March Deals & Steals

GAP Give & Get promotion - LOVE it! I was very excited to get this email this month. I immediately starting thinking about when I could make it to the outlets. 30% off everything with 5% of the purchase going to a charity of your choice. Joe and I stocked up on some spring essentials for very good prices.
Original price $298. Outlet price $149. 20% off = $119. Heck yea!










Taste of home cookbooks, original price $24.99 each. On sale for $5 each. Free shipping.

Two new LG Cosmos cell phones - free! And despite Verizon's best attempts to force us into a data plan, we won. Our phone bill will actually be $10 cheaper this year.

February Deals & Steals

Unless I win the lottery or a car in the near future, I can pretty confidently say this February steal will top the list of deals for the Guidos in 2010. It all started when Joe and I were frustrated about our inactivity levels over the last year or so. Post wedding, we stopped working out regularly and started sitting around a ton. Sick of spending $50 each a month to go to a gym, we prepared to buy a piece of fitness equipment.

For months we researched the best brands and prices and waited for the deal of the century to come our way. Sadly, prices never dropped. So, last Monday we ordered an elliptical from Amazon for $699. I was ok with that - I had to get my butt in gear. But, on Tuesday, I overhear my coworker Helen talking about selling her elliptical before she moves to a new apartment. Not only that, it was the same brand that Joe and I had just purchased. I just about fell out of my chair! How did I miss this opportunity by one day?

Lucky for us, Amazon had not processed our order and I got into our account just in time to cancel it. And get this, Helen only wanted $100 and the elliptical was in great shape. Wow! $100 really did feel like we were stealing it from her, so we threw in a $50 tip and probably owe her a few drinks in the near future. Thanks Helen!



And, also a noteable purchase this month: Skis, boots, and poles for both of us! When rentals for one day of skiing can cost you $60 + a big headache dealing with the chaos, Joe and I have always wanted to own our own equipment. That kind of commitment would normally come with a huge pricetag...one that makes $60 a trip not really seem so bad. Thousands of dollars, likely. But, thanks to the Baltimore Ski Warehouse (and Jill for finding their website) we scored everything we needed for both of us for $500. Yes, it's used, but we're hoping it holds up for our three trips, or so, a year.



I love a good deal!

January Deals & Steals

With the holiday season coming to a close and being away on travel for two weeks, I wasn't on my A-game for deal hunting. But, I did make a couple notable purchases...

1. Vera Bradley Super Tote, $30.60. Originally $85! Sure, it's a pattern they are retiring but I couldn't pass up this deal after getting so much use out of my very similar "Miller Bag" (great airplane carry on) I couldn't resist.

2. Overnight stay at Seven Springs Mountain Resort plus lift tickets for two, $159. Being that the lift tickets were good for the night we got there until 7pm the next day, it was a deal not to be missed. Two lift tickets just for a day session would have cost us $90. Not to mention, I just went back to their website to check what a typical weeknight would cost you and it was showing $200. It's so nice to be able to pick up and do things like this at the drop of a hat.

December Deals & Steals

Like for most people, December is a jam-packed month of buying. And, I must admit, I'm not the best holiday deal hunter. I hate black Friday and you won't see me bum rushing a store on the day after Christmas either. Normally, I don't leave myself enough time to buy gifts and mass purchase things on Amazon instead. This post also won't be as robust as it could be since I don't want to give away what I spent on everyone's gifts. So, here it goes....

1. Wii Sports Resort, $29. Original price, $50. The deals website we frequent posted about a random decrease in price for this game on Amazon. It was down to $40. As a past incentive for pre-ordering a different game, Joe also had a $10 code for any Wii game. End result, a $20 savings. Pretty good for a video game. Free shipping, of course.

2. Spider-Man 3 (Blu-ray), Wedding Crashers (Blu-ray), The Gladiator (Blu-ray), and Knocked Up. 4 DVDs, 3 of them blu-rays, $36. This was an Amazon black friday deal. I just went back on the website to add up with the same dvds cost today - $71. That's a savings of $35.

3. Wrap dress from Banana Republic, $37 thanks to a sale price, $10 off reward certificate and $15 off birthday certificate.

4. Two large jar Yankee Candles at $10 each thanks to Bed, Bath & Beyond 50% off sale plus a coupon for an additional 20% off our entire order. That's a savings of $30.

5. $34 of Christmas decorations for $17. This includes 3 boxes of glass ornaments and 2 mini Christmas trees. This is what happens when you end up in Target on the day after Christmas.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

November Deals & Steals

The month of November was good to us. We scored some really good buys.

1. Barstools! Originally $260 + $60 shipping + $18 tax ($338 total). After holding out for months for free shipping, plus an additional 25% off, I scored 2 for $200 total. I danced around the house with joy. They are so perfect! Target.com.

2. Jacket! I have a lot of love for Old Navy this season. I got this $69.50 coat for $25.78. How? I ordered it during Old Navy's 50% off outwear sale while they were also running an extra 30% off card holder's event.

3. The Sims 3! Originally $50, but we got it for $30.


4. Clothes, clothes, clothes. Our favorite company and my former employer, Gap, Inc., had a fabulous Give & Get weekend this month where they offered an extra 30% off (plus a 5% throwback to the charity of your choice). Joe and I took our coupon to the outlets where it stretched the furthest. Excuse my extreme dorkiness, but I actually snapped pictures of what we bought. When it was all said and done, we averaged about $11 an item, spending only about $165 for everything you see below.

Laura's finds above, Joe's finds below.

October Deals & Steals

Happy Halloween! Tonight we are giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters but otherwise, we don't have anything special planned. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the "deals & steals" I got this month. I must be one of those people that get a high off saving money. I'd say that's probably a good trait as long as I can keep it to things we need. Joe humors this part of my personality and I love him for that. I think I might have even rubbed off a little on him.

1. Yankee Candle BOGO. As I mentioned in a previous post, I stocked up on my fall favorites but at half the cost. I got 2 large jar candles (Pumpkin Spice and Autumn Wreath) for $25. This would have normally cost me $50, had they not been on sale. Sure, you can get no name candles for cheaper than $25 but we all know Yankee has some of the best. Autumn Wreath smells so good!
2. Boot frenzy. I have been feeling the boot trend this season but had been waiting for the right price. So far, I've added 2 pairs to my collection. First, a shorter black slouchy boot from shoebuy.com. They were listed for $36.99 but I got them for $26.63 plus free shipping. There was a one day promotion on the website plus I registered for the first time (well, the first time under this particular email address, haha) scoring an extra 10% off. I have since found the same brand on target.com for $29.99 but you have to spend $50 to get free shipping (they aren't in stores). So, overall I think I did very good!
I also got a taller pair of gray suede boots from oldnavy.com during a 30% off promo. They were originally $34.50 but I got them for $24.15 +tax with free shipping. In the same purchase I also picked up a sweater, scarf, and dress. All four items came out to a total of $68 - not too shabby! Sure, Old Navy is by no means high end but the beauty is, most of you never notice I'm wearing a $25 boot. The jokes on you. And why not when things go in and out of style so fast?
3. I got a pair of skinny crop jeans (perfect for tucking into boots) at the Gap for $5. Yup, $5. I have a Banana Republic credit card and I get rewards for the money I spend. So, I happened to have a $20 off reward with me and found the jeans on the sale rack for $25. They look very similar to the picture below, although these aren't the exact pair. Who can pull off that length? Yuck. I bought them for boots.

4. Restaurant.com is my new best friend. On 9/9/2009 restaurant.com had a 90% off sale. I purchased two $25 gift certificates to two different restaurants for $1 each (it would typically cost $10 each). Last night we used one for the first time and it worked like a charm. We ate dinner at the Chesapeake Grille and Deli (I love me some non-chain food) for $20 + $1 for the gift certificate. Joe got a ribeye steak and I got a crabcake platter. Our bill would have been $45. The beauty of this place is that you don't have to tip because you order when you come in and they only bring you your food. You refill your drinks yourself.
5. Diet Pepsi. The Guidos do not buy soda unless it's on sale. We know a good soda deal when we see one and we will go without before buying it at full price. So, needless to say, when I spotted 12 packs for $2 at Walmart this month, I was in soda buying heaven. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's about as good as it gets. Walmart typically sells them for $4.98 each. We usually buy them when the grocery stores offer 4 for $10 deals but most of the time you must buy all 4 to get the $2.50 price. What a steal!

Yeah, so I might be a little nerdy but I just can't help myself. Finding the best price takes some time and patience but it is worth it in the end. Have you gotten any good deals lately?

Adventures of a bargain hunter

Check out a recent Aldo purchase I'm pretty proud of:

Only $19.99!

And it's always nice to revisit the website and see that the price has gone back up and the said "sale" wasn't all a lie.

$17.49! Here.

Free shipping and everything. Score! They arrived in the mail yesterday and I was pretty excited that the size 7s fit me since I'm normally a 6 1/2 - Aldo doesn't have half sizes. The goal is to purge some of my old shoes to make room for the new. We'll see how that goes....