A dear friend of mine is the most bargain savvy person I know. She always has a killer wardrobe of designers and trends, and prides herself on never buying anything unless it is at least 70 percent off.

Recently she posted on Facebook the lesson of teaching her 13-year-old daughter about the value of a dollar. She gave her one hundred dollars with which she had to do all her back to school clothes shopping. Her daughter went to clearance racks at popular tween stores, the most expensive first, and came away with 4 pairs of jeans, six "polo" shirts, a fleece, a sweater, two pairs of shoes, two pairs of earrings and a soft pretzel. I couldn't believe it and thus I started researching how to get the best bargains not only for clothes, but also for my household and lifestyle.

I am sure we have all heard of extreme couponing and tales of people getting $400 worth of groceries for sixty-nine cents, but how much of that is made up of bottles of shampoo and conditioner in one, enough cake mix to celebrate your birthday every day for the next millennium and 50 liters of generic orange soda? Sure, when bargain hunting starts to look like hoarding and one has to build an entire dwelling for all of their extra toothpaste, it might be considered a little over the top and an intervention may need to be planned.

I know that I don't have the patience to bring a binder of coupons to the grocery store, but everyone should at least sign up for the free membership cards and utilize the store discounts. To not do so is like walking over a twenty-dollar bill in the parking lot and then just rolling over it with your cart. The grocery store I frequent also gives you discounts on gas from earning points on your grocery bills. Even 10 cents off per gallon adds up over a year.

Of course we live in the Groupon era where one can always get bargains on things like dining, vacations, oil changes, massages and pedicures. What a great way for anyone to get a discount as well as bringing in new consumers to business owners. If you haven't looked it up, I highly recommend it.

I love a designer piece like no one else, but I also love Target (infer French accent) tee shirts and trendy basics. Why not? Target also does ridiculous clearance sales and keeps discounting until the products are gone rather than bringing them back next season. It can be time consuming, but how worth it is it when you sport a look you paid under five dollars for and no one else knows it or take a fresh twenty five cent linen tea towel as hostess gift around a bottle of wine?

How many times have you needed to wear something and rushed it to the dry cleaners for expedited service? I, for one, have been thankful that they will clean my hunt coat covered in mud with same day service but that really isn't economical to do consistently. Almost every dry cleaner has a twofer day and all it takes is a little planning to work the system.

And last but not least, save your spare change in a jar. What literally can just start as pennies, can add up for something special. My father once did that for a year and saved enough for a week skiing in Aspen using his frequent flyer miles for free airfare.

So treasure hunters, roll up your sleeves and make the most out of your dollars. It is rewarding, fun and worth it.