Hello, my name is Christie and I'm an impulse buyer. Yep. There it is. Name it, claim it and then destroy it. That's the name of my game.
My usual Thursday routine consists of dropping off Number One at school and then finding ways to busy myself (er…empty my pockets) in "town" until Number Two spends an hour learning to tendu later in the morning. (Those of you who live in a very small town near a slightly larger town know that the small town you live in is called "the country, the hills, the sticks, the boonies, etc." and the larger town near you with the big fancy Wal Mart and such is simply called "town." Hence, we go to "town.") Normally this chronic impulse pocket emptying process happens at our first and favorite stop of the day. Target. But, since I've been feeling a nudge to name, claim and destroy the impulse buying, I was listening to my inner voice today.
First, my inner voice told me to return the $80 wall hangings I bought during my recent re-arrange of the living room. I loved them, but didn't really need them. They had been an impulse buy and I felt guilty about it. My inner voice also told me to make a list of the items that I truly needed to buy today and to buy nothing more. Ok, that was going to be hard enough but THEN, while we were driving to Tar-zhay my inner voice had the audacity to suggest that I detour over to Wal Mart instead. Ugh! I recently moved from a town where the only option was Wal Mart and friends, when one has spent four years carting three toddlers around Wal Mart one really appreciates the culture and fashion leap forward that is a larger-town Tar-zhay. So, since there was a Wal Mart near the place where I needed to return the wall hangings, I drove there across town.
It was FREEZING and flurrying today, so we all bundled up and literally skated from the car to the store. In true impulse-buyer-destroyer-fashion, I decided not to even get a cart. Yes, I shopped in Wal Mart sans cart. My reasoning? My list had only three items. I should be able to carry them without the help of the cart. If I didn't have a cart, I couldn't put anything in it! So, off we went. I have to say walking around the store without a cart or stroller or some other large wheeled apparatus was a bit freeing! But, it was very hard resisting the impulse buys. There were several items I longed for as I passed by….baskets for the new shelf in the living room, Clif bars (man, those things are good!), tweezers with a light (genius). I even stopped and gazed at the Rug Doctor rental because our recent furniture re-arrange has brought to light some unsightly places in the floor. But no, I persevered. The only major problem with not having a cart was that I forgot I still had two toddlers with me—neither of which wanted to wear or even CARRY their own coats! AND, somehow one of them managed to carry a gigantic bag of 100 balls (yes, literally) around the store but, no, never, I'll scream if you make me, would not carry his own coat. So, there I was holding my three small items and two coats chasing my kids around the store and trying to pry them with the severest of words and mommy serious face out of the toys. I had no hands, you see. But, I am a victor. I did not impulse buy! And, I got $80 back in my pocket for the return next door.
Now, on to the blessing part of this post. A friend had mentioned to me yesterday that she recently went to story hour at Barnes and Noble. I thought that sounded like a great way to pass our Thursday morning time in town and not spend money. So, this morning, before heading out, I looked up the B&N schedule for our local store. Bummer, today was the wrong day for story hour. I checked the other local bookstore, but couldn't find a schedule. So, after the Wal Mart stop and the return, I decided to take the kids over to the other bookstore just for kicks. Would you believe that we arrived exactly at 10am and that it was STORY HOUR DAY??? Not only did the kids get three stories, they also did crafts and had a snack. FREE. J
I'll chalk that up to a Divine blessing and a small "at a girl" for my successful morning.
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