Hitting the jackpot, of sorts

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE a good bargain. I love getting the deepest discount on an item that I need or want to purchase. I wasn't always like this, in fact not batting an eyelash at paying full retail price, which is just pure madness, but sometimes inevitable, but in recent years decided that I wasn't being the best steward with the money we've been given so...I started bargain shopping.

I always hit the clearance racks first, hit the end caps at my big box retailers, and usually have a coupon or ten to use, when an item is already on sale, as well. But lately I've been hitting up Goodwill and have been so pleasantly surprised. No longer is this a place only for Halloween costumes. I've found some awesome deals there and today was no exception!

We desperately needed an outing today and since the weather report said it was going to be warmer outside I thought I'd muster up the energy (still not back to normal since it's still first trimester good times for me) and hunt for a bargain. We left the house and the thermometer in my car said 18 degrees. Bummer, I guess at 9:30am I shouldn't have expected it to be almost 40 degrees out yet. Can you tell I'm itching for spring??!!

I told my young sprout that if he was a good boy at the store that we'd get french fries for lunch, gotta love bribery, but let's be honest: whether or not he was good we were getting french fries, and quite a bit more. But I'll get to that in a minute.

My point for telling this story? Oh, I just love getting a good bargain and boy did I ever today! I've been on the hunt for some spring/summer maternity clothes since I have all fall/winter maternity clothes from my pregnancy with Grayson. And I hated the thought of having to pay alot for some clothes that I more than likely will wear for this baby and thats it, we're thinking this will be it for us in the kid department. Or at least I am!

Here's my score from two Goodwill stores to at least get my wardrobe started:
-Liz Lange matte jersey dress...BRAND NEW W/ TAGS, perfect for upcoming June wedding we will attend

-Liz Lange cargo capris...BRAND NEW W/TAGS

-Motherhood Maternity dressy capris...just like brand new

-clam diggers for after baby, not brand new but close and will do for a month or so

for the little guy:
-adorable nautical sweater from J.Crew Crew Cuts
(-an LL Bean snowsuit for next winter, that may go back, not sure yet)

And since Grayson was along and needed just a slight boost in good behavior while at the store we picked out a couple of books for him. And what did I see sitting on the shelf for Mommy? Two books that I've eyed for a while at Costco but new I wouldn't get to them for a while anyways so I wasn't willing to pay $8+ a piece.

-Friday Night Knitters Club
and
-Eat, Pray, Love



The proof of my effort. Not much effort really and I found things I was looking for/needing and a few wants too. Not too shabby! By the way, the grand total for all of my bargains??

$30

Considering there are two brand new items in there, plus four basically new books, that's a pretty darn good deal.

Ahhhhhh, my husband will be so proud too. The dutchness in him just oozes from his pores when I tell him about my good deals. I love to do this for my family, not only because I'm not working right now, but because that means we'll have more to spend on making memories as a family...like our upcoming trip to Seattle. And ya know what? We'll still look darn good doing it! And I won't have to blow a gasket when Grayson spills mustard on his shirt because I only paid 99 cents for it...woo hoo!

To finish off our morning, because Grayson had been such a good boy and because this preggo bargain-hunting mama was HUNGRY, we hit up Mickey D's. And without having to make a special request for ANYTHING to be hot or fresh, like you should have to request that anyways but I digress, we ordered and received our delicious lunch.
And guess what? It was HOT HOT HOT.

Almost dripping grease hot. Hot french fries, hot chicken nuggets...mmmmmm. This is monumental because we hit up Mickey D's every once in a while when out running errands. It is NEVER hot. Not even luke warm usually. If I didn't have to park, pull my child out of the car seat, and waddle into the store to get new food I totally would. But that's too much work.

This HOT food was just what we needed and we enjoyed it on the ride home.

Woooohhhhh, I think I need to go sit down. And put my feet up. What a morning. What a good outing. And boy did this mommy need it.