"I Don't Get It"- Christmas Shopping Edition

Have you ever had an experience where you just think...."Why is this so backward?!"

I had just such an experience last night.

I needed to track down a Christmas gift game for the Wii. Sims 3 for Wii to be precise. I checked all the usual suspects.


Amazon (shockingly the most expensive!) at $51. 

Best Buy at $49.99.

Target also at $49.99.

After my research, I thought I was pretty much stuck paying $50 for the game, which is pretty typical for these types of games. My plan was to hit up Target, since it's on the way home, buy the game, and call it a day. 

When... what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a miniature price and twenty bucks off of the reindeer ...err...game. At Toys 'R' Us! I never even thought to look there.

I quickly made sure it was actually the game that I wanted (it was), and changed my plans to head over to the store (also on my way home) and swoop up the game. 

When I got to the store, I quickly found an associate, asked for the game, and double checked the price. The store's shelf said $49.99. I pulled up ToysRUs.com my blackberry, showed the associate my screen and pointed to the $29.99 price. 

He blinked. Blinked again. Looked confused. And went to get his manager. 

The manager, in her most unprofessional tone possible, (seriously, she was quite rude) stated that "Toys 'R' Us the store, and Toys 'R' Us the website are 'different companies' (huh?!) and they can't price match their website."  She went on to say that, "With shipping and handling, the item would probably be more than the $49.99 price that they offered in the store."

Wrong. 

$29.99 + $2.98 shipping + $2.10 tax = Drum roll please....$37.07. 

Almost $13 cheaper to have Toys 'R' Us pay someone to ship the game to my house vs. me picking it up in store. Since when is that ever the case? 

The manager wasn't budging, so I smiled, politely said, "Okay, I'll just buy it online, and left. Thinking to myself the whole time, this is so backwards... but I'm still getting a deal.

Now if I could only figure out a way to get off their mailing list that I will probably be on until the end of time.... eh, what the heck? Maybe it will come in handy when I have kids someday. 

Wishful Wednesday (or Thursday)

I'm a busy gal, and I can't always remember the assigned days of the week that go with particular blog posts-- Wishful Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, etc. So, this week,  I give you Wishful Wednesday, err, I mean.... Wishful Thursday!

I've been making a conscious effort to send more snail mail to friends and family. It's just fun! I'll send a note to say thanks for meeting for lunch, or a thinking of you note when someone has had a tough week, or even a note just to say hello for no reason. We just don't send enough handwritten notes today. Sure, a text from a friend to say "Thanks for meeting me, and I got home safely" is great, but it's not the same as coming from work to a mailbox with a real letter in it. Am I right?

I've in love with stationery and all things related to authentic handwritten correspondence. Therefore spending way too much money on it has never been a problem. I spent some time on Etsy today exploring their "all things paper" category and came across the beautiful work of Emilie Friday. Talk about being blown away! Why haven't I see her work before??


How beautiful are these stamps?

I can't get enough of them! Gorgeous!

What fun finds have you stumbled across on Etsy?

Fill in the Blank Friday: May 21st

We made it to Friday! Here is the weekly Fill in the Blank Friday from Lauren at the little things we do.  This week's questions are all about fashion.


1.  One fashion trend I really regret is stirrup pants in elementary school. You know, the ones that went under the bottom of your foot? I know it was a long time ago, but there are so many pictures of me wearing the awful things when I was growing up. How did my mother let me out of the house looking like that??

2.  The one thing that always completes any outfit is the right pair of shoes. Shoes easily and effortlessly finish an outfit.   

3.  I would describe my personal style as all over the map. My office doesn't really have a dress code so I shop for and wear whatever I like. If I had to nail it down to one category though it would be preppy.

4.  My fashion muses are all over- blogs, magazines, tv shows, my colleagues, etc.     

5.  If I could own one designer piece of clothing it would be a designer bag. Probably a Hermes Berkin. They are so classic.

6.  I would love to raid the wardrobe of one of the girls I work with. Effortless style is how I would describe her. She puts these outfits together that look so chic no matter what... plus her outfits give me great ideas for things that I can put together with what I own. Hello free personal fashion advice. Love it!

7.  Today I am wearing a casual brown wrap cardigan, navy blue pants, brown Nine West leather slides (best purchase this season, by FAR--see below).

Have a great weekend!

Wishful Wednesday and Hoarders

Working at Pottery Barn in college was a dream. I was surrounded by beautiful furniture, linens, and home accessories and best of all I could purchase all of these things at a MAJOR discount.  I was paid a teeny, tiny salary, but I worked my discount HARD, and bought a few choice items to fill up and teeny, tiny apartment.

With two years under my belt and a real "big-girl" job offer in hand, I bid adieu to by beloved Pottery Barn and tearfully surrendered my discount card. 

Now that I've moved out of my teeny, tiny apartment, and live in a house where I don't have what felt like 30 square feet that needed to serve as my office/bedroom/living room/dining room/laundry room-- you know the drill with college apartments-- I regret that never bought items that would transition well from my college apartment to a real house.

One of these things would be the The Daily System. Which brings me to today's Wishful Wednesday/ Solutions Wednesday.

 
Have you seen or heard about the show Hoarders? If there was a show featuring the total opposite of the people that Hoarders profiles, I would be the star. I can't handle clutter and I really would love a Daily System to help me with my decluttering obsession desire to be tidy.

I'm having a hard time justifying the cost of the full price Daily System considering what I would have been able to purchase it for in the past. Oh well, for today I'll just keep dreaming.

Show Me the Benjamins, Mr. Tax Man

Over the course of the last week I have been stressing over taxes. I don't know why I have been so stressed this year, but I have been. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we bought a house, lived in two townships, merged some other assets based on our marriage, and oh yeah... we have to somehow get all of this information onto two pages of a 1040 Form in some semblance of order before April 15. Eek.

I seriously felt like this even just thinking about it.

Honestly though, I planned a wedding for 250 people with no professional planning help, and I feel like I need a tax planner just to help me with an average yearly return. What is wrong with me?

In the past, my dad has always done my taxes for our family. I tried to work with him on my 2008 return, but with living away from home, busy schedules, and other lame excuses, sitting with my dad and going line by line over my return didn't happen.

Fast forward to this year to where I am trying to rely less on my father to do things like get the oil changed in my car (and oh yeah, to do my taxes). And instead, rely more on my husband for these things, because even though my husband doesn't admit it, I totally believe that he feels less manly if I ask my dad to do something. That's an entirely different post... but, my dear husband, I PROMISE  I don't rely on my dad for these things because I think you aren't capable, it's more like a I don't want to bother you with something silly, because my dad is semi-retired, has TONS of time, and loves to help... but I promise, I'm working on it!

To make a very long story short, we got them done. All of them. I'll say it again. OUR TAXES ARE DONE. Hallelujah! I think the best part is that I actually know how to complete a tax return, so when next year rolls around, I will be a little more calm and independent through the whole thing.

I'm not going to lie- when I'm stressed, I shop. I don't always spend money, but regardless, I shop. I was on one of my favorite websites the other day, Organize.com, and found that they had a lovely section of tools to help with taxes. Although I didn't buy anything, I still thought that maybe if the tax fairy was listening she would place an order for me and drop these off at my door for next year.

And if all else fails...my sweet, lovely tax fairy... just bring me one of these! Ha!

Can I Get a Little Love for DSW?

FACT:  I DO work in marketing.
FACT:  I DO NOT work in retail marketing, but nonetheless... I know how retail promotions work.

The formula is simple: Company A researches your buying patterns, send a weekly or monthly e-mail with a coupon to spark your interest, and then drives to you their website to BUY.

For example:
Store A is selling a pair of shoes for $50.
The same store is willing to give you $5 off a full price item and sell the shoes for $45 over the alternative (which is making zero dollars without the promotion).

BUT ... enter MissMarried with her fashionable superhero cape, web savvy shopping ability, and coupons and you have a girl that wrecks the formula!

Exhibit A: I received an e-mail promotion in my inbox this morning from DSW. And the pink little numbers in the top right corner caught my eye (except I wanted them in black), so I clicked through to DSW's website. I saw the shoes were listed for full price at $54.95, meaning that I could save $10 off a $49 purchase with the promotional code that they just e-mailed to me.

Running total (pre-shipping): $44.95:

Then I remembered I received an e-mail  from the Vice President of Customer Strategy & Engagement at DSW (yes, this person exists and she is on twitter- ask me if you want to know who she is) last night thanking me for a review that I submitted to the DSW website about a pair of shoes that I bought last month. The e-mail thanked me, and included another coupon code for $5 off a purchase of $5 or more.

Running total (pre-shipping): $39.95. Hmmm.... this keeps getting better.

Let's keep a good thing going, right? Since I am a very loyal DSW shopper, I happened to have two, yes two, rewards certificates based on past purchases. The reward certificates were for $20 and $10 respectively, so I typed those little babies into the discount code box and my total kept going in the right direction-- down, down, down.

Running total (pre-shipping): $19.95 (with my 1st certificate)
Running total (pre-shipping): $9.95 (with my 2nd certificate)

And now for the killer that often stops me dead in my tracks with online shopping: shipping. I visited the DSW website, and saw that they had a free NEXT DAY shipping offer for Premier rewards members (and that's me!)

 

Bringing my running total for these new (and totally needed, errr... well deserved) shoes to.... $9.95 with shipping! I could not pass these up. I immediately hit submit, changed the default shipping address to my office (because MrMarried would not be pleased if he knew I had bought another pair of black shoes), and began writing this post knowing that I got the deal of the day! 

 

 And just for further proof, here is my shopping cart. Yes, the total says $9.95.

What deals have you gotten lately?  I'd love to hear about them. Happy Shopping!

***Please note, to my knowledge, I have not violated any secret marketing plans of any company. I do not work for DSW or DSW.com, and found all of the coupon codes I referenced in this post on free, public websites including DSW.com and retailmenot.com. This blog post is simply to celebrate a good deal and not to share non-public information. Just trying to cover my bases with this disclaimer. It was not my intention to offend anyone.

Thoughts on L.L. Bean

The Spring L.L. Bean catalog arrived in the mail yesterday. Now, L.L. Bean is not typically a store/catalog that I pay much attention to. There isn't a particular reason for this, but I kind of thought they were famous for their tote bags and that's about all... you know the ones that you monogram and can haul everything in, and look like this:

Well, I started flipping through the pages just to see what was new in L.L. Beanland, and was pleasantly surprised! The pages were full of color, and the clothes were cute! Perfect (and preppy) stuff for weekend lounging. I wanted to book tickets to Nantucket for my husband and I on the spot-- but that is a different blog post all together.(Hey, Pennsylvania winters are rough, so a girl can dream, right??)

Anyway, I thought these three little numbers were pretty multi-functional, and could pull double duty for both work and weekend gear. What do you think? Are you an L.L. Bean fan?

Full disclosure- I do not work for L.L. Bean, and was not paid to write this post. These are my own personal opinions. Thanks :)