TARGET!!!!!
Okay, sorry, had to get that out of my system. Due to the holiday week and some travel, my first "series" is really only going to be three posts long, but I have definitely saved the best for last (in my opinion).
I LOVE TARGET!
I know, I'm a dork. That's okay. I love it, my kids love it, we go to Target two or three times a week sometimes.
I used to pay full price at Target. Hey, their prices are pretty reasonable. Sometimes I'd luck out and find something on sale and be really excited, but it wasn't a criteria for shopping there really. I got attached to Target in my endeavors to avoid other stores in my area that I don't like. I didn't care if I paid more for the items if it meant I didn't have to go to other stores.
Hubby isn't a believer in store credit cards, so even though I pointed out that Target's credit card gives 5% off of every purchase, he wasn't excited about me getting one. Then, Target came up with something wonderful - the Red Card Debit Card. It is a debit card that pulls directly from your bank account like your regular card, and you get 5% off right there at the register every time you use it. I signed up, and I have not paid full price at Target since that day! Today, I saved $3.52 on my groceries just by using my Red debit card. That may not seem like much, but this year I have saved $132.86. That would have more than covered our electric bill for the month of June!
The debit card is great, but it's not the only way to save at Target. Coupon stacking is my other big like about Target. If you can find a manufacturer coupon and a Target coupon for the same item, Target will take both. Currently I have a $2 manufacturer coupon for Pampers and a $2 Target coupon for Pampers. I will pay just $5.22 for a jumbo pack after coupons and Red card savings. I look every week at www.target.com/coupons to see what coupons they have available. They have coupons for every department, which can lead to some pretty great deals (you can read about my Target clothes shopping experience here). You can usually use coupons for clothes and such on clearance items as well. I also love that my Target is so coupon friendly. Other stores here will not take the time to look over your order and try to figure out your coupons - if it doesn't scan, you're out of luck. The people at Target always read over my coupons and accept them if they can.
Finally, Target has pharmacy rewards now. They used to extend to just Red Card holders, but now anyone can sign up. For every five prescriptions you fill, you will receive an extra 5% off coupon in the mail. I often use these to go grocery shopping, saving even more money. Most of the big name pharmacies in my area are a hassle to deal with, so I really love using the Target pharmacy.
My total at Target today before my coupons and my Red card was $84.33. After my coupons and 5% off, my total was $68.01. I saved $16.32. My best deal was saving $1.95 on Gerber baby food - I got 8 packs of 2nd Foods for the price of 6. Other great deals I have found:
$7.56 for two bags of Starbucks coffee (Reg $7.98/ea)
a shirt for $3.61 (Reg $10)
and a bottle of shampoo and conditioner for $2.74 (Regular $3.89/ea).
I'm not an extreme couponer. I won't even buy the Sunday paper to get the coupons. Target just makes it that easy to stretch your dollar. It's like giving your money super powers (Stretch Armstrong, anyone?). Okay, that might have been a little corny, but with 5% off every time you go (without having to sign up for a credit card), there is just no reason to pay even the reasonable full prices at Target!
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
It's Silly to Pay Full Price at... Kohl's.
Day 2 of the "It's Silly" series!
I don't do a bunch of shopping at Kohl's, but I always think of it when I need something specific. Particularly clothes for myself or the kids, or gifts. I have mixed feelings about shopping there. Kohl's is one of those stores where items are never actually sold at the tagged price. Everything is always "on sale" and the "sales" rotate throughout the store. If you hit the right department on the right week, you can save 40-50% off the ticketed price of an item, but if you hit it on the wrong week you may only save 20% off that item. Their base prices on items like housewares and toys are also inflated, sometimes to the point that even their sale prices aren't as low as you would pay for the same item at Target or another retailer. However, I still find that I can get some great deals at Kohl's, for two reasons:
Clearance: I cannot go into Kohl's without finding racks and racks of clearance items in almost every department, which makes it a prime target for clothes shopping for myself and the kids. I never spend a lot on my own clothing. My everyday clothes get what I call "mommed up" really fast. I don't wear my nicer clothes often enough to justify a large expense for them. The kids just grow too fast. I find deals like maternity pants on clearance for $4.60, t-shirts for me on clearance for $2.80, and items for the kids for $4 or less. I have found decorative items on clearance for 70-80% off as well.
Coupons: Kohl's has one of the loosest coupon policies I know of. I often get $10 off a $10 purchase cards in the mail. These are good on anything in the store, including clearance prices, and you do not have to buy anything more than the $10 covers. I am also on their e-mail list and get 15% off coupons (and occasionally 20% off) in my e-mail. Again, these are good on everything in the store. Where many stores have policies where you can only use one coupon at a time, Kohl's lets you use these discounts in conjunction with one another. If you go during a time where they are doing their Kohl's Cash promotion, you can use your coupons to get your discounts, and then for every $50 you spend you earn a $10 Kohl's Cash coupon to use on your next visit. When you go to redeem the Kohl's Cash, you can use multiple KC coupons on one purchase - and, if you have a percentage off coupon, you can use it too.
So I guess this entry should really be you should never pay "just" sale price at Kohl's. If you do your research and know what a reasonable price is for the toys and housewares, you can find great deals. Shopping the weekly ad and looking for extra discounts can net you some serious savings on clothes. Even when I don't need anything, I find ways to take advantage of Kohl's $10 off of $10 coupons. That's a $10 toy we could put in the box for Toys for Tots at Christmas, for example. Last year I was able to donate four extra toys by doing this!
Do you have a Kohl's near you? What do you shop for there?
I don't do a bunch of shopping at Kohl's, but I always think of it when I need something specific. Particularly clothes for myself or the kids, or gifts. I have mixed feelings about shopping there. Kohl's is one of those stores where items are never actually sold at the tagged price. Everything is always "on sale" and the "sales" rotate throughout the store. If you hit the right department on the right week, you can save 40-50% off the ticketed price of an item, but if you hit it on the wrong week you may only save 20% off that item. Their base prices on items like housewares and toys are also inflated, sometimes to the point that even their sale prices aren't as low as you would pay for the same item at Target or another retailer. However, I still find that I can get some great deals at Kohl's, for two reasons:
Clearance: I cannot go into Kohl's without finding racks and racks of clearance items in almost every department, which makes it a prime target for clothes shopping for myself and the kids. I never spend a lot on my own clothing. My everyday clothes get what I call "mommed up" really fast. I don't wear my nicer clothes often enough to justify a large expense for them. The kids just grow too fast. I find deals like maternity pants on clearance for $4.60, t-shirts for me on clearance for $2.80, and items for the kids for $4 or less. I have found decorative items on clearance for 70-80% off as well.
Coupons: Kohl's has one of the loosest coupon policies I know of. I often get $10 off a $10 purchase cards in the mail. These are good on anything in the store, including clearance prices, and you do not have to buy anything more than the $10 covers. I am also on their e-mail list and get 15% off coupons (and occasionally 20% off) in my e-mail. Again, these are good on everything in the store. Where many stores have policies where you can only use one coupon at a time, Kohl's lets you use these discounts in conjunction with one another. If you go during a time where they are doing their Kohl's Cash promotion, you can use your coupons to get your discounts, and then for every $50 you spend you earn a $10 Kohl's Cash coupon to use on your next visit. When you go to redeem the Kohl's Cash, you can use multiple KC coupons on one purchase - and, if you have a percentage off coupon, you can use it too.
So I guess this entry should really be you should never pay "just" sale price at Kohl's. If you do your research and know what a reasonable price is for the toys and housewares, you can find great deals. Shopping the weekly ad and looking for extra discounts can net you some serious savings on clothes. Even when I don't need anything, I find ways to take advantage of Kohl's $10 off of $10 coupons. That's a $10 toy we could put in the box for Toys for Tots at Christmas, for example. Last year I was able to donate four extra toys by doing this!
Do you have a Kohl's near you? What do you shop for there?
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
It's Silly to Pay Full Price at.... Hobby Lobby.
For the first day of my "It's Silly" series, I am going to tell you why it is silly to pay full price at Hobby Lobby.
Hobby Lobby is one of my favorite stores. I love going in there! They have everything from furniture, to home accents, to any kind of craft supplies imaginable. The store has a simple layout that is fairly similar from store-to-store, it's clean and smells nice, and the selection is amazing. An extra bonus for me is that they are a Christian company, which shows in the fact that a) they are closed on Sunday so that their employees have time to worship or just spend time with their families, and b) they play instrumental hymns and Christian music over the intercom. I can't go in there without humming along to whatever I hear.
Being a fan of saving money gives me even more of a reason to love Hobby Lobby. They do a great job of rotating their sales schedule. I have looked, and have yet to find an actual schedule, but it seems about every 3rd week or so I go in there and scrapbooking supplies are on sale. Last week was a bonus because it was scrapbooking paper, stickers, and stamping supplies. This week scrapbook albums and page kits are on sale. The rest of the store seems to rotate as well, and it would surprise me to see any one department go a month without being featured in the weekly ad.
If you can plan your project out a few weeks in advance, and don't have a time limit, you can easily buy everything you need at Hobby Lobby on sale. For example, I knew that I was going to be making save-the-date cards for my sister's upcoming wedding. I took advantage of the scrapbooking sale last week to get my supplies together. Of course, sometimes you need to do something last minute, but that doesn't mean you are stuck paying full price! If you visit Hobby Lobby's website, they almost always have a 40% off coupon for any one regularly priced item. Occasionally the coupon is only 25% off, and occasionally they have item-specific coupons, but it never hurts to look! The best part is you can print a coupon, but if you forget, you can pull up the website coupon on your smart phone and the cashier will honor it. I also did some research - furniture is ALWAYS marked 30% off at Hobby Lobby, and I was always bummed that I couldn't use a coupon because it was marked down. Not so! If your item is on sale for 30% off, you can forfeit the 30% discount and use the 40% coupon.
The only way they could make Hobby Lobby better, in my opinion, is to give a percentage off your entire purchase type coupon every now and then, one that you can use on sale and clearance items. Still, there is never a reason to pay full price on your entire purchase at Hobby Lobby! I am making my sister's save-the-date cards for about 50 cents per card, as opposed to the 80 cents per card it would have cost had I paid full price for all of the supplies. When you have a big project, little savings add up!
Do you have a Hobby Lobby near you? What has been your best find?
P.S. For the longest time this was not an option, but you can now shop HL online! Click here to go to their online store!
Hobby Lobby is one of my favorite stores. I love going in there! They have everything from furniture, to home accents, to any kind of craft supplies imaginable. The store has a simple layout that is fairly similar from store-to-store, it's clean and smells nice, and the selection is amazing. An extra bonus for me is that they are a Christian company, which shows in the fact that a) they are closed on Sunday so that their employees have time to worship or just spend time with their families, and b) they play instrumental hymns and Christian music over the intercom. I can't go in there without humming along to whatever I hear.
Being a fan of saving money gives me even more of a reason to love Hobby Lobby. They do a great job of rotating their sales schedule. I have looked, and have yet to find an actual schedule, but it seems about every 3rd week or so I go in there and scrapbooking supplies are on sale. Last week was a bonus because it was scrapbooking paper, stickers, and stamping supplies. This week scrapbook albums and page kits are on sale. The rest of the store seems to rotate as well, and it would surprise me to see any one department go a month without being featured in the weekly ad.
If you can plan your project out a few weeks in advance, and don't have a time limit, you can easily buy everything you need at Hobby Lobby on sale. For example, I knew that I was going to be making save-the-date cards for my sister's upcoming wedding. I took advantage of the scrapbooking sale last week to get my supplies together. Of course, sometimes you need to do something last minute, but that doesn't mean you are stuck paying full price! If you visit Hobby Lobby's website, they almost always have a 40% off coupon for any one regularly priced item. Occasionally the coupon is only 25% off, and occasionally they have item-specific coupons, but it never hurts to look! The best part is you can print a coupon, but if you forget, you can pull up the website coupon on your smart phone and the cashier will honor it. I also did some research - furniture is ALWAYS marked 30% off at Hobby Lobby, and I was always bummed that I couldn't use a coupon because it was marked down. Not so! If your item is on sale for 30% off, you can forfeit the 30% discount and use the 40% coupon.
The only way they could make Hobby Lobby better, in my opinion, is to give a percentage off your entire purchase type coupon every now and then, one that you can use on sale and clearance items. Still, there is never a reason to pay full price on your entire purchase at Hobby Lobby! I am making my sister's save-the-date cards for about 50 cents per card, as opposed to the 80 cents per card it would have cost had I paid full price for all of the supplies. When you have a big project, little savings add up!
Do you have a Hobby Lobby near you? What has been your best find?
P.S. For the longest time this was not an option, but you can now shop HL online! Click here to go to their online store!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Children's Place Monster Sale
Recently I said in a post that I never buy clothes for full price, or even for sale price only, because I only buy clothes where I can use coupons. Today, the hubs gave me an hour of mommy time and I spent it checking out The Children's Place at our local mall. Right now, they have their semi-annual Monster Sale going on. That's 50% off already reduced merchandise and many other special prices throughout the store. I needed shoes for school and underwear for my oldest. Here's what I found:
Brown lace up boot/loafer looking shoes. Original price $22.95, marked down to $18.99. 50% off already reduced merchandise, plus 20% off coupon, for a sale price of $7.99
I didn't do AS well on the underwear, it is regular $6.95/3 pack. It was on sale for $5.99 and with the 20% off coupon each pack rang up $4.81, for a total of $9.62/6 pairs. It's 11.99 for a 7 pack at Target, so I guess I did okay.
Now the only problem with this is I couldn't STOP once I got in there. I have a very cute 6.5 year old niece that LOOOOOVES her some Justin Beiber. And even though they only had a L (she wears a M), I couldn't pass this up:
Originally priced $14.95, marked down to $5.99. 50% off already reduced merchandise, plus 20% off coupon for a final price of $2.39. She'll love sleeping in it or even wearing it with leggings :)
And the baby clothes, oh my goodness. They didn't have anything I couldn't live without for T, but I have an 8 month old niece:
Total original cost of outfit: $36.95. Each piece was marked down to $5.99 so when you add the 50% off and the 20% off coupon, I got the whole outfit for $7.17. I bought it a size up and am putting it back for her birthday, but I also found this for right now:
Dress and bloomers, regular $24.95. Marked down to $11.99. With 50% off and 20% off coupon, I paid $4.81.
Had I bought everything for the marked price, I would have spent $113.70 before tax. Buying on clearance and sale, with my coupon, I paid $31.94 before tax. I saved $81.76 off the retail prices!
Granted there is no reason to ever pay ticketed price at The Children's Place, as they are very good about alternating their sales and they ALWAYS have coupons. But the Monster Sale is my favorite, at least until they put their jeans on sale in the next couple of weeks!
My mom shopped this sale earlier this week to get RJ some school clothes - while he doesn't have to wear a uniform until Kindergarten, I thought it would be nice and easy to buy him some interchangeable polos and easy on/off pants to be his "school uniform" for this year. My mom bought 3 pairs of pants, each regular price $14.95, and 3 polo shirts, which would have been $32.50 for all 3. Total bill would have been $77.35 for all of it, but the pants were on sale for $9.99 each and the polos were on sale for $4.99 each. With the 20% off coupon I gave her, she paid $7.99 for each pair of pants and $3.99 for each shirt. Total price before tax: $35.94.
This is why I never ever buy clothes without coupons! Tell me your favorite places to buy clothes for yourself or your kiddos! Do you use coupons?
Brown lace up boot/loafer looking shoes. Original price $22.95, marked down to $18.99. 50% off already reduced merchandise, plus 20% off coupon, for a sale price of $7.99
I didn't do AS well on the underwear, it is regular $6.95/3 pack. It was on sale for $5.99 and with the 20% off coupon each pack rang up $4.81, for a total of $9.62/6 pairs. It's 11.99 for a 7 pack at Target, so I guess I did okay.
Now the only problem with this is I couldn't STOP once I got in there. I have a very cute 6.5 year old niece that LOOOOOVES her some Justin Beiber. And even though they only had a L (she wears a M), I couldn't pass this up:
Originally priced $14.95, marked down to $5.99. 50% off already reduced merchandise, plus 20% off coupon for a final price of $2.39. She'll love sleeping in it or even wearing it with leggings :)
And the baby clothes, oh my goodness. They didn't have anything I couldn't live without for T, but I have an 8 month old niece:
Total original cost of outfit: $36.95. Each piece was marked down to $5.99 so when you add the 50% off and the 20% off coupon, I got the whole outfit for $7.17. I bought it a size up and am putting it back for her birthday, but I also found this for right now:
Dress and bloomers, regular $24.95. Marked down to $11.99. With 50% off and 20% off coupon, I paid $4.81.
Had I bought everything for the marked price, I would have spent $113.70 before tax. Buying on clearance and sale, with my coupon, I paid $31.94 before tax. I saved $81.76 off the retail prices!
Granted there is no reason to ever pay ticketed price at The Children's Place, as they are very good about alternating their sales and they ALWAYS have coupons. But the Monster Sale is my favorite, at least until they put their jeans on sale in the next couple of weeks!
My mom shopped this sale earlier this week to get RJ some school clothes - while he doesn't have to wear a uniform until Kindergarten, I thought it would be nice and easy to buy him some interchangeable polos and easy on/off pants to be his "school uniform" for this year. My mom bought 3 pairs of pants, each regular price $14.95, and 3 polo shirts, which would have been $32.50 for all 3. Total bill would have been $77.35 for all of it, but the pants were on sale for $9.99 each and the polos were on sale for $4.99 each. With the 20% off coupon I gave her, she paid $7.99 for each pair of pants and $3.99 for each shirt. Total price before tax: $35.94.
This is why I never ever buy clothes without coupons! Tell me your favorite places to buy clothes for yourself or your kiddos! Do you use coupons?
Thursday, June 21, 2012
5 things I never buy without a coupon
I have been working hard on saving money, and have been putting everything I save with coupons and my Target debit card into a savings account. So far I have saved over $100 in the past two months and have bought myself a new cell phone.
I am not one of those extreme coupon type people. I would love to be, but with two young kids at home sometimes I just think that it's not practical. However, there are some things that I never buy without coupons. Since I am a lazy couponer, if I can find these coupons then everyone can.
1) Cereal - We eat two kinds of cereal in this house: Honey Nut Cheerios, and Lucky Charms. Ever seen Bill Engval's bit about his doctor suggesting Cheerios to lower his cholesterol? He says something along the lines of "If I have to give up Lucky Charms, life isn't worth living anymore anyway!" Yup, that's my husband. I can always find coupons for either $1/2 or $1/3 by looking at coupons.com and smartsource.com. Sometimes target.com/coupons has these coupons as well. I do our shopping every pay check, so that's every two weeks, which means I need that much cereal anyway. Extra bonus - sometimes the Target check out prints out store coupons for cereal, and you can stack those with manufacturer coupons for even more savings.
2) Diapers - Okay, I kind of cheat here because *usually* I order diapers via subscribe and save with Amazon. But the boxes don't quite last me the full month. Even before I did it this way, though, I was pretty good at scouting out diaper coupons. Target alternates having coupons for all of the different brands, and coupons.com has Pampers coupons monthly right now.
3) Paper goods - I use the up-and-up brand from Target for my toilet paper and paper towels, and they always have coupons for one or the other, or both. It may only be 50 cents off, but you're already getting a good deal by going with the store brand. And the quality is actually really great, my husband prefers their paper goods over name-brand stuff.
4) Personal care items - I can always find coupons for shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, and the like. Last month I purchased Pantene shampoo and conditioner, regular $3.89 each. Paid $2.89 for both. Hooray coupon stacking!
5) Clothes. Okay, so you don't buy clothes at most grocery stores, but clothes probably should have been the number one on my list. I never pay full price for clothes. I don't usually pay *just* sale price for clothes. I shop sales, with coupons. Last year, in September, I got my niece two swim suits, cover ups and matching hats, a pair of sunglasses, and an outfit for a total of about $25. Yay clearance with an extra 50% off and a coupon for an extra 15% off!
I'm by no means an expert, but these five things are by far my easiest things to buy with coupons. Feel free to share what you never buy without coupons! :)
I am not one of those extreme coupon type people. I would love to be, but with two young kids at home sometimes I just think that it's not practical. However, there are some things that I never buy without coupons. Since I am a lazy couponer, if I can find these coupons then everyone can.
1) Cereal - We eat two kinds of cereal in this house: Honey Nut Cheerios, and Lucky Charms. Ever seen Bill Engval's bit about his doctor suggesting Cheerios to lower his cholesterol? He says something along the lines of "If I have to give up Lucky Charms, life isn't worth living anymore anyway!" Yup, that's my husband. I can always find coupons for either $1/2 or $1/3 by looking at coupons.com and smartsource.com. Sometimes target.com/coupons has these coupons as well. I do our shopping every pay check, so that's every two weeks, which means I need that much cereal anyway. Extra bonus - sometimes the Target check out prints out store coupons for cereal, and you can stack those with manufacturer coupons for even more savings.
2) Diapers - Okay, I kind of cheat here because *usually* I order diapers via subscribe and save with Amazon. But the boxes don't quite last me the full month. Even before I did it this way, though, I was pretty good at scouting out diaper coupons. Target alternates having coupons for all of the different brands, and coupons.com has Pampers coupons monthly right now.
3) Paper goods - I use the up-and-up brand from Target for my toilet paper and paper towels, and they always have coupons for one or the other, or both. It may only be 50 cents off, but you're already getting a good deal by going with the store brand. And the quality is actually really great, my husband prefers their paper goods over name-brand stuff.
4) Personal care items - I can always find coupons for shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, and the like. Last month I purchased Pantene shampoo and conditioner, regular $3.89 each. Paid $2.89 for both. Hooray coupon stacking!
5) Clothes. Okay, so you don't buy clothes at most grocery stores, but clothes probably should have been the number one on my list. I never pay full price for clothes. I don't usually pay *just* sale price for clothes. I shop sales, with coupons. Last year, in September, I got my niece two swim suits, cover ups and matching hats, a pair of sunglasses, and an outfit for a total of about $25. Yay clearance with an extra 50% off and a coupon for an extra 15% off!
I'm by no means an expert, but these five things are by far my easiest things to buy with coupons. Feel free to share what you never buy without coupons! :)
Monday, June 11, 2012
Parking lot panhandling
My heart hurts for people who are going through hard times. My family is amazingly blessed and I try to pay it forward whenever possible. I don't usually hand money to the guy holding a sign on the street corner, but if I have a snack or a drink I haven't opened, I am glad to share. I am compassionate to a fault, according to my husband. I get suckered into things that make him roll his eyes. Yup, we're that family that buys something from every kid that knocks on our door and hands us a fundraiser packet. I can't help it (neither can he but shhhh, don't tell him I said so).
That said, I hope the following paragraphs don't come off as too harsh, because I really am struggling here. Our town has about 66k people and is the hub for an area population of about 300,000. Our homeless population is in the hundreds. One side of town has a median income around $31k while the other side has a median income of around $54k. There are definitely people struggling. In Houston and Austin, you see people panhandling out on every major intersection in certain parts of town. Here, you only see that every once in awhile. When I lived in those bigger cities, intersection panhandling bothered me a bit. I was raised by cautious parents who taught me to be kind, but cautious. I was mostly alone in my car and having a man I didn't know walking around my car was always a little unnerving.
Here, though, we have a whole different breed of panhandler. We have people who hang out in parking lots and walk up to you while you're getting into or out of your car. Most of the time these people are men, of every age and race. Most of them keep a fairly respectable distance, a few have walked right up on me. They always have a story and need money for something. Last week a guy wanted to follow me to the gas station and have me put gas in his truck. Today a guy approached me as I was getting out if my car wanting to sell me something (he said he didn't feel right taking hand outs). I always listen politely, tell them I don't have any cash, and continue on. Most of the time, they are polite and walk away. One guy got nasty but thank goodness he was one that approached my husband and me together.
My problem is this. I am a mother, who doesn't ever leave my youngest at home. I always have at least one child with me. And I am almost always alone with them. I hate it when these men just come walking out from between cars and start talking to me. Part of it is the stigma, I will admit it. Particularly the guy today - he was either not quite all there mentally, or he was on something. People are unpredictable and can be downright crazy. As a mom, it is my job to keep my kids safe, and stranger danger definitely screams in my head when these situations come up.
What do you do? Carry something for self defense? Call the police? Call the store and report them? It's so hard to imagine doing any of those things, because in my heart I feel compassion and pity for someone who has come to this method of trying to get what they need. But it is a war inside of me, because I have these beautiful, innocent children. I believe they are the reason I get approached - either people see I am a mom and hope I have a big heart, or they play on a mother's fear of having strangers around her chidren. My husband is a concealed carry license holder and wants me to go that route. I don't have the guts for it, although I may invest in pepper spray. I don't want to be afraid of these people, I want to live and let live, but I am afraid that a first time of someone being aggressive about it is probably still one time too many.
Tonight I will be saying extra prayers for those people out on the street. I pray they will have enough food to not be hungry and that they find a comfortable place to lay their heads. But, starting tomorrow, I am probably going to start calling stores and warning them when they have guys approaching people in the parking lot. I hope that doesn't make me a terrible person.
That said, I hope the following paragraphs don't come off as too harsh, because I really am struggling here. Our town has about 66k people and is the hub for an area population of about 300,000. Our homeless population is in the hundreds. One side of town has a median income around $31k while the other side has a median income of around $54k. There are definitely people struggling. In Houston and Austin, you see people panhandling out on every major intersection in certain parts of town. Here, you only see that every once in awhile. When I lived in those bigger cities, intersection panhandling bothered me a bit. I was raised by cautious parents who taught me to be kind, but cautious. I was mostly alone in my car and having a man I didn't know walking around my car was always a little unnerving.
Here, though, we have a whole different breed of panhandler. We have people who hang out in parking lots and walk up to you while you're getting into or out of your car. Most of the time these people are men, of every age and race. Most of them keep a fairly respectable distance, a few have walked right up on me. They always have a story and need money for something. Last week a guy wanted to follow me to the gas station and have me put gas in his truck. Today a guy approached me as I was getting out if my car wanting to sell me something (he said he didn't feel right taking hand outs). I always listen politely, tell them I don't have any cash, and continue on. Most of the time, they are polite and walk away. One guy got nasty but thank goodness he was one that approached my husband and me together.
My problem is this. I am a mother, who doesn't ever leave my youngest at home. I always have at least one child with me. And I am almost always alone with them. I hate it when these men just come walking out from between cars and start talking to me. Part of it is the stigma, I will admit it. Particularly the guy today - he was either not quite all there mentally, or he was on something. People are unpredictable and can be downright crazy. As a mom, it is my job to keep my kids safe, and stranger danger definitely screams in my head when these situations come up.
What do you do? Carry something for self defense? Call the police? Call the store and report them? It's so hard to imagine doing any of those things, because in my heart I feel compassion and pity for someone who has come to this method of trying to get what they need. But it is a war inside of me, because I have these beautiful, innocent children. I believe they are the reason I get approached - either people see I am a mom and hope I have a big heart, or they play on a mother's fear of having strangers around her chidren. My husband is a concealed carry license holder and wants me to go that route. I don't have the guts for it, although I may invest in pepper spray. I don't want to be afraid of these people, I want to live and let live, but I am afraid that a first time of someone being aggressive about it is probably still one time too many.
Tonight I will be saying extra prayers for those people out on the street. I pray they will have enough food to not be hungry and that they find a comfortable place to lay their heads. But, starting tomorrow, I am probably going to start calling stores and warning them when they have guys approaching people in the parking lot. I hope that doesn't make me a terrible person.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Doesn't Wal-Mart always have the best prices? Maybe not...
I love shopping. Just ask my husband. Heck ask the people at Target - they know me. They know my kids. They ask about the kids when I don't have them with me. My 3 year old has favorite cashiers. I love me some Target, and other shopping places too, but mainly Target. Why? Because as much as I love Target, I HATE grocery stores more than I love Target. .
Is it bad when you leave Target and all your 3 year old talks about is "Mommy, can we come back to Target tomorrow?" Yeah, okay, I might have a problem.
My Target addiction has only gotten worse since the addition of the Target Red Card debit card. My husband is pretty opposed to store credit cards. Yes, some of them give great deals, but lots of open lines of credit make him (and me) nervous. Now, you can get a Target card that comes directly out of your checking, and it saves you 5% off your purchases. That's addicting right there - scanning your debit card and watching the price drop right at the register.
Still, I wasn't even putting Target into play when I was doing grocery shopping. There are a few things I religiously buy at Target - their up and up brand toilet tissue, paper towels, and trash bags, for example. Groceries though? Surely Wal-Mart is cheaper, right? There are a few things I only buy at HEB (Milk, for example - Matthew is a milk snob and he has R.J. brainwashed already). So it's usually paper goods at Target, milk and produce at HEB, all others at Sams and Wal-Mart.
What got me thinking was the arrival of my 5% off pharmacy rewards card in the mail. This is a card I get in the mail every time I fill five prescriptions at the Target pharmacy using my Target debit card. The last one just happened to arrive on payday when I was about to do my grocery shopping. So I got to thinking. Surely Wal-mart is cheaper.. but is it really 5% cheaper on everything? I started researching online to see if anyone had done a cost comparison and found someone who makes a list and shops her list at both places. Target wound up being cheaper by like a dollar, but there was no mention of a 5% off in there.. and there was no mention of an extra 5% off pharmacy rewards card either. Hmmmmm....
So I made a list of food and non-food items. Honestly, I thought it was super interesting, and I could go on and on about it all darn day.... but I doubt anyone would actually finish reading it! So I'm going to give you the totals and then at the end of the entry I'm going to post the items.
First the raw totals:
Target: $85.58 Wal-Mart: $86.81
For a non-Target card holder who shopped my list, you would have saved $1.23 shopping at Target.
Now, I have a Target debit card and I get 5% off, so my Target total was $81.30, which is a $5.51 savings over Wal-Mart.
Is that really a big deal? Well let's see. Cost of open gym at Gymagic: $5. I could almost take my big boy twice. Cost of a ticket to the zoo? $5. Children's Museum? $3. I just earned us multiple trips out to do something fun!
Of course there were things that were cheaper at Wal-Mart, like canned foods (and I mean they hammered Target into the ground, way more than 5% cheaper). But I buy a lot of that stuff in bulk at Sams. I am thinking I should also cost compare Wal-Mart and HEB for those items.
I had fun doing this and will probably do it again and drone on and on about it on here. Not as much as I drone about Target. Have I mentioned how much I love Target...?
So, if you're interested, here's a list of the items.
Green beans - Target had Del Monte only. They were 99 cents per can.
Wal-mart had Del Monte for 82 cents and store brand for 68 cents.
Corn - Same for both stores.
Spaghetti Sauce - Target had Prego Traditional for $1.84. Wal-Mart had Prego for $1.83
Pretzels - Target had a 3lb bag for $3.99 (store brand), or $1.33/lb. Wal-mart had a 1 lb bag for $1.48
BBQ Sauce - Target had Kraft original for $1.27, Wal-Mart had the same for $1.26
Cream
of Mushroom Soup - We use Campbell's Healthy Request. Target was
$1.57/can, Wal-Mart was $1.22. For the regular Target was 1.27 and
Wal-Mart was 98 cents. For store brand Target was $1.02 and Wal-Mart was
62 cents.
Lucky Charms - 16oz @Target is regular 3.29 but was on sale for $2.99, Walmart had 16 oz for 2.68
Chicken Nuggets - both were store brand, 1lb 13oz bags. Target $4.44, Wal-Mart $4.47
Bread - Mrs Bairds for both, Target was $2.39 and Wal-Mart was $2.38
Granola Bars - Quaker Chocolate Chip, Target had them for $2.00, Wal-Mart for $2.12
Goldfish
- Large Carton, Target had it for $6.99, Wal-Mart didn't have it marked
but I've bought it in there for $6.98 before so we'll go with that
Frozen Broccoli - Target 97 cents, Wal-Mart 73 cents
Cereal
Bars - Nutrigrain Target is regular 2.79 but their sale right now is
$2.50, Wal-Mart is $2.54. Both have store brands, Target's is $2.54 and
Wal-Mart's is $2.00
Applesauce - Motts Natural, Target $1.67, Wal-mart $1.98
Special K Meal Bars - Target 5.99, Wal-Mart 5.98
Cheerios - Target 3.29/17 oz on sale for 2.99, Wal-mart 2.98/ 18 oz
On to the few non-food items I compared:
Diapers
(Huggies Pure and Natural) $19.79 @ Target, Wal-Mart didn't have them
in store but the same size is $19.79 on their website
Nursing pads (Lansinoh) Target 7.99 for 60, Wal-mart 7.98 for 60
Shampoo (Herbal Essence), Target and Wal-mart both had it for $2.84
Downy: Target regular 6.99/90 loads on sale for 5.99, Wal-Mart 5.98/105 loads
Cascade Complete: Target regular 6.99/26 loads, on sale for 5.39; Wal-Mart 5.97/26 loads
Test post and introduction
Testing? Testing??
I think we're good!
I'm starting this blog because, well, I'm hoping it will be interesting to some. I'm a stay-at-home-mom. I like to think of it as being a domestic engineer, although my "for real" engineer husband says I just want to be an engineer because they're cool. I have a beautiful family that I love taking care of. We're very blessed that I can stay home with our kids and take care of them and our home. Staying at home is a big job in the sense that you take care of the kids and run the household. I have my ideas of what I "should" do as an at home mom, and one of those things is I try to find ways to save our family money. My wonderful husband, Matthew, supports us very well, but every little bit I can save us is spending money in our pockets. We can work on our house, take our family on vacations, etc. and have extra spending money if I'm saving us money in other places.
I scour the web for coupons, I check the sales ads at the stores, and I shop around. I've recently begun to actually cost-compare stores by making a list and going "shopping" at two different stores, where I write down the prices of everything and then compare my totals. I recently posted my first cost-comparison to a Facebook note, and I'll probably re-write it and post it here just because.
Another thing I've been very interested in lately is product reviews. That's a whole post in of itself, for sure.
I'll probably post little blurbs here and there about my life - having kids is like free entertainment, people, I'm telling you.
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