For me it was probably a Black Friday around 5 years ago when I was able to shop for everyone on my list in around 4 hours and save over 50% across the board, around $350 in savings total and some of the gifts are still frequently used to this day. Have you had your savings epiphany or reached shopping Nirvana?
From what I remember, it was the early bird award that I got in the biggest boutique in one mall. We deliberately came early to assure us of a parking slot. We just whiled away our time until the mall opened some 45 minutes after we arrived. Upon entering the mall, my husband and I walked aimlessly until I saw the sale in one boutique and before I could enter, I noticed the biggest boutique also having a sale so I went there. After browsing in the store, there was this attendant with a clipboard who got my name and announced that I was granted the early bird award of 50% discount on any item (it has a maximum amount though) and I also got some freebies like caps and visors.
It's been years ago, but we were in the market for a new mini-van. We decided exactly what we wanted and then I went about finding the best price. I pitted two salesmen from different dealerships against eachother and let them go at it. They kept under-cutting eachother and we wound up saving thousands and thousands!
I feel this way whenever I buy gifts for the holidays and end up buying items within my budget. I fail this challenge on some years so whenever I do succeed occasionally I feel proud of myself. I feel especially so whenever I get to save and at the same time also get the type of items that I feel would make the recipients happy because that way I know I didn't compromise too much and at the end I feel I got to save and at the same time still got to buy the gifts that I feel I would have gotten regardless of the savings or budget or discounts.
Well, when my son was little, we bought the last stroller that was the floor model, at about a 75 dollar discount. That was pretty good. It was a very nice stroller. It was a little hard to fold, but I always smiled when I thought about how much money I saved. Also, a few years ago Target had a deal by 5 General Mills cereal's get a 5 dollar gift card. I used my 5 percent off Target card, and 2.00 worth of coupons,,meaning I got like 5 boxes of cereal for essentially nothing.
Well, my "shopping nirvana" usually comes in the form of winning auctions in Ebay, since sometimes, the items being auctioned tends to not have that many bidders, so the item ends up being underpriced, with me winning it.
I bought several games from GOG.com and spent less than 5 $ for titles that worth 10-15$ each. GOG.com sales are limited for a very brief period of time, I was just entering and I stumble upon this killer offer that I had any qualms in taking the bait. I was quite satisfied that moment.
