Bargains- Do You Look for Them? Do You Buy "On Sale?"

I've found that most "SALES" involve putting up a sign that says "SALE" and that's about it.

Of the people I know only women are a sucker for the "SALE" sign. I don't know a single guy who pays attention to them.

Craven- You can save LOTS of money if you buy clothes at the end of a season. I like the sales where you can see what the item originally sold for, and then there is a percentage markdown.

I live in Florida, and I go to NY in the summer, when all the summer stuff is on sale. You can wear summer stuff in Florida 10 months of the year. I make out like a bandit!

I hate sales !! The shops become so crowded that it is impossible to shop. One would wonder if things are being handed out for free !!!!

Gautam- Are you a "night person", who shops in the afternoon? The best time to shop sales is early in the morning,when the stores just open, or around dinner time.

I will not go NEAR the big stores from Thanksgiving until after Christmas!

Phoenix - in the wonderful world of UK, shopping hrs are 0900-1800 weekdays

No evenings, weekends, or holidays, Gautam? No wonder we fought the Revolutionary War in the U.S.!! :wink:

Oh some stores/malls do open late night/weekends, but they are even more crowded during those periods !!!

Of course I'm a sales shopper! Yikes. Who would pay retail when you can get the same thing for 50-75% off? Anybody who has ever worked in a store knows there is a huge mark-up that eventually comes off.

Piffka, will you do some shopping for me then ??

I tend to decide on exactly what I want and then I find the best price on it. Sometimes I'll find a price I'm willing to pay right up front and other times I'll watch prices for a few months before buying. I almost never go into a store because they are running a sale though.

Sometimes the "sale" prices are nothing more than a hoax but on a few rare occassions there are true sales and if I've been watching an item I may jump on it if it goes on sale.

Yep.

I loooove to get things cheap.

It's not a "Sale" sign that gets my attention so much, though. That's usually more like 25-40%. What I like are the little lonely racks of mismatched stuff -- like, only one or two of each. Often the whole store isn't having a sale, per se, just that rack.

Sozlet's bday present this year is a dress-up chest made of halloween costumes I got after halloween for nothin'. Got a bear costume, a princess costume, a crown, a sceptre, a wand, fairy wings, ladybug wings, firehat, little red riding hood outfit, and forgetting something all for under $30. (Several were 80% off.)

80-90% off makes me veddy veddy happy.

She will LOVE IT, soz!!!

Of course! But you'll have to come to the states... I didn't notice much in the UK on sale. (I'm sure if I lived there, I'd find 'em though!) I did find some fantastic silver earrings & other things at a 50% off, end-of-the-season sale at Crathes Castle. The Tate museum has its own sale shop running all the time -- some really nice things there, too. I got a gorgeous tapestry there for 20GBP. It had been 75GBP.

Fishin' -- Good going. I wish Mr.P would do a little more checking around when he goes shopping. He tends to have an "I want it now, I'll buy it now." attitude. But he is happy to indulge me in my search for a bargain.

Sozobe -- 80-90% off... sigh. My heart started pounding a little harder when I saw that. Doesn't happen too often, but somehow, I value things more when I "steal" 'em.

That costume chest sounds wonderful. If you have any sewing experience, here's another thing you can add for very little money. Good fabric stores usually have a table of beautiful remnants... velvets, voile, and tapestry things are especially yummy. Bring 'em home & hem them where needed, just so there are no loose threads (selvedges are OK). They can be draped, caped & tied for all sorts of cool extras as clothing, tents, carpets, etc.

I price-watch.

I don't usually stop unless things are at least 75% off.

I watched one pair of shoes for nearly 6 months, til the price was what I was willing to pay. Thank gawd, the last pair left was in my size.

Now that's serendipity!

I price-watch, too, but kinda spotty success rate. My shoe size seems to always be the first to go. There is a BabyGap nearby, though, and we meander on by often... don't think I've ever paid more than half price, often 75% off +.

Piffka, yep on the fabrics. The other thing I do is buy old silk scarves... often very cheap at garage sales and resale stores, great colors and prints. A box full has been sozlet's "dress up box" thus far. (Tie 'em, drape 'em, etc.) I made one into a skirt that she has played with for two years... was for a flower fairy costume Halloween '01.

Silver earrings from the Tate sound beautiful! Describe 'em, if you will...

I have two pair of cotton pants. After marking them down, senior discount day, and being in the closeout rack, they cost me $1.45 apiece. I will not get rid of them until they fall off me!

$1.45!!!!!!!! Wow! Now that's impressive.

Does anyone remember the brand Tweeds? I don't know if they still exist. Well there was an outlet in Minneapolis that carried Tweeds stuff at about 70% off, then sales would go down to 90% off... I got some of the most gorgeous stuff for like 5 bucks. (Silk sweaters, long wool bias-cut skirts, that sort of thing.)

The outlet, unsurprisingly, went out of business pretty quickly.

hamburger and mrs. hamburger once filled the trunk of their car with clothes for less than $20 - senior discount, 90% off lowest marked price ...

I love to shop with hamburger. He is a good deal-spotter.

But there's always T.J. Maxx!

Sozobe, the silver earrings were from Crathes Castle, near Aberdeen, Scotland. They're hand-made in a Celtic design -- French loops attached to elongated inch-long wedges pierced into three spiral knots. They were originally 50GBP. <silly smile> I wear them a lot.

Some great places online to get bargains in clothes: eBay, Coldwater Creek, and Amazon.

Those serendipitous things, as Beth and Phoenix found... they just PROVE the item was something fated for you to have!