The plea began about a month ago - that sultry Saturday when, first the friend's $300 fishing pole plummeted to the bottom of the lake, and then the favorite sunglasses followed. That was the day the plea began for a new pair of Father's Day shades. How could I refuse? The man asks for nothing, needs nothing, wants for nothing. And so, today, the search began.
Realizing that the money was dwindling with nothing to spare, I knew I couldn't be extravagant. I knew I had to be frugal. I knew I had to be smart. I knew I had --- a Kohl's coupon! I drove to Kohl's with high hopes. After walking in the store past 200 pair of trendy women's sunglasses, I finally found the men's - all 15 pair! I tried them all on. Then I made the 20-year old clerk try them all on. I finally settled on one so-so pair. The glasses were on sale for $12.99. Determined to use my coupon ($10 off a $20 purchase), I also picked up a super cool pair of sunglasses for myself! Total purchase price after coupon? $17.10.
When I got out to my car, I began to have doubts. The idea behind the budget was to live well, but purposefully. Were the Kohl's sunglasses really husband-worthy? I decided to explore further at one of my favorite stores - SteinMart. Without a coupon, I arrived at SteinMart - a designer boutique-style discount store. To my delight, there was a fully stocked rack of designer shades ranging from $9.99 to $19.99. After, again, having the store clerk model several pair for me, I decided on these sporty IZOD shades for $14.99.
Pleased with my purchase, I drove back to Kohl's and returned BOTH pair of sunglasses, realizing that I had fallen for the whole retail-marketing-coupon scam. I had spent more with the coupon than I would have without it! To my surprise, the customer service girl gave me a full cash refund plus a Kohl's no-strings-attached store credit for my $10 coupon! Half way out to the car, I grabbed Anna's arm and said, "Come on, girls, let's see if they have a swim suit!" Somewhere during the course of the season, we (I) had lost Anna's swim team swim suit. (For those of you who remember when we lost Samuel's swim suit, I do believe it's a conspiracy!) There, hanging on the girl's rack, was a black Speedo swimsuit with blue and white trim - not an exact match to the team's official suit - but better than pink! It fit and Anna could not have been happier. Neither could I - $30 Speedo swimsuit less 50% off less $10 store credit = $5!
We were made in the shade!
TODAY'S SPENDING (After Tax):
Sunglasses: $16.04
Swimsuit: $6.05
TOTAL: $22.09