My Favs - Ways to save money(oh yeah)

There are so many things that I like and the first is A GOOD DEAL. I like to search for and find the best deal out there. Whenever I need something, I usually can find a good deal. For instance when my son needed new church shoes. I went to Walmart.com-there were the black shoes I wanted for $2!!!!!I was so thrilled I bought his size now, and his next size too. My total came to a little over $6 with tax, since I paid $.97 each to have them shipped. But what a good deal. I always looks for the best rates when planning a party, or a trip to Disneyland, or for making color copies. Here are some of my favorite sites.

www.zennioptical.com
This it the best website ever for saving on prescription glasses. You must have a current prescription from you eye doctor, but glasses here start at $8 each. I always buy our glasses here. We get the $8 pair and then add $5 for the anti-glare(if you wear them outside) I only wear mine at night so I only spent $8 for mine, I ordered 3 pair!!! Shipping is only like $5 for the whole order. LOVE IT!!!!

www.ebay.com
Some things are good deals, others are not. I usually compare with amazon,com or walmart.com to make sure, but I have found some fabulous deals. Another ting that I love about this site it is is so safe to buy because of the protection of PayPal. In the rare instance that I don't receive an item, Paypal issues me a refund. I always make sure the price I want to pay includes the shipping costs. I always look for themed toy lots when I do a party. Last year when I did the star wars party I found little 1.5" star wars characters to go on the cupcakes. I spent about the same ($4) as I would have if I had bought the cupcake rings-and each child got to have a toy to take home with them. (They looked new, but I ran them threw the dishwasher just to be safe. Ebay is place where you find unusual item that you won't find elsewhere.

www.craigslist.com
I check it nightly for deals. Here is one of my good deals. I was wanting to buy the new book "The Undaunted." It retails about $25 new. I found it on Craigslist for $10 brand new- and just in time to give it to myself for Christmas!!!! I also have sold things as well and IT'S FREE!!

Freecycle
This is available in most areas. It is a yahoo group that you join in your area. Then you offer things that you no longer need, and then once you have made an offer, you can get things for free that others are giving away. I usually post really nice things that I don't need, but would rather not send to the DI, because then I no someone who truly needs it can have it. The downside to this would be that making arrangements and waiting for people to come and get it can be more time consuming then just taking it to the DI. But, when I received a nice email thanking me,from someone I have just given a bag of nice winter jackets-it makes it worth it.

Deseret Industries
This is the goodwill thrift store in our area. Sometimes they have AWESOME DEALS!!! The one here in my hometown is the most overpriced one I know. They try to sell cheap pictures in large frames(the cheesy kind you see in cheap motels)for $75. I am sure it didn't cost that much brand new. BUT sometimes (and most the time in larger cities) they have fabulous deals. I like go here to buy things to re-use. Like when I a making a personalized games(see other posting for these) I look for games that have a box that I can use. I look for ceramics that can be re-painted, clothes and hats for costumes, furniture that can be repainted, etc. My best deal was a snowsuit for my son for $4. It was brand new with the tags on it for $30. Although it was a size to big-it fit perfect the next year.

bountifulbaskets.org
I love this site so much I dedicated and entire post for it. The best place for getting a good deal on fresh fruits and vegetables. Check it out.

lakeside.com
I love this site because you can get fun gift or things to decorate your home with a relatively great price.

birthdaypartyideas.com
This is the first place I head when looking to plan a themed party. People from all over share their ideas of what they did and what the kids liked. They have hundreds of themes and most individual themes have several ideas posted. I usually take the ones I like most and "borrow" several ideas to make it my own.

stores.ebay.com/circuitoffice
I used to buy my printer ink from inkjetsuperstore.com - they have a great selection, great prices, & low shipping. BUT for my printer, I found a better deal here AND it is the same as I got before only much cheaper. I pay $23.95 for a 10 pack of ink (4 black, 2 magenta, 2 blue, and 2 yellow) I have never had a problem and I PRINT ALOT!!!


mothergoosetime.com
This is curriculum for pre-school. It is so AWESOME!!! Me and 4 other mothers do a rotating pre-school for our children. This program provides EVERYTHING you need to teach the kids and comes with all supplies too. The only things we need to have on hand are scissors, crayons, etc-All the things you normally have at home. It is a good price too. We each pay about $14 a month!! We each teach once a week, and our kids get pre-school 4 times a week. It comes with LOTS of teacher supplies-To name a few:posters, a CD of songs, newsletters for the parents, a weather puppet, a calendar, and tons more. We just put everything in the box and pass it on to the moms who teach. The crafts are all high-quality materials-things you normally couldn't get very cheap-and most of the things are pre-cut so there is little preparation for the teacher. SOOOOOO COOL!

mycolorcopies.com
When I make history books or family photo books I do a lot of double-sided printing. The printing places in my hometown charge $ .49 a copy for single sided! So I did lots of online research and found this place. It is in my same state of Utah. It costs me $ .34 a copy for DOUBLE-SIDED copies and includes free-shipping to my home. It saves me MORE THAN HALF of what I used to spend!!! And there are so nice to work with!

Cheap Fruits & Veggies

So a lady at my hubby's work told him about this AWESOME local place to get fruits and veggies at a great price. http://www.bountifulbaskets.org
They have sites in Arizona, Utah, Idaho & Washington. You pay online and then you pick up your food at a local place, usually a business, in your area. It cost $18 for the first time, and then is $15 each time thereafter. I cannot believe how much food you get!!! This is what we got one time.


As you can see there is a LOT of food.
*8 Apples
*6 Oranges
*3 mango
*a squash
*3 avocados
*11 Kiwi
*2 broccoli
*1 cauliflower
*20 red potatoes
*6 corn on the cob
*6 Bananas
*1 romaine lettuce
*1 cantaloupe

Each time the fruits & veggies that you get are different, but everytime I am amazed how much there is. It had gotten so popular that since I have been getting it they have added 2 more sites to my area. There are also options of other food you can add to your basket, such as breads. I think it is totally awesome!