Kohl's Lovin!

And this is why I love.......

The miracle of a child is nothing less than well a miracle.  There are so many great things about being a mom that there isn't a blog big enough to hold the lists of wonderment.  One of the teeny tiny drawbacks is the inability to spoil yourself with all the great trendy clothes you once adorned.  For me, this was one of the biggest challenges I faced with my post baby budget. So when a friend of mine raved about Kohl's and how much money she always saves there I just had to check it out.

And I'm not going to lie, I am very much in love with Lauren Conrad's clothing line, and that may have been more motivation than actually saving money.  As soon as we entered the store I all but ran to the LC rack.  One glance at the price tag, however, and I couldn't find an exit fast enough.  One pair of jeans was $50! Maybe in pre-baby days.  Seeing my disappointment my friend walked me through her shopping trip.  At check out she had about $400.00 rung up in her merchandise, but then she pulled a hail mary.  She handed the cashier her 30% off (from her email sign up), then a coupon (yes you can combine them) and finally her Kohl's cash.  She walked out for a little under $100.  And so my obsession with Kohl's began.

My most recent finds are my best by far. For the last year I have scoured the internet and local shoe stores for the perfect booties to wear this fall.  Leave it to Lauren Conrad to have the most amazing pair in her fall line this year.  But of course, who gets new boots without a new pair of pants?  I know rookie move right?  And once more Lauren didn't let me down.  I found the cutest pair of ultra light blue jeans to compliment my gorgeous camel colored booties.

Any time before Zoey, I would have easily thrown down full price for both of these items, but being a responsible parent, yada yada yada.  The boots were originally $79.99, on sale for $55.00, not a bad start. The jeans were originally $50.00 and on sale for $25.00.  Ok so justifying this purchase just got easier.  I finally said screw it and threw both into the cart and headed for check out.

Here's where the magic happened.  I used my $10.00 off a $25.00 or more purchase, a $10.00 Kohl's cash certificate and then a 15% off coupon I received in a mailer.  Final price came to $45 and some change! That was less than the sale price of the boots for both items.  I was so happy I was literally jumping for joy.

Now all you nah-sayers out there, this was not an isolated incident.  While Kohl's does have a slightly higher price range for their clothing, their sales/coupons are amazing.  Make sure you read every coupon closely as most ARE combinable with others.  And when the sales lady pitches the idea of the Kohl's credit card, sign up for it!  Many of you are rolling your eyes, yeah just what I need another credit card but here's the one difference, you can pay it off right after you use it.  Yes you heard me, pay it off at the same register you just used it at.  I try to keep a budget in mind, like today I only have $40 in my checking account that I have allotted to use here.  So I charge no more than $40 and when the transaction is finished I simply tell them that I would like to make a payment on my card in the amount of *whatever I just spent*.  So I still get all the perks of the sales and coupons and credit card gimmicks without the hassle of extra debt.