Imagine.  It’s the middle of October and you’re headed to Walmart to buy a new pack of underwear.  On your way back to the unmentionables section you are suddenly overwhelmed by racks and racks and racks of clearance summer clothes filling up the wide aisle.  You think “sweet! Maybe I can score an awesome _______!” But after 20 minutes of sorting through XS booty shorts and XXL T-shirts with cats on them you give up.  Dissapointed not to make the find of the century.

Can you relate to this scenario?  Maybe it wasn’t Walmart (because lets face it, their clearance items are usually not that great), but at Target, JCPenny’s or some other store instead?

I typcially have great luck when it comes to clearance sections, but if I’m trying to find something specific I’m usually screwed, especially when it come to pricier items.

But I think I’ve finally found a way to get what I want for a price I can pay.  See, even expensive stores like REI can end up with to many Columbia raincoats and in an effort to move inventory they need to slash prices giving normal people like us a chance to get that sweet item we’ve been eyeing.

Case and point.  When I returned home from Bolivia last winter I had just spent the last year in summer climates.  My collection of winter clothes was lacking and I desperately needed some boots, but, considering I didn’t have a job and hadn’t had a paying job in a year I needed them to be cheap.  I looked everywhere, in stores, online, but nothing was right.  Either they were ugly or way to out of my price range.

Fast forward a few months.  Well, to a few days ago to be exact.  I went onto the Crocs website looking for a pair of sandals.  Say what you want about Crocs.  I hate the original ones but their newer styles aren’t so bad.  Well, I didn’t find any sandals I liked, but then I looked at the top of the page and found a word that always gets my attention, SALE!. So I clicked and that’s when I found these:

They may not by Merrels but they’re still cute, had great reviews and are comfortable for people with wide feet, which I unfortunatly have, but the best part???  The price!  Originally $93 (a price I could have never afforded) they had been marked down to $30.  That’s right, $30!  Ya, I won’t probably be able to wear them for another 6 months, but who cares?  I finally have boots!

And this isn’t the first time I’ve scored a sweet deal in the off season.  While I was in Swaziland on the World Race in February 2012 I wandered onto Backcountry.com’s clearance website Department of Goods where I was able to score a sweet pair of Chacos for $45 in the color I wanted!  Chacos usually sell  for around $100.  That’s pretty steep in my book, so I waited and looked and finally found my pair for more than 50% off!  Another cool thing about Chacos?  When the straps wear out you can get them completely re-webbed for $36.  That’s like multiple pairs of sandals in one.  Score!

There’s nothing quite like the high you get from scoring an amazing deal on something you really want.

Have you ever made a great score on an items you’ve been eyeing?