Devon and I don’t shop.  Often.  Well, not power-shopping or mall shopping unless it is Christmas-time.  Usually we spend time at Target or the grocery store picking up weekly necessities.

Claire I decided to pickup my new glasses at JC Penney on Friday and browse the selections prior to their Saturday door-buster blowout.  Briefly looking through the misses section, I found a whole corner of clearanced goods.  Jackpot!  I braved the aisles with Claire reaching out to grab every hanging tag she could see.  I stacked item after item onto the stroller and squished us into a small dressing room.  Alas!  Two suits fit!  Grabbing them, a pair of pants, and two shirts, Claire and I squeezed our way back out of the dressing room and made our way to the cashier.  As she was totalling the purchase, I offhandedly asked if I could have the receipt discounted if I returned during the sale the next day with the appropriate coupon that I procured upon entry to the store.  She gave me a strange look and said that the sale was today and tomorrow.  What?  I can use the coupon today?  Score!  10 more bucks to spend elsewhere…

Claire and I moved on to the rest of the mall, briefly entering a department store just to use their elevator, browsing the JC Penney home store for decorating ideas, perusing the puppies at the pet store, then stopping to have lunch.  Claire enjoyed my Chinese food, especially the fried rice, which she devoured. 

To get back to the car, we had to go back through JC Penney.  I walked a different route than I had left the store earlier in the day.  Guess what?  I found the suit section!  I also regrettably went through the juniors section and picked up a few t-shirts and dresses to try on.  As I entered the fitting room, I noticed the "Please limit your selections to 6" sign, looked down at the 30+ items on the stroller and pushed forward.  Luckily this fitting room had a really big stall.  About half the suits fit, none of the junior’s shirts fit (duh!), and a few other items worked out – luckily a few of which were little shirts to go under suit jackets. 

Getting to the check out line I was again pleased to find out that I was allowed to use two coupons (in two separate transactions) to get the maximum discount for my purchases.  $35 saved so far!

I got home, put Claire down for a much-deserved nap, then laid out my outfits on the bed to show Devon when he got home.  I was proud of my purchases and proud that I had spent so little money to get so much stuff.  $180 suits for $23.98!!  Devon got home, took one look, and simply said "cool".  Men.

Since students return to school this week, Devon had to go to work Saturday morning.  While he was gone, I decided to teach Claire how to hunt – for bargains!  OK, I really wanted to find a good black suit.  I took long enough that Devon joined us and we both made a few good finds, but no black suit.  I did get a pair of shoes though!