A penny saved makes me spend more pennies

For me that saying should be "a penny saved is going to make me buy more stuff."

I can't seem to pass up a good deal. I also like to think that I don't buy things unless I think we'll use them or they'll make a great gift. Our house isn't that big, but I have a stash of gifts in our basement that I've bought on clearance at different stores.

A few years ago, when K was an infant, I found the best deal ever. Okay, best dealS ever. Toys R Us was paring down its inventory to prepare for revamping its store into a combined Toys R Us and Babies R Us. At the time, I was a loyal follower of a bargain bulletin board on a baby web site. The ladies on that board would go to the stores and search the aisles, scanning items to find the deals, then posting their finds on the bulletin board. I probably went to Toys R Us 6 or 7 times that month with a list in hand trying to find the deals.

And find them I did. Things like roller blades for $2, PlayMobil sets for $5.99 (big sets), and Queasy Bake Ovens for $1.25 (the boys' version of Easy Bake I guess). K's bike that he's riding around these days was also $5.99. I bought 2 of those ovens. I gave one as a gift and sold the other at a garage sale for $6.

I would go to Toys R Us and stalk the aisles with my list, desperately looking for the big clearance items. Some women were finding full-size swing sets for $40. I didn't find any of these really big-ticket items on clearance, but I would leave the store with bags of toys that would have cost $400 that I paid $40 for.

After that 90 % off clearance sale, I was spoiled for a long time. I didn't want to pay much for anything! I still have a few of those clearance toys left in storage waiting for K to get old enough that I think he might not break it (PlayMobil sets), but the majority of the toys have been either given to my kids or given as gifts.

I'm still always on the lookout for a good bargain though. I guess I should try Couponers.com for some deals. Of course, winning a gift card from the Parent Bloggers Network would help too.