Frugal Feats

I needed to go shopping for my older son today, who is growing out of his clothes (again!). I bought a lot of the shirts he currently has at a great rummage sale that has since ceased operations. My son has decided he loved the style of some of these shirts, so I headed out to see if I could find some in his size without breaking our ever-shrinking bank account.

I decided to head to JCPenny's since I knew they were having a sale, and he's been happy with clothes I've bought there in the past. Sure, I could have gone to Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc -- but I didn't have time for some leisurely yet hard core frugal shopping. So, off to Penny's it was, to see what I could find. I did incorporate the trip into my errands for the day, so I felt a little better that I wasn't making a special trip and wasting gas, not knowing if I'll even find anything.

Upon walking in to the Young Men's section, I was pleased to see they had tshirts on sale for $5.99 (Goodwill would have been about the same price!). I picked a couple shirts up and continued wandering. Unfortunately, that seemed about the best deal, at first glance. I did pick up one nice collared polo shirt, maybe not the best deal, but at 50% off, the $17 price tag was still less than Costco and would be perfect for school pictures. I waded through the main clearance section, but didn't find anything else. I took a detour into the Big and Tall section for my husband, but the emphasis was on "Big" vs. "Tall", so there was nothing there for him. Back again I went into the Young Men's section.

At the far end of the section, I found an unusual rack with clearance items, mostly tshirts, on it. This was a vertical set of shelves in a very odd place, tucked into the coat section. I looked through the items briefly and found some marked down to $7. Ah, that's more like it. I found one shirt in a design I though my son would like a lot. Imagine my surprise when I found the price marked down to $1.97! It's got to be a mistake, I thought. Well, only one way to find out.

I headed to the checkout. I reviewed my purchases and put one tshirt back. When it was my turn, the cashier didn't even blink an eye at the $1.97 price tag. In no time I was out the door with my great find.  In the end, I figure the inexpensive shirt balances out the nicer one. Tomorrow morning, my son won't be coming down the stairs looking like the Incredible Hulk ready to tear his shirt! Plus, he was happy with my purchases. Overall, it's a WIN!