I guess it's no surprise that I fell for my hubs... he had my attention with his name alone! :)
Here in England there is no Ross either, so I'm forced to search out alternate outlets to exercise my bargain hunting muscles. There is one somewhat familiar store, T.K. Maxx. Yep. T.K. Maxx.
It's owned by the same company as T.J. Maxx and looks nearly identical inside. I guess if I was ever really homesick I could head to one of their stores and feel like I was in America... as long as I didn't look too hard at the price tags and notice those pesky pound signs and K's. Anyway...
It's known as T.K. Maxx here because they wanted to avoid confusion with another discount store that already existed- T.J. Hughes. I've never actually been to T.J. Hughes... hmmm... I smell a field trip!
All this is a very long lead-in to a not-very- interesting story about how I popped into T.K. Maxx this afternoon. There is a shopping complex near our warehouse. Often, we'll walk over to get a coffee or lunch or whatever. Today Ross needed to get some cash out of the cashpointATM (bonus Ameringlish!) and so I decided I'd have a look around the T.K. Maxx while he was takin' care of business.
I've noticed lately that moving to England has had a noticeable impact on my shopping style. I rarely buy clothes anymore. I think there are three reasons for this:
1. I don't earn a salary, so it is harder to justify buying things.
2. The aforementioned lack of storage means that I really have to think about where an item will fit in my already stuffed wardrobes. (I actually think this is really great. It makes more much more intentional shopping and stops me buying things I don't really need. Now I only buy things that are filling a true whole in my wardrobe.)
3. This is probably the biggest reason, and the lamest- Sizes here in the UK are 2 sizes bigger than in America. It's incredibly hard to buy things because the size just sounds SOO big! Think about it. A 10 here is like a 6 in the States. That's a big mental shift to make.
Man, I'm rambling today! All of that is to say that my shopping- even of the window variety- these days seems to be much more focused on home decor than clothing. When I looked around T.K. Maxx I headed straight for the home stuff and didn't even check out the clothing and accessories. I found 3 things of note.
These night stands are so unusual and fun. I could definitely see them working in the right room. They were fairly pricey at about £75 each, but I think the impact they'd make in the right setting is worth it.
I wish this was a better picture. Note to self: zoom is your friend! The detail of the fun floral pattern and bright colours would look super-adorable in a little girl's room or a breezy laid-back guest room.
Next up is a contentious chest of drawers. I thought it was awesome and in the right room would look super-fab. Ross thought it was awful and that the only "right room" of which I spoke was one belonging to Donald Trump. And this was not a compliment...
And finally, this... this... have you ever been simultaneously entranced and repulsed by a piece of home decor. This was on the top of a stack of area rugs.
Yep. It's a silver metallic and black animal skin of some kind. I circled it for several minutes. I have no place for this in my home. It doesn't match any of our stuff. I'm not even sure I like it. And I'm positive that Ross would hate it and forbid it from crossing our threshold. But in the right room....
(I guess I think most anything could work in the right room...)
What's the best bargain you've ever found?
Where do you bargain shop?
Do you have a room that would look good with a shiny animal pelt on the floor?
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