There comes a time in every shopper’s life when one must stop and smell the roses.

Or the rose-scented body wash.

This week Bag Lady and Shopping Siren pause to reflect. Consider. Update. A retail roundup, if you will. 

Also, there’s ice cream. Or there will be ice cream.

So maybe we’re really just stopping to smell the chocolate chips.

We’re OK with that.

Prescription coupons: Learn, use, love

Of course we ask about coupons at Kohl’s and JC Penney. (And scour the Internet and sign up for emails and get the app, because awesome deals are awesome.) But coupons at the pharmacy? Hardly ever crossed our minds. That is, until a friendly pharmacy assistant tapped a few keys in her computer and saved Shopping Siren $25 over the weekend!

So, here’s a tip: Ask. Even if you have insurance. Even if they’ve never had a coupon before. Even if this is an old medicine. Worst-case scenario, they say no. Best-case, you get to keep some money in your pocket. You know, for buying grown-up things, like socks. Not a dozen Cadbury Creme Eggs on sale for $1.49 each.

Um.  

Of course not.

Sign of spring: Sale!

Speaking of Kohl’s and JC Penney, we have now reached that very special time of year when winter jackets and bathing suits exist side by side. (Mostly in stores, but also actually outside this week.) That means … sales!

Kohl’s, for example, is offering an extra 20 percent off clearance items. So that cool Rock & Republic women’s Star Wars T-shirt you were eyeing but didn’t want to drop $48 on? It’s now $11.52 in the Auburn store, just in time to celebrate the release of “The Force Awakens” on DVD.

May the (sales) force be with you.

I spring, you spring, we all spring for ice … cream

You know what else means spring? A large cone of Moose Tracks.

(Points to you if you said robins mean spring. But, no.)

Gifford’s Famous Ice Cream stands — including the ones in Auburn and Farmington — open for business next Friday. 

There may be a line. It may be long. We may be the cause of it, standing and staring at the menu for at least 10 minutes longer than necessary trying to decide between Fly Fishing Fudge and Sugarloaf Mint Chip. (Because, really, Fly Fishing Fudge? How intriguing.)

But take heart! They’ll be open for the next seven months. That’s plenty of time to cast about for a cone or two.

Warning, seasonal stragglers: Delay gift-swapping plans at your own risk

We know, it felt like it took forever, but the Christmas tree is finally down at Bag Lady’s house! Suddenly, there’s a mile of extra space in the dining room. Also, as of last week, one of those three lingering gifts was finally, happily gifted.

Alas, remember those two boxes of M&Ms also waiting to accompany said gifts?

So, yeah. There’s now one box of M&Ms. Mr. Bag Lady had a totally great reason for opening them. Namely, he wanted to. He shared, and they were delicious.

Stroke of genius

Revlon discontinued Bag Lady’s favorite Mulled Cider lipstick about 10 years ago on what will forever be known as a Very Dark Day.

BL squirreled away a cache found on eBay and some months ago opened the very last tube.

That’s when the panic set in.

Panic, followed by desperate Googling, followed by the discovery of — we’re just going to come out and say it — a Lipstick Genius.

Turns out Allison over at the Allison Makeup Blog devoted an entire, long post in 2013 to pairing old, discontinued colors to the closest match of current MAC-brand lipsticks. BL bought the recommended color off another website, tried it out a week later, then SUCCESS! It’s a super close match.

Trotting away from the bathroom mirror, feeling victorious, that’s when (absolute true story), Mr. BL chose to tell her that for the past decade her lipstick had been too dark. He’d just never mentioned it before and suddenly felt compelled to.

(Cue incredulous stare.)

The lipstick stays, and trust us: He’s going to have to buy an ice cream cone to make up for that one.

Bag Lady and Shopping Siren’s true identities are protected by a pair of stylish, sweater-wearing Doberman pinschers (who are all-in on vanilla) and the Customer Service counter at the Sun Journal. You can reach them at baglady@sunjournal.com and shoppingsiren@sunjournal.com.

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