Water, Water Everywhere

Yes, I can think of a few instances in which a person might need/want to buy a bottle of drinking water. For one, the regulations in place at airports means you can no longer bring a thermos of water with you when traveling.  However, for everyday use there seems to be no logical reason to be buying those bottles of water. 

Here in NYC we have highly ranked and rated tap water.  In fact it's so highly rated that a smart young man began bottling and selling NYC tap water a few years ago, and yes, it sells well.  http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/25/nation/na-tapwater25

NYC residents are already paying for that water through water and sewer taxes, so why not take advantage of what is being paid for?  Even an expensive thermos or specialized "water bottle" pays for itself within a few weeks, and then it's yours for decades of use.  Like your water icy cold?  Err, anyone reading this who doesn't have a refridgerator available?  Spend another couple of dollars for a 1/2 gallon or gallon container, fill with tap water and keep in the fridge--instant cold water to fill the thermos with.

I've heard many people say that it is a pain to have to shlep that thermos around, and that it is more convenient to just buy a bottle and throw out the bottle after it's empty.  After all, we're only talking about pennies here.  Sigh.  As if pennies don't add up to dollars, lots of dollars, rather quickly.

Let's say you are a commuter who doesn't carry bottles with you, but you do buy a bottle at a convenience store on the way to the office.  On average that is going to be $1 per bottle you buy.  Five days a week of work, and you are spending $5 a week for those bottles.  Drink more and you are obviously going to be spending more.  The vending machine at school sells the small bottles of water for "only" 75 cents each.  Again, you do the math.  This could amount to $260 per year, per drinker.

Even if you buy those bottles in the 24-packs on sale you are not likely to be getting them for less than $3-4  per pack.  You might be averaging about 15-20 cents per bottle.  And check the amount in those bottles--a whole lot of bottlers are putting in less than 8 ounces to a bottle.  So now you are only going to be spending 30 to 40 cents per day for those two bottles of water.  But hold on, that's 30-40 cents per person who takes water with them in your household.  Let there be only 3 people who take that water and you are now spending 90 to $1.20 per day for that water.  Carry this out to a yearly expense and what you have is about $300  per year, if not more.  If you have more water drinkers or drink more water the cost obviously goes up.

Given the cost, a thermos or water bottle would pay for itself in from 2-4 weeks.  Why not decide that this is the year that you aren't going to "water down" your available spending money and are going to start putting that money back into your pocket.  Just another example where the pennies add up to serious dollars.

Note: if you buy those water bottles in a supermarket, check your register tape.  Those cases of water that are on sale at 4 for $12?  Sorry, but that isn't the final cost.  Check the tape and you will see that you are also being charged 5 cents per bottle for the State bottle deposit charge.  At 24 bottles per case, that's an additional $1.20 you are being charged per case.  And if you throw away those bottles instead of recycling them yourself, that's $1.20 you are willfully and knowingly throwing in the garbage.

Yes, the Pennies Count

The saying used to be "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."  Today a lot of people pooh pooh this saying.  After all, what today can you possibly buy for a penny.  It's the dollars that are far more important.

Well no.  It still takes 100 pennies to make up one of those dollars, and I have yet to hear of a merchant who will sell you an item costing $1.19 for only $1 because you don't have those 19 pennies.  But the saying alludes to more than just pennies and dollars--it's telling us that you need to watch small expenses and savings just as much as you do larger ones.

And related to this is the idea that saving even a little bit can add up in the end to larger savings.  Saving 60 cents on a can of tuna may not sound like much, but saving $6 on 10 cans of tuna is not small change.  Okay, so maybe you don't need the ten cans of tuna.  But what if, through reading the circulars and clipping coupons, you saved about 25 cents on each of 13 items--$4.25 is dollar savings.  Multiply that by 4 weeks to the month and you've saved $17 that month.

What brought on this posting?  I passed along some information I received about senior citizen discounts.  Please keep in mind that for retailers, senior citizens may begin at 50+ and go up to 65+.  A number of stores and service/product providers will offer these discounts, the key being that you have to ask for them.  Some providers will limit the discount to certain days of the week--Pathmark supermarkets offer a 5% senior discount on Tuesdays, and you must bring in the coupon that is printed in those circulars that are delivered to your home.

Someone responded to my email by basically saying big deal, they're willing to give you a paltry 5%? What's the big difference if you pay $100 for something or $95 with the discount?  It's this type of attitude that fuels a lot of the budgetting/financial problems you hear about today. 

What's the big deal with "only" saving 5%?  We were away this month.  Thanks to the discounts available, our air tickets and rental car were  $63 cheaper.  The groceries we bought while away were $17 dollars cheaper due to the discount plus an additional $34.30 in sales/coupons savings.  Our movie/show tickets while on vacation gave us a savings of $39 dollars.   One of our restaurant meals was $10 cheaper thanks to a weekly coupon.  Yes, "only" a 5% discount, but it all added up.  We saved $163, and that's an awful lot of pennies added up.

If you don't know if a retailer offers any kind of discount, ask!  What have you got to lose?  And look at what you just might gain.  Don't know about you, but I can think of a lot of things that $5 would pay for.  Actually, I can think of a lot of things that even $1 could pay for.  Besides, it's my $1, and why should I spend it if I don't have to?

School Supplies Anyone?

Must be my week for posting about retailers.  I had an $8 coupon for Staples that was expiring tomorrow so I decided to go there yesterday.  As I walked into the store I was greeted by huge signs hung across all the ends of the rows, with displays underneath them.  What did those signs say?  SCHOOL SUPPLIES HERE.

I admit I was really puzzled by these signs.  As both a parent who once had children attending school and as an educator, I am fully aware that schools--public and private--ended about a week ago.  I'm also aware that schools won't be starting again until Labor Day--September.  I also remember that, even though I like to shop ahead, I didn't buy school supplies more than two months in advance. So what was the purpose of advertising and pushing those supplies right now?

This puzzled me as I was going down the aisles of the store and the only possible reason I could come up with at first was that this must be aimed at those going to summer school.  Further thought brought to mind that this couldn't be the answer.  There simply aren't enough students in summer school to warrant such a large campaign.  In addition, I have never, ever seen any store advertise school supplies for summer school, so why would they be starting this now?

I got busy with other things so I put my questions about this out of mind.  Last night though I started wondering about it again.  And then I think I may have found one possible answer--getting a jump on the competitors.

Lots of places besides stationary supply stores that sell school supplies.  Usually those sales start occuring at the beginning of August.  Many parents take advantage of the fact that these multiple retailers all offer sales on different items, and they go from store to store taking advantage of the sales.  Staples does not have the reputation of being a lowest-prices-in-town retailer, and it gets plenty of competition from other retailers.  Or at least it does when all retailers are pushing school supplies.  Right now Staples is the only one in our area who is actually advertising school supplies and has the full range of those supplies. 

So, the question is, will parents start buying supplies now?  Will Staples' jump on the competition work?  Maybe yes and maybe no.  For those who comparison shop, it might not work.  For those who have become accustomed to shopping way in advance (keep in mind that many retailers now start advertising the fall and winter holidays immediately after Labor Day) it might.

As for me (and I imagine for many other parents out there) I am not going to think about school until waaaay later in the summer, no matter what a retailer might be doing now.  Getting ready for school is not on my to-do list for right now.  For me this is akin to a Jewish bookstore's pushing supplies for Sukkot in June.  Thanks, but no thanks.

Another Reason for Wanting to Ban the Internet

Let me begin this by saying that yes, there is pornography available on the Internet.  I have no problem whatsoever with parents being educated about filters that would prevent their children (or adult males) from getting to this stuff.  However yesterday I became acquainted with another reason that many frum Jews would like to ban the Internet.


In a word--shopping.  I accidentally found myself on the periphery of a conversation which involved a few people who have shops selling merchandise geared for a frum population.  What came up more than once in the conversation was that the Internet is bad for these frum-focused businesses because it would draw customers away from the stores, making parnoseh much more difficult.  I got drawn into the conversation when one of the store owners pointed to me and the clothing I was wearing.  She said to me "I bet you didn't buy that in one of the frum stores here in Brooklyn.  I've never seen that particular style skirt in any of them.  Did you buy it from a regular store?"  Honesty required that I answer truthfully--"No, I bought it on the Internet."  She smiled triumphantly.  "Why would you do that when you know that frum clothing store owners rely on the frum olam to buy from them or they wouldn't have any customers."


Now things got really sticky.  How to put what I was going to say without causing a ruckus.  I tried a neutral approach first.  "As you say, you don't carry this style of skirt and that is what I was looking for and what looks good on me."  She didn't seem to be buying that so I tried something else.  "You also don't carry all the colors in clothing that I like to wear."  She asked me what colors I was talking about.  I basically answered "all the colors of the rainbow and there is no black in a rainbow."  I got "not all colors are tsniusdik" muttered under her breath.  She wouldn't leave it alone so blunt honesty got trotted out.  "Frankly, I don't like being rooked when I'm shopping.  I won't pay X amount of money when I know that I can get an item waaaaay cheaper by shopping elsewhere, such as on the Internet.  And I don't like cheap, flimsy material.  I don't want items that are going to shrink the first time they are washed, cold water or not.  And I particularly don't like being told that the frum olam HAS to support frum businesses so the owners can make parnoseh , particularly when those businesses are going to cost me money and are not offering the quality I'm looking for." 

I walked away from the conversation seeing that WW VII was going to break out.  And yes, I'll stick by my guns on this one.  If you are going to be a retailer then you need to understand that competition will be out there, whatever form it takes.  Yes, all other things being equal, I would support a frum store owner.  But it's those "other things being equal" that is the deal maker or breaker. 

Comparison shopping is a blessing for consumers, especially when it has become physically lots easier to do so, thanks to the wonders of the Internet.  This week alone, on items we needed to buy for the house and comparison shopped for, I saved $479.35  I'll bet you could all find some good uses for a sum like that.

Ban the Internet?  Not in my house.

Consistency? Not!

The mayor of NYC is determined to get obesity under control  To that end, he has put into effect a rule that will become official next year that no public venue can sell a sugared drink above 16 ounces in size--no more giant cups will be allowed.  The law will cover restaurants, sports arenas, and street vendors initially.  Talk is that he also would like to ban groceries from selling sugared drinks above that size--good luck to him if he thinks he can take on the drinks industry.  "Diet" drinks would not be covered under the ban.

Why do I find this so ironic?  Today is National Doughnut Day in the US.  Early morning news reports showed people lined up twelve deep at places that sell doughnuts, all eager to participate in this national "commemoration."  Lots of buyers getting lots of doughnuts so they can extend this holiday over the weekend.  Want to bet that plenty of the City offices will have doughnut celebrants chomping on a doughnut or two?  Wouldn't surprise me if Hiz Honor was also a doughnut aficionado today.

Perhaps it's time to get obesity control out of the hands of the politicians and into the hands of those with more knowledge and better ideas about how to prevent and reduce and control obesity.

The Irony of It All

The Asifa that was held yesterday is really a study in irony.  It is being reported that 50,000 people attended the asifa, both in person and remotely.  Purveyors from here and from Israel were present to sell their wares--kosher phones and Internet filters.  Those who spoke made it clear that such filters and phones HAD to be used if you are using a cellphone or the Internet and that attendees and listeners had better buy them. 

So what is the irony?  Had the Internet not existed, the Asifa would not have been possible.  Short of certain parades many years ago, the Asifa is being touted as the largest gathering ever of Jews in one place in the NY area.  Did they gather together to address any of the truly pressing issues that Klal faces, issues like yeshiva tuition and the fact that Klal is beggaring itself through its insistence that young men not work but sit and learn forever instead?  Nope, they gathered because a "truly evil" force is in our midst.  They would much rather have banned Internet usage altogether--and there are many rabbonim who do just that--but they used that old axiom "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

Ironic that those who could not attend in person could do so through their cellphones and through the Internet.  And let's not forget the money made yesterday.  Those purveyors had a captive audience, and they bought and bought and bought.  I'm not sure how much mind expanding was done yesterday, but some people's pockets were stretched wide as the money poured into them.

If the Internet did not exist, what issue of importance would have possibly brought together this many people?  The answer is no issue would have brought them together like this.  It would seem that no other issue could get so many rabbonim and their followers to come together in one place and in seeming unity, rabbonim and followers who otherwise "don't play nicely together" and would rather chew nails than have anything to do with each other.  And yes, that is ironic. 

Yet Another Shortage

Today it was reported that the two countries in Asia which are the world's suppliers of vanilla pods have had a severe reduction in the crop.  They cannot afford to absorb any losses, so prices for basic product are going to go up.  What this means is that products which contain vanilla are going to cost more, and vanilla will be scarcer in our stores and markets.  There is an estimate that vanilla ice cream, for instance, may see price hikes of 10 to 20 percent.  You can also expect to see those price hikes in commercial bakery goods and in the manufactured baked goods sold in stores--cookies, snack foods etc..  You will also see it in the vanilla available for sale for baking/cooking purposes.  Vanilla is also used as a flavor enhancer in many products where we may not be aware that there is any vanilla, products like ready-made drinks and sodas, cake mixes etc..

Oh joy, yet something else that is going to cost more.

Airline Math--You Didn't Learn it this way in School

My hubby had to fly to Florida for two days. A non-stop flight on United was due to depart at 9:15 am and arrive in Miami at 12:46 pm. The cost for that ticket, from NY to Miami, was $500 for a non-stop economy class ticket. United's math had us puzzled. Since when does it take 3-1/2 hours to fly non-stop from NY to Miami? It only takes 4-1/2 to 5 hours to Las Vegas, and it's over twice the distance. And then there was that cost for the ticket. Actually, that was on the "cheap" end for United, as they also had plain economy class tickets for $584 and way up. (Keep in mind that hubby had to fly on a certain date and return on a certain date, because, yes, you can sometimes get cheaper fares--not much cheaper but cheaper--if you fly odd hours on odd days) You could fly to Las Vegas for $150 less and to LA also for $150 less. So it costs more money and takes more time to go shorter distances than it does longer distances? Hmmm.

Just a note: the flight landed exactly on time in Miami, at 12:46. Only problem was the plane sat on the ground in Newark for more than an hour past the takeoff time before it actually left. So am I now to assume that the 3-1/2 hours scheduled for the flight just "happened" to be for the amount of time a passenger will be stuck in the airplane rather than elapsed flying time?

We fly fairly routinely twice a year. We also know many others who fly way more often, mostly on business, and they aren't happy campers either. It's not exactly that you are getting more by way of amenities or services from the airlines. Seats have gotten to the point where a thin 6-year old might be comfortable. Amenities? What are those? Service? Not so you could notice. Convenience and on-time flights? May be found in a dictionary but not with an airline.

Honestly, there is a word for when people pay to get screwed, and it didn't use to be air travel--it is today.

Note: due to recent regulations by the FAA, airlines now must include in the posted price of their tickets all taxes and airport fees. This may account for some of the steep rise in posted prices for tickets. Also note the following: the FAA monitors the on-time statistics for flights, both departures and arrivals. Strangely enough my husband's flight, according to the FAA, left on time. Why? Because to be called on time a flight has to depart the gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled departure. So my husband's flight pulled away from the gate "on time" but sat on the tarmac for an hour, and that's not being late according to the FAA. It would be really lovely if our government agencies spoke the same English that we do.

It's Not Just Shopping

I asked my classes if there was anyone present who had never purchased something online--not a single student who hadn't. Shopping online has become routine. That shopping online applies to almost every age group, perhaps excepting toddlers and infants. And the online shopping experience is providing yet another area where parents and adults need to be vigilant in monitoring what their children are doing online. In fact, adults need to be taking more care as well.

The Jewish World Review had a rather frightening article up about dangerous synthetic drugs that are available online. http://jewishworldreview.com/0911/chemical_roulette.php3 Some of those mentioned in the article were added to other consumer products such as bath salts. In over 50% of the products mentioned the ingredients list was not given or the synthetic drugs were purposefully left off of the list. The amount of the drugs in the products varies from about 25% to 100%, many at toxic levels.

Don't kid yourself by saying the DEA will take care of this problem. From the article: "U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spokesman Rusty Payne said it is a felony to buy 4-Meo-PCP and possibly some of the other substances. But he said it is "ridiculous" to expect the federal government to stop trafficking of all synthetic drugs.
"There are thousands and thousands of websites who market these products, and it is extremely difficult to police and enforce every single one of them," Payne said."

Online shopping is indeed a convenience, but let's not close our eyes to the fact that it can be darn dangerous as well. Yet something else to add to the job of parenting.

There's A Sucker Born Every Minute

I don't usually write postings that take to task other communities for their culinary habits. I am sort of making an exception with this posting. My offspring sent me a copy of a Kosher Koupons offer--pay only $99 instead of the regular price of $125 for the "incredible" package described below. The deal is for a kosher restaurant in the NJ area, not south but north. The restaurant describes itself as being "middle fancy."

Deal Overview
Here's a Shavuos meal that you can proudly admit that you didn't cook yourself.
How much would you pay for:
2 Large Egg Challahs
2 Water challah twist rolls
1 Large Broccoli Quiche 9"
1 Tray Penne Alla Vodka (feeds 8-10 people 9"x13" half tray)
1 Par Baked 12" Marguerita Pizza
1 Large 7" cheesecake
1 Litre of Rieme Lemonade (Made in France)

Go ahead shoppers and cooks out there--tell me just how many meals and of what variety you could produce given $99 to go shopping with? Shall I mention the total inbalance of nutrients in this meal? How about that the portion sizes are seriously out of whack--penne that will feed 8-10 but nothing else that matches that number in the other dishes.

And personally speaking, the day will never arrive when I proudly admit I didn't personally cook a meal for yom tov.

For a community where the school tuitions average out at about $15K per child and everyone is yelling that tuition is too high and they can't afford it or it is seriously straining their budgets, perhaps they should look at their eating habits a bit more closely. If this represents a desireable bargain (and I'll assume the restaurant knows its customer base), please don't tell me what expensive in this area looks like.

Yes, there's a reason for why I personally feel that everyone should learn how to cook--the offer above is part of that reason.

A Case for being a careful Consumer

Okay, I'm not naive--manufacturers are in business to sell their products and that's, for most of them, their bottom line consideration. But as I pointed out Pesach time (regarding a pictured and labeled yellow cake mix which wasn't yellow), looking at the box doesn't mean that you're going to get what is illustrated/stated there.

Any of you enjoy products with blueberries in them? Are you sure those are really blueberries in the package? Go to the link below and get an education about what blueberry means to a whole lot of product manufacturers.

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=7EC06D27B1A945BE85E7DA8483025962

You're Offering What?

It seems like just as soon as one phone/mail scam is closed down, another takes its place. The scam I'm warning readers about originally was all through the mail but is now using phone "telemarketers"--and I use that word very loosely.

I received a call today telling me that I had won a free 2-night cruise to the Bahamas. (A quick call to a friend in the neighborhood brought out the information that she, too, had gotten the same call.) Given that we were supposed to take a cruise this past winter and had done a lot of research on cruising I wouldn't have been all that suspicious. However, the first tip-off was the supposed name of the cruise line. There is a major, well known cruise line called the Royal Caribbean Line. The phone caller said they were calling from Caribbean Cruise Lines--not the same line at all. In point of fact there is no actual cruise line called Caribbean Cruise Lines.

To get to the point, if someone calls and offers you such a cruise just hang up the phone. And do not under any circumstances give these people your credit card number. For more information, go to http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4035

Please remember the old saying: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.

An Observation on Shopping

Someone wondered about my buying produce ahead for basically the whole of Pesach. A brief explanation may lead to some thought on your part.

If you shop in a fruit and vegetable market that sells nothing but produce--that is, no chometz items are found in the store--then shopping there next Thursday does not represent a problem according to our local orthodox rabbis. However, none of these rabbis allow shopping in the branches of the major supermarket chains unless those chains have plainly and clearly stated that they sell their chometz before Pesach--and none of our local branches do so. Ditto for the fruit markets that also carry chometz products. So, no shopping in the supermarket chains during chol ha'moed nor in the fruit stores unless they've sold their chometz.

Even where a store does sell its chometz those planning on shopping next Sunday are in for a rude awakening--it's Easter Sunday, and at least in our area NO fruit and vegetable stores will be open and no supermarkets either. That leaves shopping only in a kosher grocery store and many of those, or perhaps most, do not carry fruits and vegetables.

Obviously where you geographically live is going to make a difference in the shopping available, but the manager of the local Stop and Shop and the other chain stores said they will all be closed in the metropolitan NY area. Something to keep in mind as you shop today.

Let the Buyer Beware

Having gotten into my kitchen fairly early I needed to have something to nosh for the week and for Shabbos and until we actually got into yom tov. My sister had raved to me about the non-gebrokts cake mixes that were sold last year so I decided to save some time and effort and get a few of the boxes. Didn't hurt that the market had them on sale either.

I'm naming the brand here because I think it's cogent to what follows. I purchased Liebers mixes. The first mix clearly said coffee cake with crumb topping on the box with a huge picture of a cake clearly covered with a CRUMB topping. The second cake was a chocolate chip cake. The huge picture on the front clearly showed a yellow cake dotted with some chocolate chips. The third box was clearly identified as yellow cake mix with a packet of chocolate frosting. The picture on the box showed a yellow cake frosted in chocolate.

So, what did I get from these cake mixes? Well, the coffee cake with crumb topping mix included did not include any crumb topping but did have a sugar packet to sprinkle on top of the cake before baking--final result looks nothing like the picture on the box. The yellow cake with chocolate chips turned out to be a chocolate cake with chocolate chips--nothing like the picture on the box. The yellow cake with chocolate frosting turned out to be a chocolate cake. Again, not what was advertised on the box.

I understand that manufacturers get kind of busy when they put out their Pesach products, but this is ridiculous. One mistake I could perhaps understand, but three (actually four, since I bought two boxes of the chocolate chip cake mix and they were both chocolate cake instead of yellow cake)? So much for shortcutting the baking--my mixer and I are going to be getting friendly again with a made-from-scratch recipe because when I want yellow cake I want YELLOW cake. If any of you bought those mixes, I hope you have better luck than I did, but don't be surprised if the final results are not quite what you expected.

You bet that Liebers will be hearing from me about this.

A Creative Gift for Kids

A local discount card shop had a small table of gift items for kids and I found one I really like. Yes, a lot of kids like to color pictures and there are some interesting coloring books. But, those coloring books don't require much imagination beyond choosing the colors. I found a book called Beautiful Doodles, by Nellie Ryan. The book has over 100 full-sized pages with part of a drawing on each page as a basic background. Each page has a suggested idea of how the child can complete the drawing. For example, one page shows a shopping cart in front of shelves and suggests to the child "Fill your cart and stock your shelves." The child gets to use her/his imagination.

The book is published by Running Press. They have a website at runningpress.com. If you type "Beautiful Doodles" into the search box you'll find the book on the first page shown. There are also another 5-6 books of this type on that same page, including a Hello Kitty Doodle Book and a Farm Animal Doodle book. Barnes and Noble online also has the book at less than the publisher is selling it for. I'm sure other stores also sell the doodle books.

Not only do the minimalist drawings in the books encourage a child to be creative and let the imagination soar, but they are adaptive to other types of arts and crafts. If your child has some stickers and sparkles they could also be used in completing the pictures--the sky's the limit as to what could be used to be creative.

One Reason Why I Hate Shopping

Prior to last Sunday, I can't remember the last time I went shopping at the SI Mall. There's nothing that I needed that required heading out to the Mall. However, I was gifted with a nice-sized gift card to Macy's. I did have a few things that were possibilities for purchase, so out to Macy's I went.

Once upon a time Macy's was really a middle of the road department store, and a fairly middle class one at that. It was considered more expensive than Sears or Penney's and carried certain brands that those stores didn't, but "normal" people shopped there. It was quite possible to get what were really good bargains, especially during sales. However, judging by the prices and by the brands being sold, Macy's would far rather find itself in company with Bergdorfs and other stores of that ilk.

I walked that store from end to end, from floor to floor, and despaired of ever finding anything to spend my gift card on. Not only was my eye not captured by most of the merchandise, my "careful with money" hackles were being raised. In the purse department I tried and failed to find any purse smaller than a suitcase in size. I really don't like those mega-sized purses. Finally one caught my eye because it's size was only a bit out of the range I prefer. So I opened it up, and I saw a yawning chasm--no dividers, no compartments except for one tiny slot to put a cell phone into. I closed the purse and glanced at the price tag just out of curiosity. Holy moley!!! That purse was $428 dollars, and advertised as a spectacular price. The brand? Coach. The department was full of this brand's offerings, and $428 was not the most expensive of the purses offered.

Throughout the store I was faced with the same dilemma--merchandise at prices I was not going to pay because in no way, shape or form was what was being sold worth that kind of money to me. I finally took a breather outside of the housewares department and literally found myself leaning on a solution to my what to spend the gift card on dilemma. I was in the luggage department. No, virtually all the suitcases on display were way more money than I was going to spend. But there, in a corner, a "special sale before 1:00PM" sign caught my eye. Finally, an item at a price that was acceptable for that item, that was actually a good buy. We killed a suitcase on our last trip and it needed replacing. I bought the suitcase, but even with the tax I still have 1/3 of that gift card remaining. I have no idea what I'm going to get at Macy's with the $35 left. No, a pair of polyester gloves made in China are not going to get me to shell out $39 a pair, I don't care whose label is in them.

The funny thing though was that the parking lot was jam packed. Someone mentioned to me that people are already starting their holiday shopping. So yes, someone is going to buy all that way overpriced "labels-to-die-for" stuff. I just wish I understood why. I think of all the things that $428 could buy, and a purse just isn't first on the list; in fact, it doesn't make the list at all. And yes, I imagine there are a whole lot of people who are going to consider that I am the oddball for thinking that way.

When the Stores Don't Get It

Shopping nowadays has gotten both easier and more complicated. Easier in the sense that there are far more places where we can shop for things we want or need, both online and in regular stores. More complicated in that comparison of prices is a necessity if you don't want to be overpaying, and overpaying by a lot.

I've been doing a lot of freelance work this summer and as part of that work I needed to prepare a lot of printed material. A check of our printer showed that it would be a good idea to have an extra toner cartridge in the house. I was near Staples so I walked in hoping to get the cartridge in one easy step--didn't happen. The cost of that cartridge was $126 in the store. My eyes bugged open. How much was that cartridge at Staples' online store? $123. Okay, not going to happen. My husband was working from home so I called and asked him to get online and find a cheaper source. By the time I got home he'd found the source and ordered the toner. At a reputable site a comparable cartridge to the "name brand" one sold at Staples was a whopping $29 including the shipping charges. Even if we were to surmise that the comparable cartridge was not going to give me as many copies as the more "reliable" branded one was going to give me(and in my experience they DO work just like their branded cousins), it would make no difference--the off-brand one was the best buy by far--4 for less than the price of one.

And then there was the printer paper. As I walked into the store they were showing a "mega sale" on individual packs of paper. Full price was $7.79 per pack. Minus "sales savings" that price dropped to $7.19. Minus a mail-in in-store rebate of $5.00, the price dropped to an "amazing" $2.79 per pack, limit of one pack per customer. Checking in the paper aisle I found no individual packs of printing paper of any kind that were less than $$5.69 per pack. However, if you bought a full case of paper you were going to save money--maybe. Those cases of paper all used to contain 10 individual packs of paper, so figuring the price per pack was really kind of simple. But not all of those cases contain 10 packs any more. Some of the cases have as few as 6 packs per case. The 10-pack cases were going for about $34-37 per case, a cost of $3.40 to $3.70 per pack. But those "cheaper" cases, going for $29 per case, only contained 6 packs of paper, an actual cost of $4.83 per pack.

Down the block from that Staples store Shoprite was having a school supplies sale. Printer paper was on sale for $2.71 cents a pack, limit of four. Regular price of that paper in the store? $2.99 per pack. King Kullen also had the paper on sale. Spend $25 in the store and get a pack of paper for only $.99. Regular price $2.99.

I had to be back at Staples a few days later because they are the only ones locally that carry the grading/marking book that I like using. Surprisingly the cost of the marking book was more than competitive, and I bought it. I did, however, mention to the manager who was up front by the registers that the store was not awfully competitive on a whole lot of other items. He shrugged his shoulders. Basically his comment was that the people who want the Staples "expertise" and quality merchandise aren't going to take a chance on inferior material sold at who knows where on line, and they prefer the ability to see what they are buying and get it right away. I couldn't help it--I had to laugh. I told him, politely of course, that he and his store really didn't get it if they have that attitude.

Oh that Staples were the only store that hasn't figured out yet that customers have a choice today, and many of them are using that choice to save money, money those stores are not going to see as long as they believe that they are still the only game in town.

These Inventions Above all Other Inventions

Note: the subject for this posting came about because of an article in the local paper. A family's home was destroyed by fire and those in this family's neighborhood were being called on to help them in replacing "essentials" that had been lost. When I read the list of items needed I sort of scratched my head, thus this post.

There's a lot of talk around that we all own too many things, and that there are just too many things out there clamoring for us to buy them. There's talk about paring down our lives to the real basics, to only those things that are truly important.

Okay, let's get a start on paring down. But first, how are we going to judge which are the things that are truly important for us to own? Which things are really necessities as opposed to luxuries? Keep in mind that necessities may or may not be societally determined and may or may not be the purview of the individual. Also, the definition of what is a necessity can change over time or from place to place.

There are many items that have been invented and are available for public consumption in roughly the last 50-60 years. If an accident happened and you needed to replace everything that you owned previously, but you were to be limited to having only five of those items replaced first, as being the most important for you, which five would they be? Why? Give it some thought and let us all know. I have a feeling that opinions are going to be widely divergent.

Note: I am excluding medications and medically related items from the choices. I would hope that all would agree that the invention/discovery of antibiotics, of hearing aids etc. would be considered as societal necessities above and beyond the items we can purchase for our own use. I am also excluding a basic stove and refrigerator in a kitchen. I don't believe that anyone in the US would consider those as optional.

Consumer Recall--Kelloggs

For those who use Kelloggs' cereals, please go to the link below for some information on the recall of some of those cereals.

http://www.kashrutnews.com/2010/06/recall-kelloggs-corn-pops-honey-smacks.html

See It, Don't Spend It

An article in the local paper discussed and gave the notes from a seminar/workshop that was given at a community center. The seminar dealt with the visualization of spending. One of the points the seminar leader made was that using plastic and checks is one way that people overspend. When all you are doing is writing your name and the amount to be paid on a check or on a credit card slip there can be a disconnect between the amount being spent and what is being purchased. Perhaps intellectually we know that there is a connection between $216.44 and the items in our wagons, but that knowledge does not give us pause--we sign on the dotted line. On some level our expenditures don't count as "real money" going out. One recommendation that was made was to decide how much you can afford to spend on groceries and take that amount--no more and no less--with you to the market.

During the seminar participants were not given credit cards or checkbooks to use during some of the participation exercises; they were given play money in ones, fives, tens and twenties. The seminar leader mentioned that some studies have shown that people who handle actual money when making purchases feel more connected to the money and look at those purchases with more attention.

I also found of interest an exercise that was done that was called the empty wagon syndrome. Apparently some people feel they are getting their money's worth only if they see a full wagon. Wagons with only a few items in them are seen as too meagre. During the seminar participants were shown three shopping wagons. One wagon had relatively few items in it--perhaps only 1/8 to 1/4 full. The second wagon was about 1/2 full. The third wagon was full to the brim. First, the participants were asked to rate the wagons on a scale of satisfaction--how pleasing did they look to the participants. With only 2 exceptions out of some 50 participants, the full wagon was given the highest marks for being pleasing and the least full wagon was given the lowest marks. Then the participants were asked to state which wagon was worth more than the others. Here all the participants picked the wagon that was most filled. [Interesting note: the cost of the items in the wagons was not mentioned, only the fullness of the wagons. The seminar leader mentioned in the article that this could be one of the reasons why people tend to overspend in the market. If there are too few items in their wagons they are somehow sure they have not done enough shopping and look for other items to put in until the wagon "looks right."]

What was in those wagons? The least full wagon contained a variety of fruits and vegetables, both fresh and frozen. It contained spice bottles and ketchup and mustard. The fullest wagon contained drink mixes, soda bottles, pretzels, potato chips and a variety of jarred and canned nuts. It contained boxes of crackers and cookies and jars of dips.

Some interesting food for thought in the article. There's an old saying: "stop eating with your eyes." Simple pshat: we see and therefore want more than what is necessary for health and nutrition and satiation. More is better, at least visually. Apply that to grocery shopping (or a whole lot of other types of shopping) and what we get is that empty cart syndrome: we're only fully satisfied if the cart is full, never mind what that might cost us.