How many times in the past few weeks have you heard your children talking about Elmo Live? Or maybe in your house the new High School Musical playset is all the rage? No matter how frugal you’re determined to be, your kids will undoubtedly have a few things on their wish list that make staying within your budget harder.
While nothing can totally insulate you from the high price of some toys, there are several methods to help you find the toys you want for your children at prices that you can live with.
Check the sales ads regularly. You don’t have to get the Sunday paper each week. Instead, just pull up the websites for your favorite stores. Keep your shopping list close at hand and watch for good prices.
Save coupons. Chances are you’ve already been getting a plethora of coupons in your email inbox. Sign up for mailing lists (electronic ones) of your favorite stores. Don’t forget, though, to print these coupons out and carry them with you. If you forget to take them shopping with you, they won’t do you any good.
Combine coupons and sales. By layering the savings together you can potentially help yourself to some pretty powerful discounts. For instance, Kohl’s frequently offers 50% off the prices of certain types of toys. If I add my 15% off coupon into the mix, I end up saving almost 60%.
Use price comparison websites. These stores do a lot of your homework for you. In a few minutes, I can compare the price of the new Guitar Hero game at something like ten different retailers. However, be sure to verify the price when you go into the store. Things can change faster than the websites keep up, sometimes.
Check out bargain hunter websites. Different than price comparison websites, these sites don’t allow you to search for a specific item. They do, however, often list many different coupons and coupon codes. And, if you sign up for their email updates, you can be notified whenever their administrators find especially good deals.
Don’t be afraid to return something. Let’s say that you found just the toy you wanted for your little boy at Kohl’s last week. But then, last night, you saw that it was being discounted even further online at another store. Then, to top it off, that website is offering free shipping on internet purchases. By all means, buy the toy at the website and return the one you bought at Kohl’s. All the exchange will cost you is a little time in line at customer service. Just make sure you have the necessary receipts for these types of transactions.
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