Boy, have we had a lot of snow lately. To a person who lives in the northern part of the United States, I'm sure we seem like wimps. But down here in Jackson, TN, we're just not equipped to handle the snow. If we got this much snow every year, the city might just buy several snow plows, and our streets wouldn't be impassable 4 days after the snowfall. But we don't have snow plows. So we find ourselves stuck at home. For days on end. Don't get me wrong.....I am a home-body. I like to be at home. But I don't like to be stuck at home.
I guess it's the psychological difference of being somewhere because you want to be versus the perception of not being able to leave. When I feel like I'm stuck at home, all I want to do is get out. And where might I go? To someone else's house to visit them? No thanks. I want to go to a public place, and I'm not talking about the library. There's something about being stuck at home that makes me want to go shopping!!!
I guess retail therapy is a real means of soothing oneself. Or is it? I have to admit, when I was younger and much worse at managing money, I used retail therapy for whatever ailed me. Bad day at work? Go shopping. Weekend with no plans? Go shopping. And I almost always had buyers remorse after an outing like that. It was awful. I spent more money than I should have on useless junk that I'm now trying to find a way to get rid of. I know I have several options - I'm contemplating them. Anyway, I guess all those years of going shopping out of boredom became somewhat of a habit. And not a very healthy one, at that.
It's a good thing I realized all of this before I just walked out the door with my billfold in hand. I knew that I was itching to go shopping, but that I don't need to mindlessly buy things I don't need or can't afford. So I decided where I was going to go and pulled up the sales ad online. It was Walgreens, by the way. I could have picked a much more inappropriate place to go, where I would only have the option of buying clothes - my favorite!! But I was trying really hard to meet myself in the middle, if you will. So I found some items that were a fantastic deal, and I searched for coupons, which made them an even more fantastic deal. I had my list in hand so I knew what I was planning on buying. I let myself wander around the store for a little while to kill some time outside the house and feel like I'de been out and about for longer than it would have taken to run in and get 4 things. And it worked!! I came home with a few very low-priced items, some Register Rewards in hand, and a relief that can only come from getting reprieve from that which is haunting a person.
Sometimes the things that challenge us take us a little bit by surprise. I know that, for me, these snow storms have.
Friday, February 12, 2010
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Sounds like fun to me!
ReplyDeleteWith the Friends and Family coupons at Walgreens today, did it apply to total purchase? And is it not connected to an item count (unlike register rewards)? If I am using Wags coupons and Mfg coupons stacked on every item I'm buying, will I have to throw in a stick of gum to get my F&F coupon to work today? Does that make sense? I've had some fantastic deals at Walgreens and will keep learning and shopping there but it still feels like doing graduate-level problem solving skills to maximize savings there.
Yes, the F&F coupon today applies to every eligible item that you purchase. I think they put in a code at the beginning (I think it's basically the same as the employee discount) and it takes 15% off each item. The items that aren't eligible are listed on the coupon and I listed them on the other Walgreens F&F Day post. I do not believe you will not have to throw in any other filler items. I think that they only count manufacturer's coupons in that rule (Register Rewards are counted as manufacturer's coupons, though).
ReplyDeleteI agree about the problem solving skills there. I have to admit that I'm not the most organized person, so doing more than one transaction is ALWAYS a challenge for me!! :)