More Than a Little

I have been snowed in all week, minus the one trip out on Monday with my mom and aunt, and I am missing my little errands. I have things to buy! Places to go! ECB and RR to roll! And if I have to look at these walls one more day I may go insane!

The truth is, the original reason that I started couponing is that I needed to get out of the house. I am not terribly social, and when Evelyn was tiny, I didn’t mind staying home all week by myself in the slightest. At that time, my mom would come down to visit about once a week and then once every other week, and when my husband was home on the weekends, we’d do most of our errands. Traveling with an infant is a skill that has to be learned like any other, and I really didn’t get out much on my own until she was bigger. I could have, but I didn’t feel the need, so I didn’t. That was enough social interaction for me. I was newly in love with a tiny fascinating creature and we didn’t need anyone else. Or… well, doesn’t that sound sweet, anyway?

When she got a little older, though, the days started dragging by, so I started taking her shopping. We would go to WalMart and I would wander through the aisles and find all sorts of things that I suddenly needed to buy. I’m thrifty by nature so I wouldn’t often give in to temptation, but I admit that brought home a few things that I wouldn’t have bought if I hadn’t been bored. I distinctly remember a sunhat with pink flowers and polka dots as an example of that. She hated having things on her head, but it was so cute! Of course, as it turns out, that hat turned out to spark an obsessive love for hats in her, and though she has LOTS of hats now, it’s still my favorite and it was just a dollar, so maybe that isn’t the best example after all.

Anyway, at about that same time, I came across the idea of the drugstore game and extreme couponing somewhere online, and I saw it first as an opportunity to get out of the house without a real financial impact. It gave me an errand and a purpose, for I also dislike aimless browsing. It was good for Evelyn, too, because she likes to get out of the house, too, and she has learned how to behave while in public, too. She sits calmly and eats crackers and Cheerios most of the time. I know that in part, I am just lucky that she has a personality suited for this sort of thing, but I also know that she can handle these shopping trips in part because she’s used to it.

It didn’t take me too long to see how much money we had been wasting all this time, though, and so I got a little more involved with it and then a little more organized about it and suddenly, it was a hobby. My husband stopped working at his second at-home job and then the money became more than a game, but a way to extend the amount of time I can stay home with my baby. The less we spend, the longer we can handle living on one income. It’s simple math, and I love being able to have some impact on our economy even though I’m not working at a “real” job anymore.

All that just to say… I really want to get out of the house tomorrow. Please let it warm up a little so everything will melt.