I LOVE shopping in November. No, I'm no longer a Black Friday shopper. I've got my deal shopping down to where I can get better than Black Friday deals throughout the year. No need to fight the crowds anymore. No, the best thing about November shopping is that it's my birthday month and, with it, come all the birthday presents from the retailers I frequent.
Most of the gifts are small (but Finish Line surprised me this year with $20!) but when I combine them with all the holiday sales that start in November it's a small windfall. (Admittedly, my daughter snorted when she saw the $5 from Buckle...)
So last Thursday was "Me Day." I went shopping. First stop was Bath and Body Works. We are almost out of body wash and, gasp, I hadn't done any body wash drug store deals lately. Time to get the good stuff. I found it a good practice to always have a $25 Bath and Body Works gift card in my wallet. I get my supply from either my credit card points or any number of other rewards sites.
Bath and Body Works currently has out a $10 off $30 coupon as well as a free product coupon that can be used together. They also almost always run "Buy 3, Get 3 Free" on their Signature line. My take...
6 bottles of body wash and one bottle of lotion. Full retail is $12.50 each so $87.50 - that's just insane! Take off the "Buy 3, Get 3 Free" plus the free item and you're down to $37.50. Use the $10 off $30 and you're at $27.50 which is $3.93 a bottle and far more reasonable. I used my $25 gift card and got it all for $2.50 + $1.93 tax ($4.43). These are my current favorite scents.
You can get all 7 for $27.50 too. Search for the coupons online if you don't get their mailers or emails.
Next stop was Kohls. They had sent me a $10 gift certificate for my birthday. I also had $5 in Yes2You rewards to use, plus, they currently have a coupon (you can get it online) for $10 off a $25 purchase. I thought that if I could find a $25 item, I could in theory get it for free.
I rarely just go looking to find something to buy. I know that retailers send you five to ten dollars as the "carrot" to get you in the store. Going into a store just looking to buy something is treading on dangerous ground. My goal was to find something I needed or had been looking for. If all else failed I was going to get Food Saver rolls or chocolate as I can always use these! Luckily, I found something better. Two somethings...
First was a running glove and headband set from Nike. $25 exactly. The only thing that kept me from jumping on it was that I also had $20 to spend at Finish Line and they had Nike gloves on clearance online. Then, I found it! I'd been looking for a cupcake carrier all summer. I'd actually cashed in credit card points for a Bed Bath and Beyond gift card thinking I could get one there, only to find they didn't have any. I'd shelved that project for awhile. Now I found it. A two-tier 24 cupcake carrier from Food Network.
It snaps apart and the cupcake inserts come out.
You can use it without the inserts for cakes or other things. Since the layers snap together, you can carry just one, or if you bought another one, you can snap more layers on.
I LOVE it! Full price was $34.99, on sale for $27.99. Take off $10 off $25, then $10 and $5, and I got it for $2.99 + $0.21 tax ($3.20).
The $10 off $25 coupon is a crazy deal. It's still available online.
Next stop was Wild Birds Unlimited. Picked up my 5 lbs of free birdseed. I got the "no mess" variety but my birds are spoiled and made a mess anyway. There are no shells in the "no mess" variety but my birds won't eat the millet. I usually fill my feeders with cracked sunflower seed hearts.
Next stop was Best Buy. I wanted to check out a camera bag. Adorama.com had a Lowepro sling bag on sale for $16.95. It looked like a steal but I wanted to look at the bag in person before I ordered it. I had been looking for a camera bag that could double as a purse. I actually bought a purse that was large enough to carry my camera but it doesn't offer any protection for the camera. The bag online was the Lowepro Sling II, last years model. The Sling III is out now. I saw absolutely no difference. The retail price at Best Buy is $49.99 for the Sling III. The regular price of the Sling II at Adorama is $39.99. $16.95 AND free shipping sounded like a killer deal to me.
Bag arrived today!
It's expandable.
3 outside pockets
2 way zipper... for some reason I love 2 way zippers.
A look inside.
Bag with my Nikon D90 with 18-200mm lens attached.
There's room for another lens or flash plus more.
Padding velcos in and out.
2 inner pouches with Velcro closures.
I LOVE this bag! It's perfect for my needs. If you like it, Adorama has been running it at this price quite often lately so keep an eye out. Plus, Adorama sent me a card for 100 free pictures.
Can't beat that!
Speaking of photos, when I ordered my free prints from Shutterfly on 11/2, I also got a coupon for $10 off and free shipping to Shoebuy.com. Shutterfly always offers a choice of 3-4 different coupons after you complete an order. Most are percent off deals at a store so I always choose the Shoebuy coupons. Many times I never use the Shoebuy coupon but this time I had a need.I need more running socks. I have no idea why running socks are so freakin' expensive. Maybe I'm just cheap. I nearly destroyed a pair of Balega's on Saturday's trail run...
I was so muddy I had to take off my socks and shoes before I entered the house!
Trust me, they were so muddy they could stand on their own. If they hadn't been $11 (I really paid full price for these!), I'd have pitched them... but I rescued them.
Shoebuy happened to have Smartwool socks on clearance. $12.97 for two pairs. They usually run $18 a pair. YES! $2.97 for two pairs of socks, free shipping... and a complimentary Tide pod (that was a surprise. Are they psychic?)
Even without the coupon, this is a great deal so if you're in the market for running socks you may want to take a look. The only sizes they have left are Women's Small - says fits shoe size 4 - 6.5 but they fit my feet just fine and I wear a size 8 Brooks running shoe.
That's all for now. I'm sure there'll be more deal posts this month. Happy deal shopping!
...and obviously, none of the retailers or brands mentioned in this post paid me anything to write about them :)
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