Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Inexpensive Winter Gear for Freezing Children

All the items pictured here came to less than $15 at my local thrift store! They happened to be having a half price sale on certain clothing today and I scored two winter jackets, fifteen winter hats, two scarves, a pair of mittens and a pair of gloves for freezing children. That brings the average cost per item to less than 71 cents, including the winter jackets!

One of the great things about being frugal is using my bargain shopping skills for sharing with those in need. Whether for yourself or a charity, this tends to be a great time of year to get winter clothing at super cheap prices because the stores are making room for next season's apparel and the bulky winter gear takes up a lot of space in stores. Happy shopping, frugal friends!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Frugal Clothing and Sewing Idea Resource

Image Source

I just love the New Dress A Day blog. I don't have her sewing skills but I certainly admire them. I also admire her frugal habits. She spends about a dollar a day on often out of style and plus sized dresses and sweaters and then turns them into stylish (or holiday themed, as pictured above) clothing her tiny self can wear. Every day she posts a new project so that's 365 free ideas a year. Whether you're looking for ideas on cheap wardrobe items or handy sewing tips the New Dress A Day blog might be just what you need.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Frugal Prescription Glasses Resource

Special running on date of publishing; May expire anytime
Image Source: Zennioptical.com
Someone asked for a cheap place to buy glasses today so I thought I'd share with you all too.  We get our glasses at Zenni Optical. We've been ordering from them for years and pay about $20-50 per pair although I believe they have glasses as cheap as $6.95 a pair. My husband orders both regular glasses and sunglasses but I mostly get sunglasses from them. We pay the extra for polarization and anti-glare coating but anti-scratch coating and full UV protection are currently included with all of their glasses. If we hadn't just ordered a couple of weeks ago I would now because they're running a buy two pair get one free promotion (promotions may end at any time so be sure to check their website before ordering to see what the current promotion is). The first time we ordered from Zenni Optical it was just to get a spare for my husband but they were such a great buy that we started ordering all of our glasses from them.

A couple tips about ordering glasses online:

1) Make sure you get your pupillary distance when you have your eye exam (or look up online how to measure it yourself). You'll need this measurement to place your order but not all optometrists put the information on your prescription.

2) Measure a pair of glasses you love and compare that measurement to those of the glasses you're thinking of ordering. I didn't do this the first time I ordered and ended up with a pair that were too short. They worked fine; I just didn't like how they let the sun in over the top.

Note: I have no material connection with Zenni Optical other than being a customer. This will be true of all my blog posts unless I specify otherwise. In other words, if I ever do have a material connection I'll share that (like I did with being related to Joshua Otte in my interview with him).

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Clearance Plants

Bromeliad bloom; photo by Phyllis Wheeler
If you have a green thumb, it's worth visiting your local garden center or nursery to check out their clearance plant racks. Sometimes the plants look perfectly fine but they need room for new stock, sometimes they need a little tlc and sometimes, well, they might be on the verge of death. It's still worth a peek if you love gardening.

Before Christmas I paid about $7.00 for a Norfolk pine tree in a tiny 3" pot at the Fort Meade Commissary. This week I found one on clearance at a local garden center for only $1.25! Not only that but the clearance plant is a tiny bit larger than the one I've had since December. I also got two large (over 14" tall) bromeliads in nice ceramic pots for less than $5.00 each. The foliage needs some trimming and they could both use a larger pot but that's still a bargain. The pots alone would normally cost more than $5.00.

I'm guessing that this is a great time of year to get bargains on plants because the holidays are over but (for most of us) it's too early to plant outside and, if my local garden center was any indication, there's not much of a crowd buying plants right now.

Hope you find some great plant bargains!

PS: If you love plants you'll surely enjoy my orchid extravaganza photos on my inspirational blog.

Free Admission to Mount Vernon on February 20, 2012


Good Deal Alert: You can visit George Washington's Mount Vernon home for free on Monday, February 20, 2012. According to the website the free offer is from 8am to 4pm for one day only. It's been years since we've visited Mount Vernon but it was a nice and educational trip. Happy Presidents' Day! For more information please see the source link below.

Source: http://www.mountvernon.org/calendar/view/2012-02-20/5023

Post note: My husband and I took advantage of this offer and you can see photos of our trip here, along with one of me and "George Washington."

Free Breakfast at Ikea

Image Source
"Offer valid Saturday, February 18 - Monday, February 20, 2012

Visit the IKEA restaurant before 11:00am and enjoy a free breakfast. Enjoy fluffy scrambled eggs served with a side of hash browns, scrumptious bacon plus a hot cup of coffee, all for FREE!  


Limit one per customer. Offer valid for one breakfast (value 99¢) and one cup of coffee (value 75¢). Offer not valid at IKEA Home Shopping. See IKEA store for details."

Source: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/special_offers.html

Friday, February 17, 2012

JC Penney Has $2 Clearance Clothing Racks

GOOD DEAL ALERT!



$2 clearance sale price tag
 Today at the Annapolis Mall's JC Penney there were $2 clearance racks all over the place. I don't think I've ever seen so many people crowded around a rack in that store before. I bought 11 + 16 items for only $2 each. It's awfully hard to resist nice $2 clearance sale clothing. Given the improbability of my resisting future good deals like this I've decided to forgo my minimalist spending experiment, embrace my frugal nature and share my best deals with you.
  
There were $5 racks for big and tall men but I didn't see any great deals in the regular men's area nor did I see any $2 men's clothing racks. That's not to say there weren't any, but I didn't see them if there were. The womens' areas had $2, $5+ racks.

Think my favorite finds of the day are a silky ivory top and a black lace skirt which should look nice together. But maybe it's the steel grey evening dress... or the lovely light grey sweater. Of course, I'll probably get more use out of the blue hoodie and the summery tee shirts. It was a fun and frugal trip. If you go I hope you fare just as well or even better!


This was my first purchase of 11 items from the $2 sweater rack.