Bargain Hunter

February 19, 2011

Woo Hoo! It's Saturday! Hubs is taking the boys to some "hunting convention" something or other this afternoon and so it looks as though the girls and I will be forced to go shopping. I know, right? How terrible! Oh well, I guess we should make the best of it. Spring IS on the way, after all, and my girls have got to have clothes! I'd much rather be home with my steam cleaner, scrubbing baseboards, but, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do. We have to make sacrifices for our kids from time to time.

Seriously. I love to shop- but, not just any shopping will do! I must BARGAIN SHOP! I don't care how much money you have or you don't have, the thrill of getting a "good deal" has got to be just as thrilling as any cocaine high. (Okay, so, I'm guessing here. Tylenol is my "drug of choice". I know, I'm such a bad girl.)

Normally, I post this on the "GoodWill Hunting" page, but today, I thought that I would show you a few of my "Goodwill" finds here. I got all of the following for about $40. (I also got Drake another shirt- a football jersey kind of shirt, but, he loved it so much that he snuck it out of the laundry and wore it to bed last night.)

Jeans from Linited Too with the tags still on for Karli!

The sweater and the skirt are for Karli, both from Limited Too!

This is a coat for Brant. It's Old Navy. The picture does it no justice. It is really cute!

The shirt is from Gymboree for Brant. I also found him a practice jersey for football in the fall.

The shirt is Osh Kosh and the shorts are Children's Place. Both are for Drake.

A little something for Momma.

Oh what will I do with this little item?

We are a one income family of six. We have our fair share of hard times. But, it makes me feel good to be able to save my family money on things we need wherever I can. And I just can't see paying $48.90 on a pair of jeans for myself when I can get a perfectly good pair for $4.89. Really. 

When I first started shopping at Goodwill, it took me a long time before I actually bought anything. I would walk into the store and just walk around aimlessly. Once I finally got accustomed to the store and how much things cost and where everything was, I really began to enjoy digging through the stuff to find that hidden treasure! I feel like I've won the jackpot every time I find something with the tags still on (like the jeans I bought for Karli from Limited Too). I've even bought furniture there. When I was pregnant with Aubree I knew that we'd need a dresser for her things. Well, I found one with beautiful lines and details for $40! I took it home and Freddie sanded it and painted it for me and I absolutely love it! It served double duty as a changing table, too, when she was a baby.

A few weeks ago, I saw a program on TV about "extreme couponing" (is that a word?) and I am so intrigued by it. I remember when I was a kid, my grandfather would do the whole coupon/rebate thing and he probably actually made money doing it! He, at least, got a whole lot of free stuff. And there isn't much that I like better than free. I don't know that I have the time and energy to get as deep into it as he did, but, I really want to explore the "coupon" option. I cannot imagine how it would feel to walk out of WalMart (or wherever) with $200 worth of groceries and only have spent a fraction ($50?) of that. Some of the women on that program would have something like a $600 total bill and only pay $20 or something crazy like that! Their garage's looked like a warehouse! No joke! They could easily live off of what they have for months!

So, what do you think about the whole "buy used and save the difference" philosophy? I'd love to hear about any of your "special finds and great deals". Leave me a comment if you care to share! We could all use some inspiration!


"She watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night." Proverbs 31:18