No, the adoption roller-coaster hasn’t finally driven me crazy. I know it’s not REALLY Christmas. But if it were, I would be ready! I am ready for birthdays, Christmas, Arbor Day, any day! And that’s because I have officially started my special-day-stockpile and it’s filled with great toys and gifts that I bought at super low, bargain basement prices!

[L] and I have always tried to live frugally but we now have an even greater desire to make sure that our money is spent appropriately and not wastefully. We have been downsizing in many ways in an attempt to eliminate excess and focus our funds on people, not things. And one of the biggest ways we do this is to shop early and shop smart. I’ve practiced  this theory for years and I’ve gotten to the point now where I rarely buy anything that isn’t on sale (or is in season!). This does limit my spending choices considerably but, hello, how is that a bad thing?

So last week I concentrated my shopping super powers on getting ready for [A] and [G]‘s first Christmas in their new home. And it was suuuuuper easy to do thanks to Target’s semi-annual 70% off toy clearance! This was my first time attacking this particular sale and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say this is waaaaay better than any after Thanksgiving madness. Firstly, because 70% off is amazing! Do you know how cheap that makes things? And secondly, because apparently not that many people know about this wonderfully awesome day. There was no pushing or shoving, no 4 a.m. deal-busters, just 4 or 5 happy mommies loading up their buggies with amazingly cheap goodies.

And I racked up! The sale was on Thursday so I went on Wednesday to get a feel for what they had and what I thought I might want to buy. I am NOT an impulse buyer and I usually take a few days to think about what it is I’m buying before I spend [L]‘s my hard-earned money on it. So, once I established what was there and what I needed, I headed back early Thursday morning (before the stuff was even tagged) and followed around all the nice little ladies with their pretty red shirts and powerful price-changing laser guns. As soon as they marked it down, I snatched it up. I wonder how annoying I was? I tried my best not to hover too much but I was in constant competition with another mom who either 1) owns a  daycare, 2) has 15 children of 15 different ages, 3) has a major hoarding problem, or 4) was buying just to re-sell somewhere else. She and her 4 buggies were full at every Target I visited. I made it to 3 before I collapsed, but always about 15 minutes late behind her! She took this round, but we’ll meet again in January! (Yes, they do this again in January!)

But I am more than happy with what I got, because I got a LOT and I paid a LITTLE! My favorite part of the day was coming home, showing [L] my booty (giggle), and then calculating ALL my savings! When all was said and done, I bought $449.56 WORTH of clothes and toys on sale. But I only PAID $136.50! That, my friends, is a savings of $313.06! And that is the makings of a GREAT day!

Here is a picture of the toys I picked up for my sweet kiddos. Not pictured are the 15 items of clothing (shirts, skirts, shorts) that I also bought for $1 a piece!
That is what it looked like Thursday. This is what it looks like now.

And this is where all the goodies will stay until the appointed time – whether it be Christmas…or a birthday…or a Saturday . I’ve done this with our pets for years. I love to go to the after-insert holiday here-sales and stock up on dog/cat toys and then dole them periodically throughout the year. Because, I don’t know about yours, but my dogs don’t care if I give them a stuffed candy-cane in July as long as they get to play with it, munch on it, and then rip it to pieces. But their stuff is much smaller and much easier to hide so this new toy stash is presenting me with a slight problem that will probably grow much larger as [A] and [G] get older and sneakier. But for now, their super secret tub of toys is just gonna hang out in our closet and try to look inconspicuous. So, please don’t tell them what’s in the boring, gray boxes!