"Oops Paint"

Spencer's therapist told me this morning that most home improvement stores have what's called "oops paint". It's paint that consumers have returned for various reasons and has been steeply marked down.
I needed paint for a project and I went to check it out.
Menards Prices:
pint: .50
quart: 1.00
gallon: 5.00
five gallon bucket: 15.00

Brands and colors are all hit or miss. But it seems like people were more likely to return the expensive brands.

The therapist reports that some stores sell the gallon for $1! She also said that sometimes she's seen 50 choices. When I went there were about a dozen.

If you know the prices of other stores let me know! I have some major painting projects coming up. :D
I should mention the paint is non-refundable.

Homeade laundry soap

Has anyone ever made homeade laundry or dishwasher soap?  It's been on my to-do list for a long time, and I finally got around to it last week. Here is the link to the site I used.

http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html

I'm sure there are different variations out there, but I was happy with this recipe.  I also used her recipe for dishwasher detergent.  Because the two recipes use most of the same ingredients, what I did was cut each in half so that I could try them.  It still made so much that I won't need to buy or make more for months.  In addition to being economical, I like that you know exactly what is going into it and there are no fillers.  In fact, you only need to use 1-2 tablespoons, because there aren't any fillers.  The laundry soap doesn't have a strong scent, but it is pleasant smelling. I was using a hypoallergenic soap anyway, so I didn't really care about that.  You can still use scented fabric softeners. 

If you're like me, and have good intentions but think this might just be too much effort, trust me...it isn't!  The longest part was grating up the bar soap it calls for.  And that only took about 10 minutes.  Totally worth it.  If anyone tries it, let me know what you think!

Family Fun Subscription

I saw this deal and had to share!  It's for a FREE 20 month subscription to Family Fun.  We get that magazine, and I love it.  It's full of fun activities and crafts to do with kids.  You can't beat FREE!!!  Hurry, it'll go fast!

http://www.bargainstobounty.com/2012/04/family-fun-magazine-free-20-month-subscription-while-supplies-last/

The Zoo

Not sure if anyone still checks this site, but in case you do...I thought I'd pass along a great tip someone gave me today.  I hadn't even thought about the fact that Potters Park Zoo doesn't charge until April.  And if you have checked out the 10 day forecast, you have seen that this gorgeous weather is here for awhile!  Pretty awesome chance to go spend the day at the zoo for FREE, and the best part is the animals will actually be active and not lethargic from the heat and humidity!  For those of you in other towns, maybe the same is true for your closest zoo?

Forgot to mention in my last post:

Cami's are on sale at Show Biz in theMeridian Mall. They have the extra long regular cami's on sale - huge selection of colors-  for $5.

If you're looking at the laced one's  American Eagle has them on sale 2- $16.

Five dollars sounds perfect to me!

In the Market for Dress Clothes for Adults?

Women:
Younkers is having spectacular deals on women's dress clothes.  This week I got a $100 dress for $24! I feel like I'm always buying kid clothes. When I do get something for me it's a shirt. It feels kinda nice to have a new dress for church.

Marshalls has great deals on skirts. Though you have to sort through a little more.

Men's:
Macy's had good deals on dress clothes for men. Ties are on super clearance right now. You can get a $60 ties for around the $10 mark!

Burlington Coat Factory:
Love, Love Love this store. In Lansing it's near the Big Lots - bargin shopping heaven!
We get Kurt's dress pants and dress socks here. He recently purchased a pair of slacks for 19.99 org. $50. They have the steep discounts constantly the style changes. Worth checking out!

We also pick up a dress socks whenever we're there. Kurt has to wear these daily and the wear out fast. At Burlington they sell them 3 for $9!!! Great gifts for missionaries too, they love recieving a new pair of dress socks. This is their regular none-sale price. So you can always count on them being there.

Monster Sale

Not talking about my kids... but I'm open to any offers!

Children's Place is having their Monster Sale 2.99 and up sale. (Though I've often find things way under 2.99)

If you go to the actual outlet, they have the same things as online, plus a ton of things. You don't have to apy for shipping and you don't have to click on every item you like to find out they don't have it in the size you need.

Clearance Deals

Lots of good deals to be had in Jan and Feb.  I just have to be careful to stick to my resolve to only get items that we actually need!  I would love to hear what clearance deals all of you are finding!  And I have a request...I need a new Winter coat for Skyler, and would love to get one really cheap.  However, I am afraid to wait too long, because they get picked over so fast.  So if anyone sees any really great prices, please let me know!  I'm not picky about brands or colors.  I just want it to be warm, and $10 or less!

Okemos Target

For those of you that live in the Okemos area, the Target there has a lot of great clearance deals going on.  I got the scoop from an associate, because I was trying to find out why a Target in South Lansing was charging twice as much for a certain item.  Anyway, she said that they are undergoing remodeling, and therefore are trying to push a lot of their inventory through.  A few examples of things I picked up are;

Sonicare toothbrush (I think these are gone now)
Childrens' boots 70% off (making the really nice brand ones around $8-9)
Slippers for the whole family (I got ones for Skyler for $2.99)
Lots of scarves, gloves, etc. deals.  They have 2-packs of those cheap stretchy gloves for $1.00.  I like to stock up on those when they are that cheap, to keep in all my coat pockets, and in the car.  Am I the only one who loses several pairs of gloves a year?  I must drop them in parking lots or something...

Top 100 Free Kindle Books

Amazon has a new list of their top 100 new books. It's not just novels, it also includes games, recipe book, non-fiction and children's. You don't have to own a kindle. You can read them right off your computer, tablet or phone.  some of these books are compatiable with Sony and Nook e-readers but not all of them.

Here's the instructions:

Go to amazon home page
Under Shop all Dept's (left side of screen)
Go to: Kindle
Go to: free kindle apps to download an app to allow you to read on alternate device if needed
for the free books go to: Kindle Books.
On the right side of the screen (you'll have to scroll down a little) there's two tabs: Top 100 Paid and Top 100 Free.

Happy Reading!