Shoe Shopping turned Shopping Spree?

Superman went through a growth spurt recently and needed some new shoes.  We had one pair, but they were lace up and frankly it is hard enough to tie my own shoes with my belly in the way, tying his can be even more difficult.  So I began the process of looking for affordable shoes that would be good for his little feet.  I thought this would be easy.  I was wrong. 

I spent several days going to the stores in my immediate area (Payless, Famous Footwear, Ross, Target, Fred Meyer, etc.) and dragging Superman along with me.  The poor kid would get so mad when we would spend a whopping 3 minutes at a store and get back in the car.  Shoes were either too expensive, too clunky, or not in his size.  I began to get desperate.

So I asked for help where everyone seems to be go for help these days....my personal Facebook account.  The feedback I got was this: (1) shoes are expensive, but it is worth spending the money to get good ones. (2) Stride Rite has the best ones. (3) If you go to the outlets they are cheaper, but same quality.

So with this information we hopped in the car and drove to Washington Square Mall.  (Side Note: I hate malls.  I don't know why really, I mean all the stores in one spot? Awesome.  I guess it is all the people, who apparently don't have to work or go to school just hanging out and getting in my way so that I can't accomplish the 3 things on my list.)  I figured if I could get a pair of shoes for $30 or under, I would settle and be done. 

Yeah, $30 at Stride Rite?  It doesn't get you much.  They did have a sale though (Buy 1, Get One @ 50%) and if I bought two pairs, the cost would come down to $30 a pair.  Not a bad deal, I suppose, but it still seemed so expensive for little shoes.  There had to be a better way.

So that got me thinking about the outlets at Woodburn.  They were only another 30 minutes south of where I was...maybe I could just run down there and save even more money! 

So that is what we did.  We hopped on the freeway and headed south till I hit the Woodburn Outlets...at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, with limited snacks, no milk, and oh, it was pouring rain and I was going to head home in rush hour traffic.  Okay so maybe this wasn't the best plan.

All in all it turned out okay.  I got Superman a pair of sneaker type shoes and a pair of summer shoes (because they had the same sale going on at the outlet) and I saved about $16 on two pairs of shoes (compared to what I would have spent at the regular store).  What I didn't factor in was my strong desire to make the trip "count" so I went scurrying from store to store looking for some good deals before we left.  An extra $100 later I came home with 3 summer shirts, a summer hat, a raincoat and a pair of jeans for Superman and a snowsuit and 2 shirts for Baby #2. 

Please tell me that I am not the only one that does crazy things like this!