Have you ever felt proud of a deal you got? I did feel proud for a moment, then realized it wasn’t as good of a deal as I originally thought. Since we are on a very tight budget, I’ve started to think about Christmas gifts and I am not typically an early shopper. I was browsing through some local online ads and saw this Little People construction set. They asked $10, I offered $7, they said they would take $8. Enter the pride. Look at me. $8 for a great toy for Silas for Christmas and it wasn’t even October yet. The seller lived about 45 minutes away but agreed to meet halfway. Even better! So here’s how it went and how the deal ended up not being much of a deal at all.
- Agree to meet at 10am.
- Dee reminds me the van needs gas & he needs the gas can filled for the lawn mower.
- Text to say I’m running 15 minutest late.
- Rush out the door.
- Stop at gas station to fill van and gas can.
- Remember I have no cash & I need ones to pay $8.
- Not wanting to be any later, I use the ATM inside the gas station.
- Meet her, get the construction set, pay $8.
- Go home.
It hits me on the way home that I really paid more than $8. Since I had just filled up the van, I had reset the trip mileage. When I was almost home, I looked down and saw I had driven 23 miles for this trip. Hmmm, that’s a little bit more than a gallon. Then I started calculating.
$8 + about $3.35 for a gallon of gas + $2.75 in ATM fees = $14.10
Not really feeling proud anymore of my early Christmas buy. I’m not really dwelling on it, but it was a good lesson learned. I need to consider the distance to drive when I do a local buy and plan ahead so I have cash on hand. I can think of other times when I had a great shopping plan and forgot a coupon, misread an ad, or was too hesitant to ask the cashier the redo a purchase. I am definitely going to be a lot more careful with the rest of my Christmas shopping. Like I said, we are on a tight budget and I literally can’t afford anymore mistakes like this. Either way, I know one sweet little boy who will really enjoy this construction set.
Have you ever done anything like this? Planned, searched around, even gathered coupons, then did something to lessen the deal?
