It Never Hurts to Ask...

Katie told me that I needed to make a post about how I am always able to find the best deals. So here goes nothing.

About a week and a half ago, I went to Macy's to buy a suit. (My suit finally bit the dust about a month ago). Macy's was having a sale, so I thought I would take advantage of a sale that they were having. After a lot of looking around, I decided that I would get an 2 button dark navy Alfani suit (Thanks Brandon!!!). The original price was $450.00, but because of the sale, it was 40% off, dropping the price to $270. However, prior to going to Macy's, I found a coupon online for an additional 20% off, dropping the price to $216.00.

After getting fitted for the suit, I went down and got some dress pants and a few shirts, as they were also on sale. But the purchase that I was most excited about was the following: (They say a picture is worth a thousand words, don't they?) Can we say Burgandy Loafers with Tassels?? Whoa!!!! I have always wanted a pair of shoes like this, and this was my time to get them. They were originally $150.00, but were marked down to $109.00. I thought that I would be able to use the 15% off coupon, but found out that since these are considered designer shoes (Cole Hann), that the coupon can't be used. I ended up buying them, but spent a lot of time contemplating taking them back. After all, do I really need a pair of shoes that costs $109.00???

Last weekend, I was looking online at the Macy's website and noticed that they were on sale for $99.00. Not most of you probably wouldn't bat an eye at saving $10.00, but I am the kind of guy who will drive across town to save 5 cents a gallon on gas. So on Monday, I took my receipt back to Macy's to get the difference in price refunded (Macy's has a 10 day price match guarantee). Come to find out, the sale for $99.00 had ended the day earlier, but after asking if they would still give me that price, the salesperson agreed to do so. To make matters even better, she told me that starting on Wednesday of this week, Macy's annual friends and family sale would be starting with was 25% off everything (including these shoes). Although the sale wouldn't start until Wednesday, she would give me the extra 25% off!!! A deal like this only happens once in a great blue moon, so what did I do? I took advantage of course, and also ended up with the following:Burgandy Penny Loafers. So when all was said and done, I ended up with 1 pair of loafers with Tassels and 1 pair of Penny Loafers for only $40 more than I had originally paid for the pair of Loafers with Tassels. IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK

But the story even has one more happy ending. I was curious today to find out if I could have gotten my suit any cheaper if I had waited to buy it today. I called the suit department and found out that the same suit is now 50% off. However, it has been more than 10 days so I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to get a price match. However, It never hurts to ask!! I asked the salesperson if there is any way that they would match the price, even though it had been more than 10 days. After thinking about it for a second, he told me that he could (just to come in and ask for him). After work today I will be going into Macy's to get my price adjustment. Oh, did I fail to mention that I will be coupling the 50% off with the 25% coupon that I have as part of the friends and family sale that is going on. So the suit that I got for $216 will now be only $168.75 ($450.00 original price, less $250.00 (for the 50% off sale). Then applying the 25% off coupon to $250, the final price comes out to $168.75.

The morel of this blog post is IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK!!!! Just by asking, I saved myself over $200.00 off of the already on sale priced items. While you may not always save by asking, the worst that can happen is they say no. But you never know unless you ask.

This post is dedicated to my mother who taught me the art of bargaining. Thanks Mom!!!

Chile Trip, Part 1 of ???

Well, after many delays and a lot of procrastination, I finally am making the time to blog about our trip to Chile. As we were there for 3 weeks, this will be the first of many entries that I plan to make over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more.

Given that we took so many pictures, and it would be time consuming to insert all or even some of them in the blog entries, I have decided to use the slide show below as it appears to be the easiest way to show you our pictures.

Our Chile Trip began on Feb 4th 2009 at 2:00 AM. Needless to say, it was a short night sleep as we hadn't gone to bed until 2 hours before. Something about us waiting until the last minute to pack our suitcases. By 4:20 AM, we were ready to leave our apartment and head to the airport. A few minutes later I realized that I had left all of my credit cards and drivers license at home on the scanner (I had wanted to make a copy as a backup). So we turned around and headed back home.

Arriving at the airport, we got through security realatively quickly (there are not too many crazy people who book flights at 6:00 AM). To summarize our day, we flew to Salt Lake, and had a 2 hour layover. From Salt Lake, we had a direct flight to Atlanta, where we spent 4 hours waiting for our flight to Santiago, Chile.

During our flight from Atlanta to Santiago, Katie experienced her first taste of airplane food and was quite impressed!!!! We tried to get some shut-eye, but stayed up quite late watching a free movie that was playing (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2). Thanks to John Madsen for introducing us to the first one.

Upon arriving in the airport on Santiago, we made our way down to customs and immigration. As I had been to Chile before and still had a valid immigration stamp, I didn't have to pay the $145 entrance fee that is charged to all Americans visiting for the first time, but Katie had to wait in line and pay her fee. From there, we waited inline to pass through customs and had to declare why we were there.

Finally, we made it to the baggage carousel and got our luggage, which by that time was just sitting there waiting for us. As an FYI, we traveled down there with 2 suitcases each, which turned out to be a pain when lugging them around. One entire suitcase (duffel bag) was filled with 40+ pounds of American food (root beer, licorice, skittle, snickers, jerkey, cake mixes, etc...) to give to some Chilean friends.

We found out the hard way that you can't enter Chile with any meat products, and they quickly confiscated two packages of beef jerky. I think it is probably because they customs agents just wanted something to eat!!!! Luckily they didn't notice the two extra package of beef jerky in another suitcase, so I was still able to make good on my promise to get some beef jerky to my Chilean friends.

We took a taxi to the bus terminal, and purchased our bus tickets for the 7 hour bus ride down to Concepcion Chile. As a side note about buses in Chile. Although more and more people are starting to get cars, the bus is still the major form of transportation in Chile. You can get anywhere to want to go on a bus (or multiple buses). As a result of this, some of the buses are incredibly nice.

35 Weeks

I can't believe how fast the time has gone! We have less than 5 weeks left (hopefully no more) until Bing comes. Bing is getting so big. It is head down with it's body on my left side which means I get kicked all day in my right side. I love it! I have really enjoyed being pregnant, but it's about time for this baby to come. I can't remember what it's like to be "normal" anymore, but it has been worth it! There really isn't anything new to tell. We have just been getting ready for Bing. I finally got Justin to buy a car seat this week. He was looking for a deal (like usual), but I think he finally saw how stressed I was getting and just bought one. I have been cleaning and organizing like crazy. Justin thinks I've lost my mind, but a clean house is a happy house! We still have a lot of loose ends to tie up before Bing comes (like looking at some more names and picking a doctor) but most of them will be easy to take care of. That's really all the news we have for now. We will keep you updated if anything exciting happens! Here is a picture we took last night of me at 35 weeks.