Friday, October 16, 2009

Rule #1 to clearance shopping...persistence . (or stalking as I like to call it )

Hello!

First off.....IWON $100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess my blog sponsor was holding a raffle of sort for their blogs that they sponsor ( I did not know about it) for a $100 prize! I opened my email to 50 new messages and thought "Oh my....people must have loved school suplies (my last post) " but that was not the case! I had won the $100 prize and everyone was congratulating me!!!! I was so excited that I danced around the house yelling "I won! I won!" and giggling like a fool over my excitment! You see for a girl that gets by on $20 a week $100 is like a million, and I couldn't be more excited about my win!

Ok here's the story. I always tell people to be persistent when it comes to clearance. To never settle for the first mark down. If you want that $50 handbag stalk it, and it will keep going down down down down in price. Trust me in that :)

I went to target and saw this bag:

I wanted. I NEEDED IT. I was tired of carrying around my book bag. I needed a huge purse that could double as a book bag. Well little did I know they invented the purse bag. It looks like a big purse but has a pouch for my pen, pencils, cell phone, and other such things. I loved it! I needed it! It was 14.99. WHOA....ok...I don't need it...I don't have to have it. On a girl working with $20 dollars a week that would take up over 3/4 ths of my weekly budget for just this bag.

So I went into stalker mode. As soon as we were two weeks into school I knew this bag had to be on clearance so I stopped by to visit it. It was! It was $9 and some odd change. I thought about it and decided against it. There were 5 left in the style I wanted, so I walked away. I waited a week and went back. This time they were on sale for $6 and some odd change. There were 3 left. Do I get it? Do I not get it? Do I need it? It can be tough to decided :) I decided no I didn't need it.

Last trip I totally forgot about the bag and just happened to stumble into them. There were tons in every color and style but that one I had wanted. I started to instantly have regret. Why didn't I buy it at $7? I was shopping with my friend and she was trying to cheer me up about my lost clearance find when I said "If you were a kid and you wanted this bag and your mom said no, where would you lay it down?" my friend said "Toy aisle?". We darted to the toy aisle and there was no such luck. "Oh well, It wasnt meant to be" I said. We were headed out the door and I said "Buuut...if you were working here and you saw the bag and didn't put it in the school supplies where would you restock it?" my friend said "Purses!" "Right!" so we practically ran to purses and there it was! The only one left sitting there waiting for me!

The other styles said $3 something but mine still said $7 something. I took it to the self scanner and scanned it. it came up $3 something. My friend and I did a little happy dance and I walked away with my purse book bag for $3 and some odd change.

So clearance. When to buy and when to not? Well...You gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. I got by lucky on this one!

Happy Shopping!

this story while true as can be, is meant to be funny and humorous. Please don't take it too seriously :)

Also my friend over @ Toronto Yard Sale Snoop is hosting a giveaway she calls a thriftacular giveaway! She will thrift shop for you if you are the winner! How cool is that? Go on over and check her house! Just click her blog name above and it will take you there!

On a very sad note: Kristen's Grandma died yesterday. She text messaged me around 11pm to let me know. I am heartbroken for her. I'm not even sure what to say, but that I love Kristen and once again please keep her family in your thoughts during this difficult time.


16 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry to hear about Kristen's grandmother passing. They are in my thoughts.

    Sometimes I follow that rule and sometimes I don't...I also follow the rule that if I see something I want I better buy it because it won't be there when I go back! haha :-)

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  2. We ARE winners... even if we hadn't won something:) You and I are two of a kind with this clearance thing. I know how to work it girl! I would have been right there with you dancing around!

    I am sorry about Kristen's Grandmother. I will be praying for all of you!

    Have a blessed day!

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  3. Congratulations on your win!And on the bag that you waited patiently for.I do follow the waiting rule most of the time, but a lot of the time I just don't get back.:~(
    I am so sorry for Kirsten & her family , I'll be praying for them. When someone is hurting , They don't need you to say anything much , they just need you to be there for them, so don't worry .If you do not know how she feels, just tell her you care how she feels.
    ~Myrna

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  4. Congrats on winning the $100...that is huge! You must be so excited. I hope you're able to treat yourself to something really nice.

    That is a great story about clearance stalking and I'm glad it worked out. That sounds like quite a deal on that bag. I try to watch things online and in-store to get it for as cheap as possible. I don't think I'm as patient as you. I have to work on that.

    I'm very sorry for your friend's loss and will keep everyone in my prayers.

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  5. I am so sorry about Kristen's Grandma.

    I am glad you were fast thinking and found and got your bag for $3. great deal and great find.

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  6. first, congrats is in order! $100?! imagine all the stuff you can buy!

    secondly, i totally agree with you. if you want something bad enough, stalking it is totally a good way to go about it. i got this super cute checkered bag with an eggs and bacon face on it for three dollars at target last year. it was something like 12 before that. but i wanted it so badly and held out...

    also, i'm so sorry to hear about your friends grandma. hopefully, she and her family are doing well...the loss of a loved one is never easy for anyone involved...

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  7. Girl, I'm SO happy you won the $100! I know you will spend it wisely.

    The bag was meant to be - and for $3?! Awesome!

    So sorry for Kristen's grandmother. I left her a comment on facebook. I know she is hurting. I lost one granny 25 years ago and the other 9 years ago and I STILL miss them.

    Headed over to your buddy's to see her blog and thrifty stuff! You know I love me a giveaway!!

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  8. Congrats on your win, that's awesome! I think today is the day of winning prizes because I woke up today and found out I won something, I received something else in the mail that I won a few weeks ago, and my roommate found out today she won tickets to a concert for tomorrow night! Yay!

    Sorry to hear about Kristen's grandmother. My condolences to her and her and her family and all those affected by the loss of that special lady are in my prayers.

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  9. first of all - CONGRATS!

    and second of all - I LOVE LOVE LOVE shopping stories like that haha :o) it's totally fashion destiny (excuse me sounding like i'm 12 but i love that phrase ;P)

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  10. $100! you lucky chicky! I would have been that excited too :)
    I do the same thing as you...but i never thought of it as 'stalking' lol. Or sometimes I buy something, and then once it gets wayyy reduced buy it again and take it back on the expensive receipt, have you ever done that?
    Yay for stalking that bag, awesome for $3!

    Rose

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  11. I wish I had your determination... it always seems to me that whenever I see an item and get excited for it to later go on clearance, by the time it does go on clearance, whatever I want is gone!

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  12. When I opened the email from uprinting that said you won, I was all excited and said, "oooh I know her!!" LOL

    Great clearance story!

    Sorry to hear about Kristen's grandmother :(

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  13. give Kristen a big comforting hug from us!

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  14. That's great that you won $100. Sorry about your friend's G'ma.

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  15. Congrats on your win!! It's fun to have extra money to spend on whatever you want isn't it! And well done on your perseverance with the bag!! I am the same with accessories - I never ever buy my boys' hats full price- at the very end of Target sales they just dump all the hats of the pervious season and scarves etc into one big trolley and reduce them to 51 cents each!!!! I have hats for the next 5 years! I'm sorry to hear about your friend's Granny.

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