Target's Dollar Spot -- 75% off

Those of you who visit Target on a regular basis are probably familiar with the Dollar Spot. It's located by the front entrance and contains a variety of little toys, books, candies, and other small items for $1 each (some of the bigger items are $2.50). What you might not know is, even the Dollar Spot goes on clearance, and right now pink dot items are 75% off. That's right, a good chunk of the Dollar Spot is going for .25!

To find out whether an item's on clearance, look at the UPC. Next to the item's price, you'll find a colored dot. Only certain colors are on clearance at a given time, and right now, the pink dots are the ones on sale. When in doubt, scan an item at one of the Price Check scanners.

Today, I found several items that were only a quarter each: Disney Princess & Cars puzzles and pens, Disney Princess hair accessories, holiday lotions, manicure & pedicure sets, holiday board books & coloring books, Santa hats, character socks for toddlers and kids, and wooden vehicles for toddlers. If you'd like to get started on your Salvation Army Stocking Drive donation pile, now's a good time to do it!

Luvs diapers - $4.99 AQ at Harris Teeter

This isn't the cheapest charity find I've suggested, but it's one of the better prices on diapers I've seen, and I want to share with you. Diapers are accepted by Loaves & Fishes, the Salvation Army Center of Hope, Birthday Blessings' Blessing Baskets, or Room at the Inn.

Okay, here's the deal: Luvs jumbo packs are $5.99 at Harris Teeter from 12/29-1/4. Use the -$1/1 coupon from the 11/28 P&G insert to get the diapers for $4.99 a package. If you don't have this coupon already, search for it on eBay or check with a coupon clipping service. I've used My Coupon Hunter in the past and would recommend them. Hurry, though; these coupons expire on 12/31!

Charity Profile: Charlotte Rescue Mission

Prior to the holidays, I had heard of Charlotte Rescue Mission, but didn't really know exactly what they did or who they assisted. But I read up on them when I found out about their Christmas dinner (see my previous post here), and I really think it's a great organization that has urgent needs that you don't typically think of when picking up items to donate.

Charlotte Rescue Mission is a faith-based organization that supports homeless or about-to-be homeless men and women kick their addictions to drugs and/or alcohol and rebuild their lives. They provide substance abuse counseling, help them with other health issues, work with clients and their families to help repair their relationships, and help clients find jobs and get back on their feet. They run Rebound, their program for men; Dove's Nest, their program for women; and a men's halfway house to give greater support to their clients transitioning out of the program. They claim 75% of their clients remain clean and sober after one year, which is pretty impressive to me.

CRM has a very long list of needs, but considering all they do, it's not surprising. To see all their urgent needs, click here. You can often find OTC medicines for next to nothing or even for free at Walgreens, CVS and Target. I will post these deals in the future with a reminder to pass them on to Charlotte Rescue Mission. Take a look at the list and you'll see there are lots of ways you can give!

Target toy clearance has started!

I am so very excited to see that Target's toy clearance is officially underway. I scored a TON of great deals last July, when they were clearing out old inventory to make way for holiday toys. Now, they've got way too many toys, and it's time for another clearance. You can really save a lot of money by picking up birthday presents for your kids, nieces & nephews, grandchildren, and other children in your life and putting them away for later. Right now, I'm seeing a lot of items marked 30%-50% off:
 
- Circo baby toys, 30% off
- Thomas & Friends Early Engineers playsets and trains, 30-50% off
- Toy Story toys, 30-50% off
- Little Tikes sports toys, 30-50% off

There's a lot more, and inventory will depend on your local store. For example, the regular Target closest to my house had a lot of infant toys on clearance in July, but the Super Target I frequent did not. Start keeping an eye on things that Santa might have forgotten, and if you feel the price is right, go ahead and buy them. However, if there's a lot left in stock, they will eventually get marked down to 75% off. Last July, I purchased lots of Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn toys for my son's first birthday at 75% off, making each one between $5 and $8. I also grabbed My Little Pony sets, Hello Kitty toys, Sesame Street toys, Super Soakers and Transformers toys for my nieces and nephews, all 75% off. While you're at it, pick up a few things to donate to Birthday Blessings and help local homeless children get some really awesome birthday gifts. Happy bargain hunting!

I'm back, and baking cookies for Charlotte Rescue Mission

So I temporarily fell off the face of the blogosphere because I had family visiting, and on top of that my laptop's power cord decided to quit working. But now my computer's charged up and the guests are back home, so I can get back to helping you find ways to give!

The Charlotte Observer mentioned in Wednesday's paper that Charlotte Rescue Mission is looking for homemade baked goods for their Christmas Day festivities. You can read more about it on their website here. My husband and I LOVE this. We're baking some goodies tonight and we're going to bring them to Uptown tomorrow morning.

I hope you've been taking advantage during the holiday sales on baking supplies and stocking up on sugar, chocolate chips, flour, butter, candy and all that good stuff. If not, there's still some great deals going on right now, so head out to the store and pick up:

Target
Betty Crocker Cookie Mix, $1.50
-.40/1 Betty Crocker cookie mix, Smart Source insert, 11/21 or -.40/1 printable coupon
 = $1.10 per pouch
 
Nestle Toll House baking chips (chocolate chip, chocolate chunk, white chocolate, butterscotch & more), $2 
-$1.25/3 Nestle Tollhouse morsels, Red Plum insert, 11/1
= $4.75 for 3 bags

Market Pantry Grade-A large eggs, 1 doz., $1.19 
 

Harris Teeter
Domino Powdered Sugar or Brown Sugar, 16 oz., 5/$5 ($1 each)
-.75/2 Domino sugar products, December Woman's Day magazine
= $1.25 for 2 boxes

 Thanks, Southern Savers, for your fantastic coupon database!

Charity Profile: Birthday Blessings

I have to feature Birthday Blessings in this week's Charity Profile, because I think it's such a neat idea. In 2005, Amy & John Cervantes of Charlotte started Birthday Blessings as a way to encourage their kids to give back to others in need. It's grown a lot since then, and now they serve the greater Charlotte area and are trying to take their giving to a national level.

Birthday Blessings has 3 programs: Shelter Parties, which enables children in local homeless shelters to have a birthday party with cake, snacks, party games, presents and goody bags; Student Birthdays, which gives elementary- and middle school-aged kids in unstable housing situations (kids living in motels, campgrounds, etc.) birthday parties at school, complete with cake, presents and goody bags for their classmates; and Blessing Baskets, which provides homeless mothers of newborns with laundry baskets full of baby clothes, diapers, and other necessary supplies. Now, how can you not love this charity?

Please visit Birthday Blessings' Support page to view all the things they need, as there's just too much to list in one post. They need gift cards to Target, Walmart, Dollar Tree and other area stores, gift wrap, laundry baskets (pick some up for $1 each at Dollar Tree!), size N diapers, and much more. If you're like me, you want to give all year long, not just during the holidays. Birthday Blessings is definitely worthy of your help.

Super deals on Thomas & Friends Early Engineers train sets

I made a quick trip to Target tonight to find some of the Hungry Hungry Hippos travel games (no luck!), but I did see a lot of clearance items in the toy department. Among them: the Thomas & Friends Early Engineers Roundabout Station playset. It's normally $19.99 at Target, but it's marked down to $13.98. You can get this set for only $3.98 if you have the -$10/1 coupon from November's issue of Family Fun or Parenting: Early Years. I picked up this set last month for my son, and it comes with Thomas. It is a cute set for toddlers, as the trains are bigger and easier to grasp than the regular wooden trains. This would make a great donation to a holiday toy drive (if you can find one that's still taking toys) or Birthday Blessings.

All Early Engineers trains and sets are buy 1, get 1 free at Toys R Us through tomorrow, 12/18. I can't find TRU's coupon acceptance policy online at all, but if you're allowed to use a coupon on a free item, and you're lucky enough to have 2 of the coupons, you should be able to pick up 2 of the Roundabout train sets for $4.99 total. If you don't have 2 coupons, or your store doesn't have this set, you can pick up 2 of the engines for $9.99 total, which is a great deal.

Uno 40th Anniversary Edition for $1 at Target!

There are 8 more days until Christmas, and if you'd like to give to charity but can't find room in your budget, don't worry! There's still time to make a difference, and you don't need a lot of cash to do it!

Today (December 17th) is the last day for the Salvation Army's "Magical Toy Drive". Go to any Salsarita's in the Charlotte area, any Camden or Bexley apartment community office, or to the Cornelius, Morrison Regional, Myers Park, Plaza Midwood, North County Regional, University City Regional, Steele Creek or Mint Hill libraries and drop off your new, unwrapped toys.

Don't have anything to give? Pop in to Target and see if you can find the Uno 40th Anniversary Edition with the card games in the toy department. They are ringing up for only $1. The other versions are $4.99, so this is a great deal. If you can't get them before the end of the day today, consider donating them to Birthday Blessings. This local charity helps children living without a permanent home (such as motels, shelters, campgrounds, etc.) by sponsoring birthday parties for them. How great is that? These card games will make great favors for the goody bags the organization puts together for party guests.

Bayer glucose monitors FREE after coupon at Walgreens

Walgreens has the Bayer Contour USB and Didget blood glucose monitors on sale this week for only $9.99. While this is a fantastic price, there are 2 high-value coupons available that make these items FREE.

Bayer Contour USB printable coupon

Bayer Didget printable coupon

You can also price match this great deal at Target or Wal-Mart if your store carries them and you can't find them at Walgreens. You may be able to donate these items to someone you know, or you can contact one of the many free clinics in the area. The North Carolina Association of Free Clinics has a list of health clinics all over the state.


Thanks, Wild for Wags!

Charity Profile: Loaves & Fishes

This is the first Charity Profile post on Couponing for Charity. I plan to spotlight an organization in the Charlotte area each week, explaining a little bit about what they do and what you can do to help. If you know of a charitable group that you think deserves some extra promotion, please let me know in the comments below.

If you've lived in the Charlotte area for even a short time, you're probably aware of Loaves & Fishes. This local charity consists of 18 food pantries across Mecklenburg County, and according to their website, served 102,638 people in our community in 2009. Clients are recommended to Loaves & Fishes by other community agencies, and if they are approved, L&F will provide them and their immediate families with a week's worth of groceries every 30 days. Their goal is to help people in crisis get back on their feet.

Loaves & Fishes accepts donations of food, personal care items and baby care items (diapers, wipes, formula, etc.). You can drop off your donations at any of the 18 pantries. Please click here to find pantry locations and hours of operation. Their priority needs are:

- Canned fruit

- 100% juice

- Pork & beans

- Peanut butter

- Canned meat

- Soup

A really easy way to help this week:
Harris Teeter: BOGO Skippy Peanut Butter, 15-16.3 oz - $2.79 ($1.39 each this week)
- .50/1 or -.75/2 Skippy Peanut Butter, Red Plum 11/14 insert, exp. 12/12 (coupons double with VIC card)

= as low as .39 a jar if you have the -.50/1 coupon!

This is a great way to help feed a young family without spending a lot of money! Please consider picking up some extra peanut butter to donate when you visit Harris Teeter this week.

- Thank you, Southern Savers!

Salvation Army Fill-A-Stocking

I have really fond memories of waking up on Christmas morning and running to the living room to see what Santa had left in my stocking. It was the only thing my sister and I were allowed to open while our parents were still asleep, and we always had a great time playing with the little toys and putting on our new lip balms and lotions. When my high school sponsored a home for foster kids, I made and stuffed stockings while everyone else wrapped toys. I LOVE me some Christmas stockings.

As I mentioned in my previous post, The Salvation Army runs a program called Fill-A-Stocking during the holidays. If you're in the Charlotte area, go to the Salvation Army Christmas Center at 801 E. Arrowood Rd. to pick up empty stockings. You can also pick them up at Specialty Shops on the Park (6401 Morrison Blvd., behind South Park Mall). Fill them with goodies, then return them to the Christmas Center by December 13th. K104.7 will be having a "Hanging Hope for the Holidays" event on Saturday, Dec. 11th at the Specialty Shops, where you can pick up and drop off your stockings.

It's SO easy to find lots of inexpensive toys, books, games and other fun stuff for next to nothing. Target's Dollar Spot is currently carrying holiday jigsaw puzzles, board books, card games, coloring books, toy cars, infant/toddler/kid hats & gloves, stuffed animals, hair accessories, body lotions, lip balm, and other fun stocking stuffers, all for $1 each. Dollar Tree also carries a good variety of small toys, baby bibs, blankets, toiletries, books, crayons, and more.

If you do participate in this awesome program, make sure to label each stocking with the approximate age range and whether it's for a boy or girl. The Salvation Army is looking for stockings for infants, toddlers, kids and teens. NO CANDY (per their request), and nothing made of glass. I've been having a lot of fun putting together my cheapie finds, and I'll post pictures of some of my stockings after I make a trip to pick them up. Even if you only fill one stocking, it'll make one child's Christmas that much merrier.

Hungry Hungry Hippos (travel size) FREE

Many (but not all) of the 12/5 Smart Source newspaper inserts have a coupon for $5 off Gator Golf, Elefun, Hungry Hungry Hippos, or Pop Goes Froggio. This coupon doesn't exclude travel-size games, so you can use it on the Hungry Hungry Hippos game ($4.99) found in the stocking stuffer area of Target's holiday section. It will be FREE after the coupon! What a wonderful thing to give to Toys for Tots or any other toy drives in your area! If your paper didn't come with this coupon, check eBay or an online coupon clipping service.

Similac Ready-to-Feed bottles for $.86

Women's shelters can always use donations of formula, and so can many food pantries. Due to the recent recall on Similac powdered formula, retailers have temporarily lowered their prices on bottles of Similac ready-to-feed formula (no mixing needed). These bottles are currently on Temporary Price Cut at Target for $3.86. It isn't marked on the shelf, so check the price using one of the in-store scanners to make sure it's discounted. The $3/1 Similac coupons available here and here will make each bottle only $.86! I know that the regular and Sensitive varieties are included in the price cut at my store, so I'm pretty sure that all of the Similac ready-to-feed formulas are as well. You should be able to print 2 coupons from each site, so that's 4 bottles of formula donated to a worthy cause for $3.44 plus tax.

If you're in the Charlotte, NC area, please consider bringing your formula finds to the Salvation Army Center of Hope. This is the city's only 24/7 emergency homeless shelter and assists thousands of women and children each year, according to their website. Also, go here to find a Loaves and Fishes site near you. They will gladly take formula to distribute to their clients.

Suave deodorant FREE at Target!

Suave deodorant sticks sell for $.97 at Target. Right now, you can print a Target coupon for $1 off 2 Suave deodorants here. Combine this coupon with 2 of the .50 off 1 Suave deodorant coupon found in the 11/15 Red Plum insert to get 2 sticks of deodorant for free! Personal care items like these are always appreciated at women's shelters, and even many local food banks are happy to accept them.

Welcome!

Thanks for checking out Couponing for Charity. Even in these tough financial times, you can still help others with little to no out-of-pocket expense. I'll be posting great deals that you can combine with newspaper, internet and store coupons to get stuff super-cheap to give to your favorite charitable organization.