I am surrounded by people that are great at finding bargains- particularly my sister Megan. She is so creative and thrifty. She manages to squeeze 3 kids and her husband into a 2 bedroom apartment, make delicious food and come up with great activities for the girls. She’s such an amazing woman and mother. Anyway, I have always been good at staying within my budget and Megan is good at pinching every penny. In fact, this week she made a dress for Isabel out of her own old shirt! Talk about giving your kids the shirt off of your own back! Not bad hah!

Growing up Megan was almost never tempted by purchases of music, clothes or DVDs that I throw money around on (although they do give me a lot of pleasure.). She doesn’t even have the amazon book habit that I’ve got (I’ve done better lately about going to the library even if it kills me not to write in the books!).  She’s a great example to me in these regards.

This is part of the reason why I was so excited to find a great deal today. There is a Rite Aid pharmacy going out of business in Draper. It is my understanding that the whole company is doing fine. It is jus this particular branch which is closing. A couple of weeks ago they had a 50% off sale and I made several purchases. After a busy day of cleaning the rental properties I happened to be going to the cleaners nearby when I noticed a 90% off sale. I had to take a look. I mean that’s practically free!

When I got inside they gave me a medium sized shopping bag and said I could fill it with greeting cards for $1 for the whole bag! In almost a shopping spree mentality I grabbed all the cards I could lay my hands on- everything from Happy Birthday to Sympathy and Get Well cards! Amazingly enough, I ended up with 84 cards for $1!!!!

Needless to say I will have little excuse for forgetting a card for any occasion in the future! If any of you end up with an odd card just remember I got it in the midst of a mad spree!

No, it was really quite tame but still very exhilarating. In a weird way I felt proud of myself. Funny, how that happens hah? It seems something that women get a special thrill from. Why is that? Maybe because we traditionally make most of the purchases? I have been in so many settings where a woman compliments another woman on her clothes, and she immediately begins to describe the deal she got in purchasing it:
“thanks, I got it at Kohls for 20% off and the shirt was on the clearance aisle. They have the best prices on jewelry there…”

I have never heard a group of men talking about such things. Maybe that’s because all my guyfriends are straight but still it is funny how thriftiness is kind of a feminine trait.

A great book for thrifty ideas is the book The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. She runs a website called http://www.tightwad.com/. For example, currently they have directions for candles made out of canola oil and coke cans. Pretty cool! A few of her ideas are a little wacky but still most of them are great. Do any of you have websites you like, tips that help you be thrifty?
I was super excited about my great deal! Now if only I can afford the stamps…