My Quest for an Amazing Christmas- Ongoing Still :)

Well, it has been quite a while since I really blogged significantly.  What have I been up to?  Oh you know- the usual.  Saving, stretching my pennies to their max, working, kids, cleaning  oh wait, I have been completely slacking and NOT cleaning (I know I need to be punished, hahaha), deal hunting, entering my online giveaways and everything else in between. 

You all know I have been on a quest to provide an amazing Christmas for my kids for under $50.00 out of my pocket this year, with hopes that I can provide great presents for my kids.  Yes, I am a single mom and our money needs to be stretched.  If you go here, here and here you would see all the preparations and anticipations I have put into Christmas thus far. 

In addition to those posts, I won a few gift cards and have items to add to the list :)  Yes, I am so blessed to be on track to reach my goal. 

In addition to my kids, our agreement in our family is that everyone purchases just for the kids for Christmas beginning this year.  So I have one niece and one nephew to purchase for in addition to my kids.  So I decided I should add them to the list and figure out something to get them at an inexpensive price.  So I got my brain working (yeah pretty sad that I have to turn on my brain, don't ya think???). 

Target was having a big clearance sale, which my friend Michelle (aka Shelli) was so kind to let me know about (HUGE THANK YOU TO YOU, SHELLI!!!), and I went to check it out.  I was so happy to find some great items at such little prices.  I found a Knex set for $5.32 for my nephew (originally $21.00), 3 fun card games for under $1.50 each for stocking stuffers for me, Bug and Jack, a Carz 2 walkie talkie set for only $8.48 for Jack, a fun board game for $3.24, and an Iron Man light toy for only $1.24!  To top it off, I had a $25.00 gift card that I had and used.              
                                      Total: $25.14
                             Gift Card: ($25.00)
                                       Total: $0.14
Yes, you read that correctly.  14 whole cents out of pocket.  Woot, woot. 

I took in some cans that I have collected from work for a while now and received $6.00.  I decided to purchase the Cheaper by the Dozen movie (which I have been wanting to get the kids for a while now) on WalMart.com for $5.41 with ship to store shipping.  So nothing spent out of pocket!  In fact .59 whole cents left over.  So I will take that 14 cents off the total I would have added in my total for above.

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So far for Christmas here are the running totals with designated gifts listed below:

Jack:


Hook the movie (won online)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Tutles DVD set(won online)

Cars Toy Laptop (won online)

Monsters Inc. DVD(won online)

Arthur and the Invisibles DVD (mixed won online and overage out of pocket)

Arthur and the Invisibles 2, 3 DVD (won online)

Batman DVD 4 pack (won online)

Stash of 14 Chevron Techron cars (yard sale)

Car Rug (yard sale)

Veggie Tales Live DVD (won online)

Crocodile Hop Game (won online)

Cars Shirt and puzzle prize pack(won online)

(2) Mater toys (received for free)

Cars 2 Walkie Talkie set (clearance- won online with gift card)

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus game (clearance- won online with gift card)

Iron Man toy (clearance- won online with gift card)

card game-stocking stuffer (clearance- won online with gift card)

Jack's Total: $8.19 spent out of pocket

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Bug:
Taylor Swift's Fearless CD (won online)

Taylor Swift's Self Titled Album (won online and a little overage)

Taylor Swift's Speak Now CD (won online)

A Flip Camera (won online)

Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (won online)

Enchanted DVD (won online)

Build-A-Dream Playhouse (Castle) (won online)

Judy Moody Book (won online)

card game-stocking stuffer (clearance- won online with gift card)

Cheaper By the Dozen DVD (money received from recycling cans from work)

Lilo and Stitch Movie (purchased with a gift card won online)

Neverending Story 1 and 2 DVD (purchased with a gift card won online)

Problem Child Tantrum Pack (purchased with $5 of Swagbucks gift card and overage of $2.69)


Bug's Total: $4.07 spent out of pocket

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Niece and Nephew:
Barbie playset (already purchased on major clearance last year so I am not going to count this in my total for this year's total though it was only $3.00)
Knex set (clearance- won with gift card plus overage but overage deduct due to recycling)
Total: $0.00 due to recycling overage lol
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TOTAL SPENT OUT OF POCKET: $12.26
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So who else has been preparing for Christmas?  How prepared are you?  What does Santa plan on getting your kids this year?  How are you feeling about your Christmas preparations?  Let's hear all about it!