Saved Almost 75% for OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 11/11/2017

While our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child are pretty much packed for this year, I'm already getting started preparing for next year, so I took advantage of Dollar General's Buy 1 Get 1 Free Hotwheels/Matchbox deal.  Not as good as B1G2 last year, so I didn't buy too many in case they do that deal, later.  I bought 30, enough to use the $3 off $15 coupon I'd gotten for taking a survey...but for some reason it only took $1.94 off...still a savings.  I tried to pick as many different kinds as possible, also colorful ones.

I got some samples from MDSupplies & Service's special Shoebox Packer's order form.  I've been doing some reviews (you can check them out here)  of their products, and any extras left over after I test them, I've been able to include in my boxes.  We'll start using the toothbrushes soon.  As you may have seen on my other toothbrush reviews, I like to try them a while to see how they hold up.

I picked up this board book for a 2-4 box.

I'm planning a peacock themed box next year, so was excited to find this mask on clearance!  It also got me the survey I took for the $3/$15 I mentioned earlier.

I found an $1 off 2 packs of Dial coupon in a newspaper insert, so I used it at Dollar Tree to get 6 bars of soap for $1!

Finally, my order from Oriental Trading Company came in...this is especially exciting as it only took $3.23 of my shoebox budget!!  Had a promotional gift card from a mailing, plus a couple things on clearance.  Then I waited for a free shipping code  Yay for deals to put more smiles on kid's faces!  I found this original instructions for Barrel of Monkeys...although my understanding is these off-brand have flatter arms and may not work as well, I may put the instructions in with some: https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/BarrelofMonkeys.PDF

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $20.12

That's almost 75% off retail due to:
Spent from gift cards earned, won online, promotional in mail: $20
Saved with coupons: $2.94 (plus free shipping from OT)
Saved with sales: $15
Saved with clearance: $12

Earn Double Cash Back for Online Shopping thru Swagbucks 2017 Holiday Sale

We often find it convenient to shop online for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes as well as for ourselves.  By going thru a cash-back site we can have more money to pack more shoeboxes.  One of the places we use is Swagbucks.  A current promotion at Swagbucks is their offering of double cash back at dozens of different stores (like Macy's, Kohls and Ebay) during their 2017 Holiday Sale. Just go to this page to see all of the deals available and get the jump on your holiday shopping while earning cash back for shoebox packing (or shipping).

In order to take advantage of the cash back you have to have a Swagbucks account--it's free and easy to sign up.  Just create your Swagbucks account when prompted

Organization of Crafting Wish Lists for 2018 Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

Sarah has done such a great job shopping the last couple of years for our shoeboxes that we have packed more than expected.  If this is to continue for the 2018 Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing year I need to get my crafting in full gear!  I decided to try to get super organized so I can sew hundreds of things for our shoeboxes for 2018.  Thankfully I have 85% of what I need to craft with.  I will need to buy some supplies, but I have a big chunk of it on hand.

My 2 to 4 year old OCC shoeobxes awaiting rubber bands.

As we've shared before, we have four packers in our family and we have assigned one age to each person.  I do the 2 to 4 year old girl shoeboxes, Sarah does the 10 to 14 year old girls, my husband does the 10 to 14 year old boys and his cousin (who is more like a sister to him and an aunt to Sarah) is in charge of the 2 to 4 year old boys.  I sent an email asking for their wishlist for hand made items for their

OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 11/4/2017

We got some great donations this week!  First some great dresses to finish up our 2-4 girl boxes!

Then some friends were cleaning out some of their stash and we got some fun stuff-trim, and some organza bags that we'd just been saying we needed!

Organizing Hat Crocheting Supplies for Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Packing Party

First hats Elizabeth has made towards the 200 shoebox packing party.  She uses Aunt Ida's hat pattern from Joy with Purpose.

My oldest daughter is crocheting hats for a new OCC packing party Sarah has been invited to help host.  The goal is to collect enough stuff for 200 boxes.  They are trying to do it all thru donations and hope to even gather extras to donate as fillers.  We will donate much of our leftover stockpile from this year's shoebox packing, but Elizabeth wanted to do something more and decided to see how many hats she can

Beginning with Stuffies, Babies & Shoeboxes ~ Cheryl's 2018 OCC Shoebox Packing Report for October

I have finished packing my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for the 2017 packing season except for needing sew some skirts to include.  So I am beginning to move on to 2018 shoeboxes.

One of my shoeboxes for 2017.

I am trying something a little different for my Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing this year and will share a report of my progress with you each month.  I am in charge of our family's 2 to 4 year old girl shoeboxes and I hope to work on