$50 Gift Card Blog Giveaway Win Turns into $161 of School Supplies for OCC Shoeboxes

I have decided to use blog giveaway wins as a way to fill more Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  I spend a little time each day, a few minutes here and there, to enter giveaways for products or gift cards that would work for tucking into a shoebox.  My first win was this $50 Visa Gift Card and two combination locks.

I received them on a Friday and on Saturday I shopped at Dollar General with three $5 off $25 coupons and lots of Hefty coupons.  Their crayons and 10 packs of pens
were on sale for 50 cents each, with the $5/$25 it made them just 40 cents each -- a fantastic price for my area.  The Hefty were $1, just 80 cents with the discount and I had $1/2 coupons bringing them down to 30 cents each.  I had to hit more than one store, or rather my husband did, to get it all as I didn't want to wipe them out.  Thankfully there are several Dollar Generals in out little town.

My $50 win turned into $161 worth of products to tuck into shoe boxes.  Here is the break down (prices include $5/$25 discount):

• 28 boxes of zipper bags -- 30 cents each                               
• 62 packs of crayons-- 40 cents  each                                                         
• 2 pencil sharpeners (needed $1 to get to $25 to use $5/25)    40 cents each       
• 54 pencils -- 4 1/2 cents each  (3 -- 18 packs @ 80 cents each)                             
• 240 pens -- 4 cents each  (24 -- 10 packs @ 40 cents each)

I am anxious to see if I win more items.  I'll keep you posted :-).  

If you'd like to learn how to win on blogs check out my post How To Find and Enter Blog Giveaways for Packing More Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.