Drizzle and Hail: Byerly's, Prepping for Vacation, and Mostly a Bunch of Narcissistic Reflection

I have a question for people who do their regular grocery shopping at Byerly's: what is wrong with you?
For a little variety, Cruelty-Free Mommy and I stopped by Byerly's to look for some food. As it turned out, we got free smoothies from the Caribou in there, so I can't complain too much. However, looking at the prices of the food, I can't believe that people would do regular grocery shopping there.

The very same items (and I mean literally, the very same items) are available at places like Cub, Rainbow, Super Target, etc., for much, much less money. So why are people going to Byerly's to pay that much more money? To have somebody put your groceries in a bag for you? Is that worth it? To shop on carpet? Is that really worth the pleasure? For the free samples? With the money you'd save at a cheaper grocery store, you could go back and buy all the products which were being sampled.

I don't get it. It seems like an excessively stupid way to spend extra money. Why not go buy the cheaper groceries (again, often it is the very same item much cheaper), and then use that money for something else you want? Or donate the money to a charity you support? Anything! Why spend more money for the same items at Byerly's?

I don't get you people.

The Great Romaine Lettuce Contest
Cruelty-Free Mommy and I are taking the little Viking on a short vacation to Boston (thank you, government stimulus money), and we're leaving Thursday. Saturday afternoon, we bought two pounds of Romaine lettuce. Can we use it all?

I think we can. We can have big salads as meals in themselves, and we can have small salads with any other meals. And then we can have meals that could include lettuce. If we don't use it all and it goes bad, I'll just put it in the back yard for animals, but I hope we can make it.

I'm a bit of a phony
I write on this blog about being frugal, but there are two situations in which I just give money away without feeling bad about it. I think tipping is wildly out of control in our society, but when I do things that require a tip, I actually tip well. And when I have cash, I always try to give some to homeless people who ask for it. Even when living a frugal life, it is possible to be a good tipper and give money to beggars. When I buy pretty much anything, I have a slight bit of buyer's remorse. But I never regret giving money away in these situations.

I just though it worth noting that being proudly cheap does not entail being proudly cold: one can still attempt to be a kind, giving member of society and still live cheaply.

Vacation
My brother reminded me that leaving for vacation in four days, I ought to have some idea of what I'm packing. I hadn't even started. Apparently the idea is to know what you want to wear, and then spend the days prior to departure wearing a bunch of crappy clothes (or something like that).

Storing clothes
I really almost never spend money on clothes. I realize not everybody can do this: I'm lucky in that I get clothing passed down to me (still!), and can put together a wardrobe out of gifts.

But I also tend not to get rid of clothes myself, so I just store them away in bags for a long time. Eventually I would think I would give these things away. But as it happens now, I'm glad I've saved them. I've lost some weight recently, and I thought I'd have to go to a store and buy new pants. But no! I just went through the storage bags, and found three pairs of pants that fit just wonderfully. It's like getting new clothes for nothing.

So thank you, storage space. I estimate that on three new pairs of pants, I would have spent about $30. Now I have that $30 to do whatever I want with.

I'm still angry at Subway
OK, I'm mostly vegan, and Subway is still the best option for me to pick up a quick, filling, good meal. But I'm still furious that Subway has increased the price of the Veggie Delite sub during the same promotion in which it has decreased the price of many meat subs. There seems no reasonable justification for that. Subway has not responded to my emails with any explanation.