Model Consumer

During the broadcasts of I Love the 90s, they’ve been airing commercials for Jamie Cullum about 150 times per hour. This should make me prehate him. But I’ve really liked the clips they’re using in the commercials, and by the time we’d memorized the damn commercial last night, Ginny and Sammi and I decided that we needed to buy Twentysomething as soon as was humanly possible.

I went to Target at lunch today (and, miraculously, escaped only $32 poorer) to pick up a purse I need for all the weddings I’m going to be attending in the next few weeks/months, and got the CD. It’s a sort of jazz, sort of pop combination of covers and original songs, and so far I’m really enjoying it. “All at Sea” is particularly pretty.

You know how they say goldfish will grow as big as the container they’re in will allow? That’s sort of what happens when I go to Target. My purchases are directly proportional to the container I’m putting them in, and the length of time I spend in the store. So if I go on a Saturday and get a shopping cart, I’m going to spend a ton of money.

I’m trying to SAVE money now, though, which is really difficult for me to do. So I’ve been avoiding Target as much as possible, and not going after work. But I did legitimately need a small purse and I knew Target had a suitable one on sale for $7 or so. Ginny and I are going out of town tomorrow so I wouldn’t have time to go get it then.

My plan: to go at lunch (when time would be limited) and to bypass the carts and baskets entirely. That worked for a while. But I started to accumulate stuff and, wonder of all wonders, Target had a stack of shopping baskets right next to the cosmetics. I still did pretty well, though. From the receipt:

DR PEPPER DT – 0.99 (because you need a Diet DP for the road)
LREAL MASC – 4.00 (mascara on sale!)
AQUA FRESH – 0.99 (trial size toothpaste for trips)
L OREAL – 2.99**
AQUAFRESH – 2.99 (regular toothpaste for home)
TGT LIQ SOAP – 0.89 (hand soap for office)
CGIRL LQ MU – 1.69 (trial size TruBlend, woo!)
MINI TOP ZIP – 7.48 (the purse I came for)
CULLUM JAMIE – 8.99 (the CD)

SUBTOTAL: 31.01
VA TAX 4.5000% on 30.02: 1.35
VA TAX 4.0000% on 0.99: 0.04
TOTAL: 32.40

**Wait. What the hell is that?

I just looked through the bag of stuff I got (which I brought into the office so my makeup doesn’t melt in the sun) and I only bought one L’Oreal product, which was the Feather Lash mascara on sale for $4.00.

I totally got overcharged by three dollars. And this as I celebrated my ability to keep things under control by only purchasing the things I planned to go in for, and cutting corners where possible (like with the trial-size makeup).

No fair.

13 Replies to “Model Consumer”

  1. Yeah I love going to target as it hits my theory of getting nearly all you need in one stop.

    I too have trouble getting just what I came for. Normally I go to get toys for my neices and miraculously I always find stuff I can use at home, be it videos, computer games, other electronics, or even extra pillows(I only had 2 for my bed, so I bought 2 more of the new extra bulky ones!). Overall I believe target knows how to stay in business at least!

  2. Oh, I do love Target. And though I have no comment on the makeup, I do do do love the diet Dr. Pepper. Sometimes, a diet Coke (even with lime) just won't cut it.

    And I pay 8.5% sales tax in California…

  3. I'd take the receipt back and demand my money back. And refrain from spending any more there that day

  4. A quick note about my plunge into South Beach, which I had previously avoided because I thought it was just another less-than-healthy diet fad;

    I'm down about 12 pounds in as many days, though I've yet to be hungry. Phase two starts in two days, where I'll reintroduce good carbs back into my diet.

    I had already been on something similar to Phase 3 for about a year without knowing South Beach. During that time, I had not been weighing myself, but had gone from 208 down to 198 (I'm 6'2″).

    The basic premise behind South Beach is to sharply curtail consumption of sugars and simple starches. It starts out similar to Atkins, though they discourage unlimited saturated fat intake.

    My original target was to get below 192, the point at which my BMI classifies my as overweight. I remember in my 20s when I hit 192 and couldn't believe I had let myself get so bloated.

    My weight at high school graduation was 172, but that was before any weightlifting, so I've decided to set my true target at a reasonable 185.

    Will I be able to keep off the pounds? Given what I've experienced over the last year, I'd say it would be a breeze; I feel tons better just in 12 days, and am planning a biking trip around southern Tuscany in the early fall.

  5. Hey, Alberto, would you be up for discussing great places to bicycle in Tuscany for the best in Italian culture? The wife and I are looking to avoid heavy trafficked areas, starting out from Siena, to perhaps SanGimignano, Volterra, Pienza, Montepulciano, and the like. Late sept, early Oct.

  6. first of all, you're going at the best time for avoiding crowds, finding nice weather and lower prices. Of course, of those travelling to Tuscany during that time, many will go for biking – but at least you don't have to deal with city-folk/heavy auto traffic as they shouldn't have arrived yet.

    From what I've read of your posts before, you seem like a guy who's really got his act together and I'm going to assume the same for your wife. Anyway, I'm betting you can tell posion ivy from mint anyway. You've already got your cities mapped and you'll be able to sample the fortresses and towers, wine (you'll surely go through Chianti)oils, hills and cheese. You can't escape the art once near Montepulciano. Anyway, since you know where you'd like to go there's really little left to do but map distances and average your expected pace between them making the prudent calls to check about accomodations in places where you're likely to stop. You'll see plenty of History in all the places you've listed and, of course, the culture you'll get with every exchange of coin for goods. I actually believe more culture is in the (or just outside of) big cities where people are always reinventing themselves while maintaining those indespensible tchotkes that are at the root of who they are (nationally, culturally) – I rather think that smaller villages are generally the same wherever you go and that they're attractive for that reason. I love them myself and you can't beat cycling in a foriegn place.
    …check out http://www.backroads.com for some suggestions and contact information to use yourself (if you don't go with them). I hate tours but like the information they put together. I've taken a tour map before, modified it using my own map (so I knew I wouldn't get lost) and avoided most places I knew their people would be congregating. feel free to contact me via email (see RSVP at my site)if you'd like more of this nonsense. I don't know if I'd have anymore to offer though – I'm pretty fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and, anyway, I've never been there.

  7. Hey, that was just a confession. I gave a solid, encouraging response.

    Meanwhile, what I've been interested in is,<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802775403/haloscan-20/102-0665344-5178547?dev-t=D1O95WRO7PC4Z3%26camp=2025%26link_code=xm2&ref=nosim

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