Here's the Dealio

Some fun finds for a Monday morning:

zulily - Cupcakes & Pastries up to 45% off (some of the cutest girls clothes I've seen in a LONG time)

BoCo Daily Deal - 6 cupcakes for $10 (regular price is $2.50.ea) at Kim & Jake's Cakes in Boulder

Groupon - $59 for 1 month unlimited classes plus first week of classes free (regular price $159) at CorePower Yoga

WeeklyPlus - $10 for $20 purchase at Wild Bangkok (organic thai food)

Madewell

JCrew's older, chic-er, more expensive sister, Madewell, has tons of items listed for final sale.

Roaring Twenties Tank

The Brownstone Bag

Sale items run the gamut - wool hats and mittens, wool jackets, shoes, boots, dresses, sweaters and floaty tops. In other words, you can wear sale items now AND later.

But, buyer beware. . .no returns on final sale items.

Today's Dealios

The deals just don't stop coming. . .

BoCo Deals - $39 ($82 value) 1-month unlimited use Flatiron Athletic Club in Boulder.

LivingSocial Deals - $20 ($40 value) toward any class at Bella Glass Studios in Denver.

WeeklyPlus - $25 ($50 value) for 3 yoga classes and 2-week unlimited use at The Yoga Mat in Denver.

zulily - Hazel girls clothing up to 45% off, Trendy Tykes ties for boys (so cute!) over 30% off

HearthSong - 20% off featured item for 3-days

The Container Store - annual 30% off elfa sale

Southwest Airlines - Click 'n Save deals (as low as $144 roundtrip DIA to DC)

LOFT - extra 60% off sale items

Visions of Spring in My Head

Getting tired of the snow. More accurately, the cold. Single digit temps are just WRONG. People don't belong in them.

Lirola $138.00	Rollick $68.00	J2Jewelry $65.00	sayagdis $65.00
craftedbynan $3.50	soradesigns $29.50	ArtDivaCompany $29.99	gloriajeanDesi... $35.00
Kristybee $25.00	redtruckdesign... $22.00	NewFashionedWh... $24.00	krisblues $20.00
TeenyBunny $125.00	Textilemonster $17.00	peskycatdesign... $68.00	JamiesArt $20.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Retailers Hit The Skids

It turns out things are tough all over. Several major retailers, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Restoration Hardware, abercrombie & fitch, and Blockbuster are closing stores around the US. American Apparel is dangerously close to implosion - or at least bankruptcy - aside from the fact that the CEO, Dov Charney seems like a creep (find article here). In fact, the company's auditor, Deloitte and Touche, dropped American Apparel after finding "material weaknesses" in the company's financial practices.

Not to be an ambulance chaser, vulture or anything distasteful, really, we shoppers can take advantage of savings at the locations that are closing soon. Restoration Hardware is closing many stores, including downtown Seattle and in a mall located near Boulder, due to corporate downsizing. I have a theory as to why the company is downsizing. After luring Gary G. Friedman away from Pottery Barn and crowning him Co-CEO, he took the company in a direction á la PB but at a much higher mark-up. I think consumers rejected the strategy because PB offered similar merchandise at lower prices. Frankly, I miss the original Restoration Hardware full of period light fixtures, and you guessed it, furniture hardware.

The Boulder location is scheduled to close in late January having already reduced everything in the store by 40% before the holidays. I'm waiting for prices to come down a bit further. I've got my eye on some accessories and possibly, floor furniture/art samples.

It's a bit sade, but retailers come and go, a brutal consequence of a "free" market.

Online Shopping on the Cheap, Part 2 - Promotion Codes

A terrific follow-up to Boulder Locavore's tips on eBates to ease your online holiday shopping. I always waste too much time Googling for coupons and promotional codes. I'm grateful for the tips!

I’m honored once again to contribute a bit of thrifty online shopping wisdom to She’s Thrifty readers just in time for the holiday shopping madness!

When shopping online (always my preferred method) I have an entire formula I use to make it the least expensive possible. I already shared with you that I always start with www.ebates.com. They have a vast collection of stores, some you’d never expect, so you always do well to begin there and use them to launch you to your online store of choice (they track your purchase and automatically send you a check for the rebate from your quarterly purchases).

Step two is the Promotional Codes. I’m sure you’ve noted emails from online retailers advertising a special discount with a code to be added at check out. These promotional codes vary and change but can always bring you additional savings from free shipping to a good percentage off your purchase.

There are online coupon aggregators where you can visit, enter your store name and all known active coupons and codes will be displayed. Two I’ve found most helpful are www.couponcabin.com and www.retailmenot.com. Once I’ve found what I’m looking for online, I’ll open a second browser window to search these sites for a good discount code. If I’m unsuccessful, something as simple as Googling the store’s name and ‘promotional code’ (e.g. ‘Nordstrom promotional code’) will generally yield a number of other sites carrying coupons to sort through. Not all coupons featured on these sites may be active and they often show the percentage of success when attempting to use them. They are always worth a try for some additional savings I’ve found.

To use the Promotional Code: once you begin the check out process you will note a box for Promotional or Gift Code with most retailers. It is generally found around where you’d enter your credit card information. You will know if the code has worked as the percentage off or shipping savings will appear immediately once the code has been entered. If you get an error message or if no change occurs with your final costs, the code most likely is not active.

One general caveat with this strategy is if you find a promotional code on one of these sites that requires you to press a link to get to the store, versus giving you a code to add, you will be in a separate shopping session and cannot combine that with the savings you would get by having started with www.ebates.com.

In summary, here’s my ‘avoid-the-crowd-shop-in-my-PJ’s’ formula for online shopping savings success:

• Go to www.ebates.com; look up the store where you wish to shop, select it and you will be transported to the store’s website (no additional action needed to get the rebate from your purchase),
• Complete your shopping but do NOT check out fully yet!
• Open a separate browser window and check for active promotional codes on www.couponcabin.com , www.retailmenot.com or by Googling the name of your store with ‘promotional code’. Insert the code in the appropriate box and complete your check out.

My last online shopping savings tip is that Friday December 17th is ONLINE FREE SHIPPING DAY! Over 1000 merchants have signed up to offer Free Shipping on December 17 with delivery by Christmas Eve!
Check www.freeshippingday.com for details on merchants.


Wishing you a stress free, savings filled holiday shopping season! Boulder Locavore

tada!shop

Have you discovered tada!shop yet? It's a great time-saving resource for kids clothing and toys. The site allows you to add items to a shopping list and directs you straight to the site where goods are available for purchase. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. If you're in the market for children's gifts, the finds on the site are fantastic. And don't worry, it's all available online.

The girls holiday gift guide couldn't be more helpful. It covers a wide range of items; everything from toys to clothing. And the list is organized by age for your shopping convenience.

What could be better than a virtual personal shopper? Your time is valuable; use it wisely.

Holiday Shopping Deals - Zulily, Barnes & Noble, LOFT, JCrew and More

Consider me your chatty girlfriend. Have I got a gazillion holiday shopping deals and ideas to share!

zulily - up to 65% off fleece-lined crocs
Barnes & Noble - up to 70% off DVDs and blu-ray; more deals during Black Friday Week
LOFT - extra 30% off sale items
JCrew - 25% off orders of $150+
Spoon Sisters - 15% off order of $25+
barefoot yoga co - 15% off all orders 25% off order of $99+
amazon.com - Black Friday Deals Week
Rowan - free knitting patterns
Uncommon Goods - great gifts for him, her, and kids
Williams-Sonoma - top 20 gifts
Sur La Table - Entertaining sale 20-40%

JCrew - More Gift Ideas

Two current deals at JCrew - Factory is open today @ 12am until Sunday @ midnight EST and extra 30% off sale items and free shipping with $150+ orders.

The Shopping Beast vs. Black Friday

Since I started this blog my inner shopping beast has risen. Not. Good. For. The. Pocket book.

Let me give you a little background. I come from a family of shoppers. My mom is a shopper. My sister is a shopper. Even my dad is a shopper (sorry Dad, the secret's out).

The Diva is on board, too. As a toddler of 3 and 4, my mom, sister and I frequently took her to the mall. Nice indoor activity on a rainy Northwest day. Like any diva, she strutted around like she owned the place. And never, ever sat in the stroller; the stroller was along for the ride simply to carry the bags.

My husband, on the other hand, is the anti-shopper. His mantra is to go in, buy what you need, and leave immediately. He has tried to impart this wisdom to the Diva. After each shopping trip with Grammy, Auntie and yours truly, he told her, "Shopping is not a hobby. We go in, get what we need and go home." I could tell from the look in that child's eyes that Hubby's words would go unheeded. Sorry, dear.

Now that the holidays are just around the corner - only 37 days 'til Christmas - everyone's bombarded with shop, shop, shop messages. What's a girl with a bad case of the shopping bug to do?

First, do not buy on impulse. Write a list before you shop; it's a good idea and it helps you practice restraint. Peruse online shops before you go and make your decisions before you leave the house.

Try not to buy things your gift recipients won't use. Boulder Locavore and I got together earlier this week and she reminded me of this important rule. It's not thrifty or green to give something that won't be used or appreciated. She also gave me a copy of the current issue of Real Simple full of tons of gift ideas under $50. You know I'll cover these ideas later.

I'm a big fan of gift cards, especially for teens. They usually want big ticket items that I'm unlikely to buy; a gift card can help them fill in the blanks. The additional beauty of gift cards is that you can buy them right from home with a steamy, rich cup of coffee nearby (makeup and PJs are optional).

Now to the Black Friday thing. It's a formidable enemy in the attempt to tame the shopping beast. Who wants to go to Target at 4am, anyway, no matter how funny the side ponytail wearin' blonde is in the current round of commercials? Personally, I miss the last round of ads with awesome 80s music.

The alternative is to give the beast a tiny bit of satisfaction, quiet her down and shop online (don't forget the restraint thing). Many of the deals are just as good as those in the brick-and-mortar shops, but I have found discrepancies in the past in stores like Target. I never buy anything from Target's website because an order for a Christmas present for Roo was 'lost.' When I tried to re-order, the item was out of stock. I went to purchase the item from amazon and it was late. Bad Santa.

notice Roo's Last Airbender tattoo on his forehead

The other thing in the buyer's favor is that retailers are getting desperate for sales. Since the economic meltdown (I will NOT say recession; don't even get me started on that one), most buyers have severely cut spending. The trend seems to be holding even though economic recovery is slowly taking shape. As a result, in addition to Black Friday, we now have Black November. Prices on current holiday items have been slashed; clearance items from fall inventories are even lower.

It's a buyer's market, but keep your wits about you and stay thrifty.

I Won! I Won!

No WAY! I won the weekly giveaway at bloesem kids. It's a delightful blog full of toys, children's clothing, decor and art. I really love it.

The prize is a print from Villa Figura. Anneke van de Langkruis is an incredible artist who creates beautiful digital watercolors and pencil drawings. She's Dutch and 6'3". Wow! She's got 13 inches on tiny me.

The print is going straight into the kitchen, of course.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Buy Olympia

I'm feeling nostalgic today and thinking about my hometown. Olympia, located at the southern tip of Puget Sound, is a great small town with loads of charm. Since I've been land-locked for several years, sometimes I catch myself missing the briny smell of the Sound.

One of the ways I like to get that Oly feel is by visiting buyolympia.com a terrific resource for artisan goods. My two, all-time favorite items:

As my friends and family know, my pink ringer 'reading is sexy' tee is the best t-shirt I've ever owned. And I couldn't resist an 'I heart public transportation' onesie for my niece. The site also has other great items by Sarah Utter.

Now I think I need one of these:

Uh-oh. The Diva must have gotten her love of graphic tees from me. . .

You Say It's Your Birthday

Not quite. Tomorrow is actually my birthday. No, I will not tell you the number of years I've been on the planet; you NEVER ask a lady her age. I have proof that I am a lady. After seeing the Princess Bride - one of my all-time favorite movies - the Diva quoted Fezzik when he said, "Hello, Lady," to Buttercup. Once the Diva declares something it is TRUE.

In preparation for your next birthday, why don't you sign up for birthday clubs at you're favorite shops and restaurants? Every year I receive a beautiful little card from anthropologie giving me a 10% discount. I've got my eye on:

Another happy b-day club surprise is from Jax Fish House in Boulder.

Complimentary peel and eat shrimp during your birthday month. Yum!

Come back tomorrow for more birthday fun. Of course I'll write more about my big day.