Saving money this holiday season

Don't you find that you spend money without even trying, during this time of year?! Sometimes, I spend money without even leaving the house!! The kids come home with this and that thing to send money in for, from school all the time. It can get overwhelming. Now, factor in Christmas shopping and man, the money flies out of the account!! So... I have been trying to do things like, go to the dollar store more, and going directly to the clearance section in every store. They all have them and you can find some GREAT deals!! you have to go there first and sometimes only go there, skipping the rest of the store. Why pay full price. I have also been studying my grocery circular and circling things i need. I went today to Shop and Save for the thursday save $10 off $50. The cashier actually asked me if I wanted to do 2 separate transactions to save twice...um yeah!! They usually make you leave the store and come back in. I also brought coupons, and only bought things that were on sale or I had a coupon for it. I saved $20 off the bat with the S&S promo, I saved an additional $8 with coupons and saved another $55 by shopping at shop and save and buying the items on sale!!! LOVE it. what a great feeling!!! Both the kids were in dier need for new sneakers, so we went to the mall and headed for the clearance section at a cool store called Jouneys for kids. they have cool skateboarding stuff there, so Chase was all over it! He found the brand he'd been begging me for, which is $59 for a pair of shoes...we found many options to try on at the clearance section for $19.99 same brand!!!! And Brooke found her clearance sneakers for $9.99. Man, this is addicting!! Today I printed off a $5off coupon from herehttp://www.moneywisemoms.com/2009/12/hallmark-gold-crown-5-coupon.html and will couple it with a 40% off coupon on 1item i got in the mail yesterday to get something, for someone for Christmas. Do any of you have any money saving ideas to share with me? It is almost like a game to see how much you can save. Oh yeah, tomorrow, my friend Julie and I are going to a movie for $5 at AMC theatre. They offer movies for only $5 if you go m-f before noon!! I plan on seeing most my movies this way! Don't forget to leave me some more money saving ideas that you have!