My Bargain Brag

Here's a tip for you: always check out the clearance. I don't care where you are, go find the clearance aisle and look. If you were at the store last week, check again.

I found some fantastic deals at Borders. I didn't even realize they had a clearance section, but when we were there for the Fancy Nancy party in May, I saw it. At the time, they had the Wallies Peel and Stick chalkboard designs for $4 (down from $20). I came *this* close to getting one or two, but decided we really didn't need them.

Then, when we were there about two weeks ago, I had to hunt down the children's clearance section. It was much smaller and was a completely different location. They still had those chalkboard stickers, but this time, they were 98 cents each.

For that price, I snapped them up. One package was a little too beaten up, so I let it go, but I got two packages of the plane and cloud designs and one of the house/tree designs. I figured I'll give one of the plane/clouds as a gift. I saved $60 and paid less than I would for the tiny chalkboard strips at the Dollar Tree.

They have excess in the packaging (like the borders on stickers), so I'm going to cut out some smaller designs too.

Oh and we're going to put one up on the front door so that we can leave notes to each other and reminders when we're on our way out. Another tip is to put one inside your cabinet door and that way you can write down items as you run out. We found it useful to do something like that on the cabinet door where we keep medicine. That way, when we gave the kids a dose of medicine, we wrote down who got what when. That was particularly useful with twins when we often found ourselves trying to remember who we got medicine last.

Back to the topic of unlikely clearance and great deals, I once found a big box of foam Chanukah stickers for $1 on a clearance table at Barnes and Noble. I don't think these are the places where most people even think to look for clearance.

No matter where you are, try to hunt out the clearance section. You might be pleasantly surprised. We certainly were!

Works For Me Wednesday: Lather Up The Kids For Free

I've never done the WFMW thing, but I have a tip I've been meaning to share, so I figure I'll jump in.

Once upon a time, I had a coupon for a free children's bath product. I have no idea where I got it from, but I used it on one of those foam pump soaps for kids with tear-free body wash inside. The soap is long gone, but I kept the pump. Pampered Chef also sells a version too, but it's cheaper if you buy the version in the kids' bath aisle (I found mine in the baby aisle). If you're worried about wear/tear, I can tell you ours has survived for several years and still works well.

You can often find $1 off 1 coupons for Johnson's Baby shampoo. Frequently, there are no exclusions on size. Many stores sell the travel sizes for 97 cents -$1.07. So, very often, my kids get free soap. One travel-size shampoo mixed with water will fill the entire pump. So, anywhere from free to 7 cents, I get an entire supply of tear-free soap for the kids.

For more great ideas, check out Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

Did you know: Disposable Diapers

I found out about this when my twins were babies and I've realized that many are not aware of this little bit of information. So I'll share.

Did you know that if you use disposable diapers and have a problem (leaking, tabs breaking, etc), you can call the number on the package and get either a free package or a check (depending on the brand)?

Keep the package until all the diapers/training pants are done because if you have a problem, you'll need the phone number and the identifying numbers from the package.

It's usually a very quick call. They take your information, ask about the problem and then issue compensation of some form.

When my daughters were smaller, it was a much more detailed call. The phone reps asked the weight of the child, where the problem was specifically(if it leaked from the leg, the back, etc), if you had any suspicions about what caused the problem, etc. Lately, though, they just take your information, apologize and send either a free pack or a check.

We use cloth most of the time, but we use disposables at night and on some rare occasions. Plus TheBoy sleeps in disposable training pants at night. Usually, there are no problems, but when there are, we know what to do.