Deals, discounts, and all that jazz!

It's no secret that the economy ain't so hot these days.  Many troops have had to downsize too because of this.  I've enjoyed doing the recycled crafts this year, but sometimes, we have to spend money on activities.  To help everyone out, here's a list I've been putting together of some of my favorite sites to get deals on.  Keep in mind, many of these sites you have to check daily since they change, literally, daily (some, hourly!).  Also, please note that I do plan on coming back to this as I find more deals we can use.

http://www.woot.com/  Woot now has several offshoots as well, including Kids Woot, which often has craft supplies.  Occasionally, Woot will do what they call a Woot off, which is like a flash deal.  The deal is there until the product sells out.  All shipping on Woot is $5.

http://deals.woot.com/sellout  Also a Woot offshoot, but this corner has many other deals listed from other websites.  Since these are often from other sites, shipping is at the discretion of the website.

http://1saleaday.com/  The offshoots of 1 Sale a Day are always changing, but they do occasionally have stuff we have needed for the troop.  It's worth checking since you never know what they might have.

http://www.dailysteals.com/  Same prinicple as 1 Sale a Day, and the same goes for its offshoots.  It does often a toys section that has more than just toys.

http://www.icemonkey.com/  Ice Monkey is a little different than the above.  When you open it up, you'll see that it has stock meters.  Ice Monkey will sell a product until their stock is gone.  In other words, sometimes a deal can be up there for a few days, and sometimes it might go quick and be up there only for mere hours.  Just like all of the above, their kids/toys section often has supplies we've needed.

http://www.google.com/shopping  I believe that people underestimate the power of Google shopping.  I can not tell you how many times it has saved me money in the past.  You simply type in the product you are looking for, and it will bring up dozens of cataloged sites that carry it, and the prices they are.  You do have to look through them carefully.  Sometimes the links are wrong, the prices may not always be accurate, but most of the time, you'll hit it off within the first few links.

Amazon Deals  Amazon deals of the day.  Not many people realize that Amazon does this!  Sometimes, the deals are just too good to be true, but they are!  AND, if you sign in to your Amazon account, and scroll down to the bottom the deals page, it will personalize some deals for you based on previous purchases and items in your wish list (at this very moment, one of my wish list items is listed as a deal at nearly 75% off!).

GS Sale/Clearnace  This one might have been obvious, but this is for those of you who might have overlooked that little corner.  We got journey necklaces for our girls here for $1.99 each!!  Right now, as I'm looking at it, they have a 100th anniversary tote bag on sale for $5.96, Sabbath and Shabbat patches for 29 cents (yes, cents, you read that correctly!), and so many other amazing things I want!

I know I don't need to tell you about coupons, but I just want to remind you all of that, since they really do work!  Hobby Lobby and Michael's email them often.  I also know I don't need to remind you about places like Ross, TJ Maxx and Stein Mart, but I will so you don't forget them.  Freecycle and Craigslist can be little gems, when used with caution of course.  Don't forget your service unit!  Some leaders will happily give away their extras.  You can also ask parents.  We have occasionally asked our parents if they wanted to make any donations to the troop, and supplied them with a wish list (this has literally saved our troop hundreds of dollars, and goes to show that parents are awesome).  If all else fails, sell cookies like there's no tomorrow!