Thrifty Thursday!!

Unlike most women that I know, I honestly hate shopping with a passion, and like to get in and out of stores as quickly as I can!! But if there is one thing I love, and will keep me in a store, its finding a good BARGAIN! I try to save and and look for the best prices on everything I buy. I mean why pay retail if you don't have to?! I'm talking Coupons, Clearance, Craigslist, Ebay, Garage Sales, Auctions, Thrift stores, I just love getting what our family calls, "Steals of Deals". Some people might call it being cheap, well I don't consider myself to be cheap, just smart. I would like to think my momma taught me well. "Train up a child in the way she should go and when she is older, (and a mom herself) she will not depart from it!!"(proverbs 22:6) Thanks Mom, you did a great job in that area :)


I had been watching craigslist for a while for some sensory tables, or another name would be sand/water tables. I hadn't looked in a day or so and my "awesome" friend (mommy+work=me) told me she had just bought one for her daughter, and it reminded me to look. So I got on CL and there were two different tables on there. I emailed the lady and she was the owner of both!! They used one for water and one for sand, which is what I was wanting to do. One was $10 and the other was $5. I went to pick them up and just couldn't believe I scored 2 for $15 total. Here they are in action!

Today I went to Kmart, looking for a Doctor Kit for Lou. She is a huge fan of the old show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. . So she is going through this "I want to be a doctor phase" and likes to play doctor and has been wanting some Dr. Tools, which may fizzle out over time but right now, my kid wants to be a DR! So believe me when I say I am not trying to discourage this phase and I am totally willing to find her some Dr tools ! I have found some online but I wanted to see if I could find some in a store first. Well it was a no go :( but while I was there, I found some (just kidz brand) tinker toys ( the cheapest I have ever found tinker toys. They were $20 (not on sale or clearance price) and I was willing to pay that since they had all the pieces and like I said, cheapest I have found. So, as I was browsing I saw a lot of other toys that had been marked down and on top of that would be an additional 50% off. I need to point out that my kids do not need toys. They do not lack in that area, but I have been keeping an eye out for "learning and educational toys" for school for tot trays and free play. The toys that are for school stay in the school house and are used only for school so that they don't get boring, being played with everyday like their regular toys.

Alright so I found this Marble maze thing, a Mosaic Puzzle, water beads, and blocks. I asked the lady in the toy department if the sign was right before I went up to the register thinking I'm getting half off stuff that's not actually half off. (holding up lines at stores is not fun- bargain or no bargain) She went through each one, telling me what the FINAL price would be and then went to pick up the tinker toys and I said, "oh that's not marked clearance or anything you don't have to check it." She said, "well let me just see", and she did, and told me it was $7.50!!!! I will never tell someone that again! I was so excited to hear that! So she told me to tell them at the register that she said it was that price. Well I get to the register and of course they have to double check... well in the process of trying to find the Lady that helped me the cashier accidentally swipped the tinker can again, it rang up $3.75. I said, "OHHH yes indeed!" The cashier laughed and said, works for me and turned to tell them not to worry about calling the toy girl up. Well she was walking up anyway with another can in which I thought was more tinker toys, and she asked me if I wanted them because they were coming up on her scanner for 10 cents!!! I was like heck yeah I do but wondered why the other can was $3.75, well after looking closer it was Lincoln Logs, which was fine with me Cowboy loves his Lincoln Logs and you know how things get misplaced or they lose a piece here and there. So the Cashier swipes it... it rang up, I kid you not.... 2 cents!!!! Can I get an AMEN? So I am so excited about my "Steals" today- If I would have bought these not on sale I would have paid over $100... So.. why are you still reading and not at Kmart?! Here are some pics of what I got.

$7.50 and $4.00

$10 and $5.50

$0.02 and $3.75

LOVE IT!!!