Target Christmas Clearance at 90%

Whoppee!!!! Target is doing 90% of Christmas Clearance!!! I went today and was able to pick up the below:

Dunkin Donuts Coffee $.83

Peace Mantle  Piece $3

Wreath Holder $.29

Gift Tie $.10

Mini Bodycology Set $.29

My store had sparse wrapping and ribbon left. There was Exhileration PJ shorts for $.99 ; ornaments; gift bags and tissue paper in the $.10 to $.15 range but I already have leftovers from my last Clearance haul so I resisted.   While I love shopping Christmas Clearance because you can find a lot of super deals to stock pile your gift and Holiday decor, don't go super overboard! Have a purpose in mind for everything you get.  My mantle piece is versatile enough not to be a just holiday decoration.  I could also break up the letters and use them as individual book ends or personalized paper weights.  The wreath holder, I'm actually using it for hanging additional things over my door.  And the mini bath set, can be given out as a Valentine day gift as part of basket since its not a Holiday themed fragrance.

My suggestions: the Hannakah stuff in Blue/Silver/ White ribbon is great for baby shower themed gifts.  Pretty ornaments can be great decoration tools for your gift baskets and stock up on ribbon and bows. If you ever went to Michaels or Hallmark, you would know the regular prices on these things are ridiculous.

Christmas Clearance on Gift Sets

Hurry!!!! Link Walmart has marked its gift sets down even further to 75% off!!! I found some great stuff left over that would be great Valentines day gifts or upcoming anything gifts!!!!  Stocking up on gift sets post holiday is a great way for you to shop and pick up the materials for your next gift basket gift for super cheap.  And you don't have to be crafty at all.

Here is what I look for when I stock pile up on gift sets:

They are all food related gifts, so you  have to watch the expiration date. But even if you can't gift it before then you can still stockpile these and use them after expiration by being creative.

  

I'll start with the Soup set, its 4 Distinctively Shaped cups and a Soup Mix for $3.50.  What attracted me to this set is that the CUPS alone would cost more than $1 each if I were lucky enough to find these at the local dollar store. So after expiration, of soup I would just take out the cups and make my own themed Soup Gift basket out of it.  Or I could just take out the Soup to personalize the gift insert my own Soup Mix with a cute note and not even have to deal with Wrapping.  Either way Flu Season is coming, and this would be great Hostess gift anytime of the year!

The Smore's kit is Awesome, $2.50 for 2 Hersheys Mugs and ingredients there's no Christmas decoration on it so you can literally give this out for Valentines day coming up!  But if I couldn't make it in time to gift this before expiratioin date, I would use the ingredients but try to keep the Cute Wrappings (if possible) and then make my own quick cheap basket with the Mugs.

Buffalo Wings Set, for $3.50 the ingredients alone makes this a great deal.  But even better is that it comes all packed for your. You have a Bucket, Label, Ribbon and Wrapping all done for you, if the food is about to expire just replace your own Sauces bought from Couponing and bam instant expensive looking gift set!  Plus these are great also for Valentines day coming up and the upcoming BBQ season.

Lastly, the Heddy Bear in the Cup kit. If your lazy, and the candy gets eaten up, its easy to just replace some candy in from your own Couponing Pile and regift this set.  But the other reason, I flagged this one is that finding Teddy Bears for under even $3 is kind of hard and they are great additions to any GIFT basket.  So even if you don't plan on giving this as a gift because it looks cheap, you can use the Teddy to make any of your other planned baskets look way more festive and expensive.

Target Post Christmas Clearance

Gosh, people must have been really thrifty in my neighborhood this year because when I got to my Target expecting all the Clearance to be still there, a lot of it was gone!!! And it was only at 70% off, I was waiting for it to go to 90% but I don't think its gonna happen this year.  I was hoping to get the Nordiac Bakeware everyone was seeing for 70%, but there was only a mini Pie set left at my store.  

Anyways this year Target is being pretty sneaky, I found the best stuff hidden out of the Clearance section hiding among normal stuff.  Like the Dukin Donuts holiday Coffee, I had to do a price scan to see it was 70% off, so I picked up each bag for $2.51!!!!! Mines also had all the holiday tissues marked down but you would only know by scanning it the UP and UP brand was down to $.50!

My favorite find of the day was not holiday related at all, it was the Peach Nectar I found on clearance for only $.26 and the Goya Beans for $.16!!!

I'm really glad, I stocked up big time in the past because this years Christmas Clearance was pretty disappointing otherwise. But again it varies by store, so you should check your area.  My store did have tons of chocolates, a lot of it you still could use for Valentines day!

Because my Haul was pretty heavy, I didn't get to check out other stores like Marshalls and Century 21, even Pathmark does Christmas clearance! But for those of you who don't have much of a stock pile, this is the best time of the year to load up on Christmas stuff (especially gift sets you can repackage and baking clearance)!

DIY Movie Theme Gift Basket

Instead of just giving the standard, Movie Gift Certificate in an Envelope, why not create a more extravagant looking gift like this DIY Movie themed "gift basket"?  With smart couponing and Clearance shopping, it only took less than $.50 per basket more to make this than giving an impersonal envelope with the gift certificates.

What you'll need:

Paper Popcorn basket ( you can usually find these cheaper at the dollar store party section than at a craft store)

Ribbon (optional)

Candies (Halloween Clearance and CVS freebie black friday sale)

Movie gift card or certificate

Piece of Card Board as backer for stability (optional depends on the candies you use)

Filler paper or plastic bag

Cellophane Wrap 

Directions

Fill Popcorn Basket with the filler of your choice at the bottom.  If your using Cardboard for extra support in the back, put it in before filler.  Now you can add the candies and movie tickets from the back (tallest candies) to the front (shortest).  Arrange to preference.  The wrap with cellophane and tie with ribbon.

My gift has retail worth of $30 if not more and I pretty much spent less than $.50 to create my gift this year because of My Coke Rewards!!! I love them this year, I got the 2 AMC silver tickets, 2 free Sodas for free by using my coke bottle and can codes for rewards!!  But even if you did't have the free tickets, you can use those discounted tickets you get throughout the year from deal sites like the last one I announced for Regal Entertainment that went for $5 each !  Those are great once because they never expire and have no restrictions!

Eye Palette Gift Set for Christmas another gift via couponing

So I also picked up this cute Eye Palette set this week at Rite Aid for free also a slight money maker.  You know what they say about gifts these days Packaging is everything.  And this packaging makes my gift look more expensive than if I had simply bought a regular eye palette without the gift packaging.  Still I picked up this set in particular because I know I had a lot of eye related make up stuff in my stockpile.

Specifically, I wanted to add Sephora Mascara Free Sample, Revlon Eyelash Curler and Tweezer since it would be perfect for the Eye Makeup theme of my gift.

So wrapped the box set as usual.  And picked a holiday themed cellophane treat bag (Target Clearance) that was clear so that the Sephora Mascara was visible.  Tossed the Mascara, Eyelash Curler, and Tweezer in and tied it with Ribbon.  And further attached it to the wrapped boxed Eye Palette.

And Tada, another gift completed and all for free because of my couponing!

Nail Gift Set for Christmas

So I picked up a bunch of Cosmetic Gift sets for free at Rite Aid this week and the best part is no coupons were even needed! Even better is that it came as a gift set so you don't have to deal with the challenge of how to wrap this to make it look more gift appropriate.  Without the sticker I'd guess the gift to cost about $5 granted at Sephora it would be alot more.  I wanted to make the gift look a little more generous so I turned to my stock pile of freebies that I picked up this year from couponing and found a Revlon nail buffer and set of Emory boards (retail of about $6) so that it would look like my gift cost at least $10, even though I got it all for free and as money makers.

So I pulled out my gift wrap (that I got for almost nothing last year at Target's Christmas clearance)

And I went ahead and wrapped it.  Separately, depending on your gift audience, I could technically have had two $5 gifts.

But since my family is kinda snotty, I combined the two by tapping the ribbon the my boxed gift so I could give this to one of my girly girl cousins.

I played around alil with the presentation.

Either way thats ONE gift down, cost $0 because of Rite Aid and my couponing !!!

Starbucks Coffee Tumbler Gift Idea

One thing, I always keep an eye out for throughout the year is Coffee Tumblers, like this one from Starbucks I got for 75% off last Christmas.  It's the perfect co-worker gift and you don't even have to wrap it in cellophane just put it on their desk! So you can give just the Tumbler as the gift but it wouldn't look every festive.  Or you can pay extra to buy one of Starbuck's packaged Coffee gift sets.  Granted the retail price on most tumblers is above $10 so you don't have to worry about people thinking your giving them a cheap gift but personally, I would think its somewhat impersonal.  

 

To make it more festive and  more expensive looking (if you just got a regular tumbler from Not Starbucks);   I simply got a bow, festive mini sample of coffee from Targets $1 section, a candy cane, and added random candies into a cellophane mini treat bag (that I got from Target last clearance).  Just put some tissue paper as a filler, and add your items in on top.  I had super cheap mini Christmas card (again from Target clearance last year) that I topped gift off with as well since I didn't plan on wrapping it with cellophane wrap.

You could also keep it very sparse and just put the mini coffee and Candy cane and it would still look fine.  But cellophane wrap would definately make it look better.

Either way this is a super super easy gift, that you can pre-plan months ahead of time and assemble in less than 5 minutes.

Other variations:

You can do the Hot Chocolate version with marshmallow instead of a bag of candy.

Or for the tea drinker get a small $1 store jar of honey and put a couple version of tea bags.

Cat Lovers Gift Basket Idea

I was really inspired by this amazing video posted on Youtube called Cat Lover's Gift Basket -- The Fancy Gift Guide by Brooke Peterson.  She had a beautiful basket created which is unique because of the beautiful presentation.  I think it was the fact she had a purple/silver gray theme throughout that really tied the basket together.  And the reason, I'm posting about it is a lot of the items are coupon items and cheap craft items you could create yourself or get easily from dollar store.  Her gift basket is modern and chic enough to gift year round.  

For her basket

She had a cute cat pillow with purple flowers that she put at the bottom of her basket.

Mason Jars filled with Cat Toys

Silver personalized tins that had cat food inside.

2 decorative bowls/plates for cat food

A table place mat, that was purple that she rolled for a beautiful presentation

A grey fleece blanket ( which you can even cut up to smaller size since cats don't need the full blacket)

Modified for Christmas

You can choose a Red/ Green/ Silver theme.

Use plastic bowls/ Holiday Placemats ( from Christmas/ Valentines Clearance or just the dollar store)

Peacock Feathers ( you can get really cheap on Amazon)

And if you can't find a basket (use a shoe box wrapped in nice Christmas Wrapping)

Cheap Santa Hat for the cat or a cute cat sweater you make from a thrifted christmas sweater which you can wrap in cupcake style

And as a cheap decorative filler, you can use the cheap fabric ornament balls (removing the hooks)

Cat Treats in glass baby food bottles

Nice framed picture of Cat and Owner

I also searched the web for some ideas as well my favorites are below.

And Martha Stewart has some amazing DIY cat toy projects.  Martha's Ideas

Rite Aid Freebie perfect for Christmas

I have to thank hip2save and iheartriteaid for this awesome freebie tip.  Rite Aid this week has their Cosmetic Gift sets on sale at Buy One get one 50% off with a $5 up reward limit 2.  I went to the store and besides the circled Eye Shadow Palate for $2.99 they have holiday flavored lip gloss set of 3, and nail polish for $2.99!!! Which means buy two sets for $4.49 plus $.40 tax and get a $5 Up reward.  Perfect gifts for the tweens on your Holiday Shopping list!!

Coke Rewards Christmas

Man, this year Coke Rewards has gone all out in offering awesome stuff!  Like $25 gift cards to TJ Maxx, Best Buy and Home Depot for only 600 pts!!  I really wished I kept up with entering my codes.  Either way what an awesome way to score awesome gift cards.

Lesson: Next year I will be ready with lots of points to burn.

Kohls and Macy Gift Card deal

I've really become obsessed this year with all these Gift Card deals.  Rite Aid has been pretty great with them.  So this weeks deal, Buy $50 worth and get a $5 Up Reward Back.  Which pretty much is a 10% discount!!! What I love about gift cards these days is that they can't Expire and if you pay for them with your rewards card most will give you back 1%, and you can use promo deals like store coupons to make your buy even better!!!!

**It seems this time of year is the hot time for these promo's so stock up for the year if you can afford to.  You can always give them as "gifts" or what to use these at the most optimal time for a super deal.

Movie Ticket Deal **Regal Cinemas

This is hands down the best Movie Ticket deal, its paper gift certificates, with no expiration and no limitations!!!!!! You do have to pay extra for IMAX and 3-D but otherwise this is a sweet deal!!!!!  It's a bummer that there's a limit of one, but hey 4 tickets for $6 each, no expiration and limitation (like other certificates where you have to wait 2 weeks for new movies) and there's a huge one right on 42nd Street.

Also, reminder Fall is here and that means Holiday time, hint hint you can get these for yourself or for your future Movie Gift Baskets!!!!  And have you all noticed the cost of everything but guns in this country keeps going up, so buying these now if you keep them for years I bet the ticket price of a movie will have doubled the way things are going.

What to get the Med Student in your life for Christmas

Finding perfect gift for Medical Student in your life is not an easy task.   Instead of a generic gift, I got the low down on what they actually use on a scary normal basis.  And their tastes are expensive!  Because its all last minute, I haven't found many stellar deals that I'd normally buy but considering these products don't go Super Sale anyways these are pretty decent last minute prices.

If you get to Rite Aid today there is a 2 for $3 sale on Red Bull.

And starting Sunday their will be a BO50 sale with $1 UP reward on Emergen C.  No coupons but for another time you can request a free sample at http://www.emergenc.com/

If you head to CVS tommorrow, they have a 2 pk of Five Hour Energy on sale for 2 for $8.  I personally cringe at $2 a small bottle being a good deal but if you still have your ECB's from Black Friday not a bad way to burn them.  It makes me super glad I got those free samples in the mail from my earlier post.

I put the Subway card because of their hectic schedules and lack of access to balanced meals.. SUBWAY is the easiest thing for them to pick up and a way to ensure they eat something somewhat healthy.  And I got a great gift card deal from Saveology a few months back.

I personally am going to add Eye Drops to my list because of all the eye strain from computers and studying.  And if you still have your Health Savings Account balance its great way to burn those funds before you lose them.

How I'm using my Stock Pile for Gifts (Tween's, Teens and Gals)

Look at what I got suckered into buying recently !! Trust me everything is super tiny and they get away with charging $19!!!!! This is why I think Sephora is genius and I try to stay away at all costs.

Anyways, lesson learned.  My mistake inspired me with great Stockpile Gift Idea!!  If you browse stores right now, a lot of the beauty sections are advertising as a free gift for their expensive beauty stuff CHEAP CHEAP free clutches and tote bags.  OR you see all these gift sets that are marked up because they put them in cheap cosmetic bags or boxes with NICE bows.  It really gave me an idea this year to do them myself because I got lots of extra stuff in my stock pile and its super easy to make.  

Clutch Full of Beauty Essentials 

What you'll need:

Beauty related things

Clutch/ Mini Purse/Cosmetic Bag

Bow (this is why I save all my nice bows from gift sets)

To make this look nicer you can get an even fancier bow and put a cute gift tag with thoughtful note

For the Tween: 

 Sample of Fragrance in those little glass vials {FREE}

Lip Gloss (easier because you don't have to worry about picking shades) {FREE}

Revlon Nail Boards {FREE}

Cover Girl Blush {FREE}

Cover Girl Concealer (this is only because I have tons and I know their skin color) {FREE}

Cheap Clutch (mini Purse) {Valentines Clearance from Target Dollar section $.25}

Retail Worth $15

My Cost $.25 !!!!!! 

For the Teen 

You can add like Breath stuff and Advil for PMS and even Tampons.  What I love about this gift is you can really just add about anything.  I'm focusing more on my freebies from couponing.

For the Adult 

This is more tricky because some ladies only do name brand stuff. For makeup it really depends on the personality.  But who doesn't need aspirin, panty hose, breath strips, nail clippers, nail polish to play with and chapstick?  And who doesn't have lame company holiday party coming up that will require extra tiny things?

Teddy Bear Gift

So if you have Teddy Bears from your stock pile, here's a possible suggestion.

So last year, Hallmark had coupon that I used to get a free Kiss Bear.  Alone, the Kiss Bear would have cost $5 so I couldn't just give that as a gift.  To make it more expensive, I had to add stuff without looking like I was being cheap and just adding stuff.  So since this was a KISS Bear, and I had free Listerine Breath Strips and Hershey's Kiss Candy...I came up with a theme of Kiss Bear in Wrap.  It was great because everything tied in with kissing theme.  The Candy, Listerine and Bear.  

DIRECTIONS

Step 1:  Cut the Net packaging off a bag of Tangerines since it was Red and I didn't want to waste Cellophane.

Step 2: Lay out Wrap and put Bear in Center, use the Listerine as backing so Bear has height and put Candy in Bears Lap.  Gather up wrapping and tie with ribbon.

Either way this was a decent attempt to use my Stockpile stash of freebies to make a presentable sorta expensive looking gift.  I think everything looks more expensive in Cellophane Wrap for some reason.  So I did have to buy Cellophane Wrap at dollar store for this project.


Warning: I am so not Crafty so I bet if I knew how to actually wrap well with Cellophane, it could have come out nicer.  And if I'd cut our more Cellophane, the Bear wouldn't have been so squished that it looked a lot smaller than it was.  Also, I think the inside could have been a lot nicer maybe with confetti or better wrap.

**This year at CVS's 3 day Black Friday event, they are selling the Listerine Pak for $2.99 with a $2.99 ECB making it free as well limit 2

DIY Emergency Wedding Kits

Can you believe this thing is a bestseller on their site Regular Price $90!!!! On sale its $44.99

Seriously, if your prepared you can make this thing yourself, it's the easiest DIY project ever!  And it will make a really thoughtful gift to a newly engaged or soon to be married friend.

From their site this is what their bag includes:

The BrideSaver kit in a pink satin-like cosmetic bag.
Includes the following items:

Compact Mirror

Travel Size Hair Spray (Tresemme or Vidal Sassoon)

Travel Size Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant (Soft & Dry, Degree, or Dove)

Travel Size Hand Lotion (Jergens, St. Ives, or Nivea)

Manicure Kit (Nail Clippers, File, Tweezers, Scissors)

Tampons (Tampax)

Maxi Pads (Kotex)

Tissues (Travel Pack)

Hand Wipe

Hand Sanitizing Wipe (Purell)

Tooth Wipe

Flosser

Breath Mints (Certs)

Pain Reliever Packet (Motrin or Aleve)

Antacids (Roll of Rolaids)

Imodium Packet

Cough Drops (Halls or Vicks)

Bandages and Alcohol Pad

Vanity Kit (cotton swabs, cotton balls, nail file)

Nail Polish Remover Wipe (for mistakes, smudges, or after the wedding)

Makeup Wipe and Eye Makeup Remover Wipe (for mistakes, or to take it off after the wedding's over, sigh)

Basic Sewing Kit

Double-sided FashionSaver Tape (to prevent wardrobe malfunctions)

Stain Remover Wipe (Shout)

Static Eliminator

Ponytail Holder

Bobby Pins

Safety Pins

Earring Backs

Mini Tape

Super Glue

Smelling salts (in case someone faints)

Rings (just in case someone forgets them, it happens!)

Drinking Straw

Optional Items: Banana Boat Sunblock SPF30 and Unscented Insect Repellent

I think the most expensive thing is their tacky holding case and the double sided fashion tape.  But everything else with some time and thoughtfulness you can get for $1 in the travel section aisle or for free in samples!

To buy one link

Got My Olay Spa Set

So my Olay Spa Kit from Walmart came super fast!  Remember it was $9.80 after taxes and now I can submit for my $9.99 Allure Mag rebate offer or get a magazine subscription.  Sorry my pic looks alil out of wack because I opened mine to get to my card with the code for my rebate.  And I didn't even get to the best part they gave me samples and coupons!!

I got some kind of AXE product with SPF 15, not sure what it is but its perfect for a MAN gift bag.  And some cool Suave Professionals travel size Hair Spray and Dry Shampoo.  Not to mention the lil Dove sample spray of body mist.  Everything is super cute for the Christmas bags, I've been think of making.  And 4 high value coupons at $2 each with no Size restrictions!!!!!!!

Free Olay Gift Set after Rebate

This deal is repeat goodie from last year, basically you scour in store at Walmart for the specially marked gift sets or buy them online.  Right now online it's $9 +tax  for a set, pick one and when you get to check out it will be FREE SHIPPING even though on site it says you need $47 worth of stuff to get free shipping.

Go here to buy: LINK

Then once you get your package you fill out and print out this webpage form Link for Rebate offer and submit  within 30 days of your purchase for a $10 rebate!!!!  

**Even better if you have a Discover card you can buy via Shopdiscover and get 5% rewards back!

Awesome gift as is or you can break things apart to personalize for an even prettier gift.

Starbucks Gift Sets Ideas

So I know its early, but the Holidays is one of the biggest and most unpredictable expenses on my budget.  All the parties,liquor and booze, just makes you feel like an absolute scrooge if you don't act generous.  To minimize that crazy splurging and last minute gift shopping, I totally am starting to prepare now or at least start thinking of gifts.
So I thought I'd start with co-worker gifts, pretty mandatory in most offices grrr.  The safest gift in my mind is Starbucks at least in NYC because most people do drink it daily.

Looking at all these Starbucks Gift Sets online really make me regret not buying more Starbucks mug and cups when they were on clearance last Christmas.  I'm using Starbucks, as just an example because its a "name brand" and automatically having something of their brand will make my gift look more expensive.  Not to mention in my recipient group in NYC are brand conscious.  If I didn't have to consider that I'd just replace all the branded items with non branded items and it'd be way cheaper to construct these.  Anyways I found some great ideas for possible inspiration for Coffee themed gifts.

This one seem's like a real simple one to remake.  Tie a ribbon on the handle, and stuff with Hot Chocolate packet, some mini Chocolates and long Biscontti cookie.  If you can get a Mug with out a handle, it'd probably fit in the Translucent Gift Bags making the wrapping even easier.  Since the Mug is glass, you would have to be careful not to break it so I'd probably had to put in gift bag with some kind of protective lining.

I think this must have been an official Starbucks Gift Set because really solves the Glass delicacy issue.

I think this one would be simple enough to reconstruct at a lower price of course.  Two tall mugs, small package of coffee, wide low Basket, all tied up in cellophane wrap with red yarn.

I really like this one, it look really festive because of the big Red bow and Red Base.  That would be difficult to make ourselves though.  But I think the big gift tag also makes a big difference too. If you don't have to get Starbucks stuff, then those Silicone Coffee Mugs would be a great substitute.

This one gives me a great idea for making a base.  I could probably find in the dollar store a take out box kind of carton and if its already Red that would make things so much easier.  And to take decoration even further you can Glitter on Designs like a Snow Flake.

The above would be a great way to personalize a Gift Card.  And a great reason to always save your Gift tags and Ribbons from prior gifts or purchases.

And Finally, the more expensive Fancy Ideas.  

I'm noticing them of Big Bows and Big Coffee Packages and Cookies as fillers.

And I almost forgot VIA, the packages are prefect size for stuffing into Coffee Cups.  And if you take them out and to use the individual packets, their pretty cute too.

I love this basket because its big and mixes both Starbucks brand with regular stuff.  And I love the idea of the Frappacinos, because their not super expensive to get and totally fill this basket up with Starbucks.

I didn't realize the base on this one is a Breakfast Tray! Super awesome idea and much easier to wrap.