Guest Post- a True Scrapbooking "Haul"

So... you will be able to tell from the start of this that I am not doing the blogging.  My daughter is much more thorough in her "showing" of what is what.  Even now, she is getting the original price to show along with what she has already done...she is just an all in kinda girl.  I love it and it should be interesting to see how this turns out.  Might have her do a bit more blogging more often, what say you??   Oh, and yes, we have our own organizational systems and we will use all this in time.   So without further ado *drum roll here* this is how the ladies in my house shop:

Ever watched a craft supply "haul" video and wondered how people can afford to shop the way they do?  Honestly, if it's more than $1.99, I probably won't get it.  Even at 99 cents I've been known to put something down as just not enough bang for my buck.  Here's how we do affordable scrapbook shopping.

Today, my mom and I went on the "tour of craft stores" that we do maybe once a month- the big (previously) two-story JoAnns, the newest Michaels, and the larger Hobby Lobby in DFW.  They're kind of all in a row from where we live, so we just goof off and wander them all for good clearance steals.  This time, we also discovered a warehouse sized Tuesday Mornings and a few smaller Tuesday Mornings along the same path.  Usually we end up buying next to nothing, but every once in a while we find really good deals.  Here's our damage from possibly the best run we've had in years.

Stop 1- JoAnns, where we both got teacher discount cards for an additional 15% our entire purchase.

Mom's Haul:
Basic Grey Page Flags- .96
Little Yellow Bicycle "Making the Grade" Tear-Out Ticket and Journaling Card Book- .96
7 Gypsies Tickets- .96
Sizzix Triplets "Banner" - 14.99 x 40% off- 8.99
Creative Imaginations Oceanside Stickers- .25
Creative Imaginations Life's Journey Stickers- .25
Total after 15% discount: $11.40

My Haul:

Mosaic Thickers in Metal- .50

Mosaic Thickers in Light Pink- .50

Prima Say it in Crystals Hexagons- .50 x2

Basic Grey Page Flags- .96

Basic Grey "Hey Girl" Die-Cut Shapes-  .96

Total after 15% discount- $3.61

Stop 2- Tuesday Morning

Disappoint.  Mom got one stamp marked .49 at 20% off, so it was .42.  Woohoo.  (I already had these stamps, I think she was feeling some envy.)

Stop 3- Tuesday Morning Warehouse

Whooooa this place was big.  I might have had a freak out in the parking lot.  It was really interesting, but extremely disappointing by the lack of organization in the store.  I found myself lacking the will to dig through their stuff and we almost left empty handed (except a completely unrelated children's Christmas gift).  On the way to check out, we spotted the 80% off clearance bins.  Jackpot!

Mom's Haul-

Opalite Archival Shimmer Ink in Cypress Frost- .59

Versa Magic Archival Ink in Sierra Vista- .59

Total: $1.27

My Haul-

Opalite Archival Shimmer Ink in Cypress Frost- .59

Autumn Leaves Clear Stamps by Rhonna Farrer Love- .03 

Total: $0.67

Stop 4- the "new" Michaels

We were super disappointed here until we found a score on the clearance aisle.  I've been really wanting some colored embossing powder, but obviously, I'm super cheap.  Colored powders (and I want bright or neon) are usually about $3 a bottle, or in a pack of three to five (with an ugly color!) for $10.  We found the Recollections Detail Embossing Powder in Neon for $3.49.  Yes, I doubled the cost of my thus far purchases on embossing powder.  But I needed it!  Tax brought me up to $3.77

Stop 5- the "big" Hobby Lobby

Mom's Haul-

Little Yellow Bicycle Handwritten Love Journaling Stickers in Travel- .64

Chic Tags Journaling Tags in Birthday Cake- .60

Bo Bunny Note Worthy Die-Cuts in Prairie Chic- 1.43

Jenni Bowlin Identify General Mini Deck- .64

Echo Park Paper Co Memos in "For the Record"- .90

Total with tax- $4.56

My Haul-

Pebbles Phrase Stickers in Lake- 1.07

Bo Bunny Noteworthy Die-Cuts in "Family is Noteworthy"- 1.43

Total with tax- $2.71

Stop 6- Tuesday Mornings on the way home

At this point we were tired, and we grabbed one paper pack off the clearance rack to split.  It was WeRMemoryKeepers For the Record in "Documented."  With a 20% off and tax, it was $0.85.

Mom's Total- $18.08 including tax (and remember, she bought a Sizzix Die-Cut for $7.60!)

My Total- $11.18 including tax 

And for those who are curious, without the discounts Mom would have come out at $54.96 and I would have been at $50.97.  I personally believe that means I got a better deal since mine was worth more if we don't count the Sizzix.  Heh.  Though without the discounts we would have just window shopped and spent nothing, we were literally seduced by clearance and never even got to bust out our coupons.

This is how WE haul.

-Sarah

COMPLETE HAUL PHOTOS

Mom

Me