Thursday, December 20, 2007

A dollar saved is a dollar earned

Last night was another one of those nights when I sat by the computer around 11Pm and felt as fresh as a cucumer in my fridge ( For those who haven't seen my refrigirated cucumbers they are typically slightly wilted but still fit to be eaten in a salad cut up into small pieces).
So I decided to check my bank account, my email, my facebook ( thank you Moshe for convincing me to join- I have one more excuse to stay up late), baby gap, banana republic, gymboree...And that's when I got stuck.
They had some promotional deal going on. And based on the clock, it just started so all the sizes were still available! How can I possibly bypass an oportunity to buy ( yet another) matching outfits for my daughter and my nieces and matching outfits for daughter and son?!
So my shopping bag quickly filled up to 20-something items. Exciting yet obscene because the box with 20 something items @ my door step will be quite large, hubby would most probably see it first and i'll have a hard time explaining my reasons for buying the stuff.
So I trimmed the shopping bag to high teens. Not bad at all, considering all the bargains they had.
Then I remembered that I have a 20% off coupon to be used online only. The only thing I didn't remember is where I put this coupon...
[As a side note, my desk is the funeral home for all the letters, circulars, periodicals, professional publications, and bills prior to their departure to the recycling bin. However, for some of these items the viewing can last for days, if not weeks. In short, my desk is cluttered.]
I quickly tried to look for my coupon on my desk which I almost cleaned last weekend. I didn't find it. Then I remembered that I went shopping a couple of weeks ago and the coupon may be in the trunk together with my loot which I slowly unload (not to create panic by bringing it all in at once). The only problem was- it was now after 1 AM, I was in pjs, upstairs...
But what the heck, 20% off my high teens items in the shopping bag can buy me another outfit.
So I went downstairs, out to my car ( which was thankfully parked in front of my house), and to the trunk. I got the bag which I had the coupon and then the trunk refused to close. It's done that a few times before but somehow at 1:18 am it seemed more dramatic if not borderline creepy- me standing on an empty street, repeatedly slamming the trunk and it refusing to close...
It closed after what seemed like an eternity -5th attempt.
Then I quitely came back upstairs, opened the bag, searched through all the stuff I almost forgot I bought and DIDN"T SEE THE COUPON!
I took all three bibs, two doggy pocketbooks, 1 pair of pants, 2 gift boxes, and wrappings out of the bag. NO COUPON.
Now I had a tough choice to make. Do I buy the stuff now without the coupon but with the assurance that everything I chose will be mine or do I wait for some time in late morning when I'll be albe to inspect many potential coupon hiding places, hopefull find the coupon, and place the order then ( with the possibility of some of matching-kids-pieces out of my shopping bag).
With uncharacteristic decisiveness I chose the first option. A bit sour about that extra outfit that I won't be able to purchase with my savings that didn't happen, but happy overall.
Now I have about a week to convince hubs that kids should have professional photos taken in matching outfits ( he already knows how much I love my nieces...)

10 comments:

Barb Chansky said...

Way to go, sis! Only you! Plus, you people lecture me on opening Moish's blog at work, but opening yours produces uncontrallable urge to laugh outloud:)

SubWife said...

I say better to laugh out loud than being suspected of uncontrollable urge to view porn at work.

Ookamikun said...

So did you find the coupon?
How come you didn't tell me about the sale? Tell me about baby clothes sales!

That's why I like working from home.

Barb Chansky said...

OK, OK, I concede: laughing is better then naked behinds:)

Ookamikun said...

have a laugh on me, when me and wife read it, we were literally roflmao, for like a minute

http://www.darwinawards.com/legends/legends1998-10.html

Sally Hazel said...

I haven't looked for the coupon ( yet) since I was going away for shabbat and was preoccupied with that.
gymboree.com is the website. They are a bit pricy but have very very cute clothes which always go sale. Plus, they periodically run promotions where you can have 30% off everything, 20% off sale items, something they call gymbucks which you earn and which give you 50% discount in the future, etc, etc, etc. After I said all that, I must post script is by saying that their girls' lines are much cuter than their boys' lines. For boys- childrensplace.com and gap.com are definite runner ups (children's place periodically emails 15% codes though gap is not as generous as frequently).
Of course, when I shop in person, I must be supervised in any children's store because somehow I manage to find more cute things than I'll ever need...

Ookamikun said...

How are the prices compared to Syms?

SubWife said...

Nobody asked me, but I will put my two cents in. In Syms, I find that you can get a good price on children's clothes, but not REALLY good, and selections are very limited. I prefer century where prices are comparable, even better, and selections are much, much better. Also, Syms prices are very much like Children's Place, especially Children's place on sale. So I don't bother going to Syms for children's clothes alone. If i am there, I will check it out, otherwise... Oh yeah, I think coats in syms are in good price and selection. You got to shop around, that's the bottom line. and subscribe to all the email stuff from all stores, they tend to send you stuff just for subscribing.

Sally Hazel said...

I haven't been to syms in a couple of years. I've been to century, burlington coat factory, and tj maxx (all of which carry more or less same selection of kids clothes) and century definitely has the best selection. However, we were discussing online shopping, and i don't think either of these stores have websites (I admit I didn't check). With gymboree and all their promotions you can do quite well with prices- selection for boys, as I've mentioned before can be great or mediocre. Children's place is the next best thing, I think...Ditto for subscribing to mailing lists- that's how I get my children's place and gap coupons and online gymboree promotions:)

Ookamikun said...

Just came back from Syms. We had a $50 off $200 coupon. 4T shirts, 5.99 and 7.99. 4T 2pc, 12.99 and 17.99.