Purchases and Acquisitions: April 2012

­­­­This month I went shopping with a vengeance! Also, my Mom got me some stuff but, I digress... I had a goal in mind (suits) but, tragedy stuck and in the short span of two days I was down one pair of skinny jeans and one pair of skinny pants. While neither of those items are work necessities they are some of the things I wear most on the weekends. The universe was telling me to go shopping.

I went shopping for replacement jeans with one of my close friends (who stuck with me the whole time, love ya!) the weekend after tragedy struck twice. While I wasn’t 100% on board with the idea of going shopping I knew I needed to replace my broken pants. We went to a ton of stores, trying on lots of different types/brands of jeans. Naturally, the ones that I was most comfortable in were at the last store that we went to, Forever 21. I know, I know… it isn’t where I would have thought either but, I’m glad I checked it out because I’m happy with what I got in the end. They had a great pair of dark wash skinny jeans for only $13.50! I bought two with a Visa gift card I had been holding on to. I also hit the GAP and bought another pair of pants to replace my ripped ones. Ouch, 'nuff said.

Next weekend the next stop on my shopping extravaganza was the Unique Thrift Store near my house. While I had every intention of going there to pick out more suits it ended up being a total bust on that front. I did, however, end up finding two lovely vintage dresses that fit perfectly for $4.99 each! I had no doubts or reservations in my mind as I headed to the register to check out, the shopping bug had caught me! I tried to pay for the total with some Unique Thrift Store gift cards that I had received for placing in their costume contest this past October but, they didn’t work… thanks? Fortunately I had another Visa gift card that I have been holding on to and there were no issues with that.

Then I took a short trip down the block to my local Loehmanns to check out their suit selection. I have had great success finding suits there in the past so, it was a  no brainer! After sifting through the racks of suits I found a Tahari suit that really worked for me (high stance, shorter jacket, etc.). I had a coupon so the $99.99 price tag (down from $280.00 MSRP) was whittled down a little more to $79.99 total. WIN? Either way my Mom took pity on my situation and helped me out with that one, thanks Mom!

Unfortunately, the jeans that I bought at Forever 21 ended up being too big even after I washed them. They were a little loose at the store but, I figured one go around in the washing machine and they would be perfect. Wrong, they were still falling off. So I had to go exchange/return them for a different pair. Thankfully, I ended up finding something that worked even better: jeans with an elastic waistband. Yes, they are a hop, skip, and jump away from being pajama jeans. Yes, I’m ok with that. They fit well and are super comfortable! Even better they were only $11.50!! So, I exchanged one pair of the larger jeans for two pairs of the smaller ones. In the same trip I also returned the GAP pants since I was able to patch up my broken pair, more on that later.

Since I had a coupon for Old Navy and some dresses that I had pinned on Pinterest in my mind I decided to stop by and see if I could find them. I used to shop for EVERYTHING at Old Navy but, my tastes (and their quality) have shifted so, I normally don’t give them alot of thought. They didn’t have what I wanted but, I did find a different dress that I liked on sale. When it fit I decided to go for it since the coupon and a gift card made it an easy purchase.

While at the mall I also decided to try Macy’s for a suit since they were having one of their sales and I had yet another coupon. I ended up finding another suit with a fantastic pattern that I’m sure you will be seeing soon! Don’t get too excited it’s still very work appropriate but, I digress… I had some gift cards and merchandise credits on top of the coupon so with all of the discounts combined the $69.99 suit (down from $260.00) ended up coming out to $10.27 which I paid for with the balance on one of my Visa gift cards.

Shopping Overview:

• Unique Thrift Store
• $9.98  Gift Card - $0
• Loehmanns
• $79.99 after coupon  Mom - $0
• Forever 21
• $36.50  Gift Card - $0
• Gap
• $62.10 Return
• Old Navy
• $9.75 after coupon  Gift Card - $0
• Macy’s
• $10.27 after coupon  Gift Card -$0

In the end I ended up getting a whole bunch of new needed stuff for no money out of my normal income. That was partly due to the fact that I returned the replacement skinny pants from the GAP since I was able to find away to make it work and my gift card hoarding tendencies. I don’t think I will be shopping like this again for a while. That’s not to say that I am done beefing up my suit selection, I just need to replenish my gift card reserves…