Besides sitting and drinking too much Diet Coke, I wandered the nearby shopping mall. I really dislike shopping malls. This one was not particularly busy, odd for just a week before Christmas. It was fine with me. I didn't buy anything there though. I looked at jeans for my son, but he wears boot cut and all the mall stores had the skinny jeans, skinny leg openings. He wears boots for work, ones to protect his feet, plus, he's never for every day wear liked that skinny jean look.I did take a couple pics of the decorations. One store Von Maur, was absolutely stunning. The prices were absolutely stunning as well.
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| One of the gorgeous Von Maur displays. |
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| the setting for Santa photos. |
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| Lighted moose. It was a mall in Minnesota after all. |
OK, So enough with pictures. Here's my five thrifty things for the week.
- Stuck to plain coffee and no pasties for a coffee meeting.
- Used a 50% off coupon for both photo greeting cards and labels.
- Helped host an inexpensive popcorn bar as a staff treat. It was a winner.
- Belgian Chocolates (a brand I remembered from Europe) for 50% off, already wrapped.
- I resisted the pop-up kiosk sales pitches and walked right on by and didn't take advantage of the free sample!
Our grocery bill is going to be going up as I navigate new cooking. I need to watch the pennies even tighter. I wasn't happy spending money on a sandwich, but I saved the wear and tear on the car not driving back home and then to the cities. I guess that is a savings. How were your wins for the week?
Nice work staying thrifty at this time of year! I like the idea of a popcorn bar. I may suggest it for a work event as well.
ReplyDeleteWe used a few drug store rewards to buy things we need, and used four free meal passes at our local salad bar. The cashier was less than thrilled, which is funny, because it's a promotion they run, associated with gift card sales at the holiday. Unclear why they run the promotion if they don't want people to use them? Anyway, free dinner.
Moving away from all the sweets was a nice change-the taco seasoning on buttered popcorn was very tasty. I never understand when staff cop an attitude when people use vouchers or coupons. I mean, don't they do the same in their lives?
Delete1. Decorated for Christmas using our artificial tree we bought new 14 years ago with all our old ornaments we’ve collected thru the years. My mom said our tree is always so beautiful & one of the prettiest she sees each year; said it’s a perfect shape.
ReplyDelete2. My mother-in-law wanted to try toilet paper from Sam’s club & didn’t end up liking it (they have a septic system & we have public sewer). She gifted it to us since it’s the kind we prefer, so I got 27 rolls for free!
3. I don’t currently sell on Ebay, just Facebook Marketplace. I made $189 so far the past few months. I’m happy with that since normally i just would’ve donated it all. I did go thru Christmas decorations while I had them out & added a few to my sale items as we no longer use them.
4. My daughter needed some yarn at the fabric store so she could knit. I had a gift card with a little $ on it which I used toward her purchase, plus used a coupon as well.
5. We had some work to do at the firehouse 2 evenings last week and the chief bought us all dinner one night as a thank you for helping. Helps my food budget!
6. I hand delivered one Christmas card saving postage, paid all my bills online saving postage.
I don't know of many people that go out and start fresh each year, other than buying a real tree and wreaths. However, the "Influencer" culture sure seems to thrive on people setting u a whole new theme each year for their decorating. Give me decades old ornaments all the way. Nice wins on the FB marketplace sale.
DeleteI think staying in one place and buying a sandwich offsets the cost of going home and eating there. Additionally you need to factor the personal wear and tear in the equation.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your description of Von Maur. Beautiful store but a little on the pricey side
The downside was when I ordered and aske dhow late they were open, he said 10:30. Then at five minutes to 10 a young, very polite young man, let me know they were ready to lock up. Apparently it was 9:30 close-I was a bit embarrassed, but the person was gone that gave me the bad info.
DeleteI would rather buy a sandwich rather than driving the car and dealing with the traffic!
ReplyDeleteWell, it was later so traffic was eased but I made the right call.
DeleteMalls used to excite me and now.... not so much Love the displays however.
ReplyDelete