Never, Ever Pay Full Retail for Anything!

Something my mom always taughtme from the beginning of time....Never, ever pay full retail!

This is truly a mindset. It is so hard to see all the nice new things that come out each season and not "WANT" it all.

But here is what my mom taught me:

When all the new things come....we would go "wish" shopping.

we would go and look at everything, the new fashions and decide what we liked and what we didn't, try on and really got a feel for what we truly liked....then...here comes the tricky part.

We would walk out and leave all of it at the store.

No impulse buying here. lol

Then when the stores started their sales. We would ...................you guessed it............stay home.lol

Then when the stores would have a really good sale, like the one I went to yesterday...90% off.

We would go and buy.

Now the downside is there was not always what we picked out the first day. But we did always do well. I was always clothed very well.

My dad still does this to this day. He visits the big department stores in our area and chooses what he will want when the sales get good. Usually he will buy when the item is 50% off and take another 50% off.....He is frugal too!

The key here is to always buy at the end of the season for the next year. Those of you who have small children....you will get good at guessing growth rate of your child..it can be done.

My girls always were a year behind the styles...

If there was an item that came out that was very trendy and I knew would only last for one season...If it was something they really wanted......Then it might become a Christmas Present.

You get the basic principle...........no impulse buying.........wait for sales.........buy end of season!

You will save thousands of dollars using this method.

The cool thing is, after a year or so, you realize that you are learning the sales patterns of your favorite stores and you know how long to hold out for that favorite item.
Best Shopping!

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Awesome Free Paper Dolls: Good Cheap Fun!

Do you remember the original Betsy McCall paper doll series. For those who may be old enough to remember (!), beginning in 1951, McCalls magazine used to put out a page in their magazine with the Betsy McCall paper doll series for young girls to cut out. Each issue had new outfits and new things to add to this collection.

This whole series is now available to freely download here. I think they go back to 1951, and some of the pages are adorable. You actually have access to each and every page of the Betsy McCall series, I wanted to pass it along if you have a young daughter!

Yes, it will take paper and ink to print, but it's a pretty inexpensive activity you and your daughters could do together.And by the way, if you get tired of the Betsy McCall dolls and want to print out other paper dolls, just do a quick Google search and you'll find more free paper dolls to download then your daughter could probably ever have time to cut out and play with in her lifetime!

Wordless Wednesday: Family After Thanksgiving Meal!

A Few of My Favorite Things: A Free Pedicure

Several Months ago Herbal Essences had a promotion, if you bought two of the specially marked bottles of their shampoo or conditioner you could send off for a free manicure or pedicure. I gladly purchased some and sent off for mine.

I finally got all my ducks lined up and went to the wonderful spa in a adjoining town. It was wonderful. I was in heaven. What a nice thing. Of course this offer is not available now but in the future....there will be other offers and I will try to keep you informed. This spa pedicure would have cost me $40.00....WOW!

Here is the final results...nice huh? I love my toes to feel pretty.
And this my friends....Works for ME!!!