May 30 2009
The Right Place at the Right Time and Buying in the Off Season
A lot of the bargain buys I have gotten have been because of simply being at the right place at the right time and knowing the value of things. For example, this past winter I purchased a pair of slippers for my toddler for $10. I know it seems like a high price to pay for a pair of slippers, but these were UGG brand and have a resale value of about $10, even used. My daughter happened to find them herself while expressing her independence during a shopping trip to Marshall’s. She was digging through a pile of socks (a bargain hunter even now), pulled them out and exclaimed “Oh! My shoes.” and put them in the cart. It was a done deal for her before I even looked at the price tag. Now, not everyone has the time to post things on ebay, but I have been selling on E-Bay for years and have found that people love to buy designer clothing for the babies, even if it’s used (although you can get a great price for new items with tags, I sell quite a bit of Gymboree that way). You aren’t really going to get a good price for them at a yard sale unless you get someone in who really knows the value of the item (to use my example, new UGGs for a toddler retail for $50, if you can find them). The only reason I got them at such a great price it because I happened to find them and because it was the off season. I don’t know if someone returned them and they had to be resold at a discount or if they were just found in the stock area, either way I knew to buy them as soon as I saw them.
Shopping in the off season is a huge money saver. It is hard to do with kids because you don’t know how much they are going to grow, but it’s wonderful for adults. I recently picked up a pair of Columbia cargo pants for men for under $15 because they are considered “winter” pants. I know that my fiancee is not going to grow out of them before next winter (not to mention that we live in Northeastern Ohio and our summer seems to start and end in the same week in mid July) and I know that Columbia is a reputable brand that can stand up to his job so that was a great deal for me.
If you dig through the clearance racks (and really dig, don’t just scan it) you can find some serious bargins. I just found a pair of boots for my daughter for next winter for $2 and a hat and gloves set for $1 because they were so far out of season. I was also able to find a pair of shorts for $1 and two polo shirts for $1.75 each. The shirts and shorts were crumpled up on the bottom shelf of the clearance area, they were dusty, but were in perfect condition. I was able to wash them and they look like new again. People tend to pass over items that are dirty or dusty, but their loss can be your gain! Be willing to wash an item and it can be yours for a fraction of the original cost.
I am also feeling the need to show off a little today. I work at a major drugstore and today they gave us 25% off our purcahses instead of the usual 15%. I was able to get a cart full of items for $27. I will try to post pictures in the morning. This was all done simply by shopping the mark-downs. More and more stores are starting to mark their items down in the aisle so some of the best deals are going to be found in the regular departments. I was able to get bubble mailers for $.35 because they happened to mark them down the day before the big sale, but they weren’t with the other mark downs, they were with the other bubble mailers in the regular aisle. I know it’s a pain to walk up and down every aisle when you are at the store, but if it’s a department you may regularly shop for mark downs or even just regularly priced items (baby, cosmetic items, stationery and paper goods are some examples) it may be worth a turn down the aisle, just to see if you can stock up.
