The Mall is overrated

After Tate was born in December of 2000, he became very sick with RSV. He was only 2 weeks old and was very ill. He was in the hospital for several days fighting a lung infection that could have killed him.

He completely healed after a few days in the hospital and we went home. Before I knew it, my six weeks of maternity leave was up. I would be heading back to my well paying 40 hour a week job.

It was hard leaving him but my mom stepped in and cared for him while I worked. That lasted a few months and then Tate began having ear infections. I was missing a lot of work with him being sick all of the time so that spring I made the difficult decision to leave my corporate job at VOLVO. I knew I would still need a part time job so on a whim I applied for and was hired by Estee Lauder at our local Mall.

Working at Estee Lauder was tough. You had to wear heels everyday and be in full makeup. The customer service aspect of the job was easy....as I like people but the demands of standing on your feet all day & pushing credit card applications on people took its toll on me. After a year and a half, I quit and I can count on my hand to this day how many times I have been back to the mall.

This Sunday we took the kids to the mall to see the early Christmas decorations. I stopped into a few of my favorite stores to look around.

After a few minutes in Gymboree, I knew the mall was seriously overrated. I could get the same clothes online with free shipping for cheaper than what the mall was selling them for.

Having so many kids and especially a new baby, the last place I want to be this holiday season is in the mall.

Here is what I do, I shop online but before I checkout, I always google to see if the store I am online shopping at has any deals. 99% of them do.

For example, click here http://www.retailmenot.com/view/gymboree.com

I can save 30% without even leaving home.

Now I do like to go to the mall and see the decorations and its fun to take the kids there on a rainy afternoon, but in my opinion the mall is seriously overrated.

PS If you do have to go to the Mall, check out the malls website. Our mall usually has great coupons for certain stores.