HAUL: $24 at Salvation Army
After my trip with Emily to B-Thrifty yesterday, I made a solo trip across the street to Salvation Army to take advantage of 25% off everything for Customer Appreciation Day, which is every Wednesday. My previous visit to this particular Family Store was just a quick trip to check it out, so yesterday was a more thorough visit.
The Goods
Pink/orange tank
White knit sihrt
Navy blue hooded shirt
Fuchsia hooded shirt
Fuchsia polo shirt
Plaid button-down shirt
Periwinkle cardigan
White cardigan
Altogether, I scored 8 items for $23.54 (after taxes); that's an average of less than $3/item!
Continue reading for all the nitty-gritty, like brands and prices.
News & Links: 10/19/2011
A semi-regular round-up of fashion and shopping-related news and links.
» For the first time in three decades, the median monthly mortgage payment is about the same as the median monthly rental payment.
» Sadly for those of us who prefer to go au naturel, wearing make-up improves others' perceptions of a woman's likability, competence, and trustworthiness.
» Beneful is attempting a new tactic to sell its dog food: capture the dogs' attention. Since the dogs can't buy the food themselves, I'm not sure this will have any actual impact on sales...
» St. Croix Collections saw sales of Steve Jobs' iconic black mock turtleneck double overnight after news broke of Jobs' death.
» A great way to boost your property value? Plant trees. Even better, have your neighbor plant trees (people like shade but not yard work).
» According to GOOD, the majority of mainstream Halloween candy is made from cocoa beans harvested by child slaves. Thankfully, they also provide a list of ethical alternatives to the likes of Hershey, Mars, and Nestle.
» Don't always believe the photos on the hotel's web site. Apparently hotels and resorts are big fans of Photoshop.
» If you don't want to sink a lot of cash into your music collection, check out this list of 100 sources for free and legal music downloads.
» One pro-poker-playing soccer mom in Pennsylvania has a $500,000 collection of more than 1,200 pairs of shoes... designer shoes.
» Wal-Mart has announced a partnership with Facebook to offer "Facebook pages specifically tailored for each of its more than 3,500 locations," which will provide discount offers, events, and other information.
» If you have a Kindle, you can now borrow library e-books and have them sent directly to your device. (Nook users are able to download library e-books and sideload them to their devices.)
» If you (or your kids) have a bunch of LEGO sets, check out the new site Rebrickable, which shows you what you can make from the combined collection of pieces you have.
» As one Borders location was closing for good, its employees posted this epic list of "Things we never told you: Ode to a bookstore death."
» Bagged lunches don't have to be uncool. Save money and make your kid the envy of his classmates with awesome paperbag artwork.
» Quicken has a great visual top-to-bottom guide to saving money around your house.
HAUL: $30 at B-Thrifty
My friend Emily hadn't used her Groupon to B-Thrifty yet, so today I met up with her at the store for B-Thrifty Groupon round #2. William had purchased a second Groupon voucher for me on the last day it was available since I had enjoyed the first trip, so I was planning to use that today.
When Emily and I arrived, I checked in via my new foursquare account and tweeted that I was in the store. The B-Thrifty social media team were excited to hear I was back (they had liked my first B-Thrifty haul post) and Celina, their web manager, tracked me down while I was sorting through my finds and presented me with $25 B-bucks... what an awesome surprise! (You can check out a photo of me with the B-Thrifty store manager on their Facebook page.) I was able to put the certificate to use right away and only spent about $5 out of pocket. Emily also did well, spending about $5 beyond the $35 value of her Groupon.
I also remembered to sign up for a BiP membership today, which will get me 30% off on Thursdays (although it can't be used in combination with the Groupon). I have a feeling I'll be back soon!
The Goods
Argyle cardigan sweater
Ivory angora cardigan
Tan silk/cashmere sweater
Pink knit shirt
Lavender knit cardigan
Ivory knit cardigan with pockets
Rose pink polo
Turquoise striped tank
Multi-colored belt
That's a total of 9 items for $33.91... but I put to use the $25 gift certificate B-Thrifty gave me, and paid only $3.91 (plus taxes) out of pocket. That's probably the best deal I've gotten so far!
Continue reading for all the details.
Rant: Target’s Gift Messages
I just placed an order on Target.com for a baby gift. Since I was shipping the gift to the mom-to-be and wouldn't be able to attend her shower in person, I wanted to include a gift message. I attempted to include the following message:
Congratulations! We're so excited for you. We can't wait to meet the little one!
Love, Andrea & William (Mike)
(We had to go with a turtle theme; the mascot of William's alma mater is a terrapin, after all.)
Yet Target told me that they could not include my message because it contained special characters or unacceptable words. Um, what?
On top of that, Target had erased my entire message and didn't bother to tell me which characters or words were unacceptable. So I tried again, removing all line breaks.
Still unacceptable. I tried again, removing all parantheses and the ampersand. Still unacceptable. I tried again, thinking that perhaps Target's vocabulary wasn't quite large enough to include "alma mater" and "terrapin," so I changed them to "college" and "turtle," respectively. Still unacceptable.
When I was on the verge of hitting my computer, I simply tried,
Congratulations! Love, Andrea and William
Finally, Target deemed my message acceptable and attached it to the gift.
But Target, I'd really like to know...
What was unacceptable about my original message?
Event: UMD Midnight Madness 2011
I love free events, so last I was psyched to go to the University of Maryland's free Midnight Madness event last night, Friday, October 14. Last night's event, which is a scrimmage / pep rally type event to open the basketball season, was the university's 40th Midnight Madness so, in addition to the usual festivities, there were video reminiscences from past coaches and players.
What's great about this event is that there's something for everyone. The night included various competitive games for the students, who could win Under Armour apparel, gift certificates to the book store, and other goodies; an alumni basketball game featuring some great players from the history of the school's basketball program; performances by the cheerleaders, the dance team, and Gymkana, a gymnastics group open to all students that made it to the semi-finals on America's Got Talent this season; and, finally, the introduction of both the women's and men's basketball teams followed by scrimmages. The stadium's food booths were open and serving their (expensive) fare of hot dogs, pizza, and soda. And it appeared there were giveaways, too, as I saw many students with posters and new T-shirts.
Gymkana
Women's entrance
Men's entrance
Men's entrance
HAUL: Salvation Army Quick Trip
After checking out the new B-Thrifty store (see that haul here), I made a quick stop at the Salvation Army across the street, since I hadn't been in that location before. I focused on belts, because lately I've really been trying (unsuccessfully) to find good belts to wear with dresses and longer shirts, but somehow a bunch of movies snuck into my haul, too; the fact that they're under the glass at the check-out counter probably had something to do with it.
The belts I found, at $3.99/each, were slightly more than I would have liked to spend (and $3/each more than the one I got at B-Thrifty), but they were perfect for my needs and I've had such a hard time finding any at all that I felt they were worth it. Likewise, I usually wouldn't have bought so many movies unless it was a discount day (which, at Salvation Army, is Wednesday), but there was such a good selection and several of the movies are ones that I've been wanting to get on DVD to replace my VHS collection, so I figured they were worth it.
Luckily, I resisted the urge to spend on some items that were quite tempting, but either not necessary or more than I was willing to spend: a tan Gap wool coat for $29.99, a tank top for $6.99, shoes for $11.99, and a whole bunch of tempting winter clothes.
The Goods
Belt
Belt
Tunic
Men's polo shirt
5 DVDs
Despite my intention to just run in quickly to check out the location, I wound up spending $30 on 9 items.
Read through for the details on brands and prices.
HAUL: B-Thrifty Groupon
This week I purchased a Groupon to a new "big box" style thrift store called B-Thrifty. It was a good deal: for $15, I got a voucher for $35 to use at the thrift store (excluding its consignment section and the International Bazaar housed in it). That voucher was burning a hole in my pocket, so I headed over today to check it out. (Little did I know when I left that a tornado watch would go into effect while I was out... just my luck.)
Overall, I enjoyed the B-Thrifty. The store is huge -- I believe my tweet said, "Holy clothing, Batman, this place is enormous!" -- and it's the first thrift store I've seen that actually has as much, if not more, men's clothing as women's. I found many items that were brand new, including the short-sleeve men's polo and the dress I bought, but I was also disappointed to find several significantly stained items as well; in the shoe department, there were like-new dressy high heels next to sneakers that should have been in the trash. So like with most thrift stores, you really need to pay close attention and examine each item.
The aisles are very wide and can more than accommodate the shopping carts; very few thrift stores can fit carts down the aisles at all, so this was a real plus. And as funny as it sounds, I really enjoyed the music selection, which included really well-known classic rock songs.
I'll definitely be going back, and I plan to take advantage of their BiP Member card (for 30% off on Thursdays) and their Federal Holidays discount (50% off).
The Goods
Pink tank top
Patterned tank
Plaid tank top
Sundress
3/4-sleeve cardigan sweater
Hooded 3/4-sleeve shirt
Eagles jersey
Short-sleeve polo shirt
Long-sleeve polo
Belt
I wasn't sure how many items I'd be able to get (or would even find) for $35, but I came home with a total of 10 items for $35, which is a good deal. Since I only paid $15 for the Groupon, though, it was really 10 items for $15 for me, which is an even better deal!
Read on for all the details on brands and individual prices.
It’s All in the Family
I'm not the only frugal shopper in my family; in fact, while we all have varying tolerances for shopping, we all love to get a good deal. Take, for example, the Salvation Army expedition I went on with my sister (center), my mom (not pictured), and my grandmother (on right) this summer. We all left with multiple bags of goodies! (That box in my arms was a brand new bathroom cabinet.)
I'm also not the only thrift store fan. My husband likes them because he figures if I'm going to shop all the time, at least it's inexpensive. But my dog Toby is probably the biggest fan of all—he loves the way thrift store clothes smell when I bring them home! Something similar to this scene happens every time I bring home a thrift store haul:
I guess frugality just runs in our blood!
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