Winterizing a small Willage

One night on vacation Jack and I slipped away for an hour to do a little outlet shopping. We slipped into Children's Place to get the boys some school clothes. While we pretty much bombed out on that front, we had royal success on another.

We were at the cash register to pay for the 3 sweater vests I bought (for $23--which I thought was a deal at the time) for the boys. There was a big bin next to the register marked 5 for $1. Being the bottom feeders that we are, we investigated. It was tons of nice knit and fleece hats, mittens, scarves, and gloves. Having 3 boys also means losing tons of those things, so we thought for $0.20 we'd toss some in. As she was ringing them in, we were like, "Oh, buy a few more for neighborhood kids." Seeing we were easily persuaded consumers, the salesperson said, "Are you sure you don't want more? Your total is only at $7."

"Heck, why not? We can donate some to the Women's Resource Center. Ah, get a few more, we can donate them to the Christmas Store." Again, seeing we were just flaunting our 1 dollar bills around, she said, "Do you just want to buy it all?" We looked at each other and said, "Why not?!" And she dumped the bins onto the counter. We had left these fleece slippers in the bins because we didn't like them, but when we realized we could donate them to a little girl who has never owned a pair in her life, the $0.20 seemed to beckon us onward. In dumping the bins of unwanted items into our bags we also came across a girls sun hat, a few bow ties, and some purses. It was a veritable menagerie.

So in the end, we were able to buy 76 items (some rang in at $.09) for $17.16. (See S with our receipt.) We figured we got it all for about 98% off. I do believe we hit the motherload and every sale from here on out will be a disappointment. It's hard to peak at such a young age, but alas, some people go there whole life without such satisfaction.

And PS--if you show up at a baby shower where I am giving a hat, glove, and scarf set--mums the word, eh?