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I'm an Author. I love to write, I love to read and I just love books in general.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Saving money with kids/grandkids


Hello, everyone. I had a long discussion this morning with a friend of mine. She usually isn't a very thrifty person. If you look up the word... there's my picture probably. LOL. My friend is having some hard times financially. They cut her hours at work. Her boyfriend got laid off of his part time job (luckily he still has a full time job), and she wanted to know how in the world we do it because we live on a super tight budget, have 4 kids to her 1... and she had no idea what to do. Christmas is approaching...
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By the time I got done... she said I should write a book. Not my style to write that type of book. I don't do non-fiction. Where is the fun in that? LOL. Anyway, I got to thinking about it and I know everyone is having tough times. I'm not the only person with multi kids that has to break out in a cold sweat with Christmas looming ahead. I always plan ahead. There's no way I can come up with a ton of money to buy gifts in December. I buy all year round. I have a 'special' closet the kids are forbidden to go near. So far they have never broken that rule and the fact that I have a wheel shelf loaded with books in front of it helps. So... here's some great advice.
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I love Amazon dot com. They have some really great toy sales all year round. They also have major DVD sales a few times a year. I bought one daughter a Buffy the Vampire season set for $14! They are usually twice that. They recently had some of the older seasons of Rosanne, shows like that, for under $10 a season! They always have great deals on box sets and children's movies. Just check frequently. I got seasons of scooby doo for one of my kids really cheap recently too. It was 70 percent off.
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One payday a month I go on there to hunt up what is on clearance in their toy sections or electronics. If you spend $25 on most items... free shipping and man can shipping add up otherwise. It's sad when what you're buying and the cost of shipping it equals out or just about. I usually manage to get away with spending $50 per child yet get about $150 worth of stuff. If I only spend $25-$30 a month it pays for Christmas and birthdays for all 4 kids. It's just remembering to tag one paycheck a month, hunting up those sales, and having a place to stash what you buy until said holiday.
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Last year they had dollhouses for $15 (usually $69.99) and buying 2 of them got me free shipping (saved almost $30 there). I bought MP3 players for my girls (Barbie) they had marked down from $39.99 all the way down to $11. My son is 4 so he can't read this. His birthday is next month. Has anyone seen those remote control fighting robots? They are like car/robots, they talk, they have fists, and they fall apart to later snap back together when they punch each other out if you have 2 of them to fight each other. Really cool and what 4 year old boy wouldn't love that??? LOL. They are usually $50 each or just under. I found them at just under $10 each. I bought 2 of them for his birthday, threw in a clearance tool box talking toy that was dropped to $8 from $17... to get me that free shipping. So... I spent about $29 total for about $117 worth of stuff. NOT BAD! Every month those sales change, you can catch some super deals, and save a ton getting some top rate items at rock bottom prices. I've noticed June/July offer the best sales going the lowest in prices but they also seem to drop in November more drastically too.
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Another favorite online store of mine is a place called collections etc. If you google that... it's the first link. I love buying things for my friends here. I signed up for their email notices and they send me $1 shipping and free shipping codes often. Sometimes they have a spending limit to get those but sometimes... it's free shipping on ANY order. That's when I strike. LOL. They have a lovely sale tab all the way to the right along the top and man do they have cute stuff. I've bought everything from cute happy faced shelf sitters (I collect them and own a few dozen of them...), to artwork, to handy gadgets. It's a great place to Christmas shop too year round to store for December for friends and family. Just hit those sales. Look every month and watch for those free shipping on any order codes in your email.
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So... does anyone else have any internet stores they love to shop and save money at? I kept it to the internet so everyone can shop since in some areas they don't have certain brick and mortor stores. I'd love for you to share! I could always find even more ways to save money.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Laura -- you have no idea how much this post speaks to me! I was raised by a mother who was raised by a depression era mother. Yes, that thrifty gene keeps going. I'm a big Amazon fan, and I also find a lot of great deals on eBay. For retail, Big Lots is a gold mine.

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  2. Hi Helen,
    I don't know what I'd do without sales! LOL. I buy all my clothes at second hand stores. We were just always broke when I was a kid, raised by a single mom who didn't get child support, and my husband and I decided it was more important that one of us be home so we've mainly lived on one income so money is ALWAYS tight. LOL. I love Big Lots, the dollar tree, and they know my first name at two 99 cent stores! LOL.

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  3. Hi Laurann
    I love bargain hunting too, some of my favourites are online stores. Pity Amazon doesn't do free shipping to Australia though (sigh)

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