Defining the Blog and its Author

Where is this blog going? What is the point? You may ask. Well, let me share where I'm coming from here.

I'm not a habitual coupon clipper. I do hoard the ones that fall in my lap (like BB&B) as they can always come in handy, but that's about it as I don't receive many coupons anyway. I don't scour yard sales and thrift stores or hold clothing swaps. Those are all great methods and I commend those who have the patience and discipline to do so, but they just don't match up with spontaneous me.

What the heck then? Can I save ANY money by reading this? Sure. I'm not extreme, but I'm an average person who likes to save money where I can. I comparison shop; I wait for that great sale or clearance; I look at unit prices. I don't sacrifice quality by simply buying the cheapest thing out there, but I do put time into figuring out what the better buys are, or waiting on a particular item that I love to be more reasonably priced.

Remember my mention of Bed Bath & Beyond above? We registered for these awesome sheets last year for our wedding, and we did get a set. We absolutely love them, but weren't willing to shell out $80 for a queen set. Even with their frequent 20% off coupons (by the way, those NEVER expire, and you can combine them on multiple-item purchases!), I still couldn't stomach spending that much on sheets. Well, at my age I am frequently finding myself in the store with my coupons shopping registries for all my other friends entering marital bliss. On  a recent trip, the sheets went on "clearance." $47 a set. That plus the coupon and you get two sets for the original price of one! The most impressive deal ever? No, but considering BB&B's not so flexible pricing and the fact that the sheets were a store exclusive made it a pretty good buy for us. Frugalista is about finding ways to better buy the things that work for you.

One more thing: as the idea of introducing blogs to patch was coming out, a reader commented on defining Crofton. If we want to get technical, we can limit it to just the parkway (where I happen to reside). Great. Then ALL my blog posts can be about the Sly Horse or the Craft Fairs. Bored yet? The Postal Service would say Crofton includes all of 21114 - the parkway and pretty much everything off of Riedel. Again, not so much when we're trying to find good deals. So, for the sake of realism, instead of saying I'm covering "Crofton," I'm covering where most of you lovely Croftonites shop. This includes Gambrills, Odenton, Annapolis, and even Bowie. After all, getting good deals often can involve a drive one way or another!