Scenes from a Mall

Thanks to our requisite thriftiness, I don't think I've set foot in a shopping mall in well over a year. Armed with a handy dandy e-mail coupon from New York & Company and a need for better fitting jeans (I've become quite the droopy drawered lady since rediscovering running!), off I went to the nearest mall. It didn't take too long for me to remember exactly what I loved and loathed about the mall shopping experience.

Loves:

Bright shiny things!
Overflowing holiday decor!
The aroma of freshly baked goodies from vendors such as Cinnabon etc.!
The promise of change via new clothing, goodies and things things things- oh the lure of rampant consumerism gone amuk!

Loathes:

The annoying nail product kiosk vendor ladies with their coy smiles and all too shiny hair
The large price tags
The rampant consumerism gone amuk

I had complete amnesia over the tactics of desperate seasonal vendors and thus instinctively turned back to the aforementioned annoying nail product kiosk vendor lady when she asked, "Can I ask you a question?" after I had clearly made the not interested hand waving gesture when she first tried to make direct eye contact. When a polite person hears the "can I ask you a question" question posed, they think the individual asking needs help of some sort...directions perhaps or the time. But, of course, the nail product saleslady did not need directions or the time or any other sort of help other than that of buying her product. The question was ... "do you keep your nails natural?"

I just shook my head and kept walking. Off I was to get my new jeans. The nail lady did not need to know that I kept my nails natural. When you keep your nails truly natural, you don't need to spend $20 or $30 on a nail product. Ugh.

After arriving at New York & Co, I was shell-shocked at the price tags. I hadn't shopped there in awhile. The last visits were several years ago- I had lost over 80 pounds and, giddy at the promise of normal sized clothing, I went a little clothes shopping crazy. Over the course of several shopping trips, I spent a total amount that would bring my current self to a fainting spell followed by hyperventilation.

Thankfully, they had a Buy One Get One Half off deal on jeans that made the amount, coupled with my coupon, much easier to swallow but still a treat given the amount we normally spend on thrift store, rock bottom clearance & garage sale clothing store prices. Given my shrinking size and the difficulty in finding really good looking/good fitting jeans on clearance and thrift store racks, hubby and I decided the treat was well deserved and well needed.

I picked two pairs of jeans out, brought them to the register and was immediately asked about opening a store credit card. When I said "no thank you," I then received a big spiel about how I'd get an additional 20% off. I politely declined again. After the total came up, the cashier then asked me if I'd like to donate to St. Jude's. I said "no thank you" and he then asked "not even a dollar?" Is it just me or does this strike anyone else as over-the-top rude? Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. We donate lots of food and clothing to local charities. We also donate to various causes when friends participate in athletic events on a charity's behalf.

I don't think I'll be doing any mall shopping for awhile.

Down and Out

Our littlest has the flu so I'm out of commission as far as posting deal match-ups. Not too much to be excited about this week. Rumor has it there may be a super doubles or triples coming up after Thanksgiving. We shall see!

Black Friday deals look very promising! Thus far, we'll be heading to OfficeMax, Target and perhaps Walmart in the wee morning hours. Check out www.blackfridayinfo.net for all the details!

I'm Still Saving...yeah yeah yeah!

Okay, it's a lame reference to an Elton John song, but I felt it apropos seeing as I haven't posted in a week. I've been on a short temp contracting assignment (ah, the exciting world of document review!) and now we're gearing up for a long weekend visiting friends in VA so I won't be up and posting until Monday...at the earliest!

I did fairly well at triples this past week and have made some great trades on www.hotcouponworld.com. The impending holidays have also resulted in some really wonderful winetags, tearpads and coupon booklets in stores. Always keep your eyes open for these while you're out and about shopping!

I've recently found some $1/2 Stove Top coupons as winetags, some $1/1 orange juice coupons on winetags and some wonderful ones for meat- a $2 off ham coupon on Smoking Loon wines and a $3 off chicken, beef or seafood on Ruffino wines. The $3 off meat coupon has turned into some free sirloin steak thanks to store markdowns.

Over the past few weeks, I've also run into some other forum members from HCW and savvydollar- it's always fun to put a face to a screen name!

I'll be back next week with some trip reports and store deal match-ups, I promise. I'll probably post about Black Friday deals as well. Don't know about you all, but I'm pretty excited after seeing sneak peeks of ads.

Happy Shopping All!

Harris Teeter triples

Harris Teeter is having a triples coupon week! Truth be told, I'm not super excited about this-- there's just too few insert q's out there to make really great stockpiling opportunities. But there are still a good number of freebies and cheapies so don't be too discouraged. My first trip was this morning and I picked up some free Tic Tac Chills, Smart Balance microwave popcorn, Dole Mandarin Oranges, Powerade IONS and some cheap marinara sauce, Gerber cookies, Jello puddings and some 100 calorie Cappucino packs.



For Southern Savers match-ups, click here and here. Happy shopping!

Belated Friday Finals

My husband and I ran a half-marathon on Saturday so I'd like to think that is a good excuse for being late on Friday Finals. 8-) Normally, I'd post a store-by-store breakdown but this week I'll just report my incredible savings at Kroger thanks to their Mega Event (which continues through this week!).

Last week, I spent a total of $47.37 on $434.60 worth of groceries at Kroger. We are incredibly well-stocked on Uncle Ben's rice, Betty Crocker fruit snacks for kid's lunches, deli meats and Propel waters. Also picked up fruits and veggies, several packages of turkey cutlets, other meats and other grocery items. I also have several boxes of pancake mix to donate to our nearest food bank.

In my most impressive stop, I spent $3.36 out of pocket for $110.43 worth of groceries - and came out with catalinas worth $6.50 off my next order! The woman behind me practically had to pick her jaw up off the floor when she saw how much I saved.