You CAN stay home! Part 3–GREAT WEB DEALS!
Stay at home moms have such an advantage over our ancestors in that we have the opportunity to compare, save and shop at home, at our convenience, saving gas and time, and never even leaving the house! I’m a big fan of Internet shopping….provided that the items are needed, and I truly am saving money. I’ve mentioned them before, but these are some of the examples I’m talking about:
- I buy computer ink for a fraction of what it costs at Wal-Mart. I’ve shopped http://www.123inkjets.com/, and often I buy re-manufactured ink on Ebay.
- Speaking of e-bay, I find so much stuff there! One year, I bought a huge percentage of all our Christmas presents there. The advantage of ebay is, you may not even know what you are looking for, but find “the perfect gift” by browsing the categories. I’ve bought oodles of books and school curriculum for dirt cheap. (Last week, I wanted some pricey vitamins and happened to find one new bottle on e-bay for half of the retail price!) Don’t forget to keep an eye out for regularly-bought items such as diapers, and household items.
- I buy my contacts on the site mentioned the other day… http://www.lens.com/
So, I wanted to just offer a list of websites you may be interested in browsing, especially with Christmas coming up. PLEEEEEASE comment with your favorite web link for our readers’ benefit!
- http://www.graveyardmall.com/ This site is pretty amazing….I’ll be checking here for some of my Christmas shopping. Example of deals I found today:
-a 130 pc. set of magnetic construction “blocks” for 2.99!
-a 6 pc. nylon travel bag set for 2.99!
-AND, shipping is only 6.99
- http://www.restaurant.com/ They sell restaurant coupons at 50-60% off
- http://www.freelancebyu.com/ She’s made a business out of offering free information about freebies, deals, coupons and discounts. There’s a lot of info there!
- http://www.printfree.com/ This is a great site for printing calendars, greeting cards, chore charts, and all other sorts of printed materials.
- http://www.half.com/ An affiliate of ebay, a great place to find discounted books.
- http://www.classiccloseouts.com/ A great place to keep an eye out for bargains…today in the “bargain bin”, they have a beautiful ivory woven/embroidery long skirt for 5.99.
- http://www.haband.com/ Keep a check on their bargains…I just bought 2 leather travel bags. I received a $5.00 coupon in my inbox, and when I checked out, I ended up getting both bags for $12.00, not counting shipping. And they are really nice, expandable, genuine leather bags.
Well, that should keep you busy for a little while! Remember, when trying to save money, there’s a balance between buying it just because it’s a bargain, and buying it because you need it or can use it. Keep Christmas presents in mind this time of the year, but don’t spend all the money you’re trying to save on deals! (Could I be speaking from “experience” 
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frugal living/saving money, working moms | Word Warrior | 
September 13, 2007 10:57 am
One of my favorite things to do is look for Christmas and birthday gifts at garage sales. I have found oodles of gifts, especially for my five (soon-to-be six) children. Everything I buy for gifts is like new, and my kids know that a lot of their stuff comes from yard sales, but they don’t care! And the older they get, the more appreciative of the savings they are because they know it helps the family. Many of their gifts I find for under $1! (This doesn’t mean we buy more just because we can. We still limit it because we don’t want them to become materialistic and think they “need” a lot of stuff.) Oh, and they buy their gifts for the family this way, too — many times only spending a quarter or two per person, which helps their piggy banks stay full, but at the same time experience the joy of giving.
It really is amazing the things that the Lord helps us find for each other. What a blessing when we are working hard to be wise with our finances!
More great tips. I agree with you that the internet can be a great place to bargain shop. Of course be aware of scams too.
And just because it’s a good price doesn’t mean you need it either!
Christmas shopping this time of year is really a great tip. I worked for nearly ten years in retail and I can tell you from experience that they DO NOT lower their prices right before Christmas! They raise them. Well actually they are low now. They will raise them in another month or so and bring them back to their orginal price right before the holiday so you’ll think it’s on sale.
Buy now with the end of season close outs and not again till January when the next out of season close outs occur. Holidays do not determine sales, end of season does.
Kelly
Great tips! Gina, I agree…I am a HUGE fan of yard sales and thrift stores. In a day when people are so addicted to “stuff”, they are giving it away as fast as they are buying it…which is to our frugal advantage!
I buy most all of our nice, fashionable, barely-worn clothing at these two places.
If you have a “used-stuff phobia”…get over it! It’s going to be used as soon as you take it home anyway!
One thing we’ve attempted to give our children instead of “stuff” (that will just clutter up the house, break or not keep their interest long)are experiences.
Instead of an expensive party or new presents, we took our little girl on a trip on the train for her birthday to a nearby city that had a great zoo.
For our son’s birthday, instead of presents, our family went to see a Vaudville show together.
I think it saves us money in the long run. It also supports our values–that is valuing people, family, and experiences over temporal things that today are fun and tomorrow end up in the garbage.
I absolutely agree with you Gombojav tribe…we have moved more and more to the “gift of time” and farther from, like you said, clutter. And the more children a family has, the more they all share each other’s gifts, so one or two gifts per child is really a bunch!
Freecyle. Recycle items you no longer need by giving them, free of charge, to others. Also, request items you need. If someone can meet your request, it will be free.
http://www.freecycle.org/
Also, Goodwill has its own auction site online. We’re blessed to have many local stores here, but I did buy two Gotz dolls for our daughters from the auction site last year. They were brand new and we paid a fraction of their retail cost.
http://www.shopgoodwill.com/
http://www.slickdeals.net/
http://www.dealdetectives.com/
The two sites above have some incredible deals occasionally. Check them out regularly, especially on Sunday nights.
Also, consider opening a junk email account so you can sign up for free samples (great stocking stuffers).
Thank you for more great tips, Kelly! You are an encouragement to me, especially as right now I’m trying to cut down on our grocery budget.