*This weeks podcast & this post are companion pieces. When I started working on this, I wasn’t sure how bargain hunting worked or who was behind it…I just knew that talking to “The Target Bargain Hunter” would answer some question.
Our conversation was completely different than I expected and as I wrapped everything into a story – it ended up standing alone and complimenting my own experience. So, this week, make sure you check out both this article and the podcast to hear the full story.
If an addiction is something you hide. Something you downplay even to yourself. Something you want to quit, but can’t seem to stop. Then, I’m addicted to bargain hunting.
I went to 6 Targets yesterday.
I only told Jade about 4 Targets. That was a lie but it was still four more than I had planned on telling her about. Seriously, I didn’t even bring my haul in from the car because I wasn’t going to tell anyone that I’d gone shopping (Hunting). But, I couldn’t stop myself from talking about it…
…part shock, part excitement, part total-thought-takeover…
…I seriously can’t believe some of these deals I’ve been able to get by going Hunting. When I say I got a $120 water fountain for $30 or Oreos for Free, I’m not bragging – I’m checking to see if my complete amazement is warranted by testing out the reactions of others. Because I am, I am floored by how cheap so many things are, if you know where to look.
Bargain hunting is also just about the only thing I think about. The 6-stops – taking 2.5 hours yesterday – they’d been planned and mapped out for 2-days. See, I had to talk to Jade about the bargains because they’re some of the most important things in my life at that specific point, and I want to share them…
…’You won’t believe how much this tape was’…
Yeah, yesterday it was tape, duct tape and packing tape. I got about 25 rolls of mixed colored tape for roughly $25 (easily $120-150 at full price). That deal is bananas and I got it! I got all of it actually – all the rolls of tape I could find within 30 minutes of my house – all 6 stores.
It feels good to get these deals. I feel good. I feel good about myself.
These deals, they’re my own personal ‘wins’. Not victories – I’m not beating anyone – it’s just me and my own pats-on-the-back…’look what I did’.
Getting the deal is the reward for putting in the time for something I wanted but couldn’t get at full price. It’s me creating a balance between want-and-ability. I researched, waited, planned & shopped and eventually got ‘IT’ at an absolutely amazing price. Boom – now my life is a little bit better and I don’t have to worry about my finances.
Bargain Hunting isn’t some cute past-time of mine though. It’s a borderline obsession…when I know a deal is somewhere to be had I can’t stop thinking about it. As I mentioned, I’m willing to hunt for hours and drive absurdly far to find the one store that has the deal.
See, I’m addicted.
But…I wasn’t always this way…in fact this is all pretty new to me.
Let Me Take You Back to Where All This Began
Michaels. Whoever thinks about Michaels, right?
Even now, I don’t totally know how to categorize Michaels. Sure, the store leans a certain way, but it’s not exactly bougie nor is it discount. Everything’s just a bit overpriced while, at the same time, it’s aesthetically Walmart. Also, why does Michaels want to own custom framing so bad?
Who is this store for?
I can legitimately only chalk-up our mid-November trip to fate. When I think back to that day…
…all I see are the cardboard boxes. Oblong brown boxes, loosely sealed-up with clear packing tape. A reporter-notepad sized $5 sign stuck to the end, usually slightly at an angel. These are the Michaels Grab Bags.
- Ok, so Michael’s Grab Bags :: Eventually every seasonal item that doesn’t sell gets packaged into one of these boxes and sold ‘as-is’ for $5, no returns. Anything could be in these, and many stores jumble stuff together (ie, here’s a cake tin, some scented pinecones & 3 boxes of markers). They’re supposed to be mystery boxes but most stores don’t really care if you peek inside. Also, after shopping a dozen or so stores, you get an idea what items are probably grouped into each box (I see you cookie cutters with seasonal paper plates.)
On our fateful November day, I wandered over to the stack of boxes having no idea what they were. I was just wanting to pass the time while Augustine and Jade shopped…We ended up leaving with at least 10 boxes.
Marigold Garland. That was the gateway drug.
See, Jade and I had wanted Marigold Garland for years – no Dia de Los Muertos party is complete without it. But, it’s crazy expensive…like $20 for a single 9 foot strand.
There, that day, the $5 bargain boxes I was peeking into each held at least 5 of these strands – so like…$100 worth of garland. It seemed irresponsible to pass up this opportunity that had really just fallen into our laps. We bought them all, and, just to be safe, we bought just about every other box too – only turning down the wreath boxes in a move that I regretted for the rest of the Michaels Bargain Season.
I wasn’t hooked on bargain hunting at this point…I was hooked on cheap-marigold-garland.
For the next week I would routinely drive 30+ miles, checking the 8 ‘near-by’ Micheals for new boxes. I never found more marigolds, but I did find boxes of life-sized skeletons…the $80 light-up-eyes-skeletons…each now only $5.
That was it…fake skeletons…that was the point that I became addicted.
From November to early March, I drove my Michael’s circuit at least once a week.
You should have seen me during the Christmas $5 season, just about mid-February. I spent so much time at Micheals (probably 10 hours a week) I thought several times about just becoming a temporary employee so I would at least be paid to go to the stores…and be the first to see ‘the boxes’. (Honestly, I even fantasized about how I would pack my own grab bags.)
Getting into the Social Media Game
Trying to ‘Shop Smarter, Not Harder’, I began searching for clues as to when the Michael’s $5 Boxes were supposed to drop. I expected websites and forums, but what I found was a small but dedicated Facebook Group. These people not only knew when the boxes were going to drop, they knew what was going to be in the boxes. (There were 3 weeks in January when they said the boxes were all Thanksgiving…I briefly got my life back).
Like any good rabbit hole though, this one group wasn’t my final stop. Instead, I searched out one of the Admins – The Freebee Guy – on social media, and a whole new world opened up before my eager eyes.
At first, I wasn’t really interested.
The Freebee Guy was one of a dozen or so Bargain-Hunter-Influencers that all seemed to circle the same sort of deals. Sticking mainly to Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and other regional stores, they all were psyched to show-off any deal. Discounts on bandaids were hyped up as much as discounts on patio furniture.
I think my Bargain Hunting days would have ended with Michael’s Christmas Clearance if all of a sudden Target hadn’t hit their radar…or at least became a prominent staple in their daily posts.
Target was finally something that meant more to me. Target was a place I shopped without hoping to find a deal…it had things I wanted and often couldn’t or didn’t buy.
Really, Target gave me what Michaels gave me…which CVS or Walmart never could…it gave me an air of ’nice’, quality, boug. And, with the deals – it gave me access to these types of products at a price I could afford. I’m not interested in bargain bins or last-years fashions, I want exactly what I want, I want to feel higher-end buying it…I just want to pay less for it.
- *The Target Bargain Hunter really took this whole thing to a new level for me. She created these extensive daily posts of everything on sale and on unmarked-secret-sale. She sorta gamified my bi-weekly trips to Target.
See – This is not Bargain Shopping
Getting these big Hauls is not bargain shopping. There’s a huge difference between shopping at discount/bargain stores – places like Marshall’s or Tuesday Morning – and scoring a $5 box of $20 garland at Michaels or getting 70% off at Target. The items I’m buying through Bargain Hunting are actually worth more than the price I’m paying & they feel that way too.
Bargain Hunting is getting something that should be full price at a reasonable or even great price. Many times, a really great find will still be full price at stores nearby. So it’s not settling for something, it’s getting something I or we want for less … man, that’s the real good stuff.
- I actually don’t even think of most of these purchases as ’saving money’. The prices are so low that their cost is negligible, forgettable. It doesn’t even cross my mind to think about the expense – its like paying for that extra packet of sauce ”sure, whatever, its a quarter”.
To put it another way, Bargain Hunting is a way to live life the way I hope to do with the things I’d really like to have…having my cake and eating it too.
So, of course, this leads to fears of materialism
This is a tricky balance…or at least it has been for me. I’ve fought with myself a lot about all of these special purchases, feeling guilty for wanting and for having these things.
It’s weird, I think our consumerist society openly advocates for minimalism while pushing us to buy-buy-buy. So I end up wanting things because they are a part of this ideal life I have in my head, but I feel guilty for feeling like a thing will make my life better.
I always think back to one of Chuck Klosterman’s early essays in Sex, Drugs & Coco-Puffs. After killing all his Sims, Chuck reached out and talked to the founder and creator of The Sims. During the interview the Creator explained that he designed the game so that things don’t make the Sims happy – the only way to really make a Sim happy is for them to be content with what they have.
I think about that a lot. It defined my worldview for at least a few years, and has never-not been hiding in the back of my mind. (I mean, I read that like 24 years ago and it’s still here in my head.)
I think the Creator’s idea might have been relevant or even correct for 18-year-old-me, right at the turn of the millennium but let’s be real – it’s just not relevant anymore. It’s just not.
In my experience, the truth is that things will make me happy. Certain things do make my life and our family’s life better. Not everything, but many things.
In my talk with The Target Bargain Hunter, she said something that alligns way better with an actual relevant view for today. (to paraphrase)
I want to have nice things and feel comfortable.
It’s irrelevant to spend time debating if the idea of material importance signals that I/We/Us are broken. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because even if my view is broken – well, I still need/deserve to be happy.
I mean, come on, I’m supposed to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger sitting outside on his redwood patio, soaking in a hot tub and think ‘well, that guy is clearly suffering’. No. No one thinks that – at least to me, I don’t think that – because we all want nice things.
Back to Yesterday’s Tape & Today’s Pride Multi-Colored LED Lights
My 2019 Instagram feed would definately side-eye my current Instagram feed.
No more is my Insta an endless scroll of waterfalls and mountain tops and Arc’teryx…it’s mostly text or quickly thrown together collages. It looks different, but the aim is the same – to be inspired and to live-a-great-life – whatever that means day-to-day.
So I plan, prep, scout & score…I Bargain Hunt. I might have existential qualms when I sit and focus on it, but, when I’m in it, I’m 100% focused – like I’m a predator tracking prey. And, when I sit out back and hear the water fountain gurgle, the last thing in my head is doubting my purchase.
Bliss can be things. Heaven has retail.