Sizzin' Summer Deals Abound!

***Dave Ramsey is coming to the RBC Center October 16th******

I absolutely love this time of year. Not only because summer is my favorite season, but the deals to be had in July are nothing short of incredible!

Where to find the sizzlin' deals?
1. Start with your favorite retailer. Everyone is slashing summer clothing & goods to get ready for back-to-school & fall items. Since I am a big fan of Target, I will go a couple of times a week from now until school begins to hit the big 75% off sales. I check often, because each store does their markdowns at different times. I have found in the past that the store closest to me often does their big drops on Wednesdays. That doesn't seem to be the case for the store a little further away.

Just last week I bought 8 pairs of shoes for next summer. They ranged in price from $0.99-8.94. My Nick & Nora flip flops were only 99 cents! What a steal!

If you have children you can pretty much 'guesstimate' what size they will be in next spring/summer therefore, it makes shoe buying a lot less expensive. If you are wrong & they are too small, odds are you paid less than $5 for them & you can sell them for that at a yard sale.

The other obvious things to easily buy for next year are swimsuits, beach towels, any water toy/pool, outdoor patio type stuff as well.

**A word to the wise, if you find a backpack or lunchbox your child must have, wait until mid Sept. all the back-to-school (BTS) stuff goes on clearance. I bought my rising Kindergartener an awesome Spiderman backpack LAST year for this year. I do the same with school supplies. Rack up on clearance items because you will need a lot of them throughout the year & for the following year.

2. Speaking of the BTS sales...Walgreens has had the best bargains over the past 3 weeks (this week included) I have bought a ton of pens(10pk), pencils(10 pk), rulers, erasers, etc. all for 9 cents each!! They have another great 9 cents sale this week. It is better than waiting for Sales Tax holiday, especially if you have year-round students.

3. JC Penney. There is just no other way to put it...I LOVE this store!! In the past 2 weeks I, the non-fashionista, have bought 4 awesome dresses, 4 tops, 1 chunky necklace & 2 pair of earrings for just barely over $100. Each of the dresses retailed at a MINIMUM of $60. I should take pictures in them & post them--they are that cute! The most expensive item I bought was a top to wear to my hubby's class reunion next month. It was $15.20. Every other item was $11.97 or less. GREAT DEAL!

I cannot say the childrens' apparel had the same deals. I was disappointed & didn't buy for anyone but myself :) * I did buy these things without guilt because I had a Visa giftcard.

4. Summer Vacationing on a budget. Since we are sticking to a strict written budget, we figured we would not be vacationing outside of the class reunion trips & family reunion trip we have planned. However, we were able to find a condo 1 row back from the beach for 3 nights, all fees included for less than $200/night. I did take my coupons to the beach & used them when we went grocery shopping. We had a GREAT time & stayed within budget.

Finally don't forget about Groupon, Twongo, Living Social & in the triangle we now have deals through WRAL (local TV station). There have been some great deals, including today's (Groupon) Cold Stone $10 worth of icecream for $5! mmm..mmm

Thanks for tuning in...I promise it will not be months between posts again. Have an AWESOME July & enjoy the clearance shopping!