Shopping 2

The final lesson was that the shopping victories you can make, money you can save, things you can accumulate through shopping is really unbelievable. Perhaps I should try to sharpen my shopping skills next year. One time I was given a book to read about saving money through careful spending for household expenses. After reading that I think I started the habit of coupons and shopped at both at Hy-Vee and fareway to save money. Both are grocery stores in the city we live in. Some things were cheaper in Hy-Vee so I bought those from Hy-Vee. Something's were cheaper in fareway and so I bought those at fareway. I would scrutinize the grocery flyers that came to our home and compare prices. In this way I was able to save between 10 to 30 dollars a month. But driving to fareway and Hy-Vee several times trying to get the best deals would have used up lots of gas. And the effort and energy it takes may not have been worthwhile. The money saved varied from month to month. This habit can lead to the practice of buying cheap things because you are only focused on saving money. The solution is to buy the expensive brand when it is on sale and stock up. But this works only for some things such as the things you need in bulk. It does not work for everything. If there is some unmissable deals that seems unmissable to me I feel it may not be unmissable to others. Like there were long sleeved Tees for $5.00 in old navy on black Friday. The final lesson I learned is that there are determined shoppers, careful shoppers, successful shoppers who always know the right time and the right way to shop and come back home with a huge shopping bag with all the things they bought, unsuccessful shoppers who never get what they want and the moderately successful shoppers who sometimes get what they want. There are shopoholics for whom shopping fulfills some need. And there is retail therapy for those whom shopping makes happy. Shopoholic may be on the one end of the spectrum and retail therapy shoppers may be on the other end of the spectrum. These are the lessons I learned while shopping.

Shopping

A month ago I was going somewhere by bus. I saw a girl in the bus wearing a loose hoodie in a bright green color with loose plaid pants that looked like pajamas. She had lots and lots of peace on her face. A few days later when I went to the mall I found the exact same kind of pants on a rack in old navy. It came in different colors and the best thing was it was only $15:00.However I did not buy it. I came back home thought about it several times and on Cyber Monday decided to go to the mall thinking I could buy it. However it was not there. When I asked a sales clerk she said it was in clearance and she took me to the back of the store and showed me the pant in a clearance. Only one was available and it was not my size. I tried to order it online but they needed me to have a credit card so I could not buy it. Yesterday when I went to the mall I had two other things in mind as well. One was a long green dress and the other was a black sweater or top with white rhinestones on it. I looked but could not find both things. This time I did not ask a store clerk. I looked at all other sweaters tops dresses pants etc and bought a sweatpants and came back. On the way back sitting in the bus I thought if what I like is not there I can buy what is there. I should not be that determined of a shopper who is not satisfied until I buy the thing I have in mind.But my entire shopping trip was not in vain. Squishmallows that you get for $10:00 usually was available for $5:00. With tax it came to $7:0O. Otherwise it would cost $12:00. I also bought a earring from Claire's which may not have been on sale. It was made of pearl and I wanted pearl earrings. Through these purchases and this entire experience taught me a few lessons. If something I like is available for $15:00 I should not hesitate to buy. It was too happy and magical of a coincidence to see an outfit in a bus that I liked a lot and see the same outfit in old navy for only $15:00. It is a sign that heaven is smiling down in me. I should not miss such signs. Another lesson I learned is that shopping is very difficult. Because you go shopping thinking you are going to buy something that you saw last time you went there. But when you go there that which you found last time is not there. I had three things I saw last time that was not there this time. Also I thought about determined shopping. Determined shopping may be being really determined to get what you have in mind. I thought maybe that is not very healthy. if what I had in mind is not there I can buy what is there. If the long green dress is not there I could buy something else. I did try to and found a black top with red flowers on it but it was not available in my size. Finally I bought sweatpants which I really needed. The second lesson I learned was that the prices of things are really less on black Friday and you can save money by shopping on Black Friday. There was a cardigan I liked in JCP. It was 24 dollars. On black Friday it was 14 dollars. Yesterday it was back to being 24 dollars. On black Friday there are unmissable deals. That deal will never come back that year. Not even before the steepest discount days leading up to Christmas. In future I will try not to skip black Friday shopping.