HAUL: Payless BOGO
Today I was at the mall with friends and noticed Payless was running a full-store BOGO sale, so I stopped in to pick up a few essentials. (For those of you who don't know, BOGO stands for "buy one, get one"... in this case, it was buy one item, get one of equal or lesser value for half off. So buy one pair of shoes, get a pair of shoes for half-price. Buy a purse, get a second purse for half-price. Etc.)
The Goods
Tights and shoelaces
I snagged 5 items for $15.46. Not exactly a steal, but not bad to get some items we've been needing. (One of the pairs of shoelaces isn't pictured, as my husband has already put them into his shoes.)
The Details
I only picked up some items my husband and I have been needing: tights for me and shoelaces for him. The haul:
- 3 pairs of Minicci tights: a hot-pink pair on sale for $0.99, a brown pair at full-price for $6.99, and a grey pair half-off for $3.49 (50% off of $6.99)
- 2 pairs of shoelaces: one pair of 54-inch brown shoelaces (not pictured) at full-price for $1.99 and a pair of 40-inch brown shoelaces half-price for $0.99 (50% off of $1.99)
HAUL: $60 at Village Thrift
I was divided about Village Thrift after my first trip there, but after my second trip there last week it's become a new favorite. Today was another discount day at Village Thrift, with 50% off on three different tag colors. Once again, almost everything I bought was discounted, although unfortunately the most expensive item I bought was not. (It was still a good deal, though, and will be very useful.)
My husband really liked the shirts I got him last week and gave me the go-ahead to outfit him with more, so I focused on the men's department this time around. I'm really glad he wanted more shirts; I think he needs more variety in his wardrobe (and the less I need to do laundry, the better!). I only picked up two clothing items for myself, as well as a few books and household items.
We'll see if Village Thrift expeditions become a weekly tradition...
(I apologize for the poor quality of the photos today. I think it's a combination of bad lighting and difficult-to-photograph patterns and colors.)
The Goods
Blue men's button-down
Blue striped men's shirt
Green striped shirt
Tan striped men's shirt
Brown striped shirt
Maroon men's polo
Purple men's sweater
Pink knit cardigan
Striped cotton blazer
Men's khakis
Striped throw pillow
3 hardcover books
Set of drawers
That's a total of 15 items for $60.60, or an average of $4.04/item.
Read on for all the brand and price details.
HAUL: $80 at Village Thrift
After my first visit to Village Thrift, my closest (big) thrift store, I had mixed feelings: I was impressed with the size, the organization, the quality of the items, the cash registers, and the discount days, but I was disappointed with some of the prices (higher prices at Village Thrift than the original/sale price tags still on new items, clothes from places like H&M for the same prices as new). I also was a little confused about the discount days; I thought it was 50% off certain colored tags on Mondays, and a different percentage off on Sundays, but it's actually 50% off three tag colors on Sundays and 50% off three tag colors on Mondays.
Today, I decided to give it another chance... and boy did I clean up! I found many items that I've been looking for: spare pillowcases, word games, cardigans, flats, generic wrapping paper, and polos for my husband. I purchased almost entirely discounted items; the full-price items I bought were ones that I felt were very good deals anyway and/or things that would be very useful to me.
The Goods
Satin jacket
Purple cardigan sweater
Fuchsia knit cardigan
Straight jeans
Dressy tank
Empire-waist shirt
Striped skirt
Metallic gold flats
Plaid canvas flats
Men's green T-shirt
Men's green polo
Men's teal polo
Men's striped polo
Men's yellow polo
Green men's shirt
Striped men's shirt
2 pillowcases
2 rolls of gift wrap
Scrapbook refill pages
Set of Christmas cards
2 word games
1 hardcover book
My total: $80.25 for 25 items. That's an average of $3.21 per item! I have a feeling I'll be making a lot more visits to Village Thrift...
Read through for all the nitty-gritty, like brands and prices per item.
HAUL: Birthday Presents
Last week was my 25th birthday. I haven't had a chance to post much since then because, the day after my birthday, I was bitten by a dog on my right hand. It's a long story, but I'm fine; it's just a little harder than usual to type.
Anyway, I received a number of items off my wish list, as well as some other great presents; you can check out all the goodies below. The only birthday deal I wound up using was the Rita's one for a free regular ice, partly because of my injury but in large part because most of the offers weren't compelling enough for me to go out of my way to use them.
The Goods
5 sets of 5 items
Books and more
Penguin umbrella
Ravens jersey
3 books
Read on for all the details.
HAUL: 27 books for $2
This weekend, one of the branches of my local public library was having a big book sale. My husband and I went to the sale on Sunday, when it was only open from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., and books were being sold by the grocery bag. (On Saturday, the books were priced according to format: hardcover, paperback, etc.)
Here's how it works: As you enter the sale, you get a brown paper grocery bag. The books are all laid out on tables and shelves according to rough categories; you fill up your bag with whatever books you want as you go around the room. Then, when your bag is full, you pay just one dollar for the whole bag. Not one dollar per book, one dollar per bag of books.
In addition to books, they also had some board games, a few movies on VHS, several audiobooks, and some magazines.
My husband got overwhelmed by the crowd (people were waiting outside when we got there just before noon) and the chaos within a minute of entering, and left to read in the regular part of the library. I was in my element, though, and managed to cram a great selection into 2 bags. *
The Goods
27 books
» The Jolly Postman, Janet and Allan Ahlberg
» Chocolate Astrology, Joy Nagy
» Good Housekeeping Good Deals & Smart Steals, Susan Randol
» Politically Correct Holiday Stories, James Finn Garner
» The Abominable Snowman Doesn't Roast Marshmallows, Debbie Dadey & Marcia Thornton Jones
» The Floating Island, Elizabeth Haydon
» The New Tea Book, Sara Perry
» The Miracle at Speedy Motors, Alexander McCall Smith
» Spin a Wicked Web, Cricket McRae
» Wild Goose Chase, Terri Thayer
» The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Burbery
» Instant Gratification, Lauren Chattman
» Death is Semisweet, Lou Jane Temple
» A Puzzle in a Pear Tree, Parnell Hall
» As the World Churns, Tamar Myers
» Laced, Carol Higgins Clark
» The Fondue Cookbook, Gina Steer
» The Matrix and Philosophy, William Irwin
» Popular Mechanics Home Safety Handbook, Nancy J. Becker
» Style Rx, Bridgette Raes
» Charmed Thirds, Megan McCafferty
» The Pirate King, R.A. Salvatore
» A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits, Carol K. Mack & Dinah Mack
» How Things Work in Your Home, TimeLife Editors
» Perennials, TimeLife Editors
» Better Homes & Gardens Handyman's Book, Better Homes & Gardens Editors
All in all, that's an average of $0.07 per book.
Want to know all the nitty gritty on the prices and savings? Continue reading.
HAUL: Borders Liquidation Sale
As you've hopefully heard by now, Borders is going out of business. Both my husband and I are saddened at the loss of the Borders stores, he because Borders was the only area book store that his favorite authors frequently (or ever) appeared and I because it was one of only two large bookstores in our vicinity. (The other, Books-a-Million, doesn't usually have as wide a selection, at least in my experience.)
Since the liquidation was announced, I've made three visits to my neighborhood Borders to check out the sales. I first went on the very day that the liquidation went into effect. At the time, I declared the sales to be a waste of time and a rip-off. The air conditioning had been turned off in that particular location, so the poor booksellers were slogging through a 100+ degree day in utter misery. The computer system was already off-line, providing no way to check their stock, and the shelves had already become an un-alphabetized chaos, rendering it nearly impossible to look for anything specific. On top of all that, the sales were only about 25% off the list price, meaning that many of the books had been cheaper the previous week than they were during the "Everything must go!" liquidation sale. Yet the line to checkout still snaked halfway around the store, a testament to our weakness for sales and our mistaken belief that something advertised as a "sale" must be a good deal.
My next trip was about a month later. By that point, more of the store's sections (all the sales are based on the genre/category) had reached the realm of decent deals, but still not good enough that I was willing to buy anything unless it was being discounted from a discount or was 50% off the cover price. The two bargain bin sections were 30% and 40% off their sticker prices, which are usually at least 40% off the cover prices, so I snagged several books at fractions of their list prices. I also picked up a few greeting cards (Paperchase items were 50% off list) and magazines (current issues, 50% off their cover prices). The real kicker in getting me to actually purchase items on this trip was that they were offering a 10% off discount (on top of the other discounts) if you bought 6 or more items, and a 15% discount if you bought 8 or more items.
My most recent trip was on Thursday. The stores now bear "Final Weeks! Entire store 60% - 80% off!" signs, which means that even "regular" (non-bargain) products are at least 60% off their cover prices, making everything in the store a relatively good deal. This time I picked up several more books, all at 60% or 70% off their list prices, and a DVD at 60% off. (Sadly, there were no "buying in bulk" discounts anymore.)
The Goods
Trip #1: 12 books, 2 mags, & 2 cards
Trip #2: 10 books & 1 DVD
Between the two trips, I got a total of 27 items for $102.40, saving $383.29 (79%) off the cover prices.
Click through for more details on the books I purchased.
HAUL: Village Thrift
Having recently moved to a new house (and the first one that we own), I've been making almost weekly trips to the home improvement stores. I noticed a thrift store, Village Thrift, in the same plaza as my local Lowe's and have been wondering what the store is like. (Unfortunately, while their cash registers are quite up-to-date, they appear to have no web site and apparently have only the one location.)
I had heard their best deals are on Mondays, so Juliana and I headed over on Monday to check it out. Overall, I was impressed with the store: it's large, well-organized, and offers just about everything, without offering a lot of items that feel like trash. However, I had some major problems with the prices. Many items I saw still had their original tags, or tags from other thrift/yard sales, but often the Village Thrift price was equal to or more than the other tags. For example, I found one shirt with its original tags, which showed many prices, ending with a final clearance price of $7.20; Village Thrift was offering the shirt for $8.90. One of the shirts I bought had another tag on it for $3.00, but Village Thrift was charging $4.90. I also noticed that many items, particularly popular brands, had prices that were close to what they would sell for new, like an H&M knit dress for $19.90.
So, while I'll certainly be going back because it's so close and large, I'll have to be very vigilant regarding brands and prices to ensure I'm actually getting good deals. I also plan to only ever shop there on Mondays, when certain colored tags are 50% off, and Sundays, when certain colored tags are other percentages off — the regular prices were not good enough for me, especially since I'm usually buying items that simply hit my fancy, and not items that I actually need.
Anyway, enough with the review, and on to the haul!
The Goods
Gray knit dress
Sparkly tunic shirt
Empire-waist shirt
Flowered shirt
Straight jeans
Word Spot coffee table game
I brought home 6 items for $23; not bad!
Read through for specific details on prices and brands.
HAUL: $22 at Salvation Army
Hi, I'm Andréa's younger sister Juliana.
I live 8.5 hours from Andréa during the school year, so I hadn't gotten a chance to go to her favorite Salvation Army store until today. Stores like that tend to overwhelm me, but having Andréa and our older sister, Christy, there to help me look made it easier to find stuff. Unlike Andréa, I was looking for specific items: comfortable jeans, denim shorts, and maybe a fun skirt. We managed to find everything I was looking for.
The Goods
Lace dress
Patterned skirt
Denim shorts
Skinny jeans
Bootcut jeans
My tally: 5 items for $22.
Continue reading for the details on brands and prices.
Categories
- About the Site (5)
- Complaints (2)
- Confessions (5)
- Deals (11)
- Events (2)
- Freebies (17)
- Hauls (38)
- Missions (3)
- News & Links (6)
- Outfits (3)
- Playlists (1)
- Shopping Tips (3)
Topics
Filter Posts
Archives
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
Favorite Sites
- Amazon: All Free MP3 Albums
- Amazon: All Free MP3s
- Amazon: Free Rising Artists MP3s
- Books on the Knob
- Freecycle
- IKEA Hackers
- Through the Looking Glass