Thankful Thirty #11 (Strangers)

Source: antonioandrade.tumblr.com via Michelle on Pinteres

We got hit with our first snowstorm of the season yesterday.  It's beautiful-everything is blanketed in white.  As the snow began to lightly fall I loaded my kids into the van and headed off to do my Costco shopping.

Costco carts are great (read: HUGE).  I had two carseats and both my older boys loaded in along with all the things I was buying.  We may have been a spectacle, but everyone was behaving and having a good time.  Then came the part of having twins babies I have not gotten used to yet...the attention.  I swear to you every other person in Costco felt the need to stop me and proclaim, "You have twins!  I can't believe you're out in this kind of weather."

Notice above that I did not say we were having a blizzard.  It was snowing...lightly...

Two of those dozens of people did touch my heart.  The first was a much younger mother whom I passed as she carted kids out of the bathroom and I toddled my in.  She remarked, "I thought I was brave bringing my three today."  She was wearing her baby in her Moby wrap and had two older boys the same age as mine.  It was refreshing in a sea of aghast faces, to feel like at least one other person in that store was like me.

The second person approached as I was standing in the check-out line.  She asked rather shyly, "Do you mind if I ask how old your babies are?"  I told her and she went on to tell me she's waiting for her babies to get out of the NICU.  They were born at 33 weeks and have been in the hospital for 3-1/2 weeks.  Everyone she knows has her panicking about taking them out in public once they're home and she was encouraged to see me out with mine.

I re-assured that sweet mother that babies are resilient and I'm sure she will have impeccable judgement on when her little ones are ready to venture into the big bad world.  Maybe, though, I should have fed into her fear.  Going out with twins does make you an anomaly people can't resist commenting on.  Better to know that now than being bowled over on Day 1 with an unexpected barrage of attention.

I'm grateful for well-intentioned strangers, even if they don't quite know what to say.

Thankful Thirty #4

I fell in love with Gymboree today!  If you've been reading with me for awhile, you know that I love clearance shopping and one of my best days this year was my marathon DI shopping trip.  I very rarely shop at any of the stores at the mall, and especially not for kid clothes.  But last night I found myself there with no tiny hands tugging on my arms and ventured into shopping heaven!  It couldn't have been better timing.

See, last night I was shopping at closing time and only had one pair of pants in my hands.  Then I found out Gymboree was having a "Circle of Friends" customer appreciation sale and giving 30% off of every purchase.  I really mean EVERY purchase.  There were no buying limits or "with our store credit card."  Every single person shopping received the friends and family discount.  What store have you been in recently doing that?  In addition, anyone with a rewards card (which was free) was getting an additional 5% off. My one pair of pants ended up costing under $5.00.


I could not stop thinking about either the store or that incredible sale!  I had to go back today.  Knowing that I only shop the clearance racks when I do go in stores like Gymboree, I was positive I would walk out with an incredible deal.  And knowing that I now have twin boys to clothe, I definitely justified spending the money.  My sweet husband let me take an hour out of his birthday festivities to go and see what I could find.

This was absolutely the best shopping day!  My arms were piled neck high-that never happens to me!  I watched the discounts falling off and couldn't contain the grin spreading across my face.  My husband and I took bets to see how much we would save and I'm happy to say I was closer, but still came nowhere close to the total savings printed on the bottom of my receipt.

Now remember, I only shopped the clearance racks and I did save a good amount of money off of the clearance prices.  But today it seems entirely appropriate to consider the savings I made off of the original pricing.  When all was said and done, shopping at Gymboree today, I saved $439.55!!!!!!!  It's not used clothing, it's not cheap quality threadbare fabric.  I did good today.

And I still haven't stopped talking about it!  The thrill of finding such an incredible deal unexpectedly has my adrenaline pumping.  Gymboree will never know it, but this one sale on this one weekend has made me their newest loyal customer.

I'm grateful for opportunities to provide for my family responsibly.

Resolve #1-Making a SMALL part of My World Better

I have always wanted to be one of those women that does all her shopping with re-usable bags.  Over time I've gathered a few boring store brand ones, but I NEVER remember to use them.  Even if they're in the empty seat beside me as I pull into the grocery store parking lot, I will grab my purse and not give a thought to grabbing them as well.

My community does not offer any kind of curbside recycling, so it's not a habit I've ever gotten in to.  In my house plastic bags go straight into the garbage.  I have absolutely no use for them (well, lining the bathroom trashcan, maybe).  I know stores have collection bins, but if I can't remember a bag I paid for when I go in the store, there's no way I'm going to remember a wad of dirty plastic ones.  If I'm quick enough at the checkout stand, I do usually get paper bags so I can cut them up and use for crafting with my kids.  I've been noticing, though, that several of my regular grocery haunts have quit using paper bags completely (Kroger, you are my biggest offender!).

And so, for an easy way to get 2012 off on the right foot, I'm converting to all re-usable shopping bags!  I should feel ashamed to tell you it's not actually for the recycling after all.  But I'm not ashamed.  I just want to shop with pretty bags that make me happy.  I went hunting last week and found a great selection-huge bags at TJ Maxx, tiny bags at Ross Dress for Less,  and bags to get the kids excited at Toys 'R Us.  I have a few that fold up very small to fit in my purse, and one Envirosak that I bought a long time ago on Totsy.

Have they made it out on a shopping trip with me?  Three trips to the store in the last week, and I forgot my bags the first two.  But I made up for it today!  I took them to Costco and didn't have to make 15 trips from the car to the house when I got home.  The bagboy for the rest of my grocery shopping thanked me for having such big bags.  And he even used one of the tiny ones for my white wine vinegar and cheese.  This is the beginning of a new way of life for me!

Do you shop with re-usable bags?  

I'd love to hear about your favorite one!

Uniquely December: National Pawnbroker's Day

My husband has a friend who bought his wife's engagement ring at a pawn shop.  If I have the story right, she was on board with the idea and went along to help him pick it out.  Since then, when recounting the event, they've heard a wide range of opinions on if that is okay.  

The yeah-sayers tout it as a GREAT money-saving move.  They got a much larger ring at a much smaller price than they would otherwise have been to get.  

The nay-sayers walk away shaking their heads, jaws wide-open.  Building your future on another person's failure.  Where's the upside in that?

I'm definitely of the camp that says, "Go for it!"  My engagement ring cost about $15 from a kiosk in the mall. When I lost that one we replaced it with the same thing and when I lost that one it had been discontinued and I was out of luck.  My wedding ring is a plain gold band and it's perfectly fine.  But, one day I'm going to get myself a big flashy ring and if it can be bigger and flashier because I got it at a pawn shop, all the better for me!

Which side of the pawn shop aisle are you sitting on?

Uniquely December Giveaway #1 Something Store

*Giveaway now closed *

(But keep reading, it's still fun information!)

Along with my Uniquely December posts this month, I want to share with you some things that make me happy. Literally, I want to share them with you...that means giveaways! Here's a little preview:

• Today:  Come on now, be patient and keep on reading...
• Tomorrow: A feminine gift for you or a friend
• Wednesday: Something handmade to help you focus on the season
• Thursday: Catching up and connecting to the Curly Hair Challenge
• Friday:  It's a surprise...even to me...

Each giveaway will be live for 5 days and have fairly easy entries.  Good luck and now onto the giveaway!

I LOVE the Something Store!  The idea behind it is simple:  Pay them $10.00 and they send you...something. It's that easy!  The surprise and fun is in not knowing what you're going to receive, but the company guarantees the item's value will be more than the $10.00 you've paid.  And to make it even better, that $10.00 also includes your shipping!

Honestly, the Something Store isn't a website I remember all the time.  It just pops into my head every once in awhile and I treat myself then and there to a pick-me-up treat.  In the past I've received...

• silver earrings
• flashlights
• glass earrings
• Toys

One year we even used the Something Store to buy all of our white elephant gifts.  That year we got...

• a silk scarf
• a wine thermometer
• a cheese board
• an egg timer

The only downside that year was that I bought 8 things and got doubles.  So two of each of the things above.  I don't know if that's always how larger orders go, but it did happen that way that year.

So, how does it work?  It's easy.

• Click "Get Yours"
• Select the number of "somethings" you want to receive (up to 20 per order)
• Finish your purchase through Google Checkout and wait for you package to arrive.

It's so easy and who doesn't love a little mail surprise?

Ready to win?  Here we go...

Giveaway Items: 

Two $10.00 items from the Something Store.

Giveaway Information:

Two winners will receive (one) $10.00 item each

 Contest will begin at 12:01AM(MST) on Monday, December 5, 2011

 and end at 10:00PM(MST) on Friday, December 9, 2011.

Giveaway open to U.S. residents only 

Entry Options:

~Mandatory Entry~

Visit the Something Store website and leave a comment on this post about something you see there.

~Optional Extra Entries(Leave a comment for each extra entry)~

Follow Wandering Still through Google Friend Connect

Subscribe to Wandering Still email updates

Follow Wandering Still on Facebook

Tell me, aren't you at least a little bit curious? 

The Something Store is providing this item at my request. 

 They in no way have asked for my endorsement or influenced my review.

Obnoxious Sales People

I spent the last 5 days working with my sister at a Holiday Mart sponsored by the Junior League of Denver.  In addition to her Etsy store and wholesale accounts, she often sets up a booth at arts/music festivals and craft shows and invites me along to help her out.  Normally a show weekend is fully of obnoxious laughter and hordes of unhealthy food and we love it!  This weekend we definitely had a lot of that, but nothing about this show was like anything I've ever experienced before. 

Brooke and I have a very personable and somewhat laid back sales style.  She believes strongly after 6 years in business that her jewelry sells itself.  Her pieces are unique and her work is beautiful.  We're very good at reading our customer and knowing if they're interested in hearing more or not.  Sometimes it's helpful to explain that everything is made out of recycled flatware, and sometimes it's better to leave that unmentioned.  Whether they see that part of the jewelry or not, she attracts a wide range of shoppers.  In the end, for Brooke it's not about making a ridiculous amount of money.  Instead it's about making sure that the people who make a purchase LOVE the piece they buy, will wear it, and will  tell their friends they love it.  

Contrast that with the aloe vera lotion booth that was located directly across the aisle from us this weekend.  They were seriously obnoxious!  4 salespeople peddling a 9 oz. jar of handcream.  The four of them stood in a line at the front edge of their booth hollering at every person passing by...

"Try it!"

"Free hand massage"

"Mine's better"

"No grease. No fragrance!"

(This was our favorite as one of the salesman was heavily accented and sounded like he was yelling, "No greasy, no pregnant!")

They were loud and they were persistent.  Once they had a shopper's hand they engaged in a literal tug-of-war until they had the customer moved from the center of the aisle to the rear of their store.  Each passer-by suckered into their space was subjected to the exact same sales pitch while having their hand or arm accosted by the saleperson's hand clenched around them.  

It was terrible for our business.  Traffic that normally would have wandered through our space were either reluctantly pulled over to the other side or running past as fast as possible with eyes pointed towards the floor and not risking the chance of making eye-contact with anyone at our end of the row.  The people who did decide to venture into our store were primarily escaping while their friend had gotten hi-jacked across the way or wanted to bad-mouth the obnoxious-ness to us.  No matter how we looked at it, it was bad for business.

At one point on our slowest day the most well-intentioned of the lotion salesman wandered over to offer us a little "sales advice."  My eyes darted to my sister in the back of the booth and I'm still not sure how she maintained her composure as he tried to tell her that he knew better how to run the business she's created and is as important to her as almost anything else in her life.  

For a lot of reasons, we were more than happy to pack up our booth and get out of the building as quick as possible after closing time.  It was the worst-managed show Brooke or I have ever worked.  But mostly we were eager to get away from our over-achieving neighbors and enjoy some much needed peace and quiet.  I will give the aloe vera lotion team credit for being professional.  They travel 52 weeks a year and do what they need to get a paycheck.  I researched their product today and it seems to have a legitimate following.  If I hadn't watched them making sales by pressuring people all weekend I probably would have been interested in trying it out.  Unfortunately, as it stands, throwing my support behind that company is not likely to ever happen...

I'm curious, what type of sales style do you best respond to?

A-N

Dreams Come True

I saved and I planned and my $100 dream day finally came.  Here's a timeline of the whole event:

March 25th-Ben and I pulled out his ridiculously busy calendar and penciled in the only day he had free for the rest of ever.  April 7 was my only option.

April 6th, 2:00pm-Ben calls to ask how I would feel about pushing the day back a couple weeks.  He decided to call at the last minute instead of texting to hear the truth in voice when I tell him it's fine.  Smart guy.

April 6th, 6:00pm-Ben gets home and knows it's not fine.  Tries to cancel his work meeting but I won't let him.  He finds a baby-sitter so I won't make his next few weeks miserable.

April 7th-SHOPPING DAY!
     8:30 Pack the kids off with dad and on my way to Salt Lake City
     9:00 Pull into my first store-Sugarhouse-and discover the store doesn't open until 10AM.  Apparently nothing in Sugarhouse opens before 10AM...except Old Navy...so that's where I went.  And I spend my first $8.00 of the day...at Old Navy, not a DI...on a pair of earrings and bracelet.  It was nice to start my day of thrifting with something brand new.

      9:55 Back at DI I come upon the oddest phenomenon: DI groupies.  The doors opened two minutes early and the throngs swarmed into the store like hungry mice.

     11:00AM On to the downtown store.  Feeling a little nostalgic now.  I lived in Salt Lake briefly in 2002 and bought my first couch at this store.  Fast forward nine years and I discover that DI clerks can actually be friendly.  I seriously thought it was part of the training to be grumpy and unsociable.  The young return missionary put a smile on my face.

     1:00PM The Welfare Square store.  How can you not feel inspired here?  With the granary, cannery, bakery, bishop's storehouse, and dairy facilities surrounding the shared parking lot it's hard not to be amazed at the humanitarian aid efforts taking place at this very spot.  

Oh, and I almost passed out here.  Who knew a full day of shopping would require remembering to stop and eat lunch?

     2:30PM-Eat McDonald's in the parking lot of the Murray DI while it starts to rain...then snow...then thunder...then snow some more.

     4:00PM-Hear a news story on the radio that makes me laugh.  As I'm pulling into the Redwood Road store I call Ben to tell him about it.  After such a great day and relaxing without the kids the two of us are laughing on the phone like we haven't for along time.  When I realize I'm sitting in the car shivering we hang up and I run inside.

    

     5:15PM-Finish at the Redwood Road store, reach into my purse for my keys, and distinctly remember being distracted on the phone and leaving them in the ignition.  Yep, all four car doors locked and the keys just hanging there taunting me.  Ben tries to unlock it by clicking his key faub, sending the signal through our phones, and into the door.  It doesn't work.  He loads up the kids and heads to Salt Lake in the snow.

     5:20PM-I re-enter the Redwood Road store, find a book to read and make my self conspicuously comfortable on a sofa.

     6:00PM-Ben pulls in and unlocks the car without even getting out of his vehicle.  Some lady tries to make small talk like she has no idea I'm at the end of a DI shopping spree and have just foolishly locked my keys in my car.  Ben insists I go to my last store even though I feel stupid he had to come rescue me and know I should just follow him home in embarrassed submission.  Yet, the shopping high is still in my blood somewhere and I really do want to go to the last store...so I do.

    6:30PM-Last store of my day is in Sandy.  Maybe I should have gone on down to American Fork.  The location of this store scares me a little, even during the day...

  

    6:35PM-Now I know I should have skipped this location.  The clerk, much more the expected norm for a DI clerk, was sneakily shining a laser pointer at customers as they passed through the aisles.  He creeped me out.  I skipped half the racks and moved to the opposite side of the store.

     9:00 Home again, home again, jiggety jig.  Exhausted, but happy, and with $6.00 to put back in the bank for the next off-the-wall dream I decide to dream. 

My $100 Dream

I am a thrift store shopper.  And if not a thrift store shopper, then definitely a clearance rack shopper. In Iowa my secondhand store of choice was Goodwill, preferably the Euclid store (or West Des Moines, but it had to be a special treat to make it all the way out there).  In Alaska the goods were at Value Village.  Quality was lacking at Value Village, but when you're thousands of miles from the next thrift store, you take what you can find.  Here in Utah, mecca for used-clothes hounds is Deseret Industries (DI).

Deseret Industries operates along the same lines as Goodwill, I think, offering employment and training services, affordable items for purchase, and a place for the community to donate their time and no-longer-needed belongings.  I support everything DI stands for, but what is the real reason I'm telling you all this?  I have a secret dream...

I want $100 and an entire day alone to DI-hop.  Within 45 minutes driving distance I have access to 10 fabulous stores.  By far my favorites are the Sugarhouse and the American Fork stores.  Sugarhouse always has unique items and American Fork has some tall, presumably wealthy people donating brand new stuff sized perfectly for me.  Whenever this dream shopping spree takes place, I'll start farthest north in downtown Salt Lake City.  That way, if I run out of time or money, I can skip the Provo store and know nothing is there waiting for me.  In the middle of BYU married-housing, that store gets the dregs people have been passing down for generations and should have sent to the trash rather than a merchandising establishment.

Why Deseret Industries you're thinking.  Why not dream and save up for a trip to the mall, or even bigger, to New York City?  Well, first, reality is that holding 100 free dollars in my hand is a pipe dream.  When that great party day arrives, I need to get the most bang for my buck.  I can walk out of the mall with 2-3 things or out of DI with 12-15 things.  Beyond the limitation of money, though, I see cute things peeking out at me every single time I go to DI.  Usually I'm there shopping for my kids or trying to find that hidden gem out in the yard (for my local readers, do you know about the yard?  I was sick to my stomach when I realized I'd been missing out for years and years).  If I do look through the racks for me, a skirt or shirt is guaranteed to fall in love with me, and once in love I have to take it home.  I'll hide it in the laundry basket until it's cleaned and then slip it in my closet pretending it's been there all along.  My husband laughs at me.  He's pretty sure my $3.00 discovery is not going to drain the coffers.

I'm sure a few of you are appalled by now.  It may not seem I have very classy or lofty goals. If that's what you're looking for, hop over to my SIL's blog Timeless.  Emulating and learning from Aubrey Hepburn, her shopping and fashion knowledge is in a world all her own.  As for me, I've got $20 in the bank.  One day that will grow and you'll find me grinning like a kid in a candy store.  You can find me buried in the racks of everyone else's hand-me-downs.

Photo credit: www.waymarking.com