Bed, Bath & Beware

When I sold my car 2 1/2 years ago, there were several things that I had to learn to live without because I no longer had the wheels to make them possible.

One of those things was my routine of heading to Target about twice a month for fun shopping trips. You know how those trips would go - you'd have 2-3 things in mind that you really needed, but you'd still end up spending over 100 bucks and buying candles, and a book or a CD, and some new shampoo that smelled good, etc.

Honestly, even though I missed the fun of these trips once I was carless, I knew it was good for my budget to not be spending all that $$$ on random stuff each month. And I was amazed at how quickly I was able to adapt and learn that I didn't actually *need* 3 different scents of candles at a time, etc. Anything I really needed could be found at the grocery store or CVS, or in a pinch I could order something online and just pay for the shipping. That's still cheaper than paying the usual car ownership costs, or even paying the $10/hour to rent a Zipcar to make the 3-hour round trip to the nearest Target.

So, for the past 2 1/2 years, I've been living without those random household decor / gadget shopping trips and feeling fine with it, and probably a little bit richer for it. Until lately.... when I have discovered the wonder and the joy of the new Bed, Bath & Beyond on 7th Street!

I'd never been to a BB&B before, so I had NO IDEA that they had so much amazing stuff! How is it possible that one store can stock so many fun things? Housewares, bedding, furniture, fun new beauty products to try! It's like a cross between Target and IKEA, and it's just a few blocks from work! Happy happy joy joy! It's also just a few blocks from my bus line, or even if I want to buy a ton of stuff and take a cab home, it's still 1/3 the cost of a Zipcar trip!

Okay, yeah, so all that stoic stuff about having adapted and not needing random fun household stuff? I never realized how much I missed it! Yesterday, I ventured in just wanting to buy a new pillow, and I ended up spending 100 bucks on kitchen gadgets like these cool Oneida tongs I'd been eyeing online and a new mattress pad, plus that pillow I wanted. Would you believe I spent $50 on a new pillow? Sure, for people who are used to spending real money on their household things, that's not a lot of money. But I'm cheap! So 50 bucks is a lot, but my oh my that pillow is so comfy. :-)

Really, the only reason I didn't spend more money yesterday was because the store was packed with college freshmen and their parents buying everything on the college shopping list to outfit their dorm rooms. I wanted to get out of their way, cuz it was overwhelming even to me to see their 2 & 3 cart caravans of stuff. But I was so happy cabbing home in Ernesto with my new goodies!

Yeah, it could be a real problem for my wallet to have such a great store so close and accessible. I could really use a new blackberry candle......