Holidays.... Seems like life as a parent folds from one Holiday to the next! How do you keep up with parties, baskets, gifts and MORE! I usually wait until close to the Holiday for great deals, stack them with a coupon and feel like I scored BIG! I shop after Holiday sales score deals on non-food items (I am not one to keep fun dip for a year) and add to my holiday decor that way.
January 1st like SO many people my husband and I made a new years resolution. We decided we were going to be a CASH only family. No more debit or credit cards UGH! I love my debit card. It goes...well went! every where with me. What a change! Being cash only meant I had to start planning ahead for everything! Especially holidays. With three boys in school and 5 boys total. I could break the rules one holiday in. I decided to start watching the sales ad's and coupons to slowly start buying what I would need for the boys class parties, valentines for friends, and 3 meal special surprise. I purchased 4 boxes of fun dips and 2 bags of chocolates one week, the next week I purchased some valentines sprinkle. I got a couple of deals on cake mixes (My boys LOVE when I make cake pops for their class). Honestly it felt weird buying stuff for a holiday OVER a month away. Surely it would make more sense to wait as the holiday got closer to see if I could get a better deal. There were always sells right before holiday's, the Sunday paper ad's are FULL of them. That statement was true.....KIND OF! As the holiday got closer the ad's became more and more filled with bright colors, bigger hearts , and larger PRICES! Yep... The deal I saw the first part of January was 2/$5 for fun dips in small print in random locations in the ad, As it got closer and closer to the BIG day there were pages of candy sales but I noticed the prices were not that great! Those fun dips written in big bold numbers $3.79 EACH! WHAT?! Regular price is $3.99! What kind of savings is that? That was one item. Just about everything I purchased in January was "On Sale" or in a Sale Ad at regular price come February. As Easter starts to approach I am seeing the same trend again.
Your best bet..... Plan ahead! Don't break the bank! Buy a few items at a time here and there. I purchased non Halloween looking candy for $.25 a bag for Christmas, Christmas I grabbed all the plain red items and non Christmas candy for Valentines day I also got some cute red and white treat bags that I used for cake pops for valentines day, and you guessed it Valentines day candy will be filling Easter baskets. Buy the heart shape chocolate boxes open them up and fill the eggs with the chocolate from them (The eggs that will be inside their already filled baskets NOT the ones hidden outside) Take the wrapped candy from V-day and fill those eggs! Those are tips for next year. This year watch the paper, online coupon sites, and sales ad for great deals early on. I have a plain box on my top shelf that gets filled with candy and prizes for the next holiday. Depending on how holiday sales go sometimes stores will start to clearance or heavily reduce cost before the holiday however what I found at Target as Valentines day got closer the shelf's were clearing faster....Not because consumers were buying more because stores are stocking less. With the economy still slow retailers are taking no chances on losing money with a huge overhead of left over holiday stuff.
What are your tips for saving on hoilday's? How do you keep from breaking the bank?
Right now www.Lozo.com has $2/3 bags of Hershey brand candies. Snag that coupon and stack it with this weeks CVS or Walgreens sales for Easter Hershey's candy.
Walgreens:
Cadbury Mini Eggs, Hershey eggs and Reese's Mini's Price 2/$6
Purchase 3
Use $1/2 coupon from Walgreens March savings book (found in the front of the store)
Stack with $2/3 coupon from www.lozo.com
Final price $2.00 each. (Must buy 3)
CVS:
Cadbury Mini Eggs and Reese's Mini Price $2.66 each
purchase 3
use $2/3 coupon from www.lozo.com
Final Price $1.99 Each (Must buy 3)
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