I gave up on the 29-Day Giving Challenge a while ago, but today I gave a lot of things away.
Yesterday I got a premium for subscribing to Everyday Food: two reusable shopping bags. I think this is a great idea for a premium, and I’m not the only one–we each got one when we picked up our registration materials at the triathlon last weekend. Between those and the bags we already had, the two that arrived yesterday were two too many. So when I went to Whole Foods this morning, I gave them away to people who didn’t have bags with them. Apparently it’s not just a good premium, it’s a good thing to get from a random stranger. Both recipients seemed very happy with their new bags. One woman said, “You just made my day!” And while that’s nice, I hope that the high point of her day didn’t turn out to be getting a free reusable bag at 8:30 a.m.
In the spirit of clearing out things we don’t need, I took several bags of clothes and an old DVD player to Out of the Closet, a thrift store with a branch nearby. (I also returned a book to the library–but since I then picked up four that had been on hold, I can’t count that as a victory over stuff.)
My errands weren’t all focused on giving, though, because I had to buy gas. At $4.61 per gallon, this made me even happier that neither of us regularly commutes by car. I paid a little over $55 for 12 gallons of gas. It’s a relief that I didn’t need a whole tank, because that would have cost $70.
I did squeeze in some self-indulgence (as if that’s rare). For the first time in about 8 years, I had my hair colored in the salon. I’ve been doing this myself–sporadically–with a variety of Nice & Easy shades. But the home kit doesn’t seem to be coloring the gray the way it used to. I figured that I could embrace the gray, but then I’d kind of have to cut my hair short. Or I could continue to let my hair grow out, but then I’d need to pay more attention to the color. I’m just not ready for the former. While I think Jamie Lee Curtis looks fantastic, she’s about 20 years older than I am. So I’m going with the latter, although I have a lot of qualms about how much it costs. On the other hand, chances are good that I won’t go to the salon more than once every three months, so I guess that if I amortize the costs it won’t sound so bad.
Oh, who am I kidding?