Superbowl shopping

So we've decided to have a small superbowl party next Sunday so I knew this weeks shopping would be more expensive. However, we've decided to have alot of stuff we already have plus what I had to buy today was on sale and used coupons! So overall we are hardly spending anything :)

Total I spent 28.04 after tax, sales, coupons.
I know it doesn't look that impressive because I didnt get THAT much stuff. But if you think about it I got stuff thats normally really pricey!

The All detergent's normaly like $5 each. The Finish dishwashing packs are usually around $5-6 each. Wholly Guacamolly (which I've never bought is normally 4.99??? Really? Luckly it was on sale and I had a coupon or we would be having walmart brand guacamolly.) The Heluva dip is normally like $3-4 each. SO overall I did good :)

According to my recipe I saved $27 in coupons and $30 in sales. Totalling 68% saved :) And this isnt all for the Superbowl.

So many things!

Id like to start by appoligizing for how all over the place this blog is going to be.

January is almost over and I can honestly say I have so far suceeded in my goal of not shopping as much. Even Jake said something the other night. Normally I was going to Kohls atleast once a week. Just to look and check out the clearence. Sometimes Id even go to multiple Kohls. And I always ended up buying something or mutliple somethings. Well my scratch off (if you have a kohls card you get them every month with either 15, 20 or 30 percent off your purchase) came and of course we had 30 percent off. I didn't go at all during the 2 weeks it was good for. In fact I didn't go to kohls since Christmas until yesterday. Thats a month! For me thats huge. And the only reason I went yesterday was to return something we got online that got delivered twice. It had been sitting on our steps since Christmas. So I returned that and then got a book and 1 bra (which was needed). The Eric Carle books are the $5 books right now at Kohls. Hardback, which usually cost over $20. We have them all but they are books I use when teaching and Brenden can only see them with me. But latley Brendens became obsessed with Brown Bear Brown Bear so I wanted an extra for him to be able to look at by himself. So I got that and a $12 bra. I didn't even look at anything else!
So Id say Ive done pretty good so far!

On another note, I made a small trip to Publix today. Only spent $15 and include a few things that we wanted for Super Bowl but they were on sale this week.

But one good deal to tell you about is popcorn. The Jolly Time popcorn (I belive 4 microwave packs in box) is on sale for $1.00. A few weeks ago (again not sure exactly when) there was a .50 off coupon in the paper's coupon inserts. This doubles to $1 so it ends up free! I had 3 of them. But to make it even better, on the box is an offer for a free subscription to Weight Watchers Magazine. (Jolly Pop is a product indorsed by WW). All you have to do is fill it out and send in 2 or 3 proofs of purchase (cant remember exactly). But since I bought 3 Im good. I was so glad for this because we use to get the Magazine( actually from a free offer off this exact type of popcorn) but it had expired and now that Im back on WW Id love to get the magazine again! So overall I got 3 boxes of popcorn and 1 year subscription to WW Magazine for FREE! :)

Another thing to share is ShopRunner is offering a year membership for only $1. It's normally $79 a year. It basically gives you free 2 day shipping to hundreds of stores online. Toys R Us and Babies R Us are part of it. Many stores offer cheaper products online but once you pay shipping its not worth it. With this your shipping is free. And fast. There's also a few other perks and 'members only' items. If your interested check it out.

http://www.shoprunner.com/invite/a0QG0000004bmIlMAI

 or
https://www.shoprunner.com/one-dollar-offer?subid=60255&sid=&utm_source=Affiliate
Its totally legite and I know many people who have it. I figured since our Amazon Prime membership was about to expire so we wouldnt have free shipping with that any more Id give this a try. And for a $1 what am I loosing? I will have to remember to cancel after a year because it will automatically renew and charge you $79 if you do not.

We also booked a trip to Disney World for the end of Febuary! We are really excited! My parents came up with the idea and invited us, but I was incharge of planning. We are staying at one of the Value Resorts on Disney property (All Star Music) since we wanted 2 rooms and ours being a suite. It was still pretty costly just because its Disney but much cheaper than the nicer resorts they have. I figure it has everything we need as far as space and heated pools and a playgroud. Still on Disney property so the parks are just a bus ride away. So it will work for us :) Maybe next time we can save up to stay in one of the nicer resorts. This trip was very last minute but we are still excited and it will be fun! So my point, if anyone has ANY advice/tips about going to Disney with a toddler Id greatly appreciate them! Jake and I have been a few years ago so we generally know what's there and our way around. But of course then we wernt checking out the hottest kids activities.

We've also devolped a budget chart that we are going to start writing down EVERYTHING we spend into differnt catagories and and at the end of the month see exactly where our money goes. We are going to start Feb 1. Il make an entry in the next day or 2 of exactly what I did and show you.

I'm off tonight to actually join a discussion/lecture with Maci Bookout from Teen Mom. I was invited to listen and share about being a parent and completing college at the same time. I'm not going to lie Im pretty excited to meet her :) The show is so stupid and totally dramatized for the camera but I still watch it....

Aldi

Has anyone ever shopped at Aldi?
For those that dont know what it is, it's a small grocery store that only carries it's own brand of products. But many of them are very similar to name brand. Even the packaging is almost exact!
I've been a few time's but using coupons most times you get the name brand for much cheaper than the store brand. But they do have awesome prices on fruit so sometimes if I need a ton thats where I go.
BUT the downside to it is you have to pay $.25 for a cart, you get it back when you return it, and they dont have bags/bag your groceries so you have to do that too. So with a 2 year old it's not the easiest grocery store. And it's about a 20 minute drive from our house so that's another reason I dont make it there as often. But today we had the time and all we needed for the week would be fine in off brand and nothing I had coupons for. So off we went. And luckily Brenden did pretty good. We downloaded some new Apps so he was into those :)
There fruit was so cheap this week!!

We got:
4 1lb packages of strawberrys. They were only .99 each! Normally at publix their 3.99 for one. That was a big steal! We go through strawberries like crazy in this house but I hadnt bought them in a while since they wernt really in season so they were even pricer. But these ones were actually the best looking strawberrys Ive gotten in a LONG time. You'd think there so cheap that the majority of the package would be mushy or bad. NO. They're so cheap that more people buy them so they restock them quite often. Not one strawberry was mushy in all 4 packs.
We also got 3 bags of bananas. Something else we go through. They were only .42 a lb and each bag was about a lb and half.
A loaf of bread for only 1.29
Cataloup for only .88 cents! They were running low on these so they had a 1 each limit.
We also needed lunch meat and I didnt see stoping somewhere else for just that. So I got that as well. A thing of premuium lean turkey very similar to the hillshire farms I usually buy for only 2.28
While we were there I also picked up a pack of cheese/pb crackers for brenden that were .99 for a pack of 12 (each one has 4 crackers). And also some pork chops for dinner tomarrow. They werent greatly priced, but not any worse than at Kroger or Publix. but only like $4.50 for a pack of 4. Any good recipes for these?? My husband insist he doesnt like pork chops but Iv actually never seen him eat one in 7 years. So Im just going to make them and see if he eats it. So a REALLY good recipe is needed. If he doesnt like it he'll never try pork chops again.
Anyways..Thats all for today. If anyone else shops at ALDI's what are some items you get that you like??

Homemade chicken tenders

Well I don't know if you'd call these homemade or not. But they were damn good and healthy too! I sliced/chucked up some boneless skinless chicken breat and then used shake n bake. I did half with the original extra crispy and half with the crispy buffalo. My secret is to place a cooling rack on top of your cookie sheet then place your chicken pieces. This way the air circulates all around the chicken and the liquid drains onto your pan. They turn out much more crispier this way!! Loved them for WW as well. The shake n bake only adds 1 point to the chicken!

Publix deals

Heads up to publix shoppers!! There's a few free and/or cheap things on sale right now after coupons. The only problem is I don't know what newspaper the coupons from since I don't organize them by date. But you could see if you have these coupons. And I don't have my receipt on me so no quoting me on prices but I think these are right. If not its right around there.
First off starkist tuna pouches are on sale for 1.00. A few weeks ago there was a .50 off 1 starkist pouch. Doubles to 1.00 so it's free.
I had some .50 off 1 pepperidge farm snack which doubles and some 1.00 off 1 pepperidge farm cracker chip. Both are on sale for 1.75 making them only .75 each.
So if you shop at publix these are great deals!

Freezer Cooking!

Well I've been busy today! And after a night of no sleep I'm hopeing I can go to sleep tonight.
Brenden FINALLY went back to pre school today. He was out since Christmas, went back last Wenesday, and then had Monday off for MLK. He only goes Monday and Wenesday mornings so in real he's been out for close to a month. And no, I'm not saying I was glad to get my kid out of the house. But when I'm use to being able to spend those 3 hours doing stuff around the house or errands and then I don't get that for a month, I'm glad to have it back.

Anyways, today I spent my morning cooking. As you know my goal for 2012 is to save more money. Well it also came at the same time that we decided to start earting healthier (I went back on WW as well. Thats a whole nother (is that a word?) post Il save for another day. But overall, eating healthy can be more expensive. But while laying in bed last night I got to thinking about how much money we spend on frozen breakfast food. Brenden eats breakfast as soon as he wakes up in the morning and isn't patient enough for me to cook anything that takes more than 3 minutes from start to finish. So most morning we alternate between cereal, Eggo waffles, frozen french toast sticks, and Pillbury pancakes. Did I mention he eats ALOT. Like 3-4 pancakes/waffles at a time? Followed by fruit/more cereal/yogurt/ect. We can go through 2 frozen boxes a week. You might think $3 a box is fine. But when you add them all up this is pretty costly. Not to mention SO unhealthy. So I decided I was going to spend my morning making fresh homemade waffles and pancakes. I made a double batch of each and ended up with about 30 of each and froze them. No more store bought! Then I got to thinking, his favorite is french toast sticks. Could I make french toast and freeze these? Why not? Except they wouldnt be sticks. Or could they??

They could! I combined my regular french toast recipe with something to make it a little sweeter. I'm sure you could do this with any french toast egg recipe you normally use, but here is my suggestion:

You'll need:

• Loaf of bread (I used whole wheat). Works best if you lay it out on the counter for 20-30 minutes to get it a little hard. This way it wont fall apart in your egg.
• Melted butter. I used around 1/4 cup.
• 8 eggs
• Cinnamon. Around 1 Tsp depending on your liking.
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk

This made 2 and a half large cookie sheets full. You can half it if you'd like less.

Step 1: Using a pizza cutter, slice your bread into 3 pieces.

Step 2: Mix together your ingrediants in a large bowl for your egg mixture.

Step 3: One piece at a time, dip your bread into your mixture and rub off the extra. You don't want it soggy.

Place your sticks on a GREASED cookie sheet. I used wax paper and sprayed with PAM.



Step 4: Place in oven on top rack at 425 degrees (depending on oven you might go a little lower) for 8-9 minutes. Take out and turn over each piece (if not browned on bottom put it back in for a few more minutes). Place your pans back into the oven for another 8-9 minutes until the other side is browned and sticks are cooked and no longer moist inside. (You know, the french toast consistancy).

Pull then out and they're done! You can eat them right then if you'd like a healthier baked french toast! But that wasn't my goal so now on to freeze them!

Step 5: Let them cool for 10-15 minutes. Then place the entire cookie sheet into the freezer for around 30 minutes. Basically until they're frozen. One of our freezers only took 15 minutes while the other took close to 40. The point of this is to freeze them individually so then you can put them all into one container/bag without then freezing together. This way you can pull out exactly how many you want at a time.

So now just put them into whatever you are going to store them in and toss them back into the freezer.

When you are ready to ear them you can either place them in the oven for 4-5 minutes on a low/medium heat or toss them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.

*I added the cinnamon and sugar to the recipe to add sweetness. It's simply for taste since I use whole wheat bread.

I also pre cooked a bunch of chicken today. We make alot of recipes that called for shredded chicken. In the past I cook the chicken in the afternoon either boiling or bake it, then using forks shread it which takes forever! Someone gave me the idea of crock potting (again, a word?) a ton of chicken at once and shredding it then freezing it. And boy am I glad I did!? This is the only way to do it!!

All I did was stick 8 boneless skinless chicken breast into the crock pot. I didn't trim/flatten/nothing. I filled it half with water/half with low sodium chicken broth. Enough to cover the chicken. And left it for 6 hours on medium-high. After 6 hours I just poured the entire thing into a large strainer above the sink to drain the broth and let it cool for about 25 minutes. The chicken was alraeady half shredded just from the crock pot cooking!!! Talk about easy!



After it cooled, me and brenden spent about 15 minutes shredding the chicken. It was so 'fall off the bone' (without the bone) that all I really had to do with pick it up and pull a few peices and it shredded itself.

After it was all shredded I used my food saver bags and put about 2 cups in each bag. You could use regular freezer ziplock bags as well. Labeled and tossed in the freezer. Now all I have to do is defrost when we're ready to use them with dinner! No cooking required!!!! This is going to make life so much easier! It actually looked so good I kept some out and mixed in some BBQ sauce and had a sandwich for dinner since Jake's not home tonight.

I can tell you spending 2 hours of cooking was SO worth the amount of time and money it's going to save us. Not to mention a TON healthier!  I mean look, the one on the top is homemade, the one on the bottom is frozen store bought? Which looks better to you??

So little time

So as I'm laying here not being able to sleep for the second night in a row (from my phone so excuse the typos), all that is running through my head is what I need to do. It seems like there's never a day where all the laundry is done or the sink is empty or there's not stuff stacked all along the hallway needing to be put away. Suggestions?

My number one problem is laundry. It seems like I do at least a load a day. We go through so many clothes it's ridiculous. Jake works in a warehouse so on most nights he comes home an showers and then changes. So that's 2 outfits a day. Scratch that, we started working out after brenden goes to bed so he goes from work clothes, to workout clothes, to pjs after his shower. So 3. Brendens very into layers at the moment and always wants to have 2 shirts on (usually a long sleeve with a tee on top). So that's 2 plus his pjs. He eats breakfast in his pjs so they get dirty and only get 1 night wear out of them. I'm problem the worst of all. I always wear at least 2 shirts. (tank top under neith). And then change into sweatpants to work out then pjs and a Tshirt after my shower. So total for ONE day we are talking about like 15 items of clothing plus socks/underwear. And then 4 towels if we all shower. How in the world do you keep up with that? I use one of those 4 sectioned baskets in te laundry room. Maybe that's my problem, I seperate our laundry TOO much? I wash; towels, colors, whites, underwear, and brendens laundry. Thats 5 loads. Plus bedding ams randoms. And I wait a few days until there's enough for a decent size load so then I have five loads to do! The dryer takes an hour, so that's at least 5 hours of laundry plus folding/hanging! I try and throw a load in anytime I have a chance. But then it sits in a basket on the floor until I get the time to put it away. (by then there's usually 3 clean baskets and another 3 worth of dirty).

Ahhh anyways, enough venting for tonight. The dishes are another story. I finally have time to load the dishwasher tonight and there's too many to fit! So now I feel like nothing was accomplished because I still have a sink full of dishes. And not only do I have to unload it (which I hate more than loading. Sometimes I just wait until we've used half the clean dishes), now I have to reload it.

Well that turned into more than if needed. Now I'm off to watch another episode of house hunters so I can find another thing I wish we had in our house. ;)

Christmas Card Book

Okay I'm back to show yall the idea I had to do with all of my Christmas cards. If you're like me, you don't want to throw away all those photo cards you get every years, so I just take them down and throw them in a drawer. Well I saw an idea similar to this on Pinterest a few weeks back and decided to try it out. Cost me nothing to make.
You'll need:
Wrapping paper
Cardboard (I used a box from a Christmas gift that still hadn't made it all the way to the trash.)
Hole punch
Binder rings-2

Step 1: Trace your largest Christmas card on the carboard. Then cut out 2 rectangles that are a little larger than the card.

Step 2:  Wrap each board in your favorite left over wrapping paper.

Step 3: Choose your smallest card and decide where you want to punch holes. I hole punched 1 card, then used it as a template to hole punch my cardboard.

Step 4: I organized all my cards by size, then hole punched each size a few at a time. I used a sharpie to make the dots through my template card and then hole punched. So they will all line up.

Step 5:  Place your binder ring first through your back piece of cardboard, then through each picture. ( I had cards from the past 2 years, and organized then all by year. I also placed the larger cards on firsts so they will be towards the back of my book).

Step 6: Repeat this with the 2nd ring in your other holes. Then place the 2nd piece of board, your cover, on. Close both rings.



FINISHED :)

 Now you have all your cards in one place and can pull it out every year and look through them! You can always use nicer looking wrapping paper and add decorative things to your rings to make it look nicer.

Busy week

Okay okay I know I've been totally slacking lately. I went back to work temporarily last week and it totally kicked my butt. Made me appreciate so much more being able to stay home with Brenden. I'm filling in a few days a week at the day care I use to work at. It's not horrible, I love the center and co-workers. For a second I actually contimplated going back permenatly. Brenden was able to go as well and stay in the 2 year old room. Just had to pay a small highly discounted rate. So even though I was working 930-630, I saw him off and on all day, and spyed on him through the windows of course. But not getting home until almost 7 was totally killing both of us. And then I'd let him stay up until atleast 830 (normally in bed at 7) so he could play at home and spend time with us. Anyhow, wasn't horrible. And I made some extra money. I have a few days this week as well.

So aside from my excuses, I was busy enough not to do any shopping this week. I did buy a few grocerys last week and not post them, but it wasn't anything major. Just enough to get us through the week. (Bread, milk, fruit). Anyways, me and Brenden did venture out to go to 2 stores today. Normally I only shop at Publix because most of their sales fit what I need and I dont have the time to hit Kroger for just 1 or 2 things. But this week was worth it. Now my total will seem really high. BUT I've decided to go back on weight watchers so some of what I bought isn't stuff I was buying before. And we all know eating healthy is much more expensive than eating junk food. But I guess I picked good timing because WW stuff was on sale at both stores this week. (On sale=still expensive compared to what I usually pay).

Sooo. My total for the week was $71.19
I used around $33 in coupons and then store sales. EVERYTHING I bought was atleast on sale beside the bananas.
*Chicken on sale for $1.99/lb at kroger so I stocked up. One other reason the bill was a bit higher.

Overall, my trip included:
2 paper towels (Free after coupons)
3 Huggies wipes (Were actually on 'closeout' for $1.19 each. Had $.80 each off coupon).
2 WW ice creams (Pricey. Had $1.00 each coupon but still paid around $3.00 each).
2 Yogurt 4 pks ($1.00 each after coupons).
1/2 gal milk
Lunch meat-Ham, turkey, 2 peperonies
Fritos
Quaker chips
4 packs of chicken breast, and 3 packs of chicken tenderloins
2 packs cheese
Chicken broth & beef broth (2 each)
2 PB
2 Smuckers jam
2 Ritz bits
Rits thin crackers
4 quacker chewy bars
WW snack cakes (Again pricer, but were on sale and I had a coupon so it was as cheap as it was gonna get).
2 packs gum (Both free)
Stir fry seasoning (Free)
salad mix
bananas
strawberrys
celery
3 ears of corn
cantaloup


Anyhow, I have a cute project to do with all those Christmas cards you need to take down but don't want to throw away! So keep looking. I'l try and get it up by tomarrow.

Monterey chicken!

Well today was a busy day. 2 doctors appointments, brenden had baseball this morning and speech this afternoon. I had not even thought about dinner and when 4:30 rolled around the only option was to eat takeout or run to the store. So I made a quick trip to publix and picked up a pack of chicken (which is on sale so il be getting more when I head back to do my grocery shopping this weekend). I got home and decided to make this. It's super easy and you probably have the ingredients in your kitchen (luckily I did).
You'll need (amount based totally on how many your cooking for).
Chicken breast
BBQ sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese
I can Rotel- tomatoes and chilies
Bacon bits/pieces

1. Cook chicken as desired ( I seasoned with salt/pepper then cooked in a skillet. You can bake/grill/whatever).
2. Drain Rotel
3. Place chicken in foil lined baking dish and top with (in order) BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, Rotel, bacon.
4. Bake at 400 for 7-10 minutes.
5. Enjoy :)

Chicken Fried Rice

No new deals for today. But I do have a recipe to share. This is what we're having for dinner. I'm trying out my new rice cooker I got for Christmas. So much more easier than cooking it in a saucepan.

You'll need:

• 3 cups cooked white rice
• 3 tbs sesame oil
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
• Small onion, chopped
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 cooked chicken breast, chopped.

1. Heat oil in large skillet and then add peas/carrots, onion, and garlic. Stir fry until tender.
2. Lower the heat to medium, and then push mixture to one side. On opposite side add egg and scramble.
3. Add rice, chicken, and soy sauce. Blend together. Stir fry for 5-10 minutes.

SOO good. and SOO easy. Let me know if you try it :) We have it alot but I never know what to serve with it. It has meat, rice and veggies. I usually just toss in some cressent rolls and fruit if I have any.

Spent $17.76. Saved 42.96.

So I just got back from my first trip to Kroger since my New Years Resolution. It was a good trip.

So for this I spent $17.76 after sales and coupons. All of the coupons actually came out of this weeks paper. So if your resolution was to start couponing and this week's is all you have you'd be in great shape. I bought 2 papers on Saturday and then one got delivered on Sunday. So total I had 3. (I buy atleast 1 on saturday so I can look at the sale papers a day early. The 1st Sunday each month is when the Proctor and Gamble coupons go out so that is why I bought 2. I knew I would want them). However, in one of the papers that I bought there were actually 4 of one of the coupon inserts (the Smart Source one I beleive). So I actually got 6 sets of some coupons!! Anyways so for this trip: (Im going to try to make it least confusing but still shows you how to do it).

Tide Laundry Detergent: (Part of buy 4 items, save $4) $5.99 each X4=$23.96

I used 4 $2.00 off any Tide coupons. I got 3 from this Sundays paper and one I had from being on their mailing list.

Soft Soap hand soap: On sale for $.88 each X6= $5.28

I used 6 of the $.40 off any Softsoap coupons from this Sundays paper. (They were from the insert I got extras of). Kroger doubles coupons under $.50 so it was really like the coupon was for $.80 off.

Old Spice body wash: (Part of buy 4 items, save $4) $3.49 each X3= $10.47

I used 3 of the $2.00 off any Oldspice coupons from this Sundays paper.

Herbel Essence hair styler: (Part of buy 4 items, save $4) $2.99

I used $1.00 off any Herbel Essence product

So total in Coupons was $19.80

I bought 8 of the items that you got $4.00 off for every 4 you bought. So I got $8.00 off.

Pre Tax Total: $42.70

Coupons/money off: $27.80

Total spent pre tax:  $14.90

I dont know how much exactly everything cost when it's not on sale. But it's a whole lot more! The tide itself is usually $8-9$ each. The "Spent $17.76. Saved 42.96." is from my reciept.

New Years :)

Well it's the first day of the New Year. Honnestly I'm not one for making a huge deal out of New Years. Brenden's obviously too young to even realize so he was in bed by 7:00. Thank goodness all the fireworks didn't wake him up. At one point I really thought it would. We did as if it was any other night and then around 11 decided to watch a movie. At exactly midnight we heard a ton of fireworks and Jake looks up at the clock and goes "Oh look its twelve", and that was that. We finished the movie and was in bed by 1:30. But it my surprise that we were even up. I don't think I've stayed up till twelve the last 2 years.
Anyways, it just stunds me the amount of money people spend on New Years. I passed a billboard yesterday for a local bar/restruant advertizing New Years Eve dinner for only $75.00 a person. SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS for dinner? For one. You have got to be kidding me. I'm sure it included drinks, atleast it better have, but still. That's insane. So atleast we started off the New Year sticking to my resolution by not spending money.

So we got up like it was any other morning and I made a run to Target to pick up some milk and bread, boy was that store empty. It was quite nice. But by now most Targets have their christmas stuff 75% off so if you need anything for next year it's the time to go. Our Target still had quite a bit left and if I hadn't vowed to not buy anymore I could have gotten alot. I did pick up a few rolls of wrapping paper for .75 cents. But I was smart about it and got a roll of Happy Feet 2 wrapping paper that says nothing about Christmas on it so I can use it for birthdays throughout the year too. If you know anyone who's going to have a baby around next christmas there were a ton of onsies, sleepers, and PJ's marked for around $2.00 as well. I picked up 2 tshirts in size 4t for Brenden. There was less to choose from in the bigger sizes.

Speaking of baby, I walked by the Baby section and noticed a ton of the carters (Targets version) and Gerber onsie and sleeper packs were on clearence for about $4-5. Last time they did this I got a few girl items (onsies, sleepers, blankets, towels) in sizes 3 months-12 months. If we have a girl next, then we will use it since obviously everything we have is for a boy. Or if anyone needs a baby shower gift that is having a girl I can just pull from that stash.

I didn't look very closley at the toy section because we DO NOT need any, but I did notice on an end cap that there were a ton on clearence. Mainly the "Time 4 Toyz" brand that Target puts out for Christmas only. It was all atleast 50% off and there was a lot. I got a tub of 46 Marine Animals for $5.00. I did buy that. Brenden has the Wildlife set and loves them. I wish Brendens birthday was closer than October because it would be a great time to stock up for Birthday presents. But since his is so far away who knows what he'll be in to by then. But if you child has a Jan/Feb/March birthdat it would be perfect.

Of course before I left I had to walk by the dollar section and to my surprise it was 70% off. Making everything only $.30!! They had a bunch of disney stuff. One thing being those felt coloring pages with markers in Cars and Disney Princess. I got a few in each. Figured they'd make good things to throw into birthday presents. And also a few books. Pretty good books (Hardback with an actual story) about The Lion King, 101 Dalmations, and The Lady and Tramp. I also got some scrapbooking letter stickers in some pretty cute patterns.
So overall, I walked out of target paying $11.00. I think it was a pretty good start to saving money this year. I got some good deals on what I did buy, but held back from buying what I didn't need just because it was cheap. Maybe your Target could be running the same clearence deals. I'm pretty sure they are mostly national things.