still finishing up our Christmas shopping over here. anyone else?

this week i told myself next year will be the year i am finished before December 1. funny how i think i am so organized and on top of a big task like our Christmas list…then when i sit down to look at the full list = not so much.

over the last several months i have found many fun holiday printables floating around on the Internet. once the season is over, and i have a moment to breathe (read = the kids are back in school), i’m going to look through all of the printables to see if any will help me be better organized for Christmas 2012. or maybe i’ll create one of my own and share it with you!

it’s never too early to be prepared for next year, right?

so back the topic of this entry…the power of research! and in this case, i’m talking about the power of researching a price!

research pays off almost every time for me. researching a price doesn’t just pay off during this time of year – it’s works year round, my friends! and i would like to encourage you guys to do the same thing. i have the perfect example of what a few minutes of research can do for your pocketbook….

i’ve had a few quiet evenings to myself while my husband is away on business. once the kids were tucked into bed, i sat in the peace of my own bedroom and browsed through a few toy catalogs. i found some great little add-on gifts for the kids so i tore out a few pages and planned to order the items in the morning.

a few of the items were inexpensive, but 2 items were more than i would usually spend. yes, i LOVE the thrill of finding a bargain and saving our family money – but i’m not an extreme couponer. i coupon and bargain hunt so that when i do want to spend money on something nice i won’t feel as guilty about paying that hefty price tag.

again, research pays off almost every time!

here is one of the items i found in a toy magazine…

it’s an awesome moon phases light. the moon hangs on your wall and shines just like the real moon. it even cycles through all 12 stages!

i thought this would be a very cool gift for our 7 year old, who is totally into science and anything outer space. but i also thought the hefty $39.95 price tag was a bit much.

first thing i did was look up the moon light on amazon. i found several retailers selling the exact same light for about $15 less. i would have been fine paying $24 for the light….but then, as i browsed further down the page, i noticed that The Discovery Channel Store was selling the same light for only $18!

 

sold!

i clicked on the link…and oh my…

….it was like opening a gift of my own!

not only were they selling the light for $18, but they happened to be having a friends and family sale that added an additional 25% off!

which brought my total down to…..drum roll…..$13.49!!!

WOW!

the entire research process took me less than 5 minutes…yet saved me $26.46!


i was so excited that i immediately had to tell someone…i called my sister because she enjoys saving money and loves to hear fun money-saving stories like this one.

not every item i researched yesterday could be found online for a lesser price. but that was fine with me….i knew i had saved money on this item and that, in my mind, put another $26.46 back in our pocket. and left me feeling so satisfied that i didn’t simply open the catalogs website and blindly pay for the moon light at their almost $40 price-tag. just a few minutes saved me a lot of money.

in case a few of you are wondering why the theme of this blog is about organization AND saving money….this example is exactly why! when you are organized you CAN save money. i fully believe the 2 topics go hand in hand.

do you have a great money-saving story to share? share it here in the comment section!