By Guest Blog Contributor: Shalon Polson  Mrs. Colorado 2010 

My Mom raised me to shop for the deals, never pay full price.   School shopping at Mervyn’s was always a treasure hunt - I went to school dressed in the latest and greatest.   Sharing savings with others is a favorite thing to do – so listen up!

For you closet-savers, who wouldn't be caught dead in any store but Nordstroms, this is for you.

Nordstroms is notorious for their Half- Yearly events.  They actually want you to come and shop these sales; it helps clear their racks for the new items they are selling.  In fact they tell you when they will be held!  Go here to prove it!  http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/frequently-asked-questions#salesevent

More reasons I LOVE Nordstroms? 

Customer Service is worth its weight in gold.  To me, it ranks up there with the dollar saved.  Returns are always welcomed.  No kidding! I have a friend who wore shoes for two full seasons, wore the soles off the shoes- she returned the very used shoes to Nordies and they happily gave her an in-store credit. Please! Do not misunderstand me here.  I’m not advocating taking advantage of their kindness, just a story to show how AWESOME they are.  If your item goes on sale, call their 800#, they will credit your card the difference.  If the price goes down more??  Call them again, they will give you the difference!! Shopping Nordstrom online is also a great idea - shipping is free! Free. Even the return shipping is free! 

Which leads me to my equally favorite place to shop – ONLINE!!  I’m not talking about just randomly searching via google shop for the best deals, which is great for some.  Oh no!   I shop Ideeli.  And those who know me will tell you – 90% of what I wear comes from them. 

Ideeli is the first site I check – every morning. I kid you not. Some mornings – I beeline it to the computer before I even step foot in front of my coffee pot and click on my Ideeli bookmark.  I go online, pick out my favorite items and wait for the sale to start.  9:00 am sometimes takes FOREVER to come.   Ideeli is all about saving you money! Every item on there is reduced and by a lot!!  They often have special RED sales or Hurry Before it’s Gone sales and those are my favorite!  The year I gave up my title, for preliminary pageant evening event, I wore a $150 dress I stole on Ideeli for $30. Love that!  Anyone can become a member of the site.  I upgraded for a quarterly fee to be First in Line for the sales, I love being first in line for anything.  It gets me in trouble sometimes, especially in the car…  The low quarterly fee is more than worth it for me, it saves me from hitting the mall and spending more money on things that deter me from my shopping mission.  Ideeli is awesome about returns and they actually pay you when you get your friends to buy from them. Each buddy of yours who buys – gets you $25!  www.ideeli.com/invite/shalonp

Target has forever been a close friend to me.  Shopping  at Targe` (Tar-jay)  is like going home to me.  I can literally remember buying my first sparkle lame` (la-may) swimming suit there. My mom tried so hard to talk her sweet 4 – year- old into a super cute, age appropriate, dull material number no doubt all my friends would be sporting.  I had none of that. I was all sparkle and bling at birth. 

Shopping the end-caps at Target can be the equivalent to finding a buried treasure!  I love searching the reddish tags to see just how little I’ll be paying.  But here’s the thing! I’m super competitive.  If I’m going to save, I want it to be the most savings possible and Target is known to take some time before they hit the bottom line.  So here’s how you know when the time is right to buy at Target: 

I utilize these tips to keep my costs down.  Maneuvering a family budget can be tricky, but remembering these tried and true shopping tips will help keep your pocket book and your closets full!