Secrets of a (Cheap) Shopaholic...

I live in Toronto, which isn't the shopping mecca of the world but hey, our Holt Renfrew makes up for Bergdorf Goodman. Anyway, I have a panache for expensive duds and my fiance would be happy as a bird in five dollar shirts. I crave brand name designer clothes and she...just doesn't get it. So I had to find a way to please both my sweet shopaholic tooth and her cheap-o one. (Although for a pint of beer, my baby would never resist).

We tend to stay away from Eaton Centre unless we're window shopping. This mall never has any sales because it is also a tourist mall, and set in the heart of downtown. Cheaper malls we frequent are Sherway Gardens, set in the very West of Toronto or the outlet mall Vaughn Mills in a neighboring city where you could get Lacoste, Hollister and Guess! clothing for 50% or cheaper. We shop at American Eagle Outfitters on our birthday because we get 15% off with our American Eagle cards; and we always go to the back of the store first at Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister where they have good "sale" items for cheaper. If we don't see anything there we like, we then move forward as the prices increase (and so does my smile).

She still won't allow me to buy her four hundred dollar Bulgari shades from Sunglass Hut so I've been looking for them on eBay. When we bought our iPod Touch, I bought mine off Craigslist for half the price with three leather cases and although my fiance bought hers new with no case which was $300, we saved about $200. Whenever I want to by an expensive item, we have a garage sale. We will sell items on Craigslist so we have extra money and don't feel so guilty about it. (Sold our classic Super Nintendo system *tear*).

When we bought our Nintendo DS Lites, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on games (they retail from $14.99-$39.99); we went to Chinatown and bought the R4 Chip to download free games from the Internet (this has proven handy) which was the cost of one game. Now we both have dozens.

Another cool thig between both of us being female and the same size--we share clothes. I wear her "boyfriend" jeans from American Eagle, she borrows one of Adidas trackpants. That's another way to save costs. If you are bored of wearing the same clothes, look in your spouse's closet!! I am very sure I've taken over quite a few items she used to wear often.

And last but not least, we shop on Craigslist and Kajiji. They have amazing items there for great prices and we save a ton of loot--so my honey can spend it on Stella Artois beer. :) Don't underestimate the power of Craigslist!! -MB