Shopping the Frugal Way

In this day and age which seems to be another depression, shopping and spending has decreased tremendously.  Who can afford to buy anything . . . except for those lucky folks that make 6 figures or high five figures.

I, on the other hand, am way below that.  I am now semi-retired trying to supplement that by working on line writing and running an EBay store, along with a couple of part time jobs.  However, even when working full time and/or raising my family and working a home daycare, I always, but always was a bargain shopper.  I would have to say, even if (and this is my hallucination) I made and/or won a lot of money, that bargain shopper is too deeply embedded into my soul that I would never change that.

When you go to a store, where for anything in particular, or “just looking” for sales and so forth, check out the clearance racks.  Thing is, though, you cannot look through each and every item on clearance racks or you would get lost.  When I approach those racks, (and Kohl’s is my ultimate favorite), the tendency is to just check the size that is of interest.  Problem is most times; people shop, change their mind and put the item back where it does not belong.  The best thing to do is just walk along the racks and skim colors, patterns and styles by sleeve (or leg if bottoms, skirts, pants) to even see if it is anything that appeals to the eye.  Then and only then would you even attempt to look at it further for actual style and size.

This does save a lot of time rather than checking every item on every rack that may be of no interest to you.  Also have set in your mind what would be the best bargain to you.  When I go to a clearance rack, I don’t want to pay $20 for something that was originally $24.  That is no clearance to me!  I need to see reductions of at least 50%, usually more than that for me to even consider it a clearance.  After all, we know they are still making money off of us even from those clearance items so I am going to get the best bargain I can . . . and you should too.

If you see something that is not a live or die for type item, watch this item in the store, go back several times, as you may notice it get more reduced if you wait a few weeks or more to buy it.  Items they want to “clear out” if not sold in a reasonable time will eventually get further reduced for sale.  Go grab it then when it is a better price for you.

All these steps should apply no matter what items and department you are going to.  We all know how things are just so over priced these days and we cannot afford it.  I can’t remember if or when I have ever in my life bought something full price.  There would have to be a real specific item and need for that!

I just went to Kohl’s the other day because I had one of those extra 30% discount cards, was looking for shoes and toys (for my EBay store) and could not believe the costs of toys!  Because of my feet I cannot wear just any kind of shoes but did find a Sketchers shoe sale, $65 for $45 plus the 30%.  That was a good deal.  I did go to toys and luckily they had their 30% sale plus my extra 30%, great deal, but when looking for items for actual resale in my store, I was floored as to how they have raised the cost of toys!  We are going through such rough times and they seem to keep raising prices.

You just have to be a smart shopper, if you can’t afford it, which is me lately, don’t even enter the stores.  When working my merchandising jobs I would always check sales and clearance racks and buy, buy, buy.  Of course they were all bargains but my basement is loaded with items I still need to list on EBay.  Takes a lot of time and photos, so why buy more?? I finally realized, stay away from those racks if I don’t know anything at this time.  I am actually pretty proud of myself.

Good bargain hunting and I hope my information has helped.  Unless you are over flowing with money, we all need to be smart shoppers.  Why not get more for our money?  That is actually the way to keep the economy running and I am always willing to help . . . when there is something I need.