A Day Full of Errands (Money Lessons Included)

Yesterday we did what we often do about once a week and that is to group all of our errands together and knock them off all at once.  This not only saves money on gas but also time.  Here's what we did:

• We started bright and early by being the first people at Great Clips when they opened in the morning.  I had fished out two coupons from the "junk mail" that we received a couple of weeks back so hubby and I each paid $6.95 for our haircuts with the coupons.
• After showering the cut hair off we then went to Walmart where I picked up hair color for $6.95 (this saves me a ton of money over paying a salon to color my hair).
• Next we hit the Dollar Store and picked up everything from snacks to vegetables to a notebook for me (I always carry a notebook with me for to do lists, story ideas, etc).
• Then we headed off down the street and stopped by the library where hubby picked up a dozen movies and I picked up a couple of books (free is a very good price!).
• In the middle of our errands we stopped by Del Taco and had a quick lunch ($3.98 for both of us to have two tacos each).
• Next we went to TJ Maxx.  I have a $25 gift card to spend at this store but everything there seemed so expensive and I didn't find anything that I really really wanted so I decided to save the gift card for a later date.
• Then is was on to the Goodwill.  This place was a zoo!  It was packed with people and you could hardly get through the aisles.  I asked a lady who worked there if it was always like this and she said "it's senior Wednesday" which I guess meant that yes, it is always busy on senior Wednesday.  Fortunately hubby is a senior so we picked up a bunch of stuff (a bunch of clothes for me, a cover for our futon, two framed picture for our future kitchen and some organizer bins) for a grand total of $30!
• Heading back home we stopped by one of our favorite stores, Dollar General, and picked up some groceries,  Fortunately we got there at just the right time and all of their chicken and pork was half off so we stocked up on meat as well as some other items, including a super tasty watermelon.  Buying food here is MUCH cheaper than at a regular grocery store.
• Finally, our last stop was at the mortgage company where we signed some loan documents for our new house.  We got an unfortunate surprise in that we had to hand over $450 for the appraisal and then were informed that we would need to pay around $1300 additional for closing costs.  We weren't expecting either of these fees because the last time we bought a house all of these fees were paid for by the seller which, because this is a bank owned house, isn't happening this time.  Bummer.

So that's a typical day of errands for us.  We try to save money on everything from shopping sales to using coupons to hitting up the library for free entertainment.