a lesson on shopping with an 18 month old boy

it doesn’t happen people. he did not inherit my love of a good deal at h&m. he did however inherit his father’s cheeky sense of humour and fast pace and i fear he will take off the second i spot the perfect ‘i could wear that blouse to status meetings on tuesdays’ shirt.

until he was walking (which happened at ten months of age. my son rocks. modest, no?), i loved to shop with marcus. he loved to people watch in his stroller and i loved to peruse the clearance racks. he would munch on fruit and cucumber sticks, i would squee with delight when i hit up the ‘additional x% off’ deals and had his wardrobe stocked for months in advance.

now, between the minimum hour drive each way to work, the 9-5 grind, dinner, bedtime routine, playtime anywhere we can fit it in, etc., the last thing i want to do is haul my little mister into the Gap and hope he lasts 5 minutes. instead we like to do things like this:

[note: marcus + animals = happy boy]

so i have taken my shopping online. and people, it has changed my bargain hunting life. (note: i love bargains. i hate paying regular price for anything except organic homo milk and fancy natural sunblock. more on all of that later) here are my basic rules to successful online shopping:

1. sign up for email programs. they are awesome. they = deals. especially with all of the daily deal campaigns running right now, we can plan date night at one of Toronto’s hot spots and secretly only pay 25% of the price because we bought the daily groupon. no one will know except you, your mans, and your bank account thanking you mercilessly.
2. only shop where you know your size. no exceptions. who wants to deal with the hassle of return shipping etc? not i.
3. if you cannot visualize when/where you will wear said item, do not click ‘add to cart’. i love a vintage style lace cocktail dress as much as the next woman, but we have a toddler, we do not buy said dresses just for funsies.
4. watch out for free shipping events. one of my fave sites does free shipping on orders over $50, and you can in-store returns/exchanges. so if shipping will cost $20, and my cart is at $40, i do a victory lap through the clearance page to see if i can avoid the shipping cost, considering i can exchange in-store if need be. this rule trumps rule 3 as it actually saves you wasted shipping fees.
5. no secure paypal esque payment? no merci. i have enough on my plate without worrying that some non-legit website is going to take my money and run. be smart people.
6. just like chips and dip, everything in moderation.

and let’s be honest, next to my boys greeting me at the door with squees and kisses when i get home (squees are all marcus, james joins in on the kisses), what is more awesome than a package of new pretty blouses to try on after dinner!? win win. cha-ching.