Bargain Bits-

I went out on Friday to get some things and ended up stopping at Walmart. SCORE! If you live near one you should stop by just to see what has been marked down because I found that although the holiday decor was still only 50% off, the bath and body gift sets and makeup gift sets were 75% off. I was able to pick up character toothbrushes with a small tube of Colgate toothpaste for .86 each. I also bought a makeup gift set that came with bottle of Secret body spray, a lip gloss and mascara by Covergirl and a one year subscription to Teen Vogue Magazine all for $2.50.  I did not waste my time with the decorations because that is not my thing to buy right now and most of the gift sets in boxes and baskets are off name products and tend to get reduced even further as time goes on so I will keep an eye on it but its not crucial to buy right now. These items that I did pick up are name brand and an excellent value.This is a great time to check out your favorite shopping haunts to see if there is anything you can find at a truly great price. If its at least 75% I will look into buying something and if its something worthy of stocking up I will buy several of them. I did buy 8 of the toothpaste packs to be shared between my two little boys and their cousins when they visit. I only bought one of the makeup packs because makeup will go bad and I only have one teen aged daughter.Another great thing to find right now are clothing purchases because many stores stocked up for gift giving and dressy occasions but are now left with all of the leftover stock and yes, they will be stocking up on Spring and Summer apparel soon. The key to feeling like you are not wasting money on things that will hang in the back of the closet tags and all and never worn is this great trick. When I was younger my mother would go through cheap nylon stockings on a daily basis. I used to think it was such a waste of money but she said this to me,"It only takes one snag to ruin a pair of pantyhose so I buy the ones that are only $1 because its worth the $1 to wear it once." She then would take that same theory and put it to good use when buying clothing on clearance. You simply ask yourself,"Will I wear this at least one time for every dollar spent?" - this concept saves from a lot of wasted purchases. It does not work the same way with shoes but you can wear the same shoes for much longer than most clothing and most quality shoes are more expensive to begin with so I change the rule to one wear for every $5. Work clothing and anything that requires a drycleaner is $10 for every wear (because you will have to fork out more $ for drycleaning) and formal wear is $50 for each wear. Of course you can adjust your own terms and budget but you get the point. After all is it really worth the savings if you spend $20 on a sweater that you will hate next year because its out of style? Only if you plan on wearing it 20 times before the seasons change again!  Something to think about at least..... Happy Hunting!