Every so often, our local J.C. Penney’s sends a coupon in the mail: $10 off any purchase of $10 or more. Wow! How can you beat that? I mean, especially if you find something for exactly $10, then you get it for free! You know me and coupons, I can’t resist something like this. Even though I NEVER go to Penney’s, because they really have NOTHING I need or want (at least not at the prices they’re charging),still, whenever this coupon comes in the mail, I spend a lunch hour wandering around Penney’s, trying to find…something…something…anything!
And it takes me the whole lunch hour to find something, because as I say, there’s really nothing there for me. First of all, there’s that bit about the higher than I’m used to paying prices, but also, at this point in my life, I pretty much already have everything I need or want. I’ve spent years and years accumulating stuff, and now that I’ve got a good supply of stuff, 
too often I take a good look at it and think, “Jeez! I really have to do something about all this freakin’ STUFF!” Decluttering is one of my favorite pastimes, so much more than shopping. But here’s that coupon offering the potential of something for nothing, so off to Penney’s I go.
This afternoon I managed to find this pretty cool kitchen knife. Not that we need another knife, but look at this one! It has a really cool Japanese name, “Santoku,” and promises to “chop, dice and mince herbs and vegetables.”
Now, I’ll tell you the truth about chopping, dicing and mincing. In the past, I have been enticed by all sorts of gadgets promising to impart a chef’s flair to those activities. I have a Cuisinart food processor, a mini-food processor, and a mandolin. But do you know what I use almost exclusively? This one large bread knife we bought at Wal Mart a year or two ago. And we only bought that knife because the “main attraction” knife I had been using for years and years, a Farberware handed down to me from my mom about twenty or thirty years ago, FINALLY gave up the ghost, handle and blade separating after decades and decades of faithful service. How I hated to give up the knife! But the time had come.
Now our new kitchen knife from Wal Mart does it ALL. Only it will have to make a little room for this tiny Santoku. I’ve gotten products from Oxo before, and they always work out well. So I have high hopes this little knife will find a happy home in our kitchen.
Oh! And I didn’t even get to tell you the best part yet: It was a $16 knife, on sale for $10.99, so I paid a total of $1.08 (which includes sales tax.) A $16 knife for slightly more than a dollar? How can you resist?
Speaking of Oxo, the last time one of these Penney’s coupons came in, the item I ended up with is this handy-dandy little container, which we use to store Squee’s catnip. The lid had a suction cup to help keep the contents fresher. I guess it works, because Squee has no idea catnip is in there until we pop the lid and the aroma of nip fills the air. Then he goes wild. But until then, the herb is well stored in this attractive little container.
If I recall correctly, this item was also on sale, for exactly $10, so it came out being absolutely free. Or it might have been a dollar or two. It was a while ago, I don’t remember. But I know it was a good deal.
Now, this one I absolutely do remember. One time when this coupon arrived in the mail, I was in my heyday of building a Nice Wardrobe for the Whimsie dolls. Everything in their wardrobe has come from The Thrift Store Boutique (except for a few items that actually belonged to Mary and Joey when they were wee ones) so I thought it would be nice if I could buy the Whims even one item that was 
absolutely new. And that day, when I went to Penney’s, what did I see? A display of cute little winter jammies, and one of them was this adorable blue and white zip-up with polar bears all over. How cute! (You have to admit.) It was $10 exactly, so I walked out of the store paying absolutely nothing, and brought it home to the Whims.
They’ve each had a chance to wear it at one time or another, and here’s a picture of my newest Whimsie, Tootsie, who recently joined us here in Whimsieville, via the E-Bay Adoption Agency. I know, I know. I have to start slowing down with these dolls. I think four is enough. I hope I don’t see any more cute Whimsies at the Adoption Agency. If I do, I don’t know how I’ll possibly keep them all so well dressed at all times!
You might even say that my Whimsies are better dressed than I am. I’m not a big fan of clothes shopping. I think maybe if I ever lost weight, I could be persuaded to get more excited about clothes, but right now clothes shopping is not among my favorite activities. I have a very limited wardrobe—mostly it’s plain tops, patterned skirts, and lots and lots of SOCKS. Love love LOVE socks. (Maybe because no matter how fat you are, socks always fit.) So one time, at Penney’s, I used the coupon to get myself some socks. For $10, I got two pairs of socks. Really. That’s $5.00 per pair. And that was the SALE price. So, you can see why I don’t usually shop at Penney’s, not even for my beloved socks.
But I thought this use of the coupon was a good deal, because one pair is a basic black, that can be worn with almost anything, and the other is sort of a blue tweed, that would go well with blue jeans. (Both pairs of socks were in the laundry at the time of this photo shoot.) I like to layer socks and wear several pairs together, so I think this black and blue together is a good combination. I think I may have paid a dollar or two for both pairs of socks when all is said and done. So this too was a good use of the coupon.
Going back a little further, I got a set of measuring cups at Penney’s, again for nothing or very little. Again, it’s Oxo. (1/4 Cup and 1/3 Cup were busy at the time of this posting, and not available for their photo.) I like the steel cups, but not a big fan of the measurement written on the handle. When you wash measuring cups, eventually the writing wears off. So unless you have the marvelous superpower (like I do) of recognizing container sizes on sight, your cooking and baking might turn into a disaster. But that hasn’t happened to me (at least not yet), and I’m definitely of the opinion that one can never have too many measuring cups.
Now, one more. I’m working backwards, and this one was my first purchase with the $10 off at Penney’s coupon, several years ago. I know I ended up paying a little bit for these two candles, I think maybe as much as $6.00 for both of them. (Gasp!) But I just fell in love with these, and they look so nice on our dining room table. I have a lot of candles, but I don’t have them all out at the same time. 
Mostly, I save them in a box in the closet, just in case the electricity ever goes out. Truthfully, I have way too many candles. That’s one of those areas where I have accumulated way too much stuff, and really need to thin it out. But when I do, these two beauties from Penney’s will not be among the discards. Even when the candles are totally burned down, I’ll just clean out the innards and put new candles inside.
Well, that’s my $10 Penney’s coupon story. I’ve enjoyed this trip down Memory Lane. Can’t wait for the next coupon, and the next challenge of going to the mall to find something else that I don’t really need, but exalting in the ability to get it at a really good price—or even for free!
