The things I do for (my) Mister...............................

Mid last week, (my) Mister told me about a book review he had heard on his drive home from work, and ask if there was any room in the budget for a new book. As thrifty as I am with money, there remain two items that I just can't seem to put into the same sentence as the word budget. One is shoes, (No surprise there right?) and the other is books. Can one ever have too many of either?

Just because I don't put a limit on book buying, doesn't mean I don't look for a deal. A day or two after (my) Mister's request I was deleting junk mail, and came across a ten percent discount, for any one book, from a book store in our area. The store used to be closer to my home, but since they moved (a wopping twelve miles or so) farther away I usually just go to the one in the mall. (You guessed it, an entire ten miles closer to my home.) I have very few loyalties when it comes to merchants. (Pretty much Goodwill is it!) I go where I can get the most bang for my buck. So off I headed with my ten percent coupon in hand to fulfill (yet another of) (my) Mister's heart's desires.

I found the book, and headed for the check-out area. As I handed the sales clerk the coupon, she ask me for my member card. I told her I did not have one, and that the coupon said nothing about needing one. She very nicely explained that it said so in the fine print, and I very nicely ask her to please point it out to me. She proceeded to squint up her eyes and scan the fine print, finally saying, "It says here, to scan the member card, and then take off an additional fifteen percent." I pointed out that since the words ten, and swipe member card, were not mentioned together that that could mean I had interperted the fine print correctly. Now I know, that I was stretching things a tad, but two dollars and fifty cents in my vacation fund was worth it. I received my discount, and the story ends happily............. Not just yet!

As I was walking away, I was thinking that the total bill still seemed a little high for what I had purchased. I stopped to review my bill and noted that I had gotten the ten percent off, but not the twenty percent that the big sticker on the front of the book said I was entitled to. I headed back to the counter, to sort things out. Seems someone forgot to remove the stickers from the books after last weeks sale. Sometimes those silly laws that our hard working legislators dream up work in the consumers favor (and not the credit card companies favor.) I could feel my vacation fund bulging as the clerk handed me an additional two dollars and sixty-five cents. I headed home happy as a clam...........

Arriving home, I couldn't wait to share the story (the savings is mine, but I might let him come with me on vacation.) with (my) Mister. After receiving my atta girls from him, I reached into the bag for his book, and NOTHING! Seems in my glee at saving so much off the price, I had gone off and left the book on the counter. Talk about taking the wind out of my sails.

The plan was to drive back to the store for the book the next day, but then (my) Mister had his mishap, so I am not sure when I will get back to pick it up. Lucky for him, I had also got him a clearance book titled HOW TO REFUSE TO MAKE YOURSELF MISERABLE ABOUT ANYTHING. Considering his pain level of the past couple of days, the timing was perfect. (Except for the fact that he doesn't really feel much like reading right now.)

I understand that many of you might think I went to far too much time and trouble for a small savings. Maybe your're right. From my point of view, I have learned that the more I respect and honor the things I have been given in life, the more I receive. This is true for both tangable and intangable things. Part of honoring the money I earn has evolved into being a responsible spender, as well as a giver, with the former supporting the latter.

I, myself, once believed "I don't have time to clip coupons, bargin hunt, and shop around for the best deal." Interestly enough, as I begin to give it a try, the time to complete the tasks somehow became available to me.

As further encouragement, I stopped typing to add up the found money that came into my life in the past seven days. (From coupons, rebates, and change found in the sofa/car/laundry.) The total was twenty-seven dollars. If we multiply this by fifty-two weeks (in a year) the total is one thousand, four hundred and four dollars. One could take a pretty nice vacation with that don'ya think? Add in the average amount of money I make doing respite care, (five to six thousand a year........ Which could also be earned by a second part time job, or selling things one no longer needs.) and there is enough money to take a REALLY nice vacation. This is why to me, there is no such thing as too little savings to be worth the trouble. Finally I can see the big picture, while being willing (and patient enough) to follow all the tiny baby steps on the path towards it. Learning to do so has been very rewarding to me on many levels.