Shopping

Every year there’s something I have to have after Christmas.  B and I actually even talked about starting next year, not really exchanging gifts until after Christmas.  By then, the stuff we actually need is on sale, rather than buying something just to buy, or paying more because we didn’t wait.  Something to consider.  Anyways…

The first big purchase we made, and folks – this is big, it took money out of our operation:adoption 

fund, so clearly I better use it A LOT.  We went to Aurora Farms, and we decided to go to thekitchen store they have just to look around.  We thought maybe they’d have a KitchenAid mixer, since we missed out on the awesome deal Target had a few weeks ago.  We were roaming around, and I saw the Professional 600 series on the clearance table. It was marked down & had an additional 30% off. WHAT? So I did the math, and it came out to be just under $300 before tax.  That’s the cost of the lower model that we had been looking at.  So I snagged it.  Will I use it daily? No.  Will I use it often for the next decade? I sure as hell hope so!  It didn’t come in a fancy color, but dude, who cares.  This mixer is a beast.  Now, I just need to find something to make

On a side note, I really wanted to buy a vitamix, especially after the tweetup I went to, but there is no way I can afford both, and this just won out. Temporarily of course

And the second big purchase, which, in comparison, is not that big, is a solid pair of winter boots. 6 years ago when we got married, I bought a pair of winter boots to take with us to the mountains in case we went tubing.  We did, and my feet were cold all day.  Dry, but cold. Since then, I still have those boots, and they do their job, but I always end up with really cold feet, and then whine and am miserable.  So B and I went to Dicks to take a look at real winter boots. There were a lot to choose from.  Thankfully because I have small feet, I was even able to look at juniors boots, giving me more variety. I didn’t want a low boot, because my pants always get wet, and I didn’t want a super high-calf boot because my calves are fat and can’t wear them comfortably. I wanted something with decent traction because I’m clumsy  but something flexible because I don’t want to feel like I’m in ski boots all day.  Can you see how difficult that ended up being?

I ended up with a pair of Columbia. I went back and forth between a pair of SOREL and Columbia, and while I haven’t had a chance to wear them yet, I knew the Columbia name and felt more comfortable buying those. I picked up Columbia Kids’ Heather Canyon Winter Boot for significantly less than the adult boot price that was similar.  If you can ever buy youth – look into it.  I usually save $10-15 if I can go that route. I used to buy youth Merrel shoes all the time to save money.

All in all – I’m really happy with how we spent our money and both items can be long term investments.  The boots will last me 3-5 years (hopefully) considering I wont’ wear them more than a few times a year.

Any big post-holiday purchases you’ve made?

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