Thunk, crash! Oh, mail is here. I happily walk over to the front door and pick up the stack of magazines and assorted requests for donations and sit down to sort what is read now and read later. Then “it” comes to the top of the pile. “It” would be the dreaded AMEX bill. I push it aside for a moment and then almost dare it to upset me. In that moment I open it to see if I was able to restrain myself this month. Restrain myself from the cleverly designed Whole Foods displays, the Nordstrom sales and the must have clothes that make my cute kids cuter. It’s a little contest I have with myself. Can we live within our means? Do I really have to cut coupons, only buy sale items, go store to store to be cost efficient?
Don’t get me wrong, life is good and I am not a shopaholic by any stretch of the imagination. Still, that bill comes like a report card waiting to reprimand me for my overindulgent purchase of organic goji berries and that Chardonnay from the new wine shop. For a long time my Mom still paid for her food by check long after debit cards and credit cards where in vogue. One day I asked her why and she smartly said, “Because I refuse to pay for something weeks after I ate it!” Made sense to me and this is now how I feel when I get my monthly statement.
Why did you buy those peaches that went bad because you forgot about them? Pay now please. Why did you buy that white sweater you will only wear once or twice a year? Pay now please. And why did you pay $3.81 for gas when you could have driven 2 blocks farther and paid $3.71? Pay now please.
Find out what's happening in Lexingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
I do look at the prices, I do comparison shop and I do care but I refuse to spend my life counting pennies, driving to half a dozen stores and waiting 2 months to buy something I need now all in the name of saving $10.00 a month. I mean that is what it seems to add up to when I do act like a penny pinching maniac.
I have come to terms with my AMEX bill and in recent months have found myself eager to open “it” up to claim my victory. Yes, there are still times I can be heard talking to my AMEX bill. I am defending myself, my purchases and my shopping smarts. Lord knows it talks back to me when I am late paying.