Tag: shopping

I Found an Alternative to Sephora!

~ Clarissa ~ Leave a comment

Those of you who are not fans of Sephora will not understand how deprived one feels when separated from it for any length of time. I was so convinced that Sephora was unique that I didn’t even look for any alternatives. Then, yesterday, we went to our favorite Indian restaurant, which, as bad luck might have it, is located 50 minutes away from where we live. I’m addicted to Indian food but have the misfortune of living in such a backwards little town that it doesn’t even have an Indian restaurant. (Have you heard of any other place in the civilized world where people have to drive for an hour for Indian food?)

So yesterday benevolent forces helped me stumble upon a Sephora-like place called Ulta on my way out of the Indian restaurant. It is almost like Sephora but it has the grave disadvantage of discriminating against men. As soon as we walked in, N. observed in shock that there wasn’t a men’s section, not even a tiny little one. Probably, men in Missouri have no interest in looking good, and from what I’ve seen in this state, that might be exactly the case. However, Ulta has something Sephora doesn’t: a really huge section dedicated to hair. Curling irons, straightening irons, hair dryers, and, most importantly, a really huge selection of hairbrushes, like I’d never seen anywhere else.

Another thing this store has is an impressive selection of these facial masks you can see in the picture. I got used to them in Montreal but they are always an incredible drag to find in the US. The last place where I did manage to locate these masks was Ithaca, NY, but even there the selection was paltry. Here, it was better than in Montreal. (For Chesterfield, MO to outdo Montreal in any way is a really big deal).

The only thing I regret that I didn’t know the store existed before going there. I just found their website and it gives you a 20% discount off anything bought in the store.

Coupons: Spending to Save

~ Clarissa ~ 13 Comments

One typically American pastime I could never understand is couponing. People honestly seem to think that all these Groupons, CouponSurfers, etc. somehow end up saving them money instead of being one more way to spend on something they don’t really need. (Just to clarify, I have nothing against people spending money on junk they don’t need. It’s the self-delusion that is implicit in couponing that bothers me.) Now there is even a show on weird people who invest the time and the effort required for a full-time job on finding and clipping coupons only to fill their houses with mountains of junk they will never need. Money-wise, it would make a lot more sense to channel the energies they expend on figuring out how to “save” 20 cents on the twentieth box of detergent into looking for actual employment but coupon-lovers seem to be unaware of that.

Every week, my mailbox fills with coupon circulars from the neighborhood grocery stores. The waste of paper makes me livid, especially since I haven’t used a single coupon in my entire life. Food-wise, coupons make no sense for me because they are offered mostly on stuff that comes in cans and boxes and I prefer to eat fresh. In terms of shampoo, detergent and other similar products that coupons often cover, buying two bottles of shampoo to save 15 cents will save you absolutely no money. Human nature is such that the more we have, the more we waste. Having all that conditioner will make you use it a lot more often than if you had one little bottle and knew that you wouldn’t be able to buy a new one for a month.

Electronic couponing sites are even weirder than the paper version of coupons. What are the chances that I suddenly experience a strong desire to get a French manicure at a specific spa 40 miles from where I live, go to Groupon, and discover that if 15 more French manicure-lovers can be found in my area, we will all get $10 off the manicure at that spa? One can count on a coincidence of this kind maybe once in a lifetime. All the rest of purchases people make from such websites do not reflect any actual needs. What happens often is that people just come to such websites out of curiosity, find something that sounds kind of interesting, and get seduced into buying the product and the service just because it has the words “huge savings” attached to it.

Buying stuff you never planned to buy for a lower price that it normally has isn’t saving. It’s spending more to engage in a fantasy of being a virtuous, savings-oriented shopper. The only real way to save is not to buy. Throw out the coupon circular and try to see how long you can make the stuff you already have last.

P.S. Couponing enthusiasts always remind me of the following joke:

“I just saved a dollar.”

“How did you do that?”

“I didn’t manage to get on the bus, so I ran after it all the way to work.”

“Good for you! Next time, you can save $15.”

“How?”

“Just run after a cab.”