Back from Black Friday!

I know everyone is waiting to here the scoop about Black Friday, so here it is!

Thanksgiving Day - prepared for Black Friday, got all of my ads in line and had a list with all of the items I needed for each store. My partner in crime helped me to come up with a game plan for the night and I napped as much as I could all day long.

10:00 pm - Took a shower and packed the car with blankets, drinks, sales ads, lists, etc. Left my purse home and only brought a credit card and drivers license. I didn't want to be a target for criminals, so no cash...and the credit card has great coverage if it is stolen. I also had my cell phone. I folded down all of the seats in the back of the van so that we would have plenty of room for our stuff. I also made a copy of my list for Taffy incase she saw something on my list while she was in the store.

11:30 pm - Picked up Taffy, aka my partner in crime. She had overslept, so I spent a few minutes playing with her dog while she threw clothes on and ran out the door to head for Toys-R-Us.

11:50 am - We drive up to Toys-R-Us and our mouths drop in utter shock! There must have been 3,000 people in line. I have never seen this kind of thing in Lafayette. We park and stand at the front of the line with the TV station to watch the madness. There is no way I am getting in that line. It backed all the way up to the old Super K Mart. How long was that? Maybe 1/4 mile.

12:00 pm - Toys-R-Us opens their doors and is letting the line in 30 PEOPLE AT A TIME!!! I think that there is no way we are getting in. I was ready to move on. We leave and go to the next place on our list, Target. There are already 2 people waiting in line...a few kids trying to get their hands on the flat screen TV's. We decide to get in line. By that time we are #8 and #9 in line.We sat, covered with blankets and tried to figure out what we could get at Target that we clearly wouldn't get at Toys-R-Us. It wasn't really happening. We decided that maybe it was better to go home and shop online than to freeze for 5 HOURS!

1:00 am - We decide to go have breakfast and rethink our game plan. Passed by Toys-R-Us on the way out and the line had only moved by maybe 100 feet. UGH! We went to Waffle House and ate our fill!!! Then we were really tired. We decided to drive around again and see how things were moving.

2:15 am -So, we passed by Toys-R-Us again and the line was drastically shorter. Taffy thought we should wait a while before we tried again, so we drove around to see what was happening at each store. Kohl's was basically dead, other than about 5 people sleeping in their cars in the parking lot. But, Target had grown a line that wrapped around the building. We also noticed that a line was starting to emerge at Old Navy! I made the call to go back to Toys-R-Us and wait in line!

2:30 am - We are in line at Target. We are standing in front of the old Home Furniture store and the line is moving fairly quickly.

3:00 am - WE MADE IT IN TO TOYS-R-US!!! WOO HOO! We are finally moving! Once we started to get the things we were looking for we were on fire and on a roll. We got almost everything we went in for despite the huge crowd that had come through!

3:40 am - In line to check out at electronics. They are only letting 3 people into the electronics section at a time, so it was moving pretty slowly. I had to go through electronics to get the deals in there for my kid's wish lists. When I got in, they still had enough of everything I was looking for!! KUDOS to Toy's-R-Us for having plenty of supplies for their deals!

4:10 am - Leaving Toys-R-Us! We did it. On to Kohl's, which was the next store open!

4:30 am - Made it to Kohl's. Thank goodness the crowd had already gone into the store, no lines. Went in, got our stuff and waited in line to check out.

5:20 am - made it out of Kohl's! Pit stop at Starbucks to refuel. The nausea from tiredness is starting to kick in. Walked in instead of going through the drive thru (it was much faster). Headed to target.

5:30 am - TARGET!!! The line was already gone and in the store. I have to say, I have NEVER seen so many people at one time in one store! It was CRAZY!!!! There were no baskets AT ALL!! There was no method to the madness. Taffy and I split up just grabbing what we could! Finally we met up in the girls clothing section. We began to make a pile of stuff there. I manned the pile, while she ran off to find what she needed and vice versa. Finally she was able to snag a basket from one of her friends that she saw at the check-out counter!! Eureka! We got in line to check out, but the lines were almost to the BACK OF THE STORE!!! I ran to snack place to get some food because the nausea was so strong. I had a coupon for a free soda that I got from Target.com, so I got that plus some hash browns for only $.87! I got back to the line and Taffy told me that there was NO WAIT at the photo check out. I didn't want to chance getting out of line, so I ran over there to find out. Sure enough, only 3 PEOPLE IN LINE! So I called Taffy on her cell and she jetted across the store to get in line! WOO HOO! We made it!

7:30 am - Decided to hit World Market, but I forgot my coupons at home! We ran back to my house (only 5 minutes away) and snuck in quietly to grab them. Didn't wake up anyone in the house! Score! Ran back to World Market.

7:45 am - We made it into World Market! It wasn't very crazy, and the deals were better than I expected. PLUS, they had breakfast, hot chocolate, and coffee! Thank You World Market! That was wonderful after such a long night! We had $10 off of $50 coupons, so we got the best deals we could find. I filled up my whole basket for $50 (paid a little over $40) and checked out.

8:30 - Time to go home. I dropped Taffy off. I was on my way home and couldn't resist yet one more deal, so I stopped at Walgreen's to get the buy one get one free 4' Christmas trees for $19.99. I also got a couple of the items that were free with register rewards.

9:00 am - Home at last! I put up my 2 Christmas trees by the front door and hid my gifts. Went in side and relieved my husband so that he could go do his Black Friday shopping!

What a night! I almost gave up. Thank goodness for my partner in crime, for she kept me motivated when I was ready to give in and go to bed. We made out like bandits! Almost everything we bought was 50 - 90% off! For the few things I still need for Christmas...it will have to wait for Cyber Monday!!! WOO HOO!

Happy Holidays!!!!

Wrapping Up the Holidays

By Nicole Comeaux, Owner of Grocery Getters, LLC
www.GroceryGettersLLC.com

There are many frugal people out there who have holiday wrapping paper that was purchased last year (or before!) when it went on sale after Christmas. How about the rest of the world? Anybody out there, like me, that just discovered that you just thought you were frugal until you found The Budget Queen and realized you were not even close? What are you going to do to get those gifts wrapped this Christmas? Do you plan to take advantage of the “deals” on the wrapping paper on Black Friday? Guess what, not really a deal! Think about TBQ’s system: can you get it for free or close to it?

Look around your home first, you will be amazed at what you find! Maybe you have solid color bags from a recent birthday in your home, could you get your kids to draw/color them and create a “Christmas bag?” Do you have some leftover newspaper? If you do then you have a wealth of wrapping paper!!! Get involved with the kids and with some extremely inexpensive craft paint you could have some really original wrapping paper. Do you have some leftover paper from a baby/wedding shower left over and don’t see another one in the close future? Flip that over and lay it out and get to decorate! There are many images to print and color if you google “free Christmas coloring sheets.” Don’t want to waist paper and ink, how about those coloring books your kids get for Christmas and only have about 2 pages colored? Get those working for you too by piecing them together or cutting out the images and gluing to the inside of that leftover shower/birthday paper you flipped over. How about brown bags? I know I personally bought some small sandwich brown bags at some point in the year and they are in my pantry waiting to be used so my girls and I will be using them for several gifts.

Seriously, it gets ripped to shreds anyway, so why make a fuss about what the gift is wrapped in? The treat is the gift, not the wrapping.

Oh, while I’m on wrapping paper, just a tip about birthdays. I NEVER buy wrapping paper anymore. I always buy the Sunday paper for the coupons and what’s always in there? Comics, of course! I keep all the comics and whenever I have a birthday come up they make the most colorful and adorable wrapping paper! I even keep a strip and cut it in long strips then curl that with scissors for a bow!

One more thing, stay tuned for a special challenge to help keep you focused on your budget in this crazy holiday season. Details on the first Christmas Feast Challenge sponsored by The Budget Queen and CID Concierge Service coming soon!
Happy shopping (and wrapping)!

Frugal Education

We all want to try to save money where ever possible, right? We all want to spend more time with our children, right? Have you considered home schooling? Home schooling allows me to spend tons of time with my children but not tons of money. Let’s just consider a few facts.
Think about how much money you spend on school uniforms each year, per child. I spend NO money on uniforms.
How about lunch money do you spend every month? We get creative with leftovers and spend pennies for lunch.
How much money do you spend on gas getting your children to and from school? Obviously, that’s not even an issue with home schooling.
Maybe your children attend a private school because you prefer the smaller class size and other benefits of private education like the inclusion of biblical values. In a public school the teacher/student ratio is usually 22-30:1 depending on the parish. In our home the ratio is 1:1 and we spend the first half-hour or more depending on the discussion at hand learning about and incorporating biblical values into our day and our lives.
How much do you spend on tuition every month/year per child? I spend $450 a year on a great curriculum (ABEKA) which is used by many wonderful private education schools across the nation.
Are your children participating in extracurricular activities after school? My children participate in “after-school” activities but we aren’t stressed about the balance of the activities and homework because our school work is done by noon. I am left with ample time to get dinner cooked, shopping done, housecleaning taken care of, etc. My children can help with all these things and they are learning valuable lessons while we spend quality time together.
There are so many frugal reasons to home school your children. I could go on for days with questions like these. I know this option is not available to everyone but it is definitely worth investigating. If you think your only reason for not doing it is the need for a second income, then maybe you should look at your budget. The Budget Queen can help with that because of the very affordable consultations available.
If you have any questions or concerns please let me know about them and I will do my best to help you in any way I can.

Nicole Comeaux
Owner – Grocery Getters LLC
Nicole@grocerygettersllc.com
www.grocerygettersllc.com

Inexpensive Holiday Crafting

by Nicole Comeaux, owner of Grocery Getters, LLC. www.grocerygettersllc.com

Looking for something fun to do with your kids over the Thanksgiving holiday but don’t want to spend much or anything at all? Look to your local library! The Main Branch on Congress is hosting some crafts the weeks the children are on break for Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year. All you have to do is register the child/children.
Here’s another great idea for some fun crafts: Oriental Trading. They usually sell packs of crafts by the classroom size but if you got together with a couple of friends or neighbors the cost would be extremely affordable for all involved. Sometimes I visit the site just for craft ideas and find what I can around the house to create them without having to spend a penny. Maybe you and your friends can look through the site and find something you all can create together by pooling your craft supplies. Oh, the possibilities!! Oriental Trading is also having a $500 gift card give-away right now that you can enter everyday to win. If your family loves crafts that would be a fabulous win!!
Another site I love is About.com. there is a wealth of ideas on that site for crafts that can be done with household items if you are strapped for cash or you just want to teach your children how to be extremely resourceful.
These are just a few of my thoughts. If you have something you use for inspiration please share!
Happy Crafting!!

Stockpiling and Coupons…Who would have thought?

by Nicole Comeaux, owner of Grocery Getters, LLC, www.grocerygettersllc.com

I had the most interesting experience this week with coupons. You see I just recently adopted the Budget Queen Method. I have tried to use coupons in the past and I never had any success. There were so many reasons why I failed. First, I wasn’t using my coupons in conjunction with sales. My experience taught me: why bother going through the paper, clipping coupons, and getting all excited just to get to the market and find the store brand less that the item I am shopping for with a coupon. I was frugal enough: I made a menu, and shopped my list and no more. Second, I did not believe in stock piling. My thoughts were that if I stocked then we would eat the same things over and over and that is boring, I mean hey, my favorite channel is Food Network! I love to experiment and the idea of stock piling made me feel trapped. Well, feel free to stock and get creative is my new motto. So, here’s why my Friday was really interesting.
I went to BQ’s forum to check out the really good deals and saw that Super One was having a sale on their Ronzini Pasta: 1/$0.48. With the manufacturer’s coupon which $1.00 off two, the pasta would be free. Well, I just got all excited! So I had some coupons and a list of other items on sale that I had coupons for and I was about to embark upon my first experience of seeing coupons really work for me! But, I was greatly disappointed. At the register I was told that I couldn’t use the coupons because they were more that the item was listed for. Now, mind you I knew their coupon policy said that I was allowed to use them and I even had a friend do this just the day before. Well, because I was about to cry and I needed to be home soon, I didn’t take the time to argue. I left everything at the register and left. Then, I got on the phone with The Budget Queen and boy was she angry too! But, here was her secret: she used the self-checkout lane!! She knew they would probably give her grief so she by-passed them altogether! Eureka! Well, I went to another store and used the self-checkout with no problems. So, the solution is using the self-checkout, right? Not necessarily. Because I didn’t have the time to argue my point I would have found this to be the case: the floor manager didn’t want to give me the credit balance that was due. No, problem, she could have just erased the credit and made the pasta free. So in the end I got my EIGHT boxes of pasta for free in the self-checkout lane and used my coupons to my advantage for the first time! Yes, I need to get a little more aggressive, but for all you newbies like me out there, don’t be dismayed. Know your store’s coupon policy, and be ready for cashiers who think you are trying to pull a scam. Ask for the manager if necessary and when all is settled guide the cashier to www.thebudgetqueen.com! He or she will be your new best friend!
And what do you think I’m going to do with all that pasta? Well, get creative, of course! Stockpiling is not a trap; it’s a way of life!

Quality Time

by Nicole Comeaux, Grocery Getters LLC, www.grocerygettersllc.com

Meetings to make, money to earn, coupons to clip, dinner to cook, children to bathe, the list goes on and on. We are such a busy society that the most important people in our lives can get overlooked. Budgeting money is extremely important, but so is budgeting our time. I played the simplest game with my three-year-old tonight for about an hour: “penny toss.” We started with coins from the piggy bank, then she decided to try other things. We tossed little triangles into the jar, and even little people from a board game. She had a blast and it cost absolutely nothing. Eventually my seven-year-old came along to investigate all the giggling and wanted to become a part of the fun. Soon, we had dad’s attention too! Its so easy to think that to have quality time you have to spend money doing something or going somewhere, but with a little creativity and imagination anything is possible. Now, I have small children and they are very easily entertained for a great price, but what about those teenagers, you know they won’t be sold on the “penny toss.” So, here’s a few ideas for you: take turns listening to favorite radio stations (loads of laughs here I’m sure), go for a drive – let him/her try if you dare, cook something together, go to the park and do something childish like swing or slide, or let your teenager teach you how to do something (this should definitely be entertaining!). Whatever the age, there is time to do it if you budget your time as well as your money and you can be frugal about it if you just make your mind up to do so.
Oh! By the way, the public library is hosting some cool craft activities over the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks so if you are looking for something to do in that time but strapped for cash check out their website’s calendar, you might find something that you and/or your child would enjoy.
Have a safe weekend!!