The U.S. Postal Service, or How I Lost $50

Recently I had a little reminder pop up in my e-mail about my brother and nephew's birthday. We are heading into birthday season; 90% of my family were born in the winter, I swear. From November through February I have seven birthdays, one anniversary, Valentine's Day and Christmas. It's a financial nightmare.

Usually I ignore my brother's birthday, but this year we haven't gotten along very well and I thought I should at least send him a card. While I was at the shop, I saw a cute one for my nephew, so I picked that up, too.

I needed a good pen and there was one at the counter for $1.49, so I bought that long with the two cards for $2.25 each. My one-year-old found a cute pen that attaches to a keychain, and I am always losing pens, so I bought that too for $3.99 (yes, I knew it was a foolish purchase).

I thought I might just put stamps on the envelopes and send them, but my nephew is 17 and I knew a card without cash wouldn't be considered "thoughtful." I debated slipping a $20 bill inside, as $10 seemed chintzy, but I had already spent $9.98 plus tax, and, after all, we were trying to save money, and I had splurged on the silly pen. So, I ducked into the cute little toy/novelty shop next door to see if I could find something funny to tuck into the envelope.

I found fun bobbing ninjas for the dash of a car for the low, low price of $10. Then I found a global warming mug for my brother (the coastlines disappear when you add hot liquid) and it was $12.50. Well, I thought, for $22.50 I can get a gift for both of them, sort of like a two-for-one.

You know what's coming.

So then I walked over to the little postal shop nearby. I am terrible at sending things so I knew I had to do it right away or I would forget. Since I didn't have packaging, I had to buy it, and the mug had to be bubble-wrapped so I had to buy that too. I got the addresses from my mother while I stood there, and even though I slipped the ninjas into a plain padded envelope ($2.39) rather than a festive one, my total came to $24.52.

Ouch! I could have sent each one a twenty dollar bill and still saved $7.02. Or, I could have stuck with my original idea, swallowed my pride, and saved myself $50.00.

*sigh* These are the things that making saving money so terribly difficult -- the little decisions I have to make every day. I just hope the gifts get a laugh, but that laugh -- it's an expensive one!

Next time, I'll think twice, or at least I hope I will. Gifts are my biggest downfall, and I just don't know how to stop (and I always, I repeat, ALWAYS, lose money when I make gifts).

I'm not looking forward to Christmas...