The Steal That Almost Was

Camille over at Archives of our Lives does this thing called Saturday Steals every week and I'm joining in the fun this weekend!

Last weekend we took a little vacation which included a trip to my favorite outlet mall. As we were walking past the Coach store (one of my all time favorites!) I was handed my own personal golden ticket! A 20% off your ANYTHING in the store coupon. Even sale items! Oh sweet heaven! So, into Mecca I go, picking up and tenderly adoring lovely item after lovely item. Each one is more fantastic than the last until suddenly, there it is. In the 50% off section, among a bunch of colorful things that I'm not quite sure should be part of the delightful Coach product line, there it is. It is SO beautiful. There is no way it could really be in the 50% off section. It must be in the wrong place. I pick it up, I stroke it (sadly, I'm not kidding), its the right size to be used as a diaper bag or a purse, I open it up and it has a perfect amount of pockets, in short, its PERFECT! See, isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!

I look at the price tag (Sadly this is the not so perfect part). It startled me, even though I knew it was coming. A whopping $358 dollars! Way out of this Mommy's budget. But then, in the back of my mind, I remember, the 50% table! I seek out a saleslady (it wasn't hard, they were everywhere) and ask her to confirm if it really was 50% off! Lucky day! It was! After that and then with the additional 20% off, it was just over $100 ($112 to be exact!) Oh sweet heaven!!! I must have it! (Now here is where the story gets sad.) We went on our trip sponateously and with a VERY limited budget. The moral debate began. I could buy the bag and the next day we could just hang out at our hotel and then go home (something I seriously debated), or I could not buy the bag and we could take the kids to the zoo as planned. Eventually, the responsible part of me won out. And that, my friends, is the story of the steal that almost was.