Weekend before last I bought a beautiful new dress for an upcoming wedding. I fell in love with it immediately. I brought it into the dressing room just for kicks, assuming it wouldn’t fit, wouldn’t look right and would end up right back on the rack where I originally found it. Instead, much to my surprise, it fit like a glove.
My mom, who is even more frugal than I am at times, said, “Do you want to wait to buy that? It’s not on sale and the wedding isn’t for a few more months.” I thought about the question and the comments that followed, but I felt compelled to buy that dress. It just looked so good.
I justified the purchase in my mind. I looked amazing. I rarely splurge on clothing. There was only one in my size and I couldn’t risk waiting for it to go on sale. So I forked over full price, (which is something I almost never do), and walked out of the store with a brand-new, beautiful dress.
I came home and placed that gorgeous new item in my closet. I hung it alongside other dresses that were purchased at deeply discounted prices. It sparkles in a shiny way that none of the other dresses do and despite the price I was happy with my purchase, but I couldn’t get over the feeling that I paid too much for it.
When I couldn’t get that itchy idea out of my head I logged onto my computer and scoured the Internet for the same dress at a cheaper price. I didn’t spend a huge amount of time searching, but I definitely spent ten or fifteen minutes looking for a better deal. I was still bothered by the notion of spending too much money, but I turned off my computer and pushed the issue to the back of my mind.
I left it there until my mom called to tell me she found the exact same dress at a different store for $30 less. I immediately called the store to see if they had my size and asked if I could use a 20% off coupon. When the woman answered yes to both questions I asked her to put it on hold for me. I drove to the store the following morning. At the end of the day I spent $50 less than my first purchase.
I planned to visit my parents anyway that afternoon, so the drive wasn’t entirely out of my way, but I can’t help thinking that I’ve become a bit too obsessed with money. While it’s good to be frugal I can’t waste so much time looking for the best bargain. After all, in some cases isn’t time more valuable than money?
I think it depends on whether or not your time would have been better spend on something else OR if you didn't enjoy your bargin hunting. If you had fun finding it $50 cheaper than awesome. I'm amazed when I only have X amount of daollars to spend on something I can generally find it for X dollars
$50 is a big difference, at least in my opinion. I recently purchased a condo, and with mortgage payments, condo fees, etc., I would be so excited to save $50! That extra money could go pretty far.
It,s the fun of the chase, add to that you have just saved $50.00 and I would say the end justified the means.
There is a point where people get goofed up over costs, but I would say that a bit of internet searching and a phone call was well worth the extra savings it would lead to! Plus, now you WON'T feel like it was wasted money, and you can totally enjoy that purchase. I hope that you do enjoy it, and that you have some insurance of being able to relax at the wedding and just feel great.
Jerry
Time is more valuable than money. If you do not believe that then just wait any old person will tell you, you can not purchase your time back. You can never get time back. On the other hand money is just money and if you waste it you can always get more. That said, look at the way you saved the money. You spent more time talking with your Mom sounds like time well spent to me, you spent time visiting your parents since you were picking up the cheaper dress, again sounds like time well spent to me. Bargain hunting is only a waste if it keeps you from those you love, being a cheap person, cheating someone you care about out of their money just so you can consider yourself frugal that is wasted time and effort. Budgets are great sticking to budgets are wonderful.Time spent with those we care about now that is important.