Cheap Chick's Corner

Easter is a fun time. It's a holiday that comes around when we all are excited and couldn't wait a minute longer for spring to come. Easter, being a holy holiday of the Lord rising from the dead so we can be forgiven for being sinners, can be a happy cheerful time, time to spend with family and friends.

Easter can also cost an arm and a leg if not properly planned and bargain hunted. There's the "new" Easter clothes and shoes for every member for church, stuffing the Easter baskets with goodies, Easter pictures, and loads of Easter candy. That all can add up, especially if you buy brand new everything and pay full retail.

My goal is to have a great Easter and it on a budget, work "my magic". ;o) But to do this I needed a plan.

Easter outfits:
Taylor received a gorgeous green dress for her birthday back in January. Her first words once she saw the dress was, "Mom, this can be my Easter dress!" I couldn't be any more proud of her. ='o) As for shoes, Taylor has a nice pair of white shoes & pair of black shoes she can wear.

And as for Cloie, when I brought up 4T & 5T clothes from the basement, there was many springy dresses to choose from. So she could use one of those dresses for Easter to save money. She also has a few dressy shoes she can chose to go with the dress I/she chooses to wear.

Now for hubby, he has many pastel dress shirts he can choose from and back in Jan/February I picked up some more dress pants cheap so he has a few different ones to choose from. He's feeling won't be hurt if he doesn't get new Easter clothes. Most guys are this way. ;o)

For me, I do have a few floral dresses that I could wear for Easter. I wanted to window shop though, to see what's out there. So today, I went window shopping on my lunch, two coupons in my purse just in case something caught my eye and sure enough, it did. I saw this dress (I will post in a later blog post) at JC Penneys. It was originally $50 but on sale 50% off - an okay deal in my eyes. (I know, I'm cheap.) I tried it on,  it fit perfectly. I decided that with one of my $10 off $10 coupon would knock the price of the dress down to $15. That was getting better - more around where I would like to spend. I could wear it to weddings, work, church, (my sissy's baby shower) etc. But $15 is NOT what I ended up paying. Nopers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took a picture of the receipt to show proof of what I actually paid for the dress! Be prepared to be floored away! =oD

THAT my friend, is a STEAL! Less than $6 for a dress! I can BARELY  do better (maybe a dollar or cents better) at Goodwill for a used dress - certainly not for a new dress. For those who will see me in person in Easter, let me know if you like my five dollar and 29 cent dress. =oD I dare ya to not be jealous. ;o)

TIP: I had reward coupon and a flyer coupon. Normally stores don't allow a customer to use more than 1 coupon per transaction. I wasn't going to use my reward coupon because it didn't expire as soon as the flyer coupon. BUT when I asked if I could use both, the lady said YES! So, it never hurts to ask what the coupon policy is! It could save you big like it did me today!!!!! =o)

As for the rest of my Easter outfit, I'm sure I can use one of my many cardigans I have, maybe a belt, one of my dress shoes, and some jewelry I already have.

Easter baskets: I knew early on I didn't want to stuff the girls Easter baskets full of junk that I was just going to throw out or donate a few months later. Kind of a waste of money. I wanted to have piratical items in their baskets, learning items, religious items (that reinforced the true meaning of Easter), etc. I also didn't want to load their baskets full of candy either. They normally would get some from their grandparents. =o) In addition, I wanted to stay away from toys; because let's face it, if anybody has seen my kids rooms, they don't need anymore toys.  At the moment I have spent less than $7 for each girl and have been pleased what I have so far. 

Easter pictures: Instead of getting Easter pictures done professionally, I normally take them myself. Yeah, there's no bunnies or baby chicks in the picture with my girls, but for less than say $5-$10 (for making the Easter picture prints) I have pictures to have to cherish and to share with family & friends. =o)

Easter candy: Since I have decided not to give the girls candy, I still wanted to have the plastic Easter eggs for the girls to find & open. (It's fun watching them run around the house, finding them.) =o) But since I wasn't going to fill them with candy, I needed something else, besides again cheap things that'll just get thrown out/donated. What I decided was to put quarters in them. =o) I am thinking of is doing $10-$20 in quaters (total - not each girl - wich means 40-80 eggs! lmao). And then the girls can use the money as spending money or they can save it for something else in the future (like spending money when we go to Disney in Jan 2014). ;o)