The Secrets of Discount Shopping

It’s been a long time since we shopped traditional retail. Still, we like to fancy ourselves fashionable (as long as it’s comfortable). So we have to be creative. And the way we’ve been doing that for a decade is because of Ross, TJ Maxx and Marshalls. And, occasionally, Loehmann’s.

In terms of levels, Ross generally is considered “lower-rent,” but they’re also everywhere, or seemingly so. For the tenacious shopper (which we consider ourselves), you can find surprisingly good bargains. Like Birkenstocks? They often have them there, as well as Clark’s, Franco Sartos, Nine West.

In terms of clothes, the challenge is to find sets, coordinated outfits (those intended to be so), and truly good deals. We’re proudest of the jeans and cords we’ve gotten there. They retailed at Saks Fifth Avenue for between $115 and $165, and we got a pair of jeans there for $13, we also recently got some Bella Elemento awesome velour-y cords for only $12.99 (in khaki and brown). They’re our favorite pants now. We have a couple of pairs of Bella Dahl, but they’re a little low-waisted to be the best. We got those at Ross, too.

So, the word is: they don’t only have jeans by Paris Blues, Tyte, Angels. They also have Levis for about $14.99, too.

At Loehman’s we got a couple of pairs of Bella Elemento for about $11 (seen in the image above). That’s right. They were at Loehman’s, which already has low prices, they were marked down and then there was an additional percentage taken off.

TJ Maxx and Marshall’s are closely related although we think that TJ Maxx is supposed to have a slightly higher-level product line.

We got several Root Travel Tins at Ross the other day. The retail for $8.40 each and we paid only $1.99 AND we got some holiday scents! It was a great deal.

We’ve been collecting red Cuisinart and KitchenAid (seen here, above) kitchen utensils at Ross, TJ Maxx and Marshall’s and have gotten great deals. It’s not as easy, say, as going to Macy’s and grabbing everything, but it’s more than half as much $$. So it’s been worth it.

If you want linens, you can find a good deal. Of course, we are super picky about ours, but have been lucky finding, 400-thread-count all cotton in patterns and colors we like. Usually when you’re bargain shopping, it’s hard to find a combination of all. But we only buy when all the criterion we require are filled. The same goes for what we require for nightgowns (cotton knit, with wide weave, mid-calf, short fluttery sleeve, and, if it’s empire-cut, all the better).

This kind of shopping isn’t for everyone, we admit. You have to be tenacious, willing to go in often (and be willing to walk out with nothing), and deal with the store’s clientele. That’s to say, get a thick skin, hold your breath when you have to squeeze past folks and be monofocal: get your deal!