Vente by Vanessa

Black Friday isn't what it used to be. The days of going to bed thanksgiving night with visions of early morning door buster deals is long gone.  Sadly, the best deals are available when we should still be enjoying our friends and family around the table. Whatever your plans may be for shopping next week (or this one) check a couple of my favorite resources before planning your purchases. Www.blackfriday.com and  www.bfads.net are two websites that "leak" Black Friday ads and allow you to create your own printable wish lists.  At this point almost all of the major retailers have leaked their ads. Here are a couple of early sales to be aware of and thankfully they all have online deals available so you can shop from the comfort of your couch! Walmart is promoting an early Black Friday sale this Friday at 8:00 am both in store and online.  They are offering a few of their big deals a full week early.  Likewise, Amazon begins Black Friday "week" on Monday with a we

I tend to forget that the popular teenage boutique, Forever 21, is a great place for moms, and dare I say middle aged gals, to shop.  I usually remember what a great place it is when I'm in a really fancy mall and stumble across one of their GORGEOUS, shiny, marble laden exquisite stores. Aside from the sheer beauty of the upscale versions of the shop, the selling point for me are the extreme deals.  Look at these beauties I recently picked up: Love this Bee pendant. And for $3.80 who wouldn't love it?  No sale, no clearance, this is regular price!!  And this beauty... $8.80!!! Forever 21 is full of great, affordable accessories including scarves, tights, etc.  On a completely different note, but still blingy, look at this beautiful blouse from J. Crew... Love that gem encrusted collar!! Ok, you see that it's on sale but, if you know me, you know that's not nearly good enough.  Here's what I found at Kohls last night... Amazing, I know.  But look at this... Not $79.

These deals come to you courtesy of my friend Cathy!  While admiring her shoes, bracelet and ring at an event this weekend she told me about the super sale where she bought all three items (and then some.) There is a new boutique that has opened in the North Hanover Mall called Carriage House by Diaa (located directly across from Gertude Hawk's and JCPenney's).  Owned by a mother/daughter team, they feature a variety of clothing items, accessories and shoes. If you can't see that sign in the front of the store, the "Super Sale" is 50% off of the lowest price marked price on ALL ITEMS!!! Here's a sampling- Tons of GORGEOUS belts- final price? $3.75!!!!!  Some were even less.  Great variety- lots of colors and styles. The designer calls these "Bandage skirts" (think Ace bandages), I call these "super skirts."  They may be the most flattering, slimming pieces of fabric I've ever put on my body.  Final price?  $12.50 each!

That's right Central Pennsylvanians- it's time for the annual Delia's Warehouse sale!  If you're not familiar with Delia's you can check the regular store's website here- Delia's The details are as follows: Delia's Warehouse 348 Poplar Street, Hanover    October 24th 4-9 pm October 25th 8am-9pm October 26th 9am-8pm October 27th 9am-5pm     Plenty of parking- don't be intimidated by the line at the door at opening time.  It's a big space. Lots of great tops and pants for all ages. Adorable formal dresses - $12.99 for one and cheaper for multiples! Snowball and winter formals are right around the corner!! $10 for Sperry inspired looks! If only I were ten years younger... Look at this!  She didn't buy it so it might still be there! Did I mention accessories, sheets, towels, and candles too?      

Hey fellow bargain hunters!  I'm back!  Thanks for the emails and messages sharing your deals.  It's pretty amazing to see how much you all have saved by scouring the clearance racks and thrift stores. Today's post was inspired by a quick trip to Kohl's Department store.  I was in search of some jewelry to match a dress I'm wearing to an event this week.  Let's backtrack- I'll tell you about the dress. I picked up this little beauty a couple of months ago at JC Penneys.  It's from the line that designer Duro Olowu did for the department store.  Do you know about this trend?  Famous, high-end designers do affordable lines for department stores in a effort to bring their talent to the masses.  Target features designers pretty regularly. Anyway, the benefit of this concept, if you live in a relatively rural area like I do, is that the pieces typically go to clearance very quickly.  Case in point, this $60 gem cost $1.97 on clearance! So here are

After work Friday I ran over to The Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg - http://www.horizongroup.com/our-centers/gettysburg/ .  Quick trip to find my niece a birthday present.  To those who are familiar with the Gettysburg Outlets you know it isn't the largest outlet mall around but over time their store selection has improved.  And considering the fact that they are the only outlet mall less than an hour drive from home, I tend to stop in at least once a season.  Here are my latest finds- I took along my $10 saving certificate for Bass/Izod/or Van Heusen (its incredibly easy to earn these, I never spend very much in the stores and I still get a couple of these a year.) These leather loafers (available in olive green and black as well) were originally $100.  They were on the clearance table marked with a yellow dot (85% off!!!)  So, with my savings certificate these were $5!!!! Moving on to the Gap- crazy sales in there this weekend!!!  Tons of these 70% off signs on new spring merc

Are you sitting down?  If not you should.  I'm about to reveal some amazing deals! Most of you are probably familiar with Talbots, here is their Wikipedia description - " Talbots  is an American retailer and direct marketer of women’s classic clothing, shoes and accessories ".  It's my go-to store for cute skirts, nice dresses and well made trousers.  Let me back up - the OUTLET is my go-to store. There is an outlet located in Cockeysville, MD and the sales are unbelievable (not to mention the fact that there is a great barbecue spot nearby, incredible cupcakes in the same strip mall and Wegmans is just down the street.)  The store carries petites, misses and women's sizes as well as shoes and a limited number of accessories.  Racks are typically marked between 30 - 80% off of already reduced prices.  Sometimes there are $5, $7 and $10 racks. Today may have been the best shopping adventure I've had there in years.  Exhibit 1- great "work" blous

So it's no secret that I'm all about the cheap.  So when looking for a cell phone case for my son I wasn't too eager to buy the $30 one offered at AT&T.  Couldn't find one that would fit at the mall kiosks so I went online and I struck gold at Amazon!  I bought a case for Ben, two for myself and Ipod cases for everyone!  And my grand total, with free shipping- about $6.  Amazing, I know.  What's the catch, you ask?  The Amazon retailer was located in China and while the shipping was free it took about three weeks for all of the items to arrive (although Ben's case came in about a week.)  The cases were all basic, like those you find at 5 Below but they were waaaay below. As you probably guessed after this successful Asian adventure, I'm hooked.  My next purchase, from a different China based Amazon vendor was this cute $3 scarf (and there's my cute niece too)- And last but certainly not least, I found the mother of all Chinese retailers-

Happy new year! Pre - Christmas, Post - Christmas and New Year sales kept me really busy so I've been out of touch for a while (I did enjoy my family and friends as well.)  There have really been some great online sales after the holidays (and you're probably wondering why I didn't mention that sooner?  I'll get better about that, I promise.)  Specifically, Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch - if you shop for teens or young adults you have to sign up their emails.  One online deal I took advantage of was 30% off of clearance and $5 shipping.  Woohoo!!  This time last year is when I did a huge chunk of my son's shopping.  Always nice to put things away in January and be pleasantly surprised by your haul when you're ready to wrap in December!!!! One more tip before I get to the main feature- believe it or not some stores still have Christmas items and guess what...they're marked way way down!!  Bought a stocking holder at Hobby Lobby tonight for $1.19