Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget

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Like so many people, we love to find a good bargain. For us, the definition of a good bargain is high quality at a low price, and not just a low price. We’ve been living in our local area long enough to know where many of the great deals can be found. Our favorites shopping stops include:

• TJ Maxx / Home Goods / Marshalls – these three sister stores are tops on our list of bargain emporiums.
  
  TJ Maxx is really our only store for any type of clothing, shoe or outerwear purchase. We find great fabrics, excellent cuts, and low prices. So we get to be stylish, our clothes last longer and look better on, and we spend less money that we might have in a “regular” store. What’s not to like? I must admit that I’m totally perplexed when people tell me that they have either never shopped there, or don’t like to shop there. What??? Come with us some time, and we’ll show you how it’s done.
  
  Home Goods is our store for towels, linens, rugs, lamps, cookware, and gifts, all at fantastic prices for high-quality items. I found my most beloved furniture pieces there – matching faux leopard-upholstered living room chairs with curvy carved arms and legs - a luxury I would never have purchased at full price.
  
  And Marshalls is a kind of cross between the two. We go there when we have some time to spend in Lenox, and sometimes find something. Since it’s not our regular store, we don’t do quite as well there.
  


• Big Lots – this store had been in our community for a couple of years before I actually went inside. I really didn’t know what it was or what was sold there…it just wasn’t on my radar. Then, when shopping in Allendale one day, my daughter asked if we could stop in. She had been there with someone else and loved the bargains. I went in skeptically, and wasn’t won over immediately. But after perusing the aisles on different stops for my daughter, it’s become one of the regulars on my own shopping forays. We find all kinds of odds and ends there, all at great prices. I routinely get $5 sheers for the living room (our sheers have to be replaced frequently, because of the cats, so this low-cost option is a life-saver). We find great holiday items, household products at cut-rate prices, and unusual Pier 1-style home goods for just a few dollars. There are also bargains to be had in the food aisles – jams, sparkling water, pasta, cooking oils, etc.
  


• Dollar Tree – this is our first stop whenever we have a party. We find the requisite disposable wine glasses, all paper goods, decorations, and even some unexpected themed items we can use. This store is also great for toiletries – all for $1 – toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc.
  


• Second Hand Shops – so many people already know that there are bargains to be had at any local second-hand shop. And, in today’s green environment, buying “recycled” is actually trendy. In addition to clothing, you can also find tons of books and cookbooks, and sometimes cooking paraphernalia or dinnerware.
  

Besides saving us money, the hunt for an incredible bargain is just plain fun. And, we get a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget. (Well, a sparkling wine lifestyle, anyway.)