Shhhhhhhhhh - I'll tell you one of my secret places to treasure hunt.....

I love a good bargain any day of the week.  I hardly ever pay full retail price for anything - our firstborn son cost only $7 - and that was to cover the food I ate while I was in the hospital - yes, you guessed right, he was born at a Navy hospital.  He's worth his weight in gold today, believe me - so are my other two sons.

Ever since I can remember I've always looked for the great buy.  Very few things have I purchased at full price.  Now that I'm older - and the economy like it is - it's even more important to save every chance you get.

I'm a couponer, yes, but that's not my secret.  While I'm on that subject let me say that I usually save 80 to 90 percent off my groceries when I shop with my coupons.  There is a few tricks to the madness and you have to play by the rules, but it is a lot of fun to see that price keep dropping when you hand your coupons to the cashier.  If you want to learn more about couponing - especially at Publix - go to www.iheartpublix.com and read everything you can and you will be on your way to saving too.  A friend and I also have a blog called www.savymoneysavers.blogspot.com where we share the bargains that can be found in our little area of the world.  You will find some good reading on there by my friend Rhonda so check it out. 

Now on to my secret.  I've been known to frequent the sale racks of almost every shop I go in to find a bargain.  Just recently I have stumbled upon a place I didn't even know existed.  But let me tell you it does. 

It's the Goodwill Pound Store - it's the last and final stop before the landfill.  This is where I rescue my "Little Golden Books" and a lot of those Disney characters I turn into up-cycled notebooks.  I guess you could say that I'm their hero that saves their day.  To view some of these rescued storybooks you can look in my older posts or go to my website - I have a few still listed - www.jbunae.etsy.com 

Actually, last week an art gallery in Australia purchased 14 of my little books - I think they are going in their gift shop.  I was delighted not only to give these little books a longer life, but knowing that they traveled to another country and will be placed in another child's hands and loved once again makes me want to do the happy dance.

Anyway, the pound stores sell everything by the pound and it's so much fun you can't even imagine.  I have some faithful friends that go with me when I "pound" and we laugh and dig and enjoy ourselves like you wouldn't believe.  We put on disposable gloves while we go through these discarded treasures - you will get dirty so if you can't handle that you'd better not go. 

Now, we're what I would call gentle pounders, but some of those people are down right serious and not so gentle as they're pushing their way through the goods so they can get the "good stuff" before anyone else.  The way they go through some of those hidden treasures you would think there is gold in those vats.  Little do they know there is real treasure in the book vats - they just don't see it like I do. 

Okay, I've told you my secret - now it's up to you to find one of these "treasure hunting grounds" in your neighborhood.  I'm not going to tell you where mine is - a good treasure hunter never tells exactly where the cache is hidden.  If you find a "pound store" near you - just have fun.  That's what I do.


Until later, Vicki
jBunae'