Penny wise and pound foolish

Those of you who've read my blog long enough know that one of the things that send me straight into my happy zone is getting a great bargain. Those of you who live with me (this means you, Jia Wern) know that I can talk about it for hours afterwards and shamelessly ask for compliments on what a savvy buyer I am. 

Good thing not many of you live with me. =P

It's not so much the money saved that makes me happy - it's more the thought that I've successfully optimized my resources and traded minimum input for maximum output. So I still diligently answer Kroger feedback surveys because the reward points add up to a few dollars in fuel discounts. It's not like answering the survey takes more than 5 minutes anyway, and guess who has a lot of free time? =P

The trouble is, when we still get hit by unexpected expenditures after all that effort to coupon, research for best value items and buy mostly stuff on sale, I tend to feel hopeless. Basically, I feel like, why did I spend so much effort trying to save a few bucks when one car repair bill wipes out a few hundred dollars? Is it worth it? Are we being penny wise and pound foolish?

Ugh.

Or maybe we should eat out a little more, spoil ourselves and indulge in our whims since we won't have much left anyway, given how often unexpected emergencies happen. 

I'm just ranting because it's hardly likely that I'll change my habits. I still like the thrill of getting a best buy, and like JW says, every little bit helps. Perhaps without my compulsive scrimping, we would be worse off.

It's kinda hard to FEEL like the little bits actually matter, though, once you get smacked in the face with a hefty sum to pay for something unexpected. And it's harder to feel happy about saving $20 when you have to spend $500 on an alternator replacement, mainly because you didn't have the resources to go to a better, more reasonable garage. So sometimes, when we get a big bill, I tend to become more fatalistic and careless, and de-stress by eating out. After all, another $20 is nothing compared to the huge bill we just paid. This phase doesn't last long, fortunately, and I'm usually back to couponing the very next day.

Does anyone else share my sentiments? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who's irrational like this. =P

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