Bargains Scored at Old Navy & Target

Each week I go to OldNavyWeekly.com to try and find a great coupon. For those of you that don't know, OldNavyWeekly.com is a site produced by Gap Inc. that’s updated once weekly (usually Thursday evenings) with new coupons. The trick is you have to click around the site to find where the coupons are hidden, and you have to be quick! Others are doing the same from the moment the site refreshes, so it’s a race to get the best coupons first - there are only a certain amount of coupons available. In past weeks I've managed to get a couple of $50 off $100 coupons, but have never been able to snag one of the $75 off $100 coupons.

Well, this week the coupons were gone really quickly, but yesterday morning I got 50% off anyway. Old Navy had a Stuff & Save event, and the first 50 cardholders got 50% off everything we could stuff in the bags they gave us. I got there about 15 minutes before they opened. I had J & C with me, so I was armed with Chick Fil A breakfast to keep J content. There were probably 10-12 other people waiting with us for the store to open. It was cold for Texas - in the 50's - and I had stupidly not brought a blanket along for C, thinking it would be warmer. So I pulled off my sweatshirt and shivered in my t-shirt while I put the sweatshirt on/around C - you have to sacrifice for a good deal sometimes, ha!

I shopped for almost an hour... sometimes I can be SO indecisive! I felt like I got a ton, but there were people with WAY more - and after I left I wished I'd grabbed a few more things, really!

I spent $65.45 and got all of this for J & C: two pairs of footie Christmas pajamas, two pairs of jeans, two Rock Band shirts (more for B than for the boys!), & two long-sleeved shirts.



















I also got dresses for my friends' girls - I can never resist looking at the adorable girls' clothes, even though I have boys. There is so much more to choose from, and let's face it - in general, girls' clothes are just cuter than boys'. I got FOUR dresses. The dresses were on clearance, and all clearance was 50% off the clearance price. PLUS 50% off of that for the Stuff & Save event! For one friend, I got a brown jumper with flowers and a denim jumper ($2.49 & $1.87!!) and for another, a cute pink jumper and another of the denim (both $1.87). Those were by far the best deals of the morning.















Check out the detail on the brown & pink dresses - so sweet!





























Oh, and I got a purse and a bag for B's cousins, & magnetic frames for our moms, to save for Christmas.



















Now my favorite part... total discount? $98.47! I just wish I had thought to buy some extra dresses to sell at our town's consignment sale in the Spring. I'm still working on getting in the mindset of figuring out ways to make extra money. Next time I'll know better, I guess!

Last night, B scored a bargain of his own at Target. We love us some Target and every time we go we check out the clearance section. There were some huge clocks on clearance for $35 a couple of weeks ago, and we seriously thought about getting one. We decided to wait, because really, who needs a giant clock? Well, last night B ran in to pick up some diapers, and checked on the clocks. They were just $12.48 - 75% off! So, I guess at that price we do need a giant clock. It looks pretty snazzy hanging in our living room, I have to say! Here's a pic of the clock:















And if you can't tell just how big it really is, here's a photo with my favorite 2-year-old for reference:



















So, those are our bargains for the weekend. We are starting our new budget tomorrow - we figured the beginning of the new month was a good time to start! More on that soon.

Hello!

I guess I ought to start properly and introduce myself. My name is Christi. I'm 28, married to B for 6 years and have two great kiddos (both boys - and yes, I know we will have our hands full)! J is 2 and is at the point where he is talking almost constantly. We understand him most of the time, & when we don't, nodding seems to work sufficiently (hopefully we aren't unwittingly agreeing to buy him the whole set of Thomas trains... so far, so good). C is 6 months old, sitting up on his own, playing with toys, chewing on everything and completely enamored with his big brother. We've got a happy little family and live in a small-ish Texas city that we love.

B and I both work full time, & the kids are at a GREAT day care that we love (J sometimes even asks to go to "school" on the weekends - I see how we rank on the fun scale!) - but this great place costs a pretty penny. Not enough that it would be worth it for me to stay home, but enough that we are looking for ways to save and be able to live comfortably within our means. We have some credit card debt, partly due to a few not-so-smart choices & partly due to things around our 1970's-era house breaking unexpectedly (ahhh, joys of home ownership). Our goal is to work on eliminating the debt completely and to make lifestyle choices that prevent us from accumulating any more.

That's where the frugal living comes in to play. I've always loved a bargain (ask B, who teases me when I excitedly add up our savings after shopping trips) and grew up going to garage sales, but have never focused on really trying to live frugally as a whole.

My goal with this blog is to keep track of my efforts to live frugally in as many ways as possible - from meal planning, clothing purchases, decorating our home, gift ideas and more. I'll let you know about any discounts, sales or coupons I come across - I'm going to be on the hunt! I'll also try to have contests with chances to win great freebies (who doesn't like free stuff? Plus, free=frugal, right?) Hopefully I'll be able to help you with some frugal ideas, & I always love a good tip - so send them my way!

I'm looking forward to starting down this path to frugal living - thanks for joining me on the journey!