Black Friday Scores

Photo: Uniqlo

Black Friday is THE DAY to score big on fantastic basics. Sure you could buy designer names, but why not save on good quality basics for less in order to splurge on expensive investment pieces that never go on sale?

Between Old Navy and Uniqlo, you’ll rarely settle for good enough. Paying $50+ for leggings, t-shirts or socks isn’t necessary! The following are Black Friday scores that seem too good to be true, but they’re not! These basics are super stylish and durable without breaking the bank. As a bonus, many of the articles can be machine washed and dried with abandon!

Old Navy offers 50% off --

Leggings - $19.99 for the High-Waisted PowerSoft Full-Length Pocket Leggings + other styles, lengths and colors. 

EveryWear Crew-Neck T-Shirts - $6.49 - $7.49 for the Crew Neck with short sleeves. + other choices of styles, sleeve-lengths, neck shapes and colors.

First Layer Tank Tops - In store $5 - Soft jersey, 95% cotton, 5% spandex, 7 colors.

Quarter Crew Socks 3-Pack for Women - $4.99 - $6.99 - A choice of sock styles, fabrics, lengths and colors. I like a percentage of cotton in my socks, but you do you!

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁

👚👗🎩👒🧦👚👗🎩👒🧦👚👗🎩👒🧦👚👗🎩👒🧦👚👗

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪𖤐.𖥔 ݁

Now let's move onto another manificent retailer for quality basics! As great as Old Navy is, Uniqlo is a tad more upscale with Japanese innovation, but the sales can be just as good!

Uniqlo has so many basics from outerwear to underwear, from dresses to cardigans to skirts and blouses to accessories like hats, scarves and gloves. Its offerings are too numberous to mention! The retailer offers quality and style at unbeatable prices. Make a list of needs and chances are good, you’ll find tremendous bargains.  

Warm down winter coats for $199 or less - from short to long

In season’s past at Uniqlo, I bought down coats, down compact vests, HEATTECH hats, scarves and gloves. I use a rain resistant BLOCKTECH long parka as an ultra stylish raincoat. Before it's cold enough for a winter coat, I like to wear a cardigan and PUFFTECH Compact Vest under my Uniqlo parka. The HEATTECH woven gloves are nearly as soft as cashmere, and they last longer than cashmere. The gloves have touchscreen tips so you can use your smart phone outdoors in winter without removing them. Unlike cashmere gloves they are machine washable, a reason I like them. Still cashmere gloves are also offered. Priced at $14.90 on Black Friday for HEATTECH gloves makes stocking up affordable. You could get gloves for every coat and jacket you own so you never have to remember to switch them!

Go for basics on Black Friday for less! You’ll find essentials you need without emptying your wallet.🛍

You may also enjoy:

Seven Rules For Holiday Dressing

Which Uniqlo Down Coat Should You Buy?

10 Wardrobe Pieces Every Man Should Own

10 Wardrobe Pieces Every Woman Should Own

You Save With Home Goods For the Back To College Crowd

All photos and items courtesy of Walmart 

A way to save money is to learn when to pay for top of the line quality verses settling for cheaper good enough quality. Good enough quality should never fall apart by using it, but you’re not paying for one of a kind design, or pricey features when inexpensive options work just as well or sometimes better because you don’t have to baby the item. You or your kids can use it with abandoned. If broken, it hurts less to replace the article. Moreover, a trick of interior decorators to save money is to mix high with low end home goods.

A great time of the year to find bargains is when retailers such as Walmart and Target start to sell Home Goods for the Back to College Crowd. Playful  colors or designs at attractive prices are often offered. Do you need new kitchen, living room, or bathroom auxilliary items? Examples include: towels or washcloths; pots or pans or kitchen tools; a reading lamp, or small clock or flower pots or book ends or organizing baskets. Grab them off the shelves starting in August.

My blog is unsponsored but I think Walmart has some super cute, good enough quality home goods that are also durable. The selection is wide and fabulous at Target too, but Target is always a few dollars higher than Walmart. Both offer decent quality without emptying your wallet! 

Who uses bone china or Waterford drinking glasses nowadays? Certainly not the younger generation nor folks with children or grandchildren. The Back To College Crowd offerings look nice in a home and are priced to sell out!

You may also enjoy:

Home Goods For Less

Mainstays Is Walmart’s Private Label

5 Kitchen Tools I Will Never Buy Again

How Many Bed Sheets and Bath Towels Do You Need?

Old Navy For Jeans and Cotton & Linen

Old Navy is the place to go for casual smart attire for less than elsewhere, and recently the retailer has really stepped up its game. Take a look at how many styles and shades of jeans, it offers! An absolute steal as its back to school sales are on! You couldn’t match the $15 price tag if you bought the denim then cut and sticked a pair together yourself!

I’m also loving Old Navy’s array of cotton and linen summer dresses of different skirt lengths -- mini, midi or maxi -- that can be dressed up or down. To boot, there are a few rayon or rayon crepe fabrics, which are wrinkle-free and cool to wear on hot summer days. Each style comes in several colors or patterns. Many have pockets!

Of course, you can still find what Old Navy has always sold since opening its doors in 1994 ... 👕🎽👕 t-shirts 👕🎽👕... in crew necks, v-necks, boat necks, sleeveless, short sleeves, or long sleeves. All your summer essentials without breaking the bank!👗

You may also enjoy:

A Summer Of Stripes

Where Are All The Summer Colors?

I Took A Second Look At These Dresses

The Case For Cheaper Casual Smart Dresses

Macy's Button Pearls Are A Steal

Compare Macy's 8 mm pink button pearls (left) next to my ivory round 7 mm and 10 mm pearls.

In the 1990s, advances in the pearl industry made pearls, the only gemstone created by a living organism, affordable to ordinary people. In earlier eras, only royalty could afford a string of pearls, but today we no longer have to go deep diving, a dangerous endeavor, to find the Queen of Gems and the Gem of Queens in mollusk shells in the ocean. Now pearl farmers grow cultured pearls on freshwater and saltwater pearl farms bringing the production of pearls way up and the costs way down. 

A comparable occurrence is now happening in the diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire industries with lab-grown gemstones, and this Lover of Gemstones can't wait for the prices of lab-created diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires to hit rock bottom!!! With future industry improvements, we'll be able to buy bigger, cleaner, vivid-colored gemstones for far less moola! It's thrilling, count me in!💎

Meanwhile, there are still bargains to find! Every year Macy's offers its 8 mm - 9 mm button pearl earrings with sterling silver posts for $6. Since round earrings are the most popular pearl shape, buying button pearls (dome-shaped) is nearly always cheaper. Yet in your ears, you get the same effect as round ... classic and cute. Expect to buy bigger button pearls for less money. This annual Black Friday offering is especially good, so on Monday, I bought my Mamma a pair of pink button pearl earrings. They are also available in ivory, grey, and black. Many customers order all 4 hues during Macy's Black Friday sales since the price is so low. BTW: These are the 4 pearl colors found in nature. The color of a pearl in nature is determined by the lip of the mollusk.

A criticism I have about these earrings is my universal complaint. Jewelers are skimping on hardware. Nowadays the backs of earrings are so slight wearers are afraid of losing their earrings. The back closures could be more substantial. It takes nimble fingers to put them in your ears. Although slim backs are less than ideal, for sure $6 for real pearl earrings is a steal!

You may also enjoy:

Pearls The Queen of Gems

My Favorite Royal Crows Of Europe

Gorgeous Ruby Jewelry But Small & Pricey

Great Gifts From Macy's Black Friday Sales

Don't Buy Too Far Into The Future

I wrote a post nearly 4 years ago about a habit, namely stocking up, I wanted to break. I'm happy to report: I changed! My new purchasing pattern is to Buy One Plus One for many common commodities. You can replace an old habit with a better habit, maybe not suddenly, but one step at a time. Not buying more t-shirts, soaps, shampoos, hair conditioners, or body balms than what I need has not caused any shortages or hardships.

Even when an old favorite is discontinued I've never had to go without. A new and often better product takes its place. Nor have I had to overpay for soap, shampoo, conditioner, or t-shirts because I didn't buy a dozen during a sale. Aren't these the two main reasons we tend to stock up?

In fact, I can think of a few instances when buying a stash of everyday products resulted in a waste of product and money. 

In the late 1990's I loved the Bath & Body Shop's Freesia Scented Body Cream. When the shop's sales manager told me freesia was being discontinued, I bought up a supply to use for when I couldn't buy it. Big mistake! Despite being sealed, scented body creams have a short shelf life. They go bad after 2+ years. The fragrance vaporizes and the ingredients in the cream separate. Moreover, skincare has improved by removing drying agents such as alcohol and adding essential ceramides to restore our skin barrier.  Although I loved smelling like freesia I never understood why I had dry skin until after I stopped slathering on my freesia body cream in winter. The alcohol in the body cream I thought was moisturizing my skin was drying it! 

After I'd bought far too many t-shirts at Express, a newer cut and fabric launched at Old Navy that I prefer. 

Bars of soap from various retailers have been replaced by less messy liquid soaps, as well as, post-Covid hand sanitizers. Yet to this day, I'm still going through my bars of soap, sometimes putting one in a soap dish on the kitchen sink or laying them on shelves inside my wardrobe ... because what else do you do with too many bars of soap? The world has moved on from solid bars of soap!

Often buying a stockpile of a product during a sale is not as cost-effective as just buying one plus one as needed. Our needs are always evolving. What you need today may change tomorrow. So buying too far into the future repeatedly leads not only to clutter but to a waste of product and money. We end up with products after we've moved on from valuing them. 

We simply need enough of an item so we don't have to run back to the store every time we turn around. Usually buying one plus one is the right quantity. I'm happy I nipped buying too far into the future!

You may also enjoy:

Live As An Under Buyer

7 Things I Won't Buy Anymore

Is Your Prime Membership A Waste Of Money?

How Many Bed Sheets and Bath Towels Do You Need?

Macy's Black Friday Sales: 5 Lab Grown Gemstones

The last of my Macy's Black Friday gift guides will also discuss whether or not, you should buy lab-grown precious gemstones as jewelry. Regular readers of THE SAVVY SHOPPER already know my answer. Yes! Absolutely and without a doubt, if the price is right. When priced fairly (meaning not inflated) you'll get a lot for your money! 

Lab-grown diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds are as real as natural-grown diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. Lab-grown gemstones are physically, chemically, and optically the same as gemstones that form over billions of years in the earth's mental or crust. 

Natural gemstones are more expensive than lab-grown gemstones and tend to fetch a higher price on the resale market primarily because they are in higher demand by the public, but as lab-grown gemstones gain more acceptance ... and now as more retailers are entering the market plus manufacturing methods are getting better and cheaper, this is changing. In fact, the greater acceptance and availability of quality lab-grown diamonds are already lowering the prices of mined diamonds produced in nature.

Under a loupe gemologists and jewelers can tell the difference between natural-grown and lab-grown gemstones, yet both are genuine, authentic, real gemstones because chemically and optically they are the same. Both mined and lab-grown stones are the same chemical elements transformed into various gemstones by enormous heat and pressure. Gemologists can also determine where on earth natural sapphires, rubies, and emeralds were formed, as there are tell-tell signs informing them of a gemstone's origins, so it makes sense they can also tell when a  gemstone is lab-grown.

I sound like a broken record in saying, never think of jewelry as an investment but only as a luxury good with huge markups, things of beauty we love but do not need. Except for high jewelry (the apex of rarity and perfection of cut, carat, color, and clarity) or the estate jewelry of a celebrity, you'll rarely get what you pay for your pieces on the resale market.

The great benefit of buying lab-grown gemstones is customers can get bigger gemstones with higher color grades and few inclusions for far less money. They cost at least 1/3 less than natural stones. Short of a cartel forming, I predict prices will continue to drop.

Whether buying lab-grown or natural gemstones, we still need to ensure we're getting value for a good stone based on cut, carat, color, and clarity. 

For this reason, I'm a big fan of Macy's for mid-priced jewelry that ordinary people can afford, and I'd be over the moon to have any (or all😍) of the five 14k gold large sapphires, rubies, emeralds, or diamond sparklers featured here today. OMG, I live at the right time when huge gemstones can be grown in a lab! Dear Fairy Godmother, gimme!!!!!

Final thought: Black Friday sales come and go. If you miss this one, wait for another promotion to come around. They'll run all season and several times of the year!

You may also enjoy:

Is Jewelry A Waste Of Money?

Opal, A Favorite Of Queen Victoria

Spinel: A Case Of Mistaken Identity

Macy's For Fine Jewelry ... Yes Or No?

Great Gifts From Macy's Black Friday Sales

I judge every gift by whether I would love it if I received it myself. Here are 5 Macy's Early Access Black Friday Specials where my answer to loving the gift as a giver or receiver is an enthusiastic yes!:

1) Macy's 25 Days Of Beauty Advent Calendar (above👆) - In years past I've featured some of the most coveted advent calendars on the market including from the London merchant Liberty, but priced at several hundred dollars, perhaps they aren't really worth the money. Macy's puts out a winning advent calendar every year containing a lovely curated assortment of top-notch makeup, skincare, and haircare goodies to pamper every recipient! The advent calendar is specially created for Macy's so you get a lot of products for your money. If I were to buy a beauty calendar for myself, I'd select it and use my savings for something more important.

2) Nike Women's Tanjun Move To Zero Casual Sneakers - Nike is the original brand that innovated support and comfort to advance the technology of making sneakers. Other retailers followed. If you need a new pair of athletic shoes you can't do better than Nike. Usually more expensive, how great to find them as an Early Black Friday Special!

3) 2 Piece Set White and Pink Cultured Freshwater Pearls (8 mm) Drop Earrings in Sterling Silver - I bought these ultra cute and classic earrings this morning as a gift for a friend, and the anticipation of surprising her ... I can't wait! I'm counting on her not reading this blog, but if she does, she won't know she's the friend getting jewelry. Ha! I love the 8mm size baroque-shaped pearls and set in sterling silver, a precious metal. Pink pearls are a color and drop earrings are a style I'm often tempted to buy for myself so I think she'll love them. The sales associate I placed my telephone order with said she now intends to buy a pair too, so today I bought a pair and sold a pair! Macy's, you're welcome!😆

Update - November 17th: My friend was totally surprised, she said overwhelmed and loves her beautiful new earrings!

4) Family Pajamas - Frankly, it's a new holiday tradition my family doesn't follow, but if you need new pajamas, why not buy them now that you can get good substantial cotton and attractive designs at a great price. Also if you don't know what in the world to buy someone, almost every person needs a warm pair of pajamas. There are also matching PJs for the family dog! These are the substantial types of night clothes I like to wear to spend the night at someone else's house so I can leave the guest bedroom or sit at the breakfast table without having to jump into my clothes too early in the morning.

5) Accessories: Scarfs, gloves, belts - Wow, a terrific selection of textiles, styles, colors, degrees of warmth, and price points. It's why I love Macy's, you always find quality to fill a need at the price you can afford. I don't think I've ever had a fashion, beauty, or home good need, traveled to Macy's, and retired home empty-handed. The Herald Square store has  9 floors and such a wide selection!

There's plenty of quality and value to be had right now during Macy's Early Access Black Friday Sale! How thrilling to give fantastic gifts without emptying a bank account.

You may also enjoy:

Holiday Gifts For A Family

5 Gifts For New York City Lovers

8 More Holiday Stocking Stuffers

A Savvy Shopper's Guide For Holiday Gifts