Secrets of a Savvy Shopper: Shopping around pays off

I have always prided myself in being resourceful, and with the current economic times being resourceful is truly a virtue for me. I wouldn’t call it thrifty or frugal, just resourceful when it comes to finding deals and ways to save money. To me, it’s pointless to pay full price for anything when I don’t necessarily have to.

Take for instance my recent search for a loveseat slipcover-and not just any kind of slipcover. I was looking for a chocolate or cocoa brown one with the elastic that hugs just perfectly around the bottom made from microfiber (faux suede). I knew I could find one of those slipcovers that you tie up, but I knew the elastic ones didn’t slip around as much and that I didn’t have to spend a lot of time getting it “just right”. I went to Kohl’s first, because they advertised slipcovers for $39.99 and up….well the one I wanted was in the “and up” range. No can do. I then called one of my dearest friends in the Triad area, who visited a store called Anna’s Linens. They too had the slipcover, but not in the color I wanted.

I finally found the slipcover from a seller on eBay, but wouldn’t you know that they were sold out of the color I wanted. Cinder and ashes! Just when I was about to give up, I decided to give Bed Bath and Beyond a try. I figured they would have some SureFit ones, but probably way above my price range. After looking and looking for some time, I saw a very tattered bag on the bottom shelf in the slipcover section. It was an elastic microfiber loveseat slipcover that had previously been a floor sample-marked down to $49! All the other SureFit elastic microfiber loveseat slipcovers were at least $99, so this was TRULY a deal!

I was so proud of myself that I immediately called my friend to let her know the search was over. As we were talking, I remembered that I didn’t bring my 20 percent off coupon with me! Oh no! After thinking about hiding the slipcover and making a mad dash home for the coupon, I decided to ask someone if they had a spare coupon – what would they say “get outta here you cheapskate! You’re not getting my coupon!” No, the worst I would hear would be “No”. After walking around for about five minutes, I spotted another savvy shopper who had not one, not two, but FOUR coupons! I immediately went up to her and asked if she had one she could spare – of course she did.

Well, I ended up saving a good $50 that day and treated myself to a nice hibachi lunch; of course they were running a special on their chicken that day.