Sunday, December 28, 2008

No Shopping On Snow Days

On Saturday the high was 34 and snowing all day. On Monday the high is supposed to be 68! It will be beautiful tomorrow and I have to go back to work. This is crazy weather but at least it kept me away from the stores. Bad for the stores, good for my wallet. Everything I see on TV, commercials and news stories, tells me to go shopping and get those GREAT DEALS! Sometimes I feel like I am missing a great opportunity. But then I check my list, the list I keep of things I am looking for if they are a great price. There are only 3 things on my list: a wallet, knit hat, and gel insoles for my shoes. That is all that I want right now. No electronics, no video games, no new clothes. Do I really need to waste my time and money combing through clearance racks? I am sure I would spend a lot more money if I was standing in front of tempting "deals". Next weekend I will get possession of my rental house again and I am sure I will need to buy a few things to spruce it up. It is better that I stay away from the stores now so that I will have money to spend on things I NEED for the house later on. At least, that is my plan.

10 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

60's here today. It was 73 at my mom's house the day after Christmas. Craziness.

I love those gel inserts, but never seem to find a 'deal' on them. My nephew got me a wallet for Christmas. This was his first year to really buy gifts for people - he was very proud.

Daizy said...

I found a deal once with a grocery store closing. They were for high heels but I put them in my sneakers anyway. Better than nothing. I am adding another 'need' to my list...I am about to make my roof antenna meet an un-timely death. It is so frustratng. I 'need' one like yours.

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Well, I am not 100% sold on my antenna, but it is way better than the old rabbit ears. It is all plastic too, so if you mount it on the roof, the sun may bake it pretty quick.

How far are you from the towers?

Here is a site to evaluate how many stations you should get with different kinds of antennas, what direction to aim them, etc,

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

I don't give them my email address. Don't need any more junk/spam.

Daizy said...

Thanks for the site. I am 25-29 miles from the towers. I think I have a multi-directional rooftop antenna. If it is multi-directional it doesn't have to be aimed right? I don't know where the front of it is and when I tried turning it today it didn't seem to help much. Not all of the stations that I am trying to get are in the same antenna color code on that site. I'm still trying to figure out the problem. The connectors seem ok, but still channels come and go. After looking at that site, I don't think buying a different antenna would help.

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Multidirectional don't have to be aimed, but they do supposedly have a sweet spot, so they 'can' be aimed if that makes sense.

Also, if you turn them on their side, they become directional and focus on a band where you aim them. If all your stations are within a tight band (60 degrees or so), that could be a solution worth trying. Mine works much better this way.

Most of the stations I get are within 2 miles, and I still had trouble until I did this. The website should give you the angle from true north as well as the distance.

Good luck.

Sharon S said...

Hi there-very well done on being wise regarding the sales, unless you stick to what you want or need, they really suck you in!!

Daizy said...

Yes Sharon Rose, it was tempting but I resisted!

moocifer said...

I can identify with this post, because I was feeling like I should maybe go out and buy some small clothing essentials, not for immediate use, but for a year from now, because everything seems to be on knock-out sale right now.

However, I decided my sanity and peace were more important, so I didn't go shopping.
(It helps that I don't have my car in running condition at the moment, so any trips have to be me on my bike (not really a problem, but it takes an hour round trip) or a borrowed vehicle. (I am highly resistant to paying $2 round trip for a 10 mile round trip bus ride to the stores--plus I still have to bike 3 miles to get to a bus stop).

Instead, I started going through all of my clothes. I mean, ALL of them. I sorted all of my clothes in storage into their season, shirt or pants, dress or casual.

When I got a peek at the mountain I had built of clothes, most of which I had forgotten about and which are quite nice, I realized I could probably not shop for anything but socks and underwear for at least 5 years and maybe 10!

It helps that over the last 9 months or so I have lost a waist size (maybe two) and some older clothes I had been stubbornly holding onto now fit me again. The bigger waist sizes I can wear as an outer layer in winter, the smaller waist sizes can be for warmer months.

So, so much for needing to go shopping for "next year's clothes!"

moocifer said...

PS another unexpected bennie of staying out of the shops was that while I was straightening my clothes and cleaning up the house, I found 2 lost paychecks!!! I ripped up one of them (from 2007, that's old), thinking it was just a pay stub, before noticing that it felt a little "weird" and unfolding it to see a full paycheck, ripped into 4 bits!

I brought it into work today and they cut me a replacement. I put both of them right into my savings.

Now of course I will stay more organized and keep my life calmer so I will not lose any paychecks for sure!

Daizy said...

Hi bugbear. Cleaning out the closet is indeed eye-opening. I should clean mine out again. I always want more socks and underwear but how many do I really need? I can go 2 weeks without doing laundry, that should be enough and yet I have never had an empty drawer. That must mean I don't wear everything in there. I should put the ones hiding in the back in the rag bag. I too have clothes that I will hopefully fit in to again one day. Congrats on fitting in to them once again, and the layering is a great idea. I think I should accept the fact that mine are too small and move on.

Good thing you found those checks! Cleaning can be rewarding, sometimes in strange ways.