Epic day of shopping yesterday

Mundane? Check
Pointless? You bet

After the emotionally exhausting day I put in Thursday (see http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=492528, I was desperately in need of some retail therapy! But I’m a cheap bitch, so great deals really cheer me up!

To begin with, I was in Wal Mart, and I saw the new Stephen King book on sale. My hubby had wanted to buy it for me for my birthday (which was last Monday), but it hadn’t been released yet. So I called him on his cell, and told him I was such a good wife, that I would buy him the book to give to me. He laughed, and said fine. Score number one.

Then my travels took me to the Goodwill. I’ve lost about 140lbs over the past couple of years, and have yet to have tummy tuck, etc. so my size is not yet stable. For this reason, I’m hesitant to spend “real” money on new clothes. So, to the Goodwill to try and round out my fall/winter wardrobe. Coldwater Creek (I am pushing 50!) is one of my fave clothing companies, but their stuff is a little spendy (although I’ve warned hubby once my size is stable, I’m definitely filling my wardrobe there!). I found a Coldwater Creek embellished sweater, in great condition, at the Goodwill for three freakin’ bucks! And a pair of 60% wool trousers from The Gap for $6.00! I also got a pair of new jeans and two other sweaters, but the two I’ve already mentioned were my “finds” of the day. Scores number 2 and 3.

Two weeks ago, my 17YO daughter and I were in Gabriel Bros. (a discount department store that sells factory seconds, discontinued styles, etc) and my daughter found a London Fog trench coat with a winter weight lining that she loved, for $40.00. But for a variety of reasons, cash flow was tight that week, so I told her she’d just have to wait until next pay day and hope it was still there. After I left Goodwill, Gabe’s was just up the street, so I decided to go see if they still had the trench. Not only did they have it, but it was on sale for $25.00! We looked it up online, and similar styles in this year’s catalog are going for about $120.00!!! Score number 4! (In retrospect, my entire Goodwill purchase, plus the trench coat at Gabe’s cost about what just my sweater would retail for new at Coldwater Creek!)

All this was made sweeter by the way I screwed with my daughter when she got home from college. I put on my “serious” face and said “I heard Gabe’s winter coats were on sale, so I stopped in to check on your London Fog; but you know they only had two when we were in there”
Her face fell (as I was sure it would) and she said “They sold out, didn’t they?”
I made my face even more :frowning: and said "Yeah, they sold out. . . because I bought the last one!
At which point, she literally started jumping up and down saying “I love you, I love you! I love you! I hate you! I love you!”

Made even sweeter by the fact that her boyfriend was there to witness the whole thing. . .

All in all, given the day I put in on Thursday, Friday was a much needed holiday of sorts!

Wait… what? The new King is out?

brb

:slight_smile: Shopping is fun, I admit–but bargains are the best!

Hooray for shopping bargains!

I’m going shopping tomorrow because I realized that I have a total of 3 long-sleeved shirts. Period. Hope I’ll be as lucky as you!

Whoa! norinew, you done good. And you sure as hell deserved it!

Dontcha love Gabe’s?

Bargains are always the best! I took my niece and nephew out the other day, and they couldn’t decide where to go. Then I remembered Mervyn’s is going out of business, so we went there. I got a pair of forest green cargo pants for half off that I love greatly.

In fact I better throw them in the wash so I can wear 'em to the Dopefest tonight!

Just After Sunset, a collection of short stories. I’m waiting for mine to arrive from the Stephen King Library.

Oh, I love a bargain! I got a London Fog trenchcoat for $15 at a consignment shop last fall.

I’m your age and I’ve gotten some great deals at their outlet stores. My favorite one was getting a $240 suede jacket for $50 because they were all marked with the wrong sizes. It’s too bad that you don’t live closer because I lost over 100 lbs too but didn’t have the self control not to buy new clothes all the time. I have a closet full of Coldwater Creek and Jones New York silk dresses in sizes 8 and 10, some of which have never been worn and a ton of other dressy clothes as well. Now that I’ve retired I have even less need for them than I did before and it would be fun to let someone go hunting in my closet.

I do, I do! Last year during a particularly tough financial period, I earned enough money to buy our groceries for about three months, because I found Spanx foundation garments for 99 cents each at Gabe’s and bought a ton of them and re-sold them on eBay! :cool:

Wow, that rocks! Unfortunately, it wouldn’t do us any good even if we did live closer! I went from a size 32 to a 16! (Although admittedly, the plastics I need will probably take me down to about a 12).

We scored more epic bargains tonight! I found out last week that Pfaltzgraff is closing all of its brick n’ mortar stores (they’ll still have a web presence) and everything in their outlet store about an hour from here was 40%-60% off. So hubby and I planned to go this evening, hunt for some Thanksgiving type supplies. When we got there, we found out that today and tomorrow only, everything was an additional 40% off! We got: a Mikasa decanter set (lead crystal decanter and four matching “on the rocks” glasses), a groovy wooden table-top wine rack, great corkscrew, kitchen rug, new heavy-weight flatwear in service for 12 (!), 8 wine glasses that will go beautifully with my special occasion dishes, a candle holder for my MIL for Christmas (she collects them), a pack of five pairs of assorted kitchen shears, two new good-quality pans, a griddle, two wine bottle stoppers (wine is kind of a hobby of mine; hubby prefers whiskey, and even now the decanter is holding some Wild Turkey Rare Breed), and a couple of other little odds and ends. Total bill? $168.00!!

However, I think I’ve put enough of a dent in the bank account for this pay period! The rest of my shopping for the next couple of weeks will be strictly of the “necessities” variety! :wink:

That’s some good shopping you done there, girlfriend!

I’ve been getting completely carried away with saving on necessities, of all things. Couponing and figuring out the puzzling savings schemes of different stores, it’s like a giant game of how low can it go. I’m averaging about 50% retail on grocery and drugstore stuff, and stockpiling everywhere on stuff I can’t pass up when it’s free.

All the grown-up neicephews are getting personal care gift baskets this Christmas, just to make room. We also donate goods to our local VA hospital, providing a handy excuse for my retail mania.