Why I shop the way I do

Hi everyone!

It's been a crazy busy week, running errands almost every day. I'm ready to just stay home for a day or two and get some things done. 

Firstly to answer Anonymous commentor. It takes a while for me to find the post  you commented on since it's so old, so I'll just repond here:

Store clearance prices are usually much lower than online prices. So if you've purchased your items online, you might find the exact same item at sometimes 50% less than the online clearance price. 

Okay, I've decided to talk about shopping again, because things are going crazy in the world again - not that it ever stopped, but the bad stuff's hitting the fan again. Last week I read about how the Panama Canal has a huge backlog of shipping vessels, due to drought. Some might wonder how the canal is affected by a drought. Well, drought affects the water levels in the canal. If the levels are too low, ships will experience difficulty sailing through the canal (I don't know the correct nautical terms, so please bear with me 😊). What does this mean for us, the consumer? It means shortages - Again! As if things aren't bad enough with the ever increasing grocery prices. 

BTW, when that container ship got stuck in the Suez canal, I actually had the answer to the problem before the experts came up with it. Trust me, I don't know much of anything about ships, but I've read enough Cussler books to give me an idea of how ships & submersibles work. 

Some states have also enforced the mask mandate - Again! WTH? Aren't we supposed to be over covid? Okay, I know that it will linger for years, but I didn't expect it to get to this point again. I've been couponing for roughly 15 years. Back in the day, I used to leave grocery stores with a cart full of items for $5-10 OOP. I kid you not! Any serious couponer will tell you that things were good before that stupid TLC show. I've seen a lot of changes over the years (not for the better). It got to the point where I stopped buying newspapers (for coupon inserts), because the coupons weren't worth the paper they were printed on. It's especially hard to find any decent food coupons, since everything is digital - which leads to limits. So, let me give you an idea or insight as to how & why I do certain things, to help offset those high grocery prices. It's not like we can't do anything about the price increases. We just need to get creative about shopping (for things we need) - save in other areas to help offset the grocery costs. 

As you all know, I do a lot of drugstore shopping. Well, I took a break during and since the divorce. Then I decided to get back into it, because house prices & interest rates are crazy high too. I've decided to just stock up to save some money (long term), because prices will just continue to increase. Why wait to pay even higher prices than the current ones. 

A few weeks ago, I opened a Crest toothpaste and thought to myself that the tube looked rather small. So I checked the size and saw that it's 2.7 oz. Huh? I know that this can't be, because store sales usually state sizes that you should purchase and they normally start at above 3 oz. So I got the old tube out of the trash can (oh yes, I did 😂, well it's the kitchen one, so no harm) and saw that it was 3.8 oz! (I knew that I wasn't going crazy 😂). What a rip off!!!!  These small tubes retail for around $5 at the drugstores and the size has decreased by a whole ounce. This is why many brands now have new packaging. I noticed the size difference when I bought Dial b/w last week too. New packaging, but the bottle is a few ounces smaller. Y'all don't fool me. I have a photographic memory. I can easily tell when something looks different - no matter how small the change might be. 

So, if stocking up on sale items every week helps save us money, then I'll do it. Besides, I donate quite a bit, so there's others who benefit from my shopping too. I'm not a hoarder. There's always method to my madness. If my family lived closer, they would've been able to 'shop' from my stockpile whenever they needed or wanted something. In fact, they're the only people who don't think I'm crazy 😂 They know that I know what I'm doing and they trust it. 

I'm so happy to see that Walgreens has the Wayfair gc deal next week. They had the same thing last year and I made over $100 profit. So back I go again. I have my eye on a few things at Wayfair, so the gc deal will come in handy. See, you can save on furniture too. I don't overlook any category. I'll earn a $10 Wags gc for every $40 Wayfair gcs (buy 2, earn $10. Minimum Wayfair is $20) I purchase. I'll take that free money & keep rolling it into more deals. 

Think the grocery stores are the only ones ripping us off? Guess again. Clothing retailers are doing the same thing. I've read so many bad reviews about poor quality & sizing at different retailers. Think China products were cheap junk? The stuff we get lately are of an even worse quality. I already hate polyester, but that cheap matte jersey fabric is the pits. Yikes, whoever came up with that? But, but, but. Retailers aren't even running decent sales anymore. Their prices are now even higher than before, but the quality has gone wayyyyyy down. 

Well, Ms G isn't worried about that, cause guess who has a closet full of good quality clothing that were all purchased at 80-90% off. I still buy things. Why? Who can beat a decent sale. Besides, stores keep sending me free money. WHBM just sent me $25. When I checked my account, I saw that there's a free $35 available). I recently purchased 4 pairs of shoes (don't fall off your chairs 😂) for $60 total, 2 of which are genuine leather. Retail value $436!!! Now, that might seem excessive to most. I'm not afraid of a good sale. My kinda shopping is not for the faint hearted. Why 4 pairs? It was on sale. So what do I do with it? Well, if I like it, I'll keep it. Nobody's going to give me genuine leather shoes at that price. That shoes will last at least 10 years. If I don't like anything, I'll just sell it at a profit. Sometimes I'll just buy an extra item/pair or 2 to resell, so I can earn back the money I spent. That means I get my items/shoes for free. Yes, it takes a bit of work, but it's worth it, especially if it pays for my splurges. Who doesn't like free stuff?

When I first started packing, I decided to sell some of the things I didn't like as much. One of the items I paid $15 for and sold for $50! So guess who has an extra $30-35 (have to pay fees) in their pocket just for shopping 😁 I shop the same way for DS. It's fun. I get my shopping fix without breaking the bank. 

Also, if I need to attend an event, I don't have to run out and spend a fortune. I just run to my 'store' (spare closet 😂) and pull new items from it. Easy peasy. I just bought a lace dress for $29.99. Retail value $225! I would never ever pay that price. I have never ever even paid $100 for a fancy dress. No way!! I love formal events (I attended many in SA) and I purchase timeless classy dresses.... at 90% off! Nobody will ever know I paid so little when they see me in my new duds.

Let me show you how the stores are fleecing us. I bought this exact dress for $39.99 during the semi annual sale. Look at the current sale price. 

WHBM lace dress

But wait. When I checked their new items/looks, they had the dress for $150. This is the same dress They just have it on a different model. Look at the price difference between the 2. So, it might not be exactly the same, because I can't see both sleeves details up close, but who's gonna notice a minor detail like that? They look the same to me and I paid $40 for mine. Well, there will be others who are paying so much more. Do you now see why I'm not afraid to buy clearance items I like? If I change my mind about it, I can still sell it at a profit too - especially since it's now only available at full price and petite sizes (sale). 

I was going to sell some of my boots (I love boots and have a lot of it).  I got everything ready to photograph and list, when I decided to do some research. These boots are genuine leather and the brand is hard to find. Lately, everything's made of cheap material, so I decided to just keep my boots. I bought them on clearance a few years ago and they will last me 10+ years. Some of them still look almost new. 

Last week Tommy Hilfiger sent me a $20 Q, because they miss me. I've only shopped their site once (because I can get lower prices at department stores), because it's the only brand of undies DS likes. I stocked up during a big sale about 2 years ago. So, I decided to see if they have any undies in his size on clearance. They did, but it was 'stretch', which means it's not 100% cotton. I also checked the boxer shorts, cause he prefers to sleep in those. Well, more bad reviews on everything. We've bought this brand for years and this is the first time I've read anything bad about it. They did have cotton undies, but it was full price. No way am I paying $42.50. So I checked other retailers, including Marshalls (I used to find it in store at Marshalls before) and saw that they had old inventory at $19.99. I know it's old inventory, because DS has that exact print/design. Why am I excited about old inventory? Because it's a far better quality than what is currently being sold. Needless to say, I stocked up for him. We're not going to waste our money on inferior junk. So, I used that $20 Q to buy myself 3 packs of socks and paid $3.61 (incl tax) OOP. I wasn't going to look a gift horse ($20) in the mouth. 

More poor quality. Check the latest appliances

I mentioned before how I got the last 2 carafes for my coffee machine at Kohls. Well, when I was shopping a while back, I decided to see if they got any more carafes in stock (I love my coffee machine). I was pleasantly surprised to see they restocked, but I noticed that the reviews (you can tell by the number of stars) were bad, so I read the reviews. People were complaining about the numbers (water levels) wearing/washing off on the carafe after a few uses. I have never had that problem and I've had my machine for years. Then I checked to see if the machine was back in stock and that also received bad reviews. People mentioned that it stopped working after a number of months or uses. That made me thankful that I have an old one. 

So, if you have any old (pre covid) appliances, apparel, shoes etc, hold onto it. and use it until it breaks. I know I mentioned this before, but newer readers might not know about it. I'm thankful that God directs my steps and makes me buy things even when it doesn't even make sense to me. That's just God's way of preparing me for the future (making sure we have everything we need, no matter what happens in the world). 

I know that my shopping seems excessive to many, but I've learned to trust my instincts. I know that it ALWAYS pays off in the end. 

I'll be back with this week's drugstore shopping post soon. Just a heads up in case anyone wants to try and can find inventory in store (my store's wiped out of almost everything)

Tide/Gain/Cascade/Dawn - only the ones priced $5.49 are Buy 4, get $5 RR (mix & match), but you also earn $5 for spending $20 on P&G products. So you'll earn a total of $10 back. You can then use that $10 to buy 4 more of those items and it will print another 2 x $5 RRs. That's called rolling. You can keep doing this deal over & over with your newly printed RRs. 

Trans 1

4 x P&G items @ $5.49 = $21.96

Pay $21.96 + tax

Earn $10 (2 x $5 RRs - prints at register). 

Trans 2 and more

4 x P&G items @ $5.49 = $21.96

Less RRs from trans 1 (10.00)

Pay $11.96 + tax

Earn $10 (2 x $5 RRs - prints at register). 

Have a wonderful week peeps!