OMG level clearance at Old Navy

Thrifty Thursday 

I never type OMG, but I think this may be one time it is actually warranted.  I had been hearing other local moms rave for a few days now about Old Navy's clearance deals this week.  Thanks to Snowzilla Jonas, I hadn't been able to make it out scope out the sale myself until today.  Prior to this sale, the only time I had purchased a new item of clothing for my daughter was when I bought her a St. Patrick's day onesie.  Even then, I used a coupon.  She is far from living in rags.  She has received many brand new items from friends and family, but I just can't justify the prices for kid's clothes in my mind.  Sadly, most of the time even clearance prices seem outrageous to me.  So, I shop for her clothes mainly at consignment sales and even then, mainly during the half off period.

However, after hearing about other people's luck, I had to check out Old Navy's end of season clearance sale.  Here is the picture of my haul minus the items I picked up for DB'S niece.

 The receipt runs across the bottom of the picture.  I purchased 4 pair of toddler tights, 1 baby faux fur hat, 1 pair of toddler convertible gloves, 6 pairs of toddler pants, 1 toddler skirt, 16 toddler tops, 3 men's t-shirt, 1 men's sweater, 1 women's pant, 1 women's skirt, 1 adult hat, 1 women's sweater, and 1 women's top.  originally retailed for $482.84 for $52.89 before tax for a savings of almost 90%. or approximately $1.39 per item.  I also received a coupon for a free 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly which is worth $29.99 and included in the picture. I love Shutterfly, so this will get used.

Currently, they have an toddler, baby, and kid's clearanced items ring up for an additional 30% off of the clearanced tag price.  So, items marked .47 cents were only .33 cents.  Most of the toddler items I picked up were marked for $1.97 or less.  Definitely cheaper than I would say I average at local consignment sales.

The pants I picked up for myself were only .47 cents.  I call that a steal for pants.  The most expensive items I bought were for DB since the men's items didn't seem to be marked down as much.  Even then, the most expensive item I picked up was $6.99.

My store had been picked through somewhat, but obviously there were still plenty of deals.  You did need to really look around to find all of the clearance racks since they really were all over.  Just baby/toddler clearance items were located in 5 separate spots.  It was a bit more time consuming then I expected as I was there for at least an hour and half just searching without trying on a thing, but I'd say well worth it.

Sadly, these prices are only available in store.  However, I would say it was worth the drive.  I highly recommend heading to Old Navy as soon as you can to check out this sale.  And, I will keep my eyes out for their end of summer clearance in hopes it's as good as this one.

About Me "The 2016 version"

So much has changed since I originally began blogging almost a decade ago, I thought it would be useful to write a whole new about me post as I begin my journey back into the blog world.

Here's the skinny on who I am now.  I'm a first time mom to an amazing 15 month old who I will generally be referring to as Little Biko in my blog or LB for short.  Biko is part of our own language in our family.  Originally, it was our code word for love as in we would just say Biko instead of love to end conversations on the phone since it sounded much more professional when I was at work especially when managing high school age kids.  It then morphed into our special word for our family as in how is the baby Biko doing.  Now that my little one is no longer a baby(excuse me while I tear up for a moment about how fast she is growing up.), she has now moved up to Little Biko status.  I will also refer to my other half as Daddy Biko or DB from now on as well.

Here is our family when LB was not even a day old:

We originally began our journey into parenting with me as a working mom and DB as a stay at home dad.  I left my job as a restaurant manager to become a stay at home mom, and DB is working.  Since we've always been a one income family, I've learned along the way lots of thrifty ways for us to make things work.  Some of these tricks such as cooking meals from scratch, canning food in season, crafting, couponing, and learning the ropes of buying and selling through consignment sales have actually become rather enjoyable for me.  My goal is to have the best quality for our family without acruing debt along the way.

DB is an audio engineer and musician, so we definitely put an emphasis on music and movement.  This was DB and LB playing the guitar together on  her 1st birthday.  She is his mini me, but at least I can take credit for crafting that headband.

We are huge babywearing advocates and practice a parenting philosophy that I would say is closest to attachment parenting.  This means that almost every picture of me since she was born is me wearing her like this one.

I was diagnosed with PCOS as a teenager, so getting pregnant at 36 was a happy surprise.  However, I have a 15 month old when several of my high school classmates are becoming grandparents.  I am often the oldest mama in the mom groups I've joined.  Between having friends who were often out of touch with all the new baby trends and being an incessant researcher, I generally turned to the internet whether it was via Facebook forums or blogs for advice.  Now, I want to add my experience to the mix and hopefully help or at least entertain some other moms with my take on the journey that is motherhood these days.

Some things haven't changed a bit even though my taste may have matured some.  I still love photography and have even gotten into painting as well.  I love crafting in general especially knitting and beading.  I am a Pinterest addict who had the unrealistic goal of working of knocking out way more pins once I became a SAHM.  I'm still a vegetarian.  I can't believe it's been almost 20 years.  Having a little one who is lactose intolerant though has added more vegan meals into my repertoire.  I'm still in recovery having celebrated 12 years clean last June.   I'm still a life long Virginian and consider myself a southerner at heart.  We actually live in the suburbs outside my alma mater, University of Mary Washington.

So, expect to see recipes, tips on how to save money, crafts, product reviews, my experiences as a FTM, and hopefully we all learn something along the way.  I look forward to hearing from others as I make my way one day at a time.

A quick sneak peek as to what to expect in the next few weeks as I am under construction.  A whole new about me is in the works with the important updates including how much this little elf has changed my world.

Additionally, I have two product reviews in the works; one for an album of lullabies, and one for reusable food pouches.  

Be on the lookout for new blog posts in the next few weeks.

A whole lotta change

I know a lot has happened in the almost 2 years since I last blogged regularly. So much so, I almost couldn't quite remember how to work this thing. Here's a quick catching up on my life, and what I expect to be blogging about. I left my ex and now live with my best friend(You've seen pics of us together here.) and her family which includes a 2 year who truly has my heart. You last saw him here, but he's grown up soooooooooooo much. I've gotten back into knitting and thrifting and have found a new hobby in beading. I chopped my hair off uber short and went blond, got a couple of tatoos, and some new piercings which are not in the picture above. This was my 1st tatoo and still my fave designed by an artist friend of mine. I'm now the first straight president of Fredericksburg Pride which takes a ton of my time, but is a great cause. I recently got totally hooked on Pinterest thanks to my friend Shell. I hope to get back to talking with y'all about crafting, cooking, organizing which is a must with my penchant for collections, and of course, shoes(I know some things never change.) In fact, I am psyched that during a recent trip to Target I happened upon a 75% off sale on almost all of their summer shoes. I was proud that I contained myself and only walked away with 2 new pairs. More on those later, I promise. I've decided I want to try my hands at some new craft techniques and take you along for the journey including embroidery(I grew up cross stitching, and though my mom did embroidery, I never tried it.) and working with clay.

Ringing in the new year

I know that I have pretty much been gone since September with Pride Week. I must admit that was never my intention. However, I had no idea how much I was taking on when I got involved with Pride. I am so glad I did as I have made some really amazing friends as a result of my involvement. And, sadly instead of constructively using my time blogging online when I do have free time, I find that have become sucked into the worlds of Farmville and Cafe' World on Facebook. With the new year all too quickly approaching, I am in the resolution mode. I have decided one of my resolutions will be to get back to blogging. I would begin right now, bu as I am away petsitting, I have no access to my own computer with my photos etc. I look forward to reconnecting with many of my bloggy friends.

Miss Fredericksburg Pride Pagaent 09