Motivational Monday - Not breaking the bank on Cyber Monday

Side note before I get started. I wanted to write this post with Christmas music on Pandora. But I couldn't change the station because the first song to come on was Amos Lee. Pretty sure it's a rule that you have to wait until he is finished. So I waited and now it's James Taylor. The same rules apply. Looks like Christmas music will wait even longer! Anyway...

I'm not a huge fan of Black Friday. I don't like to shop with big crowds because I feel too rushed and it's rare that all of the gifts I need to purchase can be bought at one store. Add in the fact that I don't have a car anymore, it just wasn't going to happen for me.

But I did get to work before my entire department this morning and was welcomed with a slew of e-mails about Cyber Monday. It nearly got the best of me. I am pretty sure 100% of my gifts, or at least the materials needed to make the gifts, have been purchased and I managed to find a sweet deal or two for myself. Sometimes I wish I didn't work at a computer with internet access all day!

Here's what I found:
A lot of stores have free or deeply discounted shipping :) I can't mention exactly what stores I was looking at since that will give away a gift for a loyal reader BUT most stores have at least decent shipping prices today.

There are $6 subscription packs to magazines here. I got a 1-year subscription to both SHAPE and Fitness for $6 total. Yup. There are a variety of magazine packages to choose from and they make great gifts too!

Barnes & Noble has a few goodies on sale. I found The Hunger Games first book for less than $5 on my nook. I'm hoping I can enjoy it more than Twilight! December is a great time to snuggle up and read a few books!

One gripe I do need to make is to Finishline. If you're going to participate in Cyber Monday, re-stock your merchandise if you sold a lot on Black Friday! The Asics I want are on sale from $84 to $27. Yes, please! However, there are only 3 itty-bitty sizes left so they will remain on my wishlist. No business for you, Finishline! Famous Footwear had a BOGO deal, plus 25% off your purchase, plus free shipping. If I bought 2 pair of running shoes (in my size!), each pair would be less than $40 but I wasn't in the market to spend $70 on shoes today so I exited out of the screen before I did something I would regret.

Anyway, my holiday shopping is taken care of and I couldn't be happier. I didn't break the bank and I picked up a new hobby. I can't wait to post about the gifts I've been making for my friends!

I don't think I've ever finished my Christmas shopping and have been able to put money INTO my savings account but just this morning I was able to put $120 more into savings! I had been saving for something but it fell through and instead of going on a shopping spree to spoil my loved ones and myself, I popped it right into savings.

Since moving to New York, this is by far the most I've had in my savings and it feels better every time I see that number go up!

Buy off brand...for real

I'm serious.

I've done a pretty good job of using the foods in my cabinets lately, even if it's not what I'm in the mood for. My shelves aren't completely empty but it was time to get some more groceries to make some legit meals.

It had been a while since I've made sandwiches so I thought that'd be a good idea. I keep peanut butter at work for my morning apples, so for the next two days of lunches I'll bring bread and jelly for some good ol' pb & j's. The store brand loaf of bread was $1.25 for a fairly long loaf and the jelly was $1.29. Great deal compared to normal brands that cost anywhere between $2.50-$5 and jelly could cost up to $4.99!

To continue to use my loaf of bread, I bought a few things to make glorified grilled cheese for my dinners. An off brand of "I can't believe it's not butter" cost $1.69 and the real deal cost $5.

A bag of Kraft shredded mozzarella cheese cost $5 (I'm not making this up, most things cost $5 in that store!) but an off brand was $2. I got some peperoni to go in the sandwiches and a bag of baby carrots to complete the meals.

With all those ingredients, it's $.94 a sandwich....yup, I counted the slices of bread in my loaf. $2-$3 per meal is not too shabby at all for the next few days. If I would have bought name brand items, each sandwich would have cost $1.79 and I would have spent an extra $8 on groceries. There are so many things I would rather do with $8, like go see The Help :)

I have yet to find a grocery product that should not be purchased off brand. Can you think of any?