Yesterday was my grocery shopping day as well as miscellaneous errand day. I was very proud of myself for setting a limit at the grocery store and sticking to it. I felt like I had been overspending the last few weeks for no other reason than because I could; for me that is not a good enough reason. With that in mind, I set myself a budget of $65.00 for the weekly trip to the local grocery store. I not only came in under budget (62.38) but found an error on the receipt in the stores favor. They had double charged me for something that I had only purchased one of. I usually scan the receipt on my way out of the store so I caught the error right away. My first inclination was to just let it slide "its only $2.38" but then I thought "No, its my $2.38". I took my cart, my receipt and myself over to customer service and explained that they had accidentally double charged me. I figured they were going to go thru the bags to make sure that I did not have two of the item (I knew I didn't) but they just scanned the one and refunded my overcharge. They did make me sign the back of a refund slip so I am sure you could not use this as a scam and try it often but in my case it was totally legitimate so I got my refund and left. It seems silly in some ways, it was only $2.38 but in the larger picture I look at it in terms of stewardship. Why should I let someone else take money my DH and I work for over a simple error. I recently heard a quote I like "I like to spend but I hate to waste." This was from someone with a lot of money who could afford to spend and spend and spend. I really like the values it sums up - enjoy your money but do not waste it. Letting the mistake go unnoticed would be wasting my money. After all, I would not just take $2.38 and throw it into a trash can.
My other small victory came in finding a bargain on a dress. We were invited to a wedding in late June and I really did not have a suitable dress. I don't dress up much so my dress wardrobe is rather miminal. I did have one dress I could wear but I had worn it to another wedding given my the same family (neighbor has 3 daughters - 2nd one is getting married) so I really felt I needed something else. However, since I don't dress up much, I tend to not want to buy dresses and those I do buy I want to be classics that I can keep and wear for years. I happened to be near a local Goodwill with time to kill before picking my kids up from school. I figured I would just go in and look, not really expecting to find anything. Well, I was thrilled to find an brand new, tags still on, in my size, prefect for the wedding, classic dress for $9.00. A bit high for Goodwill but that was because it was still brand new. I snapped it up (after trying it on) and am thrilled that I now don't have to worry about what to wear. Not only do I have that problem solved, but I was able to do it for only $9.00. Shoes are still an issue but I might be able to borrow something from one of my daughters.
My Small Victories
May 24th, 2007 at 01:53 pm
May 24th, 2007 at 02:17 pm 1180012647