Bargain of the day: stress relief

It was Tax-Free Weekend in Texas this weekend, meaning that school supplies and clothes were exempt from sales tax. This is particularly key in Houston, where sales tax is an annoying 8.25%. I'd been meaning to get a new pair of jeans for a while, so I braved the teeming masses at the nearest outlet mall.

I've decided half the reason I normally hate clothes shopping is that I do it with friends. I love my friends and they are great fun to hang out with, but they also make shopping trips freaking interminable. Everybody has to wait while everybody else tries on the plaid skirt with the white top, the black top, the green top, then the white top with the khaki skirt, then the black top with the low-rise jeans, I'm going to eat your head if you don't put a move on it. Conversely, I always feel rushed when I'm trying things on, because I don't want to keep anybody else waiting longer than necessary.

I also don't want to go into Foot Locker, Wilson's, Bath & Body Works, Mikasa, or Outdoor World. I don't want to stop and look at the kiosks; I don't need my name on a grain of rice. "Erin" is only four letters long; I could do it at home with a reasonably sharp crayon. I don't want to have coffee, I don't want to go back to Old Navy for the third time, and frankly, the salespeople in Kenneth Cole are a little of the sketch—please don't make me go in there.

Today, though, the experience was mostly painless. I bought four pairs of pants and sundry other items, spent less than $100, and never waited in a line more than three minutes. I went to the stores that I wanted to and not to the ones I didn't; I was in and out in under three hours, and nobody complained about what I was doing the entire time I was there. Shopping alone is the best.

Of course, I also bought a bra solely because it was shiny, so what do I know?