I thank you, Target.

This morning I needed to shop for presents for two upcoming birthday parties. I headed to Target, hoping I'd walk out of there without spending $100- my normal Target bill, even if I only go in for a few things. It's hard to resist all of those great prices, and they add up so quickly, you know?

With my newfound frugalities, though, I wanted to do better. I had a coupon for a b1g1 Littlest Pet Shop toy, so I picked out two of those ($4.99 each) and then a larger playset, figuring the three together would make a nice gift. I also grabbed a Handy Manny playset for the other party. Combined with .99 birthday cards and .48 white gift bags, I felt like I got some nice presents at a decent price.

Imagine my surprise when the Littlest Pet Shop coupon scanned in for $10 off instead of $4.99 off! Woo HOO! All in all I spent $43 on the above plus carpet cleaner, band aids, nail files, carpet cleaner, and a couple of other little things. It almost felt like Target was paying ME to shop there.

Once I got home I had the girls decorate the white gift bags- now they're cute and personalized and way more meaningful then a $2 or more printed gift bag.

Today was our 16th day straight of no restaurants or coffee places. Tom & I had leftover soup from last night for lunch, and the family had some defrosted meat sauce and some pasta I got for $1/box a couple of weeks ago. Cheap, yummy food once again!