Saving on Some Big Stuff

There are a number of ways to get half off at local merchants-- wate.halfoff-thursday.com, www.halfoffdeals.com, scc.mediawebconnect.com

I bought a $25 gift certificate for The Crown and Goose for $12.50 a while back, and I know that at some point we'll join friends down there in the Old City. Money saved!

Besides restaurants, there are usually gift stores, book stores, hair salons that are listed. However, a couple on halfoffdepot.com/knoxville really surprised me.

First is Wedding Wonderland--a $150 certificate for $75. Now five years ago this would have been a "must buy" for me. No, we were not doing weddings. We were doing presentations. Since a presentation dress is white, usually a wedding dress is selected and the train is cut off. Wedding Wonderland is actually the place where we bought the presentation dress. I was curious to see if one could "stack" the certificates and virtually get a dress for half-off, so I called. Nope. There is a limit of one certificate per gown.

Second is M. S. McClellan, THE old school men's clothing store in town. I do believe McClellan's using this marketing tool is another significant economic indicator. In the old days I would give my husband one thing from McClellan's a year. In my thriftiness that was all I was comfortable in buying. It was usually a sweater vest for Christmas. But he has kind of stockpiled the vests now and giving for the sake of giving just doesn't seem as important anymore.