At WalMart (where I work), when a certain holiday is over, items are clearanced out for as low as 10 to 25 cents. I save these until the next year. LOL Once school begins, most school supplies, pens, pencils, note pads, sticky notes, etc are clearanced out. Also, seasonal items are marked down to almost nothing so they can make room for the new items. That is where I get a lot of my items I use. If you get used to watching pennies in your regular every day life, you can really pack a secret pal package and still stay under the $$$ limit. I find that searching for the bargains makes the SP swap a lot more fun. When our WalMart carried fabric, I was able to really build my stash by just searching for the bargains every day. When they took our fabric out, I went thru a terrible case of "withdrawal". Survival was touch and go for a while. LOL Good Luck