The in's and out's of a 'good deal'

Oh man. I (Katherine) am the worst at this trap! When I see a good deal, I get blind to the invisible costs.

In 2022 we were in the middle of our house swap and I was in desperate need of some ALONE time. My Myers-Briggs says I'm extroverted 53% but I don't think that's accurate. I'm happy to speak in front of large or small groups but please don't make me go to a party and mingle! I digress.

I think thrifting is mental therapy for me. I love perusing the crowded shelves knowing that behind that weird lotion set from the 80's might be a rare treasure that everyone else was just two scared to find because of the aforementioned scary old lotion blocking it.

My mind clears as it gets hyper focused on the things I'm searching through. I no longer am going through my rolodex of worries. "Should my oldest be classed as Kinder or 1st grade this fall?", "How will it effect his social?", "Is my middle child being overlooked? Maybe I should read a book on middle children instead of just watching a comical youtube channel about it". "Should we make the 8 hour trek home over the next holiday weekend or is it just going to add to much stress?".....and so forth.

But when I shop, it's just blissful silence to those tumbling worries. All I care about is finding the needle in the haystack.

So we are on our vacation/house swap in Washington state and I'm thrifting, ALONE. I soon have a buggy full of shoes, books, educational materials, clothes and more shoes. Now, I know in my head that we only have our suitcases with us to take things home, and if I go over that limit of space we have to purchase another check bag, plus an actual bag. All to transport my 'deals' home.

So while I was saving money on these items, I was actually going to minimize the saving by spending to get them home!

I was not being logical. But since I was already not being logical, I decided I should definitely get this pull over fleece for my husband because it was such a great brand...no matter that he already had an almost exact substitute already in his closet.

In the end I put back most of my treasures, despite how much money I'd be saving! Because despite them being 95% off a great product, it was not helpful in our lives.

Don't worry, I still bought two vintage dresses, 6 pairs of shoes, 2 flashcards, 5 cassette tapes and a very large and heavy book. One can only rationalize so much in one day!