Put it Back!
The other day I had a half hour to kill before I had to be at my chorus practice, so I decided I’d go to Ross Dress for Less and just browse. I’m sure this isn’t right, but I do it often at Ross; I buy something not because I really love it, but because its original price is horrifyingly high and the mark down is too good to pass up. The first item I put into my shopping cart was a good example. It was pajamas by Ellen Tracy (she’s expensive) originally $70.00 for $21.99! How could I pass up a savings of $48? Never mind the designer brand sleepwear was in a leopard print in purple and lime green and just about the ugliest pajamas I’d ever seen. But in my mind, the $48 savings canceled out the obnoxious look of them. Besides pajamas are worn in the dark and I did love the feel of the fabric.
The next item that went in the cart was a bath lotion I swear smelled just like a cinnamon roll. I think I was especially attracted to it because I was hungry and I hadn’t had a cinnamon roll in years (and won’t in the future because my husband Terry and I are low-carbing it these days). I didn’t stop to ask myself why it’d be cool to smell like a treat, but I’ve noticed recently that many toxic-free health care products often smell like some kind of food like lime, caramel, cloves, chocolate, apple sauce or pumpkin pie.
With my hideous nightwear destined to soon smell like the Cinnabon, I rolled into the purse section. I hate my purse! It is truly an old lady purse and I know it. (I probably bought it at Ross ten years ago because it originally cost $200 and I got it for $20.) I found a darling purse I really loved, but the mark down was only 25% off the original price and there was a Louis Vuitton knock off by Huey Vuitton that just didn’t make the mark, so I left them hanging and headed for shoes. To my delight there was a clearance rack. I love to see what’s on clearance at Ross, because that’s where the price slashings are the best. To my surprise I found some high heels marked down 80% AND they’d go perfectly with my pajamas! How could I pass them up?
I tend to believe that anything we think we want whether it’s a new car, a baked potato or a body lotion that smells like an apple pie, we want it because we think it’ll make us feel better. It was clear that my selections made me feel better because of price, but that’s all the further the pleasure went. As I headed to the housewares department I looked at my time. I had about ten minutes to check out the linens and cookware shelves before paying and heading to chorus. It was while holding a plate with butterflies on it that I realized Nelly my inner child was along. (She loves butterflies and dishes.) I was able to tell her to put the plate down because we don’t need any more dishes and it was then that she had a few words to say back to me.
“And you need those God-awful pajamas and high heels to match? And how are you gonna feel after you smear that lotion all over yourself? You’re really walking the line with me cutting out all my goodies because of your stupid low-carb lifestyle and I’m warning you, if you get that lotion and start smelling like a cinnamon roll, I’m going to bake some and you can’t stop me!”
Nelly provided a real wake-up call for me. I hung the P.J.s back up, put the lotion and heels back on their shelves and walked out of Ross about $60 richer than I would have AND I won’t be smelling like a cinnamon roll.