Deals, deals and more deals!

Growing up, my parents drilled into my brain that every penny counts, so I've always been incredibly, almost overly, cost-conscious. But since we moved to Tennessee and I am no longer "working," I have become almost obsessed with living as economically as we can. At BYU, my multi-millionare financial planning professor always told us "Live like a student for 10 years after you are a student and you'll live like a king the rest of your life." Now that I think of it, it may be 20 years, but I'm really, really hoping it was only 10.

Anyway, I almost never pay full price for anything, but the last couple months I've scored better deals than I knew possible. Here are a few of them that I am rather proud of . . .

Thanks to my amazing friend Kimberly for introducing me to the wonderful world of Amazon.com for diaper shopping. I didn't come away quite as good as she did, but I didn't do too shabby either:

1036 diapers and 2160 wipes (not all pictured here).

Paid less than $22 (no taxes, no shipping).

*(I accidentally bought a box of scented wipes, which I can't stand, so if anyone out there actually likes scented wipes, let me know!)

A couple of months ago I bought this (Don't read into it. I am definitely NOT pregnant--it was just too good of a deal to pass up in preparation for "someday") on Babies R Us's ebay site :

Double Jogging Stroller

Paid $12.99 (included free shipping).

Normally priced at around $189.

CVS items (laundry detergents, dish soaps, shower gel, toothpaste, make-up)
Actual cost: $44; Paid: .56-cents

Last month I decided to start playing the "CVS game" that you used to hear about on the news all the time when the first wave of the financial meltown hit our economy. You know, the ladies who shop at CVS or Walgreens and come away with hundreds of dollars of items for mere pennies? Well, I was skeptical of it at first. I just didn't see how it was possible, but a lady here in Knoxville explained it to me and encouraged me to give it a try. Now I am a believer. I have to admit that every time I get a deal like this I feel guilty at first, like I am robbing the place. Then for a second I feel super embarassed for being so dang cheap. But then I think "Sheesh! Who cares about all of that--I just got an awesome deal!" and I walk away with a smile on my face and embrace my inner thriftiness.

Last but not least, here's my favorite deal of all. The last few months, every time I looked at our near empty living room the thought kept crossing my mind that instead of getting furniture to fill it, I should really look into getting a piano. I play the piano a little and so does Brian, but I'm not a musical person by any means so I looked at craigslist a few times and never saw a deal I wanted and then forgot about it--forgot about it until a woman in my ward sent an email saying she had a FREE piano to give away. Email-addict me, who normally checks email 10 times a day (a leftover bad habit from my working days of sitting in front of a computer for 8-12 hours a day), I didn't check my email all morning and didn't email her until several hours after she sent out the offer. I thought there was no way we'd have a chance, but lo and behold, the next day she called me saying out of the tons of people who emailed her, she wanted me to have it. Wow. A FREE piano! It's super old (built in 1920) and kinda quirky looking, but as Brian continually reminds me, a piano is a piano and this one was free. It actually sounds really lovely and I think it's safe to say we've already enjoyed it. Here's James tickling the ivory. Whenever I start playing, he gets upset until I pull him up on the bench with me.

So there are a few of my good deals. If you've scored any good ones lately I'd love to hear about them!