15 posts tagged “shopping”

At lunch today, I opted to escape my desk for a few moments and run some errands. I wanted to get some bins for Mr Potato Head pieces (which I did, only I don't like them and will bring them back tomorrow) and walked away with Christmas presents for the coworkers and teachers for 2009! What, you ask, did I find? Why, 3-ounce candles in tiny jars - for 50 cents apiece! It was too good of a deal to pass. I got 36 candles for less than $20, and they'll keep well because they're candles!

I also got a present for my friend's son's birthday later this summer, already stored in my closet so that my own little boy won't try to play with it. It's a toy that's regularly $45, and I got it for $21. Unbelievable.

So, all told, I saved more than I spent. And that is something that would have made Mom proud.

Though, she'd probably ask why I only got 36 candles...

I also spent a lot of money, but I got a good chunk of my Christmas shopping done - including my husband's gifts for his bosses! Hooray! Now I have a lot of wrapping to do, but that's the easy part of Christmas. Shopping sucks.

I was super psyched, though, because I found the perfect gift for one of our friends for whom, I think, it is near-impossible to shop. But I chanced upon it, immediately called his wife for approval, then purchased it - and even used a coupon for it! Hee hee! I love being frugal when I can. It makes the dollar stretch so much futher. And then I can get so much more!

So now I really only have one person left on my list who has nothing from me (not including family, of course). I have some thoughts, but I need to give it more consideration. And I only have $87 of my allotted budget left. I need to get really creative about this!

The weekend started out with a trip to the Saturn dealership to get my car serviced. There isn't anything wrong with it, mind you; I just like going to the dealership and having them check everything out as long as the car is under warranty. I had my fuel injector thingy flushed and my tires balanced and realigned on top of the oil change and fluid top-off, but it was good to have that done. Besides, I haven't been there since June, and my Saturn e-mail said that I only had 33% of my oil life left.

After the dealership, I stopped at Costco ($1.98 for gas!) to pick up some of The Boy's bath soap and a couple of other things. Then it was on to Target (office gifts in the front bins for $1 each!), where I found some long-sleeved tops for myself (all ridiculously on sale) and long-sleeved onesies for layering The Boy this winter (45 degrees this morning! Yikes!). I also picked up some much-needed hand soap, some of which was Method's toasted hazelnut holiday scent. I highly recommend it. My next visit was to Bed Bath & Beyond before I made a final stop at Old Navy to use a gift card that had been burning a hole in my wallet. I tried so hard to use it all and fell $4.13 short, but the cashier was nice enough to let me have the change rather than keeping it on the card. Because, really, when can you ever find something for $4 at Old Navy?

As I said, I spent a lot of money.

That evening we went to our friends' house to celebrate a few birthdays. The Boy loves playing drums on Rock Band 2. Our friend Doug set up the drums on Freestyle Mode and let The Boy go to town on them. It was so much fun to watch! He held sticks in both hands and was hitting all the drum heads... I may have a future Keith Moon on my hands! Perhaps I should think about sound-proofing a room.

The next morning, we went to IKEA to pick up a few things. I (finally) got my chandelier and shades for the dining room, and because I needed to spend at least $100 to get a "free" $20 gift card (and it was something Chris needs), we picked up some bookshelf extenders, too. Now I have $23 IKEA dollars to put towards a mirror for the dining room. Woo hoo!

Of course, the trip to IKEA completely threw The Boy off schedule, which, as we all know, is a big no-no. He boycotted his nap and had a major meltdown around 5, so Chris and I whisked him into the bathtub, cleaned him, put him in his pajamas, gave him a yummy dinner of bananas and bread (he ate a lot of chicken for his afternoon snack), then brushed (and flossed) his teeth and put him to bed. And then he didn't wake up for 11 whole hours!

So, yeah, it was a really busy weekend. But I got a lot done (including three loads of laundry), and The Boy woke up in an awesome mood this morning. Who can argue with that?

I accompanied a coworker to the big Mega Store next door (which I will not name because I would rather not acknowledge that I went to this establishment) to peruse, among other things, a new planner. She really wanted to get a new one, and I was all too happy to join her. After all, I absolutely adore paper products.

When I was in seventh grade, I asked for a planner for Christmas. I'm absolutely serious. That year, I received a cobalt blue classic-size Day Runner. It was a beautiful thing. Of course, as I was in the seventh grade, I wasn't fully able to use most of the segments that came with it (mileage? expense reports? meeting notes?), so it was basically a very fancy calendar and address book. By the time I got to college, though, my planner (no longer the cobalt blue Day Runner, though) had morphed into a beautiful, color-coded, highly functional, well, planner.

My planners and the way I used them changed with each job. At my very first job after college, I was a media buyer, so the best planner for me was a giant wall calendar onto which I could write all my due dates (color-coded by account, of course). When I moved into ad sales, I returned to the traditional classic planner. Then I was a market research assistant by day and working towards my MBA by night, so a smaller compact-size planner (that easily fit into my backpack) served me better. But a paper planner was completely useless when I was a retail manager, so I got a Palm Pilot, which also served me well when I worked with Vendor Relations.

(Yeah, I traveled a couple of different paths to get where I am today.)

So, now I'm an analyst with multiple deadlines each week (usually several in a day) and a mother to an active toddler. Over the past 18 months, I've discovered the best system for me is a combination of Outlook on my computer (on which I keep track of all my recurring tasks), a spiral notebook into which I jot notes from meetings and craft my weekly Must Do lists, and a portable (read: smallish) paper calendar that I can use to jot notes about appointments, playdates, travel arrangements, and other personal details.

Mom's Plan-It 2008 Softcover Engagement Calendar

Avalanche Publishing

As it's the end of the year, my current calendar is close to becoming useless (go figure). Now, I really like my calendar. It's a planner designed for moms, which is to say that it came with all kinds of cute stickers that would be completely out of place in a grown-up calendar. And since I love decorating my pages with stickers, this was great!

Except, it starts in August and ends in December of the following year. All of them do. Why the hell would I start a new calendar in the middle of one year when there are still plenty of other calendar pages left in my old calendar?

[sigh]

Anyway, when I went with my coworker to look at planners today, I was also looking for my own purposes. There was one planner that was absolutely adorable. It was a pink binder that snapped shut with a pretty silver clasp, and it wasn't packed with a bunch of superfluous nonsense (like expense report stuff). I really, really liked it.

Now, I still have my old planner binders. One is a classic size and zips shut; the other is a compact size that snaps shut. Both are black and certainly not as attractive as the pretty pink binder with the silver clasp. The calendar refills that I needed were about $10; the pretty pink binder would only be another $17.

And yet, I put it back on the shelf, walking out with only the calendar refill pages. After all, the economy sucks, I really need to start watching my pennies, and, well, $17 can get me a super-jumbo pack of Pampers (after coupons, of course). Besides, what kind of example would I be setting for my son if I casually discard perfectly good items for no reason other than wanting a different color?

Oh, but it's such a pretty shade of pink!

My shopping embargo aside (which, let's be honest, hasn't been too hard except for the technology/hardware/software end of things - if I put an embargo on food, that would be a different story), I am trying to justify a $400 expense as soon as the embargo is lifted (in August - don't think I forgot!).

Because I really really really want a Kindle.

I love to read. No, I seriously do. I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't enjoy reading. And there are scores of books out there that I would own if (a) I didn't have to store them somewhere and (b) I didn't have to lug them around in order to read them on trips and such. I have an enormous list of what I call my "Must-Reads", and it just keeps growing and growing. Now, it's not to say that I would suddenly have the time to read once I got a Kindle; I'm just saying that I wouldn't have to worry about physically storing these books someplace in order to read them.

Plus, there's the whole issue of lost bookmarks and such. No one likes dealing with that.

But Amazon has them in stock (finally!), and I again find myself really wanting one.

It's not even a case of But-Everyone-Else-Has-One-So-I-Need-To-Get-One-Too syndrome. In fact, I personally know of no one who has one, and I don't even think my circle of friends is remotely interested in getting one. But I desperately want one. The idea that I can bring a dozen books with me anywhere I go is dizzyingly exciting. The notion that I can instantaneously purchase and read books, newspapers and magazines is so tempting. And knowing that I can indulge in all of this reading without needing to later store (or recycle) said books, newspapers and magazines is all the more intriguing. I could read the Wall Street Journal for $10 a month - and I wouldn't have to worry about storing each issue someplace until I got around to reading it! Bliss!

Thankfully (or perhaps not), I have until August 1 to fully reflect on this and decide, once and for all, if I would truly use a Kindle. There are definite pros (most of them already mentioned), but some cons, too. I may well be tempted to purchase books that merely interest me but never get around to reading them, for example (though, let's face it - that happens in real life, too). And I wouldn't be able to share my books with anyone unless they had a Kindle, too (because I'm certainly not going to give up mine!).

Just a few things upon which to reflect as I ponder the necessity of this item.

Because I really really really do want one!

I found a loophole in the rules of my Shopping Embargo. I am allowed to purchase embargoed goods as presents for others, provided they are legitimate presents, right? But at no point did I say that I was not allowed to purchase any presents for myself on someone's behalf. This is a loophole that will be closed immediately starting right this moment, because I already went back to Target and purchased a sleek new red Nintendo DS Lite for myself, on behalf of my husband, as an early 2nd anniversary present.

Oh, and I bought one for him, too.

And a carrying case with all the necessary travel gear.

And two games.

So that's it! I am done! No more shopping for myself! This means no gifts, no treats, no nothing!!!

And really, for this transgression, I really ought to push my end date forward a bit to the end of August. But I'll see how I feel at the end of this month. If I promise to be really really really good, I think I might let myself off easy.

But only this once.

Okay, I read Jennifer's post yesterday and ruminated on it, then one of my neighbors decided that she was going to take the plunge, so I've decided, well, it must be possible.

So, I hereby announce my personal shopping embargo.

Clothes shopping has never been a real issue for me. I go through spurts, where I might not buy any clothing for months and months, then suddenly decide to spend a couple hundred dollars in one expedition. At the end of the day, it's really not as bad as it could be. But I definitely have other vices.

Since shopping for clothing is not a major issue (I think the last item I bought for myself was a belt at the beginning of the year... which I seem to have since left behind in the Philippines and will need to replace before the end of the month), I've decided to make up my own rules in my shopping embargo:

1. No purchasing of new or used clothing (excluding underwear - I own enough socks) - PERIOD. This includes accessories and shoes. No new jewelry, no new shoes, no new ANYTHING. (Not even a concert T-shirt.)
2. This embargo is limited only limited to adult clothing, meaning that I will not purchase anything for my husband or me. The baby, on the other hand, still needs to be clothed (nakedness - as much as it becomes him - seems to be frowned upon as we do not live in a nudist colony) and I honestly don't have nearly enough clothes to sustain him for any extended period of time. Toys for the baby are also exempt from this embargo (but they have to specifically be for the baby, and not something like a Nintendo DS, which would really be for me).
3. I am allowed to accept clothing from others, be it borrowed or hand-me-downs. This also means that when my company has Sample Sales (such as the one we are having at the end of the week), I am allowed to acquire whatever goods I choose, as long as I am not required to outlay any funds.
4. Alterations, dry-cleaning, and shoe repairs are musts.
5. No purchasing of new (or used) scrapbooking supplies (excluding adhesives - and only then if I legitimately exhaust all of my supply). This includes paper, ribbon, stickers, etc. Since my magazine subscriptions have already kicked in and do not need renewal until the end of the year, I'm free to continue receiving them. I just can't buy anything new.
6. No purchasing of yarn unless I completely use up my existing supply. And even then, I'm sure mom left more than a few skeins for me to use in a project of my choice.
7. No purchasing of new (or used) books (beginning Monday, February 25, only because there are a couple of books that I want to add to my library), with the exception of work-related books and textbooks (in the event that I either need books for work or choose to return to school before the designated end of my embargo - neither of which is likely, but nothing is impossible).
8. No purchasing of new (or used) kitchen gadgets, appliances, cookware, or tools. I have a lot in my kitchen already. I could probably stand to get rid of some of it.
9. No purchasing of new (or used) electronic hardware or software. Since I've already done my taxes, I won't need to buy Turbo Tax. And since Nintendo Wiis are still hard to come by, this really won't be much of an issue for me.
10. I am allowed to accept any of my embargoed goods as gifts, provided there is no exchange of money for said goods. Additionally, I am allowed to purchase any of these embargoed goods as gifts for others, provided the gifts are for legitimate occasions (i.e., not just because it's pay day) and my primary intention is not to then borrow said goods for my own personal use.

In a nutshell, effective immediately (with the exception of books, which I am postponing until Monday, and a new belt, which I will purchase today), I declare an embargo on all goods except foodstuffs and baby items. How long will this embargo last? Jennifer has proposed a year, but her embargo is strictly on clothing. I challenge myself to maintain this embargo until the beginning of August, which is 6 months. At that time, I will re-evaluate my position and share with you, my blogging public.

Wish me luck!

There is a reason I go to Target on my lunch break. Several reasons, actually, but the primary one is that I have a limited amount of time to spend at the store and will, therefore, not get sucked into the ritual of scouring each sale rack in the infants and toddlers section.

Except that I seemed to have forgotten that rule today, though I still managed to stay on schedule.

Baby C needs new pacifiers. He's had the same three for the past 6 months, and it's definitely time to retire them. Not that they're damaged (I'm very careful about that), just that they're, well, 6 months old. And besides, "they" say you're supposed to switch out pacifiers every few weeks, so I'm going to guess that 26 weeks is long enough.

Anyway, that was the mission: go to Target and get pacifiers. And a pretend remote that Baby C can play with and use as a teething toy (which I couldn't find). And he's outgrown most of his socks, so he needs socks, too. And some sleepers, because he's only got two that fit him now. And some dipper spoons, because he likes to play with his food (and I have a coupon). And some sippy cups with handles to get him used to holding them. I have a coupon for those, too.

And, for good measure (and in my efforts to do something nice for myself every once in a great while), I bought a cute little scarf for myself, too. Not that I need a scarf right now in Florida, but we're going to New York next month and might be going up to Kentucky in December, so, I'll need something to help keep me warm.

So, I survived the trip to Target, aka "New Mom's Mecca". I found some wonderful deals, and Baby C now has some perfectly adorable sleepers, but I'm a little mad at myself for not showing adequate self control while trolling the sale racks. To be fair, there was a lot more that I left behind than I put in my cart.

Of course, most of those were the wrong size, too. :-)

My husband married a planner. I don't know if he realized it at the time (though he might have caught wind of the fact when we were building our house - and I insisted on a space for the baby before we were even engaged, let alone expecting), but he married a planner, researcher, and just all-around nerd. This is just how I am.

So, earlier in the week, I broached the topic of getting a new car to replace his existing one, and told him, based on the car he chooses, I think we would be able to afford it with $X downpayment, which would probably result in a $Z monthly payment. He said he would have to look at his finances but didn't want to make any rash decisions. (Keep in mind, it doesn't sound rash to me because I've already crunched the numbers, but I know when it's best to let him decide on his own.)

Yesterday, he went to the Magic Kingdom for a haircut and to get a better look at "It's a Small World", the theme for our nursery. I elected not to accompany him (it's hard enough to walk around Target, let alone a theme park) and stayed at home designing my son's birth announcement, instead. At some point, while trying to decide which of these two very similar shades of blue matched the adorable plaid (I love plaid) paper I selected, I dozed off. He came home, around one o'clock, with the news I had been dreading.

"My car died," he said, "coming up the hill." (Note: We live in the flat plains of Central Florida, but I did manage to find the one community where we actually drive up a hill-like incline to get to our gate. It's not much of a hill when you consider that I'm from California and he's from Kentucky, but it's a hill nonetheless.)

After asking a few questions (Were you able to restart it? Where is the car now?), I pushed myself out of bed and announced, "Okay, we need to go car shopping, then."

"But I need to paint the nursery," he protested.

"And you need a reliable means of getting to and from work this week," I said, wondering if this was a secret attempt to get out of going to our 3rd Prepared Childbirth class on Tuesday. He relented, and I went online to check inventory levels at various dealerships.

I love the internet, by the way. I don't know how people managed without it.

Since I knew exactly what make and model he wanted, it was just a matter of finding a nearby dealer who had one in stock. Earlier in the week, I found two dealers with the '07 model and one with the '08 model - one of the '07 dealers is in Polk County, though, which has a slightly higher sales tax than Orange County, so I was determined to go to one in Orange County. I needed to check, before we left the house, that they were still in stock - which they were. The caveat? Neither of us really know Orlando all that well, besides those destinations common for us (i.e., amusement parks, work, friends' houses and some downtown restaurants). So, we spent a good hour, I would say, looking for the dealership that had two '07 models in stock and from whence we made our purchase.

But first, we stopped at the dealership that had the '08 model, where we searched with the salesman (Joe - really nice guy) for about a half hour, looking for the car that someone from the Internet Department apparently hid. [sigh] Then we got a little turned around (or, rather, I got a little turned around) and made our way to the other dealership. That's really why it took so long.

Long story short (too late!), we were both home around 8 o'clock with a brand new car for my husband (and my old car for me... for now). The monthly payments ended up being more than I anticipated, but the car cost more than I anticipated, too (he got one with the navigation system). The most important things, though, are that he has a reliable car (that he really likes), and I'm comfortable knowing that Baby C will be safe driving around with his daddy.

And now, since my car is still in good running condition, I've got time to research cars and find one for me. This notion of buying a car because we have to adds so much pressure to an already tense experience - it's far better to shop for a car when you know you can easily walk away.

My family was in town this week, and I was able to spend some of Saturday afternoon chatting with my mother before I needed to take them to the airport. It's amazing what you can learn about yourself by talking to your mom. She provided all sorts of insight into things I had just taken for granted.

Take, for example, my ambivalence towards clothes shopping. It's something I have to do (oddly, people tend to frown upon complete nudity in my area), but I don't particularly have fun doing it. I thought it was because of the shopping excursions I would be forced to endure with my mother and sister (whom, by the way, are both marathon shoppers - together, they are a force to behold), bored out of my mind. But no, as it turns out, up until the age of about 6 or 7, I used to love going shopping.

Really? Me?

The blame for my shift in thinking, apparently, lies at the feet of the designers. Jordache, in particular. See, when I was just starting out in elementary school, Jordache jeans were all the rage. (This should give you an idea of how old I am.) Anyway, the smallest size Jordache made was a size 7. When I was 7 years old (and should have been wearing a size 7), I was still wearing a size  6X. Frustrated that nothing ever fit (even as I got older - I used to be very slight before I got pregnant and hope to one day be again), I gave up on shopping for clothes and found myself content in wearing my sister's hand-me-downs. In fact, I'm still content doing so and am actually frustrated whenever I have to shop on my own.

So, if I don't spend enough money in clothing stores to help boost the consumer spending numbers, it's all because of those early formative years, when nothing was in my size... and very little still is today.

It was just good to know the shopping gene didn't skip me completely.

Except for the fact that there's a very limited selection of baby supply stores here in Central Florida, I would not set foot inside Toys R Us or have any dealings with them. Unfortunately, we don't have the awesome boutique shops that my sister has at her disposal in New York or some of my friends have back home, so Toys R Us has to fill in the gaps left by Target. (I refuse to go to Wal-Mart - that's another whole topic altogether.) In fact, I do as much shopping online as possible to avoid having to go to Toys R Us.

But my mother-in-law is in town and wants to buy us our baby monitor, and I'm not about to refuse. Ever the analyst, I did my homework and decided upon a specific model by Sony (that has 27 channels so it shouldn't pick up too much interference from our hyper-electronic house). And, of course, the Sony website said that Toys R Us was the only local retailer that carries it. [sigh] So, after 10 minutes on hold with Toys R Us, I learn that, yes, they have it in stock. [sigh]

I'm glad I found a place to get it locally, but I just wish it wasn't Toys R Us!