Nifty & Thrifty Find's

[Turtle_lover]

Wow ...so many good ideas :) I went go Goodwill as well and found my Formal gown for $7 (which I thought was amazing) and am getting a cocktail dress from a past cruiser...people sure can be wonderful :D

[Cru1s1ng2009]

Got this for $12.50 dor dd

http://www.debshops.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11532434&cp=3370389.11668245

 

 

 

And a dress very similar to this with tank straps and sequins for $6!!!!

 

http://fashionbug.lanebryant.com/dresses/little-black-dress/tiered-chiffon-dress/15150c5047p98146/index.pro?Mcatn=Little+Black+Dress&Mcatpn=Dresses&Mcatg=category_root&Mcatp=cat_15150%401&Mcat=5047%401

 

I love me some me! JK

[GweninTX]

Went to the Dollar Tree yesterday after being inspired by reading this thread. Found the best lightweight plastic shower caddy that has two really good suction cups on it to hold my razor and shampoo in the TINY showers on Princess. Clear lucite and will not weigh a thing in my luggage. I also found a huge bottle of hand sanitizer. They also had packages of 3 - 3 oz travel bottles so I can put my own shampoo and conditioner in them. Much cheaper and same quality as a package I saw at the container store for $6.00. I also bought a package of magnetic clips to use to hang up our daily patter in the room - 3 really nice clips in the package and strong magnets. Also bought a big package of old fashioned clothes pins. Small roll of duct tape also! If you need medicines in small sizes for your cruise they had almost anything you could want or need! It was a good day at the Dollar Tree! ;)

[ourcruise]

There is alot of good stuff here. I am subscribing to this post.

Jen

[Li'lImp]

After reading another thread about ideas for celebrating an anniversary on-board, I decided to try and find some "flameless" LED candles for our upcoming anniversary cruise. Today I found 3" wax LED candles for $3 each at our local Big Lots store. I bought three, figuring I'd use one as a bathroom night light and the other two in the cabin or maybe on the balcony.

[bjdamascus]

The coupon books are now dated, so you can't use them on another cruise... that stinks! I used to "save" many of the coupons for future cruises. Oh well!

[bjdamascus]

Turtle lover.... I just discovered a Good Will store not too far from home a couple weeks ago. As I've dropped 60 lbs in the last year (HURRAY HURRAY - KUDOS TO WEIGHT WATCHERS!), I've been slowly replacing my wardrobe. I bought about 5 tops, two pair of shorts and a pair of pants - all for less than $30! If you get their "club card" (not a credit card), you automatically get an additional discount - SWEET!

[APB513]

Turtle lover.... I just discovered a Good Will store not too far from home a couple weeks ago. As I've dropped 60 lbs in the last year (HURRAY HURRAY - KUDOS TO WEIGHT WATCHERS!), I've been slowly replacing my wardrobe. I bought about 5 tops, two pair of shorts and a pair of pants - all for less than $30! If you get their "club card" (not a credit card), you automatically get an additional discount - SWEET!

 

Congrats on your weight loss!!

[Gone_Again]

I buy the fold-able net laundry hampers from the dollar store to take with me on every cruise. In a small closet, there isnt much room for a pile of dity clothes, or any drawer space left over to put it in.

 

Plus, I can easily pick out things that I want to hand wash, dry, and wear again.

[GweninTX]

Office Depot has a great price on a really nice small magnetic hiteboard perfect for cruising! It is 8.5" X 11" and has a magnrtic pen and 2 extra magnets for paper notes. It is normally $10 and is on sale for $3 this week! I picked one up to put on our cabin door for our upcoming cruise to stay connected to our other friends on the same cruise!

[APB513]

Dollar Tree also has magnetic dry erase boards that come with a marker with an eraser.

 

They have two sizes - 8 1/2 in by 11 in and the second size is smaller (I don't remember the exact size).

 

They were located in the Back to School section of the store.

[Irishvisions]

Dollar Tree and similar stores sell plastic hooded rain ponchos one or two per pack for $1 (obviously). These are GREAT for travel, outdoor concerts, any outdoor events. Much more convenient that hauling around a raincoat, umbrella, etc., and they can just be thrown away when you are done (no dealing with a drippy umbrella or damp coat). Lightweight and take up very littel space in the luggage. I'm throwing in several for our Canada cruise in June.

We used these once during a rainstorm at a theme park and people were constantly stopping to ask where they could buy one. We proudly told them we'd bought them at the dollar store and brought them along. And we noticed the gift shop was selling disposable ponchos for $15.

 

Excellent suggestion. We do the same thing and have had the same sort of response when the rain started pouring and everyone was running around paying top dollar for disposable ponchos.

[Irishvisions]

Office Depot has a great price on a really nice small magnetic hiteboard perfect for cruising! It is 8.5" X 11" and has a magnrtic pen and 2 extra magnets for paper notes. It is normally $10 and is on sale for $3 this week! I picked one up to put on our cabin door for our upcoming cruise to stay connected to our other friends on the same cruise!

 

Are the cabin doors metal? I didn't think they were...but if they are, this is a great idea! Especially if you're traveling with other people.

[KandCsailing]

We just bought some new hard luggage before our last cruise and I went to the dollar store and bought a pack of removable wall stickers to decorate them to make them stand out from any similar bags. They stayed on for 2 flights, the cruise porters and 2 rental cars and if they came off they wouldn't hurt anyone else's bags and I stuck a couple to our cabin door. All I lost was one frog leg. Here they are back at home, front and back.

[APB513]

Are the cabin doors metal? I didn't think they were...but if they are, this is a great idea! Especially if you're traveling with other people.

 

Yes the cabin doors are metal.

[montekat]

Yes the cabin doors are metal.

Yes, the cabin doors are metal, but not all magnets stick well. It may be the alloy they make the doors out of, the paint they are covered in, or some other reason. I have found that using the larger magnetic sheets work best. Some sheets have an adhesive backing to which you can attach printed material such as pictures, etc. Others can be fed directly into a printer to make a magnetic poster, etc.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

A few folks on this thread have asked about the "cruise themed music" CD's that I found at the Dollar Store last year. We'll they're back!!!! I saw them yesterday and they had a huge selection. They are titled Luau Music, Caribbean Music, Fiesta Music, Margarita Party Music etc...... They were located in the automotive asile and next to where they sell the CD cases & earbuds. This year, they were not in the plastic CD cases but in a paper sleve and hanging up on a hook display.

 

Good luck to all that are looking for a CD that has cruise inspired music. These CDs are very similar to the mood music that you see in Target or Walmart, where you get to press the selection and hear a little bit before you buy. However these are $1 as opposed to $11.00 at Target. Gotta-luv-a-bargain. :)

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Hello...I totally want to be subscribed to your link....so if you do emails on weekly stuff...or what is the deal of the week...please email me Lbullard@hotmail.com even on regular things too.

 

I think this time I am trying to find out if folks don't want their coupon books that they receive on board...we are going on a Royal Cruise and they give coupon books....I would love to get my hands on some extra or different ones. I also like the idea of Target and getting the liquid detergent to wash out underware and such in the sink I find that the powder does not work as well....happy savings. Lynn

 

 

 

Here is a link to " Dollar-Store Style" where you can also sign up for the montly newsletter.

Some of the stuff and ideas are kind of cheesy but it does give some interesting ideas. http://www.dollarstorestyle.com/

Edited August 13, 2011 by Hoosiercouple

[Turtle_lover]

Turtle lover.... I just discovered a Good Will store not too far from home a couple weeks ago. As I've dropped 60 lbs in the last year (HURRAY HURRAY - KUDOS TO WEIGHT WATCHERS!), I've been slowly replacing my wardrobe. I bought about 5 tops, two pair of shorts and a pair of pants - all for less than $30! If you get their "club card" (not a credit card), you automatically get an additional discount - SWEET!

*SMILES*

 

Same here! I spent $42.00 and got about 7 shirts, and one dress! I also got one of my formal gowns at another store for $6.00 and a purse to match for free! You just cant beat that....

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Hello fellow crusiers, My name is Cari, I am 47 yrs young, and live in the state of Indiana. My BF Rick (51 yrs young) and I are going on our very first cruise in Oct. on the CCL Legend. We booked this past January and have been OCD about getting into the crusing state of mind ever since. We love to bargain hunt, go to flea markets, yard sales, you name it we're there. We have come across some great finds.

I am also well known with my friends for the Find-of -the-week. They say, " So Cari, what's the must have find this week? " This got me to thinking that we should have a thread here on CC to help share in the excitment of finding that really great bargain item that some others may want or need to get " cruise-ready". So that is what I want to share with the rest of my cruise buddies out there. Feel free to join in the money saving fun too....

 

Todays finds are 2 CD's $1.00 each from the Dollar-Tree. They each have a themed set of songs that are sure to put you in the mood-to-cruise.

The first title is : SPICY party music, all themed towards Caribbean songs. some titles on the CD are; Hot Hot Hot, Caribbean Queen, Montego Bay, I like it like that, Mexican Hot Dance, Calypso Concho, Havana Days, La Bamba, Smooth, Macarena, and others sure to make you NOT sit still. The second CD is title is Tiki-Tiki party, lots of Hawaiian, luau type music. All I need now is a fruity drink with a paper umbrella. :D I found both of these CD's in the Auto parts section of Dollar-Tree. (of all asiles for it to be in, really! Go Figure) I have played both CD's and they are in perfect listening order. No seconds or scratches.

 

Does anyone else have any nifty & thrifty finds that are related to cruising that you may want to share?

 

Until next time........ Have a nifty day. Cari & Rick

At the dollar stores you can get a sign for your cabin door

[AmativeDame]

When I was searching for new luggage I saw a lot of those luggage tags with sayings like "this is not your bag!" in a lot of the online stores.

 

I was in the dollar tree (louisville, KY) this weekend and up front they have a couple dozen of the same tags! If you like the "this is not your bag", "hands off!" & "I am not yours!" type tags this could be a neat find. They are not the international traveler brand tags but I bought two since I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a bright luggage tag. They seem to be pretty good quality and this particular brand is selling for $7-8 on some other sites.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

When I was searching for new luggage I saw a lot of those luggage tags with sayings like "this is not your bag!" in a lot of the online stores.

 

I was in the dollar tree (louisville, KY) this weekend and up front they have a couple dozen of the same tags! If you like the "this is not your bag", "hands off!" & "I am not yours!" type tags this could be a neat find. They are not the international traveler brand tags but I bought two since I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a bright luggage tag. They seem to be pretty good quality and this particular brand is selling for $7-8 on some other sites.

 

 

The Dollar Tree Stores here in North Central Indiana has those tags too. They are really cute. I had no idea that they could retail for as much as $8.

[Sunebeach]

Dollar tree also has battery operated 'candles' that I used on my last cruise celebrating our 25th anniversary...and they make great night lights for trips to the bathroom:D. I also found tiny suction hooks to hold stuff, bathroom stuff/camera up and handy [you just never know what they can be used for...and they are so small they take up no room at all]. I also found downey wrinkle releaser in a pump spray bottle [samlple size] so I don't have to worry about irons that they wont let you bring on board.

Small cans of lysol for bathrooms [i like to sanitize everything...no norovirus to ruin my trip] And of course those cute tropical themed decorations for the room and door. I used a cute colorful wind sock on our balcony the last cruise and it was cool to be able to spot our cabin when we were in port, and our kids could spot us on the port webcams as we set sail...without them! lol!!!:eek:

[jnc411]

I buy the fold-able net laundry hampers from the dollar store to take with me on every cruise. In a small closet, there isnt much room for a pile of dity clothes, or any drawer space left over to put it in.

 

Plus, I can easily pick out things that I want to hand wash, dry, and wear again.

 

Hi , I gave my fold out net hamper to one of my kids , and now I can't find another one at the Dollar Tree or 99 cents store. What dollar store did you get yours at ?? Thanks

Cori

[DoubleAA]

My Dentist keeps bowls of sample sized toothpaste and floss available.I always pick up a couple of each for travelling.

I have a couple of the "Dollar Tree ponchos" as well!! Never had to use them,but I feel better having them along.

Since we usually cruise in Oct,I try to postpone shopping until summer clothes go on the clearance racks.I just picked up a pair of Tommy Hilfiger denim shorts for $5 at Macy's!