Oh my, I do love the January/February sales. They’re nearly over, and my house has an overstuffed feeling that makes me not mind them being nearly over. But it’s a GOOD overstuffed feeling, a STOCKED UP feeling. I bought, like, twelve pairs of jeans for Elizabeth in sizes 4 and 5, all 75% off at Target. Maybe twenty pairs of shoes for assorted children, for now and for later, all 75% off at Target. I bought Valentine’s Day tissue paper at 90% off—and you know, that stuff is RED so it looks JUST PERF at Christmastime.
Long underwear shirts for Paul, who works in a chilly office: 50% off. Heavy flannel shirts for Paul, $10 each down from $60 each, though that $60 starting price seems too high: they seem more like $30-40 shirts to me. Tights for Elizabeth, 75% off. Four boxes of Christmas cards that play songs, $1 per box down from over $20 per box (for 5 cards! those are EXPENSIVE cards). A bird calendar for next to my desk, $1. Sweaters at The Children’s Place, $5.99 each. Three pairs of kid winter boots, 75% off. Four sets of king-sized sheets, 75% off ($12.48-14.98 per set).
Okay, just listing the practical stuff like this is REALLY BORING. Pictures are better, and I’ll do pictures of the FUN things instead.
Plastic kid dishes, 50% off. TOO CUTE. I loved the Target Valentine’s Day stuff this year. Under the owls it says “Owl love you forever.” OWLMG.
Funny little girl-robot change purse, also from the Target Valentine’s line. 75% off.
I love this mug so much, it gives me heart flutters. There is a BIRDIE perched on the HANDLE. Another find from the Target Valentine’s line. 75% off.
How about this: if I DON’T say “from the Target Valentine’s Day line,” you can just assume it IS, because that’s where I really cleaned up the last few days. Turtle plates, 75% off.
I bought this frame for a picture of my niece WHENEVER SHE DEIGNS TO GRACE US WITH HER PRESENCE. I loved this frame so much, I bought it when it was only 50% off. (*pause for my mother to roll her eyes*)
Um. Valentine’s Day dishtowels and washcloths and oven mitts. Bought sparingly at 50% off, then lost control at 75% off. I justified it by figuring they’d be great for Swistle Care Packages. Because nothing says “I love you and appreciate you and care about you” like out-of-season clearanced holiday merchandise.
Oh, these were SUCH A GREAT FIND! I bought myself two sets of these Trudeau measuring spoons, like, a YEAR ago at HomeGoods (where I DO NOT buy groceries). They were only $1.99 per set and I thought they were gorgeous so I bought them, and then they turned out to be my favorite measuring spoons EVER and I always reach for them first. So then I thought I’d go back and buy more (HomeGoods had a huge selection in many color choices) and they were already all GONE. Thus began my feverish year-long quest, a quest that grew more and more despairing with time, especially when my sister-in-law wanted measuring spoons for Christmas. And then, yesterday, there were three sets in two color choices. I bought all three sets. (SIL Anna! Which set do you want? You can have your pick!)
These are MOUSE PADS that are also NOTE PADS. I was a LITTLE disappointed, because I thought each page had two lists, but actually the lines go all the way across the pad, like this:
Still, it’s so useful. It has the days of the week and I put schedule stuff over on that side, and then I use the righthand half for miscellaneous notes.
This represents a moment of shopping lunacy. It was 75% off and I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT IS, I just liked it very much. The serving suggestion was to put a bunch of them in a big bowl, but I hung it from the corner of my desktop shelves. [Edit from June 2020: I STILL have it hanging from the corner of my desktop shelves.]
This was so exciting. WHICH OF YOU has this shower curtain??? It’s brown toile with blue birds, and it looks pretty bleah in the package but WONDERFUL in action. I saw it on your blog and IMMEDIATELY loved it. I looked for it, and I found it on clearance for $10, and suddenly I felt all nervous about spending money because we don’t actually NEED a shower curtain. Ours is 8 years old but perfectly fine. I decided I’d buy it when it went on 75% off. Then I got home and wondered what kind of fool I was: neither of us LIKE our shower curtain, and we bought it only because it went with the old aqua fixtures we no longer have, and I LOVE the bird one. So I went back THE NEXT DAY and there were NONE LEFT. I searched at THREE Targets and there were NONE.
Then today I went back to one of those same Targets, and they had five of them. At $5 each. I bought one. I almost got carried away and bought two, but regained my senses in time.
I love this. LOVE IT. 75% off at Target. It looks like one of the upholstery fabrics I kind of wanted to get for our new couch, so it made me feel happy to have it in picture form. It’s the first picture I’ve put up in our dining room.
Is it silly how much I like seeing all your Target purchases? We live in Japan and the two, nay, three things I miss most about home is Family, Target and Arbys. I wish I could go get cutie towels for cheap, oh- and some Famous Daves BBQ sauce. Wanna trade for something from Japan? Anyone? Anyone?
Im going home this summer and if I survive the flight (24 hrs with a 4yr old and 9mo old….by myself) I plan to be pushing that red cart around and loving me some target within a few hours of landing. Especially since there will be grandparents…which means kid free shopping- does it get much better than that?
SWOON!!!!!!!!
Is it silly how much I like seeing all your Target purchases? We live in Japan and the two, nay, three things I miss most about home is Family, Target and Arbys. I wish I could go get cutie towels for cheap, oh- and some Famous Daves BBQ sauce. Wanna trade for something from Japan? Anyone? Anyone?
Im going home this summer and if I survive the flight (24 hrs with a 4yr old and 9mo old….by myself) I plan to be pushing that red cart around and loving me some target within a few hours of landing. Especially since there will be grandparents…which means kid free shopping- does it get much better than that?
You are such a bargain hunter and always end up with the best stuff. Take me to Target with you! Shopping! Yay!
I. Love. The. Measuring. Spoons!
We choose the ones w/ the blue tablespoon, though it was a difficult choice, and we sat here looking at them for a few minutes. I can see why you love them! I just told the hubbin today that I reach for the plastic ones you gave me for Xmas before the metal ones every time. Thank you! I love them!
And SRSLY, I wish the niece would listen to her aunt and get a move on!
LOVE Target after Valentine’s day. I ran there today to grab something for daughter’s bday party today and SCORED 90% off! YAHOO!
We also bought a bunch of those Valentine dishes for kids. We have the turtle plate, which my daughter adores and god help you if it isn’t clean at breakfast time.
I want to go SHOPPING!!!
I thought I was the only one who has an unholy love of shower curtains. We’ve had our perfectly good Nautica plaid style one for years, but every time I’m somewhere that sells them, I almost buy a new one. And oh yeah, we only have one shower.
My Target’s clearance section sucked butt the other day. This is another example of your Target being far superior to mine. But I’m happy for you for all your finds. You make this Jew proud with your mad bargaining skillz.
I love the measuring spoons.
All of these things are very “Swistle” in my opinion!
ZOMG! It was ME! That is MY shower curtain!
I totally posted about it in an explanation of Why I Had A Hard Time Parting With My Crusty Old Bathrobe. You had many wonderful alternative suggestions for it.
Here: http://fattylumpa.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/rags-and-riches/
I am so excited because let me tell you, I LOVE THIS SHOWER CURTAIN. The pictures do NOT do it justice.
Henceforth, every time I stare at my shower curtain, I will think, “Somewhere, maybe Swistle is staring at hers, too.”
FattyLumpa- AAAAAAAAAAA!!! Shower curtain twins!!!! You totally SOLD that curtain to me! I’ve thought about it ever since you mentioned it! And now it is mine! MINE MINE MINE! …I kind of wish I’d bought all the others, too. Wouldn’t that have been a fun giveaway??? Match our shower curtains!
All of that stuff is SO cute!! I’m jealous. I think I need to get to Target.
You are making me want to buy another one JUST IN CASE something HORRIBLE ever happens to my shower curtain. THEN WHAT WILL I DO.
PS – See, what I would do is, well, I have had my eye on another one there for a while: It’s the super thick, cushy white one in a simple waffle print. It’s the perfect neutral and I WANT IT.
Lisa- I was instantly, like, “ZOMG WE SHOULD TOTALLY DO A JAPAN/U.S. CARE PACKAGE SWAP!!!!”—and then I looked at the postage prices. BEEZUS CRIBBONS. Fifty dollars for a SMALL BOX. That is a SHAME, because CUTE JAPANESE STUFF OMG.
Wow. I wish I was as good at finding sales and stuff as you. I see, I want, I buy. I go broke. You inspire me!
Oh my. Now, of course, I want (cross out, NEED) to go to Target.
I will be so sad until I do.
-DanielleCorrelle
Well. Apparently I need to get to Target.
(And dang it. I wish you would have bought those other shower curtains for a give-away…but maybe my target will have one…)
I visited my sister this weekend and she has that exact birdie on the handle mug. I asked her if it was a Valentine’s gift and she said, nope, she just loved it too much not to get it.
So you guys are coffee twins! I need to go see if our Target has anything good.
Wanna come pick out pictures for my house? We need ’em!!!!!!
xoxo.
I love having virtual shopping experiences through you. I don’t think I get to my Targets’ (yes, there are two0 clearance things quickly enough. I am not so great at finding deals. But I will not give up! :-) Love the shower curtain!
Man, I need to take myself to Target!
Wow! Way to go! Wish I was you…
In case you don’t see my comment on your comment…you only pay US postage because we have an FPO address. I know some post offices have special “FPO/APO Priority Mail” flat rate boxes….its the same flat rate price but the box is slightly larger so you get more bang for your flat rate buck. Now you just have to tell me what you want. :)
Lisa– Oh we are TOOOOOOTALLY going to do this!
I wish there were a Target in Manhattan. They toy with you by putting ads up in Times Square, but the only Target in the city is in Queens (nothing wrong with queens, just harder to get to).
My husband teases me about my longing for a Target. But look at all the lovely stuff you got! sigh. I’m jealous.
My husband fears the bank when I say I’m going to Target, and you know why. I hit the $1 section or the endcap clearances and I lose all sense.
HOWEVER, I will say that I bought that notepad/mousepad combo a year or so ago and LOVED it so much that I actually went back and bought three more so I wouldn’t run out. You’ll be surprised how much you end up using it.
If I wasn’t outnumbered by boys in my house I would have bought ALL that Target stuff. I touched it at least 56 times in there and pined for it so hard that my loins hurt.
Also, if I could, my blog template would look like that plate.
must resist urge to go to target at lunch! dangit!
Your shopping prowess intimidates me. I want to be organized and buy ahead, but I’m just not. And I have no place to put things when I do buy ahead. But I feel like I need to get organized, because you are clearly saving money doing this. And I am not. Saving money, that is.
I love this stuff! We live near a Target now! OMG OMG quality of life has taken a huge jump due to this.
Great finds.
You are KILLING ME here because I need to go to Target today to get some necessary items BUT I am NOT ALLOWED to buy anything fun because we are trying to divest ourselves of half of our stuff to make this house sell-able and our stuff move-able across the country. NO FUN. I WANT THAT MUG. AND THAT BIRDY PLATE. ARG.
*Pout* Hurried to Target to find birdie on handle mug today. None left at my Target. Now feeling sad about failure to find something I had NO IDEA I needed so much!
I am amazed by how profoundly SAD I feel now that I live in the middle of nowhere and the closest Target is almost an hour away and it’s like scary time-warp Target from a decade ago and dust covered everything and no fun sale stuff EVER and creepy people walking around . . . but I’m almost tempted to go and BE one of those creepy people, muttering up and down the aisles “bird toile shower curtain”.
let me say i love target. i love the target clearance and i love going to target. yes, it is true. BUT target is taking over the world and i will be unhappy if target pops up in manhattan. very sad, indeed. NYC needs no target and my own town about 5 miles outside of DC needs no MORE targets. we have about a million within a 20 mile radius. i,m sorry for all of you target-less folks, but it is too much.
OMG. I am in love with this post because I am broke and I love seeing what OTHERS were able to purchase (and I can really appreciate these awesome deals!).
You CANNOT shop like that in Canada. CANNOT. I’m so jealous!!!
(I always do my major shopping by heading down to the USA and hitting up the Outlets, Target stores, and US Walmarts, haha).
I love, love, love the Valentine’s bird mug. I bought one for myself before Valentine’s, and then there were NONE left over when everything was marked down. I was sad. Very sad, because I love my birdie mug so, and now I can never, never break it!
Well crap. I totally forgot about the good sales this time of year. It’s been that busy lately. I need to stock up on the next size up clothes. Oops.