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Speaking Point: About six years, I went to New York with my husband Robert and eldest daughter Marissa. We found out from my fashionista niece that Bloomingdale’s was having a fabulous sale that weekend. Bloomie’s had a special promotion going on. If we opened a credit card we would receive 15% off anything we purchased instead of the regular 10% off. Then they had coupons for $25 off every $100 spent. On top of those discounts, the entire ready to wear department was 20% off. The total discount was 55% or more, depending if the items were already marked down.

Speaking Point: We only had 24 hours to shop and get those deep discounts on brand new styles! I was on a mission and even though the flagship Bloomingdale's is enormous, I was not daunted. I came up with a plan. My daughter and I would find our clothes. Then she would guard our selections in the dressing room. I would have her try everything on and I would run and grab other sizes and colors.

Speaking Point: Marissa, who doesn’t love to shop was mortified. We had piles of clothing, all fabulous. She takes time to decide and I said there was no time. Snooze and we would lose! Because I have been a personal shopper and image consultant for over 20 years, I said, “Try this on. Hurry. Yes that’s great. No, you need a smaller size. Hold that, we’ll find the matching piece.” And so it went for eight hours non-stop. My husband, Robert was doing the same in the men’s department.

Speaking Point: I ran downstairs to help Robert and back up to supervise Marissa. I was in fashion heaven. They thought they had landed in hell. The only thing that kept us going were the fantastic “deals”. Who doesn’t love a bargain on current styles and high quality clothing?

Speaking Point: By 8:00 p.m., Marissa started to shake and get pale as a ghost. She had low blood sugar and started to fade! Oops! We grabbed her, ran across the street to the nearest Italian restaurant and fed her. She said, “Really Mom. I can’t shop anymore!” To which I replied, “We can’t stop now, we’re almost done. Eat, feel better and back to Bloomie’s we go.”

Speaking Point: At 9:00 p.m. we entered the store for round two. By midnight we had shopped for over 10 hours! We got our discounts, had everything shipped to California. As we were exiting we realized that we forgot to buy Robert shoes, p.j.s and underwear! Oh no, they were locking us out!

Speaking Point: We asked a store manager how long our special discounts were good for. He replied, “For 24 hours from the time you got your new credit card.” We looked at our watches and realized we had until 12:00 noon the next day. So on that Sunday when the store opened, we ran like crazy to select Robert’s new shoes and other items.

Speaking Point: As the clock struck 12:00, we were at the cash register, triumphant! Five thousand dollars later and about five pounds thinner we celebrated our fashion coup!!