Gotta Love Good Sales!

I am just so pleased to announce that I actually went shopping!!! I mean, honest to goodness shopping at a shopping mall that I used to frequent quite frequently many years ago. A shopping mall that has been updated considerably since my last visit there, which I didn't think was that long ago.

My oldest daughter and I had been talking for quite some time about going shopping and buying her clothes that she actually likes and that actually fit her. With her money. And we went.

First, I must say, we stopped at Goodwill (second hand/thrift store). It's actually one of those stores (in case this is just a MN store) where people donate clothes, toys, furniture, etc...like Salvation Army....a place that I regularily donate our clothes that are still decent and just don't fit anyone or just not anyone's style. This Goodwill was one I hadn't ever even been to to donate. We needed to find a dress for my daughter to dress up in as Harriet Tubman. We found a darling Harriet Tubman dress for $4.99, so I was pleased we found it so quickly for pretty cheap. Holli decided that she wanted to quickly walk around and just see what was there before we continued on to the mall. We immediately found tennis shoes, SKETCHERS, I might add, that were still brand new, for...*drumroll*....$4.99!!!!! Holli did not have tennis shoes and the only shoes she had were my $0.50 hand-me-downs from a garage sale that were cute but had cracks in the bottom. We were SO delighted! I had worried that she wouldn't find any tennis shoes on sale and of course I wouldn't have been able to make her pay for them anyway since I feel that the basics, such as tennis shoes, are our responsibility to buy as they are needed.

On to the mall. Did I mention that this is something that we never do? We proceeded to find 75% off sales throughout JCPenney's...on to the name brand stores (I never buy name brand stuff except for 75-90% off from the outlet mall a couple miles from our house). She found some very good deals from Abercrombie, Wet Seal, and lastly, Aripostle! From there, she found pants and sweatshirts for $5.99 each. I noticed the two sweatshirts (one of which I bought for myself) were $40 and $60 regular price. I was quite proud because she conducted herself beautifully, drooling over some things but putting them back for only one or two items from the drastically reduced tables. She did chose to pay more than I would have for one shirt but it still wasn't that much and she loves it and it looks very nice on her. I told her that it's her money and she can chose how to spend it. I did, of course, give her little reminders (because she is 11 and doesn't shop very often at all) like, "Remember, if you buy that shirt for $17...you could buy 3 of this kind for about $18-19 total from this 75% off rack...but one really good piece is worth more than 3 cheap ones that you may not wear...so you chose how you want to do this!" and she did well! She came home with 2 pairs of pants, 3 tank tops (for layering under shirts), a sweatshirt, and 3 other shirts for about $60, so about 9 items that averaged for about $6.67 apiece. Not bad!!!! She still had $20 she could have spent. She desparately needed this stuff. She's grown out of all the stuff I did get her for the start of school, which wasn't much, and she otherwise has hand-me-downs from a neighbor girl and her cousin that she's recently outgrown. It's really nice stuff but she's outgrown it...so it was time for us to go shopping!!! We had so much fun! Then, even at Walmart, where things are typically pretty cheap, she even looked and compared prices until she got the best price for two little lip glosses.

Well, back to work!