Super Shopper Score!

Right.  So, you may have realized that this little Farmlette runs on a fairly slim budget.  We recycle, we repurpose, we create from the free pile...you get the idea.  But sometimes, there's stuff (like, say, a hoophouse) that needs to be purchased.

That's where The Google comes in handy.  I do some research on various products, I price compare, I figure out what can I find locally versus what I might be able to acquire with free shipping.  I ponder the merits of building my own in true D.I.Y. fashion versus a premade kit.  I measure and remeasure and plan and plot...

For the new southern exposure I suddenly have, I wanted a smallish hoophouse.  Nothing too big, really.  Even a small D.I.Y. hoophouse would run about $100 or so, if I could find everything on sale, and there was the time factor of needing to build in time to catch the early season.  And then again, did I want a permanent structure?  Maybe something that looks fairly decent but can be easily taken down before winter might be good...because then, I'd have more sunlight streaming into the porch...

Then I stumbled upon this: the Flowerhouse brand Farmhouse Pop-Up Greenhouse.  Seriously.  It bursts out of a bag and tah-dah, you've got a fancy little instant greenhouse in your yard.

All it needs is a man in a kilt to come out of a cake...

Ahem.  I digress.

The instant greenhouse, in its glory.

Cute. Perfect dimensions.  Sturdy yet temporary.  Then I checked the price tag: $399.  Yikes.

It's even sexy from the side...

Commence price stalking.  Over the past couple of months, I've been tracking this particular beauty.  The local hardware store chain had a few, then fewer, and finally, down to one lonely greenhouse...and then, the price began dropping.  As I had hoped, by the time they reached one left in stock, they had decided to "discontinue" this item, and sell at the lowest price possible if no fool picked it up sooner.

Lower it fell, and lower still...until it was a whole $270 off.  And then came the 11% discount, and the extra clearance discount, and it was on sale for a little over $100.  I was gifted a marvelous gift card for Christmas (thanks Mom!), and made the run into town on a quiet Saturday night to pick up my lovely.

There was a bad moment where they couldn't find it, and then it was finally located on a dusty shelf in the abandoned garden department in a rotted box.  After discounts and gift card, I scored my beloved-and-stalked-after pop-up greenhouse for the princely sum of....

(insert drum roll here)

Fifteen whole dollars, which was pretty much the sales tax. 

Yes folks, my Machiavellian machinations paid off and I scored a four hundred dollar (more or less) greenhouse for fifteen smackeroos. 

Now, to wait patiently until spring creeps in...