Can items come in "too big"?

While shopping this past weekend, we ran across this giant mailbox at a hardware store. Aside from its ginormous size, the price was actually under $50.

About an hour later while at Costco we happened upon a giant teddy bear. We're talking the size of my 16-year-old niece size teddy bear.

Is it really necessary to sell such items? Can items come in "too big"?

If you'd rather respond to the flipside... who would enjoy a mailbox this size? a life-size teddy bear?

A Few Minutes of Price Comparison is Worth Money in Your Pocket

This week Ace Hardware featured a deal for $2.99 for up to 5 bags of potting soil (pictured here). In talking with my dad - a fellow gardener - we learned that Hackmann Lumber sells potting soil for $1.99 per same-size bag and there's no purchase limit. In this scenario, we'll be getting our potting soil from Hackmann Lumber.

Likewise this week Shop 'n Save featured the following special in their ad (pictured here)... through April 23 if you purchase any gift card multipack you receive a coupon for $5 off your next purchase. We love iTunes, so we took a moment to compare prices to other retailers. If purchasing a $30 iTunes gift card pack (as pictured in this ad) during this week's special at Shop 'n Save we would save 17% ($5), whereas if we purchased an iTunes gift card from Plastic Jungle we would save $1.50 off a $25 gift card (7%). Through the end of today (4/23), the Shop 'n Save deal is a greater savings. Though, the Plastic Jungle discount is available year-round as long as a supply is available.

What do you do to price compare?

Are piggy banks still relevant?

When I was at Target earlier this week, an endcap of piggy banks caught my eye. At first, I thought, "Oh, how cute." But a few seconds later my mind was all a sudden screaming, "Wait a second! Where is the relevance for these today!?" I began thinking this as I noticed some piggies had "vacation fund" painted on their side.

Do people still long for a place to store change and dollar bills?

How would you use a piggy bank if you had it?

Are piggy banks treasured by adults the same as children today?

Mystery Shopping

In an effort to share good, honest practical resources with you, I'd like to share my latest article on Mama Moderne, "Cutting Expenses Without Cutting the Fun"

Food Co-Op Fun!

After hearing a lot of great things from friends across the country who participate in a food co-op, I did some research (talked with a co-worker and searched online) and surprisingly found several locations in my area, including http://www.communityhelpingscoop.com/.

We selected and paid for our order online last week (paying securely via PayPal). Today between morning and late afternoon thunderstorms, we stopped by a pick-up location on the drive home from work to pick up this beautiful collection...

Pictured:

Apples - Fuji

Oranges - Cara Cara
Bananas
Mangos Tomatoes

Clam Grape Tomato

Tangelos

Minneola Celery
Lettuce - Red Leaf
Broccoli
Mushrooms - Baby Portabella
Onion - White Medium
Cucumbers
Parsley
Sweet Potatoes

Aside from being healthy food, the best part is ... we only paid $23!!!

We can opt in for another "basket" (co-op lingo for a variety of produce) every 2 weeks.

We're in!

Brown Sugar find!

I happened upon this giant bag of brown sugar yesterday while at Costco. Being a family that enjoys a fair amount of baking, I opted to spend the $4.79 for the 7 pounds of brown sugar with resealable bag. I figured, brown sugar is usually 2 for $5-ish at the grocery store, so the bulk size seemed like a better deal.

Questioning whether we could use it all before any of it "goes bad", I'm happy to report that according to C&H sugar's website, "Sugar, properly stored, has an indefinite shelf life because it does not support microbial growth."

It IS a better deal, indeed!

Going to the movies?

As long as you can plan at least 1 business day in advance, you can save 30% + 10% on your movie tickets!

Here's how:

(1) Purchase a Fandango electronic code for 30% less than face value from Plastic Jungle. The code should arrive in your email's inbox within 1 business day.

(2) If you're a DiscoverCard user, login in to your online account and click "See Retailers" next to the "ShopDiscover" option. Find and click "Fandango" among the options. Then click "Start Shopping" to get 10% cash back.

(3) Make your selection and use your electronic code at checkout.

*For those who are new to Fandango, this site sells tickets to movie theatres across the country.

*Sometimes Fandango charges a ticketing fee for purchases on its site, one of our local theatres -- AMC Theatres -- has a membership club which provides a waiver of this fee to its members.

It all started with 4 free gallons of milk.

My journey to discover streamlined systems for couponing started in late 2009. Due to the popularity of Facebook comments on my family's weekend trip to pick up 4 free gallons of milk from the grocery store, I'm now taking our journey to yet again another medium -- a blog. Consider this the extended version (special pointers and commentary) on Taking Clipping out of Couponing. You ready?