'Tis the season....

There's a season for everything! The season is when something is at its BEST! Guess what? There's a season for shopping too!! When you buy early and put away or put off a purchase until the buying season, you can really save some cash!

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!

My Smart Hands

I just finished watching my first My Smart Hands lesson! I have a few songs that I need to learn, but I feel confident that they will be pretty simple to learn.

I am anxious to get started on my first class! I hope something just kinda falls into my lap!!!

Toys on sale!

Did you know that this a great time to stock up on toys for the super kid in your life?

I was at Target again today. I decided to check on the Thomas the Tank toys for Matthew. There are a large number of Thomas toys from a variety of sets that are on sale. Prices ranged from 30-50% off. I picked up a few things for Matthew, but don't wan to go overboard in case someone else caught this awesome deal! I noticed that there were toys in a lot of aisles on sale. I would highly recommend making a withdrawal from your Christmas or birthday fund to buy a couple things.

"Buy now, Save now!"

A tip I got today!

$10.00 cat neuters through August - Plus: low-cost spay/neuter options for all dogs, cats and rabbits. Animal Friends offers special packages for Pit Bulls and feral cats.

Call 1.800.SPAY.PGH to learn more!

My Smart Hands

I'm still super excited to get started with My Smart Hands. I have an e-mail address set up and have been looking at their forums and posting comments for the last 24 hours! Aren't new adventures exciting? Is there anyone out there this interested in coming to a class whenever I get all set up?

My Smart Hands

I am taking a leap of faith I guess.

I am about to become a My Smart Hands instructor. I am really excited! I am going to be teaching sign language classes to parents, kids, and teachers. I'm nervous about this new adventure, but also very excited! I will be looking for some people to practice with for my first few classes. Anyone interested?

My back has been out....and that's tough!

It has been over a week!

July 5th we had some company coming to visit us. I thought that I could make them more comfortable by bringing our smaller air conditioning unit downstairs to keep the living room cool for them. As it turned out, I ended up throwing out my back.

This time last week, I had all but moved into my parent's house and was living there so that my mom could take care of my son for me. I was not able to stand up, so I was propelling myself across their living room floor on my stomach to get to the bathroom. Once there, I would practically scream in pain while I attempted to get onto the toilet.

That was horrible. I honestly thought that the pain was never going to let up.

This week is a new week! After almost a week of prescription drugs, I am feeling much better! I am still having problems lifting my son, but being able to take breaks throughout the day helps a lot.

With all this time on my hands, I've been thinking about ways that I can earn money at home. My husband said that he thinks I'd be great a selling stuff on ebay. I think that's a good idea, because I LOVE to bargain shop, but I hate all the clutter that comes with selling stuff and then sending it to the post office and all the shipping and stuff. However, we do have an unimaginable amount of stuff in our house. So, I've decided to start with that stuff. I listed a number of things on craigslist to generate a little bit of start up income. You know, something to get me fired up about what I might be doing. And I will admit that I do enjoy this! I actually set a goal for myself to help me keep up my interest. I am attempting to make $320 between now and the end of July.

Why $320? Well, we rent from my parents...and even though they tell me that they don't want my hubby and I to have to worry about money and we can just pay them whatever we can pay them, I do not feel like that is fair. My feeling is that they don't get a break paying the mortgage on the house...AND they already charge us a lot less than what they normally charge their tenants....so the least I can do is pay them what we agreed to!

For August's rent, I still owe them $320....which I know I will make when I work next week, but I thought it would be cool if I could make that up another way...just in case!

So far....not bad!
I've got a few video games for sale....they actually cost us nothing and they look like they will be going for about $20
I also have a wedding tiara and veil that have gotten some interest at $40.
I also came to realize that since my hubby has made copies of all of our DVDs, there is really no use in having them anymore....so I'm selling all of my Friends DVDs for another $35.

There are a couple other little things that aren't getting many lookers, but if I can make $100 my first week, that's not too bad! But can I make a living at it?!