If you follow me on Twitter (or if you’re my friend on Facebook) you heard about my good fortune last night: I purchased a pair of Gucci heels for approximately $60 (including taxes).
Background:
I constantly give bags and bags of clothing to Goodwill throughout the year. I’m not talking about one or two bags—I’m talking about multiple heavy duty garbage bags of clothing every three to four months. This means that I have entirely way too many things in my closet. One of my goals for the New Year is to purchase more quality items. After all, is something really a good deal if you get a few uses out it and then donate it to Goodwill within a few months? No. On the other hand I am a teacher; it would be foolish of me to wear designer goodies to a classroom filled with hugs, paint, pencils, dry erase markers, overhead markers, and sticky fingers. Still, I like to have nice things—I’m just done with being encumbered with entirely TOO MANY THINGS. I hate the fact that I have to divvy up my closet as teacher clothes and nice clothes. I’m still working on how I can merge the two.
This year I vowed to fork over a little more cash to get nicer things and rid my closet of the 65 pairs of black heels, 12 pairs of red heels, so on and so forth. Quality versus Quantity in 2011.
The Coupons
I am the coupon lady. Before making a purchase online or in-store I surf the web for coupons. I sent someone flowers several months ago and the total came up to $19.99. Before I submitted my order I quickly searched for a coupon and found one for $10 off plus free shipping. When I ordered Christmas presents this year I used multiple coupons and coupon codes on several items and saved BIG on everything for my family and boyfriend.
Confession: I have a special email account that I use specifically for marketing emails from companies. Cost Plus World Market, Groupon, Designer Shoe Warehouse, Zulily, Ideeli, and Anthropologie are all apart of the mix.
Because I sign up for these emails I tend to get coupons frequently and the best ones are in January—why? It’s my birthday month! Many companies send out “birthday” coupons to customers and it’s always to special to receive coupons like these.
Last week I received a coupon in the mail from DSW for $5 off any purchase.
I follow Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) on Twitter. This company is amazing about connecting with their followers and offering stellar coupons. On Tuesday they tweeted out a coupon that was good for $15 off a purchase of $75 or more. I printed it.
The Gucci Shoes
Armed with my birthday and Twitter coupons, I went to DSW last night and hoped to find something that was worth purchasing. (By the way, I always buy shoes out of the clearance section at DSW; I don’t think I’ve ever purchased anything that wasn’t on the sale racks) Because of my goal to buy better quality things I skipped over low quality shoes and had my eyes set on designer names only. I didn’t find anything I liked. I was bummed out, but before I left I decided to check the next shoe size. TIP: Always scan the shoe size below and above your size; many people try to hide shoes in different sizes because they want to come back and buy the shoes. Don’t ask how I know this. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a pair of purple peeptoe stiletto Gucci monogram imprinted heels. Those familiar with DSW know that their clearance shoes are assigned different colored price tags and these shoes had a green price tag (i.e. 70% off the ticketed price). Price: $249.94 Less 70% off: 74.98.
When I got to the front with my shoes the lady stared at me and I really wanted to laugh. She checked the shoes twice and then raised her eyebrows when I handed her my two coupons. Of course she called her manager to verify that she could use the $15 off the $75 purchase coupon, because after all the shoes were two pennies shy of $75. Her lovely manager gave the a-ok, and the sales clerk scanned the coupon. When it came to the $5 off coupon she told me that I couldn’t use it. I pointed out that the $15 off coupon could be joined with any coupon. Was she really going to deny my birthday coupon? FOR SHAME! The bitter doubtful clerk told me that she would try it but there was no guarantee it would work. It worked. I smiled.
The customers behind me:
“Carol, that girl just had a $15 off coupon from Twitter. I’m going to step out of line. Print it up and I’m coming home to get it.”
“How did she get those coupons?”
“Did you see what that lady bought?!”
Morals of the story:
- Follow DSW on Twitter
- Sign up for DSW Rewards
Disclaimer: Ideeli and Zulily affiliate links were used in this post; these thoughts are my own and were not influenced or paid for by DSW. Read the entire MoMoMod disclaimer here.
Read: Remember my $1 Proenza Schouler shoes from The Outnet’s Birthday sale?
YOU ARE HILARIOUS! This was the bargain of the century. My husband found a really great pair of men’s leather Uggs (not the girly ones) for $15 on clearance! They are his favorite things to wear to outdoor football games in the winter. I love DSW and I would’ve scooped these up too!
Talk about a fab shoe deal! Great find!
Wow, what an awesome find. I absolutely love DSW just for this reason. They embrace social media (they even tweeted a DSW haul video that I did once) and they always offer coupons that you can combine. Gucci for $60? You can’t beat that!
Thanks for sharing this! I now follow DSW on twitter too. I rarely shop DSW because they hardly ever have anything worthwile in my size. And I only shop the clearance racks.
I did however score a neat pair of shoes at the DSW in Milpitas. It’s closing, so the clearance stuff was 30% off. 
YAY!
I’m hating soooo hard right now! LOL! Don’t u just love a sale on top of a sale!????
DWJ: $15 UGGS!? Now that’s what’s up! I purchased Brandon some Ugg boots (they sound exactly like the ones your husband has) and he loves those things!
DSW: See? You even comment on customers’ blogs! I love it!
Patrice: I typically don’t follow company Twitter accounts, but I have so much love and respect for DSW. They follow back, RT, reply, converse, and seem to do all they can for their customers.
Amber: Milpitas DSW is closing? I’m wondering if I can swing by on my way home????????? Ha!
‘Elle: You have my permission to hate, but God is not pleased. LOL Yesssss. A sale on top of a sale is quite lovely.
Chandra
Oh. MY. WORD! You lucky duck! Hahaha, you’re so hilarious. That sounds like something my grandma would come up with. She is always buying me the best designer clothes at thrift stores, and she gets her senior discount. lol. Once she handed me a Ralph Lauren 100% cashmere sweater….I almost had a meltdown. Then when she told me that she got it for 75 cents I almost fainted. I don’t understand why ANYBODY would want to spend full price for things like that? Seriously! Anywhoo, those shoes are ADORABLE! I am *soooooo* jealous right now. :(
~*Camille*~
Camille: I think I’m destined to be your granny. Even if I had the money to spend, I don’t think I could!! Thanks for your comment!
Chandra
WOW that is awesome great for birthday dinner! And I always say never spend more than you save!
Camille Nevernaked.blogspot.com
Great shoes and great deal!! I’m trying to get into couponing myself!
WOW! What a great deal! I don’t wear heels often, but I’d probably be pretty tempted if I found Gucci for that price.
Well, you already know that I’m so excited about your great DSW find. I’m the same way in regards to coupons/coupon codes. I never, EVER complete an online purchase without searching for a coupon code.
Great idea about the separate account for marketing emails. I may do that since they tend to annoy me in my regular email but I don’t want to unsubscribe since there are days when they become VERY useful.
Always scan the shoe size below and above your size; many people try to hide shoes in different sizes because they want to come back and buy the shoes.<——-Yes I always knew that! =D I also do it because usually for heels I can wear up to a size smaller and for flats I can go up one size.
Quality versus Quantity <—- I’m totally with you!
62 pairs of shoes? 12 pairs of red shoes? ouch girly girl you have way too many shoes! =P
3 or 4 bags every 4 months? okay maybe now I don’t feel like I have too many clothes anymore. =D
That is one amazing deal!!
And last I totally get you on having your teacher clothes and nice clothes, usually my nice clothes are set apart to wear for church because I don’t want to look overdressed compared to all my co-workers who would love to wear jeans everyday if they could, however this year I don’t want to care anymore, I want to wear my nice clothes more often than Sundays, so regardless of what they think I’m going to wear my nice clothes, the kids love it and I think we can set a good example about dressing nice and modestly. =)
Quality over quantity, that is the reason I’ve stopped buying so much at the thrift stores, many times I get carried away just because things are cheap, but when I have to pay more than 30 I really have to think about what I’m paying for.
Wow Chandra, thanks for sharing your discount shopping pointers. What a great deal.
Kaity
A Slip Shop
Chandra, This was an awesome post - esp the last paragraph about your coupons and the saleslady. Loved it. Blessings, Amy
I can’t believe this! As if the shoes weren’t cute enough…but then they’re Gucci…and for less than $75…wow!
LaSandra, my mom used to use coupons like crazy and I think I got that trait from her! I don’t save every coupon, but I most definitely search for them online before making a purchase.
Mrs. Marcus, thanks for your comment! I’m going to your blog now. I have plenty of heels, but now I’m going to rid my closet of several pairs.
Nikia, I knew you could appreciate my find. As soon as I found them I had “NIKIA” on the brain: the enabler of fashion consumption!
Shey, I’m with you. This year I’m planning on wearing my nicer (but less expensive) clothes to work. I’m not a denim/jeans/sweatshirt kind of person, and my students seem to appreciate my outfits when I dress up for school. I just found some really nice blouses at Gap/JCrew/Banana Republic that were an extra 50-60% percent off clearance prices, so if I do get some junk on them (eek!) I won’t feel TOO bad. Oh, I don’t have 62 pairs of black shoes…it feels like it. BUT! I do have more than 100 pairs of shoes…sigh.
Hey, Kaity! You’re welcome!
Amy, thanks for your comments. I wasn’t going to post it, but after I kept getting questions about HOW I scored such a good deal, I figured that I could actually let people know!
Tiffany, your thoughts mirror mine. Ridiculous!
Chandra
woo hoo! go girl, great deal. love it!
YOURS, MINE AND OURS
What an amazing buy!!! I just followed them on Twitter, thx for the tip. Enjoy wearing your shoes!!
I got a pair of purple Gucci pumps from DSW for $65! I was so excited! They are amazing for their sales!
AMAZING, Alissa! GO, DSW!!!
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