Bargain

Sometime after Thanksgiving we bought a new set of luggage.  Our old set had lost a couple of wheels which we found out when we took our trip to Florida in 2009.  We had a heck of a time dragging the suitcases around the Ft. Lauderdale airport, and I'm sure looked like some pretty cheesy tourists. 

After we got home, I looked at luggage on and off for a long time, trying to figure out pros and cons of different brands and styles.  I also comparison shopped (to the minimal extent that I actually do that) and we ended up with three pieces of an American Tourister set we found at Sears.  I felt a little bad about buying the luggage because it seemed like an extravagance that we didn't need or use that often.  But then I applied for another job (I'm still waiting to hear more but my references were contacted last week) which has some travel.  I figured the luggage purchase was fortuitous and maybe even good luck so I was okay with it. 

We took a weekend trip earlier this month and used it for the first time.  It's really great (well, as great as luggage can be I guess) but I found we missed having a small overnight/large cosmetics type bag for our toiletries.  They didn't have one when we purchased the pieces and actually none come with the set so we've been trying to figure out what to do.

We shopped around some more and looked for something that would fit the bill but not clash with the rest of the set.  I even looked online and bid $1.50 for a bag on eBay (didn't get it -- go figure).  Yesterday we found ourselves at Burlington Coat Factory which is a place I rarely go.  We're looking at the luggage and totes and a lady is looking closely at a brown bag, just the size and style I wanted.  It was the only one on the shelf.

R and I stood very still.  She was talking on her cell phone while looking closely at the bag.  She continued talking and shelved it, then stepped away for a bit. 

We pounced.

We opened the bag, found it to be the perfect size, color and everything else.  Then we had to check the price:  Suggested retail was $100.00.  BCF price was $9.99.  Score with a grand slam and a slam dunk!

When we brought it home we found the color matched perfectly with the rest of our set.  In fact, it looks like it is part of the set.  The size is exactly what I wanted.  And except for the poor lady on the cell phone who wandered back to the shelf after finishing her conversation to buy the last brown bag, it was perfect.