made several more leggings to keep her legs warm now that it's getting colder. I check the women's sock section every time I'm at Target, and buy any knee socks that are cute. They usually run $2/ a pair, but I have gotten some on sale for less. I've been saving them in my to-do pile, and knocked them all out in an hour or so. I followed the same method I used here.

We also stopped by Goodwill awhile ago and found some inexpensive clothes to make more skirts for LMS. The first skirt I made started out life as a 3T jumper. It's a cute pink corduroy jumper, but way too short for LMS's long torso.

I cut the bodice off (as close to the arm holes as possible),

made a simple casing for elastic, then inserted the elastic. Done!

 Hmmm. Not sure about the whole outfit (especially the boots), but she picked it all out and was happy with it. I do like the argyle leggings with the skirt. And they were very inexpensive, which makes me happy :)

Post Halloween Sales

Yesterday LMS and I stopped by Target to hit up the post-Halloween sales. We found a princess dress last year, so I thought we'd see what we could find this year. We picked up a purple fairy costume and a little red riding costume to add to her dress up collection.

We also found an orange pumpkin shirt for her and a black one for me to wear next year.

The best part? Each item was half off!

I love hitting the after-holiday sales and finding things 50-60% off.

Did you find any good deals?

Shoes

In my opinion, shoes are an investment. I think it's better to have a few good ones than lots of cheap ones. Good shoes will last for years, cheap ones tend to fall apart quickly. Cheap ones tend to smell bad, too: I had roommates on my mission who wore cheap shoes, and wow, did their feet stink sooo bad!

Just because I like good shoes, doesn't mean I pay retail though. I find the shoes I want (Keen and Dansko these days) for a fraction of the original cost at places like Nordstrom Rack, Sierra Trading Post, and ebay.

On my mission I walked so much in my Doc Martens (found on sale at Ross) that I wore through the inner layer of the back of the heel of my shoes. That was when I had my first experience at a shoe repair store: I took them in and they sewed another layer of leather into my shoes, covering the painful heel seams, and making it possible for me to get a lot more use out of them.

Monday I noticed that a seam on one of the straps of my Keen sandal had come loose, compromising the integrity of the shoe. There's nothing else wrong with them and there's plenty of wear left in them (they're only a year and half old), so I got online and found a local shoe repair place.

The unfortunate thing is that I knew how to fix this problem, I just didn't have the ability- my sewing machine doesn't let me get into really tight spaces.

I took the sandal in Tuesday, and $10 and an hour later, it was as good as new. Considering that a new pair of sandals would cost at least $80 (in a different color), more if I wanted the same color, I think it was $10 well spent. For the record, I found my Keen sandals at Nordstrom Rack in the early fall for about $65- less than they're going for now.

can you tell where it was fixed?

I really like that I can continue using these sandals and don't have to buy new ones- new sandals are definitely not in the budget.

Have you had any experiences with repairing shoes?

Today a friend mentioned that all the Land's End swim suits at Sears are on sale for half off.

I've been searching for a long sleeve rash guard for LMS, and I need a new suit, so we stopped by.

I only found short sleeve rash guards for LMS, and I wasn't super-interested in the suits in my size, so we left and  looked in a few more stores.

I found a long sleeve rash guard at Gap Kids (on sale!), then wandered over to the Gap to see if they had anything good. It's been years since I was last in a Gap store. Is it me or are their clothes looking a tad too unisex?

I had a hard time figuring out which side of the store I should be looking on.

Needless to say, I didn't find anything I was interested in.

don't forget to stop by my other blog to enter my giveaways!

Thinking and living frugally

Lately I've been searching for more frugal blogs to read and inspire me. Some of them are local ones that have the local grocery deals, others aren't local but have other useful information.

As I read these blogs, I've been thinking more about couponing. I've been printing out some coupons, but the vast majority are for things I can't eat or for overly processed foods, or for toiletries or cleaners that I can't use because of the chemicals. The sales ads seem to be for a lot of the same things.

I find this a bit discouraging because I'd like to be able to coupon and buy on sale and get great deals. On the other hand, I'm not buying cheaply-made, full-of-preservatives food. We're spending our money on food with fewer ingredients, that's fresher, and tastes better. I haven't yet got our food budget where I want it to be, but I'm getting there. I still have to figure out who has the best prices on what (especially dairy and meats) and once I've done that I can work towards staying in our food budget.

I've been stressing a bit about budgeting and doing the grocery shopping and all, but I've decided I'll just do the best I can until I get eveything unpacked and feel less stressed (clutter, i.e. lots of boxes, makes me stressed). Once I've finished unpacking and sorting and feel that I can at least find everything again, then I'll focus on shopping lists, sales, coupons, and all that.

In the meantime, I'm going to the store as infrequently as possible, and trying to keep things as inexpensive as possible. I've discovered that for our family of 3, one crockpot dish can be used for 3 or 4 meals, which drastically reduces the cost of dinners. I did some barbecue chicken a couple weeks ago, the first night we served it with mashed potatoes, the second night we served it with cheese on a baked potato, the third night we used it in quesadillas, and the fourth night we used it in burritos. This week I cooked a roast in the crockpot and are doing similar things for dinner. This is a win-win for me: I stretch the meat out over 4 meals, which spreads out the cost as well, and I have minimal meal prep each day.

One of my recent  blog finds is Keeping Life Creative. The author has committed to using beans or rice every day for a year in order to remind herself about living frugally. Some of the meals she's prepared are normal, beans and rice, burritos, etc, but she's also snuck beans into mac & cheese and lentils into cake. I find this intriguing, and once I'm feeling more settled I plan on giving some of her recipes a try. I'll have to alter them to make them gluten free, but it shouldn't be too hard to do.

I've also been thinking about stopping my Melaleuca shipments- I like their products (they have really nice soy candles that don't bother me), but some of the cleaning products have started to bother me. I'm not convinced that it's worth the financial commitment to keep ordering from them (you're supposed to order a min. # of product points each month; with shipping this usually ends up being around $75 for me). It's a chunk of money I could be using for other things. I've found several coupons for Seventh Generation products, so I think I'll give them a try (they even go on sale, so I could get some pretty good deals), and if those give me problems I'll have to venture into making my own cleaners. I don't want to, since it seems like it would be a hassle, but if I can make cleaners that won't bother me, it would be worth it. And I'd be saving even more money.

"Quick" Trips to the Store

Today I discovered how to minimize the damage when making a "quick" trip to the store: walk!

Ok, so you need to live close enough to walk to a grocery store for this to actually work, but there are some elements that you can use even if you don't.

We're still in the process of figuring out how often we need to go grocery shopping, how quickly we use each item (we're going through milk a lot faster than I expected), and deciding which items we actually need. It's been a week and a half since we last went shopping, and we used the last of the eggs and milk for breakfast today. It's also our turn to bring snacks for soccer today, and I hadn't bought them yet.

Since Mr. S takes the car to work and the grocery store is only about a mile away, I decided that our walk this morning would be to and from the grocery store. I loaded LMS into our trusty BOB jogger (love that thing! we got an awesome deal on it on craigslist and we've definitely gotten our money's worth out of it) and headed out. At the store I grabbed a basket, set it on top of the jogger, and filled it with the items I needed: milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, carrots, and snacks for soccer. After I paid for it all, I stowed everything in the basket under the seat and walked back home.

What I learned: a basket's worth of food fits nicely in the basket of the jogger. If I'd bought anything more, it wouldn't have fit. This limits how much I can buy, meaning I think more about what I'm putting in the basket, and therefore spend less. I also got a better workout on the way home- a gallon of milk adds a significant amount of weight to the jogger.

If you can't walk to the store for a quick trip, when you get there you should still grab a basket. They're a pain if you need anything heavy (like a gallon of milk), but the size of the basket will limit what you can put in it, helping to avoid impulse purchases.

Any other good tips for avoiding over-spending on quick trips to the store?

Strawberry Shortcake

Last night I made gluten free pound cake (using the recipe I found here). The recipe called for a bundt pan, but I don't have one, so I used a bread pan and the 6 mini springform pans I found at Target at the after Easter sale.

Cute little pans

The texture wasn't quite the same as regular pound cake, but it still tasted good.

Yum!

Mr. S made the comment that these springform pans would be good for making hamburger buns too- they're just the right size. And I can make cheesecake in them. And little birthday cakes. And brownies. So many options. At half off, I think I made a good investment.

I didn't find anything else at Target at the after Easter sales, but that's because I wasn't in the market for leftover candy, Easter baskets or stuffed animals. I wasn't even sure the pans were half off, but they were in the Easter section, so I did a price check and sure enough, they were half off. I had similar luck after Valentine's day- finding baking stuff half off. Guess you never can tell what you'll find.

Frugal Shopping: President's Day Sale Finds

Awhile ago I mentioned my intention to hit the President's Day sales at Harbor Freight and JoAnn Fabric. I'm pleased to be able to say that I didn't wuss out (shopping really saps my energy, so I can easily talk myself out of going), and I got some great deals!

The first stop was Harbor Freight, where I got the multifunction tool I mentioned. It came with 4 attachments, and I bought a 5th one for detail work when I refinish furniture. I also got extra sanding pads for the multitool, and a couple moving blankets. I have several moving blankets already, as well as various quilts, but I figure better too many than too few.

The multifunction tool was on sale for $39.99, plus additional $5 off coupon, for a final price of $34.99 (listed regular price: $59.99, but I don't know how often it actually sells at that price- I think $39.99-$49.99 is it's usual selling price)

closeup of the attachments included

The additional finger sanding pad was $7.99

Each of these replacement sanding paper attachments were $3.99

I'm ready to start refinishing furniture!

The next stop was JoAnn, where I got a cutting mat, clear cutting guide, rotary cutter, and half a yard of microsuede fabric. I got all four items for less than the cutting mat's original price!

The lighting isn't great in this photo because I had to hurry and take a pic so I could get the mat outside into storage. It was giving off some nasty chemical fumes the whole way home and I couldn't leave it in the house- that would be a massive headache waiting to happen. Hopefully the fumes will dissipate during the next month so they won't bother me when I get my craft area set up in our new house.

I misplaced the receipt, but the original price of the mat was around $44. The mat, cutting guide and cutter were on sale for 50% off, and the fabric was on sale for 70% off I think. Add a 10% off total purchase coupon, and I got the cutting supplies for 60% off, and paid less than $44 for the four items.

I'll use the fabric for an envelope wallet, for carrying cash instead of credit cards. I'll post pics of that when I get it finished.

Our next stop was at Target, where I hit the after Valentine's Day sales. I bought some silicone heart ice cube trays and a silicone heart cake pan from the dollar section- 30% off.

I also bought some silicone heart baking cups, a silicone petite heart pan, and a brownie pop pan, all for 50% off. The brownie pop pan isn't even really a valentine's item, it just happens to be red.

If I had a car, I would have waited another day or two to hit the after Valentines day sales, and I could probably have gotten an even better deal. Since I'm dependent on others' kindness regarding transportation, I can't be too picky.

I didn't do much (ok, anything) for Valentines this year, but buying after the holiday means I now have some things I can use next year, and I didn't pay full price for them. Bonus for me! I'm also excited to try the brownie pops. Bakerella is always doing fun things with them, and the pan I bought will make it quick and easy to make them.

Frugal Shopping: Walgreens

One part of our budget that's hard to cut down on  is vitamins and supplements. A side effect of gluten intolerance is difficulty absorbing nutrients. I don't have full blown celiac, so I don't think I have quite as many problems with nutrient absorbtion as some do, but I still have problems. As a result, I take quite a few vitamins and supplements and feel better for doing so. Mr S and LMS also take vitamins, but not as many.

One of the more expensive ones I take is CoQ-10.  I started taking it about a year and a half ago on the advice of my med student sister. After taking it for a week or so, I noticed I was having dreams. This was a big deal, since I don't remember the last time I had regular dreams. Maybe once or twice a year I'd have a crazy dream, but the rest of the time, no dreams. I never felt especially rested either. Since taking the CoQ-10, I dream most nights and wake up much more rested. The interesting thing is that this appears to be genetic: my med student sister, mom, and two younger brothers have the same problem. Wonder why...

Recently my med student sister mentioned that she buys her CoQ-10 at Walgreens when they have buy one get one (BOGO) sales. For whatever reason, I've never shopped at Walgreens before, so I didn't realize that they had such deals. I went in a couple weeks ago, but the brand my sister mentioned wasn't on sale. I talked to one of the workers, and he said they usually had at least one brand of vitamins on BOGO sale per week. So I've been watching the ads (I went to the Walgreens website and signed up to have the ads emailed to me every week since we don't get the paper), and this week the brand I was looking for went on sale.

90 capsules for $50 at Walgreens (BOGO= 180 capsules for $50)
30 capsules for about $13 at wally world

$7.67 per month at Walgreens
$13 per month at wally world

$92 per year at Walgreens
$156 per year at wally world

Savings: $64 a year

While I was there, I noticed that they also had Flax Fish Borage Oil on sale (gotta get those omegas).

120 capsules for $16.50 at Walgreens (BOGO= 240 capsules for $16.50)

60 capsules for about $9 at Target

$2.06 per month at Walgreens
$4.50 per month at Target

$25 a year at Walgreens
$54 a year at Target

Savings: $29 a year

Between just the CoQ-10 and the Flax Fish Borage oil I'll save $93 in one year.

The moral? Don't just grab what you see off the shelf. Be willing to comparison shop (explore stores you don't usually go to), find out if there's sales, and figure out where you can get the best deals. Stock up when you find a great deal. These two vitamins were all our budget could handle right now, but I now have a 6 month supply of one and an 8 month supply of the other. I'll be watching the ads for the other vitamins we take so I can stock up on them using the BOGO sales at Walgreens. 

Couponing Revisited

Today I received the JoAnn Fabric ad in the mail, and I realized I neglected an important part of couponing. In my earlier couponing post I talked about food and household goods, but I didn't mention fabric and craft items. This is one area of my life where I do actively search out coupons. You can get awesome deals by watching sales and using coupons.

I receive email notifications from Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and JoAnn Fabric. They usually are ads, but often include coupons (40% off one regular priced item!). I also get JoAnn Fabric ads in the mail. Today I noticed an awesome deal:

Fiskars Sewing & Quilting Cutting Tools (scissors, rotary cutters, mats, and more) will be 50% off Feb 12- 15. That's an awesome deal by itself (have you priced cutting mats?), but then I noticed a coupon for 10% off your total purchase, including regular and sale priced items. That makes the Fiskars items 60% off!

I've been wanting to get a cutting mat for awhile now- I really need to be more accurate with my cutting- but the price has always put me off. Come Valentine's/President's Day weekend, I'm taking a trip to JoAnns and buying a cutting mat- a big one!

If I recall correctly, past ads have included 15% off total purchase coupon, which would make for an awesome deal as well. The ad that came today also inluded a coupon for 40% off one regular priced item and a coupon for 50% off one regular priced item. These can't be combined with any other discount or offer, but that just means you can get an item you want for up to half off.

We don't get the Sunday paper, but my in-laws do, and their paper frequently has ads for Hobby Lobby and Michaels, which in addition to displaying sale items, will also usually have a coupon for 40% off a regular priced item.

When you buy stuff at Michaels, the register receipt usually includes another 40% off regular priced item good for the following week. I figure this is their way of getting you back in the store quickly. When you go back next week to use your coupon, they give you another one and you return again in a week to use that coupon. I've done it, and been able to buy some things that I otherwise would not have been able to afford.

And you can usually find good deals after holidays and in the clearance aisles. You don't need to spend a fortune to do your crafting/decorating/scrapbooking/whatever it is you like to do.

Saving Money: Books

I love reading and I love having books. When I was a child and we visited my grandparents in Oakland, we would also take a trip to the used book stores in San Francisco.  After spending the day combing through stacks of books, we'd have several decent sized boxes of books to take home with us. 

Shortly after we moved to the small town my parents currently live in, we checked out the local library. After a quick look around, we quickly realized that my parents had about the same number of books as the library. Luckily, the library in the next town over is pretty good and allows us to use it free of charge.

So how do I save money with books? Instead of paying full price for brand new, hard cover books, I usually check out books from the library, and if I really like it (as in, I will read it again and again) then I'll look for them on Ebay, Amazon and Half.com. When I have the money, I buy it from whichever site had the best price. I also put them on my wish list on Amazon so people can buy them for me for Christmas and birthdays.

The challenge comes when one of my favorite authors has a new release. I have a hard time waiting  for my turn on the hold list at the library, and I'll end up buying it anyway, so I try to buy it in the first day or two after being released (it's cheaper then).  Or, if it's available, I'll pre-order it on Amazon- the price is usually discounted. If I can manage to be patient, I'll wait and find it online.

We've also found some great deals on kids books at yard sales. If I remember correctly (most of our books have been in storage for more than two years so I don't remember what we have anymore), we picked up a bunch of Judy Blume books, the complete Little House on the Prairie series, and lots of Dr. Seuss books, among others, at various yard sales we've been to.

It's possible to build up a personal library without spending a fortune- just be patient and diligent when searching for books to add to your collection.

Gluten free coupons

The other day I mentioned that it's really hard to find coupons for gluten free items. I have found a potential source of coupons, but I think the problem lies with the manufacturers and their willingness (or not) to give out coupons. Be Free For Me is a website that has recipes, articles, etc regarding food allergies and celiac disease. They also occasionally have coupons for gluten free items. Awhile ago, I signed up to have coupons emailed to me. So far, I've only received one coupon ($1 off Rice Works chips), which I've also seen in the Sunday circulars.

If you're looking for coupons for gluten free items, it wouldn't hurt to check out the site and sign up for their emails. Hopefully they'll be able to send out more soon.

Frugal Kleen Kanteen rehab

This is a project that didn't cost me much, but saved me a lot of money.

Original cost:

New lavender dot Kleen Kanteen bottle (from Pottery Barn Kids): $19.00

New lavender dot Kleen Kanteen with monogram (from PBK): $25.50

My cost:

$3.00 for the bottle

$0.50 for ribbon (guesstimate on how much the ribbon I used cost, since I didn't use the whole spool)

$0 for glue gun and hot glue that I already had

$4.15 for sports top on ebay

I will sell the loop top that came with bottle for $3.99 on ebay

Total cost for me:$7.65-$3.99=$3.66 for a bottle that goes for $19+. I think I did pretty good!

I posted this originally on my other blog back in October, and the hot glue has held up fine so far- the ribbon hasn't come off or even started pulling up.

Thrifting

Growing up, we did most of our clothing shopping at thrift stores (with 9 kids in the family, it was the only way to not go bankrupt). As an adult, I've gone to thrift stores, but not on a regular basis.

Over the last year or so, I've developed a desire to spend more time thrifting, so naturally there are no thrift stores in the area. The closest is about half an hour to forty five minutes away. That's too far for me to drive on a weekly basis to maybe find some good deals.

I've been doing a lot of blog hopping over the last couple months, and it has really opened my eyes as to the potential of things that I would have classified as ugly junk previously. Old, out-dated dressers can be re-finished to look quite nice. Good thing, since we need to find at least one or two dressers when we move. We sold one of ours shortly after moving here because it was MDF and we've never been real happy with it. Now we have to replace it. Oh darn. And we need other pieces of furniture as well...

Anyway, I've been getting lots of ideas and learning to look past surface ugliness. Once we move, I'll be searching for and refinishing some pieces of furniture, and I'll share the process here.

Ebay, Amazon, and Craigslist

Ebay

I'm a big fan of Ebay. I've bought and sold many items on Ebay over the years, and I've gotten good at finding good deals.

When I'm looking for a particular item, I compare Amazon and Ebay (and Half.com if it's a book or movie) to see which site can offer me the best deal.

Ebay has a feature where you can save a search. You can use whatever key words and categories you want to conduct a search. Once you get the results back, you can opt to save that search and receive emails when new items matching that search are listed. I use this extensively when there's something I want to buy but want to wait for a better price. When I receive an email with search results for an item I want, I look them over, and if it's an auction I want to keep an eye on, I just have to add it to my 'watch' list. I've gotten many great deals using this process.

The fees from selling items on Ebay are a bit of a pain, but if I'm getting money for items I wanted to get rid of, I'm not going to be too picky.

Amazon
Amazon has a wish list feature where you can add items from Amazon or other sites to your wish list. Others can then use your wish list to get ideas for Christmas, birthdays, etc. I use it to remind me which books I want. I've read a lot of books lately that I checked out from the library. Once I decided they were worth buying, I added them to my wish list. Some I received for Christmas, and the rest I'll gradually buy as I save up money for them.

Craigslist
I've gotten quite a few good deals on things I've bought on craigslist. Most of these items were bigger toys (like a play kitchen and a sand and water table) or other things for our daughter (like a toddler bed and our jogging stroller), but I've also bought 3 different log beds, all for good prices, and one of them was just down the road from us. Another was clear in the city, so it all averages out. As long as you're willing to make the drive, you can usually find something close to what you're looking for at a good price.

I've tried selling on craigslist with limited success. It seems to work well for larger items that you wouldn't want to ship, but I haven't had much luck selling smaller items. Which is too bad, since there's no fees for selling stuff on craigslist. Although, I'm not real happy with them right now since they've put my account on hold (they just recently made you sign up for an account before you could post anything), and despite multiple emails to their 'customer service', I have yet to receive any response as to why they did that.

In any case, Ebay, Amazon and craigslist are all valuable tools for finding (or getting rid of) items at great prices.

Clipping coupons

Clipping coupons isn't terribly effective for me. I do it, but it doesn't save my tons of money. We've all heard stories of people who go into the store with a stack of coupons and come out with a cartload of groceries that they paid $2 for. That wouldn't happen with my grocery list because most coupons are for processed foods or cleaners and beauty products with lots of chemicals in them.

I'm gluten intolerant, so I don't buy most processed foods- the few that I can eat are from specialty companies that don't have coupons. If I can find them, I'll use coupons for canned or frozen goods, dairy products, and paper goods. However, even for those items most of the coupons available are for over-processed, full-of-chemicals (lots of artificial flavors and colors, unnecessary sauces, etc) items, so there's only a small fraction of coupons that I can use.

So, I buy groceries on sale, generic where possible/available, bulk when it's cheaper to do so, and cook from scratch as much as I can.

I can't use mainstream cleaners because I have lots of chemical sensitivities- so I use Melaleuca products because they are kinder and gentler and don't aggravate my allergies. I also use Melaleuca toiletry products and Arbonne face products. I love the products, but there's no coupons for them. They do cost a bit more than generic cleaners or run-of-the mill toiletry products, but they don't give me migraines, so it's worth it.

When I shop online, I always look for online coupon codes, which have saved me a lot of money, and I'm a big fan of Amazon, Ebay and craigslist (but that's another post).