Posts Tagged ‘overshopping’
Sucked In By A Sale
Long-time readers of my organizing tips may recall an earlier rant of mine on the tyranny of coupons (Coupons: To Clip or Not To Clip?) Coupons induce us to behave in irrational ways that waste our time and create clutter. Similarly, sales are likely to have the same effect.
When we are shopping for something specific, it’s quite delightful to find that the item we planned to buy is on sale and we can purchase it for less than expected. However, our delight in discovering a sale often leads us into some self-defeating behaviors. Here’s an example.
Keep Like With Like
One of my five basic organizing principles is “Keep like with like”. In my clients’ homes, I see over and over again what happens when this principle is violated.
I often hear the anguished cry, “I had no idea I had so many of these!”
When you don’t keep like with like, one of two results is likely to happen: (1) you run out, or (2) you overbuy. You may be asking yourself, how can one behavior result in two completely opposite outcomes?
Three Idiots
I’ve noticed that I give the most enjoyment to my readers when I confess that the Organizing Goddess has feet of clay. Yes, dear readers, even professional organizers are human!
Earlier this year, Barry Manilow appeared on Broadway in a concert of his music. Back in the day, I was a huge Barry Manilow fan. This was not a cool thing to admit back then, but I was fearless in my individuality and would happily confess it. Somebody once said to me, “But all his songs are exactly the same.” I replied, “Maybe so, but I like that song.”
Hearing that Barry would be appearing on Broadway got me thinking about how much his music had meant to me, particularly in times of trouble. Shortly thereafter, one of my favorite TV shows, Glee, ran an episode about guilty pleasures, and one of the teenage characters admitted to being a Fanilow. (Love that word.)
So I decided to buy a Barry Manilow CD and wallow in my uncoolness. I poked around on Amazon.com and found Ultimate Manilow, which had all the songs that were meaningful to me. A few days later, I ordered the CD. Thanks to a new feature on Amazon, you can do an instant download after you purchased a CD. I downloaded Barry and had a blast going down Memory Lane listening to those songs.
The Reasonable Person Standard
In law, the “reasonable person standard” is used to judge a defendant’s behavior by asking whether “a reasonable person, under the same circumstances, would have acted in the same way as the defendant”.
So what does this have to do with organizing? I sometimes use the “reasonable person standard” to help my clients determine how much is too much.
A Cautionary Tale about Q-Tips
My mother called me the other day to tell me that she had 750 Q-tips and was hoping I would agree to take some of them off her hands.
Here’s how it happened. My mother noticed that the package of 300 Q-tips that she purchased at Walgreen’s quite a number of years ago was almost empty. However, she was determined to buy a smaller package, since she and my dad use them up so slowly, and, like most of us in New York City, have limited storage space.
She went to Walgreen’s and saw a package of 500. Too big! At CVS, she found a package in the cosmetics area — 100 Q-tips for $ 2.49. Perfect!
But they had Q-tips over in the skin care aisle as well, and there she found the package of 750 Q-tips. (It was supposed to be a package of 500 but was marked “Get 50% more at the same price!”) The price for this bounty? $ 3.49.