Cheap, Cheap, CHEAP!!

Okay it is crazy to do 2 posts in one day, but I have 2 very different things on my mind, so I need different posts. I have a confession to make-- I am addicted to all things cheap. It is almost like a game for me sometimes-- to see how much money I can save and how cheap I can get something. Here are a few examples of my cheapness:
1. Buying my kids gifts at yard sales-- they are too little to care and people get rid of stuff that looks new! I also buy all my books used. We have a great kid's library at my house!
2. Buying most of my kids clothes at yard sales. I do buy a few things at the store for Hannah, because it gets harder and harder to find her clothing at yard sales, but it is always on sale-- cheap! I guess I shouldn't feel too guilty because there will be 3 other girls for her to pass things on to, but knowing how cheap I can find things spending more than $2 for something used or $4 for something new is outrageous to me!
3. I LOVE triple coupons! Seeing the words makes my heart flutter! Today I went to triple coupons at Bloom and spent $8.32 for 25 items. My total savings were $51.20. Most of what I bought with a coupon tripled was free-- I did splurge and pay $1.50 for Breyers ice cream and $1.35 for cinnamon rolls for the kids, but that was about it. I LOVE triple coupons (and I still have a ton of good coupons left!)
4. Looking for good grocery deals in general. Did you know that Harris Teeter has AWESOME buy 1 get 2 free and buy 2 get 3 free deals this week. You can buy Perdue fresh chicken breasts for b1g2f or Fresh Express Salad for b1g2f and I had a $. 75 off coupon for the salad that they will double! Look up the other deals on HarrisTeeter.com-- great offers!
5. Can anyone say CVS? I am so saddened that I didn't find the joy of CVS cash back bonuses before recently. Ning and the ladies on a website I visit helped me understand the joys of buying for free at CVS. Last week they had a battery special. I had a gift card for a transferred prescription (I do that a lot if I have a coupon). So, I went in and found coupons for $5 off any two packs of Duracell batteries (I should also add that the batteries were on sale from the regular price). If I spent $20 on batteries CVS would give me 15 EBCs (credit to use on anything but prescriptions in their store). So, I bought $23 worth of batteries used my 2/$5 coupons and some other random $.75 coupons I had and got 15 EBCs back to go buy more batteries. You could do the deal 3 times, so I ended up with close to 100 FREE batteries! I LOVE free. That is just one example of the many free things you can get at CVS!
6. I always go shopping right after a holiday and find things 50%, 75% and 90% off. If you go to Target about 6 days after Christmas everything is 75% off and about 2 days later they put everything 90% off. CVS is even better and will make everything 90% off just a few days after Christmas. You would be surprised at all the junk they have that make GREAT gifts on sale CHEAP!
7. My last tip for this post is that Target has 2 toy sales each year-- usually in July and January. When you see them put a bunch of toys on sale for 50% off then 75% is coming. I try to go to Target everyday up until it all goes 75% and then you can make out with some seriously cool toys for Christmas and birthdays that you paid nothing for.

So, there are some of my cheapness tips. I will pass on more with time. There are so many ways to be cheap-- I am still working on perfecting everything, so if you have some good tips to share please let me know! Happy Christmas shopping and may you NEVER pay full price!