shoppingonabudget

Personally, I am not the best baker. When it comes to meals, I take the simplest approach. It usually involves a meal coming from a box or something you heat from the freezer. I am the same way with desserts. I never make cookies or cakes from scratch; instead, I buy the boxes or the bags. For me, it is cheaper and a lot easier.

Since we are Christmas shopping on a budget this year, I spent a little bit less on gifts for everyone. As an added bonus, my four year old and I are making sugar cookies for everyone. I purchased a couple 4-pack of foil container with the see through tops from the dollar store. These will hold the cookies.

We bought a few Betty Crocker sugar cookie bagged mixes, a couple tubs of frosting, and we already had sprinkles here. Most grocery stores have these Betty Crocker bagged cookies on sale. They are regularly selling for 3 for $5 around here (about $1.67 a bag). That isn’t bad considering they make almost three dozen cookies and are a lot quicker than cooking from scratch.

Right now, you can find a coupon for .75 cents off 1 bag of Betty Crocker cookies. You can find the coupon at either BettyCrocker.com or EverydaySavings.com. If you wish to add frosting and sprinkles, also look for sales and coupons. In fact, the Betty Crocker frosting tubs I purchased yesterday had coupons right on them! Each container had a .50 cents off coupon. It was $1 for each tub of frosting.

Each bag states the cookies make about 3 dozen. We get about 2 dozen because our cookie cutters are kind of big in size. So, for a total of $8.42, I am able to make gifts for 7 different people! Not to mention by daughter and I have a great time.

Christmas is quickly approaching. If you haven’t finished your shopping yet, you may be looking for last minute Christmas shopping deals. Unfortunately, many retailers have already reached the cutoff date for standard shipping guaranteed by Christmas. Some retailers still have their guarantee, but you must order by tomorrow (December 17, 2008) at the latest. Since express shipping can cost a lot, your best bet is to finish your last minute Christmas shopping locally. But, what should you get?

Gift Sets

I was in Wal-Mart tonight and they have a lot of gift sets left. These gift sets usually range in price from $3 to $20. You should have a lot of items to choose from, but the selection will dwindle down as Christmas gets closer. I purchase a hot chocolate gift set with two mugs, and two different holiday candy gift sets.

Gift Certificates

You can’t go wrong with gift certificates. Luckily, you can purchase them right up to Christmas. Tonight, I purchased a few Wal-Mart gift cards. What I like about Wal-Mart and many other retailers are the same way, is that you can purchase other gift cards too. For example, Wal-Mart had iTunes gift cards and much more available for sale.

If you have to do anymore Christmas shopping for your kids this year, I recommend heading over to Amazon.com right now. They have a December Deals section (click on the link to get there). I found it by chance yesterday and I felt like a kid on Christmas. Lol, hopefully my daughter will be as excited. I could not believe the great deals they have.

This is what I purchased:

The Playskool Cherry Blossom Market for $17.99. Unfortunately, it is now listed for sale at $29.99, but that is still a good price considering it sells for $59.99.

The Playskool Cherry Blossom Fruit and Cheese set for $11.97. It is originally priced at $14.99.

The Playskool Rose Petal Table and Chair Dinette for $14.99. It originally sells for $24.99.

The Horton Hears a Who You to the Rescue Game for $5.99. It was originally priced $19.99.

The Hannah Montana Song Doll with Swing for $5.99. It originally sells for $19.99.

The Hannah Montana Malibu House Bedroom and Living Room set for $6.99 each. They both originally sell for $29.99 each.

The Playskool Busy Ball Tivity Center for $6.99. Unfortunately, they just raised the price (within five hours of me buying it) to $8.99, but it is still a good deal considering this toy sells for around $34.99.

These are just a few of the many items you can find on sale right now at Amazon.com. I am not sure how long the sale lasts, but as you can see from my examples, they have slightly raised a few prices within only a few hours. So, you may want to buy right away.

Most of these items do qualify for Free Super Saver shipping. According to their website, you have 4 more days to order before Christmas (today being Sunday December 14, 2008).

If you click on the 50% or 70% off sections from the link below, check the headings. They have boys, girls, and so forth. More items are on sale than what appears on the main sales page.

Happy Shopping!

As Christmas quickly approaches, you may be finishing up your Christmas shopping or even just getting started if you are a last minute shopper. Shopping online is nice, but you may prefer to shop locally. If so, be sure to pickup a copy of your weekend newspaper. These newspapers not only contain moneysaving grocery coupons, but stores sales fliers. Around this time of the year, stores have a lot of sales and they are advertised.

You can also view most store sales fliers online. Visit the website of local retailers, like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Best Buy, and so forth. Somewhere on the website, you will find “View Ad,” link. If you are like me, however, you may prefer to have a printed copy of the flier. I mark which items I want to buy and actually take it with me to the store.

Are you looking for an affordable, but useful Christmas gift for a friend or family member? If so, I recommend a crank flashlight, also known as a battery free flashlight. We received one as a gift last year and I love it.

Kmart.com has a LED Dynamo crank flashlight available for $9.99. This is the kind we own and it works great, especially for the cheap price.

BedBathandBeyond.com has 4 different crank flashlights available for sale, starting at $9.99.

Walmart.com has a crank flashlight available for $19.94. Not only it is a flashlight, but it also has an AM/FM radio.

Target.com has a Coleman StormBean crank flashlight available for $19.99.

I am all about personalization this year. I am opting for personalized gifts, such as Christmas ornaments. If you want to do the same, I recommend checking out OrientalTrading.com. Right now, they have two personalized couple ornaments on sale for $3.99 each. This is a great price.

Ornament #1 (which I ordered two of) is of a snowman couple holding a sign that can be personalized with the couple’s name and another phrase. It is so cute because the guy snowman is looking at the girl.

Ornament #2 is for newlyweds. It has the phrase “We Got Hitched.” You can add their wedding date and their name.

It is common for personalized Christmas ornaments to cost $10 and up, so this is a great deal. I am not sure how long the sale price will last, but I have noticed the cheap price for a couple of weeks now.

I will admit that I usually try to avoid K-Mart. When compared to Wal-Mart and sometimes even Target, I find their prices to be expensive. This week’s advertisement did catch my eye. I am Christmas shopping for my daughter on a budget this year. $7.99 Polly Pockets and $2.99 Barbie dolls brought me to my local K-Mart.

What I do like about K-Mart is that they usually have 2 advertisements posted on their website. Right now, you can view their advertisements for this week and next.

So, what are some of their good deals on toys now and in the coming weeks?

* Note: These sales items were pulled from their Kmart.com website. You can view their advertisement there. Prices and availability may change.

Until December 6th 2008 (This Sunday)

Dora Prance and Fly Pegasus on sale for $29.99 (usually $40 and up)
Disney Princess or Cars Ready Bed on sale for $19.99 (usually $30 and up)
Barbie Beach, Ballerina, and Fairy Dolls on sale for $2.99 (usually $6 and up)
Various Vtech Infant Toys on sale for $9.99 (usually $12.99 and up)
Elefun Game on sale for $14.99 (usually retails for $19.99)
Fisher Price Loving Family Twin Time Doll House on sale for $54.99 (usually $69.99 and up)

From December 7th Until December 13, 2008

I-CY on sale for $7.99 (usually $10.99 and up)
iDog Soft Speaker on sale for $19.99 (usually $30 and up)
Hulk Smash Hands on sale for $14.99 (usually $19.99 and up)
NASCAR Track Set on sale for $29.99 (usually retails for $40 and up)
Thomas Action Canyon Playset on sale for $29.99 (usually retails for $50 and up)
Fisher Price Little People Animals Sounds & DVD on sale for $29.99
Mickey Mouse Surprise Clubhouse on sale for $34.99 (usually $40 and up)
Polly Pocket Pop N Swap Sets Buy One, Get One 50% Off
Bye Bye Baby Chou Chou Doll on sale for $29.99 (usually $39 and up)
25% off Select Board Games

A few posts ago, I shared a special discount code for SnapFish.com. They are a great place to buy affordable and quality photo gifts. In my email inbox, I learned about another special savings. Every 2 days, they are having a sale on items on their website. I believe this goes on for most of December.

Right now, you can get 20% off photo gift stocking suffers. This includes key chains and more. This offer expires soon and a new one will arrive. You can find their latest special price and the needed discount code here.

I usually don’t post free shipping offers with high minimum purchase requirements, but I love Bed Bath and Beyond. From now until December 16th, you can get free shipping on orders over $100.

I am going to buy a few items there in a few days. They have a lot of great gifts. You can visit their website and browse their gift section. I can easily come up with $100 in gifts lol I just need to wait until I get paid next.

I am not sure about the quality (because it is an As Seen on TV product), but I am going to order the Wallet Pix for family. It looks pretty neat and is only $15.

I love Kohl’s. I was so excited when they finally brought a store here locally. Anyways, Kohl’s is having a 25 Deals of Christmas promotion. Each day, they offer a new great deal. According to their website, these deals are available both online and in store.

Today’s deal (December 3, 2008) is 50% off Playskool and Little Tykes toys (expect online exclusives). If you shop online, I recommend checking the website early. This evening, a lot of items weren’t available or listed on their website anymore for the toy deal.

So, if you still need Christmas gifts, like shopping at Kohl’s, or if you just want to find a great deal, visit their website and see what the new deal of the day is.