So, as many of you know, I am super frugal at heart, and have a very hard time saying no to a good deal. I use a ton of coupons while shopping, and cringe at the thought of paying full price for anything. I mean, come on… I cloth diaper… my goal is to save as much money as I can while enjoying our new life here in North Battleford.
Over the past few months, a couple of my friends have been talking about some amazing deals that they got at PBR. I smile and nodded, and pretended to know what they were all talking about, but Tuesday night, I finally asked them what the heck PBR was… and I was informed that it was an auction company in Saskatoon (about 140 km from here) who liquidated primarily new items from Costco and Walmart – new items like customer returns, exchanges, discontinued product, demo/displays, etc. This is nice, quality stuff. They do have a few used items that some members consign, but for the most part, it is new items. My friends usually grab bargain priced produce, and we have been having a field day canning (I will leave that to another post).
So, I found out that there was going to be a live auction Wednesday night. I call up hubby, who immediately says it’s an awesome idea, and he took the afternoon off work and we headed into S-town with the girls.
While the weather was unbearably hot, and the auction lasted 4 hours, we did sneak away with a few nice finds (and a couple first-timer mistakes!). We didn’t stay until the end, so missed out on the food items, but the girls were tired, so… lesson learned – no kids next time.
Without further adieu, here’s what we found! Each items “price paid” includes 10% tax as well as the 10% buyer’s premium. Value is based on Walmart prices, unless otherwise indicated.
Item # 1 – Contact lens solution – Kinda just wanted to get my feet wet to figure out how everything went, but contrary to popular belief, I do wear contacts sometimes. 
Clear Care Contact Solution
Brand is Clear Care – double value pack at 400 ml each. Liquidated due to discontinuation – that being said, being discontinued made it very difficult to find a clear value for this item. I did find a twin-pack of 16 fl. oz for $26.99 on Amazon.com
Value: $26.99
Price I paid: $3.63.
Total saved: $23.63
Percent Discount: 87%
Item #2 – A lot of Body Wash – included 3 bottles of body wash… 2 bottles of 532 ml and 1 bottle of 354 ml. This lot looked like it was put together by the auction company, as I don’t think Aveeno sells 3-packs the way this was packaged.
Aveeno Body Wash
Brand is Aveeno. Total volume of product is 1.418 L. Liquidated due to dissatisfaction with product. The bottles of 532 ml are retail for $9.97 each, and the smaller bottle retails for $7.47.
Value: $24.91
Price I paid: $9.68
Total saved: $15.23
Percent Discount: 61%
Item #3 – This was my first…”ehhh”… purchase. I think I was so excited about my first two that I was swept up with the moment and went a little nuts on this one. I was thinking that there were more single packs of strips (ie: 20+), but there ended up only being 15 in the pack.
Listerine Breath Strips
Brand is Listerine. There are 15 packs of 24 strips each, for a total of 360 strips in the package (well, 359 if you count the one missing). Liquidated due to product being “too strong” (come on now, it’s Listerine!). Three packs are selling for $3.97 each.
Value: $19.85
Price I paid: $16.94
Total saved: $2.91
Percent Discount: 15%
Item #4 – Car air fresheners! We love these. Don’t judge. I know about the whole “they suck for the environment” argument, but let’s face it… with two littles under 3, a duo-poop in the van on a road trip smells horrible. These air fresheners make the drive a little more tolerable while the poop is airing out.
Febreeze Car Vent Clips
Brand is Febreeze. There are 4 air fresheners in the pack (they WERE in packaging, but I had already put the away before remembering to take photos!). Liquidated due to customer return (one of the clips is broken) . Individuals are selling for $4.97 each.
Value: $19.88
Price I paid: $6.05
Total saved: $13.83
Percent Discount: 70%
Item #5 – Pads! You can never have enough pads (unless of course you are using a diva cup, which I have yet to dive into), so I jumped all over this one.
Always Ultra Thin Pads
Brand is Always. There are 88 pads in each box, and I bought 3 boxes. Liquidated due to customer return, reason unknown. Boxes of 16 pads are $3.88, and 88 pads would be 5.5 of those packs. That would be $21.34 per box, and I bought 3.
Value: $64.02
Price I paid: $18.15
Total saved: $45.87
Percent Discount: 72%
Item #6 – Dishwasher tablets – Now, small confession, I did purchase this for Jana, and not myself, but I still think it was a pretty awesome deal.
Cascade Dishwasher Pods
Brand is Cascade. There are 115 pods in the box. Liquidated due to box size being discontinued (again, making pricing difficult). Boxes of 90 pods are $17.47, which is $0.194 each, so for 115, that would be $22.31.
Value: $22.31
Price I paid: $9.68
Total saved: $12.63
Percent Discount: 57%
Item #7 – This was my second opps. Rubber gloves! I thought the auctioneer said they were medium-sized ziplocs, not medium-sized gloves… so I bought 2, and realized my error after the fact.
Kleenguard Rubber Gloves
Brand is Cascade. There are 150 gloves in the box. I bought 2 boxes. As they are unavailable at Walmart, I priced them at Home Depot, and they are $13.50 for 100, which is $0.135 each. Based on 150, it would be $20.25 each.
Value: $40.50
Price I paid: $12.10
Total saved: $28.40
Percent Discount: 70%
Item #8 – This was something that looked neat and had a very low bid. I don’t know if I will ever use it, but it has the potential to be a great house-warming gift!
Emulstir Set Dressing and Marinade Maker
Brand is Emulstir. The only place I can find this available is on Amazon for $29.22 each, and this is a two pack. Awesome or what?!
Value: $58.44
Price I paid: $3.63
Total saved: $54.81
Percent Discount: 94%
It was at this point that we decided to take a small break. Here is a quick summary of what we bought together during the first half of the auction:
Value: $279.90
Price I paid: $79.86
Total saved: $200.04
Percent Discount: 71.4%
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