Time to re-purpose the old blog...

I think I need this space back. It was great for being my deal dumping grounds while I was growing my couponing skills but now that I've got that down I'll leave it to the pros :)

Instead, I've decided to make this blog a little more personal. If you don't like it, feel free to unsubscribe or quit following. I'll probably still post my shopping trips and deals from time to time because I don't intend to become less cheap at any time in the future. I just don't want that to be my focus anymore.

In case you're wondering, current focuses and goals for myself include:

• More crafting- both with and without kiddos. I grew up in a crafty household, and while I'm quick to admit that I'm not artistic by any means I can still pull out a good craft once in a while.
• "Re-fashioning" myself. I have had 3 adorable kiddos in the last 4 years but that's done a number on my body and my wardrobe. One of my personal goals this year is a new style on the cheap. I'm going for modest, late 20's, "I'm a mom and it must be practical but I still want to look cute" and CHEAP.
• Get in shape. Sure, I'd love to lose weight but making that a goal is a surefire way to disappoint myself. Instead I'm going to focus on getting outside more, exercising more, and eating better. I guess that means the real goal overall is a healthier me.
• Continue to hone my shopping skills. I've been at the couponing thing now for 3 years and while I'm good at it, I want to focus more on cutting my OOP and stockpiling the right amounts. I think having a specific goal here will help me continue to improve. I'm currently on a "shopping break" which means nothing but dairy, bread, and produce (and the occasional needed item).
• Sweeping. Not sweeping the floor sweeping, but entering sweepstakes and playing instant wins. I've been fooling around with this for a while and had small wins. In November I won my first major prize (a trip we'll be going on next month, I'll share more details when we get back). December was good to me as well. Of course, I'll be sharing some of those kinds of things here as well.

If you stick around, you can expect updates on all of those kinds of things.

Did you get a Keurig for Christmas?

I did, and I'm thrilled with the ease and convenience- I sure don't feel that way about the crazy prices of some of the K-cups. Maybe you've been looking for a deal too? Have I got one for you- I just bought 101 k cups for $29.57! Want to know how?

First, you'll need to register your machine at Keurig. You should be able to find the machine's code either behind your drip tray or on the back of your machine. They'll email you a personal one-time use code for 2 free boxes when you buy 2 boxes.

Next, you can pick out 4 boxes of k cups in their shop. I added a 5 k cup sampler to my order for an extra $2.97 but you don't need to do that...I just thought it'd be fun to try a little bit of something new and since I was putting in an order now (with free shipping) I might as well try it out, right? This is replacing my Starbucks budget for the next two weeks so a little splurge won't hurt.

Head on over to view your cart. Apply the code you received in your email to make 2 of the boxes free, it will take off the lowest priced of the boxes (don't worry about having a sampler in there- it took off 2 of my 24 count boxes, not the cheaper sampler). Now, apply CHEERS11 for an extra $3 off your total (expires 1/11/11). At this point you can checkout.

Want to see how it worked out in the end? Here's my order:

Unsweetened Black Perfect Iced Tea (24) $11.80
Big Easy Bold Coffee (24) $0.00
Italian Roast X Bold Coffee (24) $0.00
Creme Caramel Coffee (24) $14.80

Chai Tea (5) $2.97
Product Sub-Total: $67.10
Discount: $37.53
*Estimated Taxes: $0.00
Shipping Charge: $0.00
Order Total: $29.57

*Final taxes are calculated upon shipment and will be reflected in your Shipping Confirmation email.

Disney Movie Rewards: do you use this?

I really like this program, it's nice to earn points from something we buy anyways (although a good number of our Disney movies are bought with coupons, received as gifts, or picked up at goodwill). Even if you don't buy the movies, they give out a lot of points for free. I was recently working on updating my own account and came across a good number of codes that are currently available and FREE.

If you haven't been doing this, now is the perfect time to sign up because there are quite a few codes for you. (If you have been doing this, please double check your account before trying these codes. Putting in the same codes too many times can get your account frozen. You can fix this with a phone call but checking before hand will save you the hassle and only take a few extra seconds.)

• Step 1: Register at Disney Movie Rewards
• Complete your profile to earn 25 points, and then enter the following codes
• REX for 25 points (new members only)
• FM39V03SSW for 5 points
• FPSNN83JX9 for 25 points
• 9FTMRYWEK for 50 points
• 9EKSMN38SH for 50 points
• COOL for 50 points
• D11M20R01NY for 50 points
• CHIHUAHUA for 25 points
• then fill out a survey for an additional 100 points

That's a potential 405 points absolutely free! What can you get with 405 points? Nothing super fantastic unless you're looking for 30 free photo prints, Disney mini posters, stickers or something along those lines. I tend to cash out around the 550-750 point range, they have a few older Disney dvds that are kind of fun. Of course, I'm sure there will be more free points released in the future- making it easy to earn enough for something (possibly a Christmas gift you can mark off your list for free this year?). I've got my eyes set on some of the Handy Manny dvd's at 750 points that I know my boys would love.

A HUGE thank you to the wonderful people at SD that keep the DMR thread up to date with the latest codes! While I didn't find all of these codes there, I do frequently check for new codes there and frequently benefit from their hard work :)

QFC

Spent $1.95, saved $67.95 (97%)

...and that's just today's run. I've been having a blast shopping the promo this week at QFC and am excited to see that it'll be continuing into next week (although the prices could/probably will change). Part of what made today so awesome is the new $1.50/3 Campbell's cooking soups printable coupon (with 2 computers- that means all 12 cans were free for me!). Even if you don't have more than one computer, you can print it twice and that takes care of at least 6 of your 10 items.

I'm back with an Albertsons trip!

I'm back! Actually, I've been back to shopping for a while- and couponing like a maniac this week. Hope you've all been taking advantage of the deals at QFC too (because they're too good to pass up- seriously! If you don't know what I'm talking about, visit Heather over at Queen Bee Coupons). I've only got my Albertsons trip for you today though:

Total Spent: $0.12 --- Total Saved: $40.88

I did the same transaction twice: 6 cans Dole Pineapple and 4 cans of green beans. I used two $1/3 Dole coupons (from a recent booklet), one $1/4 Green Giant canned veggies (from the Safeway Thanksgiving coupon book), and three doublers per transaction. Gotta love 10 canned food items for a mere $.06.

The oldest helped me to carry them in and stack them up for a photo. Then he insisted that I take his picture too (and since he usually runs from the camera, I was happy to oblige). I hope to continue getting back on track with my blog now that things are settling down and I'm getting the hang of three.

Meet our new addition!

Those of you who've been following me for a while probably know we've been expecting baby #3. Well, he arrived on the 16th of this month and is keeping us plenty busy. I'm glad to have a well-stocked pantry at the moment because I'm really not up to the deal-seeking and trying to shop with 3 kiddos. Of course, I've been prompted to share some photos, so here he is:

That's baby Preston at 1 day old. Here he is again with big brother Ryan (you'll have to forgive me for the blurry photos below, the majority of which are from either my or my sister's phone...I'm behind on uploading photos from my camera).

And snuggling with big brother Trent (he adores his "wonderful Frestony Freston")

I don't usually share photos of myself, but my sister caught this big baby yawn and it's kind of cute, so here you go. New babies are so much more fun than couponing!

...and a Rite Aid trip!

My money-making Johnson&Johnson trip!

With baby #3 on the way any day now, I had every intention of making my short Albies run this morning the very last of my couponing trips for a while. Then, I got wind of a great moneymaking deal on Johnson and Johnson products at Rite Aid. This was the only thing I had wanted to stock up on and had not seen an awesome deal on...plus it was at a store near my house?! It was just too much for me to resist. Here's how I did it:

• I purchased 8 Johnson and Johnson products (they must be 15oz- other than that all "flavors" of bubble bath, wash, shampoo, and lotion are reportedly working) at $3.99 each
• used a $5 off a $25 purchase RA coupon
• used a $1 Johnson&Johnson Video Values coupon
• used a variety of printable Johnson&Johnson coupons (each equal to $1 off per product, so these took off a total of $8 for me)
• This brought my total down to $19.81 after taxes (I had $3 in +Up rewards at home, but I forgot them)
• I got back one $10 +Up reward for buying over $30 worth of J&J products and eight $2 +Up rewards for a grand total of $26 +Up rewards!

That's more than $6 in profit after taxes on something we use daily, talk about a hard to resist deal! There are a couple of things you'll want to keep in mind if this deal interests you:

• You can only get one $10 +Up reward for buying $30 worth of J&J products so you won't be able to do this more than once per Wellness card.
• If you've been a super awesome RA shopper and already have the 20% discount, your J&J items will ring up slightly less. You can buy a ninth product to get you up over the $30 point or chose another participating item.
• The limit on J&J $2 +Up rewards appears to be 8, so buying 9 will not net you another $2
• Hurry! The word on this deal is getting out now- plus, it's a popular product and easily done with printable coupons. If you have specific items in mind, you probably won't want to wait as the store could run out. My store was well stocked this morning but it only takes a few couponers to put a dent in the store's stock when we're each buying 8 products.

Hope this helps someone out there! For more hot RA deals you'll want to check out For The Mommas (my favorite RA deal blogger).

Albertsons doublers today!

Spent $3.80, Saved $55.58

(and got back a $1 catalina)

I split my things into two transactions so I could make the most of the doublers that came out today. Here's what I bought (using mostly printable coupons):

Transaction #1:

• 10 boxes Green Giant Veggies $1 each
• 2 bottles Hershey's Syrup $2 each
• $5 came off instantly for the Boxtops Promo (buy 10 items)
• used two $1 off 3 GG Veggie printables and one $.60 off 3 printable
• used $1 off 2 Hershey's Syrup (from 8/22)
• and I used three doublers to bring my total down to $2.40

Transaction #2 (in which I realized they didn't have quite a few of the things I wanted and had to improvise):

• 4 boxes Green Giant Veggies $1 each
• 4 rolls of Grands $1.50 each
• 2 bags Chex Mix
• minus $5 for buying 10 participating Boxtop Promo items
• used $.60/3 GG veggies printable
• used two $1/2 Grands printables
• used $1/2 Chex Mix printable
• and three doublers
• This brought my total down to $1.40 and I got back a $1 catalina

RA Update: My last Huggies deal got even better!

I know a lot of readers out there are buying the same things I am, so I wanted to give you all a heads up on this- just in case you also took advantage of the awesome Huggies deal at Rite Aid last week. I was pretty thrilled when I was able to buy all of this:

for only $6.37 out of pocket. I also explained that without my +up rewards and SCR to help pay the cost I would have spent only $11.47 and got back $6 in +up rewards (for a "net cost" of $5.47). BUT I also have a habit of entering all of my Rite Aid receipts into their SCR system just in case. I was surprised this morning when I got an email about my status having been updated- and then excited when I realized it was this diaper purchase that qualified me for rebate #148! That's an extra $5 I'm getting back from this deal!!

I hope that if you bought the same things you can track down that receipt and enter it. Of course, if you already qualified for #148 (by buying Cottonelle or something else) you won't be able to claim another one.

I'm loving Albertsons this week!

This cost me $0.90 (I saved $108.38)

I actually bought a lot more than what you're seeing here- including one box of Quaker Delights Granola Bars, a box of Ritz Crackerfuls, and 19 more bottles of salad dressing that went directly to St. Vincents. Between my mom and I, we took down 10 tubs of oatmeal and 43 bottles of salad dressing just yesterday. There are a ton of benefits to couponing, but being able to donate in large amounts is one of my favorites. Of course, being able to grab a few free things for yourself in the process is also kind of wonderful. Yes, it took us a while to collect all our coupons and go through the lines multiple times but it's certainly not a waste of time.

If you have the coupons and your stores are stocked up on salad dressing, you might consider picking up a few bottles to donate as well. A good number of Albertsons stores have barrels for the food bank somewhere inside- making this a super easy good deed to do.

More shopping: FM & Albies

Fred Meyer: $12.41 spent, $3.50+ saved

I was excited to see grapes for only $.87/lb this week, along with a few other great produce prices, so I figured I do my "real" grocery shopping there. The Ronzoni was free after $1 coupons (found in various magazines about to be tossed at the doctor's office). The Swiss rolls were a treat for the husband (he likes them for lunches) @ $1 each and the donuts are a great motivator for the kiddos to help me clean during the week. The corn was also on sale for only $.25/ear and the bell pepper was $.44. Fun stuff.

Albertsons: $1.60 spent, $38.30 saved

Looks familiar, right? Except that with doublers, this deal is even better! I used two $1 off 2 and one $.55 off 1 (from today's paper) coupons on the salad dressing. I also used the $3 off 5 Quaker items coupon, a $2 survey coupon, and the $5 catalina from my last transaction. I got back another $5 catalina coupon for buying the salad dressing.

If you're just getting into this deal, the best way to start would be:

5 Kraft dressing (Ranch/Italian only) @1.34 each= $6.70
use two $1/2 coupons from the orange "Fall into good things" booklet (in store)
use one $.55 coupon (from today's paper) or one $.35 peelie
use three doubler coupons
pay $1.60-$2.00 and get back a $5 catalina

then, you could buy your Quaker items (using a $3 off 5 items) coupon and pay somewhere between nothing and $2! You could also continue to add in the Kraft dressing to "roll" your catalinas each time and maximize your savings. Hope you're all having fun with doublers today!

Safeway: apple juice & dinner

Spent $19.62, saved $54.40 (73%)

(not pictured: 2 gallons of milk)

After a long day of toddler haircutting and kitchen cleaning I was kind of excited to see that the $5 Friday deal was Turkey Breast. I love turkey and not having to cook it sounded especially appealing. I decided I'd also take advantage of the Motts juice/snack deal going on this week. It is a little silly because neither of my boys drink apple juice (or any juice for that matter) but I love to have it on hand while nursing- so I took advantage of this chance to stock up for myself. My trip breaks down like this:

I bought:

• 12 bottles Motts Apple Juice $2.00 each (used six $2 off 2 bottles coupons from the MDA booklet- check CS) $1 each
• 5 boxes chewy granola bars $2.49 each (FREE as part of the juice promo) FREE
• 3 boxes Rice Krispie Treats $2.49 each (FREE as part of the juice promo) FREE
• 2 gallons milk $1.99 each
• Fresh Express $1
• O Organics Tea $1.19 (used $1 O Organics q) $0.19
• Turkey Breast $5

I used a $3 catalina from last week to help pay. The juice promo didn't work quite right for some reason and only 4 of my participating "snacks" came off on their own so the cashier had to take off the price of the other 4 snacks manually. The limit on the deal is 12, so I'm not sure what the issue was but it's something to keep an eye on just in case you're doing a similar deal.

This is not the best deal on juice I've ever seen, but I'm starting to run out of deal shopping steam so I'm happy with my results. There are a few other deals worth mentioning at Safeway this week, so you may want to swing by Queen Bee Coupons to check them out for yourself.

Albertsons: Quaker Oats & Kraft Dressing

Trans #1: $11.95 spent, $27.95 saved

...plus I got back a $5 catalina

I've really been on an oatmeal kick lately, and actually found myself paying full price for store brand oatmeal last week (crazy, right??). We're still stocked up on the instant oatmeal packets- but those just aren't working for me, so when I saw the Quaker sale this week at Albies I knew I needed to make a trip down. Here's the breakdown:

• 5 tubs Quaker Oatmeal $2.00 each
• 5 bottles Kraft Ranch Dressing $1.34 each
• used $3 off wyb 5 Quaker products coupon (in-ad)
• used five $.35 off Kraft dressing peelies (found attached to bottles in store)
• Paid $11.95 and got back a $5 catalina (for purchasing 5 bottles of Kraft dressing)

I actually got lucky and received a $2 survey coupon at the end of my receipt PLUS we spotted a few of these hot coupon booklets on the way out (Thanks CouponConnectionsNW!). The combination of good luck was too much for me to resist, so I unloaded the cart and ran back in for a quick second transaction. I bought the exact same items at I did the first go-round (this time using two $1 off 2 Kraft dressings from the new coupon booklet and one $.35 peelie), paying only $4.35 out of pocket this time and saving $35.55! Even cooler, I scored another $2 survey coupon- talk about good luck!!

There are quite a few other good deals to be had with the $3 off 5 Quaker items coupon in the ad this week BUT I've heard very reliable rumors of doublers (both from online deal seekers and a lady in the know at one of my local stores) this Sunday. I've got some nice Quaker coupons from the instant oatmeal boxes I purchased this spring that paired with doublers will make for even better deals and possibly even some freebies, so I'll be waiting to do the rest of my shopping until later this week (these prices are good through Tuesday, 8/31).

Note: I really don't need the dressing but since it does work out to be free after the peelies and catalina (or a slight money maker after $1/2 coupons and catalina) I couldn't resist grabbing some for donation purposes. If you're planning on heading to Albies this week, you might want to consider grabbing some to donate yourself.

Rite-Aid: Shopping for cheap diapers!

I spent $6.37 out-of-pocket and saved $33.49

I also got back $6 in +Up rewards to use on my next transaction! That doesn't mean my diapers were free- but they were fairly cheap (and with 1 big boy in pull-ups at night, one in diapers, and another on the way I'm happy to stock up on cheap diapers). These deals are good through Saturday.

Here's what I bought:

• Huggies Pure & Natural: $8.99
• Huggies Little Movers: $8.99
• Huggies Pull-Ups: $8.99
• Pre-coupon total: $26.97

I used these coupons:

• $5 off a $25 purchase (Video Values)
• $2.50 off Huggies Pure & Natural
• $2 off Huggies Pull-ups (Video Values)
• $2 off Huggies Pull-ups
• $2 off any Huggies diapers or Pull-ups (Video Values)
• $2 off any Huggies Little Snugglers
• (For a grand total of $15.50 in coupons)

I paid using $2 in +Up rewards I had earned previously and a $4.99 SCR check I had from July (you can either cash these at your bank or use them like cash at RA). This brought my total down to $6.37 including the almost $2 in tax, which was paid out-of-pocket. I received $6 in +Up Rewards ($2 per pack of diapers) to use on my next transaction.

Note: For those who like to think in terms of net cost, without the additional $6.99 in payment (from the $2 +Up rewards and $4.99 SCR) I would have paid $11.47 out of pocket and still received my $6 back. Without tax that works out to a mere $1.83/pack, including tax it's $2.46/pack (after you figure in the +Up rewards earned).

As always, I recommend For The Mommas for all the hottest RA deals and up-to-date info regarding what is quickly becoming my favorite drug store.

My current sweeps

Based on the amount of clickthroughs on the last post I did about sweeps/instant win games I was playing, it looks like I'm not the only one who enjoys them. Here's the latest batch I've been playing:

Cheerios- Do What you Love: Enter daily for your shot at some amazing grand prizes. Odds you'll win aren't great, but I'm not joking when I say the prizes are worth a shot. Click the different themes across the bottom (ie Sports, Family, etc.) to read about each category's prize and to enter the one you want. You can enter once a day.

Barilla- Pasta Fridays: Enter once a week and you could win a coupon for a free box of Barilla.

Bed Bath and Beyond- Home Sweet Dorm: You can play once daily and there are lots of great grand prizes in addition to one $25 giftcard winner every hour.

Dove- Win your Favorite Things: Spin daily for your chance at 1 of 4 different hair styling tools (your choice). I don't spend tons of time doing my hair, and am fairly reluctant to buy hair styling tools- so this is kind of fun for me.

Honey Nut Cheerios- Non Challenge: Play daily and you could win a years worth of Honey Nut Cheerios (in the form of 12 FREE product coupons). I won this early on!

It Pays to eat Pasta: Enter daily and you could win either a $100 check or the grand prize of "free groceries for a year" ($5200 check).

KMart- Win $20 every 10 minutes: They're giving away $20 to one lucky winner every ten minutes. I haven't won, but I'd say your odds are pretty good with this one. You can play once a day.

Kroger- Summer of Savings: Select your local Kroger chain store (Fred Meyer and QFC in the NW) and then spin the wheel to see if you win a free product. You can play daily until you win a prize. It's on round 3, so you're eligible to win another even if you won a prize earlier on during the first two rounds.

M&M's- Coupon Sweepstakes: You can enter daily, and on September 1st they'll do a drawing to select over 500,000 winners for a FREE M&M's coupon. Not a huge prize, but I'd be happy with a free bag of M&M's.

Office Depot- Go Back Smarter: An instant win game with 50 winners of $100 giftcards daily (and an additional 10 teachers winning $500 giftcards daily). You do need a code, but can have a free code emailed to you daily. I've seen lots of people winning this and I'm sure there's something you could find to spend $100 on at Office Depot.

Play-Doh- You Can Win: Spin the wheel daily for your shot at a $50 giftcard (10 winners a day) or the $5000 grand prize. You'll need a code to play- they can be found on Play-Doh packages or you can use KDN185UV9JN34 (note: you can enter this code 3 times for 3 spins a day).

Quicken Loans- A Million Thanks: You can play this instant win game daily for your shot at a variety of prizes. I was hoping for the $5 Starbucks gc, $10 Amazon gc, or $10 Target GC but won a Xeko trading card game instead that I'm sure my oldest will have fun with.

Safeway- 10% Goes Back to School: Play this instant win game for your shot at a Safeway giftcard. You can also get up to 5 bonus plays a day for reffering friends. There's also a $5000 grand prize.

Sobe- Heads or Tails: You can play daily for a chance at a prize ranging from a "buy ne get one free" printable coupon to an Ipod or a new MacBook. I have yet to win anything besides BOGO and FREE sobe coupons but other people have had great luck with this game.

WhyMilk.com- Unlock Their Potential: I never win anything milk related, but there are some fun kid related prizes in this one. You can play daily- but if you win you won't know what you're getting until it comes in the mail.

Are there any other sweeps/instant win games you're playing? Did you win something from one of the sweeps I posted? I'd love to hear from you!

My Albies trip this morning

I've skipped the last few rounds of doublers at Albertsons, but this week was just too good. I spent $1.54 and saved $111.89 for everything in the picture above! That's 8 boxes of potatoes, 12 boxes of cheerios, 10 boxes of cake mix, 10 tubs of frosting, and 1 butterfinger (so I could use the $2 survey receipt I got early on this am to help pay for the cake mix/frosting deal). You can bet I'll be headed back in for more fun with doublers!

Target Trip

Target: $8.76 spent, $29.52 saved

I don't usually do a ton of Target deals (although I do love shopping there) but there were some things just too good to pass up this week. Toddler hand not included...he was just really excited about the new pillow. Here's what I bought:

• Bath Towel Shelf $13.49 (minus $10 Target coupon) $3.49
• Pillow $2.54 (minus $1 TQ) $1.54
• C9 4pack Women's Socks $5 (minus $5 TQ) FREE
• Quaker Instant Oatmeal $2.50 each (minus $1 TQ and $.75 coupon) $1.50 for 2 boxes
• Notebook $0.15
• Bic Pens $0.99 each (minus $1/2 TQ and $1/2 printable) FREE
• Scotch Tape $0.50 each (minus two $1 off 3 coupons) $1.00 for 6 rolls

I was hoping to get in on some free Post-its as well, but our Target was completely out of the $1 Post-its. Still, I think I did pretty well. All the Target coupons I used today can be printed from the website (I printed the $5 C9 coupons a while back so they might not be available anymore). Both Thrifty NW Mom and Thrifty and Thriving have some great ideas for your Target trip this week, so you may want to check them out as well.

Rite Aid: Diapers, Wipes, and Tide!

Spent $11.23, Saved $29.93

got back $6.50 +UP rewards and $2 SCR

That brings my (after tax) net cost to: $3.73

I didn't exactly need more toothbrushes, styling products, or shampoo/conditioner BUT my mom was sweet enough to do the deal using her Wellness+ card and we swapped goods. So really, I ended up with a toothbrush, 2 packs of diapers, 2 bottles of Tide, and 2 boxes of wipes (all things I like to have on hand). Most of the coupons I used came from the P&G insert we got this past weekend, making it super easy to replicate.

I bought:

• Pampers $8.99
• Pampers Wipes $3.69
• Tide $5.99
• HE Conditioner $2.50
• HE Mousse $2.50
• Oral B Toothbrush (with free sample toothpaste) $2.49
• Pre-coupon total: $26.16

These are the coupons I used:

• $5 off a $25 purchase (Video Values)
• $3 off Pampers (Vocal Point Home mailer)
• Free Pampers Wipes wyb Pampers Diapers (took off the max of $3.50)
• $0.75 off Oral B Advantage Toothbrush
• $1 off Tide
• Free HE Styling Product wyb Shampoo or Conditioner (took off $2.50)
• $1 Wellness+ coupon I earned last week
• A total of $16.75 in coupons

I paid $11.23 ($1.82 of which was tax) and got back $6.50 in +UP Rewards in addition to qualifying for a $2 SCR.

As always, I suggest swinging by For The Mommas for all the latest Rite Aid information- including the latest update to their coupon policy and this week's deals.

My Target Finds: 75% off toys!

I got all this for about $40 (retail is about $160):

Our Target hit 75% off most toys yesterday, and they still had tons left when I made it in last night. I was thrilled to find more fun & educational looking games for the boys. I was also able to pick up some items that I thought would be great for gifting (and the Hello Kitty Fortune Cookie Set just looks like fun). Here are the details:

HK Fortune Cookie Set ($14.29) $3.57
Laugh&Learn Pig ($14.99) $3.74
Duck Duck 1-2-3 ($9.99) $2.48
Computer Cool School ($54.99) $13.74
Curious George Hide&Seek Zoo ($19.99) $4.98
2 FP Ice Cream games ($8.99) $2.24 each
FP Cookie Shape Matching game ($8.99) $2.24
2 Trivial Pursuit Single games ($8.99) $2.24 each

We had so much fun playing the Puppy Pals Bingo game that even though I did purchase the Duck Duck 1-2-3 game at 50% off I plan to keep it and gift the second one. While the aisle clearly marked 75% off toys had quite a selection, I had better luck wandering all the aisles and looking for items with stickers (especially with the games).

Target Toy Clearance

It's that time of the year again where Target starts with the heavy markdowns on toys. My local store has not yet hit 75% off yet, but I'm hearing reports that quite a few stores in WA have. If you want to check on your store- Christy over at Thrifty and Thriving has the go-to blog for Target bargain hunters. Plus, there are frequent updates on her Facebook page by her readers (you can check there to see if anyone has reported the current discount at your local store).

Just for fun, here are a few of my recent finds (not all toys):

Cranium Puppy Pals Bingo and Duck Duck 1-2-3 (50% off $9.99) $4.98 each
ConAir Infiniti Curling iron (50% off $24.99) $12.48
Mini Rubber Football (75% off $6.99, was not marked with a clearance tag) $1.75
Schwin Bicycle Seat (75% off $24.99, husband had been eyeballing this) $6.24
Remote Controlled R2D2 (50% off $29.99, was only tagged 30% off) $14.99
Mariner's Onesie and shorts set (75% off $12.99) $3.24
Cars Card Game Set (50% off $6.99) $3.48

I did buy a few things at only 50% off, it's not something I normally do- but in most cases the item at 50% off was either the last or second to last one of it's kind. I also noted in my list a few times that the item was either not tagged, or else tagged incorrectly (at a higher price)- it's really important with this markdown that you scan and check to see. Odds are good I'll be going back to see what else my store has going on sometime soon, they were just consolidating everything to one aisle which means they're close to marking things down lower but they do sometimes like to let things sit for the weekend. I was especially excited about the Cranium games as I've been looking for fun and educational games I could play with my oldest, and these too have great reviews (the ABC one in the same line though has terrible reviews on Amazon though, so I skipped that).

EDIT: Puppy Pals Bingo is fantastic, and I'd reccomend grabbing it if you have/know a toddler (especially one who likes dogs). My 3 year old and I have been playing it off and on all morning- and the only reason we stopped was so that little brother wouldn't lose the pieces.