My Wife’s Father’s Day Shopping Challenge

It’s been well over a week since Father’s Day crossed our paths. I pretty much killed myself trying to get reviews out on some of the products that I have received over the past couple of months that I thought would be good gifts for Father’s Day. Since Father’s Day has passed, I have been slowing down a bit. However, I did want to talk about a challenge that I gave to my wife for Father’s Day.

I was contacted by a PR firm of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls with “a mission.” They would provide two $25 gift certificates, one for each store. I, or in this case, my wife, was then tasked with spending that money on gifts for me for Father’s Day. What a great deal! My wife gets to shop (a HUGE passion of hers) and I get to reap the results of her work.

But I added to the challenge, I told her that the items had to be “high tech” so that my blog audience might appreciate the article that I write a bit more.

When I opened my gifts, I was actually pretty surprised with the results. She did cheat a little by spending a TOTAL of $50 but not evenly divided between the two stores. She spent $20 at Marshalls and $30 at T.J. Maxx.

So here is the loot, with the store name, the price my wife paid, the “compare at” (suggested price from T.J. Maxx or Marshalls) and, Amazon, simply because I often link to the Amazon price since it is typically pretty good:

Well, if you look at those totals, you will see how wrong my assumption about Amazon’s pricing actually was. Shopping locally, at T.J. Maxx and/or Marshalls actually would save you about $100 (if you don’t include tax or shipping). That’s pretty impressive. However, it is definitely possible that some of the items are rare or in limited quantities so they therefore have a higher price (like the Motorized Brush or Chin-up Bar).

It is sort of an apples to oranges comparison though, since when items like these appear in Marshalls or T.J. Maxx, you have to get them right at that second, otherwise they might not be there the next day, whereas at Amazon, you can pretty much guarantee that the product will be around through either the Amazon store or through an Amazon affiliate. This is an important distinction that potentially weighs into the varying price points.

If you are a deal shopper, and get a thrill out of finding that diamond in the rough, you should definitely check out either T.J. Maxx or Marshalls. My wife already does this and has been able to stock my closet with dress shirts, fill our china cabinet with Blue Danube china (my wife estimates she saved about 50% or more on our fancy china set) and find some kid toys in the process. While these two stores may not have the latest in technology items, you can definitely find deals on what they do have (as you can see from the chart above). Both stores are better known for their savings on clothing, but you never know what you might find!

T.J. Maxx and Marshalls are really important to families nowadays, where budgets are tight and money must last longer. My wife has always been a frugal shopper and is a regular customer of these two stores; I’m more of an impulse buyer, searching for instant gratification. I bet you can guess which shopper type survives in this day and age…definitely not mine!

HTD Says: In an age where we need to make money go a little bit further, it’s nice to know that there are some stores that won’t crush your budget.