Where are my goodies?

You might have noticed that there's been a shortage of deals postings around here lately. It's not because I don't want to post good deals or freebies, it's because there just haven't been much going 'round the past week or so. It's like it's hot then it's cold. I think it goes in waves. That or I come across some screaming good deals that either doesn't pan out or that it makes you jump through so many hoops, a circus poodle gets less of a workout that it's not even worth it. (I personally test and try each deal I post on here so I am extremely picky about what I share with my readers. I don't want to waste your time.) I'll definitely keep you guys posted whenever I see something good come up.

In the mean time, don't forget to do your daily Swag Bucks where you can easily get 3 Swag Bucks each day by clicking through their No Obligation Special Offers, Trusted Survey, and Daily Poll. Plus there is "Midnight Madness" where you have a higher chance of getting SB via searches. Don't forget to check the video ads as well.

Then there's also the Kroger Sweepstakes. Don't forget that! There are still 46 days left on that promo! You can win up to 2 prizes each cycle and the new cycle starts August 8!

Talking yourself off the ledge

I know I post bargains, sales, and goodies on this blog, but if there's one thing I've learned from bargain hunting is, there's no point in doing it unless you NEED the item. Otherwise it's a waste of time, money and effort. There, you heard it from me here.  In other words, I don't want you to spend the money on the deals I post if it's not something that's right for you.  I love a good deal and often times, it's very hard to resist....especially with all those back to school sales going on right now!  You saw how many pencils I bought!  What I am desperate to resist are clothes.  My kids do not need new clothes. The clothes they have now are fine and even when they need new clothes, I'd taken advantage of so many deals in the past that they're set for a long while.  I stumbled upon this blog today with an article on how to talk yourself from buy, buy, buying. I hope it helps you save a few pennies. :)

Heads up, students & teachers - Old Navy sale just for you!

From Old Navy's Facebook page:

We love students and teachers! They’ll receive 25% off their entire purchase, this Friday through Sunday only. Students—show your college or high school ID to receive your discount. Teachers, show your school ID or pay stub to receive yours.

You’ll rule the school with your cool!

Legal stuff:
...Offer valid from 7/23/2010 through 7/25/2010 at Old Navy stores in the US and Canada. Not valid at oldnavy.com. Discount applies to merchandise only, not value of gift cards purchased, packaging or applicable taxes. No adjustments on previous purchases. Not valid for cash or cash equivalent. Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts including Gap Inc. employee discount. Must show either student ID, school ID or teacher pay stub to obtain discount.

Sharpen those No. 2s - Walgreens

Are you thinking about school supplies yet? If not, you should! Back to school sales are starting now!

This week, July 4-10, Walgreens has no. 2 pencils (10 pk), mechanical pencils (5 pk) and ball point pens (10 pk) for 19 cents each pack with a limit of 3 packs each. No coupons necessary. Check out their weekly ad here.

Be on the lookout though.  I'm sure all you shop savvy readers already know this, but keep an eye on the register to see how things ring up. Just because something is an advertised sale item doesn't mean it'll ring up correctly. For example, the PaperMate pens that are on sale for 19 cents at Walgreens this week...I grabbed some blue ink ones and black ink ones just to mix it up.  The blue inks rang up correctly, but the black ink pens rang up as $1.49/pack.  Why the different ink pens rang up differently, I don't know. The ad does not specify ink color on sale.

Boing!

I'm so thrilled that my husband isn't afraid to use coupons because I send him to the store quite often. He's so much better at sticking to the list and not impulse shopping. (I don't think it's news that companies target women to market to because women are much more likely to impulse shop.) It's the end of the month and that's usually when a lot of coupons expire so I sent my husband to the store to use up some coupons for me, many of which were for free stuff (including the coupon for a free thing of Smart Ones from Monday's round 2 of Mailbox Love.) I'm sitting down with the receipt and I noticed something awesome:

With the coupons and grocery club card, he scored us $30 worth of groceries for $14.92. That's a 50% saving!

Yeah, I know coupons can be a lot of work sometimes but the savings are so worth it, especially when you pair them up with a sale...which reminds me: popchips are on sale at King Soopers/Kroger this week. Now would be a great time to use those free coupons they sent me. :D If you've never tried popchips before and you have a King Soopers near you, now would be a good time to try them since you can try flavors for the price of one. :)

Size does matter

We went grocery shopping last night and since it's been a while since I bought yogurt, I decided to get some. My kids wanted GoGurt.  I didn't mind, so we went to the dairy case and snagged a box.  There were 2 sizes on the shelf: a smaller box with the unit price of 12.9 cents, and the larger box of 13.8 cents.

Uh ok?  I thought you pay less if you buy more?

Sorry bub, that's soooooo yesterday.  Now the trend is buy more pay more.  Is it true? Have stores caught on to consumers thinking that if they buy more they pay less?

Needless to say, the cheapo in me snagged the smaller box with the cheaper unit price. Thanks to my husband, who taught me to check the unit price when price comparing, I caught on to the store's scheme to get me to spend more.  Lesson to be learned here: check the unit price.

Back to School shopping

Didn't summer JUST start? Why are we thinking about Back to School shopping NOW?!? Crazy, huh? Well for one, I love school supplies. I think school supplies shopping is very fun. It makes me excited and giddy for some reason. Pencils, erasers, glue, oh my!

Two - prices. I'm a cheapass, but you probably already knew that. The bottom line is, I HATE paying for more than I have to.

With those things in mind, I will admit that I started shopping for school supplies from the moment I got my kids' supply lists back in April. Fo' realz...even preschoolers who aren't even out of diapers yet have supplies lists! Wipes, swim diapers, watercolors, etc.

Appropriately, I came across a post on how to save money while shopping for school supplies from the blog called Organized Home. I really enjoyed the article because not only did it provide tips, but it also confirmed that the way I'd been approaching the whole school supplies thing is right. My husband probably thinks I'm a little nuts for thinking about school supplies so far in advance but the truth is, if I'm prepared with a game plan, I can save us a lot of money. I've been keeping an eye out for coupons, sales, I can afford to play the waiting game on certain items, watching for them to go on sale, then attacking when they do. Time is a great advantage when you work with it on your side.

Here's another justification to my madness though. Most stores have a 90 day return policy so if I see something that's a good deal now, I'll buy it and tape my receipt to the item if applicable. (I'm storing all of my supplies in an old diaper box. If taping the receipt to the item is not feasible, I will keep it in a plastic bag and throw the receipt in the bag so I know exactly where it is and what it goes with.) I know there will be back to school sales when I can get school glue for 10 cents a bottle, but I've also shopped for school supplies enough to know that there are many things...many specific things that teachers and schools want that will not be on the sales fliers come August. Things like an 8 oz bottle of glue will be the same price now as it will be a month from now during back to school sales because it's always the 4 oz ones that goes on sale. Unfortunately, most teachers want the 8 oz bottles instead of a gazillion 4 oz ones even though you can get 20 bottles for the price of one 8 oz bottle.

So yes, I do think of school supplies now, in June while I'm taking my kids to the pool or baseball practice, or while I'm shopping for groceries. I always keep my eye out for things I'll need and stock up if it's a really good deal. The hard part is remembering where you put them. :p

If school supplies shopping is in your near future, now isn't too early to start thinking about it. I also recommend the article from Organized Home. Happy shopping!

And yeah one of the things I have to get is 24 no. 2 pencils, all sharpened. Do you have any idea how uber grateful I am of my husband for finding my electric pencil sharpener that my dad gave me when I was in 2nd grade?!?! That thing is ancient but still works great, and I'm so glad I have it. My blogging carpal tunnel plagued wrists are thankful.