We got ourselves into this. We were going over to some friends and their family for the holidays. However, we didn’t get a chance to get them anything for the holidays (after all they were having us over). Where could we get some great gifts a the last minute?
Enter Marshalls and TJ Maxx!
We were fortunate enough to get a couple of $25 gift cards, one to each location. So our mission was to get a gift for our friends and their mom using only the gift cards (hopefully).
First we went to Marshalls. We did a cursory look around the entire store to get a feel for what we might get. We found an aisle that had lots of great home items. In it we found the perfect gift – a scented oil reed infuser. You know, you get a few bottles of scent and you insert a reed. The scented oil goes up the reed to freshen the room you put it in. Price: $9.99. Awesome! I’ve seen sets like this go for more easily in other stores. This wold be our friend’s mom’s gift.
We couldn’t find just what we wanted for our friends but since the weather hadn’t been too great we needed some snow/rain boots for our little guy. As luck would have it we found a great pair that would keep his feet dry which also had some lights on the side that flashed as he walked. He loves his new boots! Price: $13.00!! Honestly we had been looking around a bunch of other places and couldn’t find good boots. This was a lifesaver.
Both of these left us just under $25! So far mission accomplished – nothing out of our pockets.
Next up was TJ Maxx. Time was running short. If we couldn’t find anything we’d be going empty handed. We checked out the store just as we did at Marshalls to se if anything jumped out at us. As we were looking around we realized we alos needed a gift for our friend’s son. Do-oh! Could we pull it all off? We went to the toys section and loked around. We came across an Iron Man stationary set for their son. He loves super heroes so we knew this would work. This still left our friends. The first gift for them we found was a beautiful keepsake box in the shape of a book. It took us a bit to find the next item; not so much for lack of selection but more from trying to find an item that was just right for our friends. Luck struck again as we found a pretty glass picture frame. Our friends have all sorts of pictures all over their house so we knew they would love this frame.
We added up the items in our heads and it seemed like we were under $25. Good. While we were there we realized our daughter needed to long socks for the cold weather. We checked out the selection and found a set for her.
At the register the total came to $27.96. So for gifts for our friends, their mom, their son, boots for our son, and socks for our daughter the total out of pocket expense for us was $2.97! Not bad. I’d say our mission was a complete success.
Good thing we had a limit for spending. While we were on line at TJ Maxx I saw a kid with a neoprene laptop sleeve. I’d love one of those for our new computer! You definitely have to go in with a budget and an idea of what you want because you can find lots of bargains and easily go crazy in those places.
I’ve always loved stores like TJ Maxx and Marshals that discount name brand items. To pay full retail is a sucker’s deal most of the time. The only drawback is the selection may be limited to what’s in the store at the time as the stock is always changing. You have to be patient and understand you may not find exactly what you are looking for. But what you do get will be a bargain!
Where do you like to shop for discount items?
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photo credit: turtlemom4bacon
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I love shopping at TJ Maxx for bath towels, shoes, and purses. The prices are always significantly cheaper than going to a department store. Gordman’s is another awesome discount store, and then are always E-mailing or mailing me coupons. I rarely pay the price on the tag!
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@ Hannah – Doesn’t it seem that most times paying retail is a sucker’s move?
I love both of these as well. They fill a needed niche between target and wal-mart. They are also a great resource for odds and ends that you usually wouldn’t think about.
Actually…I like shopping at Kohl’s. I know it’s not a discount store, but for clothes, it works best for me. I hit up the sales, and can usually get various articles of clothing for between $3 and $15. For some reason, I have a hard time clothing that I like at stores like TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Ross. And believe me, I’ve tried.
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@ Miranda – It can be hit and miss at times. My sizes are pretty average so I sometimes find the selection limited. But if I do find anything it’s a pretty good deal.
@ffb – Yes. It is not hard to find a sale in today’s economy. If you have the patience to wait for something to go on sale and can stand to have your E-mail/snail mail bombarded with coupons from retailers, it is very easy to get discounts on most anything. Also, websites like retailmenot.com come in handy when you’re ordering merchandise online.
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@ Hannah – So true! One trick with GMail is you can insert a [dot] into your name and it will still read as your email address (eg firstlast@gmail.com could also read first.name@gmail.com). You can use this as a way to register your email with stores and differentiate their emails from everything else. You can even set up instructions so these emails go to a different folder. This way you get the discounts and you help keep the clutter out of your inbox! (I’m thinking I need to listen to my advice on this one going forward!!)
Personally I love shopping at goodwill industries. It is always hit or miss, but occasionally you find high dollar items, still in packaging and while they wouldn’t be the best Christmas gift, it can certainly be a random gift and the price is always right. Many larger cities will have one or two locations near a community of wealth and those always seem to yield gently used clothes.
I have a closet full of Banana Republic, Express, Van Heusen and others thanks to thrifty shopping.
Also a huge fan of TJ Max.
@ Jarod – I used to go to Salvation Army to look for vintage clothes. I once got a great wool overcoat for $25. All it needed was a new button which was actually sewn on the interior!
I go to goodwill only when I need a costume for halloween. Great place for costumes.
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