Great shopping deals!

Mom and I headed out to do some grocery shopping yesterday with both kids in tow, since everyone likes to be with Grandma. It was quite an experience, let me tell you. My patience was worn pretty thin by the end of our excursion, and we had only visited two of the stores on my list of four. Note to self: Don't ever plan to get a lot of shopping done with two kids in tow!

Despite the frustrations of dealing with two major cases of the "gimmees," we managed to find some great bargains.



Dollar Tree had just gotten a new load of things in. I picked up the new wall art saying ("Enjoy: to take pleasure or delight in simple things."), a pack of each of the new file folders, and these beautiful dishtowels. Since the dishtowels have the design on each side, I'm planning to make some hand towels -- the kind that button onto a handle or knob in your kitchen. This way, I can get two hand towels from each dishtowel. [And now that I know one of my nieces reads my blog ... Don't tell your mom, but the "Faith, Hope, Love" ones are going to be for her! :) ]



As I was heading to Wal-Mart, we passed by Factory Card & Party Outlet. You couldn't miss the huge sign in the window that read, "$0.75 all clearance." You know I couldn't resist a sign like that, especially since I had been in there and seen the clearance items a few weeks ago (when I scored the ridiculously cheap Cousin Camp pinata candy). Fortunately for me, my mom stayed in the van with the kids while I ran in and quickly picked through the clearance.

I almost missed the DeMets Turtles (24 pieces in a box!). Another lady was checking out ahead of me and clued me in, so I grabbed four boxes of those -- for $0.75/box! One box went to my mom since I know she loves them, so that's why you only see three boxes in the picture. Another box will be a gift for my Secret Sister, and we'll probably keep the last two for family treats.

As for the rest of the items, I got some great prize box and Cousin Camp prize items:

• 12 football-shaped "hacky sacks" - $0.75


• 12 basketball-shaped "hacky sacks" - $0.75


• 4 dog-themed bouncy balls - $0.75


• 12 spiky smiley men - $0.75


• 12 zoo-themed finger puppets - $0.75


• The Kids' Pick-A-Party Book - $0.75


• 3 rolls packing tape - $0.75 each


• "Hope" mug for my niece by that name - $0.75

The last item deserves its own mention, too. It's a box of 50 baby shower invitations (and envelopes), 50 baby shower thank yous (and envelopes), and 50 sticker seals. The original price was $30, and it was marked down to $10 clearance. BUT since it had an orange clearance tag, I got it for $0.75! :) I'm going to cut apart the cards to use them for the decorative paper on them, and I now have 100 more envelopes in my most-used size.

I was quite happy when I left that store, but the deals for the day weren't over yet!

When we stopped in at Wal-Mart, we got first pick on a slew of kids' shoes they had just marked down to $3/pair. I usually get kids' shoes gently used at thrift stores, but these are thrift store prices for brand-new shoes, so I spent some time going through them to find the sizes I didn't already have in my stockpile. My kids were terribly excited about these and wanted to try on each pair I put in the cart immediately. Never mind that they won't grow into them for another year or so ... :)



I got three pairs of shoes for my daughter. These are all regular-priced at $15-17 each. The first one is Athletic Works brand, the middle one is Danskin Now, and I can't remember the name on the third box.



I got two pairs for my son. Again, these were regularly-priced at $15-17 each. The pair on the left is Athletic Works and the pair on the right is Starter brand.

They're not Skechers or Adidas, but you can't beat that price for new kids' shoes! As my kids get into bigger sizes, I'm finding it a little harder to find thrift store shoes that are still nice, so this was a Godsend!

Well, that's about it for today. Enjoy! :)