Update: Tax Free Shopping Days

In addition to Virginia’s tax free shopping days, which I listed a couple of days ago, DC and Maryland will also offer tax free shopping days this month. Here is the run-down:

Virginia: Aug. 4 to Aug. 6 for individual school items up to $20 and clothing and footwear up to $100 per item.

DC: Aug. 5 through Aug. 13 for individual items $100 or less.

Maryland: Aug. 23 through Aug. 27, for clothing and footwear up to $100.

Community

Morning everyone. I am proud to report that Stone Soup DC now gets around 150-200 hits a day. Very cool.

I am glad people are finding the information useful, at least I hope you are. I believe one of the best resources anywhere and anytime, is community. We can make this resource so much more powerful if we pull together our information and ideas. Anything from what’s on sale this week, to a great store you’ve found, to free/cheap community events, to how to make something yourself that you would have previously purchased. That’s what we all want to hear. I am sure each one of you has ideas to add. Please consider joining the Yahoo discussion group, posting a comment on the blog, or even sending me an email at stonesoupdc@gmail.com. I want to hear from you!

Have you all heard the story of Stone Soup? I’ve added some stones. Anyone out there have some cabbage or carrots or an onion?

Back to School Tax Free Shopping in VA

Virginia is having a sales tax holiday coming up August 4-6, 2006. The exemption is only for school supplies costing $20 or less per item, and clothing and footwear costing less than $100 per item/pair. Get shopping for back to school early.

Update:  See also info about upcoming DC and MD tax free shopping

Discover Card Bonus Cashback

Many books on being frugal suggest getting rid of most, if not all, credit cards and use cash for purchases to keep from overspending. I can see the logic there. I am sure I would spend somewhat less if I were always paying cash. However, we typically use a Discover Card for most of our purchases since it helps us keep a good record of where our money is being spent, plus they offer 1% cash back on all purchases.

I typically do not read all the junk advertisements they stick in the envelope with our monthly bill, so I am not sure how widely this gets advertised, but I recently visited their web site to discover they were offering 5% cash back on gas and auto repair purchases. All you had to do was sign up on their web site to say you wanted to particpate. There were no fees and you still earned the 1% on all other purchases.

That promotion has ended, but the new one is 5% cash back on tuition from preschool to college (on purchases up to $2000) if you pay with your credit card. Also, there is 5% cash back on purchases from the following stores:

Apparel

• Gap
• Kohl’s
• Marshalls®
• T.J.Maxx®
• Famous Footwear™

Office/Home

• Dell™
• Office Depot®
• OfficeMax®
• Staples
• Linens ‘n Things®
• Pier 1 Imports®

This promotion is good through September 30, 2006.

Washingtonian Shopping Guides

Although their target audience is not usually living on an ultra-cheap budget, Washingtonian Magazine still puts out some very useful shopping guides for everything from furniture to clothing. Many of the stores are not bargain basement, but some offer surprisingly good deals, and the guides can be helpful if you are making a particularly important, larger purchase and you want to read up on options.

Thrifty Thrifts

I love to hunt around in thrift stores. The bargains seem endless and I rarely come away empty-handed. Actually, I try to stay out of them for exactly that reason. At least they are a very inexpensive way to fufill a craving for a shopping binge. The last time I headed to one, I bought two pairs of shorts, a set of kids horseshoes, a Melissa & Doug puzzle, and a plastic bowling set for my son for $7. This was at Value Village in Hyattsville (2277 University Blvd E Hyattsville, MD). This store is huge and crammed full of bargains, but it is busy, so act fast when you see something you like (you can always put it back later!).

If you are clearing out the clutter at home, take a load of things to donate when you go. They have a drive-up area at the back of the store where you can easily drop off donations.

If you don't get your thrifting fix satisified here, pick up a copy of "Dirt Cheap, Real Good: A Highway Guide to Thrift Stores in the Washington, D.C. Area", by Chriss Slevin and Leah Smith. They cover hundreds of thrift stores both locally and on extended day trips out into WV, PA, NC, and DE. I know the book is available at Montgomery County libraries.

What’s your favorite outlet?

Between Arundel Mills, Potomac Mills, and Leesburg Corner, our region has hundreds of "outlets" for all kinds of items. Some are true outlets that receive discounted, overstocked, or returned items. Other companies have so many "outlet" stores that they've had to develop secondary "factory store" lines to make sure the stores stay filled. Whenever I go into a Gap outlet, I check the labels to make sure I know if I am looking at a "factory store" item or an item that came from a first-quality Gap store. Not that the "factory store" item can't be a good buy, but I find the quality of the items that have come from the actual Gap stores to be better in general.

The question is, which outlets do you tend to find reliable bargains at with every visit? Do you prefer one of the outlet malls over another?

I've actually been trying to stay out of the stores all together lately. I find that's the easiest way to save money. So I don't have many specific bargains to point to from recent buys, but I have found these outlets to pretty reliable when I stop in for something:

Talbots Outlet ( 6825 Bland Street, Springfield, VA): This is my favorite oulet for women's clothing. It's in a plain looking strip center near the interchange of I-95 and Franconia Rd. Talbot's quality is excellent and I find it a great place to shop for everything from casual to dressy. Prices are often very discounted, more like 50% to 75% off. They also carry some children's clothes, larger women's sizes and some men's items. My husband got his favorite cashmere sweater there. Originally $200, he paid $42.

Nordstrom Rack (15760 Shady Grove Road, Gaithersburg, MD, Potomac Mills, Dulles Town Crossing): For shoes…what more needs to be said? I have found less clothing there that I've been happy with in the last few years, prefering Talbots, but they do have a lot to look through, though. I've found good baby clothes bargains there, too.

JC Penney (Potomac Mills): I've had very good luck at the JCPenney outlet for simple summer shirts and shorts. They have a lot of stuff in their outlet and most of it is heavily marked down.

Little Me (Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets): This outlet for baby clothes has some adorable outfits and I love their thick sleepers for winter time. The outlet prices are not dirt cheap, but they are better than the department store sales I've seen and the clothes hold up very well. They also have some cute boy's clothes beyond trucks and sports themes, which I was getting quite tired of for my son.

Carter's (All three outlet centers): If you need sleepers, onesies and comfy baby play clothes, Carter's outlets usually have good sales and a good selection. If you sign up for their mailings, they'll often send very good coupons. Plus they have a very good return policy (it's like 6 months or even longer, sorry I couldn't find the exact policy on-line).

Osh Kosh (All three outlet centers): If you hit the Osh Kosh Outlet when a sale it going on, you can find tremendous bargains. I bought a couple pairs of overalls for more than 70% off. Osh Kosh overalls never seem to wear out.

Stride Rite Outlet (All three outlet center): Great prices on shoes, especially for kids. You can often get two pairs for the price of one.

Crate and Barrel Outlet (1700 Prince Street Alexandria, VA & Leesburg Corner): Great for gifts or picking up a new set of glasses or dishes. Their prices are often quite good.

So what are your favorite outlets? What are the best deals you've found? Please, do tell…

Craigslist and Freecycle

Another great resource for furniture (and lots of other stuff) is Craigslist where you can find just about anything you are looking for at garage sale prices. I recently purchased a great 1950s dining set with a solid, expandable table with two leaves and eight chairs, for $200. They are perfect for us, much better than anything I found at local stores for many times the price. I ended up recovering the chairs, so that added a bit to the cost, but overall it is a sturdy set that can withstand kids and fits in with our more modern decor.

If you are even less picky and more lucky, sign up for Freecycle in your area. Freecycle is a network of individual groups that thrive on the theory that one person's trash is another's treasure. If you have something (just about anything from paper clips to furniture) that you don't need, but could still be used by someone else, you can post it on the Freecycle group and most likely someone will take it. Likewise, keep your eye on the listing and you might find something you can use from someone else. You are also able to post a wanted ad if you looking for something particular. I've been lucky enough to receive a few great toys for my son and a really cool boomerang shaped coffee table that needed to be refinished, but cleaned up beautifully to grace our living room. Fun stuff!

Looking for Furniture?

I haven't had a chance to visit this place personally, yet. I am kind of glad it's a little bit of a drive or I'd be tempted to stop in nearly every week. C-Mart is a huge store in Joppatowne, MD, just north of Baltimore, that purchases lots of mid-price to exclusive, boutique brand furniture, designer fashions, appliances, and housewares among other things.

The merchandise varies weekly, but their stock is well known for excellent deals on good quality furniture at 50%-90% off. I signed up for their weekly email a few months ago when we were considering a new leather sectional for our living room.  The weekly email and the C-Mart web site show extensive pictures of each shipment, particularly for furniture, so you can do some serious armchair shopping from home to see if the store is worth the drive that week.

We eventually decided to live without the upgrade for now, but even in the few weeks I was watching closely, I saw a couple of shipments of furniture go through the site that had the modern style we were looking for. I defintely would have taken a trip to check them out had I not been afraid I would have returned home with something!