The best deal that I can remember was at an Elder Beerman's Doorbuster Sale back in the 80s. It was a pair of black leather boots nothing fancy but basic enough to wear with anything. They originally sold for $179.00 was on sale 75% and I had a coupon for 20% and there was an additional 10% off at the register. My final purchase priced was less than $30. I was so shocked that I asked the cashier if the price was right. I still wear these boots today.
My wife finds so many "good deals" shopping that we should be rich today, but it never seems to work out that way.
Given the huge variety of shopping websites today, and the amount of ridiculous sales they have, I don't have any memorable one. It's really hard to remember a good deal when you're used to everything being at least 50% off.
Back about 20 years ago, we moved to 100 acre farm in a small town. My son was about 3 or 4. One day, we went to the feed store for horse feed, and they had about a dozen baby turkeys. They were so cute, and my son loved them. I talked to the owner, and he gave me a price (I don't remember now), but I kind of hemmed and hawed, not so much because they cost too much, but because I had no idea how to raise turkeys. Taking my hesitation as a sign that his prices were too much, he made me a deal. If I bought the supplies I needed - feeders, lights and feed - from him, he would give me the turkeys for free!! What a deal!! Well, I knew that turkeys were kind of dumb, but ..... I decided to keep them in the barn, in an unused stall to keep them safe. Well, the barn was old and there was a small gap in the siding, and every night, one idiot turkey would stick his head through the gap and a fox would bite it off. Every morning I would come into the barn, and there would be a decapitated turkey. You would think that as their numbers diminished, they would have wised up and stopped sticking their heads through the gap ..... Or I guess I should have figured out a way to block the gap. Either way, they were all gone in about 2 weeks. When I sheepishly went back to the feed store and told the owner what had happened, he laughed. He then told me that it had been the perfect deal - we both thought we had gotten the better end of it. I got free turkeys, and he got rid of the turkeys!
I think that over the years , I have had many deals that were good deals; but the one that stands out in my mind is one that I have regretted making ever since . Sometimes, a deal can be too good; this one was just that. It was years and years ago, and someone had advertised an old saddle for $50. I went to look at the saddle and it looked like a good enough saddle for the price; but of course, I am bound to always make an offer on something (a natural born horse-trader, I guess). So, thinking I could probably negotiate and get the saddle for $35-40; I made an offer of $20. We sat there. She looked at her husband. He looked at her. We sat there some more. Finally, he nodded his head, and she said that they would sell it for the $20. I was flabbergasted. I expected a counter offer, and a price we both were happy with. I could not very well say "wait a minute, I really wanted to pay you $40", so I just paid for the saddle and left; but I always thought about that experience before I made my offers after that. I tried really hard to not make an offer that I would feel badly about it being too low if they took the offer. We were very poor, and I often thought that they must have been even worse off to sell that saddle that cheap.
I would love to know how you explained this phenomenon to your son! I should imagine it took some creative thinking!
Let's see, does trading my ex-wife in for a new model count? LOL OK, I did not do that. Actually I am one of the people who do not find good buys, but that is ok with me. As long as I can haggle and save a few cents I am happy. That is why I love shopping here at the open markets and when I was living in Los Angeles area, I would usually go to Tijuana just to bargain to buy something I did not need!
My son has always been a very logically oriented person, even when he was a little guy. He was never really interested much in animals and didn't take much notice of the turkeys. We just explained that they had died, and he didn't ask questions. He understood about death and knew that all things died, so it made sense to him.
Pretty smarty kid! My daughter was like that but my son would probably still be questioning me decades later!
I had the chance to see that woman with a cart on the sidewalk in Beijing. That was in January of this. She was selling stretchable pants and jeans at buy 1 take 2. That means I would have 3 for the price of 1. And considering that the pants are so cheap, I would have bought the entire cart if it is only possible to bring it home. Well, I bought 9 pairs and when I reached home, I gave them as pasalubong gifts. Pasalubong is what we call for anything you give to your family and friends when you come home from a vacation, whether domestic or foreign trip.
After two years in Eritrea, I spent my final week in the capital (Asmara) and did a bit of shopping. One thing that marks out Eritrea as a former Italian colony is the number of pizza restaurants and shoe shops. I managed to buy two beautifully-made pairs of shoes for roughly £7 each. I've no idea how much they would have cost me in the UK, but more than £100, for sure.
I don't often get deals, but I got one yester put a small on my face it was not a big deal but I was happy to get it. I was working on Swagbucks to make some points to give my daughter an Amazon Gift card.day for her birthday. When I went to purchase the gift card Swagbucks was having a sale and I got the card for less points than I had planned on paying for it. I was happy to have those extra points to go towards something else after getting the gift card.
The best deal yet I got is from CVS. They gave me a 30% off on one product not on sale. Just click and it's on your CVS ExtraCare card. I love walnuts and they are pricey so the 30% off helps! I love this deal! Now CVS has another deal for their weekly ad coupon get 20% off non-sale items. I buy quite a few non-sale items so the discount deal CVS give sit helpful! To get the deals just get CVS ExtraCare card, open their free online account and you're set to get many extra deals like the 30% off one item only we account holders and card holders get.
Last Tuesday was national coffee day. Pulled around at the Dunkin Donuts shop and got two medium coffees for free. I asked the clerk for my senior discount and I thought that he was going to laugh himself silly.