I brought a micro-fiber towel home from the 'mart and fell in love with it instantly as it not only cleaned my counters and glass-top stove but shined them, too. I thought, as I was admiring my handiwork of shininess, why have I not forked over the five bucks to get these towels earlier?
Then, a few days later as I was folding laundry I realized that the smell was not quite all the way out of the boy's clothes--you may know the smell that I am referring to--the smell that accompanies small boys no matter how many times you bathe them? So I remembered my dish-towel experience and knew it was time for an upgrade in laundry detergent.
BOY! If I thought I knew what happiness was before washing clothes in nice laundry soap I was surely mistaken. Every shirt, pant and sock met my nose in wonder before being folded and put away.
You may be asking, what's the big deal? I'm sure many people do not hesitate to fork over the extra dollars to get the premiums but I'm cheap, you see. Get over it.
So then I started thinking. What else can I buy? This is fun. And then I realized my biggest foe staring at me right in the face, er rather, feet. My carpet. It wasn't even two years old and already I had fantasies of replacing it. No matter how many times I vacuumed it never looked clean. Of course, I blamed it on my vacuum for sucking, or not sucking, or whatever, instead of the four children and two adults that inhabit the house. It's not our fault. It had to be the vacuum.
I started investigating. What kind of vacuum to buy? How much did I really want to spend? It turned out that vacuums can cost a lot of money. Gulp. But I'm cheap. Could I do it? I wasn't sure.
Eventually I caved, justifying the purchase to a business expense (hey, I work. . .I just don't get paid any money) and we came home with a pretty nice vacuum. Immediately we set to work vacuuming every nook and cranny we could get our hose on. And when we finished we stood back and gaped at the miracle. Our dingy crusty carpet had vanished! In its place lay a beautiful, fluffy, soft carpet that made you think of little lambs jumping through a meadow....well, you get my point. I couldn't believe it!
So, I guess the moral of this story is that sometimes it's okay to be cheap. But sometimes it's not. And also, vacuuming really makes a difference!
