Smart Shopping Sunday

Being a smart shopper isn't just about getting your groceries for cheap or free. It can be applied to pretty much anything you buy: houses, cars, clothes, crafts.... the list just goes on and on! It's so easy too. All you have to do is really be aware and conscious of what you're getting. Here's an example from just last week:

My younger sister, we'll call her "C", wanted to make a personalized gift for someone special in her life. She's really good at photography (see samples of her work here) so she new that her gift would involve that. C decided on getting a nice frame, and the workings to make her own "scrapbook" inspired card. So we were off to JoAnn's (our local craft super amazing store). Armed with me I had the JoAnn's sale flyer as well as the Michael's sale flyer since Jo will accept competitor coupons and price match exact items (good info to know)!

First stop, the frames. There were tons of them! And for two indecisive girls like us, that could cause a wee problem. So to narrow down the field we opted to head straight to the ones that were 40% off that week. Once C had her frame picked out we moved on to the card stock and doodad section. Now this, if you could have seen us, was pitiful. We stared and stared at the scrap booking stuff til I thought our eyes would bleed die cuts. Out of all the paper there, C was very wise and choose to get the most bang for her buck: she went for the stock that was on sale 4 for $1. And on pure luck I found a cute, and inexpensive, pre-made matching doodads. At regular pricing plus tax everything she got would have been about $20. But this is where being a smart shopper comes into play!

Frame - already 40% off PLUS I had a 25% off your entire frame purchase Michael's coupon
Card stock - on sale 4/$1
Doodad - I had a 50% off any regular priced item Michael's coupon
--Then had a 20% off your entire purchase Michael's coupon

C's final total - $7 and some change! So just by being aware of what we were buying and what types of coupons that were available, she was able to save 65%!