Welcome to the first ever Saturday Steals extravaganza here at Archives of Our Lives!  If you’re participating in this week’s Steal Fest, please feel free to copy and paste this badge of honour on your good deal post:

Also, remember to check back often to see what other deals people have gotten this week!

Last summer I bought an awesome red sweater on super-sale at Dillard’s. It was a great deal. A steal, even—but not the steal I’m talking about today.

See, my red sweater, it was awesome. It was really long, and had a zipper and pockets and was a beautiful colour and looked for all the world like something Mr. Rogers would wear.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Image from here.

Which was fine, except for the fact that I didn’t really fancy looking like Old Man Rogers too much.  I’m too young for that. I needed to bling it up. So I thought, “Well, I’ll look for a pin or a broach to add to it…those are a dime a dozen. It’ll be easy, and by this time next week, my red sweater will be the talk of the town.”

It wasn’t that easy. Every thrift store I entered, I scoured the shelves and cases for a pin that could unite my sweater and stop making me feel insecure about looking like Mr. Rogers…but to no avail. I wasn’t even looking for the perfect pin—I’m too impatient for perfection—I just wanted something that would do. The good enough pin.

Month after month passed, and the red sweater sat lonely in my closet. It never got picked to go on dates with Poor Kyle’s leather jackets. It just…sat there. All alone. Every so often, I’d feel bad for the pimply-faced reject sweater, because I knew it was a total babe inside, so I would dig it out of the abyss of my closet and try to make it work…but it never lasted. It needed a pin.

It was lost without one.

Well, my friends, it is with much joy that I announce to you today…

…the pin has been found.

I was thrifting last week, and I remembered to go look for my phantom pin, and sitting there on the shelf, in all its glory, was this little beauty. I looked at the price tag—$3.99.

SOLD.

Not only was it an awesome aged brassy colour, but the center of the flower was RED. Just like Mr. Rogers’s sweater hanging in my closet. It was fate.

It’s a tiny little thing, too, which is perfect. Anything too big would make me feel uncomfortable. (I’m trying to get a new look, but I have to take baby steps. Anything too flashy makes me feel like a whore. [I’m repressed.])

Greedily, I swiped the pin off the shelf before anyone could take my treasure from me. I plunked down the four bucks to pay for the pin and raced home to try it out with the sweater.

The results?

You decide…

I wasn’t looking for perfection, but that’s what I ended up finding. And that’s the most perfect kind of steal.

So what about you? I want to hear about your amazing steals from the week. Don’t be shy! Just write your post on your blog, and come back here to follow the prompts below to add your permalink to my post. (A permalink is the link to the ACTUAL POST you wrote…not to your blog address. To find the permalink, click on the title of your post, and the permalink should automatically pop up in your web browser’s URL bar.)

It should go like this:

You’ll see this image…click the link that says “Click here to enter your link.”

That will take you to this page. Simply fill out the information, click “enter your link,” and it will take you back to my blog.

After that, you’re done!  Check back regularly to see other steals.

Ready?

And…begin!

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