What I've Learned Since Becoming A Parent
One important thing is that 2 piece, short and t-shirt pj's for babies
and little kids are fucking expensive. Like $20+ for a set. People,
we're talking about shorts. And a t-shirt. That should not cost $20.
Once I figured this great injustice out, it put me on the prowl. I send
my mom to her the gap to get whatever's in stock at the end of the
season, I stalk our local store and buy up everything the mark down,
then I hope that size fits next summer. If you catch it right, you can
get $22 pj's for $5 in late summer/early fall.
This weekend I went a little crazy at our local Carters outlet stores.
Pj's were $5.99 + 20% off and I had a coupon for another 20% off so I
scored a ton of sets for next summer for less than $4 each. Go me!
Local readers, please note that I have cleared out all the cute 3T pj's
from milpitas and mtn view's stores. Just so you're not shocked at that
space on the rack.
I also got Val's dress for our wedding. It's super cute and for that, I
paid full price. The clerk felt the need to point it's full-pricedness
out to me since everything else in my giant stack was on super hugeass
markdown.
Someone said I shouldn't tell Val we only buy things on sale. I say
screw that. She should know that it's really rare that we pay full
price for anything besides food. She should not be surprised that I
bust out a coupon whenver possible. Maybe someday she'll wonder why her
new clothes come out of a storage tub instead of a shopping bag and I'll
just tell it like it is: because Mommy's cheap.
9 Comments:
Huh?? Why would you *not* tell her (at some point) about getting stuff on sale? I would think that it could turn into a positive learning thing about making good choices, etc.. You're not depriving her of anything and it isn't as if you would refuse to get something at full retail if it was genuinely needed.
9:11 AM
buying ahead and on sale is smart. when you realize "damn, thos pjs don't really fit anymore" you don't have to run to the store; you go to the storage tub. there's worse things than having a well-stocked future wardrobe you picked up for a fraction of the cost. heck, i wish someone would drop a storage tub off of new, nice-fitting clothes for me to "shop" in. ;)
9:19 AM
I wouldn't call it being cheap - I would call it being practical. No reason to spend oodles of money on everyday clothes that will be worn so briefly.
10:03 AM
P.S. I certainly wouldn't call it "cheap" either. (Cheap is something else entirely - remember the bakeware swap meet?) You're just spending your $$ wisely.
2:36 PM
ooh, bakeware swap meet...great idea!
i agree, it's not cheap, it's practical. why pay more for the same exact thing? nice work, chippy!
3:48 PM
I'll add my comment to the pile: I don't think it's being "cheap", it's making the money you have stretch as best you can, and that stretching takes effort, thought, smarts and resourcefulness. Money spent on pricey clothes means money you wouldn't be able to otherwise spend on stuff that's *important* to you and your family. Like Disneyland. And Zeus meds. And quality time together doing something new and fun. And by planning ahead, you get those cool clothes anyway. Nice work, indeed!
12:59 AM
Unsurprisingly, I'm OK with calling it cheap. I hope I'm teaching Graham to celebrate the "wins" at the store--getting a great deal is so fun.
I also love, instead of heading to the store when his pants are too short, just going downstairs to pull things out of the hand-me-down boxes/drawers/bags. Works for us!
2:12 PM
Malka comes WITH me to Salvation Army, and points to the stuff she likes. I usually go in there to find fabric, in the guise of old men's shirts, but sometimes I find a cute something or other for Malka in there, too!
11:01 AM
oh yeah, and the pants that fit her in the fall are now "kulats." (or "Capris") and that's what we like to call them! ;)
11:01 AM
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