When it comes to patience, I’m not the most virtuous girl in the world.

More often than not, I stand next to the stove waiting for water to boil. I’m guilty of searching the far reaches of closets for hidden Christmas and birthday presents. And I always flip ahead to the last chapter of a book.

I just can’t wait.

But lately, I’m thinking this whole patience thing isn’t such a bad idea.

Take, for instance, my recent forays to Marden’s, Renys and Target. Usually, I replenish my winter wardrobe the day after Christmas, but this year I decided to wait awhile. And the payoff has been phenomenal.

There is a trade-off, however. It takes time to comb rack after rack of deeply discounted clothing, but when you find what you want – in your size – for $5, it’s worth it.

For the last two weeks, my colleagues and I have been trading stories of our Marden’s finds:

“Did you see the Lilly Pulitzer dresses for $6? I bought two.”

“You know those tweed pants you got? I bought the same pair. We’re going to have to start calling each other before work so we don’t show up in the same outfits.”

“My friend bought skinny Levi’s and Se7en 7 for $5 to sell on eBay!”

These are exciting times for bargain shoppers. At Marden’s, the theme seems to be $5 (with the exception of those mod Lilly Pulitzer shifts). And when you can get wool pants, a blouse and new, garden gnome-bedecked pajamas for $15, there is no such thing as buyer’s remorse. Even if the fabric of the blouse looks a little bit like a Damask tablecloth. I’d pay five bucks for the pj pants on their own. Call it gnome alone.

Now that you’re done groaning over my bad pun, allow me to move on to Renys, which is where I hit real pay dirt.

I went to the one in Belfast, but my guess is they’re all loaded with great, name-brand clothes. Wool coats were $25. Camisoles and logo sweat shirts from every teenager’s favorite mall stores – you know which ones they are – were a steal.

I grabbed a bamboo-print wrap dress by a certain higher-end women’s store whose name rhymes with Dan Naylor for $15. There’s a reason why Renys cuts tags: they get an earful from their distributors if they advertise the brand names. Hence my ambiguity. But you get the picture. For what it’s worth, I also bought a drapey little blouse (no tablecloth here) by a company whose name rhymes with K. Kill. Sweet.

When I arrived at Target on Wednesday morning, a team of store staffers were in the process of marking down racks and racks of women’s clothing to 75 percent off. Score! Since I was in the market for layering T-shirts, I couldn’t resist buying two – one for $2.98, the other for $3.24. The rust-orange yoga pants I wanted cost me a mere $4.25. And I splurged on a wrap sweater for $7.48.

Discount stores aren’t the only ones practically giving clothes away. If you hurry, you can still catch the 50 percent off winter-closing sale at Emporium in Camden (which makes jeans by 7 for All Mankind and True Religion seem like a bargain). I believe that sale ends today. And my friend Jeanne went wild at J.C. Penney last weekend – she paid $20 for a sassy pair of $80 boots.

Enough about our finds, though – I want to hear about yours. Tell me the ridiculous deals you’ve scored, and I’ll post them in the ShopBlog so everyone can benefit. Visit http://communityv1.bangornews.com/blog/4 to post your find, or send me an e-mail at kandresen@bangordailynews.net.

And if it takes me a little while to get them online, just remember, patience is a virtue.

ShopGirl would love to hear from you! Send questions, comments or suggestions by e-mail to: kandresen@bangordailynews.net, by U.S. mail to Kristen Andresen, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329, or by fax to 941-9476. For exclusive online shopping tips, click on the ShopBlog icon on the bottom of the BDN homepage: bangordailynews.com.