Target run

I usually go to Target once a week, sometimes twice a week. I do not like to go to Target with my kids because they like the Toys department too much and I don't like to get side-tracked. But I had the kids with me today, so I had to make adjustments as to what to do when we go inside Target.

Today, I had several goals in mind:
1. Get price adjustment to Circo boys socks. 10 pairs for $6.49 last week and this week, it's on sale for $5;
2. Buy some $0.20 stationary supplies that are advertised in the Target flyer;
3. Buy the Thermos Funtainer for $12.

When I got to the store, none of the $0.20 stationary items were out. They were either sold out or the store just didn't display them prominently. There were many children's shoes being clearanced at 75% off. Since the kids were with me, we had to go to the Toys Department. I found some Transformers at 75% off. These were cameras that transform into robots [Transformers Real Gear Robots Spy Shot 6]. I saw these last Friday at 30% off. They still had the cell phone and video game ones on display then, but today, only the Spy Shot 6 ones are left, priced at $2.04 each. I bought all 3. One for my son and two are for school raffles.

Not a bad Target run.

Nintendo DS Games

I finally found some time to do serious shopping today. My goal was to look for some inexpensive Nintendo DS games. I went to Target first to look at their toys markdowns. Currently, they are still at 30% off. Hardly worth the effort to buy anything unless you have to buy for a birthday child the next day and you know that toy is the one the birthday child wants. Once in a while, I would see markdown or clearanced Nintendo DS games at Target's clearanced racks, but not today. Instead, I found a very cute birthday candle/candle holder (I think it sings) birthday gift card and I put some money on it. Target's gift cards are so unique. My son likes to collect them.

My next stop is Toys R Us. I printed out a couple of $5 off $25 coupons off the internet. As these coupons are good for video games, I went straight to the games section of the store. Before I went to the store, I checked www.toysrus.com first to see which Nintendo DS games are on clearance. There were 3 games sold at $9.98:

1. Geometry Wars: Galaxies for Nintendo DS by Sierra
2. El Tigre for Nintendo DS by THQ
3. Arctic Tale for Nintendo DS

I went to Toys R Us armed with this information and began searching for these 3 games. I managed to find El Tigre quickly and it was marked regular price of $29.99 and there were many games left. I got 3 and went to the cashier for a price check. It was shocking to the lady cashier and myself to see $7.98 come up as its price.

I continued my search for the other 2 games, but came up with nothing. Then I decided to scan other games. I actually found a Power Play Pool game (marked $19.99) for $7.98 as well. I didn't have time to scan every single game on the rack, so I decided to buy 2 El Tigre and 2 Power Play Pool games. With the $5 coupon deduction, the 4 games came down to $6.73 each. I have no idea how fun these games are, but at $6.73 each, they are good gifts as far as Nintendo DS games go.

Best buy of the week!

It's that time of the year again--shopping for school supplies. I have been browsing the office supplies stores' on-line flyers, looking for bargains.

I missed Staple's one-cent sale last week. This week's deal of the week belongs to Office Depot. The Office Depot has 4 items listed in its weekly flyer priced at 1 cent each. Most items had a limit of 5, except the paper folders which had a limit of 20. Here are what I got for 16 cents total (including tax):

1. 5 bags of Office Depot Value™ Red Eraser Caps 12-count;
2. 5 Office Depot® Brand Semicircular 6" Protractors;
3. 5 Office Depot® Brand Acrylic Rulers (in gray and pink only)

I didn't get the paper folders because I didn't have time to pick them out.

Can't wait until the next 1-cent sale!

Best deal of 2008!

I can safely say that this was my best shopping find for 2008!!! A pair of "cnu" rubber clogs for $1 at Claire's. I have been looking to buy a new pair for my daughter who had outgrown her size 12/13 "cnu" rubber clogs. I haven't been able to bring myself to pay $29.99 for a pair of Crocs for my kids yet, but I do like these plastic shoes, so I stick with the imitations.

I had discovered the "cnu" brand of rubber clogs (you can see the logo at the back of the heel) at Winner's, a Canadian TJ Maxx, last year in Vancouver. At the time, I bought them for $9.99/pair and I thought I got a great deal. My kids wore these on our Alaskan cruise and then everywhere they went afterwards, except to school and on raining days.

These "cnu" rubber clogs lasted a whole year. I've been looking to replace them until I came across the same "cnu" brand at Claire's. Claire's is an accessories store frequented by tweens and young girls. http://claires.com/index.asp.

This Claire's had 2 rack full of $10 for 10 items sale. On one of the racks were these "cnu" rubber clogs. I had to double check with the sales clerk to verify that these "cnu" clogs were indeed $1 per pair. Needless to say, I bought a pair for every child in my family (and extended families). Now, my son wears an army-green pair and my daughter wears a purple version of the pink clogs shown above.

Claire's sells these croc-imitations for $8.50 regular price and they do get marked down to $4.25 eventually. The $1/pair price was a special markdown.

Except for the Croc insignia at the strap juncture, the cnu rubber clogs look identical to the basic Crocs.

Crocs and other similar plastic sandals are made from a material called polyethylene (PE) resin. At this point, it probably makes more sense (and more profitable) to buy shares of stocks of companies that makes PE resin than to buy Crocs.