Seasonal procurement 101

So, one of my many responsibilities at the moment is seasonal procurement. In my present company, this is primarily the clothing of the children (5yo boy, 9mo girl).

Since I've been doing this for a few years, I've come to know the vendors and their cyclical sales and reductions combined with offers made to preferred buyers (which I usually sign up for).

Gymboree is by far the best for this. While it is Gymbucks earning periods, I buy stuff on clearance and earn $25 in Gymbucks for every $50 I spend. Generally, I'm buying for the season we're finishing--but for next year. So in May, I spent about $400 buying next year's cold-weather clothing and earning $200 in Gymbucks. You can actually apply coupons to this purchase--which allows you to buy more clothing for less money (although you now have to buy more to earn more Gymbucks).

There is a specified period of time to redeem Gymbucks and redemption is the same: redeem $25 for every $50 you spend. So I had to rack up another $400 worth of items to redeem all $200 of my Gymbucks. My net cost for $800 worth of clothing is $600; and both kids are clothed for next summer with the 5yo also clothed for some of the fall. But really, I'm saving a lot more than that because MOST of the money spent (in the initial purchase) was on clearance.

Of course, this is risky business: if the children's growth trajectory goes off course, I'm left with clothing that will never get worn. The younger the child, the more likely this is (since they grow a LOT faster). But the good thing about Gymboree clothing is it's resale value. So I leave everything in the packaging it comes in (since I buy online) and if I can't use it next year, then I can resell it for nearly what I paid for it (since it was on clearance and it's new with tags--in packaging).

Then of course I have to network to find out about other cost-savings opportunities. This and groceries are my major recurring expenditures--so they require stealth bargaining skills. The 5yos remaining winter wardrobe was purchased during a spring sale at The Children's Place where every item was only $4.99 apiece.

I just have to outfit the baby for winter. Her growth trajectory wasn't really clear last year.

Of course, my boss is less than thrilled with the outlay of money to acquire these assets. There's a budget line item for this stuff so what difference does it make whether I spend a lot of it at once or here and there piecemeal? I spend it where it holds the greatest savings. He will, of course, probably require a CBA (Cost v. Benefit Analysis) to show that my method DOES, in fact, save more money--but that's more work than I need to do for this. I'll have to buy the baby's clothing without the benefit of "end of season clearance" buying. I'll have to show him those receipts.

*sigh*

Doesn't really matter how often I'm right... or how many times I do well, he's always going to question it. *eyeroll*