Shopping Nirvana

God knows I am not one of those girls who gets her fulfillment out of buying things. I am rather frugal when it comes to most things and will make do with a lot of stuff before just grabbing new. For example...I need a new food processor. I have been eyeballing one for the last year. I have a food processor. It is missing parts...shoots out food when I try to use it and is 22 years old...I know the age because it was a wedding present. My husband actually decided to get me one for my birthday. My birthday was back in February. He gave me the gift cards and told me to scoot along and to buy the food processor of my dreams. I have still not bought it. I am still waiting for the perfect time.

I am looking for that Shopping Nirvana moment. When buying it matches my mood and I want to race home and make bread crumbs and pie crust and pureed soups till my heart's content. And I want it to be on sale.

See...those are words that will spark a flame in my heart...cause my breath to quicken...and my pupils to dialate. It is all about getting exactly what you want...and getting it cheaper than everyone else did.

Case in point. About two years ago I began a search. I was looking for a pair of "wide legged trouser jeans". I knew exactly what I wanted. EXACTLY. They had to be true wide legged jeans...not flared or boot cut. They had to be trouser jeans...meaning lighter weight material...but not flimsy.

The hunt was on. About once a month I would stroll through a few stores and look on a few racks...look on sales racks...just keeping my eyes open and my options even wider still.

It took a year...but it was incredible...I was in a store...I needed a pair of jeans for work on Fridays...so I hunted around for something that was somewhat flattering....finally finding something that would suffice and was not gruesome in my opinion, I was getting ready to check out. They were about $40, and I would still have to go to a tailor to have them taken in to fit correctly. When as I was getting ready to check out I spy the clearance rack.

I ALWAYS look at the clearance rack...you would not believe some of the great finds I have gotten from the clerance rack...so off I go and I am thumbing through some pretty ugly stuff...when...there it is. In its perfect state. I dare not breath...it must be in the wrong spot or something.

I pull them out and check the leg...as wide at the knee as they are at the hem...true "wide legged" pants. Oh my....Nice material...with a pinstripe. Oh...my.

So I dump everything I have in my arms and I run back to the dressing room to try them on. All the clerk heard from me was a small stiffled squeek.

"Are you all right in there, dear?" she asked.

Oh.

My.

God.

They are perfect...They fit in the waist...they are long enough....They look good from the front.....
I ran out of the dressing room to the three-way mirror and turn around to view my backside.

ohmygod.

It is like they were made for me. I am in heaven...I could care less at this point how much they cost...I would pay a hundred...a thousand...a million!

Ok...probably not more than $70...but for me that is a lot. I look down at the tag to see the price and...

OHMYGOD!

They are $8.00. Yes, folks, eight...onetwothreefourfivesixsevenEIGHT dollars.

I grabbed my purse and literally ran for the check out counter. I did NOT take off those jeans. I got up to the counter and had them cut the tag off for me. I paid in cash. I walked out wearing the BEST jeans I have ever bought in my life.

That my friends is shopping nirvana....a place where not only do you find exactly what you want...exactly what you want...but you find it for an unbelievable price.

I walked on cloud nine for at least a week after that. I would wash those jeans and wear them...I wore them 4 times that week.....I considered sleeping in them. I still love them so much.

What I have learned from that experience...and other "shopping nirvana" moments are that buying something does not make us feel better, what makes us feel good is finding something that meets a criteria of making us look ridiculously good at a reasonable price. I will pay a lot of money for something if I think a) it is going to get a lot of wear or b) it is for more formal wear and I think that I can get enough wears out of it to bring the cost to under $10 a wear (the math work like this: cost/number of wears. So if something costs $100 and I wear it twice that makes the cost per wear $50. But if I wear it 20 times the cost per wear is $5)

I can say this much about those jeans...they are down the the less than pocket change per wear status.

There is also that willingness for the right moment. I have friends who do what they call "Catch and Release" shopping. I love this. They will pick up something, walk around with it, think about, touch it...and then put it back. They walk out without the item...with full intent of coming back to get it when, A) they have saved the money, B) the item goes on sale or C) they reach a point where the cost of the item(s) meets the desired need for it.

Since learning of their "Catch and Release" shopping, I have been known to walk around with a lot of things in my cart or arms that I have no intent of purchasing...but it gives me ownership for a little while...and that ownership period gives me time to digest the idea of how much money it costs, and how badly I want the item.

Basically, I am one of those people who does love to shop....however, perhaps I need more than just the "buy" to make me feel great about what I have found. There is a bit of the hunter and gatherer in me. I feel like I must find the best deal, it has to be perfect before I will want to just take the bait.

So show me a clearance rack...and I am yours for a song.