Shopping For Savings, Mom Style

My Mom has always been a careful, frugal shopper. She only buys things when they are on sale. She gets to know the sales patterns in the stores, and sometimes the sales people, so she’ll know in advance when items she wants to buy are going to be marked down. When she finds something that she really likes she’ll buy multiples of it. I’ve seen her buy tops and pants of the same style in six colors.

Another thing she does to save money is buy ahead. She has even been known to buy seasons, on occasion even a year, in advance. She doesn’t only do this for herself, she shops for everyone this way. When my two youngest brothers were in high school she got them suits and even a tux, saving hundreds on rental fees for the proms they went to. My Dad and my brother LB2 tend to go to a lot of dress functions so she’s always got her eyes open for clearance men’s shirts. She’s always got an extra so if someone else in the family needs a shirt she can probably help them out. Just this past week she gave my son a brand new dress shirt for Confirmation.

Mom’s style of shopping doesn’t just apply to clothes. She heads out to the stores on the day after any holiday looking for mark downs on leftover merchandise. Each year on the day after Christmas my Mom sets out looking for everything – clothes, decorations, gifts, food, you name it. Holiday decorations are very high on the list. Each Christmas my parent’s decorate their house in a big way. It’s their way of showing the Christmas spirit. My Dad really does gets the yard looking great. Mom gets pieces they’re missing for the front yard, or starts planning the next thing she wants to add to the growing display.

Tags: here and there, mom

Category: Family, This and That