Friday, July 23, 2010

Rainy day rant

This afternoon I guess I am in the mood to bitch.  Dollarama needs to be renamed to the Dollartwentyfiveortwodollarama.  I know that's a mouthful but I don't really think you can call it a Dollarama when very few items actually cost a dollar.  I was there today with my son, we were looking for cereal storage containers, which we found, priced at $1.25.  We also purchased a very small child's book; $2, a puzzle; $2, an Elmo snack bowl; $2.  While these things were far less expensive from the other big name stores, it still kind of burns me that even at the dollar store, prices have doubled.  I really hate to pay twice the price for an item that is manufactured in CHINA for a fraction of the retail cost and on top of that, the HST (I won't get started because I may be typing all day on that subject!) 

I realize I sound like a scrooge, but in this day and age, we need to be more careful than ever with our hard earned money.  Prices of goods continue to soar, the cost of living as a whole is increasing, but salaries are most definitely not following the same trend.  In fact, employers are finding new and more creative ways to short sell their employees.  Instead of hiring full time/permanent employees, we are seeing more contract positions that don't offer benefits or retirement plans.  More and more we have to rely on ourselves to pinch our pennies and plan for our futures if we ever want to stop working.  I consider myself to be very lucky to have an employer who offers those benefits, but my other half does not, so there is still some responsibility to plan and save.  So little changes here and there to prices at the DOLLAR store do aggravate me. 

Over the last three years I have learned how to make my money stretch further.  Pleasure shopping for myself is now virtually nonexistent.  This week was my first visit to Reitmans since before Christmas (and at that time I was shopping for other people!) and I bought two items both of which had been marked down to less than 1/2 their original price.  I shop at consignment stores for my son's clothing, I have found excellent quality things that had barely been worn for 1/3 of what I would have paid for them brand new.  I watch the flyers for specials at the grocery store and try to make meals that stretch.  We both ditched our cell phones; we used them mostly to call each other so now we just make sure to call each other before we leave the office or house.  Emergencies just don't happen that often.  However, it is still in the back of my mind that we should perhaps have one.  Instead of buying books, my library card has gotten much more use out of it.  I'm just not real good with the due dates, but at least that money is going to something I really believe in and appreciate.  If I could get rid of my car, I would but at this point in my life, it's just not practical.  I have to pick up my son from daycare after work, taking the bus from work, to pick him up, and then home is not something I want to do.  Our time together is precious and sitting on a bus is not what I call quality time with my baby. 

Maybe someday we'll catch a break and win the lottery, but until then...I will hunt out the bargains!

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