Take Stock Tuesday

Each Tuesday I stop to take stock of what I’ve done in the past week to save and/or earn money. This is this week’s list:

• Stopped into a garage sale and found new, disposable cameras for my daughter to take to camp (3 for $4) and new 8mm videotapes for our camcorder ($1 each).
• At a second garage sale I found 4 new aluminum foil pie and cake pans for 10 cents each. (I use these to take dinners to church families, etc. so they don’t have to return the pan.)
• Bought 2 pair of school uniform pants for my son at our school’s used uniform sale. Provided he doesn’t have a huge growth spurt, this will keep me from having to pay full price next fall.
• Went flower shopping and bought perennials instead of annuals. This is something I’ve been meaning to do for several years and Claire provided me with the inspiration I needed.
• Inspired by Meredith’s finds of 10 cent cards at thrift shops, I stopped in Goodwill for graduation and Father’s Day cards. They were 50 cents each, not 10, but that’s still half of the cheapest price I normally pay. (For those who are wondering, my Goodwill had an fairly large selection of really nice cards. I didn’t feel like I was sacrificing at all.)
• Scaled back my purchases of professional dance recital pictures of my daughter. These pictures have become really expensive over the last few years: $18 for an individual 5×7 and 4 wallets and $12 for a group 5×7. Multiply that times 4 classes/dances and I was going to be writing a check for $120 plus tax. Instead of getting a group picture AND an individual package for each class, she and I discussed doing one or the other. She was happy with what we came up with and I cut my outlay in half. (I’m planning a post on the expense of kids activities soon!)
• Shopped loss leaders at Walgreen’s and 2 grocery stores.
• Received a $5 rebate from earlier Diet Coke purchases.

If you’d like to make up a quick list of your own, feel free to leave it in the comments or post it to your blog and link to it in the comments. I think you’ll find making a list very motivational and I know it would help the rest of us to see it!

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