I come from a long line of Cheap Women

The women in my family are SO cheap and proud of it. We love clearance, thrift stores and garage sales; we love it so much we make "junkin'" an event. We get up a 6 a.m., put on our walkin' shoes, grab our ridiculously large mug of coffee and set out on the days adventure of digging through other people's junk.

Sometimes going with my mom feels like we are in the army and she is the commander. On the way there we each run down the list of what each of us are looking for and how much we want to spend; that way, if one of us finds one of these items, that person can stand guard over it until the others arrive. We drive around to scout out the densest population of the most promising looking sales, so we can plan our route in 10 minute intervals in order to walk and park efficiently. If we think we spot a target, we immediately stop, investigate then recalculate the route. We do this until we run out of sales or until my moms back starts to hurt.

This is the perfect time to give you an example of yet another insight into the crazy minds of women

In each instance I will be discussing the same shirt, new, with the tags still attached.

Handmade by a local artist: We would be happy to pay $25.
The store: We only shop sales, for the shirt we would be willing to pay $10.
The thrift store: $4 would be a good deal.
Garage Sale: no more then $2.

My mother would disown me if I even thought of paying $10 for the shirt at a garage sale and she would pat me on the back if I got it at the store. Even though I know it makes no sense... I would agree with her.