Did you know that wrapping paper costs $5 a role? $5!! I have never purchased a role of wrapping paper before, so the insane holiday markup for paper strikes me as a huge ripoff. I mean, they know that at some point throughout the holiday season you’ll need it, so why not jack the price up so you can fuss and fume in line as you smack down your hard earned cash and mourn the loss of the adorable stocking stuffer you aren’t getting someone because you’re $5 short? Since I’m cheap thrifty and cannot fathom paying $5 per role for wrapping paper that will inevitably get torn, crumbled and discarded in 4.3 seconds , imagine my glee when we hit the cheap after Christmas sale jackpot at Sear’s last night. We were there to place an order for the DeWalt worm-drive circular saw that Ted has been drooling over for the past few months (payed for almost entirely by gift cards and a rebate card from the purchase of our washer and dryer…sweet!) and we happened to pass by the now sparse seasonal section. And then we saw it. An aisle bin stuffed with role upon role of wrapping paper glory for only $1.24! Four for the price of one – our 2011 Christmas budget is silently rejoicing. Since we only went through a scant role and a half this year, I’d like to think these four pretty bundles are a sound financial investment for the merrymaking future. Want to see them?
Colorful, functional, and reasonable – they’ll do. As for the purchase of the saw, we see it as another wise investment opportunity to right a wrong in the world. For a professional and handyman such as Ted to own a truly impressive collection of tools so common and so obscure that most people probably haven’t even heard of them, but to not own a saw is downright nonsensical. So now he owns a saw (or at least he will when it arrives). It’s amazing how many tools one person can have, but if you’re missing just one piece (oh, I don’t know, let’s say a saw, for example), you can’t put together the puzzle (or our basement shelves). Furthermore, I cannot recall the number of times I’ve heard this phrase in the past two months “I could fix/build ____, if only I had a saw.” Investment success.
On the topic of success: Chili, cornbread, and rhubarb crumble. Beautiful, culinary, success. The whole house smelled of yum yums (matching sets of Yum Yum sweats next year, anyone?). The chili was thick, hearty and busting with flavor. It was the perfect compliment to the sweet, crumbly cornbread and both paired expertly with the gooey, tart crumble. YES. Even more exciting is the realization that there are leftovers. I love leftovers and I am long overdue for a luxurious lunch. And come Saturday we should actually have a kitchen table on which to enjoy a luxurious lunch (another investment!) . Our kitchen island cart and kitchen table & chairs should be all stained and ready to pick up on Saturday sometime between our free Chick-Fil-A and Smoothie King breakfast, holiday de-decorating and playoff NFL games. Excellent.
Another hint from the thrifty Mom you obviously take after: Dollar stores (but make sure they are the ones where everything really is just one dollar) are great places to get gift wrapping supplies, nice cards (the cards are all 2 for $1) and a bunch of other great buys!
Wrapping paper is ridiculously expensive. I had bought some at Target about a month ago and was a little sad at how much I spent. Later that day I ended up at Costco (shocking, I know!) and bought more than I’ll ever need in a lifetime for less than the two rolls I had previously bought at Target. Bonus points for the Costco paper because it had gridlines on the back to make cutting straight lines easy breezy.
Needless to say, Target got their wrapping paper back.