I thought it might be fun to post savings success stories here. You know, the savings at the grocery store, the awesome deal you found at the GoodWill, the freebies from Freecycle, that kind of stuff. Just to encourage each other.

I have 2 to share:

• DS wanted skates for his birthday. I found knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards from a freecycler in my area. Saved myself $50 easily b/c they were higher quality than I would have bought at Wal-Mart.
• I was at the grocery store the other day and they had 3 hams marked down to $1.99  each b/c they were going out of date. They were about 4lbs each so I took them home, cut them into thick slices and froze them into meal size portions. I had enough for 15 meals! All for only $6!!

What's your recent success story?

What?  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  Am I the only one saving money?

Surely someone has some exciting savings they want to share.

I found DS three pair of jeans at Target on clearance for $3 each.

Wow, Char, that is amazing!  I'm really getting into checking the flyers for the grocery stores, etc, since my DD is in preschool in town and it's not a drive for me anymore :)

   I did hit the Goodwill's this weekend, and got a couple cute baby outfits for the new baby, and I found a Boppy pillow cover for.89!  The covers alone go for at least $12 at Target.  I'm going to use this one as a pattern as well to make some new ones, and hopefully if they come out good enough, my BF and I are talking about getting a table at a craft show this spring.    I've already got tons of cute fabric so no overhead and I spent less than $1.00!

Oh, Thanks Terri, now I need to check my Target. DS is in need of pants.

Good score on the Boopy cover Kim. Wish I could sew, all I can do is straight stitches.

wow i will be look for idea here.

Hello all,

I posted this in CMT, and Char recommended that I share here, too.

Since I'm so, so, SO proud of my savings, I'm happy to oblige.

So, last night, I ran to the grocery store for chicken breast and green beans.

I left with $47 in groceries, but I only paid $19 and change.

Everything I bought (except for the green beans and chicken) was on sale and I had a coupon for! Plus, I used reuseable grocery bags, and the store gives me a 5 cent discount for every bag I reuse.

My loot was:

1. Quaker True Delights granola bars (5 bars in the box) on sale and $1 off coupon
2. 1.45 oz Hershey's chocolate bar with almonds
3. 1.45 oz Hershey's "special dark" bar--free with purchase of the chocolate bar with almonds
4. Twix 100 calorie snack pack (7 bars) on sale and had a $1 off coupon
5. (2) 10oz bags of Sunkist pistachios--on sale and $1 off coupon
6. (2) 64oz bottles of Ocean Spray grapefruit juice -- on sale for $2 each
7. A 5lb bag of pink grapefruit (about 6 grapesfruits) FREE (store promo for buying the Ocean Spray juice)
8. Advil PM - on sale and $1 off coupon
9. Del Monte no salt added diced tomatoes-- FREE (signed up on their website for a coupon for a free can, it's the regular Campbell's soup sized can)

Note: In addition to coupons, the "sale" items were the "clipless coupon" variety, aka store club cards. Also, I had a "carte blanche" coupon for $2.50 off my next purchase, because during a previous shopping trip, I bought the right amount of stuff. And, in the interest of full disclousure, I do work at the grocery store, and one of my benefits (so far, the only benefit!) is that I get a 5% discount.

Happy Savings!

I got 16 Teddy Ruxpin books/cassettes at my FOL bookstore yesterday for only $16.

On my way home from work yesterday....something told me - to drive by a local DAV.

I was glad that I did!!  There used books ( thru February) are on sale - All paperbacks just 25 cents~

All Hardbacks just 50 cents.  I got 3 of each...

The sign said that they would be putting new books out every day....

I need to check back there later this week!!  :)

At our local consignment shop, I recently found a 3 piece suit (slacks, skirt and blazer) for under $15.

Last month, I stopped at Barnes and Noble on the way home from work because I had a gift card.   Books that had previously been marked down were on a clearance table for $1.  I came home with 16 books and 3 boxes of Christmas cards for $20.14.  The gift card was for $20, so I basically ended up paying 14 cents out of pocket.  6 books were WL books.  Yay!  Instead of walking out with 1 or 2 new books for me, I had holiday cards for next year, books for my PBS bookshelf and I earned 6 credits!

We'll probably be out and about this weekend because we both have cabin fever... hope I run into some more great deals...

DH went into JC Penney's over the weekend and they were having a huge sale.  He got 2 pairs of gym shorts for $3 each, a pair of nice jeans for $10, a pair of Docker pants for $12. 

I went to the thrift store over the weekend and got my son three pair of jeans for 99 cents each and my baby 4 pants and two shirts.  I ended up spending less than $7 bucks for everything.

My neighborhood grocery store had whole chickens marked down for .39 cents a pound.  I got 5 for less than 2 bucks each.  They also had some High School Musical Eggo Waffles marked down to ..44Cents a box.  I pick up three.  Quick and easy breakfast.

I went to a thrift shop and bought a pair of Justin boots(for riding horse) for $5. Brand new they would have been at least $50. I had a gift card for American Eagle for $30. I found a printable coupon on www.couponcabin.com for $20 off a purchase of $50 or more, so I ended up getting WAY more for my money!

I went shopping last week at Fred Meyers, and was looking the discount meat section. I picked up a Honeysuckle Turkey, 24 pounds, for $9.99. Mom thought that was a good deal.

Our local grocery store recently had bags of chicken breasts for 1.79 a pound. I bought 10 lbs, divided them up into freezer bags and put them in the deep freeze.

Our FOL has an on-going book sale. I go every week or two and almost always come away with 2-3 WL books. (Sometimes they're even ones I want to read! LOL) The books are usually in the $1 range.

My biggest recent score has been the bowling alley. My sons are 3 and 4 and have a LOT of energy! DH found a free on-line computer game and taught the boys how to play it, so they learned the "basics" of how bowling worked. Then we took them to the bowling alley. They loved it! They are "encouraged" to throw a great big ball!!! LOL  After I knew that they liked it, I went on e-bay, bought myself and the boys used bowling shoes for less than $20 a pair. (Shoes rental at our alley is $2. So I figure if we go 10 times, they've paid for themselves.) Each game for me is $3.75, the boys are $2.25 each. So for less than $10, I can get us out of the house, keep them occupied and active, and save my sanity. Not bad!

Another recent score has been a thrift shop which has once a month $2 a bag sales on clothes. SOMEONE regularly donates clothes there who has at least one boy who is just ahead of mine. (Small town. Small shop.) Every few months or so, I manage to hit it just right... Last month I got a grocery bag filled with jeans, LS shirts, socks, and a nice winter jacket for my oldest for next year, all for $2!!!

Cloi, my friend used to go bowling with her family..think tuesday nights one alley had cheap bowling at once price for a certain time range..it'd be nice if yours had something like that!

I haven't found any great bargains..honestly probably because I'm having a hard enough time not spending unnecesarily that I'm trying to avoid stores! I have found some good buys at some local thrift stores but usually the stuff there is priced higher than in other towns. I found a nice picture a few months ago that I really really like and it was around $12 or so and is huge. I found some other frames and a friend is gonna do me some pastels when she has time. but I have a hard time walking away from bargains and nothing is a bargain if I can't use it!

I have gotten things like eggs that were on sale 10 for $10 at one store with a coupon Fred Meyer. I have taken the coupon to Albertson's when they are having a buy one get one free sale. Albertsons will accept competitors coupons so I take the Fred Meyer coupons to Albertson's when both of them have the same item on sale. The eggs ended up being .50 each for an 18 pack. If you do not have these stores in your area I am sure you could do the same thing with any store that will accept cometitors coupons. You just need to watch the ads to see when they have the same items on sale. I also go to Walmart and price match things other stores have on sale. Walmart is closer than some of these other stores so why waste the gas to run all over town to get things that are on sale when Walmart will price match. You do have to have the sale ad with you and it has to be the exact same item.

I have had two great deals this weekend. First I went for groceries on Friday night. My friend lets me use her husband's employee card so we shop together and I get an extra 5% off and 25% off the store brand items. The store was giving employees an extra 10% off the entire order that night and they were having a great sale where if you bought 10 items from a grouping of items they gave you $10.00 back towards your next purchase. The cashiers were ringing up the orders so that you got your group of 10 items as one transaction and printed the coupon out and then rang up the next group of 10 items using the coupon from the previous order. I spent $98.50 got a ton of food. I added up at the bottom of each reciept my total savings and it was $186.00 so I got almost $300.00 worth of groceries for 98.50. I had one transaction of cereal bought 10 boxes and with the employee discount and the coupons for $10.00 I ended up with a .09 cent credit.

My other great deal for the weekend was a dress coat. I have been wanting a dress coat for about 5 years but have not been able to justify spending that kind of money on something that I would not wear very often when the kids need other things. I was shopping on Saturday and found a $200.00 coat that I really liked marked down 80% to $40.00

I went to Walgreen's to pick up my meds and buy some Chex for DH. I had to wait for my prescription to be ready. I didn't want to go home and return in half an hour, so I started my coupon game.This is my first attempt at this... According to my receipt...

Chex Mix $3.29 <-Not on sale/I thought I had a coupon for it, I musta dropped it
Theraflu Warming Formula $5.00 <-On Sale
Theraflu Packets $5.00 <-On Sale
Coupon $1.50
Coupon $2.00
Nature Made CholestOff $12.99 <-BOG1F
Nature Made CholestOff $Free
Coupon $7.00
Zucol Coldcare$7.99 <-On Sale
Coupon $2.00
Splenda $5.49 <- Not on sale/No coupon
OralB Toothbrush 2pak $3.99 <-On Sale
Coupon $2.00
Planters Peanuts $4.19 <-Not on Sale
Coupon $4.19
Blixtex Lip Balm$1.99 <-On Sale
Coupon $0.35
Welches Grape Juice $1.99 <-Not on Sale
Welches Grape Juice $1.99 <-Not on Sale
Coupon $1.00

Total without Coupons $53.91
Coupons $20.04
Final Total Paid $37.11

And when I turn in my receipt to Walgreens, I will get the following in mail-in rebates:
$6.00 for buying 2 Theraflu, I paid only $6.50 for them
$7.99 for buying Zucol, although I paid only $5.99 for it

If you do krazee coupon math, totally my out of pocket is only $23.12!!!

I'm jealous Carolyn, I love tuna and never see it for that price around here.

I have an apartment I rent out on the 2nd floor of my house.  My former tenant moved out a couple of weeks ago and they left alot of  things for the garbage  man.....there was alot of  pressed wood tables, bookcases, dishs, a 6 foot high pantry, also made out of pressed wood...need of repair.  There was a crib mattress, a really cute side table with two sides come up to make a small round table,some size 2 boys clothes,a computer desk, and pots and pans, another end table and  are you sitting down?  7 garbage bage of perfectly good food...it was only out by the curb for a  couple of hours.  We rescued everything basically but the computer desk.  We divided the goof up between my daughter and I , my other daughter and the lady who mived in up stairs...she got the furniture as well, except for the cute table with the leaves that extend...I took that one.  I still plan on socking her $100 to cover the garbage costs.

We live in an apt complex so there always seems to be someone moving out.

One neighbor recently left to 2 gallon size contatiners of water (unopened) and scrap wood that the kidlets have turned into bike ramps.

I love free stuff. *sigh*

ETA: I also scored tuna at 2 for $1.00 this week. I got 4 but wish I'd had some extra money to stock up.

I think I turned something around today.  I went to the Library to pick up my reserved copy of Twilight and they hadn't processes it for check out yet!  GRR!  So I was about to pay $4.00 to get it on Demand, and hubby said I should drive in to the city  (it's 15 miles) and get it free at Blockbuster instead (we have a Blockbuster trade at store plan, so I didn't have to pay anything to rent it).  I wasn't sure it would be worth the gas, but I eneded up finding gas 10 cent cheaper per gallon in the city than it was in our tiny town, so the drive in price turned out to be a wash!  So, in a round about way... I saved $4.00 today PLUS I got a little me time away from my kiddos.  Driving by myself, listening to MY music as loud as I want, and I also picked up a couple of things we needed at Sam's and got to window shop a little.. not to mention enjoy the free Sam's samples (yum!).  It was a fun couple of hours all to myself!  A good thing all around I think.

Edie