Bye-bye, money. Hellooooooooo, fabric!

Today I was pretty bad. But I have some awesome stuff to show for it. And I didn't pay full price for any of the sewing or knitting supplies. Just for the styrofoam heads. (Yes, I have a pair of styrofoam heads now.)
And I bought DH a tiny model USS Enterprise kit. The naval ship, not the spaceship; he has one of those already. So he should be content for a little while.
Step one was to familiarize myself with the sales and coupons for each of the three stores I planned to hit. One was running an uber discount on fabrics, the next on sock yarn and my favorite brand of hand-sewing thread, and the third ... well, nothing that excited me very much, but I knew they carry foam heads and tinkery things for DH, and I had a coupon for one regularly-priced item, so it was worth dropping in for a quick browse.
Step two: write a list. What colors of thread and how many spools? How many yards if I find an awesome fabric for a gown or cloak? And be sure to have a pen handy so you can write yourself notes while in the store, comparing the relative virtues of each bolt of fabric that would look awesome in your stash ... er ... as a garment. Yeah, that last bit ...
Step three: feel free to talk to yourself and pet the fabrics as you scour every possible hiding spot for a special gem. I confess, I did put a clearance bolt of dark blue silk (that's how the bolt was labeled, anyway) back into the bin. Someday I'll play with silk, but not now. Instead, I snagged some deep red wool (cloak), dark brown wool (loose gown?), a wool/silk blend with an interesting pattern (I have no idea, but look! SHINY!) and linen for lining. Since some of the linen was labeled "flawed" (bit of discoloration), it was already cheaper than regular-priced linen, so when the 50 percent discount was applied, I was one happy shopper. One less bolt of inventory for the store to count.
Step four: fork over the money and revel in your bad-ness. You're stimulating the economy, and also not blowing your money on illicit drugs or movies with sparkly vampires.

That dark brown wool is going to attract every strand of dog hair in the house ...