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I stink at not shopping

By Meg | January 12, 2008

So, my husband and I keep saying that we can’t spend any more until his next pay check. And today, I was hoping to not go shopping at all. Sounds easy, right?

Well here’s how we still spent over $400.

We got some new dishes recently and are planning to give away our old set, including some canisters that haven’t been very practical for us. So, I’ve been looking online for a set of canisters that would be nice enough to display, but large enough to hold bags of flour and sugar. I’ve also been looking for some smaller canisters to hold dry goods in the cabinets. And no, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money.

Well, today my husband’s bulk order of green tea arrived and we thought that it would be nice if we could put it into an airtight canister. So, we decided that we might as well go see if there was something suitable at Big Lots for cheap.

Nope.

But there was a going out of business sale at the furniture store next door. So, we checked it out since we’ve been looking for new furniture.

We actually had a coffee table and end tables picked out online and were planning to buy the coffee table next month. I had done my research, found the best price advertised online, then took advantage of a “best price guarantee” to get an even better price elsewhere. They were all wood but unfinished. They didn’t have quite as much as storage as I would have liked, but they had a nice clean design.

But it was worth checking the furniture sale since you never know what sort of bargains who can find when they say “everything must go”.

Well, the sale sucked!!! The online furniture was much better priced.

And remember, we still didn’t have those canisters we went out to find. So, we went to Target.

At Target, we weren’t impressed by the canisters. Mostly, they were too small. Some were ugly. Some were poorly made. Some were hard to open and close. But a few aisles down was… you guessed it… furniture.

And there we saw it: a coffee table just like we wanted, plenty of storage, nice and tall, clean lines, beautiful color, and on sale!!! In fact, it was cheaper than the table I had found online. And so were the end tables, and the matching entertainment stand — all on sale, too! (Yes, that’s the one to the left there.)

In fact, the coffee and end tables were a total of about $150 cheaper than the online set, enough to pay for the entertainment stand with a little left over.

So, we decided to go ahead and get them.

“Would you like to save 10% by applying for a Target credit card?”

Sure. It was worth the nearly $50 in savings, especially since we do have the money available to pay it off as soon as I get the statement.

In summary, I went shopping after I told myself I wouldn’t. I spent $400 on furniture when I went to find some canisters — which I still don’t have.

However, I love our new furniture and we have been planning to by new furniture for months, if not years. And in the long run, we definitely saved a lot of money.

I really need to stop doing this, though.

Tags: Home & Garden, Priorities, Saving Money, Spending Money

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