Some great after-Christmas deals

Understand, I am not one who rushes to the stores the day after Christmas to shop the clearance sales. I know all too well that those 50% off prices will, in a week or two, become 75% off prices, and then, sometimes even 90% off a bit later. So my tendency is to wait a couple of weeks.

But this year, I had to go grocery shopping the day after Christmas. We do the shopping for my elderly parents and ordinarily go on Thursday nights. Well, that was out this year, with stores closing early on Christmas Eve, and so was Friday night... in fact, the entire week was too full to do the shopping on a different day. So, Saturday it was (and I make it a rule never to grocery shop on Saturday! Too busy!), so we went about 7:30 a.m.

I barely glanced at the clearance stuff in Walmart, though we did eyeball the fake trees with an eye to getting one later if they go to 90% off. My hubby did buy some clearance candy.

We unexpectedly had to pick up a prescription for my dad at the second store, and had to wait for it. So, we walked over to Marshalls. And that is where I found the wonderful deals. Impulse buying for sure, but such fun for only $7.96!

First I found some terrific Christmas coffee on clearance for only 2.49 a bag.

I bought 2 bags. One was hazelnut, and the other a cinnamon-hazelnut blend called Christmas Blend, I think. We sampled one of them and it is wonderful! Then I froze them for later use.

Then there was this cute little glittery house for only 99¢!

It doesn't look exactly like the others I have, but I couldn't resist. I want to make some of these, but if I can add one to my collection for pennies, I will, of course.

I love that the brand is the old-timey Shiny Brite. This is the bottom of the house.

And then there was a much larger glittery house.

It reminds me of a church, although there is no steeple. This was only $1.99, so you see there was no way I could resist getting this one, too.

In other terrific buys, I noticed that our local Hannaford supermarket had the Almond Bark (confection coating) in with its Christmas clearance merchandise. I bought 2 packages of the white chocolate coating at 50% off. This week it is 75% off, so I got some of the dark chocolate as well. This coating has a 2-year shelf life, so it will keep awhile. And actually, wouldn't it be great to use in making candy for Valentine's Day and Easter?

It's so much fun to get a good deal, especially on something you can really use!