I know it's only the beginning of October, but I'm happy to say I'm nearly done shopping for Emerson's Christmas & birthday. I try to shop for both at the same time because E's birthday is at the very beginning of February & it's gets here quickly after the holidays. I am also pleased to say that we've only spent $17.79 for $120 worth of merchandise! Let me show you how I did it:
Diaper Rewards:
I bought both the Melissa & Doug stacking train ($16.99) & the Melissa & Doug 3 Little Pigs Stacking Toy & Story ($29.99) with my Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards codes. I've acquired the codes from Huggies products & Retail Me Not. We mostly use cloth diapers, so I admit this is the amount of credit we've earned over Emerson's entire lifetime, but I'm happy to have the freebies!
Pampers also offers a similar program call Gifts to Grow.
Daily Deal Sites:
I signed up for Eversave, a daily deal website like Groupon, close to a year ago. I was pleasantly surprised last New Years when they credited my account with $10. I then used that credit to purchase a voucher for $25 worth of toys from ToysCamp.com for free. I used that $25 to purchase the Melissa & Doug lacing cards & the teaching clock & I just had to pay $7.95 shipping.
More recently I signed up for SaveMore. Save More was, AND STILL IS, offering a $10 credit when you sign up for a new account. I then used $8 of that $10 credit to purchase a voucher for $20 at WowMyKidsSpace.com. I bought the Melissa & Doug doll family, but because it was $19.98, I also had to buy the Uncle Willy in order to reach the $20 minimum (insert annoyed sound here). I ended up paying $9.59 for the Uncle Willy, dolls, & shipping.
Bargain Hunting:
The markers I got in a back to school sale at Walgreens, they were free after Register Rewards.
The crayons I bought at Walmart & price matched a sale at Toys-R-Us. They cost $0.25.
The 4 little Mr. & Miss books I bought for with a gift card we were given to Books-A-Million. They were normally $3.99 each, but I found the on clearance for $1 each!
I also bought a copy of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (not pictured) last Christmas on clearance for $2.50 @ Kohl's.
The only think I've got left is a coloring book & to finish knitting Emerson a blanket. I just need motivation for the blanket, but for the coloring book I've got a plan to get that cheap too. I've got a recycled ink cartridge credit at Office Depot headed my way shortly, & I intend to buy Emerson a coloring book to accompany the markers & crayons. After that, I'm done!
Happy bargain shopping to you at we head into this Christmas season!
Can/would you (be comfortable with) email(ing) me your mailing address? We have a brand new Veggie Tales coloring book that I'd love to pass on to your guys for your E. Lemme know. :) Mo
ReplyDelete