FRUGAL FRIDAY

Last week I missed my Frugal Friday post due to company, but today I would like to share a comment from a friend, Kathy, who has some great money-saving ideas:

She says, "I love reading your blog and I have some solutions for your gift buying. Right now there is a fantastic sale on girls' clothes at J.C. Penney. Not much for boys, alas. I buy a lot of presents there. My other favorites are TJ Maxx, Ross and Marshalls. They have kids' toys and books for a fraction of full price. You have to check that they work and all pieces are present but they are usually good deals.

I never go to the toy stores. That would be way out of my league, especially when I buy for my grandchildren and the CASA kids I work with. If you plan a year ahead, you can get $40 little girl dresses for less than $10 at both Dillard's (best), Macys (OK) and Penneys (depends). So do your shopping a year ahead at the end of the seasons. In about 2 weeks, I predict the Easter dresses will be reasonable. For me, less than 75% off is not a sale, but a trap."

I agree with Kathy and went Easter shopping yesterday. At CVS I found two grocery baskets of Easter things marked 75% off. I bought several Easter egg-shaped note pads for next year's Easter baskets along with Easter grass, a couple of little stuffed bunnies and my bill was $1.63. The Easter grass was 20 cents a bag! That was quite a savings considering what it would have cost the day before Easter. I packed those things up in my Easter box to have next year when I begin preparing for Easter baskets here or gifts that I send to my grandchildren for Easter.

I also stopped in at Michael's (same shopping center as CVS) but their Easter sale was only 50% off and that was not quite low enough yet. By next week it will be 90% off and that will be more appealing to me.

Happy after-Easter shopping!