I LOVE a bargain! I’m sure I get it from my mom. When we’d shop together it was like a great big fun treasure hunt, searching for that ULTIMATE sale, that incredible bargain. My friends don’t understand it. They don’t understand the draw shops have for me. So what if I’m not out looking for something that store may have? What if I need something, but I don’t KNOW I need it, and I’ll discover I need it once I see it in that shop? What if I start browsing and discover something I WILL need in the future, at 25% or even 50% off? Even if I don’t and won’t ever need anything in that store, isn’t it fun just to fondle all the wares and imagine the possibilities?
My friend Adrienne was visiting last weekend. She seemed perplexed by the fact that when she opened my freezer, boxes of veggie burgers fell out. My freezer is stuffed with bags of vegetables and fruit and boxes and boxes of veggie burgers. It makes perfect sense to me. You see, veggie burgers were on SALE, two boxes for $5! I HAD to stock up! What a deal! Okay, I admit, I don’t know how much the regular price of veggie burgers are… but two for $5 sure seems like a great price!
While Adrienne was here, we hit a few yarn shops. Adrienne is an amazing knitter, and as I’ve mentioned I’ve been trying my hand at crochet. Friday night we went to a yarn boutique downtown. Adrienne found me in the basement, with a big basket full of yarn – 25% off! That’s like buy three, get one free! In fact, it IS buy three, get one free! Did I have a project in mind for the yarn? Well, no, but I used the same yarn (different color) recently for my first garment and I like the yarn, and well… select colors are 25% off! So I got five skeins of olive and five of a pretty purple color.
Saturday we hit two more yarn shops – one just northwest of my house, and another in the suburbs. The first one always has a basket of “orphans” – that is, skeins of yarn of which there’s only one or two – so not enough to make much of anything, and so they mark them 40% off! I snapped up a skein of red cotton. Adrienne asked what I’d ever make with one skein of thick red cotton. Well, I don’t know, but surely something will come up that it will be perfect for… and it’s 40% off!
The second shop was another treasure hunt, and although it wasn’t on sale, I found a lovely reddish-purple tweed yarn for a good price that would be perfect for something, someday. As we were about to leave, I spotted another treasure – a basket of yarn on the floor for $1 a skein! ONE DOLLAR! I quickly dropped to my knees and started sifting through them. Once again, Adrienne just looked at me, confused. What would I do with a few small skeins of navy blue cotton? I don’t know, but it’s a DOLLAR. She talked me out of buying them. She just doesn’t understand the joy of the bargain.
Submitted for publication in the Greeley Citizen
Life of the Lintee Bean 
Come to find out, after looking at the price of veggie burgers, (I don’t buy them very often but I really liked those mushroom ones) 2 boxes for $5 really is a bargain. They’re $3.75 a box at every store I’ve checked around here.
Woot!