This & That

Happy Friday everyone!

Not much happening at Casa Goose. Here's just a few things

• I redeemed Microsoft rewards for a $10 Target gc
  
  
• Checked all my printed Target gcs and saw that I have $60 in gcs. That, plus the leftover discounted ones I purchased last year plus my Circle earnings, total $163.20. Enough to purchase 2-3 gifts for DS. I'm a happy mama! I've set aside $300 of my Christmas fund for the rest of his gifts. It sounds like a lot, but BF will understand why I'm spending so much. I have something special in mind for DS.  That leaves me with $700+ for BF and whoever else I need to add to my list. I'm in good shape. Hoping I'll still have some change left over. 
  
  I actually need to go through my entire gc folder to see what I have. I have lots of little bits left over for some retailers and need to use those.
  
  
• DS ran out of mousse, so I pulled a new one from my stockpile. 
  
  
• I put new systems jackets together for DS (I just mixed and matched the old inners with the outer ones that still work) and he now has 3 complete jackets to use. That's besides the 2 new ones in the stockpile. I'm so thankful for that, because these jackets are really hard to find and if you do find it, the inner is now a puffer jacket instead of a warm insulated jacket like the old ones.

• Got this free off the shoulder linen top from Chicos with my $20 reward. 
  Retail price - $109.00 (I took pics to show you the crazy retail price)
  My price - FREE, Gratis, Verniet, $0000000 😂
  
  When I clicked on my account to copy the rewards code for checkout, I saw an extra $25 Birthday reward. So I now have another $30 to spend before the end of the month. Chicos actually called to remind me of the rewards. This has never happened before. Besides, they sent me email, snail mail & the rewards is in my account. Retailers are struggling, so take advantage of whatever free money they send you. They're hoping to lure consumers with rewards to get us to spend more. That trick doesn't work with me though. I like free too much 😂
  
  
• Received $10 Loft Birthday reward which I used immediately since they had free shipping. I ended up paying $4.16 OOP for a top, but that's okay. 
  
  
• Ordered a lace top that was cancelled, so WHBM is refunding my reward. 
  
  Received a $50 WHBM semi-annual reward and bought this blazer. I've had my eye on it for a while, but didn't want to spend that much on a blazer. However, select sizes were selling out fast, so I decided to just go ahead and buy it. It's free money after all 😂 I used $50 + $5 rewards and paid $4.98 OOP. Pre-pandemic, I would've been able to purchase 4-5 items with that reward. 
  
  I already own a velvet blazer in this color. However, velvet can't be worn year round and doesn't always work as a casual item. Now BF & I can easily coordinate, because he wears the exact same color. He looks much better in green than I do. 

• I signed up for 2 more retailers that I learned offer birthday rewards. We'll see how that goes. I already earned $35 from one of those (they offer rewards for completing your info & text messages). I'm still experimenting with these sites and will post more info if it's worth it/works out. I have a total of $95 to spend on myself by the end of the month. Oh what fun 😂 I haven't even received half of my birthday rewards yet. To be quite honest, I'm sick of shopping. I don't need anything. 

I really hate to sound like a broken record, but I can't say this enough. Please sign up at retailers that offer rewards. You'll be surprised at how much free or near free stuff you can get. Americans don't realise how blessed they are to have all these perks. Take it from someone who lived in a country where zero coupons & rewards were available (Canadians will agree). You just had to rely on that once or twice a year sale from your favorite stores. I'm not trying to turn anyone into shopaholics. Why am I asking you to do this? It's because times are tough. We all know that there's not much we can do about the ever increasing grocery prices. So my advice is to save in any other area that you can, to help offset the high grocery prices. We all need clothes, shoes and HBA. I know that I can work the deals in these areas and I take full advantage of it. 

I'll be the first to admit that I have A LOT of clothes and shoes. BF is in for a shock surprise when he sees how much I have (he's stylish too, so I have no worries 😁). However, he will come to learn that I know exactly what I am doing. Just last week I read some comments on a deal seeking site and one commentor mentioned how clothing is just made of cheap polyester and other poor quality fabric, lately. I've been saying the same thing for a long time. I've actually experienced that poor quality recently. I pulled some hoodies (since the weather changed) that I purchased online for DS. When I picked up one of the hoodies, I immediately knew that it was junk. I could tell by the fabric texture. It's the really cheap stuff. We used to complain about all those 'Made in china' stuff, but the latest quality is even worse. Trust me, I know quality (I have very high standards).  I was not happy. Many retailers are now offering this junk (I know exactly why it's happening and might have mentioned it before - not sure). The UA pants that I bought on clearance for DS at Kohls, are all too short.😭 The pair I bought myself is so small, the waist looks like it will fit a child. I have a 27" waist and this is a men's size Small that I purchased for myself. I know that Men's size small is much bigger than a Women's small. So I've decided to get him new pants and wear the ones that are too short for him. I only wear sweats at home, so it's no biggie. 

I also saw that WHBM now offer recycled polyester items. If you shop this store, you'll know that they're not cheap. I saw this beautiful blazer and couldn't believe that they were charging $225 for recycled junk. Now, there are people who will pay the full retail prices (they offer sales from time to time, but that price keeps going back to the original), but not me. No sir! I have more than enough clothes that I bought at their $10-20 sales (way before the crapola hit the fan). In fact, I have a houndstooth blazer that I paid around $20 for and it's not recycled fabric. About 90% of my stuff were purchased pre-pandemic, so the quality is so much better. I'm just over here laughing all the way to the bank (or is it the closet? 😂), cause I don't have to spend any money on cheap junk. So do yourself a favor & grab whatever free stuff you can. 

2 Weeks ago, WHBM had a huge sale. They had over 2000 items on sale and most of it was old inventory. I know this, because I already own many of those items. However, the prices were 2-3 times as much as I paid for it before. The black suede pumps I bought at a deep discount last year, was full price - $150!! Bloody crazy! This is the new normal. Much, much higher prices on everything. It's not just grocery prices that have increased. 

About a year ago, I considered listing my North Face systems jacket (I only wear systems jackets in winter) & down jacket (I bought these at the outlet years ago), because I didn't wear it as much, cause neither are as warm as my regular systems jackets. I never got around to listing it though. I'm so glad I didn't sell it, because the zippers on the newer jackets keep breaking. So I've decided to save my jackets in case my new jackets' zippers break again. The old stuff still work great, even if they're not as warm. I can always wear layers. 

Some of you might think I'm excessive, but there's always method to my madness. Remember how people mocked Noah for building an Ark when there wasn't a rain cloud in sight? I'm thinking I should do a Clothes Shopping Challenge next year, where I give myself $50-100 for the year (I could easily have done it for $10-20 a few short years ago, but times have changed - a lot!) to see how much I can purchase by just using all kinds of rewards and free gcs. I'm adding a $ amount, cause I have to pay tax and at least 1c over the Q value at select retailers. I know that I can do it! 😊 It should be interesting. 

Save your $$$ wherever you can peeps! There are possible food shortages in the forecast too. I'll have to work on a post about shortages. 

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!