Category Archives: Shopping

Being Upset With Customer Service (or Trying Not To Be The Type Of Customer I Hate)

Posted on December 20, 2019 | Comments Off

Because I work in customer service, I am very aware of how hard it can be to help customers. I also am very aware of how customers can blame me when I can’t help them with something that someone higher up needs to handle. I get the frustration on their end when I keep saying I can’t do anything besides getting the issue sent to someone higher up. And I’m frustrated too because I hate not being able to help people.

Since I am so aware of all that, I try to not be the type of customer I hate because I know that it will not accomplish anything. But there are times where sometimes I get that way and I do hate myself for it. And the other day, I had just that issue.

I ordered something online and had the option to pay an extra $9 for same-day delivery. The other option was free delivery, but it could take up to 5 days. It was something I wanted and I decided the extra $9 was worth it. I placed the order at 1 pm and it said it was guaranteed to be delivered by 4 pm. It was going to be picked up from the store by Postmates (I didn’t realize they delivered more than food) so I wasn’t waiting on a delivery truck to show up. I watched the tracking information and saw that it went from in process to waiting to be picked up, so it seemed like everything was going as expected.

By 5 pm, it was still showing that it was waiting to be picked up and I was wondering what happened. So I reached out to the company on their online chat customer service and they confirmed that Postmates had not arrived yet to pick it up and they offered to refund the $9 I paid for same-day delivery. They then told me that if it was not delivered today and it would be updated with delivery for tomorrow and everything would be fine. I assumed this was accurate since that’s the case for anything that is delivered late.

The next day, I went online to see if my order was updated and it looked really weird. So I went back to their customer service chat system to try to get an update. And they told me that my order was canceled since it was not able to be delivered on time. I was actually so surprised by this answer that they had to explain it again to me. Basically, if you pay for same-day delivery and there is any reason why it can’t be delivered, they automatically cancel your order without notifying you. They will not attempt to have it delivered any other day and they don’t say anything. Even in the shipping options, there was no explanation saying it would automatically be canceled for me. And from being someone who is a stickler for reading all the rules and policies, this really ticked me off.

I will admit that I got very short and a bit rude with the person who was on the other end of the customer service chat. I asked if there was a way to automatically redo the order instead of waiting for the refund to be processed (which won’t be done until the end of next week or the beginning of the week after). They said there was nothing they could do and all I could do would be to place a new order. I won’t be ordering it again from that company because they couldn’t promise that it would be delivered even if I didn’t select same-day delivery. All they could tell me was that if they cannot deliver it on time they will cancel it. And they did agree that there was no way for me to know that this was the policy and that it is not anywhere on their website. But that doesn’t correct the issue.

I was hoping they would maybe offer me a small discount to try to keep me as a customer or to make up for this happening, but they didn’t. I asked if they could offer one, and they said they couldn’t and the only person would be able to do so could contact me but there is currently an 8 day wait. This is a major company that I ordered from so this was surprising, but I decided to get myself on the list to be contacted. I won’t be ordering this item from them again (and will only do orders in stores from now on), but if nothing else they should know that it is not right to cancel orders without letting a customer know or explaining the risks of choosing to have something delivered from them.

At the end of my customer service chat, I did apologize to the person who was helping me. I knew that I wasn’t being a good customer and it wasn’t their fault. And they did agree with me quite a bit that I was in the right and it was wrong that this happened. Hopefully, I redeemed myself a bit at the end of the chat and the person helping me didn’t think I was as horrible as I was acting before.

I guess every so often I am a bad customer and this is why I get bad customers at my job. It’s a way to balance things out.

Comments Off on Being Upset With Customer Service (or Trying Not To Be The Type Of Customer I Hate)

Posted in Shopping

Tagged customer service

Finding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups)

Posted on November 8, 2019 | Comments Off

I have been in a bit of a down mood lately. To me, this is obvious in the posts that I have been writing. But it took me a while to be in a place where I want to work out of the funk. I know that this is probably due to a few different factors, some of which I have no power over and can’t control. And just fixing the ones I’m in control of (such as getting enough sleep) hasn’t been enough to make me feel better. I’ve had more depressive episodes before, so I knew this wasn’t anything serious. But I still don’t enjoy being in a down mood for an extended period of time.

I finally was ready to work on fixing this over the past few days. It’s not easy to get yourself out of a bad mood, but I wanted to work on it where I could. Like I said before, getting enough sleep has been a big fix I’ve been needing to work on. I still am struggling a bit with falling asleep when I should, but at least now I’m getting to bed at a more appropriate time and not staying up doing other things until very late. But since this wasn’t enough of an improvement, I’ve been working on finding other things that I know make me very happy.

Fortunately, it’s the time of year for me to do some gift shopping for my family. I bring Hanukkah presents for my family to Thanksgiving, so I only have a few weeks left to do my shopping. But because I’m a bit crazy, I had gift ideas as soon as I had bought their gifts last year. A few gifts have changed since then, but I’ve been having so much fun doing some shopping and trying to figure out the perfect gifts to get for everyone. I’m also bringing birthday presents for my parents to Thanksgiving to give them those early since I had ideas for those as well.

If I had unlimited money, I would spend so much buying presents for other people. I get so much joy out of finding the perfect gift and seeing how happy it makes someone. I do have to be careful with how much money I spend on presents, but I will always find a way to get presents for my family. I don’t have to get them expensive things if they are creative. And I seem to be good at finding unique and creative gifts. I have all the presents picked out now for my family, and I’m already so excited to give them what I got and see how much they like them. (sorry dad, if you are reading this and were hoping to get some hints of what I got you)

And while I haven’t been feeling particularly social while I’ve been down, I do still crave being social a bit. Going out isn’t always the best option when I’m in a mood, but texting can still keep me from feeling isolated. And I’ve really been enjoying different group texts that I’m a part of as well as texting with my friends individually.

One of my text groups is with my friends from Orangetheory. We have always been a bit silly in that group so that is appreciated no matter if I’m in a good mood or bad mood. We will share random GIFs and memes and joke around about the workouts. We aren’t always in the same class together (and one friend in the group doesn’t live in LA anymore), but it is nice to have workout friends to chat with even if we aren’t in class. I’ve got another texting group with other Orangetheory friends, but those aren’t as active as the main one I’m in.

I also started a text group for women in the online dating FB group I’m a part of. I created it for safety because not everyone has a friend that they can use as an online dating safety buddy as I do. The text group is for us to share the information of who we are meeting and where just as a safety measure. And we check back into the group when the date is done and we are safe. I don’t love that we have to be so cautious, but it’s necessary and I’m glad we have a safe space with no judgment. I am glad I’ve always had a friend that I can use for this and not worry about what she thinks, but I’m even more glad now that I’ve created a space for others to use when they didn’t have someone. That group is very new so we haven’t had a lot of texting yet, but we have been sharing a bit of silly stuff as well. But what makes me happy about it is that I was able to start a group like that and feel like I have done something that would benefit others.

I can still feel a bit of my down mood lingering, but I’m so glad it’s starting to lift. I have to stay aware because if I don’t keep working on it I know that things might go back to being down again. Knowing that I have some ongoing things that are making me feel better helps, but I’m going to keep working on finding more things that will bring me joy and make things feel more normal for me again.

Comments Off on Finding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups)

Posted in Dating, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Tough Stuff

Tagged dating, friends, gift, happiness, shopping

Another Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping)

Posted on June 26, 2019 | Comments Off

I’ve written about being in ruts before on here. I’ve been in ruts with my work life, my social life, my food, and lots of other things. I think being in ruts is part of why time seems to go by so quickly. When it’s tough to tell the difference from one day to the next, you don’t realize how many days go by. But this time, it’s about a different type of rut that I don’t know if I’ve thought about before. But first, a little backstory.

I’ve had a ton of different jobs in my life. Some of them have been random and sporadic and some have been really serious jobs. I would say that overall my jobs are more casual than office jobs, but I’ve had some jobs that were more serious than most. And with all my jobs, there have been different dress codes and standards I had to meet. I’ve had jobs that have had a required uniform. I’ve had jobs that have such a strict dress code that I had to wear pantyhose or tights if I wore a skirt. And I’ve had jobs that have zero dress code and I can wear whatever I want.

Before my current job that allows me to work from home, the last few jobs I had were pretty casual dress. I could wear jeans and t-shirts and be ok. Sometimes I would dress a little nicer, but there were no requirements I had to meet. I usually tried to stick with more comfortable clothing since I was stuck at a desk for so many hours and I didn’t want to be uncomfortable and squirming around when I should have my focus on work. I usually rotated the same few outfits from week to week since I didn’t care what I looked like. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone and I just had to wear clothes that were appropriate.

Now, I work from home and there is zero dress code or standards. I do get dressed out of my PJs to work, but I’m usually in something that I probably wouldn’t wear in public. Most of the time, I’m wearing some form of yoga pants and a tank top or bralette. If I have something I have to go to after work, I’ll wear the outfit I need to wear for that thing. But more often than not, I don’t have much after work and I don’t care at all about what I wear.

Because of my lack of caring about my clothes, I don’t really wear much of what I have in my closet. Obviously, there are some things I have that wouldn’t be worn at work no matter what. But even my casual clothes aren’t being worn that much. I don’t care to wear them and when I have to find something to wear it has become a bit of a struggle. I haven’t done much clothing shopping lately outside of workout clothes so I’m not very inspired by what I do have in my closet. I also have to deal with severe weight fluctuations that make my clothes tough to wear sometimes. For example, right before my period started I went up 15 pounds overnight. I know that is not real weight I gained, but it makes a lot of my clothes not comfortable or ill-fitting.

I don’t believe I need to wear anything fancy for the time I’m working. Most likely, I will keep my usual work uniform of casual clothes because I do want to be comfortable while working. But I want to have a closet that excites me and makes me want to have places to wear things. I want to look into my closet and so happy I have amazing things to wear. So I’ve been slowly doing some clothing reevaluation.

I don’t want to buy a lot of things because I don’t have the need or the money. But I do want to have fun things and new things to enjoy during the summer. Since I’m not looking for serious pieces or things that I need to last a lifetime, I can look at cheaper clothes that might not last for years. There are a bunch of stores that I like that sell clothing that fits what I’m looking for. I’m also looking at buying things off of Amazon since there are lots of clothing options in my size on there and it seems to be affordable even if they are kind of like throwaway clothes. Again, I don’t need to be creating a wardrobe that lasts for years. I just need some new things to make me feel like I have fun things to wear right now.

I don’t know if buying new clothes will inspire me to go out and do more things, but at least I know that if I find pieces I love that I will be more confident when I’m out and about. Right now, I do feel sloppy a lot because I don’t have clothing that makes me feel put together. I don’t have to dress as I did for my fanciest office job, but I do want to feel cute and stylish. And I know I’m not getting that out of the clothes I have right now.

Comments Off on Another Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged clothes, fashion, plus size, shopping

Saving Money and Trying To Be Green (or Revamping Some Things)

Posted on May 22, 2019 | Comments Off

This post is a bit of a mishmash about a few different things, but it weirdly all is about one purchase I made on Amazon. I recently purchased reusable cotton rounds to replace the single use cotton rounds I use twice a day for my face toner. And that purchase inspired a few changes that I’ve been trying to make.

The original reason I bought these reusable cotton rounds was that I realized how many I went through in a day. My bathroom trash can was usually at least half full with them because that’s one of the few disposable things I use in my skin care routine. It’s not that they are super expensive, but it does add up when you go through over 50 in a month. And I had read a few stories online about how they can have different chemicals in them and that they aren’t the most environmentally friendly because of how they are made. It seemed like an easy purchase to make so I did it. They weren’t that expensive, although since cotton rounds aren’t that expensive to begin with it might be a bit of time before I break even. But it wasn’t just about money, so that’s not that important.

So that single purchase got me thinking about what other disposable things I use in my day to day life. I’m proud that there aren’t that many things, but there are enough to look at what options I have to replace them. There are a few things I had already done like getting nicer straws so I didn’t use disposable ones (although when I did use those, I used them for a while before throwing them out). And I’ve looked at paper towel alternatives, but I haven’t found any that I like and I still like to use regular paper towels. But it has gotten me to look at what I buy and what I have stored in my house.

As I have been replacing things, I have been able to clear out what I have been storing in my little storage area in my house. It’s been a slow process because I do try to finish out what I have already purchased, but it’s getting there. I am not buying things in bulk and trying to find a place to put them. And I don’t have to think about repurchasing something because I am running out. It’s been a nice feeling when I don’t have to make a trip to CVS in the middle of the night because I desperately need something.

The few purchases that I have made that are more environmentally friendly haven’t always been because of that reason. The cotton rounds were more about being aware of what I am using on my face and I was tired of feeling like I was just throwing out so much every day. I also hated that even the premium rounds I purchased left fuzz on my face and hands. The fact that they were better for the environment was a bonus after I looked into them more. But I guess it doesn’t matter what the motivation was for the purchase, if they are more environmentally friendly that is a good thing. I know we all need to be more aware of the single use things we have in our lives, and I’m slowly doing that and seeing what I can replace.

Just like so many other parts of my life, it’s hard to make the changes until I really become aware of what the problem is. I can’t just look at my house and see what I need to change to save money or have greener options. But once I’ve discovered where the issue is, I have been quick to look into what I can do. I know that not every green option is the best for my financial situation, but not all of them are that expensive if you take the time to shop around online. For example, some of the cotton rounds I found were over $20 and that seemed too much. But I looked around and found them for about $5. I have to be picky right now on what I buy so I don’t just spend money, but again, it will save me money in the long run.

I’d love to hear what other inexpensive changes I can make to be more environmentally friendly. I know there are so many things I don’t know about yet that would be easy swaps. And obviously if they also save me money that would be amazing.

Comments Off on Saving Money and Trying To Be Green (or Revamping Some Things)

Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff, Saving, Shopping

Tagged beauty, money, online shopping, savings, skincare

Finding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making)

Posted on November 28, 2018 | 1 comment

I wrote recently about how excited I was to bring my family’s Hanukkah gifts to Thanksgiving. I love giving gifts and working on figuring out the perfect gift to get people. I don’t do a ton of gifts for the holidays, but I do get something for my parents, my brother, and sister-in-law. And I usually do one gift for my parents and one gift for my brother and sister-in-law for a few reasons. First, I do have to consider how much money I have to spend on gifts. But also, I love getting something that is more of a group gift for Hanukkah because I do something more personal for birthdays.

I take a lot of pride in finding the perfect gift for people and I have a tab on my web browser just for gift ideas. I know that I have to get gifts each year so when I see something that is perfect I save it because I know I’ll eventually buy it for someone. And the Hanukkah gifts I gave this year were something I found a year ago at Thanksgiving last year. And it’s been crazy to keep it a secret for a year because I was so excited about it!

I saw on social media that someone I follow got a custom pet portrait done and thought it was so cute! I looked at a couple of different companies online and they all seemed to be out of my budget. I was disappointed by that but determined to keep looking to see if I could figure out a way to make it happen. I ended up finding a company that was a bit out of my budget, but they usually had sales so I saved the link and was planning on ordering them in September.

I had a setback with the ordering because I placed my order and then the company wasn’t getting back to me. I was supposed to hear from them within 72 hours and gave them over a week before I reached out to them. They weren’t responding to emails or private messages on social media and I was so upset. I disputed the charges and got the money back, but then had to search again for a company to help me out (I finally heard from the original company and they said there was a glitch that caused them not to get my order or messages).

I contacted several stores on Etsy and found ZK Portraits. While the portraits I wanted to have done weren’t exactly what they usually do, they were willing to work with me and we started emailing back and forth so they could find out what I wanted. And they were even cheaper than the original company that I was going to go with!

I knew that for my brother and sister-in-law that I wanted a portrait of their cat as a doctor. But for my parents, I was on the fence with a few ideas. I knew I wanted something that was about Tahoe but I couldn’t decide if I wanted Tucker as a skier, hiker, or kayaker. As much as I wanted to keep this a surprise for my parents, I knew I needed help so I asked my dad for advice. He told me that having Tucker as a skier was the best one and he was so excited that I was going to be doing these portraits. I know that he probably would have loved to have been surprised, but I think he also enjoyed being in on the gift planning too.

Within a week of ordering the portraits, I got the proofs via email to approve. And I couldn’t have asked for anything more amazing than these!

I was smiling so much when I saw these and emailed the artist back to say they were perfect! I was getting the portraits as high-resolution digital images so I had to figure out how I wanted to present them. There are so many options for artwork like these and I didn’t know if they would want them on canvas, metal, acrylic, or photo paper nor did I know what size they would want them. So I had them printed out as 8×10 photos and figured I’d give them the full size image after they opened the gifts so they could do something different if they wanted to.

Sometimes my family does all of our gifts at the same time, but this time we ended up doing them each day. I gave my family their gifts on Wednesday even though they were going to do their gifts the next day. I just couldn’t wait any longer!

My mom opened theirs first (my dad already had seen a preview so he let her open it) and I wish I took a video of her reaction! She was so excited and shocked and was laughing so hard about how amazing the portrait was. She never would have thought of doing something like that herself and loved that I got them a portrait. My brother and sister-in-law started to ask questions about it and I told them they needed to open their present first. That clued them in that I got them something similar and I think they loved that I got a portrait of their cat like a doctor. My brother posted it on the Instagram they created for their cat right away.

The next day I got an Amazon gift card from my brother and sister-in-law and my parents got me a nice down jacket and a beanie that has a hole in the top so I can wear it when I have my hair in a ponytail or top knot! Both gifts will be put to good use (I actually wore the hat when I flew home since it was cold out) and I loved them! I’m still picking out what fun things I want to get on Amazon with the gift card since I don’t want to just use it on something boring like vitamins or printer paper.

It’s almost a joke in my family now that I always try to top the gifts I’ve done in the past, but it’s true. I really want to find the perfect thing and when I find them months before I’m going to give them that just gives me so much time to build up anticipation on how the recipient will react to it. And I’ve actually found something that I might do as Hanukkah gifts for next year, but I don’t think I can top the pet portraits for a while. It really was the perfect gift and I’m so glad they were a big hit!

1 Comment

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged family, gift, Hanukkah, presents

It’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present)

Posted on November 15, 2018 | 1 comment

My immediate family does the standard gift giving with buying gifts for people for their birthdays and Hanukkah. Since we don’t see each other that often, it’s become easiest for us to exchange gifts during Thanksgiving when we are all together. I’m so glad that it is only a week away because the gift I got for my family is something I planned a year ago!

I only get presents for my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law. For birthdays, obviously they all get their own gifts. But for Hanukkah, I usually combine them (so my parents get a gift and my brother and sister-in-law get a gift). It makes things a little easier for me when it comes to planning, but also it allows me to get something a bit nicer since I am combining the money I would have split for different gifts. But I know that it doesn’t always take money to find the best and most creative gifts, and I usually work hard to find the best thing I can get someone.

I take a lot of pride in finding the best gifts I can. I try to take notes throughout the year and remember them when it is time for me to buy a gift for someone. And there are some gifts that I know are remembered as some of the best. My dad is always excited to see what I get him. I got him a new gym bag a very long time ago and because the company has a lifetime warranty we joke that the bag keeps reincarnating. I think he’s had 2 or 3 different gym bags from that one gift and he likes to remind me that I got it for him. I guess there has been a theme with luggage with my dad because I’ve also gotten him a new backpack and ski bag over the years. But more recently I got my parents a sign for the house in Tahoe and other fun things like that.

And the day after I gave my family their presents last year, I found the perfect present for them! Of course, it was too late to order it then for them, but I bookmarked the website and saved it for the next time. I can’t believe this idea has been one I have had for a year, but I can’t wait to give them their gifts because I’m ready for it to not be a secret. It won’t be a complete secret because my dad does know what they are getting. I needed him to do some spy work for me to help with some of the planning, but I think hearing his reaction when I told him what the gift would be when he helped me was enough to make me happy that he is surprised.

I hate being so vague and cryptic about this all, but I haven’t given people their gifts yet. But I did finally see the final product 2 days ago and it made me even more excited to finally be able to give a gift that I planned so long ago! I can’t wait to see everyone’s reactions (even my dad’s) and I really hope that they will all love the gifts as much as I do.

I really get so much happiness out of finding the perfect present for people. If I had unlimited funds, I would probably buy my family more presents and buy gifts for more people in my life. I always see random things that I know would be good for one person or another, but I don’t have the money or they are someone who I don’t usually exchange gifts with. I don’t want to buy a gift for someone who doesn’t usually get gifts from me because I don’t want them to feel like they need to get me something in return. But my gift idea bookmark tab on my computer just keeps growing in case one day I will be getting them a present.

It does feel a bit weird to be done with all my gift purchasing before the holiday season really feels like it has started, but it’s also nice to know that I’m all done and can just enjoy holiday decorations around LA without needing to rush from store to store to try to find gifts for people. My gift giving season is almost here and over at the same time. But then I also get to spend the next year planning out the perfect gift again!

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Shopping

Tagged family, gift, Hanukkah, holidays, shopping, Thanksgiving

Building Upon My Monthly Challenge (or Continuing To Work On Shopping)

Posted on October 2, 2018 | Comments Off

Last month, I said my monthly challenge was to not do any online shopping. I did allow myself some exceptions to the rule if necessary, and I’m happy to say that I only did that twice. Both times I shopped online this past month was on Amazon, but only one of those was for me. The first time was sending my friend some supplies they needed after getting home from inpatient treatment. I would have preferred to bring it in person, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do that soon enough. And the second time I did online shopping was for some household goods (batteries, paper goods, office supplies). And I did do price comparisons to make sure getting them online was the right choice.

Even though I didn’t completely eliminate online shopping, I feel like I did reduce it a lot. And it changed my shopping habits as well. For the stuff I ordered online for myself, I didn’t buy things right away when I needed them. None of the things I needed were urgent, so I just added them to my Amazon cart and saved them up until it was the end of the month. It was much more mindful than I have done online shopping before and I really did notice a difference in what I was considering buying when I knew that I wasn’t necessarily going to be getting it soon. While my shopping wasn’t out of control, I knew I needed to cut back and I’m happy that I was able to accomplish that in September.

I’m going to continue working on limiting my online shopping. I know it won’t be completely eliminated, but I can work on making sure that I’m not ordering things whenever I think of them. I think adding them to my cart and waiting a few weeks was the right choice. I do have other gifts for people I need to order online this month, but it’s really not the same as ordering for myself so I’m not as worried about it. And since they are gifts, I’m just getting that one thing and not seeing what else is something that can be bought.

And going off of that idea, I was inspired for this month’s challenge. I have become so much more mindful of my shopping online. Now I want to be more mindful of my in store shopping as well. And a majority of my in store shopping is for groceries and household things, so the easiest way I think I can be mindful is to always have a list.

I’m actually pretty good at making lists when I’m shopping for household things. I usually shop at CVS and I have been taking advantage of their coupons for a long time. But I have learned that I can combine the coupons you get when you shop along with coupons that various brands put out and with the overall discount coupons I get in the mail (like when you get 30% your shopping trip from CVS). I’m not a crazy coupon person, but it does make me happy when I see the percentage of savings on the bottom of the receipt and it is over 50%. It happens more often than not and it’s nice to know that things I am buying are cheaper than what others may be paying for them.

And I used to do grocery store lists and still occasionally do them. If I’m making something new or have food planned out, I make a list because I hate forgetting one thing that I really need. But I don’t always have a plan and do a lot of routine shopping. I know that I will eat certain things each week and I usually don’t even think about it as I pick up those things each week. But then I also know that there are plenty of times that I just get those things and don’t necessarily think about different meals or what my schedule will be like that will make my meals a bit weird.

I don’t necessarily want to make this about meal planning, although I do think that will be a bit of a side effect of doing this. But I do want to write down what I am going to buy even if it is just stuff I usually get each week. I want to think about what I’m going to do before getting into the store. I can’t guarantee that I will only get the things on the list because sometimes I see something that is new or inspires me. But at least it will give me a plan to try to follow.

In a perfect world, I will make the list for shopping for whatever I am getting before I leave my house. I do try to do that when I can, especially when I’m doing multiple errands back to back. I’ll make a list of each place I’m going to and what I will be getting at each store. I think writing it down really is the best for me because it does help me remember it. But if I’m out and going to do some shopping, I can just make a quick list on my phone. I do have some list apps, but it’s also easy enough to do it as a text or email to myself.

I’m also planning on using this for shopping for clothes and other goods too. When I need to go to a store to buy some new clothes or replace something, I also end up doing a lot of wandering around the store and seeing what else catches my attention. I’m doing much better not buying things that weren’t a part of the plan, but maybe making what I need to buy as a list will help me not waste the time wandering around. I still want to give myself the freedom to do window shopping and see what inspires me, but I want to also make those moments more mindful and for me to be aware that I am choosing to do that.

I’m so glad that I’m going to continue working on my shopping habits this month. I was pleasantly surprised by how last month went and how easy it ended up being. I only hope that this month goes the same way.

Comments Off on Building Upon My Monthly Challenge (or Continuing To Work On Shopping)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Saving, Shopping

Tagged money, online shopping, savings, shopping, volt planner

No Shopping September (or At Least No Online Shopping)

Posted on September 4, 2018 | 1 comment

Another monthly challenge time! This feels almost late to write this post, but it’s only 4 days into the month so it’s not so bad. But this challenge is actually one I started before the month started, so it feels like I’ve been doing it a bit longer.

But first, a really quick recap on last month’s challenge. I don’t know what I was expecting to happen, but I really didn’t have to say no to things as often as I thought I might need to. I don’t know if my friends read the post and didn’t invite me out to things or it was just a slow month socially for everyone, but I never really felt guilty saying no because I never had to say no to anything significant. I didn’t make plans, but that’s different from turning down plans. But I did like allowing myself to have days at home watching tv or reading because I did need those.

And I plan on continuing to do the same from now on because I do feel in a better place mentally than I had before. Even after dealing with some setbacks, I bounced back from those faster than I expected and I think that’s because I did allow myself to be the priority. While I don’t like the idea of being selfish, I see the benefits of doing it and how it makes my time with other people better and more focused.

So this month’s challenge is something I started last week as soon as I thought of it. I am challenging myself to not do any online shopping for the month.

I am not as bad about online shopping as some people are, but it’s bad for me. I find it way too easy to order something online and not have to think about it. It’s not all about the instant gratification, although ordering something on Amazon and getting it a few hours later is pretty incredible. It’s also making me a bit lazy and allowing myself to not go out and do things because I can just order stuff online.

If I see something in an article or in social media, it’s so easy to click on the link and to see if it’s something I want and then to order it. I do try to not buy things too often, but even when I think about if I want something or not I still often get the thing. And I know I have spent money on things that I wanted and not that I needed. I do like to have nice things, but I also am not in a financial place where I should be thinking about what everyone else has. I need to focus on maybe being a bit more minimalistic and paring down on what I have. I have started doing that a bit with all the cleaning I’ve done lately, but I know I can do more.

If I do see something online that I really do think I want, I am going to work on using wish lists more often. This isn’t always an option for all online stores, but I know I don’t use it enough on Amazon. I will probably create a private wish list so I don’t have to worry about other people seeing what I have in there, but I should also work on adding things to my public one too since I can use that for anyone who is asking what I want for my birthday or Hanukkah.

And for online stores that don’t have wish lists, I can try to see how long you can keep something in your online cart before it is released. I don’t think most stores will be long enough, but I’m going to test some out to see if there are some I can use that way. And if I can’t, I can always email or text a link to myself to remember I was looking at it or add a bookmark for that website. There is almost nothing that I need to get right away and can’t wait for. And if I can wait, maybe I’ll realize I don’t need it or it will go on sale and if I need it I can spend less on it.

But there will be a few exceptions to this challenge. First, I’m not counting paying bills online or ordering refills of my prescriptions online. Online bill pay is not shopping so that’s not even one I considered to eliminate this month until a friend had asked me about it. And ordering prescriptions online is basically required with my insurance unless I wanted to go to the hospital one day to order my refill and then return a week later to get it because my medication isn’t usually in stock when I order it.

I’ve also had a few books for my Kindle that I was thinking of getting this month. Some of them I can wait on (or figure out if I really need to own them versus getting them from the library). But there’s one book that may be a part of a 7 week challenge with an online group (similar to The Artist’s Way). I can’t get it from the library because library books are only for 3 weeks and I would need it for 7. Also, it’s possibly something I would like to own. But I’m debating on if I’ll do the challenge now or another time. Also, some of my supplements I take are significantly cheaper online and if I need a refill of one I will order it online. It’s silly to buy a 30 day supply for the same price as a 60 day supply would be online. But I will be doing some price matching before ordering anything just to make sure there aren’t sales for stores I could go to.

And while I have tried to buy things online I knew I would need ahead of time, I do have a few gifts for birthdays/weddings/babies being born that will possibly need to be ordered in September that I will allow myself to order online if that is the cheapest way to do so. I think I have gotten everything ordered that I will need this month, but especially with the friends who are having babies I know that they might be born before October and I do want to get gifts for others on time. Maybe I shouldn’t consider gifts for other people shopping since it’s not for me, but I don’t want to make too many exceptions if I can help it. So this exception is only for gifts that need to be timely and can’t wait until October.

I don’t know how this challenge will go or if I will feel a huge difference. But when I realized that my online spending was not as controlled as I would like it to be I wanted to see what I could do to fix it now instead of waiting to see if it happens to get better on its own randomly. I know there are some friends who are doing no shopping at all challenges this month, but I’m not totally sure I can do that one. But I am going to try to spend less in stores in person as well since I don’t want to take my online shopping habits and just shift them to shopping in person.

It will be interesting to see how I feel after this month. Maybe I won’t feel like I need online shopping as much? I might discover things that will help me be a smarter online shopper so I don’t stress about overdoing it. But I have a feeling that whatever happens this month with this challenge that there will be a lesson to share when I recap this in October.

1 Comment

Posted in Shopping

Tagged challenge, money, online shopping, shopping, volt planner

A Disney Auction (or An Amazing Collection)

Posted on August 10, 2018 | Comments Off

I’m a huge Disney fan, but I know that I’m not the biggest fan out there. Sometimes someone else’s fandom totally shocks me but I’m always impressed by what they collect or know. I also love hearing about how some people own pieces of Disney parks that they won at an auction. I’ve heard of the auctions before, but for some reason I never really looked into them that much.

But when the auction that was happening this year was announced, somehow I couldn’t avoid hearing about it! And when I saw that there was an exhibit of many of the items for sale that was free to go to, I knew I had to go. I was just going to go to check out all the things since I knew everything would be out of my price range. I asked around to my Disney friends to see if anyone wanted to go with me, and my friend Justin was able to meet me at the exhibit this week so we could check it out together.

This auction is a collection of memorabilia that is owned by one man who has collected these items over the past 25 years. It’s incredible to see the things that he had and when Justin and I walked in we were instantly overwhelmed and beyond excited. So we tried to look that things in order as you walk around the room because we didn’t want to miss anything.

While there were a few things that are estimated to go for about $100 that I might watch the auction for, the things that got me the most excited were the crazy things that will probably go for more than what my car cost. If I had the room and money, I would be wanting to get a lot of things. But for now, I just had to admire them all and be jealous of who got to buy them.

I have no clue what I would do with this neon “D” from the Disneyland Hotel, but seriously it would be amazing to own it! I’ve heard of celebrities buying other Disneyland letters and putting them in their yards, so I’m guessing that’s what will happen with this one too.

Or this serpent from the old submarine ride. The new submarine ride does have a small tribute to the serpents from the old ride, but for some reason in my head the serpents were not nearly as giant as this was! I was shocked to see how long it was and could only imagine the fun ways to put this in someone’s house or yard.

They have one of the Jose animatronics from the Tiki Room that still works and has the soundtrack with it so you can make it work just like it does when it’s in the show! I didn’t think it worked when we saw it and Justin asked one of the employees there if it did. I thought it was a joke but she was able to start it and it moved just like it was in the park! They also had other animatronics from the Tiki Room up for auction.

I’ve been looking at miniature replicas of the stretching room portraits from the Haunted Mansion for a while and I have a feeling I’ll buy them eventually. But those are cheap (and tiny) compared to these actual ones from the ride! It was just so fun to get to look at them up close and not while I was rushing to get onto the ride.

One of the things that made me laugh so hard was seeing the different Disney trash cans that were up for auction. I noticed them first and then the signs that were on them saying they were not to be used for trash. I wish these weren’t going to go for so much, but I have a feeling that a lot of people would love to own a Disney trash can!

And there were ride vehicles up for auction too! I have no clue what I would do with any of them, but I would love to have one! There were so many more ride vehicles for sale than I got pictures of, like a Doom Buggy and Space Mountain car. But I think the People Mover car was one of my favorites. There are so few left out there so I’m sure this will be one of the most expensive items.

And because the auction company knew that this exhibit would draw a ton of fans who weren’t necessarily looking to purchase something, they catered to the fans by having a few fun photo spots. I know we missed some, but I loved getting to be in the ride car for Mr. Toad and in the old Skyway car.

We ended up doing about 2 laps around the room because we wanted to make sure there was nothing we missed and we wanted to take some more photos. And of course, there was a gift shop. They had some fun things related to the auction like shirts, but there were also other memorabilia for sale that were just for sale at a set price and not going to be up for auction. Some of the things were more reasonably priced and I debated about getting an animation cell that I would have loved to have, but I knew that I didn’t need it so I walked away.

I did end up buying the auction catalog that has all the items that will be up for auction so I could enjoy that. It would be incredible to own some of this Disney history, but to have a book with photos and descriptions of the items is still pretty awesome too. Many things for sale were posters or blueprints for rides so it’s fun to have that information to look at over and over.

If I had unlimited money and the space to put things, I know I’d be getting at least a few of the items up in the auction. I do have it as a goal in my head that one day I’ll be able to buy something in one of the future auctions. But for now, I have to just be happy that I was able to experience the exhibit and see all the amazing Disney history that someone has collected. And that was still pretty incredible to see.

Comments Off on A Disney Auction (or An Amazing Collection)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged auction, Disney, Disneyland, fun, shopping

Working On Not Spending (or Trying To Not Get Sucked Into Sales)

Posted on July 20, 2018 | Comments Off

It seems like for the last month, everyone was talking about how excited they were for Amazon Prime Day. I know that you can get some amazing deals on Prime Day and there have been deals in the past that I really regretted not taking advantage of. I use my Amazon Prime membership quite a bit (I probably order too much from there, but it’s just so easy), but I’ve never really done Prime Day shopping. So this year, I decided to check it out and see if there was anything that was worth it.

I did look a bit at a few posts talking about what to be on the lookout for on Prime Day, but there were just too many different lists of things to look for and what has been on sale in the past. So I figured I would just browse Amazon during the sale and see if there is anything that caught my eye and was a good deal.

I clearly wasn’t prepared. I know that the site went down and that was a big problem for searching, but there were just too many things on sale to try to make sense of it all. I was trying to sort through different categories since there were some things I knew I wasn’t interested in, but it just seemed like endless lists of things on sale. I started to open new tabs with things that seemed good to me, but then that got out of control and I probably had 60 different tabs open.

I took a step back and it almost felt like I broke a trance. It can be hypnotic to look at how cheap things can get. I do that all the time when looking at other discount sites online. I usually find a ton of things that I can’t believe how cheap they are on sale and debate about getting them. I usually will add things to a cart and then if I still want it later I’ll come back and finish the purchase. I rarely end up finishing a purchase.

I am big on finding deals where I can. I’ve become pretty great at stacking coupons at CVS so things are pretty cheap. Between their coupons they send in the mail, the coupons on the receipts, the Extra Bucks you get, and looking at coupons online; I usually save at least 50% on what it would cost with no coupons. I have had times where technically I made money because the amount I got in Extra Bucks after my purchase was more than what I spent out-of-pocket. I’m not a crazy coupon person, but this only takes a few minutes before I go to CVS and it’s easily worth it.

But at the same time, if you are saving money on something you don’t need you really aren’t saving money. Even with my CVS trips I try to only get the things I know I need. Sometimes I will stock up on things like toothpaste that I don’t need at the moment but will need later because of the sale, but I try not to make that many impulse purchases. And online shopping is really a lot about impulse purchasing. You see one thing and realize it’s a good deal and before you know it it’s in your cart with the things you need and it’s at your door in a day or two. I’m guilty of this habit and I know I need to break it.

After doing some reflection, I rethought my Amazon Prime Day plan. I decided that first I was going to look at things on sale that I already use and would be purchasing again in the future. I found the body wash I use on sale for half off so that was worth it to me. Of all the tabs I had open, the body wash was the only thing I really needed. Then I decided to look through the tabs and see if there was anything that I really wanted and wasn’t too expensive. The only things I got were some new coasters (my current ones don’t absorb any water and in this heat my water glasses are always sweating) and a set of mini glass vases which were similar to something I was looking at in another store but was much cheaper. I want to add some flowers (possibly fake ones) around my house to make things seem nicer and these vases will be perfect.

And that’s all I got. I know there are people who were sharing online how they got something for 90% off or that it was so cheap that it was almost free. But unless it was something I really needed, I really couldn’t afford to buy it. Money is getting very tight and I’m working on finding more work somewhere, but I also know that these shopping trips are probably things that I could be cutting back even more even if I believe that I’m only buying essentials. I’m going to be working on some reevaluating on what essentials I use so I can try to get better at either finding them cheaper or using what I have until my money situation gets better.

It’s not easy for me not to spend. I want to have nice things and I don’t think that I get anything too outrageous, but I also know that I am buying stuff because I think I need it. I don’t need to have the best of everything and I need to get better and using what I already have and repurposing things that I may have forgotten about.

Comments Off on Working On Not Spending (or Trying To Not Get Sucked Into Sales)

Posted in Saving, Shopping

Tagged money, online shopping, savings, shopping

Category Archives: Shopping

Being Upset With Customer Service (or Trying Not To Be The Type Of Customer I Hate)

Like this:

Finding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups)

Like this:

Another Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping)

Like this:

Saving Money and Trying To Be Green (or Revamping Some Things)

Like this:

Finding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making)

Like this:

It’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present)

Like this:

Building Upon My Monthly Challenge (or Continuing To Work On Shopping)

Like this:

No Shopping September (or At Least No Online Shopping)

Like this:

A Disney Auction (or An Amazing Collection)

Like this:

Working On Not Spending (or Trying To Not Get Sucked Into Sales)

Like this:

Follow me on Twitter

Like Me On Facebook

Follow Me On Instagram

thejenlevin

Recent Posts

Archives

Category Archives: Shopping

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Share this:

Like this:

You Might Also Like

Connect With Me!

Subscribe To Finding My Inner Bombshell!

Follow me on Twitter

Follow Me On Instagram

thejenlevin

Recent Posts

Archives