The Christmas Season is here... for me anyway.

I usually start getting Christmas fever somewhere around August/September. I think it has something to do with the first smell of fall in the air. This year I'm even more excited because couponing is going to make this time of year even more thrilling! In the past 6 months I've become more excited over finding deals with coupons than I have over the whole Christmas season in the past. I've had friends laugh at me because I jumped with excitement over finding a manufacturers $.50 coupon for an item and a $1.00 Publix coupon for the same item (seriously).

I can't even go to the stores anymore without checking my favorite blogging sites and searching the internet for coupons first. If I can't find coupons for the items or for the store I've been tempted not to even go. I was afraid this hobby would haunt me in one way or another. :)

Most of the deals I run across are cheapest when you buy more than one of the item and sometimes you even have to buy in bulk. A couple of weeks ago I saw a deal on www.commonsensewithmoney.com for really cheap Sorry! and Monopoly games at ToysRus. I wanted Sorry! to keep at the house. I already have a very nice Monopoly (some kind of Anniversary edition), but I HAD to go to ToysRus and get this deal. I ended up walking out of the store with 3 Monopoly games and 3 Sorry! games. I only spent $13.66 total. That ends up being $2.28 per game. Not bad at all and every year Alfa takes donations for the Family Sunshine Center so I justified it by saying I got all 6 for the sale price of 2 and some kid will be happy to have those games for Christmas.

Between my church group talking about how we can reach out to people in the community, couponing and finding sweet deals from websites, like the one mentioned above, I'm paying more attention to things around me and focusing on finding people to reach out to. I'm excited about this Holiday season and look forward to helping others. Do you know of anyone in need?

Beauty & the Beast BluRay/DVD Combo & reserve Toy Story 3 for $3.43

Here's how I got this deal at ToysRus...

Buy 1 Beauty & the Beast Blu-ay/DVD Combo $29.99
Reserve 1 copy of Toy Story 3 Blu-ray $5
Total $34.99 + tax

when the pre-order card was scanned for TS3 the price dropped from $29.99 to $12.99 ($22.99 sale price- $10 taken off for pre-ordering TS3)
use $10 Beauty & the Beast Man Q
use $6 Beauty & the Beast ToysRus Q

Total due $1.99 + $1.44 tax = $3.43

Pretty sweet deal if you ask me! Merry Christmas a little early!