Here's just a quick aid to let you know what is in season right now....
Back to school is a great time to buy clothing and shoes. You can get some great clothes for the Fall. Even better, you can get summer clothes on BIG sales! Check out all of your favorite stores for their awesome end of the summer sales. Old Navy is one of my favorites. They get (and I missed it!) had their take an extra 50% off of the already 50% off stuff! That's an awesome deal...add to that they they had yet ANOTHER addition 25% off if you are a student or a teacher and WOW! You could make a killing with those kind of sales!
This is also the season for socks and underwear. Often this time if year you will see a lot of store with great sales on those big packs of underwear and socks (you know...Fruit of the Loom and Hanes to name a few). As an added bonus, this us the time when you are also likely to get even more for your money as they usually have bonus packs that allow you to get a few extra pairs in your pack for the same price as without them. EVEN BETTER...you might be able to find a coupon for these packs of underthings. This is a great time to buy for the year.
If you are daring...and some of you might be...If you wait until the weeks AFTER school starts, sometimes you can get those same packs of underwear and socks discounted, because they are clearance them out. Last year, I was able to get 3, 7packs of underwear that were $3 each. I would have got more, but they didn't have anymore in my size. And THAT's that risk you take!
In food, the summer is a great time to buy hot dogs in particular, but also the condiments that go on them. This is the time if year when you will be more likely to see places like Giant Eagle with a BOGO on different brands of hot dogs. There are always LOTS of hot dog coupons in the summer as well.
Here's what I do.... (This happens to be the upcoming sale at Giant Eagle...and the coupon came in the mail today...)
Normally a pack of BallPark hot dogs might run, say, $3.50 a pack. So, you get two packs and you're looking at $7.
This week, GE has them BOGO (Buy one, get one)....
Now, that's two packs for $3.50
BUT this week's redplum (mine comes in the mail, but you might get it in your newpaper) has a coupon that is 75 cents off of two BallPark products.
Now your two packs of hot dogs cost $2.75....
BUT WAIT!!!
Giant Eagle doubles coupons...
So, instead of it being 75 cents, it's like $1.50.
So you actually end up paying $2 for two packs of hot dogs!
THAT's what I call a deal!!! And you will see this deal probably off and on until around Labor Day when all of the picnicking kind of gets put on hold.
And so you're wondering, "Seriously, Lauren...I only need one pack of hot dogs!" I say, FREEZE THEM! They can stay in your freezer for a while and you can just use them when you need them! You paid less for two packs of dogs than you would for just one. Why waste your money?
Other food items to stock up on now are breakfast foods and lunch packing items. Over the next few back-to-school weeks, you are going to see lots of great deals on Poptarts, cereals, fruit cups, and lot of other things that you would normally put into a child's lunch. These items will often be on sale, but ALSO have a coupon in the paper. Be on the lookup...and STOCK UP!!! If you have a good rubbermaid for hiding/putting away extra stuff, you could even use this time to stock up on those lunch bags of chips. You can get them pretty cheap and they would be great for Halloween.
This is also a great time of year for fruits and vegetables. In this area (PA) we are at our peak for a lot of veggies. If you buy them now, especially from places like Farmer's markets (think Soergels, Shenot, that guy on the side of the road, etc)you can buy and use what you can and cut the rest and freeze it.
Great example for this, last year, it was about mid-September and apparently green peppers were very plentiful at my local Farmer's market. They were the BIGGEST peppers I've ever seen AND only 50 cents each. I bought two on my first trip and then took them home and thought about what I was going to make with them. My husband loves fajitas, so I made them and had lots of leftovers that weren't going to get cooked. I ended up freezing the already cut peppers and using them as I needed them for future fajitas. I did end up going back for a second trip and buying 8 more peppers. I cut all of those down, along with some onions and I had the start of a nice little meal. Those all lasted until about March or April. At which point, you can imagine how sad it was to the store and spend $2.99 a pound on peppers.
Point is...be on the lookout for great deals on veggies!
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