Window Shopper

For the last several months, gas prices have been soaring and going higher. They have been a serious problem for the economy of the county and for our pocketbooks personally as well. And now, for the first time this year, they appear to be falling. Our trip to Missouri the other day brought us to the gas station, Murphy Oil, in West Plains, Mo. The price there was $3.51 which is lower than I have seen it in ages.

What does this say to us about the price of gas this winter? Not sure but I am betting this drop in price will not last. However, while it is here we should take full advantage of it. Fill up as much as you are able. We did. The unfortunate part of that is that we used just enough gas to get there and when we filled up, it was just enough gas to get back. Growl. Had I known the price before we left, we would not have filled up at our regular station in Arkansas.

Still, the prices are down now and perhaps that will start to reflect in some goods and food prices at the stores. Let us hope that it will bring some of those soaring prices down. I do know that it took a while for the goods prices to go up. Hopefully, this will bring them down sooner. We can always hope, right?

With all the prices rising faster than you can catch a paycheck, shopping is becoming a nightmare. I am willing to bet that you have the same problem. You walk into the same store you visited a few days ago. The prices on several of those “have to have” items are now higher, blowing any shot of you keeping to your budget this month. I had that same problem just a few days ago. The worst part is that those were the items that had not changed prices in many months.

The truth is that most of the rules about shopping are going out the window. Price hikes are frequent and sometimes debilitating to the budget. Regardless of what you previously knew about shopping, it is now time to click into survival mode. Most of the time your budget will be trashed until you can get a handle on all this. It worked that way with us and we were practically doing all that anyway. Those little extras have to wait or have to go bye bye.

The reality is that you have to save where you can, pinch the pennies just as hard as they can be pinched, get the best deals in the closest places to save gas. For years, we have gone 50 miles north to a store that had much better prices for the things we bought. In fact, they have a number of items we cannot get anywhere else. If we can still afford it, we will still go there. It will be a stretch. I do not intend to give that up easily. If you have such a store, calculate the cost of the gas into your budget and decide if it costs too much to do that. If so, then you will have to find a good store closer to your home. We do not have that option at this time. We are hopeful that the company will build one of their stores near us.

We have found that it is very important to limit trips anywhere. We now do all of our shopping along with doctor trips, visits to family and so on. I know that some people didn’t see the need for that before. Since we live in a rural area, everything is a long way away, several miles in fact. We stay at home a whole lot now, only venturing out when necessary. Yes, shopping is turning into a nightmare but you and I can survive if we simply do those things that will compact everything into a few trips instead of a trip at a time. That saves gas too.

Did you ever just take a minute and look at those people getting to the checkout at a busy store? I have. Some look okay. They have nowhere to go and all day to get there. Not bad. There are those who look like the sky is falling if they do not get out of there RIGHT NOW! Then some people look like they forgot everything on their lists. Of course, there are people who look like they swallowed an entire lemon. Those are the ones that are worth watching. The first thing I think is that they need a colon cleanser. Stopped up, are ya bud?

The worst case scenario has the harried mom and a few kids in a long line. The kids are finding new treasures everywhere. While the one kid asks if he can have something off that shelf, the other two are grabbing several things from the next shelf. Beware the kid with octopus arms! The poor mom ends up buying six things she didn’t want because she was unloading the cart while the juniors were loading it up again.

My husband and I have prepared ourselves for the possibility that at some point we would not have as much money as we did for income. That time has come, well actually did come last year. But we have been shopping frugally for some time now. That’s got to be a plus for any family. We find the best buys in the best places. And yes, sometimes it costs a bit of gas. But if you weigh out what the gas cost is compared to the savings, well, it is good sometimes.

Our habit is to, once a month, go over 50 miles to a store that has a whole lot of savings. The problem now is…is it costing us more to go there. See, we buy for my Mom too and then deliver the groceries to her house which is 18 miles farther than our house. Do we get the savings we need? I don’t know anymore. It was when we started all this a few years ago but I am not certain of that now. Still, that store has things we cannot get around here. That’s a plus too but is it worth it?

That would be the question you have to ask yourself now that the gas prices are sky high and not likely to drop…ever. Oh, it will drop a bit sometime this fall, I’m sure. Possibly it will drop some for this winter. However, if history repeats itself, and it usually does, then we can expect higher and higher gas prices. So, how do we protect ourselves? We still buy smart. We still buy with the savings in mind. The list of supplies may change. It might have to. Ours did some years ago because we felt that we could not afford to buy the name brand items anymore. It was a good thing we did that. It was so worth it to learn how to shop cheaply then because it serves us well now. So, get ready to shop but shop efficiently and intelligently. Grab the energy pills and get out there because you’re going to need them by the time you get finished.

1) Stick to the store or generic brands as much as possible. Most of them are made by the same companies or “look alike” companies that want the brand to appear to come from a national brand. It sells better that way.

2) Despite the gas prices, go to more than one store and get the loss leaders if that’s part of your list. If not, leave it alone. Don’t buy just because it’s cheap. Are you ever going to use it? Don’t convince yourself that you will use it if you never have before. Buying on the spot just because you see something interesting is how the grocery bill goes up, up, up. Ask me how I know.

3) Now more than ever, do NOT go to the store hungry. It’s death to the bill at the register.

4) Make that list. Stick to it as much as you possibly can. Use the newspaper ads. Part of the list should include the sale items you need for the week or month. Don’t go to the store and “shop” without it.

5) When you go out, make your trip count. Go to all the places you want to shop in the one day. We go to two to three stores and usually the pharmacy. If we have a doctor’s appointment, it’s a shopping day too. Plan ahead. Don’t just go driving if you want your gas tank to stay nice and filled.

6) Do the best you can to find discount stores. They do not always have the best prices but they sometimes have some fantastic deals. Of course, that depends on today’s prices what anyone could now call a “fantastic deal”. But they are still out there.

The most important thing to remember is to plan and save. When you take several trips to buy small items, you use the precious gas that costs so much money right now. Combining it all into one trip saves a lot of gas dollars. Isn’t it about time to save that money and gas for other things?

Where we live, a trip to Walmart could actually be the high point of the week although, frankly, I hope not. And as the old joke goes, if we find ourselves at Wally it must be Monday. Actually, as you know, it’s Wednesday, meaning we took an extra trip this week.

You know, I would love to take the time to go to a nice jewelry shop and at least look at some real luxury watches because I really believe that they would look terrific on my wrist. However, at Wally, we picked up a band so that it will fit my wrist better and got a battery for the one I own now. Of course, it was a gift from my Mom so there is no way I would give that up. But I can look, can’t I?

I was thinking about all those times when we bought batteries and more batteries. You know, I think we spent a lot of money on batteries for the longest time until we finally decided that although the rechargeable batteries are a lot more expensive to start with than those that are always on sale at or near the cash register they were going to save us money in the end.

How? Well, for one thing, they are rechargeable. Guess you didn’t see that coming? Of course, they do expire some day but while you have them, they sure do a lot more than the usual batteries that I have had experiences with. For instance, I used to work at a place where the best way to entertain yourself while you work (it was sort of mindless stuff), you could bring your own music with you. I had a tape player with earphones. It took four batteries that ran out about half way into the day. I could not use those batteries for very long. That got tiring quickly, I can tell you. When I discovered rechargeable batteries, I was really happy. My husband took his tape player to work as well. Those batteries simply needed to be changed out with the others that he had run out that day. Yes!!!

Have you looked out in the stratosphere and checked out the after Christmas sales? I have to admit that I am a tad ignorant about it but from what I have seen, there really are not that many, at least in our area. Of course, we live in outer nowhere at all, so it’s probably just where we live.

Frankly, I am getting a bit tired of the things we miss because of where we live. It is a trade off for us. We get the more tranquil rural setting but we do not get great educational systems. We have the big Wally but the other store in the area is pretty lame too. Yes, Wally is really lame where we live. Talk about preferential treatment. We do not get it here. For instance, if you like some new product, don’t expect to see it for long. BAH!!

So, are there any really good sales going on anywhere? I would love to know about them. If there are, are they online? What’s the url? Yes, I am nosy. LOL!

First of all, we are gearing up for the New Year as we speak. We needed to make a plan about what we were going to write off “The List” and what we could do without for a while. Not easy stuff here. The List is very important. It gives us a goal or several goals actually. And those goals need to be met by certain times. Not all things on The List are like that but most are.

What am I talking about? Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Then, we must get started on this things on The List which includes such things as buying a new car, a new house, laptops for us to make blogging easier to do, a tank of propane that MUST be ordered in January, a new microwave, television set. Actually, The List is larger than that but these are the most pressing things, at least some of them.

Now, as to what we will do first…that’s Phase 1 which includes the previously noted tank of propane. That has to be on top of The List because we will be running low by sometime in January. And these days, it costs a lot of money to fill such a tank. For instance, our last bill to fill it (a 250 gal. tank) was almost $300. That was when it was at about 30%. What that means is that we still had 30% of the tank full. When we buy it again, it’s going to probably cost a bunch more than that.

Phase 2 will include the taxes we have to pay, at least one of the laptops and, hopefully, a microwave. The television and several other items will be in Phase 3. The above list does not include the medical bills we still have to pay but those are not included in this plan but in the one that has me paying those bills a bit at a time each month. It also does not include the furniture we need as much as we need an assortment of other things but that will be probably in Phase 4. By the time we finish The List, if we ever do, we will have a new one to take it’s place. Isn’t life grand!!!

I confess, we have ratty chairs and the couch has gone “boing” at least a few times. That was not pleasant. Yet, we have that really lived in look in our livingroom. I know. It sounds more like a trailer park. But no, we live in an actual house with an actual foundation. What we really need is more modern furniture. Not likely to happen these days, of course. Why? The Google mess, of course.

See, Google slammed those of us who like to earn money at home working on our computers. So, now my income has dropped and we no longer can think about new furniture. Sigh. Some day soon, we will rise up again, sort of like the machines in the three Terminator movies. ROFL!!

Are you in the after Christmas blues? Maybe you got some stuff that simply is not going to work, no matter what you do. Hey, I heard about this woman who got a DVD player for Christmas. The tray wouldn’t come out. What do you do with that?? You take it back.

If Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) wasn’t good enough, now we have the day after Christmas when the stores reopen and the reverse rush begins. Sigh. Isn’t getting a tad ridiculous here? First, you have the after Thanksgiving sales. Those take care of the people who are willing to do their shopping early enough to actually get the items on their lists. Next, you have the middle shoppers. These are the ones that shop all December, getting the best deals they can find but the real sales do not start until closer to Christmas.

The next set of sales comes during the last few days before Christmas. This is the time that you really cannot find the one thing you really, truly wanted to give a person because you waited entirely too long. However, they have excellent sales on things like big screen televisions and you could get that instead. Your spouse is likely to never speak to you again but, what the heck, it’s Christmas.

The last day before Christmas is the worst. That’s when there is little that you actually wanted left in stock. However, you find quite a few sales and a number of people you know that are as ridiculous as you are..waiting to to the last minute.

Then Christmas day happens. All the paper is stacked up to be burned or picked up by the garbage guys. The presents are all opened, some to be played with until they break, some to be used sparingly because you really didn’t want it but you won’t hurt the person’s feelings. Then there are the ones that you just know you have to return at first light on the day after…after what? After Christmas, of course.

The day dawns bright and clear and you are ready to go at 8AM. You get to the store and there’s a mob scene. Everybody has something in their hands that they simply cannot use or do not want. Some of it is broken, some not the right style or size, some is just not you…like the lamp from the movie..The Christmas Story…you know, the one with the lamp shaped like a lady’s leg.

The doors open and it’s a stampede to the customer service desk. The line is already so long it’s going to take the better part of the morning to get to you. The item you brought is a DVD that is not working. You have no receipt, nothing to show it was bought here. The store clerk looks at it and wants to know what’s wrong with it. You tell her that it does not work. She scans it and…. nothing. Are you kidding me? Nope. This item does not come from this store. You groan and think of the hours you have wasted already, standing in a line you did not even need to be in for this item.

Outside, you call the person who gave the DVD to you. They claim they did not give that particular movie to you at all. They have no idea who gave it to you. This is not working well. Is this a nightmare or what???? Actually, yes. Time to wake up! There. Now wasn’t your day better than that? I thought so.