The island we live on is tiny .... I mean 5 square miles tiny!! Think of the Isle of White and to us thats a huge metropolis!!
one of the downsides of this otherwise pretty perfect life here is that we have no shops ... we have 3 local stores but they are the size of a garden shed and stock basic food and cleaning stuffs so for everything else we either go through the mainland or do what we do which is buy everything in a big lump and take it back with us - some in suitcases and other stuff boxed up and containered back on the company freight.
I had hit Walmart hard earlier in the trip, razors, medicines, food stuffs, DVD players, sunglasses and suncreams, cameras, disks, batteries, DIY things, electronics, voltage transformers, school books, stationary .... you name it we bought it! about $3000 in all.
ToysrUs was the next stop for all the kids christmas presents and some for other people on the island too. I love the price of the toys in the US, we got out of there for under $800 and bought a load of gear! Ben10, Star Wars, Power Rangers, Transformers, Tonka, stocking fillers .... it was 4 trolley loads full and I took my mate from Palm Beach who doesnt have kids and she had a great time shopping with me ..... I'm quick and practical - I know what they will want and I chuck it in!
in Palm Beach I managed to pick up all our swim stuff for a year or so at a great surf shop - 8 bikinis for me and 10 assorted swim shorts for the boys.
Also our friends had taken shipment of our Wii and Wii fit which we ordered through Amazon so that was waiting for us and packed up to be sent home.
With that lot out the way and shipped back to Miami to get on the container the best shopping was now in store in Orlando ..... CLOTHES!!!
We hit the Premium Outlets but to be honest the outlet store at the end of IDrive ( I think it used to be Belz) was way better for us, bigger and more choice. JCrew for me, 3 new pairs of long pants, some lovely jeans and nice belts, the Ralph Lauren store took a heavy hit, lots of v-nick t's for me, polo's for my man, polo's for the kids and some clothes for my neice back in the UK for christmas.
Neiman Marcus was a good shop for shoes, I also picked up some Sketchers at the Sketchers outlet for the boys. Victoria Secret also made some cash out of me LOL!
Back at Target the dh picked up some work chino's, about 6 pairs, and 6 pairs of cargo short pants along with all our underwear!
Off to the mall next for Abercrombie - the dh only wears their muscle t's and to be honest I love shopping in there just for the smell! I LOVE the smell of that store!
8 t's and a pair of jeans later and we were all done. We shop efficiently, quickly and with a purpose in our stride.
Get it done, get it paid, get out and get packed up!
all done, the years clothes, hardware, kitchen stuff, electronics, you name we got it and it came in under budget at just under $8000 which we were very happy with.
one of the downsides of this otherwise pretty perfect life here is that we have no shops ... we have 3 local stores but they are the size of a garden shed and stock basic food and cleaning stuffs so for everything else we either go through the mainland or do what we do which is buy everything in a big lump and take it back with us - some in suitcases and other stuff boxed up and containered back on the company freight.
I had hit Walmart hard earlier in the trip, razors, medicines, food stuffs, DVD players, sunglasses and suncreams, cameras, disks, batteries, DIY things, electronics, voltage transformers, school books, stationary .... you name it we bought it! about $3000 in all.
ToysrUs was the next stop for all the kids christmas presents and some for other people on the island too. I love the price of the toys in the US, we got out of there for under $800 and bought a load of gear! Ben10, Star Wars, Power Rangers, Transformers, Tonka, stocking fillers .... it was 4 trolley loads full and I took my mate from Palm Beach who doesnt have kids and she had a great time shopping with me ..... I'm quick and practical - I know what they will want and I chuck it in!
in Palm Beach I managed to pick up all our swim stuff for a year or so at a great surf shop - 8 bikinis for me and 10 assorted swim shorts for the boys.Also our friends had taken shipment of our Wii and Wii fit which we ordered through Amazon so that was waiting for us and packed up to be sent home.
With that lot out the way and shipped back to Miami to get on the container the best shopping was now in store in Orlando ..... CLOTHES!!!
We hit the Premium Outlets but to be honest the outlet store at the end of IDrive ( I think it used to be Belz) was way better for us, bigger and more choice. JCrew for me, 3 new pairs of long pants, some lovely jeans and nice belts, the Ralph Lauren store took a heavy hit, lots of v-nick t's for me, polo's for my man, polo's for the kids and some clothes for my neice back in the UK for christmas.
Neiman Marcus was a good shop for shoes, I also picked up some Sketchers at the Sketchers outlet for the boys. Victoria Secret also made some cash out of me LOL!
Back at Target the dh picked up some work chino's, about 6 pairs, and 6 pairs of cargo short pants along with all our underwear!
Off to the mall next for Abercrombie - the dh only wears their muscle t's and to be honest I love shopping in there just for the smell! I LOVE the smell of that store!
8 t's and a pair of jeans later and we were all done. We shop efficiently, quickly and with a purpose in our stride.
Get it done, get it paid, get out and get packed up!
all done, the years clothes, hardware, kitchen stuff, electronics, you name we got it and it came in under budget at just under $8000 which we were very happy with.
you know how to shop!
And you were impressed with my shopping????? 
