Ebay, I love you

I first need to confess that I am so not a shopper. Not in the traditional sense anyway. When my husband and I go out to run errands and shopping is involved, I am definitely the man in the relationship. I make a list before I go of exactly what I need at each place and move in, purchase said items and move out with almost military precision. My wonderful husband however, can spend over an hour just…wandering around looking at things and leave without even buying anything. Needless to say, the two shopping styles don’t exactly mesh well (apparently it isn’t conducive to making decisions when I’m whining “We’ve been here for 20 minutes alreadyyyyyy…can we just GOOOOOOOOO?!!!!! Subtle, I am not) so we really don’t go shopping together very often. This also cuts down on the need to go to therapy more often than not as well (I kid, I kid…sort of).

However, I have, in the past year or so, truly discovered how wonderful online shopping can be. Addictive almost. I don’t keep up on alot of fashion trends, (flip-flops in every color of the rainbow and a comfy pair of knee-length men’s shorts is my usual basic summer wardrobe) so it isn’t like I’m looking to find this season’s must have Prada pumps, but it is nice to be able to just sit down at my computer and with a few clicks of the keys and swipes of the mouse, I can have the perfect curl tamer that I can’t find anywhere in town on its way to my own house in a matter of minutes (curly hair and lots of it + summer humidity in Virginia = something capable of taking over the world if not liberally coated with something involving de-frizzer).

I’m also always in search of the best bargain possible. It’s almost a physical need I have to see just how on sale I can get something. I blame it on my family background–I have a New Englander grandmother who could pinch a penny so hard it would bleed, as well as a toughened Western grandma that will not buy something unless it is on sale–and a very good sale at that, in my lineage and it tends to make it difficult to just buy things. I know that if I purchase something without doing my research to find it cheap, the minute after I hit purchase, I will immediately discover it somewhere else for half off and then be required to mentally kick myself the rest of the afternoon. This is where my most favorite place in the whole wide world enters in–Ebay. Ebay is like the biggest Wal-Mart ever, but without the drag of apathetic clerks who hate their job and long lines in the check-out lane. Anymore, if I want to buy something, I have to go to Ebay first and see if I can get it lower there than anywhere else. Sometimes, I will wait and watch for over several weeks, just stalking the best price possible. Its like garage-saling without the pressure of the property owner sizing you up and giving you the hairy eyeball while you contemplate if you really need that KISS 1982 concert t-shirt for $1.50. Not that I’ve ever bought that particular item online. At least not for $1.50…but if I could find it for $1.25, then that might be a different story.