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Oops!

April 19th, 2006 at 03:04 pm

DH and I traveled to the local garden store yesterday to pick up a few annuals for the garden.

In general, I don't "waste" money on annuals. Perrenials keep their "investment" better by coming back big and better year after year.

The exception is the large extended planter on the deck. It's a great place for big color immediately, especially with vibrant wave petunias that expand and fill and tumble over the edges all summer.

They didn't have my color of wave petunias, though, just some light pink ones DH dislikes. Not right for the space.

So, we decided to pick up something else.

We wandered around for 30 minutes, uncertain, just putting things into the cart to think about later.

We bought them all.

At home, well, the planter is now overplanted. Pretty now, but in a few months I'll be fighting bees and wasps to transplant the overgrowth, and still won't have the look we love.

Indecision always takes a bite out of our budget. In the grocery store, if there isn't a sale or at least a coupon, we have to think about our purchases. There are too many choices, and too many decisions to make.

Which leads to the "just put in the cart and we'll decide later". My biggest budget buster! No matter what it is, 90% of the time if it goes in the cart, it makes it home with us. Only then do we realize it is an item we can't use, produce that won't last, or an expense that shouldn't have been.

The warehouse stores are the worst for this! No coupons, no sales...and so many things to look at. DVDs, CDs, and books so easily sneak into the cart as one of us debates the want/need/wisdom of something we don't really NEED and isn't WISE. Those little items end up in the cart to be pondered while we shop for what we came for. Time becomes an issue. And at checkout, the added expenses go right through the scanner and into our purchases.

My new rule for keeping the budget is going to be the boundary of the cart. No more "think about it", DH and I both need to realize that once it's in the cart, it's a done deal. So...

The CART IS MY BUDGET BOUNDARY! I have to recognize that if it goes into the cart, the decision HAS been made to buy it.

Implementing this, ah, that's going to be a learning process.

6 Responses to “Oops!”

  1. contrary1 Says:
    1145455888

    Aren't the wave petunias the best? I am alwasys on the look out for the bright fushia ones. Some years, there just aren't any. These are my only annuals, they do give a big show for a few dollars.

  2. PRICEPLUS Says:
    1145466213

    My wife is the gardener here. I don't have a green thumb. Make the list before you go and stick to it! Good luck with the cart boundary idea!Smile

  3. markio26 Says:
    1145472300

    we are trying to plant everything from seeds this year... so, we will see what happens...

  4. flash Says:
    1145483696

    Absolutely. Love the fuschia color!!! What happened to it? First year it was the only one available. Now, can't find it anywhere!

  5. baselle Says:
    1145505800

    Ha, ha...Sounds like the rule about the cart perimeter is all about preventing the EASY E. (I'm here, might as well. Nope, you'll be back.)

  6. flash Says:
    1145650514

    Yep. I think it's a DH thing...impatient, and he loves his DVDs! I have a pile I need to sell...watch them once, then...

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