Today is a beautiful, sunny and warm day! The warmth is especially effective in punctuating the fact that our only fan recently died after many years of use and several resurrections from it being near dead. 🙂 Just as I was about to head out to the store I glanced at an add for a tower fan for only $19.99. There it is, I thought, I’ll just buy one of those, no, two of those. We have the money, who cares if I’m a little over budget, we need one right now! But, as I drove to the store I thought about my rationale a little bit and realized another two cents tip!
Take your time before you make a purchase! Think it over, shop around, and give your mind the time to process what your need is before you make a purchase. Of course, this is more applicable for bigger purchases, you probably don’t have to moll over whether or not you should buy a bunch of bananas. Although you may need to moll over how many bunches you should buy! I need to think about what style, size, and quantity of fan(s) I need before I just rush into a buying decision.
We used to live far away from stores and when I finally got out I would do a big stock up on everything I *thought* I needed. What I learned from this practice is that I was buying too much because I didn’t give myself the time to evaluate my real needs. I look back at that method and think, “what a waste!”
Putting off a purchase can reap big dividends! A couple of weeks ago, Graeme, Sophia, Elijah, and I went to an Iron Pigs game. Elijah, being one of our hungry little men, begged and begged for food all night long! We got him something and he continued to ask for more food. I put him off for a while and at the top of the 8th inning, I took $3 out of my wallet to buy him one measly soft pretzel stick (ouch!). When we got to the pretzel counter, the cashier said that everything was $1 because the game was almost over. Score! We got three huge boxes of pretzel bites for $3! Elijah was not hungry after that and we all learned a valuable lesson on waiting.
Take your time…tick tock, tick tock…
Katina is wife to Graeme and mom to eight fun-loving kids. Some of Katina’s favorite hobbies are bargain shopping and couponing! She is excited to share good deals, fresh money-saving ideas, budgeting tips, and ways to use what you already have so you can best use your resources to further the gospel of Christ. She believes the first step to a healthy financial life begins with a grateful heart. American Christians are an extremely blessed people!