Holiday Preparedness 2012

I am very close to being completely done with Chanukah/Christmas shopping. Hallelujah!

I have yet to really go through what I think I have and what I bought that I don't remember buying. It is all under my my bed, stuffed into the closet and there are even a couple things in the garage. I started buying a few things here and there back in March, but I have been filling in the major gifts in the last two months bargain shopping. There are a couple things that I do need to buy last minute, like new pillows (how do you hide those?!) and I also have some items to make on my to-do list.

Luckily I do know what I need/want to make and buy thanks to my handy spreadsheet.

To keep myself accountable, I thought I would share my homemade gift to-do list.

For my daughter:
- Play apron and potholders. I have already started cutting the fabric for these and I am really excited for her to play with her own potholders rather than mine. It is very inconvenient to have to search them down to take something out of the oven...
- Mirror. I have this really cute iron mirror that I got on freecycle that I can just envision as a fuschia pink in her room. I have not been able to find the right color spray paint, so I am on a mission to find the color at the craft store this week.
- Bed Skirt. This is the same bed skirt I set out to make in May for her bed and still have not started. I would like to finish this to give as a gift, but I will be happy if I finish by valentines day.

For my son:
- Game Bag. He is really into games right now. Any card game or board game is, um, game. I found a great idea at Teach my Child. Where the outside of a bag is a tic-tac-toe board and the inside holds the pieces. I am taking that concept and using a pillowcase to save time and making a game board on both sides: tic-tac-toe and checkers! I got all my pieces and I have to do some spray painting and sewing, but this should be a quick project once I have the time and energy to finish it.

Other gifts: (not started yet... lots to do!)
Teachers: I plan on giving a book (for the class) with a chocolate dipped candy spoon for her.

Aunties: There is a really cool versatile shirt called the Bina that I found online that I want. So I thought I would make one for my sisters (and myself). Much less than to spend $50 each...

Family from Kids: Key-chains from clay. Stamped and painted. I also want them to make me a couple charms for a personal necklace for myself. This should be a fun project to do with them!

Neighbors and Friends: I will make a batch of my mocha cappuccino mix to put in a pretty container with marshmallows tied with a bag of popcorn and chocolate dipped spoons for a cozy movie night. Much easier than making a fresh batch of cinnamon bread and apple butter like I did last year...

As you can tell from my list, I have a bit of an ADD problem starting a million projects at once (and this is ONLY holiday related!).
What homemade gifts are you making this season?

My Holiday Present List

I know that Halloween has not even gone by yet and we are already seeing holiday merchandising in the stores. I have started seeing blog posts by other people about Christmas and Chanukah shopping. I have a couple of ideas for this year and I have purchased several things already.

I haven’t posted anything recently, so I thought that I would show you how I keep track of what gifts get given. I have an excel file that I have used for several years. Each year is on a different page. This allows me to look back and see what I gave family and friends the year before, and before that—eliminating the possibility of gifting the same thing twice.

My kids are super lucky since they get the best of all the holidays!

On the left side I have a list of all the people in my life. Family members and their children, friends and neighbors, work acquaintances, etc. are listed on the left side. And then I have boxes on the left of the sheet I have a couple boxes: (1) things still to buy and where, (2) major Christmas gifts, and (3) Chanukah gifts for each night.

I have already started this year’s – but I wouldn't want to give anyone the opportunity to cheat!

Shared at Cheerios & Lattes, Tip Tuesday and Petite Hermine.

The stuff I do

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine. She just had her fourth baby and tries to feed them in a healthy and organic way. Since I have been trying to do the same (and save a little money too) I promised to send an email with some of my purchasing tips to her. No stranger to finding deals, she never purchases from the internet because she doesn't know about the resources available there. 

A Good Thing

I am so excited to get extra freezer space! I have wanted a separate freezer since our family started growing, and so I told Jeremy that I wanted a freezer from Santa Clause. We have not used credit cards in over two years and so I put together a plan.

Before we went to the store to look at our choices, we disagreed on whether an upright or chest would best suite our needs and space. I won ;) Then, I figured out the perfect solution to getting the freezer for a reasonable amount of money

Here is how I was able to get it sooner rather than later:

            First I would purchase gift cards at plasticjungle.com for Home Depot since they seemed to have the largest selection and I could get free shipping. I was going to purchase these over a couple months to stretch out our budget. The freezer I chose retailed $549 but I saw it go on sale for $420, so I wanted to accumulate enough to cover the tax and wait for the sale price. Through Plastic Jungle, I could purchase the gift cards for 9% less than the card value.

            Once I had accumulated enough gift card money, I would go through Ebates to Home Depot to purchase the freezer. Shipping would be free. AND with ebates I could get another 3% cash back!

            So the breakdown:                   $ 549

- sale    $ 129 = 420                       

- 9%     $ 37.80 = 382.20      
- 3%     $ 12.60 =             

                                                            $ 369.60 Not Bad

Well… It was a good plan. But I continued to check craigslist just-in-case a reasonable price came up (I don’t mind buying used as long as it wasn’t ancient). Before I continue, you must know that I looked online for about 3 months before I was about to buy a gift card to start this process. The night I was going to buy the first gift card, my husband told me to “wait until tomorrow” (this is because he wanted me to focus on the movie we were watching instead of interrupt with questions). But the next day a good deal came up!

I found a freezer that was 5 years old, not used in a couple years but working, that was the same size as the one I was looking to buy. Fate. I negotiated it down from $195 to $150! Yahooo

I am so happy with it! Not only did we get a freezer so I can see what we have now, buy more sale items and freezer cook to my hearts content (I started last night with a box of potatoes my mom gave me); but it also prompted us to clean out our attached garage/office space. Purge and put away… too much of a good thing is a GOOD thing ;D

<--- By the way, I have to add that 98% of the stuff in there was squished in my tiny kitchen freezer and there is still stuff in that freezer. Crazy

Yea shopping!

I felt the need to pat myself on the back, so I wanted to write about it.
I bought a pair of gloves (the same pair I bought myself last year that was stolen a week later) and a pair of pants for Connor at JCPenny.com. And I paid almost nothing!

I knew that I waned to buy some things as JCPenny so I went to GiftCardRescue.com and I found a JCPenny gift card for 15% off the card value. It took almost 2 weeks to get it, but just in time for the good sales.
Today and tomorrow the store is having a big sale like they do every year. I looked at Ebates.com and Shopathome.com to see where the greatest discount is. Timing is everything. Shopathome is having a bonus day and giving a rebate of 6%. Naturally I went to JCPenny though their link, chose my items then I used the coupon code HUGENESS online to get $10 off any $25 order plus free shipping to my local store.


This seems like a good deal to purchase this way... until you add up the numbers and figure out that it was AWESOME!


Here is what I bought:
Gloves (originally $45) bought for $23.99
Pants (originally $20) bought for $11.99 
   with $5 shipping and 1.89 tax =  TOTAL $42.87
   subtract shipping for code = $37.87 
   subtract $10 for the hugeness code = $27.87
   subtract 15% for giftcardrescue = $23.69
   subtract 6% for shopathome rebate = $22.27


So I saved (if everything was at full price): $49.62 
Ho-ray for the Internet!!

Morning Online Shopping Trip

I have to go out later for milk and whatnot. But I love looking around online to see if there are any great deals. Especially with the holidays coming up, my brain is thinking about all sorts of creative ways to save money and get what I need for less than if I just went shopping.

Well, I have a bunch of psycho-deal-searching-bloggers on my facebook in a “deal” category so I can click over there and basically spend 30seconds looking it over and deciding whether there is a deal worth my time. Some days there is nothing and some days there are a lot of promotions going on. I was so excited about it, I wanted to share (this worked out really well since my kids are occupied for the moment).

·        20 custom photo holiday cards for $1.49 from SeeHere

·        $12 cookie scoop (Xmas present!!) for the cost of tax at One Kings Lane

·        12 Custom Thank You Notes for my son’s b-day for the cost of tax (Last year I realized that these were not cheep. $11 for 8 cards is just insane)

Hurray for me. I spent about $5 this morning for things that I need anyway. Here is how I did it:

-         At SeeHere.com: Create a 4×8 photo card and choose to purchase 20 copies, use promo code 25cards at checkout. By ordering the 25 cards the promo is for, you end up spending $2 more, so I just purchased 20. I usually purchase 50 cards at Costco for $15, so if I can get all my cards for less than that… I am doing pretty good.

-         Onekingslane.com is giving away a $15 credit for people who sign up for an account (or refer a friend who makes a purchase). I signed up for an account and TA DA! One King’s Lane is a designer discount site. If you go there and see something you like, get it! Their sales are only up for 24 hours and things tend to sell out before then.

-         I used the $13 coupon code ForFree at Ink Garden. You can choose from several customizable products until 12/31 if you are a new customer. I went through ShopAtHome.com (6% cash back) before I went to the Ink Garden. Don’t forget to go to ShopatHome first especially if you want to buy more than the coupon is for.

Comment if you have found any great deals you are proud of.

The Online Saving Game

With the holidays coming up I am always learning new ways and sharing my secrets on how to save money on everyday needs and gifts. Well, I have given so many of the same recommendations that I thought I would blog about it in case other people are looking for the same type of information. So here goes…

When I am looking to purchase things, I like to do some research first to find the best place to get it and maybe look for coupons if I don’t have one (even for eating out. A lot of restaurants have coupons available online). In most cases you can get items online for less money and have it shipped free – saving the gas and time. And in other instances you can actually earn money on purchases you were going to make anyway!

First let’s discuss rebate sites. There are two sites that I like to look at and they are both similar in nature.

Ebates.com and Shopathome.com

Both contain store coupons, online coupon codes, (and best of all) links to the websites that give you a % of money back on your total purchase. That is awesome! Last holiday season I made about $40 back from the gifts I was going to purchase anyway. These sites are always updating their information and have regular specials that give extra cash back for a period of time.

Here is how it works. I was talking to a friend who was looking to purchase a Nook Color. If he were to purchase that online by clicking to Barnes & Noble through either one of these websites today, he is eligible for the free shipping coupon plus the 2% (or more) that the rebate is (the rebate may change, which is why it is good to be a part of both sites to check out which one is higher). These sites mail a rebate check quarterly.

Restaurants are pricey. Especially when you have kids to buy for too (and if you are like me you end up buying a regular entree for your kids so they get a more rounded meal). Sometimes I just don't have time or energy to cook at home so I have figured out how to save a little by examining the menu closely and sniffing out the deals from other sources. If you like Costco, there are some restaurants you can get $100 worth of gift card money for $80 - 20% off isn't bad and if you have a coupon for that restaurant too then the meal can be much more affordable. There is also Restaurant.com.

There are a few different sites that specialize in eating out. Through ShopAtHome.com or RetailMeNot.com, you can get coupons to print out. But Restaurant.com is different in that you can purchase gift certificates to eat out. If you just visit the website, they advertise a $25 gift certificate for $10. BUT if you have a coupon code that they email you or that the rebate sites have available, you can get that at up to 90% off – that’s $25 to spend on food for $1 upfront! Awesome! BUT say you go through ShopAtHome.com to get to Restauant.com and you get 25% cash back for the certificate purchase… nice right?!

Swagbucks

This is actually just a rewards site. Some “swagbucks” are like a game to get, some are super easy. It is also a search engine where you can get random rewards by using it. So I switched my browser preferred search engine to Swagbucks. I have cashed my rewards in for Amazon.com gift cards. You can also save up for raffles, and other material things worth a few bucks (like digital pictures) or a lot of bucks (like a 32 inch HDTV).

Another great site is GiftCardRescue.com and Plastic Jungle

You can sell gift cards that you won’t use and/or buy gift cards for less than the value. Soooo if you shop at Target or Best Buy anyway, it might be nice to get a little extra for your money. You just have to wait for it to come in your mail.