Friday, October 13, 2006

I said, if the boot-ah FITS!

In an unprecedented procrastination undertaking to avoid studying for my Cognitive Psychology midterm next week (worth a mere 40% of my grade), I have scrubbed the bathroom, bleached the kitchen, excavated the microwave from its eras of crust, done three loads of laundry, planned out the overhaul of my bedroom (haven't quite gotten there yet, had to take a break after the bleach stung every open pore of my upper limbs)...but the best part was this morning.

I have a shopping motto that goes something like this: If, in two weeks, you are still dreaming about it, go back and buy it. I have applied it in many an occasion, and, thankfully, used it more than once to prevent untimely and useless purchases as well.

Well, I had been eyeing a pair of shoes online for months, and finally decided to cave in and buy them. Zappos.com and shoes.com both had them, but not in my size. Both being the ultimate gurus of shoe sources, I reluctantly purchased a size up and awaited their arrival. Upon trying them on, cute as they were and no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not convince myself that they were going to fit well. It was only then, after a massive Google search, that I discovered jcpenney.com had them as well. The dilemma then arose of whether it was worth it to pay shipping costs to mail them back, shipping costs for the other pair, and apparently sales tax on top of that. After much debate with all my girlfriends (guys, I know you just don't have these experiences... and if you do, then I worry...), the conclusion was made (yea, and even likened unto Madonna's 'Express Yourself' theory of "don't settle for second best baby...") that it was worth it.

This morning I hopped online to purchase said shoes, only to discover that somehow between last night and this morning the shipping costs had jumped from $3.50 to $7.50. Four dollars is a moot point, but a tipping one in my case, and I finally decided to go out on a whim and make the trek down to JCPenney (inconveniently located right in the middle of DC's Mixing Bowl portion of 495/395, accesible only between the hours of 11-2 without it taking hours) and see if they had them there. My theory was that normally stores don't carry online merchandise, but I had to clear my conscience.

After several wrong turns and a detour through the salon (d-fi gel on clearance! Yes!!!), I arrived in the women's shoe department... to discover that not ONLY did they have the shoes, on display (in my size, even! I didn't have to track some shoe person down to fetch them), but 37.5% cheaper than I had bought them online.

Joy, rapture, bliss, etc. etc. etc. For those of you who raise an eyebrow and think, why didn't I just check JCPenney in the first place, I say unto you: it wasn't just the shoes themselves. It was the 37.5% discount that made my day. I am a true woman.

What's the best shopping deal you've ever found??

7 comments:

CJ said...

Don't know that it's the best deal I've ever found, but I picked up two pairs of Kenneth Cole T-Flex dress shoes (one black, one antiqued brown) for $90 total. They normally cost $120 each, so that's a savings of $150, or 62.5% off. Given my excitement over dress shoes and use of the term "antique brown", I can feel you worrying about me already, Jen.

Anonymous said...

I got a shirt at Old Navy once for $1.50. Can you say Yeowsa!

Melinda said...

oh! oh! my best find was going to the outlets in park city and getting a pair of adidas running shorts for $2.

Anonymous said...

Macey's once had a ridiculous sale that lasted, like, six months: 16 oz bags of Sour Patch Kids, 2 for $3.00.

Unprofessional Chef said...

I once catered a mission reunion and got 120 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts for real cheap at Macey's. It was like $90 total. Not sure if it was a stellar deal, but I was so excited that I got to walk out of the store after having a special conversation with the butcher.

Wendi said...

The sweet Adidas Goodyear shoes you admired just the other day -- a steal at $9.95 (normally $80+). The BF (at the time) was infuriated since he wanted the male version of the shoe still priced at $80+. Karma!

Asian Keng said...

Man, all of your deals far surpass mine. You all win. Especially those Goodyear shoes Wendi, I still covet...

...Chris, I worried about you way before the term "antique brown" ever flowed forth from your fingertips...