CVS is having a great sale on tuna fish and soup.  Right now, you can get cans of Bumble Bee tuna fish, Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, and Campbell’s tomato soup for only $.50/can.

I stopped by earlier this week and picked up about 12 cans or so,  but I’m thinking of getting a few more.  Stockpiling foods when they’re at their lowest prices can really save a lot of money.

What foods are you stockpiling this week?

Since we live in a very rural area, going shopping usually requires a 30 minute drive.  A 30 minute drive may not seem like much to some of you, but to me this is a long way to go.  At our last house, there was a local grocery store less than 1 mile from our house and there was a Food Lion only 2 1/2 miles away.  If I was in the middle of cooking and needed something, it was easy just to drive up to the store to get the item. 

Today my husband and I tried something a bit different.  I wanted to get a few more groceries from Harris Teeter before the Super Double sale ended and he needed to get some things from Lowe’s Home Improvement and some other places.  We decided to do our errands together.  Actually, he dropped me off at Harris Teeter so that I could shop while he did his errands.  This saved us gas and time and also avoided me having three kids in the grocery store.

This is what works for me.  For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, visit We Are THAT Family.

We’ve had some beautiful weather lately and the yard sales are starting.  I love the thrill of a bargain and finding great stuff for a great price.

Saturday we were on our way out of town and I spotted a yard sale.  Trust me, it wasn’t because of their signs.  Anyway, they had books, toys, children’s clothes, and more.

I was able to get Alligator girl four pairs for $1 each and she needed the pants.  I also picked up a Mrs. Spider’s Sunny Patch cd for $1, a Dora dvd for $2, some magnetic alphabet letters for $.50, and a few other things that I can’t remember right now.

I also spotted a box of books geared for preschool though second grade.  There were many early reader books in there and most of them were by Scholastic.  I asked how much the books were and they said $.50 each, which was a good price.  After looking in the box and seeing that I would like to have a majority of the books, I asked how much for the whole box.  I bought all of the books for $5.  When I returned home, I saw what a bargain I received.  There were over 70 books in the box and several of them hadn’t been read yet.  That means I paid less than $.10 each for the books.

Hooray for saving money!  Have you found any yard sales?

image is mine

I live and wash on teh hopes that there is rain. I am constantly running my well dry. I know I am getting older because I now look at rainfall in relation to how many loads of laundry I can do and how much water will be left for showers. Trust me, there is nothing worse than standing in the shower with soap in your hair and not being able to rinse it out. Talk about a bad hair day. I have heard about this water and money saving trick and like the idea. I will give a quick disclaimer, if you, shall we say, fill the potty a lot, then flush more often as you will have a little less water in the flush.
According to the video, you can save 16% on y ou water bill and 7500 gallons of water per year. Now I can handle that many showers!

Let me know what you think.

As many of you know, our family has been through a big transition lately.  We have moved to a new location and our house hasn’t sold.  My husband also started a new job and did not receive his first paycheck until this past week.

I was determined not to go into debt for Christmas.  And how does one do this?  I shop throughout the year and buy things on clearance for my kids.  I use the items for their birthdays, Christmas, Easter, or as special treats. 

My kids had plenty to open this year.  Take a look at some of my bargains.  (In case you’re wondering why the date is weird, it’s because we let the kids open the gifts from us before we left town to see family.)

Cuddlebug likes his new car. I got it 75% off after Christmas last year.  Paid $2.50 for it.

Alligator was excited about her new Hello Kitty bookbag.  Got it at Target, 75% off for $4.24.

A pretty new purse and wallet with sequin butterflies.  My friend found this deal for $1.  It had a Sears tag on it for $13.  And the cool pirate hat is from Dollar Tree.

Carter’s fleece pajamas bought at Sam’s Club for $3.81.

Carter’s fleece jacket, $3.

Hat from Children’s Place, $2-3?

I got this V-Smile game at Target, 75% off for $6.24.

There’s lots more, but you get the idea.  I know that not all kids are this easy to buy for, but I try to buy things that I know my kids will like.  It certainly saves a lot of money and my kids are able to get more things since I didn’t pay much for them.  I’ve already started shopping for next year.

Do you buy things throughout the year?

I was food shopping this week and noticed that many name brand items were lower than the generic.  During this time of year, stores are buying certain products in very large quantities and they are passing the savings on to you.

It’s a good time to stock up on things like Campbell’s soups, creamed soups, stuffing, and baking supplies.  While I was at Wal-Mart this week, I noticed that they had their Campbell’s cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups for 60 cents.  This was about 20 cents cheaper than the Wal-Mart brand. 

Watch for these lower prices and if you have a few bucks to spare, now would be a good time to stockpile a few of these items while the prices are lower.

Happy saving!

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Enjoy!

I am so excited!  When I started looking for airfare for Christmas, I was mortified!  Leaving my home town, going to Missouri, then Texas, and back home again was going to cost us $3000 for 3 tickets.  It didn’t surprise me but it did tick me off.  So I called the travel center we belong to.  I thought, “What the heck.  It’s an exclusive travel membership.  Why not use it?”  So I did.  And do you know how it turned out? Read more

I am already starting my Christmas list.  This way, I can find the exact presents I want for less.  THIS, my friends, is the way to give a great Christmas for a great price!

Also, I have started talking to my daughter about a Christmas list.  We have told her that a list is simply a bunch of choices that her grandparents have to pick from but she will not get everything.  She is starting to get it.  We also tell her that we have to give more gifts than we receive.  So last year, we counted all the gifts we gave and she made sure she didn’t get more than we gave.  We got close.  When she realized it, she asked if we could give more gifts so she wouldn’t go over.  I thought that was so sweet.

Have fun shopping!