Bargain Shopping

When Dave and I got married he was 21 and I was 23.  To say we had no money is an understatement.  We, thankfully (oh, so thankfully) stumbled onto a "Good Sense" Money Management class.  So we set up a Spending Plan (aka Budget) and were very diligent about sticking to it, which took some creativity and sacrifice.  We only took out student loans for tuition.  We never used a credit card.  And, we believed in "allowance" -- or basically having your "own" money to do with whatever you wanted without the other asking.  We got $6 each a WEEK.  Hey, that is nearly $50 a month, and for two part-time interns and full time students, that was A LOT of money.  So needless to say, we have somewhat prided ourselves with being bargain shoppers for some time now.

Thankfully, we did eventually graduate from school, get jobs and we continued with a budget.  Our budget really needs readjusted now that my income is variable and we have, um, a kid.  Anyway, we shop around, use lots of coupons and coupon codes, and very much take our time making any big purchase.  We beg, borrow and buy on Craigslist.  When we had Dekker, I poured over the pages of Baby Bargains.  And it was sometime then that it really struck me that you can get the SAME THING barely used for half the price, or never used and uber cheap if you are willing to do your research and a little extra leg-work.  For example, I bought a BOB Jogging Stroller for literally 1/3 the price.  The guy who sold it to us explained that it spent the last two years in his wife's trunk.  Incredible.  We use that thing almost everyday Spring-Fall and it would have been worth it full price, let alone at this price!  Wow.

Okay, well all of this is leading up to Tuesday's events this week.