I went to Wal-Mart today after I heard online that most Christmas items were scanning at 75 off. I went late enough in the day so that there wouldn't be a ton of good stuff that I would feel I "had" to buy. I did get a pretty Damask Poinsettia Tablecloth to fit our big dining table for $3.50. I also found a lot of candles good for everyday use or for gifts. I got two big three wick Cinnamon Spice Candles for $1.20 and five 8" tall pillar candles for 60¢ each - three white peppermint and two cream colored vanilla. I got a nice melamine veggie server with four dishes inside a big white dish for $1.50. It was white with two red dishes and two green dishes. I can use it as is for Christmas, with the red dishes only for Valentine's Day, 4th of July or everyday and the green dishes only for other times of the year.

I did place an order from Graveyard mall for some Christmas decoations that came yesterday. They are so nice. I got this two foot tall cast iron tree that looks like a natural birch tree. It was nearly $40.00, but with Graveyard Mall price reductions, nearly Christmas sale prices and ana dditionla 70% off code they emailed me - i paid a mere $2.20. I also got a fabulous "Cocoa with Santa" snowglobe. It retailed for nearly $50.00, but with those same discounts and codes -I paid only $3.00. I got ten items for $21.00 and that includes $6.95 shipping. I normally will not pay for shipping, but with these prices, it was still a great deal.

I also got the first of my five American Girl orders today. I got the 8" Angelina Ballerina Puppet, a hat box filled with clothes, accessories and a hat for the puppet, a boxed set of three books, a softcover book and a hardcover book all for $5.86. I plan on putting some of these in the flea market, some on ebay, some for gifts and some to the local library as a donation. I don't know why they would reduce a $16.95 book to 49¢, but I am glad they did!

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I want to wish all my fellow bloggers and readers a very Happy New Year. This will be a new year of documenting all of my deals - let's try to get a lot of deals and do a lot of good with those deals in the upcoming year. I love getting a deal, but I love sharing it with others just as much!

Happy 2006!

I went to Target today to see what was letft in the Christmas aisles. I was looking for useable items that I had coupons that were about to expire. I found Glade Thomas Kinkade candles for 99¢ and I had coupons for $1.00/2 candles. So, they were 2/$1.00. I found the Glade 3-in-1 Blending candles for $1.00 and I had coupons for $1.00/1. I could only find three of those - but they were FREE! I got a 2 pack of Decospheres for $1.99 and used a $1.00 coupon for a total of 99¢ for two. I got some airspray, plug ins, oil warmers and other assorted air freshener itemsm all with coupons and clearance prices. I like to get all these items at Christmas time because I like the vanilla, pumpkin, cinnamon, spice, etc. scents all year long. I loathe floral or perfumy smells.

I had coupons for Ziploc bags that should have scored me tons of nearly free bags, but they were still ringing up at full price. Grrr. The boxes had snowflakes on them and the bagggies on the box were pictured full of gingerbread men. So, they really were "Christmas".

I did buy four sets of rope lights for $3.50 each. I didn't think there would be any left when it went to 75%, not to mention 90%.

I started pricing things for my flea market booth today. I hope I am pricing things correctly - not too cheap, not too much. I really just want to make my rent and get rid of some stuff for now.

Hint of the Day: When you are out looking for Christmas deals - look for useable items. Ziploc bags with Christmas motifs, paper towels with santa or snowflakes on the, napkins with holiday motif, Planter's peanuts with the red bow on the can, Russell Stover or Whitmas Chocolates with green bows in the corner of the box, etc. The Glade candles and air freshener items are usually mixed in with the regular scents - but look for vanilla, apple, cinnamon, pumpkin, cranberry, etc.

www.americangirl.com is having a clearance sale on all the Angelina Ballerina items. I just ordered the Angelina puppet, an assortment of outfits and 17 books - mostly hardback books from $15.95 and under for a grand total including shipping of less than $16.50. I split the order into three seperate orders. Orders less than $5.00 ship for 99¢. There is also a code - 145364 - for 10% off your total - so you can get $5.50 worth and apply the code and it will be less than $5.00 so the 99¢ shipping will apply. You can use the code with each order. I will probably donate these to the local library or I might sell them on ebay. I know donating them is the "right" thing to do...but......

Hint of the Day: Whenever you place an order on-line you should ALWAYS go to www.dealhunting.com and look for a code for the website you are ordering. The americangirl specials were great, but by finding that code, I actually got a FREE 49¢ book (regulary priced at $3.99) with each order since the code deducted 50¢ each time.

www.americangirl.com is having a clearance sale on all the Angelina Ballerina items. I just ordered the Angelina puppet, an assortment of outfits and 17 books - mostly hardback books from $15.95 and under for a grand total including shipping of less than $16.50. I split the order into three seperate orders. Orders less than $5.00 ship for 99¢. There is also a code - 145364 - for 10% off your total - so you can get $5.50 worth and apply the code and it will be less than $5.00 so the 99¢ shipping will apply. You can use the code with each order. I will probably donate these to the local library or I might sell them on ebay. I know donating them is the "right" thing to do...but......

Hint of the Day: Whenever you place an order on-line you should ALWAYS go to www.dealhunting.com and look for a code for the website you are ordering. The americangirl specials were great, but by finding that code, I actually got a FREE 49¢ book (regulary priced at $3.99) with each order since the code deducted 50¢ each time.

The Thomas Pacconi 7.5 Pre-Lit Christmas Tree is back at $39.99 this morning. If it is sold out when you try to order it, try again throughout day and it may be back in stock again. This is a $299.00 tree for $39.99 with free shipping. It has 1200 lights and a remote control.

Have a Merry Christmas and order a new tree for next year!

Size 120x90:

I got approved by Amazon to be an Affiliate so I am atempting to post the link above. If it doesn't work, I will try, try and try again. Amazon is famous for posting an really good deal and then changing prices - sometimes day to day. But, if you buy something for say, $50.00 today and notice tomorrow that it is $20.00 -you can call or email them and they will credit you the difference. Sometimes good deals sell out quickly. I missed a deal this morning on a regularly priced $299.00 Pre-lit 7.5 ft. Remote Control Christmas Tree. It was $39.99, but sold out before I could get to it. So, if I post a good deal, but it sells out, I apologize. But, if you do get it - KUDOS!

I'd like to thank Kim. L of Fl for the nice envie of BTFE for my son- I will send you a goodie envie after the holiday rush is over.

Hint of the Day - Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful deal huntin' 2006!

I got a little carried away on my last entry. I have signed up to be an Amazon Affiliate - but haven't quite yet made it through the approval process. So, the link above isn't working. Sorry about that. I will post the new link as soon ans I officially get 'cepted!

">

I get a ton of great deals at Amazon.com. Whenever I find a particularly great deal, I will post if here with a Search Box and the wrods to enter to find it quickly. I would appreciate you using the search box on the "Deal of the Day" site. In the summer they have a toy sale featuring $30.00 toys for $5.29 with free shipping. I bought 15 toys last summer and was able to donate them to Toys 4 Tots, the Giving Tree at my School, the Salvation Army and a few other local charitites. I alos bought a KitcheAid mixer there for a total of $79.00 after discounts coupons and codes. I have never seen one like it sell for less than $169.00.

Hint of the Day: Come back here for more great deals at Amazon aond other places too!

Our ever growing small town has been needing a flea market. I considered opening one, but I really didn't want to LIVE there all the time operating it. So, lucky for me, someone else took the jump and started one up. It just opened Monday and I was the 12th person to rent a booth, so I think it should do well - there is a lot of space. It is inside a grocery store from the 1880's. If you have ever seen pictures of an old grocery store, you can imagine what it looks like inside - floor to ceiling shelves along each wall. I have a five foot wide section that reaches up to the 14 ft. ceiling, plus a corner and in front of a big four pane window right in front of the highway. I think it is in a great spot - lots of room to display and merchandise. She told me I could do anything on the shelves, in front of the window, on the floor, etc. And the best part - it is only $40.00 a month!

I had two booths before - one I did quite well at but was a bit too far away to keep up well. The other one I did terribly at because it was more upscale and my stuff is nice, but not antiques. I am more of a "vintage" and "primitive" person - no true antiques.

This is the type of Flea market wher you rent a space, set it all up and leave it. There is some one on duty to help people and check them out. All I have to do is keep it full, straighten it up and pay my rent. Commission is 10% plus the 40.00 rent. Pretty good - I was paying $55.00 a month and 15% eight years ago when I had my booths.

This really gives me the oppurtunity to clear out a lot of stuff which is great. But, (this is good and bad) it gives me the opportunity to BUY more stuff too! ACK!

I went to a lot of thrifts this week. I got some more vintage Christmas items- a neat Santa with a paper mache face, mohair beard and velvet suit for 50¢ and a few other items I will put back for resell next year.

I finished my Christmas shopping today and I have everything ready for the party at school for my son's class. I've been the Homeroom Mom for five years. I will give each child a book that I got at www.bookcloseouts.com for 48¢ each, a mini stocking, a small Christmas Tree shaped dish, a candy cane pen, a striped pencil and a bunch of candy. All the Christmas items were bought last year for 90% of and the candy was an after Halloween 90% sale score. Each goody bag will have about $10.00 worth of stuff in it - but I only spent about $1.25 a bag. I am always shopping ahead for next year's party or next year's birthday. The bad thing is that my son is off to Middle School next year and there areno parties in Middle School. So,my bargain hunting must stop (in that respect anyway!)

I worked at school today helping sort out Christmas presents, groceries and tolietres for the needy families in our area. We had a cafeteria full of items. Sixz generous people even bought their adopted "angels" a new bicycle. it was nice to see so much generosity. It made me thankful that I was able to be on the giving end rather than the receiveing end.

Merry Christmas. Happy After Christmas Baragain Hunting! ;o)

Happy Birthday Mumsie!

The Whitman's Samplers - one pound box were Buy One Get One Free at Walgreen's for $7.99. I dug around on the shelf and found boxes that were wrapped in Fall leaves paper. On those boxes there were $1.00 off coupons. So, I paid $5.99 for two boxes - $3.00 each - not a bad deal for a nice Christmas gift. Who doesn't like a box of chocolates?

Can I ask a favor? If you are reading this would your leave me a comment? Just a quick "HI" and how you found my blog? I hear a lot of people say on other boards that they read it, but I would like to see for myself. Thanks!

Hint of the DAY: Check out all the merchandise on the shelf before you grab something. I often find coupons, bonus packages, free with purchase items, etc. at the back of the shelf. I used to stock at a retail store, so I know that sometimes items arrive with little "exras".

I went to my favorite thrift on Wednesday. When I walked in the door I spotted an Annalee Mobiltee Santa doll. My heart skipped a beat as I picked it up wondering if it would be $2.00, $10.00 or ??? Guess how much it was??? 50¢! Then I turned around there was another one! Then I turned around and found another one! Three Annalee Doll's for $1.50. Yippee. They used to sell for pretty good money, but now so much anymore. But, I LOVE them and they are MINE!

I got a good deal on the big Whitman's chocolates the other day too - I will post about that in my next blog.

It's Friday night. I cannot think of ONE baragain or deal that i got all week. No wonder Ihave been depressed all week! Sunday we had our delayed Thanksgiving dinner with the 18¢ turkey. Monday I started stripping down my house and lceaning it in preparation of decoartiong for Christmas. Tuesday I started decorating for Christmas and went to Walmart for groceries. Wednesday we cleaned out the garage, filled up the minivan with donations for the Salvation Army and put out the big inflatable Santa. Thursday night I did not sleep at all and my head was all congested when I woke up. I took some medicine that knocked me on my butt all day - nothing accomplished. Friday my sonmissed school due to a stomach ache. We worked on the Christmas decorations some more.

It takes me the better part of a week to decorate inside and outside my house for Christmas. I have a TON of decorations. Every year it is fun to see what I bought AFTER Christmas last year. This year wew had the above mentioned inflatable Santa. We bought that at Dillon's last year for $7.50. It was $49.99. They had the boxes on top of the freezers and they kept marking them down, but no one ever bought any. DH walked by them every day on his bread route so he kept an eye on them. We broke down and bought one when it hit $7.50 and all the employees were starting to buy them too.

I also buy a lot of decorations at the thrifts and garage sales. I love vintage items. Some I resell and some I keep. I have a set of AnnaLee Mobiltree dolls - a girl and a reindeer that I got for $1.25 each. They would sell for about $100.00- but I love them. I also have a four foot tall rubber faced Santa. I bought him for $2.00. I bought him to resell. But, I fell in love with him and decided to keep him. I think he would sell for $200 - $300. I have a lot of vintage elves, Santas and ornaments too. I had several Eskimo ornamnets on my tree last year that I had bought in a huge box for $2.00. I found out that I had the first three in a series ornaments from Hallmark - Frosty Friends. They were cute, but I had no emotional ties to them, so I sold them on ebay. I got about $65.00 each for them. So, sometimes i keep things forever and sometimes I enjoy it for awhile and them sell it.

Hint of the Day: Keep your eye out for Christmas items all year long. In particular, watch for vintage ornaments, vintge bulbs, Rushton CocaCola Santas, Hallmark Ornaments, Matchless Bulbs tree toppers, Aluminum Trees, Color Wheels, etc.