Best Christmas score yet?

[lorihadams]

Got my kids a playhouse on freecycle from a friend of mine! All I have to do is pressure wash it and pick it up!

I wanted to get them a gator and my grandmother agreed to pay half but now the transmission has gone out in my car and we need $600 to pay to get it fixed. I don't know what to do....

Christmas is gonna be slim this year....

Thank goodness for freecycle!

Lori

 

[Homesteadmom]

Lori, do you have a dollar store near you? Like a Dollar Tree? I know some slim yrs I go there & get cars & things like that for my kids & spend maybe $25 total but they think it is great with all the gifts they get. I got my 2 at home still a big box of sidewalk chalk there & a few little puzzles too this yr. I also found paint by numbers sets this yr too. If you have a Michaels nearby they have some little wooden toys you assemble for $1 also, trains, boats, cars, etc. Just some thoughts.

 

[FarmerChick]

hey HM
I got a few of those paint by number sets for Nicole....of course they will be a mess but for the price they are a great stocking stuffer...and more fun for an older kid. I painted TONS of paint by number kits, always HORSES!
LOL-LOL

dollar store type stores are wonderful for the little things, and sometimes you hit on bigger toys too!

 

[Homesteadmom]

Mine were always animals. My mom says as crazy as I was about animals growing up she is not surprised by my lifestyle at all.

 

[mrs.puff]

DH and I often exchange goofy stuff we got from the thrift store. We're not that concerned if something is "new" or not. Here's something that I do (don't tell my mom): I often end up getting a ton of stuff from relatives that I totally don't want and can't use. So I just return what I can to the stores for store credit, and that's where some people's presents come from next year. It's a good deal all around.

 

[Okiemommy]

DH and I often exchange goofy stuff we got from the thrift store. We're not that concerned if something is "new" or not. Here's something that I do (don't tell my mom): I often end up getting a ton of stuff from relatives that I totally don't want and can't use. So I just return what I can to the stores for store credit, and that's where some people's presents come from next year. It's a good deal all around.

I do that too. I don't see any point in keeping something that we can't use. I don't tell my family either. For some reason they don't do real well with gift giving, and get offended if someone doesn't like something that they have said about a million times that they don't like. This didn't just happen to me, but also to siblings and extended family.


But....my great deal this year was on Black Friday. We had little money to spend this year on Christmas gifts, so I had been buying things all year. I checked my ads and planned out my assault on the stores on black friday and it turned out that a lot of the things that my kids wanted this year, that I hadn't already got were on sale. I think b/c of the economy the deals were better, b/c I seemed to come away with more for less this year than in other years.

The best "deal" by far for us was at Toys R US. We get rewards points also, and so we got two $25 gift cards. I had two other gift cards in my wallet for Toys R US with unknown balances. The items that I purchased at Toys R Us would have cost $75 even with all of the great Black Friday deals. After using all of the gift cards that I had, I only ended up having to spend $9 and some change!!!!! WOOHOO!!!

That $75 was money that we didn't have so it was a huge blessing to be able to only walk out of there spending $9