life's little luxuries
Every year around this time, the skin on my hands starts to dry up, leaving a red, achy, bleeding mess behind. Ouch. For the past few years, I've used Life Brand skin lotion as a means to ease my minor suffering--and for the price, I thought it was doing the job very well. Besides, at the price of under a dollar-fifty for a sample-size bottle, I could afford to lose it. I was happy, my hands were happy, Shoppers Drug Mart and their shareholders were happy.
Last week, though, I needed new lotion. A new year plus no idea as to where last year's bottle went meant that I'd have to brave the well-lit aisles of the nearest open drugstore. When they didn't have the Life Brand stuff, I was forced to cough up a little more money and buy brand name skin lotion. Me being me, I went with Vaseline Intensive Care Dry Skin Lotion. And oh, it was like magic in a tube. Creamy, smooth, soothing magic that replenished my skin and left it amazingly soft. In short, it justified its price plus adjectives that could have come straight from a commercial.
About the only Life Brand stuff I buy any more is facial tissue and vitamins--the former because kleenex is kleenex, the latter because I checked to make sure that my Spectrum Golds were on the whole comparable to Centrums. Other than that, we're pretty much brand-name folks now. And we used to buy so much Life stuff: shampoo, cotton swabs, and even the occasional econo pack of toilet paper, among other things, have all found their way into our bathroom at one time or another. Of course, this was probably because my mom was a thrifty shopper and I wanted to stretch my minimum-wage paycheque as far as possible. But now, with me earning more money than I ever have in my life, I'm occasionally splurging and trying name brand products--and finding out that sometimes, they are actually better. Like shampoo: I went from the litre bottles of Life Brand shampoo to Suave (I had a stack of free coupons I got from the Westender) to Herbal Essences (albeit at clearout prices)--and I'm never going back. If I do ever have to scale back, I'll try a different store's brand, Optimum points be damned.
After all, frugality is fine, but pretty pointless if it leaves your hands dry and your hair impossible to comb through. Sometimes, a little luxury is a necessity.
Last week, though, I needed new lotion. A new year plus no idea as to where last year's bottle went meant that I'd have to brave the well-lit aisles of the nearest open drugstore. When they didn't have the Life Brand stuff, I was forced to cough up a little more money and buy brand name skin lotion. Me being me, I went with Vaseline Intensive Care Dry Skin Lotion. And oh, it was like magic in a tube. Creamy, smooth, soothing magic that replenished my skin and left it amazingly soft. In short, it justified its price plus adjectives that could have come straight from a commercial.
About the only Life Brand stuff I buy any more is facial tissue and vitamins--the former because kleenex is kleenex, the latter because I checked to make sure that my Spectrum Golds were on the whole comparable to Centrums. Other than that, we're pretty much brand-name folks now. And we used to buy so much Life stuff: shampoo, cotton swabs, and even the occasional econo pack of toilet paper, among other things, have all found their way into our bathroom at one time or another. Of course, this was probably because my mom was a thrifty shopper and I wanted to stretch my minimum-wage paycheque as far as possible. But now, with me earning more money than I ever have in my life, I'm occasionally splurging and trying name brand products--and finding out that sometimes, they are actually better. Like shampoo: I went from the litre bottles of Life Brand shampoo to Suave (I had a stack of free coupons I got from the Westender) to Herbal Essences (albeit at clearout prices)--and I'm never going back. If I do ever have to scale back, I'll try a different store's brand, Optimum points be damned.
After all, frugality is fine, but pretty pointless if it leaves your hands dry and your hair impossible to comb through. Sometimes, a little luxury is a necessity.