Can You Hear This?

10 for $10. They are lining up in the aisles. What’s 10 for $10? It doesn’t matter. The average American will purchase items that he/she doesn’t need or can’t even use just because it’s a “bargin”.

Despite the fact shopping is one of the great American pastimes (for both men and women), I am still amazed when very normal, rational and, otherwise fiscally responsible people I know will go completely “off their nut” (a truly Southern expression, meaning anything from slightly off to totally crazy) when they see those three little words, “sale, discount, and free”.

I know men with yards no bigger than a postage stamp who will go to Lowe’s and load down their SUV with enough lime and fertilizer for 10 acres because it was half price. I know women who live alone but go to Costco and buy anything from canned tuna to toilet paper in quanties large enough for a family of twelve.

There’s nothing wrong with buying in bulk to save money if you’re really saving, but most folks never look at it from the other perspective. Does it make sense for someone to “warehouse” in their pantry enough Slim Jims for an entire Boy Scout troop? It’s probably not cost effective even though they could host a camp out. Especially if they don’t know a Boy Scout, let alone a whole troop.

I had a Great-Aunt that lived alone and ate like a bird, but would go to Wal-mart and buy a 10 pound block of cheese because it was “on sale”. She was also fond of buying 12 boxes of holiday boxed Whitman’s samplers when they discounted them after the holiday. Then she loved to give them to folks when they came by to visit. Of course, you never knew if the box being given at Christmas with Easter packaging was from the same year or several years back. Until they opened it, that is.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a good sale! My motto when shopping for clothes is “if it’s not on sale— it’s not my size.” But I once had an associate that believed “if it’s on sale buy it, whether it’s my size or not.” I have been shopping with this woman and she could walk up to a sale rack and walk away with anything from a size 6 to a size 12 and buy it. Bless her heart, she wore a size 14. It didn’t matter, if she liked and it was on sale, size didn’t matter. She had so many “returns” in the trunk of her car, I could have gone in it and dressed from head-to-toe for several days. And, that was just the stuff in there in my size.

In the future, as we move from the sale rack to the deep discounted section to the discontinued aisle, we should consider, very carefully, if 1) do I really need it?, 2) is there room for it in the garage?, 3) is it really my size?, and most important 4) does it make my backside look like it needs a banner that says “wide load”? Think about it !