After Sales

You probably got your fill of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, and even leading up to Christmas, you may have become exhausted trying to find that right gift at the right price. But, if you still have some energy left to shop, you may want to see what all is available at after Christmas sales.

I've tried to stay away from the stores since I know it's hard to resist great prices. But most stores give such easy access online now, I have looked to see what I could find. So far, I've only bought one item at half price and with free shipping. Yay, me! But believe me, I've tried hard to behave and not spend needlessly.

I do suggest you look online at your favorite store(s) and see if there's something you've been wanting for yourself that might be on sale. Now is the time to get a great deal.

Shopping for Family

So I know you wouldn't be at all surprised if I mention all the terrific sales I've seen since Thanksgiving. I have a few fun stores where I shop, but of course, you can never beat Kohl's. 
While I've been shopping and trying to save as much money as possible, you might be happy to know that I've seen several things I would have loved myself, including a $50 stuffed giraffe. But I was a good girl and left it all at the stores. I was, however, sure to tell Santa about those items. 
While I was at Kohl's, I found a really cute and patriotic Urban Pipeline hat. It is light enough for the desert, it's good for traveling and it has snaps on both sides if I want it up away from my face. It was a $20 hat, on sale for 90% off. Yes, that made it $2, plus a 15% coupon, which made it only $1.60.
You may not think it's cute, but I like it a lot. I love to celebrate the USA, and I also found a similarly flagged fanny pack and headband, also at 90% off. So I got the hat, a fanny pack and a headband for about $5. And I'll wear them with pride!

Now is a good time to shop because the closer we get to Christmas, the better the sales. And yes, I did buy for the family too.

Like Bagels?

I like bagels a lot, but we don't buy them all that often simply due to the cost. We usually get a 6-pack for no less than $1.99 (on sale), but usually they are up to $3.98. But the other day, we were shopping and happened to be in the refrigerated section. Guess what we found there! Yes, bagels. In the cold section. Why, I'm not sure. I guess they possibly thought it was a good idea to put them near the butter and cream cheese. But there we found a  5-pack for $1.59. You might want to check your local store to see if they keep any in the cold section. They're a good deal, and they're delicious!!!

Use It or Lose It

One of the ways I save money is by using the coupons I receive. Many people don't like to bother with coupons, but it really is their loss.
I had received a Kohl's $10 coupon in the mail and had $10 free money from Kohl's that were both about to expire. At this point, many people would not want to drop what they were doing to go shopping, but you know me. I got in the car and went to see what I could find. That was $20, people! I couldn't simply waste it.
I looked around, tried on a few items, and finally decided on this cute new outfit. I tried to get my husband to buy something for himself, but he didn't find anything he liked. So I found a lovely gray blouse on sale for $6, and a cute jacket on sale for $15 to go with it.  I also found a chain necklace on sale for $1.08, if you can believe it. 
With my coupons and an extra 20% off the extra, I got ALL THREE ITEMS for $1.27. How fun it that!

Dog Ear Wash

Do you ever need to buy ear wash for your dog? I do, and although it's not too expensive, a bottle can run anywhere from $6-$10, depending on where you buy it. I found a recipe to make it at home for much less and it seems to be just as effective.
All you need is 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar and 2/3 cup of water. Mix and then use a cotton ball to clean your dog's ears.

There are also recipes which add a few drops of rubbing alcohol and/or olive oil. But I prefer to keep it as simple as possible for my dog's comfort, and the mix will last for a long time.

Got Wine?

I have long been a fan of  "Two Buck Chuck's" wine from Trader Joe's. In fact,  I used to buy it when it was only $1.99. So although prices invariably go up at some point, I was quite disappointed when it suddenly sold for $2.49. Still it is decent for such a cheap price, although I honestly don't buy it nearly as often as I used to simply because of principle...also because I like a good moscato and TJ's doesn't have one in the inexpensive variety.

I do shop at Walmart sometimes, and I've seen that their cheap brand is Oak Leaf Vineyards although I hadn't tried it. I figured it must be pretty bad. But I finally tried it recently, and I was wrong. I bought the moscato, and it was actually good. I could taste distinct flavors, and it was only $2.39 a bottle.
I am pleasantly surprised, and looking at their website, Oak Leaf Vineyards is a medal winning winery in California. So you may want to try their wines, if you haven't already. You can't beat the prices and you might also find a new favorite.

Keurig Experience

I was given a beautiful Keurig coffee maker as a gift. Being a coffee lover, I was thrilled. But sadly, my experience with it has not been a good one. I rarely share negative information, but I feel this is important.
My Keurig worked well and the coffee pods made it so easy, although they were expensive. So I bought a reusable filter for it and all was right with the world. But then, when it was time to clean the system, I followed the directions, yet it didn't work when putting it back together.
I was lucky that the store allowed me to exchange it, and life went on again. But the second one did the same thing. The instructions say to take out the removable filter when descaling, but then the water won't pass through and it doesn't finish cleaning or allow coffee to be made. So i took the second coffee maker back and exchanged it AGAIN. Interestingly, the store clerk said that they have had several people return their Keurigs.
I am now on my THIRD Keurig, and I am debating if I should keep it or simply exchange it for a different kind of coffee maker. For an appliance which is very expensive, it is ridiculous that they seem to be so much trouble, and I don't feel I could ever recommend them to anybody. I am currently using my $2 Melita drip filter, and it's working as well as anything.

Using Coupons

Most likely, you also receive ValPak coupons in your mailbox like we do. There are many which offer good savings, but there also seem to be many for businesses which are not places you go on a regular basis. Some may get you to try a business where you haven't been before, but for me, it's often just a waste of paper since I throw so many of the coupons away. But even if there are one or two that you can use, it can save you some money. So it's always worth a look to see what's in there.
ValPak is also online. So you can check there to see if any coupons are applicable to your life and where you normally go for services.

Another Snowman

I just have to share my latest FIND. I collect snowmans, so when I saw this mug in the store, of course, I was drawn to it. It's a cute St. Nicholas Square hand-painted mug (not cheap), with a top (the head) to keep the contents warm. It was on a clearance rack only because it was a Christmas item, but it had no price tag. I went to the checkout and asked about it, and the cashier tuned to the manager wondering about looking up a price. He said to just give it 
to me for $1.00! SCORE!
It is so cute and a nice addition to my collection, not that I needed it. But when they're practically giving it away...
Believe it or not, I also had a 20% coupon which I wasn't ashamed to use. So my mug was only 80 cents!!! As usual, I'm a happy shopper!

Happy Birthday to ME

This past weekend, we went to our favorite store, Kohl's (big surprise), looking for a gift for someone else. But things were on clearance, and when they're priced so incredibly low, it's often cheaper to get new items than to shop at thrift stores for used ones.
My husband found several shirts, most retailing for $50-60, marked down to $4-5. I found a couple myself for about those same prices. I even found this cute pair of boots, not that I need more boots mind you. But they were retail $59.99 marked down to $5.99!!! How could I not get them?? :)
For all the shirts, the boots AND a pair of earrings, with tax it all came to only $58.53! The total savings off retail prices was $445.80!
Now we can go through our closets and bless someone else with some of our older clothes. What's not to love about that!?

Birthday Surprises

I may have written about this before, but if so, just count my post as a friendly reminder. ;-)
Just like stores, many restaurants have rewards programs, and if you like free food (who doesn't?), you should sign up at your favorite places.
My birthday is coming up soon, and today alone, I received three emails to come celebrate it at different restaurants offering a free bday surprise. Some offer a free entree, some a dessert treat, all free just for being in the program.
Of course, they know you most likely won't be celebrating alone, so they're still going to make money in the deal. But you want to celebrate somewhere, right? So you may as well get part of it for free. 
It's starting to make sense to me why I always seem to gain a few pounds around my birthday, and it's apparently not just from the cake! :P

Toy Score

You know how I always look for bargains, and pet supplies are no different. Food alone can be very expensive. I was in the store and there was a table of items on clearance. They all appeared to be for fairly small dogs, so I almost passed them by. But I decided to stop and take a peek, and sure enough, at the bottom of the pile there was a large SUMO bone and rope toy, perfect for Coco. It was apparently one left over from Christmas, so instead of $9.82, it was marked down to only 98 cents!!! 

The dog doesn't care what color it is, and neither do I. If you are familiar with the SUMO brand, these are very strong products which cannot be destroyed easily. So I was very happy to find it. Such a deal!

Coupon Value

I love it when I get "free money" coupons in the mail. I'm sure the stores figure you'll spend more if they can get you there. But the key is to stick to the coupon value when I go shopping.
For instance, I got a "$10 off $10 or more" coupon. So I went to the store and looked at several things on sale, some for less than $10 and some for a few dollars more. But I kept looking around and I found a little jacket, which I had tried on months ago when it was full price. It was marked down to $10. So I used my coupon and got it for NOTHING!!!

Don't Be Afraid to Ask

Many of you know how much I love to learn, and how I (very) often listen to and watch webinars. So yesterday I was on one, and it was a little tough as I was riding in the car and had to watch it on my phone. But still, I did and got a lot out of it.
The instructor had said in his promo email that one listener was going to win the course he was actually going to talk about at the end of the webinar. So I wasn't sure how he was going to choose someone, but I stayed on until the end even though I wasn't going to be able to buy his course.
Sure enough, he did talk about the course he was selling but, as he was getting ready to sign off, he hadn't said anything about picking a winner.
So I sent a question in via the webinar and asked if he was still giving a course away. He said he had forgotten all about that, and since I asked, I WON!!! It was a $197.00 course that I won, just for asking! WOOHOOOO!!

So the moral of the story is...Don't be afraid to ask questions! You just never know what can happen!

Cool Summer Hat

I often talk about checking prices. Even when a tag says one thing, what can it hurt to check it and just see if what it says is really correct? For instance, my husband and I were shopping, and I found a hat for him that was on clearance. The tag said it was $8, which seemed like a good deal. 
My husband looked around and found a display of men's hats, one stack of which was of the exact same hat as the one which was on clearance. Those hats were on sale, but were "Buy one for $25, and get one half off."

So he thought about getting the one for $8, but first I wanted to check the price. It was actually ONLY $3.50! Why it was priced so low is unknown, but it was just like the expensive ones and is a cool hat, especially for next to nothing.

New Boots

We were on a mini-vacation this week, and there's a favorite thrift store we like and try to visit when we're in the area. While I was checking out the book section, my hubby was over looking at men's shoes. He called me over and I thought he was going to show me something he had found for himself. But when I got there, he showed me a great pair of hiking boots in MY size. Who knew I could wear men's shoes! 

They are brand new boots and still had the tags. They are perfect for hiking and are waterproof and have Thinsulate insulation, but are fairly light to wear. They are very nice boots! He looked them up on the internet and they normally cost anywhere between $89-$119. But they were only $30!!! SCORE!

You just never know what you're going to find. It''s so much fun!

Buying Boxes

I wear a lot of hats and like to buy pretty hat boxes to keep them in. But let's face it, new boxes can be expensive. So I often buy them after holidays when they are drastically reduced. Consequently, a lot of my hat boxes have snowmen or snowflakes on them (which is actually okay with me!). But my husband doesn't understand what the draw is and thinks it's a waste of money, which also makes me want to spend less.
We went to the local Goodwill store this week looking for something else, and I found this pretty flowered box. It doesn't even look used and is perfect for my closet. It wasn't priced, but the cashier gave it to me for only $1.99! YAY!!!

More Free Movies

I have written before about movie reward cards. They are great because you earn points for every dollar you spend and then get free refreshments and movie tickets. But I also just received an email from the theater company offering an additional perk of a free screening of a movie before it was even released to the public. They are working with a company called gofobo, which is instrumental in coordinating the movies and all the attendees.

I received tickets again this week for another free movie, which is one I've seen advertised and that I am very excited to see, It's still difficult not to spend money while at the theater since popcorn is synonymous with movies. But I found that if you eat before going to the movie, you can resist the temptation.

Check Your Receipts

It's a good idea to get in the habit of checking your receipts. I often get overcharged, especially at a particular restaurant...they offer a special, but then charge you full price unless you question it.

We recently went to another favorite, the Olive Garden, and they have updated their service to include small table kiosks where you can call a server, order and even pay right at your table. They also offer games that you can play while you're waiting. I like the food,atmosphere and prices there a lot; however, I did play two games while waiting, and then when the bill came, there was a charge on our bill for them. Only problem was that it never said they cost money!
Of course, I asked about it, and the server took the charge off our bill. But I can only imagine how many people don't even notice they've been charged extra for something there on their table that they didn't even ask for in the first place. Crazy. So keep an eye out for hidden charges, and don't be afraid to ask about them if you find any. 

Another Meal

My husband and I ate out the other evening after we had seen a movie. As with many restaurants, bread came with the salad course of dinner. It is always good, so we asked for more. Then, as soon as the server brought another loaf, our main courses were delivered too, so we didn't really need the extra bread. But we took it home with us, otherwise they would have just thrown it away.
The next morning, we made delicious french toast with it. So it made for another whole meal. It's always worth asking for more since it's often included with your meal, and if you will really use it.