Adventures of a Frugalista
11Oct/110

DEALS: Thrift Store and Pet Food

Today I found two great Groupons that I wanted to share...

1. $15 for $30 of Products from PetFoodDirect.com

This "spend $15, get $30 to use" deal, available for about 13 more hours (it ends at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 11) is good for any of the products on PetFoodDirect.com which, despite its name, stocks medicines, treats, and toys in addition to food for all pets. The deal's filed under Washington, DC, but it can be purchased and used by anyone in the U.S.

Sounds good to you? Head on over to snag a voucher before the deal ends (or they sell out)!

The Limitations:

- Only one voucher per person; may buy one additional to use as a gift
- Only one voucher can be used per order
- Voucher's value cannot be applied to shipping (so your pre-shipping total would have to come to $30 or more)
- Voucher cannot be combined with any other offers, such as 15% coupon codes
- Promotional value expires on April 12, 2012. That means that after April 12, the voucher is only worth the $15 you paid for it, instead of its promotional value of $30. So you wouldn't lose your money, you just wouldn't get anything extra.

2. $15 for $35 of Products at B-Thrifty (Woodbridge, VA)

This deal is available for 2.5 more days (it ends at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, October 11). For $15, you get $35 to spend at B-Thrifty, a "big box" style thrift store in Woodbridge, VA. The store is open 7 days a week (unlike many thrift stores that are closed on Sundays) and stocks more than 250,000 items daily.

Sounds good to you? Head on over to snag a voucher before the deal ends (or they sell out)!

The Limitations:

- Only one per person; may buy multiple as gifts
- Only one voucher can be used per visit
- Vouchers cannot be used on Federal Holidays (50% off days at B-Thrifty) or on 30% Off Customer Appreciation Days
- Vouchers cannot be combined with 30% off BiP membership discounts on Thursdays
- Only applicable towards thrift store purchases; not applicable towards purchases in the International Bazaar or the Consignment Shop
- Promotional value expires on April 14, 2012. That means that after April 14, the voucher is only worth the $15 you paid for it, instead of its promotional value of $35. So you wouldn't lose your money, you just wouldn't get anything extra.

Disclosure: The links above are my personal referral links for having bought the deals; if 3 or more people purchase the deals using my links, I'll get my deals for free. You can do the same by passing along your personal referral code(s) to your friends after purchasing the deal(s).

10Oct/110

HAUL: $50 at Village Thrift

Today I made my fourth trip to Village Thrift, one of my new favorites. My first trip was somewhat lackluster, but since then I've gotten a 25-item haul for $80 and a 15-item haul for $60. I scaled back a bit more today, but still came home with a good haul.

I've mentioned before that Village Thrift's discount days are Sunday and Monday, when three different tag colors are 50 percent off. Today, perhaps for the holiday, in addition to three tag colors at 50% off, there were another two tag colors at 33% off. I succeeded in restricting myself to only discounted colors, buying 8 blue tag items at 33% off and 3 violet tag items at 50% off. (And, looking at the receipt now, I just realized that some items that I had thought would be full price actually received a discount... always like when that happens!)

The Goods

Cardigan

White cardigan sweater

Cardigan

Gray knit cardigan

Tank Top

Patterned tank

Tank Top

Blue knit tank

Shirt

Flowered blouse

Dress

Purple dress

Dress

Gray & blue dress

Jersey

Eagles jersey

Jersey

Orioles jersey



Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards

Organizer

Brown & blue organizer



The total: 11 items for $41.31.

Continue reading for the price and brand details.

10Oct/110

HAUL: Payless BOGO

Today I was at the mall with friends and noticed Payless was running a full-store BOGO sale, so I stopped in to pick up a few essentials. (For those of you who don't know, BOGO stands for "buy one, get one"... in this case, it was buy one item, get one of equal or lesser value for half off. So buy one pair of shoes, get a pair of shoes for half-price. Buy a purse, get a second purse for half-price. Etc.)

The Goods

Payless

Tights and shoelaces



I snagged 5 items for $15.46. Not exactly a steal, but not bad to get some items we've been needing. (One of the pairs of shoelaces isn't pictured, as my husband has already put them into his shoes.)

The Details

I only picked up some items my husband and I have been needing: tights for me and shoelaces for him. The haul:

  • 3 pairs of Minicci tights: a hot-pink pair on sale for $0.99, a brown pair at full-price for $6.99, and a grey pair half-off for $3.49 (50% off of $6.99)
  • 2 pairs of shoelaces: one pair of 54-inch brown shoelaces (not pictured) at full-price for $1.99 and a pair of 40-inch brown shoelaces half-price for $0.99 (50% off of $1.99)
5Oct/112

News & Links: 10/05/2011

A semi-regular round-up of fashion and shopping-related news and links.

» Tales of the retail bizarre: An Australian store is reveling in the negative attention it has received since news broke of their poor treatment of one customer, who wrote an open letter regarding her experience.

» Have you bought any of Reebok's "toning" shoes? If so, you may be receiving a refund — Reebok will refund $25 million to customers as part of a settlement with the FTC over deceptive advertising.

» As a non-chef, I love these "10 Simple Kitchen Tips You Wish Someone Told You Earlier." So true.

» The AtomicAttic duo makes good on the term "upcycled": they make awesome pet beds out of vintage products and beautiful home decor from old barn wood.

» Speaking of vintage products, Maggie Mason (of Mighty Girl) has a Flickr pool of the clever ways vintage products were designed, from mixing bowls with measurement marks inside to an expandable purse and a multi-faced baby doll.

» Even Michelle Obama shops at Target!

» Want to look amazing in photos? Check out these tips from a supermodel.

» I'm in love with the custom wedding gown sketches by Megan Hamilton. They're a beautiful way to remember your wedding dress, and they take up a lot less room than a gown box or garment bag! (I'm still hoping I'll get one eventually.)

» Today Groupon introduced Groupon Goods, which offers "really good deals on great products." Whereas regular Groupon offers discounts at stores, Groupon Goods will offer discounts on specific products.

» Now that Amazon has introduced its new Kindle Fire, you may be wondering what tablet is the right choice for you. PCMag has it covered.

Tagged as: 2 Comments
5Oct/110

DEALS: $5 Magazines & MP3 Albums

Amazon.com offers a variety of $5 MP3 albums each month; the October ones are now up on the site. This month's offerings are particularly good, in my opinion.

A sampling of the 100 albums available for $5 each:

Additionally, Amazon.com is offering 15 different magazine subscriptions for $5 each now through October 11, 2011. (Warning: Most of the subscriptions are "auto-renewal" subscriptions; if you don't want to keep the subscription beyond a year, make sure you cancel before it renews.)

The selection includes:

3Oct/110

Free eBooks: Vook Classics

In September, Vook made many of their Kindle-only Enhanced Vook Classics available for free on Amazon.com. Heading into October, they've made another batch of Enhanced Vook Classics free for Kindle, bringing me to a total of 37 free classics. The "enhancements" in these editions appear to be the inclusion of illustrations and photographs, as well as the formatting and editing standard in print editions but usually lacking in free digital editions of classics.

Read on to see the 21 free Vook classics I've snagged this month, with book descriptions from the sites and links to purchase them. (Find the descriptions for last month's Vook classics here.)

Please Note: While all of these books were free at the time of my purchase, that does not guarantee that they are still free or that they will remain free. Make sure you check the price listed before purchasing any books.

2Oct/110

HAUL: $60 at Village Thrift

I was divided about Village Thrift after my first trip there, but after my second trip there last week it's become a new favorite. Today was another discount day at Village Thrift, with 50% off on three different tag colors. Once again, almost everything I bought was discounted, although unfortunately the most expensive item I bought was not. (It was still a good deal, though, and will be very useful.)

My husband really liked the shirts I got him last week and gave me the go-ahead to outfit him with more, so I focused on the men's department this time around. I'm really glad he wanted more shirts; I think he needs more variety in his wardrobe (and the less I need to do laundry, the better!). I only picked up two clothing items for myself, as well as a few books and household items.

We'll see if Village Thrift expeditions become a weekly tradition...

(I apologize for the poor quality of the photos today. I think it's a combination of bad lighting and difficult-to-photograph patterns and colors.)

The Goods

Shirt

Blue men's button-down

Shirt

Blue striped men's shirt

Shirt

Green striped shirt

Shirt

Tan striped men's shirt

Shirt

Brown striped shirt

Polo Shirt

Maroon men's polo

Sweater

Purple men's sweater

Cardigan

Pink knit cardigan

Blazer

Striped cotton blazer

Khaki Pants

Men's khakis

Pillow

Striped throw pillow

Books

3 hardcover books

Drawers

Set of drawers



That's a total of 15 items for $60.60, or an average of $4.04/item.

Read on for all the brand and price details.