So all of you already know that the place I primarily go to buy any clothes is Beall's Outlet. It's right here on the island and I simply cannot beat the prices. If I work it just right, I can find something at the discounted price, AND on the clearance rack, WITH a coupon, on Senior discount day! They are practically paying me to buy stuff. For a cheapskate like me, this is shopping nirvana. Now that I shop at the outlet store, I simply cannot force myself to pay regular retail prices in other places. Just cannot do it. Doesn't matter to me how beautiful the outfit is, or how good it looks on me. For instance, before Joy left for Yellowstone this year, we did a shopping trip to a very nice mall up in Sarasota. In and out of so many pretty shops we went, Joy tried on many things and encouraged me to do the same. I declined over and over but finally, in one shop, I broke down and tried on a few tops. Super Cute Stuff! Everything I tried on fit. Everything I tried on looked good. But I just cannot make myself spend sixty dollars (and more!!!) for a cute top when I can buy a different cute top at the outlet store for under ten. Sometimes WAY under. Cannot do it. Well, not long ago, my friend Marsha was here and, of course, we went shopping. At her request, we went to Beall's Outlet. Obviously I had mentioned that store to her before. We each found a few things that we really loved and at a non-ouchie total cost. Because I have a "membership card" there, which of course I always use, it turned out that I had accumulated enough "points" that along with the receipt, the machine spit out a $5 off coupon. Woohoo! I hung on to the receipt for a couple of weeks before I returned. I was determined to not let it go to waste as I, unfortunately, have in the past. Those little receipt coupons just look like random pieces of paper. I am forever tiding and cleaning everything here. And I'm quite sure that I saw what appeared to be a piece of scrap paper and threw it away. This time, I paperclipped it to my desk calendar. Anything under the paperclip is sacrosanct. Appointment cards, dry cleaner pickup numbers, grocery lists, library book return slips and, in this case, a Bealls outlet 5$ off coupon. Tuesday, when I knew I was doing the grocery shopping anyway, I decided to take the coupon along with me. I tucked it into my purse with the grocery list. While there was nothing that immediately came to mind as something I actually "needed", sometimes there is that thing that I never knew I always wanted, y'know? And before you write me off as a selfish oinker, before I left I did ask Tim if there was anything he needed. I would have been perfectly happy buying him whatever he needed. But he declined. Beall's Outlet is in the same plaza as the grocery store. Handy eh? I walked in with no plan at all. I did wander through the clothes a little bit. But nothing really struck me as a "gotta have it". I checked out the shoes hoping for a decent pair of sneakers but there wasn't much outside of sandals (which does make sense this time of year). I even cruised through lingerie and PJ's. Nothin'. I'm not sure if it was my frame of mine or if there just wasn't much in my size there that day. (one of the down sides of exclusively shopping at an outlet store. It's very Hit-or-Miss. On good days there are LOADS of options. On bad days, not much). I admit that I did forget to look through the purses. I sighed and moved over to the men's department. Maybe I could find a new shirt for Tim instead. I knew he said he didn't need anything but men do not always fully appreciate the value of having an extra shirt that you didn't know you needed hanging in the closet. Sadly, there were slim pickin's on that side too. Ratz. Finally, assuming that I would be walking out with the coupon still in my hot little hand and rationalizing that, what the heck, it's only $5, who cares if I don't use it, I turned to the "this-n-that" section of the store. I rarely wander through there (although last Christmas I did find the Perfect tree skirt for Joy & Bob there!!) It's a mishmosh of things. Surprisingly good quality but mismatched luggage, towels, pots & pans, soap dishes, toss pillows and tchotchkes of every sort. I kind of listlessly wandered around through the aisles feeling entirely uninspired. For a moment I got kind of excited when I came across a nice big toss pillow that would great in the family room. But they only had one. And the colour was kind of blah. It would work. But on the blah end of working if you follow that. Everything else about the pillow was right. The size, the pluffiness of it, the quality of it (good fabric, good stitchery, etc) but nope. I was about to leave when I found ....... Taadaa! (see the photos at the top of the page) It practically leaped off the wall and into my arms. That tiny little step stool was perfect. It folds flat and fits in the pantry between my rolling baking station and the wall. It's light weight but very strong and it sets up and breaks back down, easy peasy. Ok I already own a step stool. It's large, it's heavy, it's metal and it's hanging in the utility room. I don't mean to poo-poo something so very useful. As you can tell, I have found it especially useful while painting. I think every colour I've ever used to paint a wall is on that stepstool somewhere. We have been utilizing this stepstool for years and years. We may have had it for our entire married life. So I'm talking twenty-five years of usefulness! And it isn't as if it suddenly isn't useful. Not at all. But sometimes when I need to reach something higher than I can reach, I just don't need to touch the ceiling. I just need to be about 6 inches taller. I know that I am going to find this smaller, lighter weight stepstool very useful. Reaching something on the shelf of any closet in the house and of course the upper shelves in the kitchen will be a breeze now. But I think it will use it most of all in the pantry. I have loads of shelves in the pantry. And there is stuff on all of them. Straight ahead, to the left and to the right as I walk in. And I can reach 3 of them. When our builder guy built the pantry, he and I had a long discussion about shelving. As he was a tall guy, his starting point was a lot higher than mine. I walked into the unfinished space and said, "you need to start putting the shelves here." I pointed to a spot that was probably around his knees. He started to argue with me and then I reached up as high as I could and well, it's just not that far. So he smiled and nodded and now I have 3 levels that I can reach on the own. Hurrah. But two that I cannot. Boooooo. At least not without hauling out that big heavy bulky metal stepstool. Until now! Yay! The little stepper is already in the pantry. It takes only just a second to pop it out and set it up and, bonus, I can do it one handed! Which means I can bring something down and still have it in my hands while putting away the stepper.
I am just tickled to bits! And the even better part? It only cost me $2.99. Woohoo! Frugal Girl Happy Dance! Already cheaper coz it's from the outlet store, and then on clearance on top of it, WITH my coupon. The very best sort of surprise. That things that I never knew I always wanted. With a coupon. Excellent!
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AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
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