This sure is tempting but I've learned it's an easy way to acquire both clutter I eventually have to deal with and it drives my spending up when that money is better put in my savings account. So I now resist unless I have an immediate need for the item. If it's something I know I can't use immediately and don't need as a replacement for something I KNOW I'll use, then I don't purchase it. With online shopping, etc. there will ALWAYS be a good deal to be had...you will never run out of things you can get at huge discounts.

My humble opinion.

YES, I do that all the time.LOL

That's my DH's MO.

I know he doesn't care for lugging me around to the stores, so when he sees something he thinks is "a really good deal", I end up letting him buy it.

My house is getting full of those kind of deals.

lottamoxie- completely agree with you on the clutter, I'm not the pack rat type.

For me, it's more the buying something that I need, but it's not exactly what I want and making it work just because it's cheaper, but with the same quality as the more expensive perfect option.

However part of me enjoys the challenge of making the cheaper option work.

I've done that before. Ok a lot before. What I do now is I drag it around the store until my cart is full of stuff I don't need and I take it all back before I head to the checkouts. Thankfully I'm learning from all this extra time wasted in the stores to either stay home until I have to go shopping cause we're out of TP, or or listen to my inner voice that says "and where is THIS going to go?"

As for the items you mention above the only thing that sounds like you could really use is the headboard. IF you like it enough to have it for, let's say ten years. If NOT, then don't get it. Good deal or not, it's not worth the money since you'd just turn around a replace it when the "perfect" headboard comes along.

I tell people Not to do it all the time and then have to explain why I have three dining room tables. And eight lamps in my bedroom.

You, my dear, are approaching changing your ways, and you need us to encourage you.
So I encourage you to do as lottamoxie suggests, and put the $59 and the $39 and the $69 into savings, and all of a sudden you have $170 to spend on something you really want.
It is corrosive to your happy soul to have a house full of almost-good-enough, because before long you see yourself as a person whose dreams never really come true.
Home is powerful. Square your shoulders, and wait for a few things you really love.

Bronwynsmom,

You have the most beautiful way of saying things. And you are right.
Sometimes it's hard to resist a sale and we've all had the experience of letting something pass by and then realizing we lost a really good deal, but maybe that is better than acquiring too much because the price was a great incentive.

On another note, Lewis of Bank of America is in really hot water right now because he put Merrill Lynch in his shopping basket and bought it. EVERYONE needs to watch what they spend money on....

I used to do that a lot more when I was younger and had less money and less stuff. Now I've pretty much got most of what I need (well there's always room for one more "perfect" item!). So, when I see that fantastic bargain, too good to pass up, I have to pause a minute and think about if I really do need it. Where will I put it? How will I use it? 90% of the time, the answer leads me to leave it behind.

I love to shop and have always loved what I call the thrill of the hunt. Finding that perfect thing that I do love, that will fit in wonderfully, or that will serve the purpose I need, and at a great price!! Now that is satisfaction!

It's not always easy for me to pass by those bargains that I don't really need, old habits die hard. But it is nice to have a house that reflects my tastes and loves instead of just filling it with bargains. As time goes on, I've been able to replace the "this'll do" stuff with "here's what I love" stuff and that's a nice feeling!

YES, I did this just yesterday. I went to an Interior Designers sidewalk sale and bought two BEAUTIFUL very expensive wall scouces for $38.00 for the pair. Do you think I can find a place for them in my house without redecorating my whole house, no way. They might have to go on Craigslist. I just hate that!

I totally agree with browny, and lord knows I've done a lot of sale shopping in the past, but I exercise more restraint now. When I moved out of our large home last fall, and I had to purge and give away tons of stuff, I realized I had acquired much too much over the years.

I still have 6 cans of Claire Burke Original scent, they were 2 for 1 so I bought twelve, I loved that scent. Now I'm over it but I still have stock.

Now I ask myself, "would I buy this full price?, do I love it enough for that ?"
the only thing I stock up on when there's a good sale is things that get used up, like paper napkins, candles, cosmetics, but only if I like the colors and scents.

Admittingly, I used to do that all the time, then I'd end up spending the money on what I really wanted in the first place. I finally figured out that NO retailer is going to really mark down a 200.00 comforter to 39.00, or a 500.00 recliner to 69.00, it's a sales ploy. I cringe when I look back at all the money I wasted that could have been used for a more productive reason. Now, when I shop, I ask is this a want or a need. If I need it, I'll buy it, if it's just something I want, I'll wait a week or two and if I'm still interested after waiting, I might splurge. Believe it not, I'm much happier as a result, I don't have the clutter to deal with and financially we're in a better place as a result.

Look what I probably have to pass up on CL because I try really hard not to do that! I think it's beautiful and it sounds like it's well made, but I don't need it, and can't really think of a place I'd put it, darnit!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: CL secretary

Ok so my mom bought the chair for her living room, they had it reduced to 50.00 and when my husband and I have kids she'll give it to me.

This is a physical JC Penny Outlet Store, not online so they have a huge back warehouse room filled with all kinds of catalog returns, scratch and dent, display, and close out items.

It's kind of funny to see bedding currently on their website for 150.00 and then go find it up at the store for 35.00 still new in packaging. The prices are even lower than their online outlet prices.

The link below is the chair we bought today for 50.00 it was a catalog return so nothing wrong with it and in new condition.

Here is a link that might be useful: JC Penny chair for 50.00

No, not really. I do stock up on sale items if it's something I'll be using in the future such as towels, etc. gift items - things I know will be used. But for furniture and decorating items, I have learned to buy what I truly love and pass on the rest. I too would rather wait if necessary and pay full price for something I really want than to settle for a *bargain* if it's not what I really want. It's not a bargain then LOL.

tina

I'm guilty, but just with one company... but not on little knick knacks, or household items, or things like that.

When Stickley has their 45-50% off sales, I WILL find something to buy and I WILL find room in my house for it!

Thanks, Lucille, for your kind words...and you made me shout with laughter about B of A and Merrill Lynch!

There are a couple of lines of thought on this that I use. The first, is when I'm looking at something used or antique. If you are savvy enough about the re-sale marked for used or antique furniture, you might buy a great deal, try to use it in your home, and if it doesn't really work, then, list it on Craigslist or add to your garage sale. Make a little money on it. I re-sold a set of Duncan Phyfe 1920's dining chairs that cost me $60, for $180 in a yard sale. I sold an antique dentist's cabinet I got for $15...for $40. There are many more that I could list, where I thought I couldn't pass it up and then, it didn't work out for me. But if I still make profit, that's ok.

The other thing I keep in mind when I am so tempted to buy the $59 chair that retailed at $399.........What if there were no "Before" price? If you didn't KNOW that it was supposedly such a good deal, what would you do then? Yesterday, I fell for a tiny ceramic bird......the kind of gee gaw that you sit on a table or next to a plant. It was $7.95 at my local decorating fabrics store. Good deal? Well, I guess I wanted it. And I rarely fall prey to little things like this unless they are at HomeGoods prices. So when I got it home I pretended it came from HG and cost only $2.99. And also, I asked..........would I have bought it if it had been on a garage sale table for $2.00? Or would I have talked them down to a buck?
This was one that certainly wasn't a deal.

Red

My reasoning thought is I can put the money I'm saving by buying the 40.00 bedding instead of 200.00 back in the bank and creatively making it work with the less expensive item. Besides in two years I'll be bored with the whole look and want to change it again anyway.

I so LOVE a bargain! But as I've gotten older and wiser and learned (the hard way, of course), it's only a bargain if the item is just right! Otherwise, it's just another mistake...

When you find the perfect whatchamacallit and bring it home -- it's wonderful no matter what it cost. If it's perfect but expensive, maybe you baby it a bit extra and perhaps even love it all the more.

But if it was cheap but not perfect, I find that when I look at it, I see mainly regrets and compromises. Not always. But often enough that I don't do it anymore.

Roobear, about your last post...

The first question that comes to mind is, yes, but DO you actually put the $160 somewhere for another purpose, or does it just sink back into the bucket?

And the second is, would you keep getting tired of everything if you had held out for things you really loved in the first place?

That's why I'm in the decorating hell I'm in. Ended up w/ too many little 'Great Bargains' when I should have just waited for what it wa I REALLY needed or wanted.

Last fall I finally cleaned out my basement storage and made a huge pile of things too good to throw out but stuff I would never use. I also had my mom and dads household in the basement from when we all moved into together in 2000. Only took me 8 years to finally deal with all the stuff.
When we cleaned, we also made 4 (big ) pick up truck loads to the dump.

So, this past Wednesday, a friend I hauled that pile of meduim good stuff to the flea market. It was an adventure! We got there at 5:00 am , by 5:30 all big items were gone and buy 7:00 am , I was ready for lunch! Or so it felt.
At 9:00 am , we made our two tables into the .50 cent table and the dollar table. At 9:45, we were yelling out, "Everything a quarter" and at 10:15 we gave away free all that was left.
That ceramic bird you bought for $7.95, Red, might have gone for a quarter. Maybe. The vacuum sealer and several boxes of refills went for a dollar. The health rider (Mom's) went for a dollar. Lots of baskets, knick knacks, pillows, books all went free.
I took home a ceramic vase that I had bought on a whim that is pretty and cost about $8.00 when I bought it 8 years or so ago. Which is where I got the parallel, Red.
Many people picked it up and one idiot asked who was the potter. Hmmm, tjmaxx?
When we did the free table, I put it back in the truck to take back home.

It was a sobering event in the fact that all the stuff I accumulate is not worth anything.
We made several hundred dollars and I don't want to buy anything else!

bumblebeez, your story hits home with me, when we moved to Michigan from SoCal 4 years ago, we ended up putting 80% of our belongings in storage. After buying our house, there was so much work to do on it, we transferred the "stuff" from storage to the basement. Knowing the mess that's down there is driving me nuts, and now, we have the daunting task of cleaning it out and purging. With the exception of the sentimental stuff, we figure if we've lived without most of it for 4 years, what do we need it for now? Sadly, the majority of it is "bargains" I had found. :c(

My Hubby's vanity plates say: "My Wife Will Buy Anything on Marked Down!" haaaaa...

My sister is a compulsive shopper, (I'm only a semi- compulsive shopper) every time she sees a bargain, she buys two -- one for her, and one for me...One day she said, "How come when you see a bargain you don't buy one for me?"
I told her, "Then it wouldn't be a bargain!"

Signed...the mark down Queen!

I have learned the hard expensive way that I would rather save and have one pair of shoes or piece of clothing, etc. that I love (of course I try to get it on sale) than a closet full of shoes too tight or too big with clothes I barely wear since I am not comfortable wearing them. I am finally only buying what I love and I wish I did not follow in my loving mother's footsteps all these years.

When I go grocery shopping there's an ARC thrift store next door....so I stop in once a week. I always tell myself it's a donation! lol