Killer Sales

So ever since I lived in Utah and was invited to a grocery smarts meeting for our ward I have been addicted to shopping with coupons. It is not as easy out here in VA as it was in UT, where all the work was done for me, but I still enjoy it and seem to get a high off of the sales and money that I can save. This is just one example of a time that I got things that our family eats all the time, for next to nothing. I can't seem to find the receipt to take a picture of it, but I know that I got 15 boxes of cereal, 12 cans of pineapple, 10 boxes of whole wheat pasta, and a few other things for less than $25! Crazy huh? Shoppers was having an amazing cereal sale on top of a double dollar coupon sale. I just happened to have multiple coupons for all of these items. It was very exiliharating.

Another thing that I absolutely love to do is shop garage sales. I typically go every other weekend during the summer and have taught my kids to love it as well. (they usually get treats in the car and can pick something out of the free boxes. I even occasionally let them have their own quarter or something to spend, which they love to do). However, this past month I was introduced to the garage sale of all garage sales. It is a bi-annual event in a town about 15 minutes from here, called South Riding. I was told about it by my best friend in our ward here, Lynette Ercanbrack. We went together and seriously left our homes at 5:45 am to be able to get there by 6am. I didn't understand why and couldn't believe that we did it, but once we got there and started walking around I definitely understood. There were 2 entire parking lots that people in the community rent in order to sell their stuff. I didn't count but there were easily more than 200 sales all right next to eachother. I was in garage sale heaven, and I didn't have my kids with me :) I therefore found Christmas presents for all of them, lots of clothes for the kids, a bike for Kaylie, a basketball hoop and ball for Carter, lots of puzzles, bike helmets, shoes, toys, and a neat present for Nate that I won't name at the moment in case he reads this. I ended up spending $100 and wishing that I would've brought more money with me and also my own car. I will definitely be making a bi-annual trip there from now on. It might even be good enough to take over the whole idea of garage saling throughout the summer. If I could find all the things we need in one day without having to drive, I'd say that is a great deal. It was a dream day for me!