Bargain Quest

Forget politics; let’s talk Pampers. Starting this month, it’s costing even more to keep my little guy’s tushie clean and dry, as diaper manufacturers Kimberly-Clark and Proctor & Gamble implement a price increase of approximately $1 per jumbo pack. I read on Baby Cheapskate that it was going to happen, and now see it reflected in stores advertising $9.99 as a sale price for jumbos.

I haven’t paid full price for a pack of diapers yet, and don’t plan to start anytime soon (Although I’ve discovered all plans are flexible with a two-month old). So I’m taking advantage of this week’s Kimberly-Clark deal at CVS: Buy $30 of selected products including Huggies (on sale for $8.99), get $15 ECB’s. I know I said I’m spending down my ECB’s, but combine that deal with manufacturer coupons and a leftover $10 off $50 CRT, and it’s too good to pass up.

$1871.23 - The amount I saved in 2007 at CVS, per my receipt.

I won’t get around to a comprehensive retrospective of my whole year in bargains, so I figure my CVS numbers represent a good microcosm of the year that was. I started “CVSing” in October 2006, so by the beginning of 2007 I was getting the hang of it.

That total includes store sales, manufacturer’s coupons, CVS register coupons, $ off $$ CVS coupons, and ECB’s redeemed. The receipt only shows my fall quarterly spending total ($12.11), but my out-of-pocket expense for the year was less than $100, and mostly from last winter when I was still learning the ropes. By the end of the year, my out-of-pocket transaction totals were almost always less than $1 and I could do most of the calculations in my head. I also learned that, for me, $30 in ECB’s was the optimal amount to be holding at any one time, to do the deals I wanted but not run into expiration problems.

What did I get? In addition to lots of items we use (food, baby items, toilet paper, etc.), much of my spring yard sale inventory and another batch of items donated to the Food Bank last month (partially pictured below) came from CVS.

It sounds like a lot, and it is, but it pales in comparison to the CVS die-hards out there that juggle multiple cards, stack “$ off total” CVS coupons, take full advantage of internet coupons, and do every single deal that can be finagled to break even.

I’m actually in the process of spending down my Extra Care Bucks, at least temporarily. Keeping up with all the deals and monthly ECB expiration dates is more than I can currently handle. And with baby in tow, it’s not quite as simple to make a quick CVS dash.

But if you’re starting out ECBing, here are some resources that can help you along:

Hot Coupon World - Main CVS Discussion Board for scenarios, and even a CVS for Rookies message board.
Slickdeals also has weekly CVS deal discussion threads (Just search for “CVS”) and you can find current $ off $$ CVS coupons listed on the Coupon Board (Here’s the current thread).
Money Saving Mom has written a comprehensive CVS 101 primer, in addition to posting weekly deal scenarios.

I’m kicking off December with reflections on the value, or lack thereof, of collecting bargain-priced gifts. This topic was spurred by a recent clean-out of my “gift closet” to make room for baby linens, and a great Frugal Hacks post by Meredith about being too frugal in gift giving.

My gift closet was where I had been storing new items that I found great deals on, and picked up with the intention of giving away when the occasion arose. Justifying it to myself, I figured someone else should benefit from the bargains even if I couldn’t, and it would allow me to give more expensive presents than I would otherwise be able to. (Items also included gifts I had received and couldn’t use, stored for re-gifting). The bulk of my collection was kitchen items, toys, frames, and quite a few spa products and candles.

The problem is that not enough “gift closet” occasions seem to arise - I’m too picky about presents I give. I want them to be both useful and suited to the recipients. So for weddings and baby showers, I don’t raid the closet. Instead, I generally select an item from their registry that I like, and include an additional product that I personally find valuable. There just aren’t enough situations where the recipients and the gifts on hand are a good match.

And when I think about the gifts I like to receive, candles and body washes don’t make the list. Our candles are usually the Yankee variety, and we have particular scents and brands of bath products that we use. Other styles end up in the closet to be re-gifted. If those aren’t things I would use if I received them, why would I give them to others?

The net result is my inventory builds up, and I run out of room while forgetting exactly what I have stored. I don’t want all these things cluttering my house, and my husband certainly doesn’t.

Therefore, in what constitutes the demise of the gift closet, I have donated a number of items to Goodwill, and a bunch more toys that I picked up from Kmart clearance are going to support an inner-city ministry that lets moms buy presents at reduced cost. This way, the gifts aren’t collecting dust indefinitely and are hopefully helping someone who wants them. Remaining items have been consolidated into drawers of a “gift dresser.”

The past year of bargain hunting has taught me a lot of lessons, and going forward, I’ll do my best to limit my bargain gift purchases to items with pre-determined destinations - ie: a particular person’s birthday, within a one-year timeframe. Repeat to self: “Just because it’s ridiculously cheap doesn’t mean I should buy it!”

Overall, I’m concluding that gift giving is an area where I’m better off living in the moment and letting the bargain hunting go by the wayside. I strongly identify with Meredith’s comment:

“So what if I have to remind myself that it’s the recipient, not the bargain, that matters? Our tight personal budget makes generous giving possible.”

Given my naturally cheap tendencies, it’s too easy for generous intentions to get derailed over the cost of the gift, instead focusing on the joy of giving something worthwhile to someone I love. (Of course, I’ll still “soft” bargain hunt when I know what I’m looking for, by using coupons and shopping around for the best price.) Eschewing bargain hunting in favor of a targeted gift still doesn’t guarantee I’ll find the perfect present, but at least I’m focusing on serving the person instead of attempting to manipulate a present to fit the recipient.

Notes: *This doesn’t mean I’m abandoning a gift shopping budget!
*Also, I’m definitely not saying all presents need to be bought. In fact, I should look into more homemade gifts.
*I’ll still probably keep a couple of small generic gifts on hand for last-minute hostess presents, etc.

This Friday! I’m facing the annual question: To shop or not to shop? I confess to being a Black Friday slacker who totally let it sneak up on me this year. Lately, my shopping energy has been directed towards filling the gaps in our baby gear, so I haven’t been browsing the leaked ads and have no idea what the hot deals are.

There aren’t any major purchases on our agenda anyway, so the main reason I would consider participating in BF is a fascination with its role as the ultimate bargain hunting event. Part of me derives perverse thrills from observing the huddled masses sacrificing all good sense and decorum in the name of snagging obscenely cheap merchandise. Speaking of mass, I have a bit more weight to muscle around this year at eight-and-a-half months pregnant, so woe to anyone unwise enough to cross me. This could be Baby’s initiation into the wild world of bargain questing.

At the same time, being two-and-half weeks from my due date is a compelling argument for remaining in the comfort of home, sipping hot chocolate and watching Walmart riots on TV, while browsing the internet for online deals that are almost as good as what can be found in stores. Mmmmm. If Black Friday isn’t your bargain hunting cup of tea, I recommend frequent trips to Slickdeals or similar deal sites during the holiday season to see what’s popping up. And there’s always Cyber Monday.

I’ve read plenty of opinions that “the BF deals aren’t as good this year,” but I think I hear that every year. Are there any fantastic bargains I’ll be missing if I skip it? Are you braving the crowds, in pursuit of what?

I received my first Fat Wallet cash back check this week - $47.43, including my $5 sign-up bonus. The sizeable total is due to my pricey camera purchases back in July from Circuit City and Ritz Camera, which were shopped through Fat Wallet.

My FW experience thus far has been very positive, so I definitely recommend it. The layout is easy to navigate and my transactions have been reported accurately. I even get “just checking” emails when I occasionally shop through a Fat Wallet link and end up not purchasing anything.

At this point, I’m re-evaluating my cash back shopping strategy. So far, I’ve limited my shopping to the two cash back programs I had registered with for other reasons: Fat Wallet and Upromise. And of those two, almost all of my shopping has been through the Fat Wallet portal because the cash back rate usually beats Upromise. My new plan will be to supplement the original two with Ebates and possibly Jellyfish to expand my cash back options. Joining too many programs makes it difficult to keep track of your accounts, and dilutes payouts, which usually have to reach a threshold of $5 or $10 before a check will be issued.

I hope I’ve said it before, and I’ll definitely say it again - Always check for coupons and cash back before shopping online! If you do any amount of shopping online and aren’t yet a member of any program, I would definitely say it’s worth your while to sign up with at least one. The extra effort of shopping through reward portals is only a few seconds worth, and the seemingly small rebate percentages add up over time. To compare cash back percentages offered by one retailer through different reward programs, search for the store name on evreward.com. The programs that partner with that retailer will be listed, along with the respective amounts of payout.

If you join Ebates through my referral link, you earn $5 bonus cash after your first purchase through them. I also get $5 for the referral! Win-win, right? Yes, but… in the interest of full disclosure, I found myself offered a $10 gift card option (for Target, Starbucks, etc.) when I found my own way there to join earlier this week. Of course, now I can’t find the entrance page listing the details (probably a cookie thing because I’ve already used it), but it’s worth a shot to go directly to Ebates if a $10 gift card sounds better than $5 cash. And I might still get $5 out of the deal if you list my email (richmondbargains at hotmail.com) in the referral box.

“Win-win….win” - From what TV show?

I noticed the difference and apparently I wasn’t the only one.

“Macy’s clipped itself by dropping coupons”, from Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch.

A year or so ago, our local Hecht’s stores converted to Macy’s, accompanied by a measurable decline in extra % off coupons advertised in the paper. Instead, the salespeople were pressured to push Macy’s cards on every shopper, and Macy’s cardholders still received the extra discounts periodically. The only department store card I have is for Kohl’s and I wasn’t interested in another, so my Macy’s shopping waned a little. It was partly due to loss of the coupons, but also the fact that I wasn’t finding as many clearance steals as I used to.

Well, we shoppers love our deals, real or perceived, and Macy’s profits apparently suffered from the speedily implemented strategy change. Now Macy’s is backtracking on the coupon cut-off strategy, and promising to offer more discounts to holiday shoppers this season. I returned to the store in August (with a percent off coupon of course) and picked up some clearance baby clothes at good prices, a promising start to a hopefully renewed bargain hunting relationship.

Lesson learned: Consumers don’t take kindly to cutting discounts cold-turkey.

(I started this post as a draft a week or two ago, and as it turns out, the theme of this week’s “Works for Me Wednesday” at Rocks in My Dryer was discussing what brands we’re loyal to! In case you haven’t already, go over and read up on some other bloggers’ picky picks. This isn’t an official WFMW contribution (today being Friday and all), but here’s my two cents on brand loyalty…)

It’s an occupational hazard of bargain hunting - I find lots of brand name items at great discounts, and sooner or later, we find some brand we can’t live without. Obviously, this is the basic premise behind a lot of the promotions I utilize - Companies want consumers to try their (usually new) products in hopes that they get hooked and continue to buy them at full price. Usually, I’ll just bounce around to whatever line I can find the cheapest or even free.

But we have officially switched from Angel Soft to Cottonelle toilet paper. I picked up a supply of cheap Cottonelle during some deal ages ago, and my husband has decided he doesn’t want to go back. Fortunately, Cottonelle still gets in some great sales, so I just stock up when I can. To even things up, I’ll admit I like the convenience of Swiffer wet cloths for general floor mopping. (Generic versions are OK, too).

I’m perfectly comfortable sticking with some brands when for which we have strong preferences, although I’ll always try to find them on sale. Sometimes the generic or bottom shelf version or even another comparable brand just doesn’t taste/work right for the needs we have. Personally, this is a frugal versus cheap line. By getting the minimum where possible, we finance the habit of indulging in certain consumption habits that give us greater utility.

I also look at it this way: By bargain hunting, I get to try lots of products for very little cost. If we find something we particularly like, great! No money wasted on all the latest and greatest to discover the few products that actually improve our lives.

Here’s a sample of some of our other “must-have” brands:
Tabasco - To my husband the Tabasco nut, Tabasco and hot sauce are two different things, not to be used interchangeably! Fortunately, I’ve accumulated a huge supply for very little cost, combining Kroger $1 sales with doubled coupons.
Diet Dr. Pepper
Healthy Choice Fudge Bars
Oral-B Satin floss - This is what our dentist gives samples of.
Nature’s Own 100% Whole Grain Sugar Free bread - Not cheap.
Quaker Granola Bars
Tostitos Baked Tortilla Chips - Unfortunately, they discontinued the regular kind and we’re stuck with scoops
Degree deodorant (me) & Old Spice (DH)
Bounty Select-A-Size paper towels - They’re sturdy, and I like being able to use just a small sheet.

In addition to kind gifts and loans from others, I’ve been rounding out my maternity wardrobe by haunting the Target clearance racks this summer, picking up a lot of “Liz Lange Maternity” basics for 50%-75% off. A pregnancy buddy from church does the same thing, and the past few Sundays she’s recognized “Did you get that from Target?” Sure enough, probably half of my current closet rotation is bullseye brand. Here are some of my staples… (and an excuse to show off my 25-week bump! )

Gray lacy knit shirt $5, Gray pants $6.25 (Only problem is my short legs mean both pants are a little long, but not too bad)

Sorry for being incommunicado for so long. We’ve been traveling to visit family and I had the best of intentions of blogging from the road, and of course that didn’t happen. Then we got home and lost power in a storm for several days. But I’m back and powered up now!

Of course, I could just blame it on the baby Poor kid, I have a feeling he’s going to bear the brunt of my laziness excuses for some time.

Speaking of which, we recently found out that “it” is indeed a “he”! So we’re being blessed with a December son. To celebrate finding out and finally being able to buy clothes, I went on a bargain hunting binge during sales-tax-free weekend. Here’s a photo of my finds:

Our little boy has the foundations of a solid wardrobe through next fall… although I had to guess on sizing. I’ll leave tags on the larger items in case he doesn’t fit them in season, to give away or resell… The cost breakdown is as follows:

Macy’s - 13 items for $29.39, on a gift card. All the pieces were on clearance already for 50% or 75% off, plus there was a sale for an additional 40% off clearance prices, plus a newspaper coupon for an additional 10% discount! Regular retail value: $171.92

Dillard’s - 3 items for $7.33, on a gift card. Like Macy’s, they were 75% off, plus an extra 30% off on clearance. Regular retail value: $40.98

Children’s Place - 4 items for $6.61. Clearance plus a 20% off coupon. Regular retail value: $22.00

JCPenney - 3 items for $3.54. Clearanced 85% off, regular retail: $23.97

Kmart - 3 items for $7.20. Clearance with an extra 30% off. Regular retail: $37.97.

Total cost for 26 pieces: $54.07 ($36.72 of which paid with giftcards that needed to be used), an average of $2.07/ea.

The hardcore bargain hunter in me knows I could find many of the same things for even less through yardsales, Craigslist, eBay, etc. (I have already laid in a stock of yard sale onsies and other basics.) And as my husband reminds me, we’ll probably get plenty more clothes from baby shower gifts. I ask why everyone else should have all the shopping fun There’s just something special about browsing the racks and picking out adorable new things for your baby.

Why do I have a sudden urge to toss tea?

Well, Virginia, tax-free weekend is back. We get to keep our 5% when buying school supplies under $20 and clothes under $100, from today through Sunday.

As an article I read in the Richmond Times-Dispatch observes, the school supply aspect isn’t a huge bonus - Filling a supply list for $30 equals about $1.50 in tax savings. It’s better than nothing, but looking for the best prices has the potential to save shoppers more.

Clothes purchase savings could certainly add up, again assuming that consumers are shopping around for the best sales and deals already. For instance, a number of stores around Richmond are offering 30-40% off already-reduced clearance prices, so it’s a great time to stock up on summer clearance items while saving the 5% normally garnished by the state. Macy’s, Dillard’s, JCPenney, and Kmart are some of the retailers I’ve seen advertising the additional discounts. (I patronized a number of these on a baby clothes shopping expedition this morning and saved a couple of bucks from the Commonwealth’s clutches - more on what I bought in another post.)

Also, Circuit City is one of the retailers picking up the sales tax on in-store purchases this weekend. If you’re in the market for any pricey electronics and see a good deal, the extra 5% you save would definitely add up.