I surprised myself the other day. I had to send a picture of some curtains to my adviser on such things. I didn't have curtain rods, so I bought some cheapies at Big Lots, even though I was pretty sure they were too skimpy. They WERE too skimpy. Nevertheless, I had Mr. FS put them up for the photo.
Now I can't return them. I will have to replace them. Big Lots is less than a mile from my house, in the frugal line up (grocery, Goodwill, Walgreens, Dollar Tree). I was there anyway. I didn't feel like driving in one direction to Penney's or the other to Bed Bath and Beyond. Each is within a few miles of my house, but the post-Katrina population boom means that those drives are stressful, plus, when I have a lot of choices, I spend too much time deciding. I estimate that each trip would have cost around 2 hours.
So I weighed two hours against $18.00 and decided that I would sacrifice the Big Lots curtain rods (via donation, of course!) and get better rods when I was doing shopping for other things in those areas.
How do you choose between time and money? Did I make a good choice?
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8 comments:
Can you not return them b/c of their policy?
Two hours in traffic vs $18? Pay yourself minimum wage (here anyway) and dump the rods.
It's a good rule of thumb to not buy anything you know in your heart is not satisfactory- and I've done it too!
I'm with Duchesse on paying yourself minimum wage. I won't drive out of my way in LA traffic save a dollar or two on an item (and often these days I can find what I'm looking for from amazon for a better price than locally).
Hm, it is possible that those rods had salvage value at your local metal recycler. We take our collected aluminum to a metals dealer once a year and come home with $200 or so.
I agree that spending time doing stressful things is not the best choice.
I agree! My time is worth more than any potential bargain!
Love your blog!
Okay, let's see if this comment works...
I also hate driving around through our homicidal traffic. But there are times when it's worth it, IMHO. When the product is something you're going to have to live with for awhile -- like those curtain rods -- it's probably worth it to drive across town to the more upscale stores to get style and quality that will last.
@Duchesse, DP, and Funny--I think my impatience won out over frugality. I should have waited!
@Terri--Good idea! I might look into that.
@Shelley and lil desqaua--But now--se above--I have to get replacements...I was too impatient.
@Funny--You are right. I still have to brave the traffic...
From what I've read of your blog this past year I could've told you you wouldn't be happy with something cheap! You should've waited and gotten them where you know you'd have been happy! :-) sometimes Big Lots has some decent stuff but with their food I've found a lot past the expiration date and some of their other stuff I've bought there has torn up(dog beds for instance) I seldom go there now.
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