Free Cable Internet Access

I had trouble with my Cable Box the other day so I called for them to fix it. While we were waiting for it to reboot, the guy told me all about Internet High Speed Cable. I told him I was interested, but not ready that day. About a week later, Cox called and offered me a FREE modem (was $59.99) and one month's worth of free internet service just to try it out. So, we got the modemn last week and I got it hooked up today. It does seem a lot faster. I am anxious to get some things on ebay and see how fast it loads. I don't have a cable outlet in my office, so we have a 50 foot cable running out of the bedroom, across the doorway to DS's room and under the door to the office then on top of my ebay treasures. Lookin' good! NOT! We will have to get the Cable Guy out here to set it up corretly.

Hint of the Day: Procrastinate on with a salesman and you might get a good deal.

I haven't found many deals lately. I did have a good rush of them last week, so maybe that's why I haven't found any this week. I have been to three thrift stores in three days. I didn't get anything too exciting. A few clothes for DS, a thing or two to resell and a thing or two to keep.

When I was at Petsmart buying cat food yesterday, I found a check in the parking lot. It was from an insurance company for $55.00. I have found several checks in parking lots in the past few years. I found one for $1,950.00 once. I always mail them back to the recipient. Anyway, yesterday while we were checking out this lady came in asking the checker if anyone had found a check. DH told her we found one in the parking lot. She jerked it out of his hand and left. No, "Oh, Thank you!" or anything. Very rude. If someone does something nice, please say, "Thank you!" Last summer I found someone's credit card bill all sealed up and ready to be mailed in the Hobby Lobby parking lot. I mailed it back to the person on the return address. She wrote me the nicest Thank You note and told me that she prayed to God for an angel to help her. So, she said I was her angel. I'll always remember that!

Salvation Army Finds

I went to the Salvation Army yesterday to poke around. I spotted this cool office chair - all wooden - white and distressed. I love that look! It was $15.00. As we all know, I am cheap and that is a lot of money to me. I decided not to buy it since I have a perfectly good office chair already. But, that's when I noticed the "20% off Office Chairs" sign in the window. SOLD! It was only a $3.00 deduction - but heck - $12.00 for a cool new chair. The photo above is actually from the Staples website where the chair is....drumroll.....$159.99. I think this will become my scrapbooking chair.



Also at the Salvation Army, I got my husband a birthday gift. (It's hiding in my sock drawer, I do hope I rememebr that in May when it is time to give it to him!) Anyway, it is an Arkansas Razorback pickup truck with a complete tailgaiting party in the back. They were putting it in the glass case and I said, I'll take that". It was $7.00 - again a lot for me. But, an awesome gift. There is one on ebay for $165.00 right now. I actually spent $20.00 at the Salvation Army. WOW!

I went to another thrift earlier in the day. I got a cool new pair of Elisabeth jeans for $3.00. They had a $69.99 tag on them. I really bought them for resell, but I tried them on and now they are mine. I love them.

I had a great thrifting day!

Cheap Groceries

I've had a run of good luck lately getting grocery items at good prices than with coupons. Yesterday I noticed that IGA had a lot of Quaker products in their ad. The Quaker Breakfast Squares were on sale for $1.50. I knew I had coupons for 75¢ off 2 so I thought that might be a good deal. Well - when I got to the store - each box had a peel-off coupon for...tada....$1.50 each box! So, they scanned at $1.50 and then the $1.50 coupon deducted. ZERO! I bought eight boxes all for tax only. These are good for after school snacks, bedtime snacks or breakfast. DH carries some in his route truck for breakast on the road. I like to throw them in the car for those hectic spring yard saling days!

I also bought five boxes of Frosted Flakes. They are on sale 6/$10.00. I bought 5 boxes at $1.67 each. Used three $1.00/1 coupons and one $1.00/2 coupons to bring my total down to $4.35 for five boxes. DS is a Frosted Flakes fan!

At WalMart I found Kellogg's Twistable Fruit Snacks on clearnace for 50¢ each. DS always wants these, but rarely gets thm at $2.68 a box. I bought 6 boxes for about the same price as one would normally cost.

So, we are set for snacks in this house. I wish I could fins somce coupons for fresh veggies!

I got a catalog in the mail the other day forom Brylanehome.com. It had a code for a free telephone on the cover with any purchase. I ordered an item I had been wanting (it was on clearance from $49.99 to $15.00) and I got the free telephone. it is a desktop phone with speakerphone, hold button, music on hold, calculator, spped dial, etc. It reminds me of the fancy phone I used to have on my desk when I had a "real" job. The first item arived on Friday and the free phone arrived on Tuesday. All in all a great deal!

I got a letter in the mail yesterday telling me that I had been named a "Souper Parent" by Campbell's Soup based on an essay submitted for my volunterism at my son's school. The prize is 10,000 labels for the school. The retail value is only $115.00 (10,000 sounds like it would be more than that!) but it will help the school. There was only one winner per state. Souper! My son and I actively collect Campbell's Soup Labels, Boxtops for Education and Tyson's A+ Panels for his school.

We'll always send a thank you and an envie full of coupons, stickers and any other goodies we have on hand. Mention you saw it on the blog please!

I stopped by the Flea Market to straighten things up yesterday. I had a check for $6.30. I didn't expect to have one at all. I was one of the first vendors there and it is still filling up. She is advertising and Spring is coming, so more lookers with be there then.

19¢ Nailpolish at Walgreen's

If you have a Walgreen's clse to you - they have some pretty good deals this week. The main one is that they have this high dollar (in my book) Revlon Nail Polish on sale. I think it is about $8.50 normally, but a lot of the colors are on closeout for $3.19. Inside the front door they have these books called "Easy Saver Rebate Book". In these books are $3.00 of this Nail Polish. That makes it only 19¢ each! Limit one polish per coupon. I have heard that some of the stores will let you get several and just scan the coupon over and over again, but I haven't had the nerve. I've gotten three colors of "Nearly Buff" so far. I usually wear clear, but I like this nearly buff stuff - it hasn't chipped or come off in three days and I hand wash all the dishes in the house. It's a good deal if you are close or going there anyway.

Another thing is the Ultra Blood Glucose Monitors are on sale for $30.00. There have been coupons in the newspaper lately for $30.00 off one - so they are FREE! I have gotten four so far - two went to a local church where they were helping Katrina Victims, one went to an Elder in our Cherokee group that needed a monitor and one will go to the School Nurse to have as a backup. We do have to pay Sales Tax here so it does cost $3.00 to get the free monitor. But, in the end, they really help people. These things are normally nearly $80.00 each.

Went to the Salvation Army today. DS did most of the shopping with his own allowance. DS got the newest Captain Underpants book in MINT condition for 25¢, a NWT September 11th "America" Beanie Baby for $2.00 (DS collects and loves these now that we can get them second hand and cheap), two other books for DS for 25¢ each, a "Teacher's Pet" VHS movie for $1.00 for DS, a nice divided basket for the Flea Market and another nice laundry style basket to put things in at the Flea Market. Oh, yes, my best del by far - a nice leather COACH bag complete with register number inside. The real deal! That's for resell!

Hint of the Day: Take your kids thrifting and yard saling to look for books, toys, etc. Things are so cheap and usually in great condition. Where else can they get a puzzle, a book and three toys for a dollar and still get CHANGE back???

My 95¢ Trip To Dillon's

This morning I went to the Honor Roll Assembly at my son's school. I was there promptly at 9:20 to get a good seat. I got a really good seat. The assembly is tomorrow.

So, that left me up and dressed with nothing to do. So, of course, I headed to a thrift store! I got a neat wooden drum called a Gato Drum for $3.00 and a big blue speckled enamel stockpot, strainer, colandar and lid for $1.00. I took those to the car since they were awkward and heavy. Then I came back in and found three sets of French Grammar, Conversation and Vocabulary cards still in the sealed packages for a total of 90¢ - they were $12.95, $6.95 and $6.95 originally. I also got a really cool sparkly Lycra Baseball Jersey from the Graceland Softball team. That's for ebay, for sure! Also for ebay - an antique rug hooking tool for $1.00, a few doilies and some Shabby Chic metal toleware thinga-ma-bobs. I also got a nice leather purse for $1.00 for myself, a colbalt blue candy jar to hide some of those Kisses from a below post and three shirts for DS and DH for 50¢-75¢ each. I also picked up some misc. litle junky toys for DS, some books and some computer software. I spent a total of $12.50 for everything.

That put my just up the street from Dillon's so I decided to go there and see what deals I could find. They had a lot of the Pepsi/Lays promos going on again. I bought three bags of Doritoes for $1.88 each and got a free 12pack of Pepsi. They also had a Kellogg's promotion - buy 4 cereals get TWO 4 packs of Dannon Fruit Smoothies for free. I had coupons for the cereal, so I ended up paying $6.00 for four boxes of cereal and the two four packs of Smoothies. Up by the registers they had all the Christmas items in carts. A lot of it was Hallmark items and some Christmas items too. Everything was marked at 1/2 off, but the sign said, "25¢ each" no matter what it was marked. I got three James Taylor CD's that were priced at $14.98 each, two Thomas Kinkade tins that were priced at $5.98 and two boxes of Christams Cards that were priced at $12.50 each for a total of $1.75. When I paid, a coupon printed out for a FREE box of Hot Pockets. I love those coupons that print out! After I paid, I noticed they were adding to the Clearance baskets, so I took another look. OH MY GOODNESS! She was adding Glade Thomas Kinkade Vanilla candles to the carts at 25¢ each. I, OF COURSE, had coupons (!) for $1.00/2. I gathered them all up - there were 22 total. I ran back and got the free Hot Pocket since I was there and headed to the register. The candles scanned at 25¢ each, but the coupons scanned at $1.00 each. I was able to use 5 coupons for $5.00 off the $5.50 total. Then she subtracted $2.24 for the Hot Pockets, which my Shopper Card lowered to $1.94. When it was all said and done - I paid 95¢ for 22 Candles and the Hot Pockets. My coupons were going to expire on Saturday, so this was great timing! Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas next year.......

Hint of the Day: If you ever find your self out witho nothing to do - go deal hunting! It's a great high!

School Lockers are Gone!

I stayed home today. I think I am shopped out for awhile.

I did sell that set of lockers that I wrote about a few months ago. I made a deal with a lady, but her husband had a truck full of gravel and couldn't come get the lockers. She called yesterday and picked them up today. I had bought them at a yard sale for $1.00 in October. They were double decker big heavy steel lockers from a school gym. The guys at the yard sale where I bought them delivered and unloaded them - so I never even touched them. I thought they would be great in my son's room for storage, but they were so heavy they scared me. We know a family that lost their 5 year old son when he climbed on the shelf of a bookshelf and the whole thing fell on him and crushed him to death. So, that sort of thing scares me. They have been beside the garage waiting for her. Anyway, she picked them up tonight. I had told her $25.00 - but I let her have them for $20.00 tonight. She is going to put them in a community house at a cooperative learning center of some sort. So, they will go to good use. And I am glad they are gone.

I was at Target this morning at 8:09 after I dropped of DS at school. I was the third person in the store. I didn't get the NASCAR car care sets that I wanted, but I did find two Turtle Wax car care sets with free poker chips and free poker cards for $2.94. I gotone for my StepDad and one for my Dad who both have January birthdays. I found these fabulous heavy nickel bar trays, ice buckets, bar tools ans salad tool sets. I got a tray, ice bucket and bar tool set for an upcoming wedding. They were $39.99, $29.99 and $19.99 respecitively, but only $3.99, $2.99 and $1.99 after discounts. So, I have a beautiful $90.00 gift for $9.00.

I also bought a small bench - it is black with a red and black plaid cushion. I will put it in the flea market and price it plus use it for display. It was $59.99 - I paid $5.99. I got two really nice outdoor decorations -one is a rusty looking christmas tre that reads "PEace on Earth'a nd has birds attached with wire. When the wind rustles, it is a windchime. I also got a similiar rusty snowman windchime sort of thing. They were $12.99 - I paid $1.29. I got two really nice heavy throw rugs with snowflakes and penguins on them for $1.29 each.

I bought 25 handblown glass ornaments in red holographic gift boxes. They were 19¢ to 59¢ each. These will go in the Flea Market or on ebay as a lot. I bought a lot of Shabby Chic ornaments and tree toppers. Shabby Chic sells well on ebay and this is the trademarked "Shabby Chic" so I can use it in my title legally.

I did end up buying wrapping paper, tissue paper and gift bags, but I stuck to solid colors or snowflakes - things I can use year round or for packing ebay boxes.

When it was all said and done, I spent $80.00 which means I brought home $800.00 worth of stuff. It wasn't worth $800.00. But, it was certainly worth $80.00.

Hint of the Day: Check the internet for markdown schedules at Target, Walmart, etc. so you can be there FIRST when the doors open and get the good stuff!

Here are the photos of part of the flea market booth. I couldn't get any good photos of the window part due to the sun streaming in and the giant tractor trailers whizzing by at 55 mph. I took some more things in this afternoon too.

Markdowns Can Be Lurking in Odd Places

I tried to go to my favorite thrift yesterday but it was so busy there wasn't a single parking spot available! So, I went to Walgreen's down the street to kill some time and see if I could find a deal! I was still on the hunt for Christmas Hershey's Kisses for my Valentine's Day goodies for school. I went down the Christmas aisle and the only candy they had were candy canes and really Christmas-y looking stuff like chocolate santas and Peeps. I went down the regular candy aisle and looked for any bags that had red or green wrappers or bows on the package, etc. I spotted the Hershey's Kisses - Caramel - wrapped in red and green and the packages had snowflakes on them. I took one to the register for a price check....62¢! Score! I got eight bags of those. I spotted some bags of Chocolate Mint Kises kind of hidden under the regular chocolate Kisses, so I took a chance and took them to the register. 62¢ again! I got three bags of those. So, I got eight big bags of Kisses for school for a total of $4.96. I went on to the Dollar Tree and got six packages of little Valentine's Day buckets for the kisses. I also found Candy Canes reduced to 50¢. I take two Candy canes and add a dab of hot glue to the tip of the curved part and on the end and them stick two candy canes together to make a heart. I add red curly ribbon (from Christmas markdowns too) and add them to the bags. The kids always love the candy cane hearts. The candy canes at Walgreen's were red and green striped but the ones at the Dollar Tree were red and white striped, so they were good for Valentine's Day. So, my point is, and I do have one, that I spent a total of $13.96 to make 24 Valentine Goodie Buckets. That's a pretty good deal and they will get good stuff.

I did manage to squeeze into a parking spot at the thrift after I left Walgreen's. I got a really cool vest with elephants on it for $3.00. It is all sequined and brocade - I think it is from Peru or something. It looks like a camel rider would wear it! I also found a seagrass basket, which is something I recently learned about. I paid 50¢ for it - it should sell for at least $25.00 if not more. The vest will go on ebay too.

Yesterday morning I set up my flea market booth. It took a few hours to set it up. It has a big 10 ft. window in front of it so I need to find some tall glass shelves that I can put in the window and display glass and pottery on it. It really is in an awesome spot right in front of that big window. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them downloaded.

Today while I was picking up groceries at Wal-Mart I noticed some Family Size frozen meals in the meat department. Each one had four servings of meatloaf and four servings of meacaroni and cheese in a reheatable container. They were $5.98 each, but they were reduced to $1.50. BUT! They also had $1.00 peel-off coupons on them. So, 50¢ to feed a family of four meatloaf and macaroni and cheese. I bought three of them. Have I ever mentioned that I am a vegetarian? (Someone somewhere will eat them someday!)

Hint of the Day: Look for out of place merchandise. Things get put in the wrong places and some times people even hide merchandise waiting for it to go on sale. I NEVER do that - it is very unfair!

Today I will attempt to put my house back together after I have packed up all the Christmas decorations. My car is loaded to start setting up and stocking my Flea Market booth tomorrow when DS goes back to school.

Yesterday we stopped by Lowe's to pick up some big storage containers for the outside decorations. While we were there they were marking down the last of the Christmas merchandise to get rid of it. I bought an Amaryllis in a box that was $9.99 for $1.00. I also got a cast iron Christmas Tree Stand. It holds a 250 lb. 12 foot tall live tree. I have never had a live tree. I have no plans of ever having a live tree. My ceilings are only 8 ft. tall. But, that tree stand was $49.99 on sale for $1.00. I just couldn't leave it there. Hopefully I can resell it next Christmas on ebay or at the Flea Market.

We ate at Cracker Barrel. I hadn't eaten there before and I was really unimpressed with what I ate. But, I'm not into that Southern cuisine - beans, taters, biscuits, gravy, etc. Anyway, in the gift shop they had lots of nice stuff reduced 75% off. So, I might need to add that to my bargain hunting travels from time to time. I bought a mini Cracker Barrel resturant for my mini village for 50¢.

Hint for the Day: You might find a deal even when you aren't expecting it.