April 26

This morning I took Audrey to the mall. She really likes to go to the mall, and it has been forever since we've gone. Plus, I had some coupons and thought I might be able to find some good deals.

As I was putting Maggie up and getting my purse ready, I noticed Audrey was being awfully quiet. I looked around for a few seconds and found her sitting on the stairs like this:
This is what she wanted to wear out of the house and to the mall. And so she did, after I fixed the headband and put it on the correct way! She only wore the glasses and the bracelet for a short time once we got there, but the headband stayed on all morning.

And wow, did I find some good deals at the mall! I got a few things at Children's Place that were on clearance, and I also had a coupon to use with them. Then we went to Gymboree. I really love Gymboree clothes. They are cute and good quality, but they are also expensive! Just like my garage sale shopping, I have two strict rules that I follow when shopping at Gymboree:

1. Items must be at least 60% off (but preferably more) original prices. Original prices are high, so even at 60% off the clothes can still be out of my budget.
2. I must also have a coupon to use that can be combined with the sale.

My favorite time of year at Gymboree is when they have their big seasonal clearance sales. They put bins out in the front with old lines of clothing that are marked 60-80% off the original price. Today just happened to be one of those sale days. And today, I also had a 30% off coupon that I could use as well.

Here are all the clothes I bought...a winter coat, a pair of PJ's, a few pairs of jeans, a dress, several shirts and pants, and an outfit for my nephew...lots of fun stuff! Original price for all the Gymboree stuff would have been close to $300. My total today was $50.32 before tax. And since I spent $50, I earned Gymbucks. I have never earned Gymbucks before, so that made the deal even sweeter. Now, I have a $25 off a $50 purchase coupon to use in July (I just have to remember to use it!).
But here's the problem. Even though I think I got a good deal on all this stuff and I really like it, we don't really need it. I have been in the process of cleaning out our baby clothes and trying to get rid of all the extra stuff in our house. Our garage sale is this weekend! And yet, I keep buying more and more stuff...specifically baby and kids clothes! Finding good deals on cute clothes is addicting. And I really, really love cute girls' clothes! So while I'm super excited about all things I found today, I'm also a little conflicted about having so much stuff.

So for now, I'm going to go back through all the old clothes again and find more to purge for this weekend's garage sale. I figure I added 15 new pieces to the girls' wardrobe today, then I should get rid of at least 15 old pieces. At least we'll keep things even that way. =)