I know that we usually have an Open Mic post on Thursdays, but considering this Thursday is Christmas Eve I thought we’d do it early. I also thought it might be nice to have an open mic focused on all the last minute things we need to buy and get done whether groceries, recipes, gift ideas, or stocking stuffers. This is the place to ask, share and help one another in our journey toward financial freedom even during the Christmas season.
If you have never left a comment on Pocket Your Dollars, it’s easy. Just complete the form at the bottom of this post with your name as you’d like it to appear (initials are fine), your email (which only I see and will never use to send spam or distribute to anyone else), and your comment. It’s that simple. If you are reading this in an email or RSS feed, then click on the post title to come back into the website to read the conversation and leave your comment.
Merry Christmas to each and every one of you and your family!
Your turn: What last minute item(s) do you need to buy, recipe ideas do you need, ingredients do you have to pick up, but are wondering where the best price is?
About Carrie Rocha
Does anyone know of ANY American Girl sales, deals, or discounts? HELP, please! :)
Julie–you can find American Girl items on craigslist. Often times folks are selling gently used items. Also, I think the MOA deal is still going on for the free wristbands if you are from the Twin Cities. Good luck!
try the mattel factory store.I have seen on ocassions a couple of them there.
Anyone know of a good, cheap brand of MP3 player. My mom bought our son one for his B-day, but it broke after only a little bit of use, thankfully Kohl’s took it back with no problem. He is only 7, so we just want a reasonably priced one, there are a lot of not so big name ones out there, anyone have a good brand they would suggest?
Monica– I would suggest the Sansa brand. We have had good luck with them and find them user friendly.
My daughter is wanting a dog for Christmas. We are not getting a real dog. But do people have suggestions on dogs from toy stores that walk, bark, etc… Thanks for the help.
My niece got a little toy puppy yesterday that moves and makes little puppy sounds. It doesn’t walk though because it’s supposed to be a newborn puppy. I think it was called a Fur Real pet or something like that. I’d imagine they have some different ones that might fit what your daughter wants.
My family does a random gift exchange so I need to find something that would appeal to any adult (it can be specific to a gender) and I’m completely drawing a blank on what to get besides a gift card. I could always fall back on the coffee mug/coffee beans thing, but I did that last year. It should be $15-20 in value. I want it to be something useful, not decorative, and not candy (since we all get plenty of that at Christmas). Any fun suggestions?
Nate,
What about a calendar, a cd, a pair of movie tickets, a throw blanket (for use in a car or at home), four jugs of windshield washer fluid? (perhaps I’ve run out of ideas!)
Nate,
How about steak dinner for two. Pick up a nice steak and bottle of wine and put them in an inexpensive basket?
Julie – I just saw that Michael’s carries some of the American Girl Crafts. For example – make your own shirts with the decals etc. that they could make themselves – or the hairbrush kit with DVD .. same price 19.95 as the store – but you could try to use a 40% off coupon – I checked the coupon over and it doesn’t say anything about exclusions to American Girl – I haven’t tried it yet – but I’m thinking it might work on them. I was surprised to see Michael’s carrying them …. but at 40% off – it would be a great price!
Here’s what I’m leaning for. I thought of it based on Anne’s movie ticket idea (thanks)! I’ll buy a classic Christmas movie on DVD and package that with a bag of popcorn, a couple bottle of pop, and candy bars. I’m sure I can get all of that for $15. Sound good?
Thanks for the puupy info. the greatest gift we do for a neutral $15 gift is lottery scratch off games. Hope that helps.
Anyone know of a store with a good deal on Kellogg’s cereal this week?? Thanks!
Does Cub Foods accept the Target printable manufacturer’s coupons with their logo on it? Thanks.
Here’s another idea for Nate (as we do this with my in-laws each yr)–lottery tickets. To make the pkg look interesting you can tape them to a pkg of tp or paper towels. In our family we play the dice game and when there are lottery tickets they are usually “stolen” many times by people who roll doubles.
Nate,how about some fun board games Catch Phrase or Gestures are really fun plus include some popcorn and a beverage. Fun little night in package or a family game night ready to go.
Restaurants.com is offering 80% off gift certificates that are 25 dollars. (I did buy a 10 dollar gift card and the code worked for that also.) Use the coupon code SANTA. I found out about the code through upromise. I am not sure when the code expires but I just did it this morning(December 21) and it still worked. My husband and I are super bad at having date nights. What I am going to do for a gift for him is getting 12 gift certificates to different restaurants around town and I am going to pre plan a date night each month using the gift certificates. Essentially giving him 12 envelopes with just the type of food labeled on the outside and he can plan the rest. I got all 12 gift certificates(11 – $25 and 1 – $10) for $23.80. They expire a year from the date of purchase. Make sure to read the terms and conditions of each certificate. Most have a $35 minimum purchase and gratuity added pre-discount. Happy Date Planning! Merry Christmas!
I’m taking the week off from grocery shopping, and with my Christmas shopping finished I had a chance to get my price list in order.
Over the next two days I’ll have my entire price list posted, with seperate posts for each category. (Today I posted HBC, Meat, Dairy, and Household Supplies) I could really use everyone’s help filling in the blanks and seeing if you have feedback for some of the prices I’ve written down.
Stop by and check it out if you can find time this busy holiday week!
http://abbyscents.blogspot.com/
UPDATE: Code SANTA on restaurants.com good December 21-25 only.
I purchased several certifiicates using the previous weeks discount code . Today I recieved a free $25 gift certificate from restaurants.com to apply to any purchase of addtl certificates! I purhcased several for our favoirte place with great food and it does not exclude beverages! It’s a GREAT deal!! We have used this site alot and end up only paying around $2 for a $25 certificate!
http://oldnavy.shoplocal.com/oldnavy/default.aspx?action=detailbrowselarge&storeid=2601377&title=ANY+single+ITEM+&img=http%3a%2f%2fakimages.crossmediaservices.com%2fdyn_li%2f600.0.90.0%2fRetailers%2foldnavy%2f091220_BCcpn.JPG
Here is another new 30% off at Old Navy.
I would love ideas from those of you who put together gift baskest for Christmas. Most of the things I’ve collected with my coupons are medicine, food, and toiletries – not sure if those would make a very “fun” gift basket. What have you all been finding for your gift baskets?
I used candles and chocolates in my gift cups.
Abby – Thanks for your price lists! Regarding plastic trash bags . . . . I NEVER buy trash bags. I use my grocery shopping bags for my kitchen garbage and plastic bags from Target/Walgreens for bathrooms & laundry room. Just another way I try and be “green” and save resources.
I tried to leave a comment on your blog, but couldn’t. Not sure what I did wrong.
Andrea – rainbow has a deal if you buy 8 kelloggs cereal you get $10 off. use 8 coupons this wenesday and they could be free.
Monica,
I have a brand new (never opened) MP3 player if you’d like to buy it. It’s 1GB. I can fill you in on details if you’re interested.
Anyone have input on Wii – Guitar Hero, Rock band or Band Hero? Is there a difference in quality? Which have you found to have better value?
Carrie,
I just want to wish you and all the other coupon happy campers out there a wonderful and peaceful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! I think those of us who clip coupons are a special breed and I would someday, somehow like to meet some of you. Perhaps a coupon convention!! Some of my friends think I am off my rocker when I shop and save!!! Some (I know) talk behind my back and laugh at this behavior. My dad grew up during the depression and it was he who taught me the value of a dollar. My family is fortunate, if we had to we could pay more. However using coupons has freed up some of the cash. We now have more money to give to others, to pay down our mortgage (retire mortgage free) and have special times together. It all truly adds up. Someone in my networking group said taking care of the pennies was no longer valid, but I disagree. Take care of the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves. In our pocket so to speak. Have a wonderful holiday. AND thank you Carrie.
Carrie, ( a different Shelly here than the one above my comment!) just wanted to tell you that our Cub had Wild Rice for $3.99 in the produce section today. You had asked about good deals on wild rice awhile back, and while I usually get it at Trader Joe’s, this is a good deal at Cub. Our daughter is living in Bolivia (missions work) and wild rice is one of the things she misses a lot. So now I have some to put in her Christmas stocking for her February visit (along with chocolate chips which she can’t get there : )
Anyone remember where they saw Target coupons for Scrubbing Bubbles auto shower cleaner (get $5 GC w/purchase) and refills? They expire 12/31– I just found a MQ for $7 off and I know those Target coupons can be combined, just can’t remember where I saw them! Thanks for all your help.
Has anyone seen a great deal on a Wii? We may splurge and get this as a family gift.
Thanks!
Thanks Stacia, we actually found him a different one. We were able to return the original one from Kohl’s with no problems and got a different one from Toys R Us, which he liked better because it looked more like a real I POD. Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it!
Ok, so the family has decided to do the white elephant thing this year. We just had a garage sale this summer and got rid of all we didn’t want. Anyone have any creative or funny ideas as a gift for this?
Heidi,
you might have to do a bit of research but I think walmart and target are both giving gift cards when you buy a Wii. I think that Walmart gift card is a bit higher than targets so look into it. I haven’t really payed much attention because I hunted down a Wii when they were really hard to find. It has been so much fun for our family! Deffinately one of our favorite game systems!
The Wii never seems to go on sale, so you just have to figure out who has the best package deal. Usually they offer gift cards, additional games, or something. We bought ours last year at Christmas time and Game Crazy was offering 12 free game/movie rentals with it. At $5 a rental, it was a pretty good deal, and then we could rent the games for free to help us decide which games to buy.
As for Guitar Hero, Band Hero, and Rock Band, I’ve only played Guitar Hero. The original guitar hero was just for guitars I think. The new ones can be used with additional instruments as well. Rock Band and Band Hero both have the multiple instruments (guitar, drums, mic). Most instruments are also pretty compatiable with each other now, so my guitar from Guitar hero will work if we buy the Rock Band game. I think it just depends where you can get the best deal and which songs you like the best!
Kathy the white elephant gift–I dug in every drawer and pulled out random items not needed. My gift bag had…a bithday card, thank you card, a rock, a pen, a cereal box toy, wax lips, hotel shampoo and conditioner and a lottery squeeze light. They fought over my gift with the doubles it was real funny.
White elephant gift…..the idea is something that is still usable but you no longer use…..I generally go through my sock basket and pull out all the socks with no matches……or pull together a bag full of mcdonalds toys……or something really ugly from the 70′s that you might have laying around…..macramae yarn……..or some seasonal decoration that you never put up. Good luck!
Julie—-if you are serious about discounts for American Girl items, look around on the internet for a huge warehouse sale they have in Madison each year. It is a benefit sale for the Madison Children’s Museum. The dolls are all less than $50, they also have furniture cheap. The sale is in July but you need to order tickets in late May/early June. There is also an outlet store in OshKosh in the outlet mall there. They have a great sale with clothes but no dolls in June.
Help! I am looking for something I found at a Target out-of-state. They were in the stocking stuffers area. The item is CHOCOLATE board games… Poker, Trivial Pursuit, Clue, etc. I am unable to get out and look for them today but I’ve been searching for them over the past two weeks without success. If you live in the Twin Cities area and find a large amount of them, please email me. Or, if you’re really super-duper kind, buy me a few and I’ll not only pay for them but add a little finder’s fee, too. I LOVE to play board games and host board game parties. I thought these would make great prizes! Of course, I’m not interested in them if the packaging is done up for the holidays (I can’t remember but I thought not.) Thanks so much!!! :-)
Can anyone offer help for redeeming certificates at Restaurant.com? I tried the 3 month dinner of the month club because it was really inexpensive and I cannot figure out how to redeem the first certificate. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Inasuitcase The brainerd/baxter target has them.
Thanks, Jenny! Unfortunately, Brainerd is much too far for me to drive during my one day off and, unfortunately, I don’t know anyone who lives there. I appreciate the info, though, and hope someone else reads my post and can tell me of a closer location to Hudson. I really liked these when I saw them in Portland, OR, but didn’t want to haul them around with me for a whole week (I am a flight attendant.) Now, I regret that decision:-(
I know this is late but an American Girl distribution center is in Madison, WI and Racine/Kenosha/Milwaukee WI area. Check craigs list in these areas as employees may get a discount and try to resell at a small profit. Also, you could take a trip to Chicago for the store.