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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Frugal brain farts

Several years ago I made the mistake of super-sizing a store discount by signing up for a charge card. At the time I thought I was being really smart, picking up four early Christmas gifts for a total of $16. But then I neglected to pay the bill on time and got socked with a $16 late fee -- doubling the cost of my “great deal.”

I thought I’d learned my lesson, but apparently not, because just last month I made the same mistake trying to get a better deal on a dress Rowan needed for something or other. (The “no new clothes” vow primarily applies to me, though I do get most of our kids’ clothes secondhand as well.) At any rate, the bill rode a wave of chaos into the house and was misplaced just long enough for me to forget about it until it was past due. I don’t remember what the original savings was, but I’m sure it was less than the $20 late fee.

I know that these days there are at least as many ways for consumers to "beat the system" as there are ways to get screwed, but experiences like these make me think I’m better off opting out of that game. It’s time to return to the days when I carried more library cards than credit cards in my purse.

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