Bargain Hunter-Eeeeevillllll

As many of you know, I have a love/hate relationship with Target.  LOVE Target because I get so many good deals in there, it is a 1 stop shop, I love their stuff and it is pretty much perfect...  HATE Target because I spend WAY too much money in there.  My friend, Jenny, and I agree that Target is eeeeeeevil and most certainly is the Debil (a la Waterboy).  So here is just one of many examples of how Target is my loving nemesis!!!

Exhibit A: Today's outfit:

Starting from the top, we have the flower hair clip.  This was actually free because I crocheted it myself using scrap yarn and used an old hair clip to secure.

Next we go to the cat eye sunglasses, Twilight inspired:

Purchased at Target for $14.99.    This was full price, but I bought these right after I got my first pair of contacts so it was a little splurge to celebrate.

The large hoop earrings, purchased at Target a few years ago for $1.50! Now onto the scarf:

I bought this two-toned 100% silk scarf from Target last week on clearance for $5.  $5 is great for a scarf, but it is AMAZING for one that is 100% silk!!!  And the Tank:

This tank top is regularly priced at $14.99 and I bought it for what??  $3.74!!!  That's right!!!  Keep an eye on those 75% off racks which is where I also found this pair of skinny jeans:

Not the greatest picture, but they are jeans...  not much to see there. The skinny jeans are regularly priced at $19.99 (which by the way is my limit for jeans, so even at full price... they are definitely in my budget).  However, I payed $4.98!!!  EVEN BETTER!

I am sure that my shoes could be much more fashion forward but I wear exclusively flip flops in the summer and these I happen to pick up at Old Navy for their full price at $2.50.  

I should make a small disclaimer that the purse is Namaste and I normally use as my knitting bag, but I just so happen to be using it this week as my purse and it just so happens to completely match my outfit. Gotta love that! Those of you in the KC area can find your Namaste vegan bags at Urban Arts + Crafts, the one that I am carrying is the Zuma in lime.   

So lets total this up:

$14.99 - sunglasses

$1.50 - earrings

$5.00 - scarf

$3.74 - tank

$4.98 - skinny jeans

$2.50 - flip flops

leaving out the coincidental purse

____________________

$ 32.71

This might not seem like that big of a deal, but when you find clothing items for under $5, it is very hard to say no.  So after running to Target for a $2 prescription, I walk out of there paying a minimum of $50 for a bunch of clearance stuff.  And this happens....  every......  time!!!!  Hence my problem  :-)  

But a friendly tip, in case you want Target to be your nemesis too...  Find an old Target... one that has been there a LONG time.  That way their overhead isn't as high and they are able to discount their clearance and sales more than in a newer store.  (one example: I saw a belt last year that was on sale at a new Target  for dollars more than at the older Target....  same belt, "same" sale!)    Also, the newer stores in newer shopping centers now have an additional tax for "building development"!!!  NO JOKE!  We have several brand new "centers" close to my house (one is a large outdoor mall) and there is up to an additional 7% tax added on to each sale to help maintain the "center". (not sure how that is legal....)  Stick with those older stores... they might smell a little and may not be kept as clean but they are better on prices and sometimes are used as undisclosed clearance centers.

So happy shopping and have a fun time finding your new nemesis!!!

PS: for those of you with kiddos that constantly watch cartoons like me, you will appreciate that I now have the "nemesis" song from Phineas & Ferb in my head...  "My nema nema, oooh my nema nema nema..."  For those of you who have absolutely NO idea what I am talking about, click here and find out!!

Summer

I haven't been very productive this summer....  the heat and humidity wipe me out!!  Not to mention, we have been in and out of town all summer.  So I really haven't had much time to get into anything crafty.  I have been trying to get some little things done and now that we are in town for a while I might be able to get into something a little more "meaty".

One of my New Years resolutions this year was to get more organized.  I am a pretty organized person, by nature, but I find that I don't usually have the time to organize.  One of my previous posts was about the linen zipper pouches that I made to store charging cables:

This has been SUPER helpful since I made them....  even my husband likes knowing where to find them all.  However, I had to take it a step further since sometimes the cables get left out of the linen bags.  So I decided to make "tags" for each of the cables.  Something that tells me quickly, what the cables are used for.  Without it, I usually sit there for 20 minutes thinking, "hmmm, I don't remember owning anything made by Sony...."   :-)  

I started by embroidering the name of electronic device along with who it belongs to on a piece of linen.  After I embroidered 12 of them on the same piece of linen, I took a piece of scrap fabric and placed it right side out on the back (for a more polished/lined look).  Then, using a thread that matched the linen and a satin stitch, I machine sewed around the words in the size rectangle that I wanted the tag to be.  I cut each of them out very close to the outside of the satin stitch, folded them over the cable and hand embroidered a running stitch along the inside of the satin stitch.  The linen is going to fray a bit, but the satin stitch will contain it and keep it from unraveling.  I love how these are turning out!!  I like how patchy/taggy these look and how practical they are and how they match their coordinating pouches!

I am still compiling pics for my close up kitchen tour and hopefully I will be making some crafty things to share soon!!!