TotSwap Finds #2

If you didn't see my post about TotSwap Gaithersburg and my goodies I scored at that sale, check it out here.

The Frederick TotSwap sale is my favorite. I find better clothing, toys and accessories and I have alot more patience for the crowds at the Frederick Fairgrounds, which is probably because I am more familiar with the facility. This spring I signed up to be a consignor at the Frederick sale and sold $84 worth of items ($55 goes to me, $29 to them) which I am happy with. As a consignor I was allowed to shop on Thursday at 4pm as oppose to 6:30pm at the earliest. So I was third in line (my friend Holly was first) and we spent about two hours inside since she was shopping for multiples and there was so much to look through.

I spent $100 at this sale which I attribute to the $20 umbrella stroller I purchased and a $10 Fish outdoor rocker by Step2. Look at all the great clothes I found!!

The next two pictures shows the items up closer

These are three of my favorites: a red lined canvas Children's Place hooded jacket for $3, Gap gingham pants for $3 and a precious navy "seersucker" sailboat shortall and polo shirt for $5. What a preppy little boy William is!

I also got these items…the shoes were $3 and $2 and the books were $8 total. Woohoo!

Did I mention he had a birthday party two days later??

TotSwap Consignment Finds #1

This is the first of two posts about this season's TotSwap experience.

In the beginning of March we started getting some oddly warm, okay, hot, days in western Maryland. I made a quick stop at Children's Place and Carter's before heading out of town mid-March to buy the little guy some shorts and short sleeve shirts that actually fit. But, I didn't want to buy much since TotSwap was just around the corner. Here's what I got!

I spent $53 at the Gaithersburg TotSwap. For this price I purchased 5 pairs of plaid shorts, 4 additional pairs of shorts, an Orioles Nike romper for his first game in June, a Gap bathing suit and Land's End long sleeve swim shirt, 2 pairs of shoes, 2 overalls/rompers, and 10 onesies/shirts. Whew! What a deal!

My favorite pieces are the Orioles romper, beach outfit, and two pairs of shoes. How could I resist?!

 

Deals of the Week

(edited on Sunday, 3/4)
I got a few good deals this week that I wanted to share! The first were at the grocery store. I go to Harris Teeter and am a member of their e-VIC program so I get additional unmarked deals emailed to me every few days. This week I got Hot House tomatoes on the vine for $0.99/lb (normally $2.99/lb) and full size Aquafresh toothpaste for $0.97 each, a savings of $5.36 since I bought two.

Today I went to the Montgomery County Moms of Multiples Consignment sale and got a few cute things for William although unfortunately overall I was underwhelmed by the selection. Unlike this trip to a consignment store. William's new things are in his room right now and he is asleep so I can't get a picture, but will try tomorrow!

The highlights were two pairs of shoes: a pair of brown Teva sandals for $2 (average retail $30) and a pair of NEW brown casual/dress shoes from the Children's Place for $5 (shoes start at $19.95). I also got a cute navy blue bucket hat with embroidered green alligators dinosaurs for the summer for $1 and a few other pieces of clothing including new Baby Gap overalls. Oh, and can't forget four Dr Brown's 8oz bottles for $1.50!

I was pleased with what I purchased for $21! Two more sales coming up this month thanks to TotSwap!

Consignment Delight {baby boy deals}

Just after Christmas I traveled to see my family in Connecticut. While there, mom and I went to Once Upon a Child where she has purchased great toys and clothes for William in the past. I went straight for the 12m clearance (50% off) section. William has plenty of 9m clothes and knew he needed some bottoms in the next size since some of his 9m stuff is getting tight.

I got a lot of great pieces. I'm so excited that I wanted to share because many people don't think about consignment for kids clothes. My question is always, "why not?"

First I went to the pants because I decided that if I found better jeans than the $5 ones I just gpt him at Kohls I would be happy. Well, I got a pair of jersey lines jeand from Childrens Place and a pair from Old Navy. Also found green maude pants with original Gymboree tags and gray cords from Old Navy.

You see those prices? Do you see the stars? I got them for 50% off listed price! Moving on….

All boys need cute overalls. Right now William has four pairs that fit, two of which are corduroy OshKosh and were $1 at a consignment sale in the spring of 2011 (go me!). Anyway, I picked up two pairs from Gap (khaki and striped on the left), a pair from OshKosh and black cprduroy ones from Gymboree. Same deal, 50% off list price. The polo shirts, both from Gap were a whopping $2.25 each! I also picked up a $5 bathing suit (only thing not on sale).

Getting killer deals on like-new baby boy clothes makes me feel good and gives me more money to spend on other things. Like new clothes for myself :)

Hand-me-downs?? Hand them Over!

If you don't "like" or "agree" with hand-me-down children's clothing, you aren't going to like this post, so just stop reading. I do not have any issues with second-hand clothing for William. Why? Well, I inspect it before I buy it, wash it before he wears it and save a whole bunch of money in the process!

Take the past week for example. There were two large community yard sales in town. At one, I picked up four long-sleeved shirts from The Children's Place and a pair of linen pants (size 18M for the summer) all for $3. A nearby church had a sale and I picked up something like three sweaters, two pairs of pants from Gymboree, 5 long sleeve shirts (two from Janie and Jack), and a dozen books for $6. Yesterday I went to TotSwap, a consignment sale, and got him a great three-piece shirt-sweater-pants outfit for $2.50 and a LeapFrog musical drum for Christmas that was $5 since Sunday are 50% off days.

So, you are right, I don't know exactly which size he will be when, but really, I still think I am on the winning end of these deals.

Saving $$$$ with CouponChief.com

I am a sucker for good deals. When I get e-mails from my grocery store about the deals of the week or from clothing stores that I frequent, I always look and usually buy. Online, I tend to shop only with promo codes (you know, those codes that get you extra discounts at checkout) because of the money I save.

I have been playing around on a site called CouponChief which offers thousands of online promo codes! Woohoo, it's like a goldmine for folks who like to save money :). I was already captured on the homepage with a 15% off offer from The Container Store since we're working on improving the storage capacity of our office.

There is a great video tutorial on the site which breaks everything down real easily for users. Basically, before you purchase anything online you should visit CouponChief to see if there is an online coupon available for that vendor. If there is and your order fits the criteria, YOU save money. Can't argue with that, right?!

One feature that I signed up for is e-mail alerts for my favorite stores and categories. Now, the coupons will come to me before I even have to look for them.

Also, if you are feeling generous and want to share a coupon code with others, you can actually submit coupon codes which is like clipping coupons for others. All you do is enter the vendor web address, coupon code, offer details and expiration date. If you submit coupon codes you actually get money back when others use your submitted code. This is what they call Pay-2-Share. You get 2% commission (at a $25/month per store per month limit). Pay-2-Share is rather appealing to me, but I don't have experience with it yet to tell you if it works. So, if I would have signed up a few days ago, I could have seen the e-mail from Carter's in my inbox with the coupon code SAVEMORE. I could have gone to CouponChief and entered the code in my account and received credit if others used it. I know sharing is an extra step when everyone is short on time(believe me -- I know!!) but if you really do get money back, it is like saving money twice: by shopping and by sharing with others who shop.


So stop on by, create an account, play around and let me know what you think!


*I was asked by CouponChief.com to write a paid review of the site. Although I am being compensated, the review and thoughts are my own based on my experience using the site.

$11 at Harris Teeter

Yesterday I stopped by Harris Teeter to pick up a few grocery items. I will preface this by saying that the trip was not on a whim and not for my weekly shopping. William is being baptized on Sunday so after the service we will be having more than a dozen adults and a handful of children over for lunch. Only one other time have we had that many people over and I did not have a newborn, but I digress.

I get Harris Teeter's eVIC emails since I am part of the program and shop their regularly. I received one the other day that told me a few things:
raspberries BOGO
shredded cheese BOGO
asparagus $1.99 (instead of $3.79)
Texas Pete 10/$10
Coupons doubled up to $1.98 face value (usually it is only $0.99)

After doing 98% of my party food shopping at Costco earlier this week, I went to Harris Teeter to get a few last minute items and some of these newer things that caught my eye. I was armed with my short list and my coupons. Here is what I bought:

The Hershey syrup wasn't on my list, but I remembered my husband requested it for chocolate milk so I added it to the basket.

The total cost of my purchase was only $11.27!! How did I do it?? Why, let me tell you :)

- If items are BOGO or x/$x at Harris Teeter, the price divides out. So, I only bought one container of raspberries which is all I needed, and paid $4 instead of $8
- The asparagus was only $1.99 which is a discount of nearly $2. Why is it always so pricy??
- The Texas Pete was $1 for the bottle, plus I had a $0.40 coupon that doubled so it only cost $0.20
- I bought the salad dressings in case guests don't like what we have here on Sunday and because they were BOGO at $3.25 and I had a $1 coupon that doubled so I got two dressings for $1.25
- The shredded cheese s good on top of hot tomatoes, pizza, salad, etc and since it was $2.79, but BOGO, I only paid $1.40
- I needed the concentrated OJ ($1.67) and lemonade for one of the beverages I am making Sunday and the lemonade one was less than $1
- The Nabisco Triscuits were BOGO $3.89 and I had a $1 off coupon that doubled so I got both boxes for $1.89.
- And then there is the Hershey syrup that did nothing for me except add $2.29 to my total.

My receipt says that $24.36 in coupons were redeemed because a few of the in-store deals are considered eVIC coupons. In reality, it was $16.31 VIC savings and $8.05 in coupons.

Yes, I am pleased with myself considering I got fruits, veggies, dressing, crackers, cheese and salad dressing! AND I am done shopping for the party!

How I Stay Organized

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner asked how we stay organized. Since this post doesn't involve photos, I can write about it now!

My level of organization has changed dramatically in the past three weeks since I became a mom.

In the Past:
Schedule: When it was just my husband and I, all of our dates/commitments, etc were kept in my daily agenda planner which came with me to and from work everyday. I kept track of both of our travel schedules for work, potential visitors were penciled in, etc.
Food: When it comes to groceries, I kept a running list in a notebook and revisited it every week before I went to the grocery store with my coupons.
Coupons: For about three years I have kept my coupons organized in a small accordian "folder" by category: grocery, cold, frozen, personal care and household. Every Saturday the coupons get cut, organized and expired ones get thrown away.
Laundry: We have two laundry baskets in our bathroom, one for whites and the other for colors. This helps me see if I only need to do one load of laundry or run both. It also prevents me from having to sort the laundry.
Crafts: I am very lucky and actually have a craft room! I know I should share a picture of this, but right now I have all of my spring/summer clothes out in the room since I am trying to transition my closet and also pack up the maternity clothes (woohoo!). I have a large armoire in the room and the right side has shelves and it is all scrapbook stuff. Scrapbooks I have made, photos, paper, stickers, scissors, etc. The left side of the armoire has a shelf and also a hanging bar. On the bar I hang already washed and pressed fabric on hangers so I can see what I have and then I have other fabric folded in an old open suitcase along with all of my sewing notions. My sewing machine is on the shelf beneath the fabric.

Presently:
Schedule: I still use my daily planner, but it now stays open to the current week on our dining room table. It doesn't have meetings listed, but doctor's appointments and commitments to visit with family and friends.
Food: I bought a small notebook that has a shopping cart on it (genius!) and I keep my grocery list in there. I have a "Standard List" which is items I buy each week and then I add things that I need. This was real helpful when people helped me with grocery shopping when baby arrived (thank you Mom and Meghan!).
Coupons: I still cut coupons, but it isn't always done on Saturdays when the newspaper gets delivered. It is okay if it takes a few days, but my system is even more helpful now.
Laundry: Our laundry is still separated, but our son's is all in one hamper since everything is so small. I do separate it warm and cold based on what the tag says, and then I just wash the bigger pile first. My goal with his laundry is to get it washed, dried and layed out flat so it doesn't wrinkle. I have been able to put it away quickly, but even if I don't, at least it all looks good sitting on top of the washing machine.
Crafts: Same since I haven't had time to do anything sine baby arrived :)
Baby Feeding: I keep a notebook on the ottoman in the nursery to keep track of the time of feedings, diapers, and amount of feeding so I don't have to think about it. Since we are supplementing with formula, I prep a few bottles in advance by making sure they are clean and assembled and filled with purified water. That way all I need to do is mix in the formula. Since the water is room temperature, I don't need to warm the bottle (according to my pediatrician) so although I have to mix the formula with each feeding, I don't have to heat it up with hot water in the middle of the night. It has worked for us so far.

That is a little glimpse for now....

Deal of the Day

If you are a mom or a mom-to-be and you haven't enrolled in Amazon Mom, shame on you! Amazon Mom offers discounts when you subscribe to receive items on a regular basis. The items that came most quickly to mind for me were diapers and baby wipes. As a subscriber you get free 2-day shipping and 30% off if you make the item part of your Subscribe & Save program.

Well, we have had two wonderful baby showers, plus a book shower and are very blessed to have one more at my office next week. But, two things I don't have are newborn diapers (okay, not completely true...I do have a few days worth from my diaper cake) and wipes. I went to Amazon this morning and selected the Pampers Sensitive Baby Wipes which come in four boxes of 192 for a total of 768 wipes.

If you do one-time delivery, the item is $24.48, but with Subscribe & Save it goes down to $17.14, which is 30% off. I used a $10 off coupon from one of the free baby magazines I receive and then used a 10% off code. And remember, I got free shipping. So my total for the item was a mere $4.69!!!

This means I saved at least $19.79 because without Subscribe & Save I would have to pay for shipping too. My savings almost equal the original cost of the item -- I love when that happens :)

I will be buying diapers next (saving $11 with my selected brand using this program) but am hoping to find another $10 off coupon this weekend in my stack of magazines so I decided to split up the orders.

Did you know that diapers and wipes are pretty much priced the same across the board unless you use this program? That includes Costco and Sam's Club! yes, I did look it all up online last week comparing Wal-Mart, BabiesRUs, Costco, Sam's Club and Amazon Mom and the price difference was like a max of $4 for the same pack of diapers. I know it adds up, but for the value of my time, I'm not going to drive an extra 15-20 minutes to save $4. I know some stores like BRU offers a program where you buy XX number of boxes and get one free, but still, since our BRU isn't "right around the corner," I think the value for me is saving with Amazon!