Tax Free Weekend...Yeah!

This past weekend was MA's tax-free weekend. Usually us Bay-Staters pay 5% on purchases (on top of excise-tax, smokers pay a HUGE tax, all kinds of home related taxes and what ever else tax-achussetts government decides they want to tax). It may not add up to hundreds of dollars on saving for large items, but every dollar saved is a dollar in my pocket!

Our tax savings terms were for this year:

"The Act provides that the sales tax holiday will occur on August 16 and 17, 2008 and on those days, non-business sales at retail of single items of tangible personal property costing $2,500 or less are exempt from sales and use taxes, subject to certain exclusions. The following do not qualify for the sales tax holiday exemption and remain subject to tax: all motor vehicles, motorboats, meals, telecommunications services, gas, steam, electricity, tobacco products and any single item whose price is in excess of $2,500."

When we found out it was tax-free weekend, one thing popped in my mind.....a new shed! I've been scooping out shed's at the home depot since spring, but haven't really convinced myself on getting one, until now. We have one in our yard, but its getting really cramped with all kinds of yard tools, car parts/tools, bikes, and anything else that was stored in there that we cannot find.

What the shed looks like now

We bought one to assemble (next weekend) and its mostly out of heavy duty plastic with a metal frame. We also purchased some patio stone slabs to put underneath it so it has something other the the ground to rest on. The floor of the shed is tough plastic too. I'll share our purchasing and prep photos on my wordless Wednesday this week.

What the shed SHOULD look like next weekend

Then we decided to buy Zack his school supplies. He was with us for the weekend, so it was a great time for us to head to Staples and let him pick the stuff out instead of us guessing on what he would like.

Yeah, we had to convince him that he doesn't need 6 book socks (what ever happened to the old paper bag covers anyway) and 2 packs of 5 highlights (I let him get the fanciest out of the two) and that he doesn't need dozens of pens. Other then those little challenges, it was fun to see him pick out what he needs to store inside his desk. He's going to be one prepared 5th grader!

I {heart} staples!

After school shopping, there was one more big purchase pending and my mom & I decided to take care of it this afternoon (after Zack left). My cousin has a baby-shower coming up in a few weeks and it was good timing for the tax-free weekend so we could save some dough on shopping for her. We ended up purchasing a bundle of cute things off of her registry (I'll share a picture when its all put together).

I say the hardest things was to figure out what to buy for her. But we definitely hooked them up! We decided on a cloth hamper and its going to be filled with diapers, wipes, some of the crib sheets, swaddle blankets, books, Tigger bathrobe and booties and a bath toy.

Isn't this the cutest thing ever?

I don't know the exact amount we saved, but on the shed and stones alone we saved over $40. I say if we saved over $50, its a great deal! I can't wait until next year!