Thankful

I'm probably sounding like a broken record by now, but I just keep getting shocked by how bad things are. I was at the store today and found even more shortages. I wanted to stock up on some shipping supplies, but only found 2 items that I wanted. I then went online and saw that there's limits on the items online. Ugh. The other thing I've noticed is that self checkouts only accept card payments again. Kroger had this a few months ago, but then went back to cash. Walmart self checkouts are all card only.

We are in great shape. I found some cereal again and bought 3 boxes. We have lots of Walmarts around here, so I think I'm gonna hit a few and pick up shipping supplies & cereal. It's holiday season. I can't be without any business supplies. I'm just gonna order whatever other items I need, within the next day or two.

I'm thankful that I never gave up stockpiling. Every couponer will tell you that we suffer from shopping burnout at some stage. I went through that a few months ago, because pandemic shopping just wore me out. I'm still not chasing drugstore deals. I'm at the burnout stage again. I just want to be done shopping and take a break from it all. However, I'm thankful that I went hard since our lockdown ended last year. I knew that if there was a 2nd or 3rd wave, we'd be back to square one. 

I'm thankful that I shop for Christmas gifts year round. Not only does it save me money, but I don't have to worry much about getting whatever's on the Christmas gift lists this year. I made a list of items I already have and couldn't believe how much I've already purchased (that's cause I have to hide all the gifts...lol). I only need a few things, but I'm waiting on my gcs to clear so I can purchase it. I've already shipped one box to my family. The box has been stuck in Chicago for almost 2 weeks now. Looks like USPS has backlogs again (this is why I always mail their boxes early). I'm waiting on that box to move, before I ship the other one. 

Does anyone remember how I did some marathon clothing shopping at the beginning of the year? I ended up with over 70 items to date and I still have some gcs left. I received more gcs for Valentines (only because DH forgot about it...lol) and Mother's Day. So I had a little over $900 to spend. I mean who the heck gets paid (thank you Rakuten) for buying over 70 items? Ka-ching! I have NEVER EVER bought this much stuff during a sale. I didn't understand it, but I knew that the sale was too good to pass up - especially since I didn't have to spend any money on it :) I bought clothes, shoes & accessories (some of which are in my family's Christmas boxes). Heck, even I thought that this was an excessive amount of stuff. I mean, who shops like that? Well, it's all making sense to me now. I now know that was God (once again) directing my steps. With all the shortages, we are not seeing good sales anymore. The June semi-annual sale was very lackluster. We're lucky if we find things that we really need. We don't know how long this is gonna last or how much prices are going to keep increasing. However, I don't have to worry about that. We have enough stuff that we don't have to shop for the next 2-3 years, maybe longer.

Last year's BF was nothing to write home about. I didn't even buy much, even though Kohls is my BF go to store. My gut tells me that this year is gonna be even worse. Doesn't matter to me, because I only need new running shoes.  This is unheard of for me, but all that shopping I did paid off in spades. I'm hoping the athletic shoes will be on sale, because the price was much higher in 2020, than previous years. 

I mentioned before that I needed bras, but was holding out for a good sale. Not anymore. When I checked the Macy's sale over the weekend, they had bras on sale. The price was way higher than I normally pay on sale, so I compared it to other stores. Turns out that Macy's had the lowest price and I still had a $25 gc. Rakuten was also giving 10% cash back, so the price was right for me. However, I noticed that the brand I purchased was OOS in many sizes (this was for several different styles). WTH?! Whoever heard of a bra shortage (not that I would mind going braless...lol). 

It turns out that Mypoints increasing those Kohls gc points, was a blessing in disguise. I redeemed for Macy's gcs instead, because they require the lowest amounts of points.  I don't shop Macy's like I used to anymore, but I was able to pay for quite a few things (mainly household items) with those gcs. 

I can't begin to tell you all of the number of times I end up doing things that don't make sense to me, that end up working out in my favour in the end. I know it's God.  I pray before I go anywhere (even shopping) and most times I get the most unexpected favour & blessings. 

So I'm thankful that we are so blessed. So blessed in so many different ways. So blessed that we in turn, can be a blessing to others.