Friday, December 7, 2012

That went well

When I take a day to go shopping (other than grocery shopping) by myself, I spend more time debating and deciding than I do actually putting items in my cart. The conversation in my head goes something like this:
Me: WOW, 40% off on these cute little [tags/ribbons/beads/fill-in-the-craft-item-of-your-choice]! Wonder if I can live without them?
Me: Yeah, I probably can.
Me: But 40% off? That makes them practically FREE!
Me: I'll figure out something to do with them.
Me: But do I have room in the craft closet to store more [tags/ribbons/beads/fill-in-the-craft-item-of-your-choice]?
Me: Well, I could consolidate the paper stash and I think there's an empty bin taking up a lot of space on that shelving unit and, and, and …
And then I toss it in the cart, pay for it, bring it home, put it away and forget about it. Or I don't. Depending on how the debate with myself went.

When my husband and I take a day together to shop, we're a little more, um, streamlined.

It didn't help at all (or maybe it did, depending upon which of our perspectives you're looking from) that I lost my shopping list somewhere in the bookstore. OUR FIRST STOP.

As God is my witness, I will never take a paper list shopping with me again! That's what the Listonic app is for, and it works quite well, thankyouverymuch.

Three stores and lunch, and four hours later we were heading home. Seriously! The man is NOT a shopper. You go in the front door, ask someone where the remote-control cars for four-year-olds are, pick the one (or, in our case, the three) you want and head for a check-out line.

We'll definitely do it again. (Next year. Heh.) We had a good day together, and he was able to keep his sense of humor about crowded stores, traffic and my anguish at losing the list. He actually did better than I did. City traffic makes me crazy after all these years.

And since I did find some craft supplies I can actually USE to make GIFTS for THIS CHRISTMAS, well … it's time for me to get to work play.

If you're going to make glass magnets, be sure to use fabric,
magazine images or scrapbooking paper for the designs.
Ink-jet printed images don't work. Ask me how I know.

2 comments:

Vickie said...

I am with your husband and I would add that I go in the day before the sale starts when the selections are good and no one else is there.

I did much of my shopping on line this year and the shipping has been very quick.

I had a huge problem with the trinket sale stuff. HUGE problem.

My most memorable buy was dozenS of Christmas mugs one year. The price was too good to pass. I gave them to teachers, used them at home, there are still lots around here and it sort of pains me each time I see them (the kids love them or I would get rid of them, when they start moving out for good, not just college moving, those mugs are going with them).

I think 'the too good to pass up' thinking was very closely tied into the thinking that got me fat and kept me fat.

It was like I was wasting it if I didn't buy it because it was such a good deal. So, I suppose I was eating the same way.

I cleaned out BIG TIME as part of my weight loss process. Quilting supplies (I stopped quilting because no one needs more quilts than I already have and because I was seriously over spending and I ate while I quilted) were a major purge.

I had two or three quilting garage sales and then donated what was left to local quilt guild.

I can't even begin to describe how much money I had spent on this stuff over the years. And in a way I was spending money which was then making me fat and keeping me fat.

Good post. Glad you had a good day.

Debbi said...

Interesting analysis, Vickie. One thing that has helped is that I don't get out much to shop any more, so I'm not spending money "collecting" supplies. However, I'm not using them up much, either. As for my weight, well, I'm getting ready to post about that. Again. Don't quite have all my thoughts together about it.

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