On 10/17/2015 5:40 PM, Don Y wrote:
On 10/17/2015 10:00 AM, Muggles wrote:
OTOH, I've watched my sister shop. Totally oblivious as to what
she's putting in her cart, no planning, etc. "I want this; I
want that; oh, gee... isn't *this* nice!! Gotta have TWO of those!"

frown

I don't buy much of anything unless it's on my list, but sometimes I'll
go shopping with a general goal to find *something* that I can use to
make project X with at home.

There are two kinds of shopping -- for staples and for a particular need.
The former is largely a constant activity: you need so many rolls of
toilet paper per butt per month, so many calories of foodstuffs, etc.
This is the area where marketers try to influence your purchases with
"impulse" buys. If you don't regularly buy smoked salmon, then how are
they ever going to *sell* you smoked salmon?? And, if they don't
convince new customers to buy their smoked salmon, then sales will
only go down, over time, as the old customers die off, etc.

We are keenly aware of a vendor changing their offerings -- almost
invariably in favor of something more expensive or more uniquely
associated with them (can't buy it anywhere else). And, when a
vendor tries to manipulate our purchases by changing, discontinuing
or repricing one of these items, we make a conscious effort to
RE-decide "is this worth it?" I.e., the vendor doesn't get a free
pass on the fact that we had *previously* made that decision in
their favor!

Example: SWMBO likes TJ's vegetarian chili. TJ has been out of
stock (for a LONG time). I suspect they would prefer her to
purchase some *other*/similar product that they offer. Instead,
we put "vegetarian chili" on the list and let *all* vendors
compete for that business (figure of speech... we just start looking
for product offerings from EVERY vendor).

Lo and behold, Amy's is the exact same vegetarian chili that
TJ's *used* to sell! More expensive -- but, we can be selective about
when and where we buy it and, as such, end up paying the same as
if we'd purchased it from TJ's (who no longer SELLS it!).

I.e., this sort of practice (common of TJ's and Costco) ends up
typically *costing* them business from our perspective. (We are
seriously considering dropping the Costco membership as our
purchases there have steadily decreased due to their "product
lineup" changes). I'm sure this wasn't the *intention* of their
policies -- they'd be much happier if we were buying the higher
profit margin "Kirkland" offerings, or the imported lemon
juice (are Italian lemons more lemony than ours??), or...

I'll look for items that I can re-purpose
and use in a totally different way than what it was made to be used for
IF I can't find what I'd really like to use to make what I need. I
design what I need if I can't find something in the store that'll work,
and then I'll build it out of odd parts.

Shopping for a specific need is typically more time consuming. And,
you're more willing to invest that time (ask me how much time I'm
willing to invest buying toilet paper! : ) because you have
a genuine, specific *need*.

New car is too high and wide for me to comfortably wash the roof.
Other cars I could just reach over and get the entire surface.
So, need something to make this easier: a small step ladder
(but how will that fare in actual use?) or a "sponge on a pole"
(will that end up scratching the finish, over time?).

So, the "in search of" list gets this item added so that as
we find ourselves at places that *might* offer something along
these lines, we *remember* to look at their offerings. It's not
worth a focused effort to find a suitable solution ASAP.

Next, I need to locate some thumb drives (right price, capacity,
shape, etc.).

We have all of these but up pieces of 3/4" grey pvc, and I wanted to use
it to build a contraption that'll hold up/open garden waste bags. Those
bags are really tall and the store options for things like that are a
joke that wouldn't hold up a heavy duty bag like that, so I bought some
flexible tubing at the hardware store and made a hoop out of it. I used
zip ties to create crossed legs, and I zip tied the hoop to the top and
used chain to attach clips to each side so I could make sure a bag
wouldn't slip off the edges of the top of the holder.

It's really lightweight, and I can probably update the thing to be
collapsible by adding bolts to the legs and made the top hoop
detachable, too.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2i8iq0z.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/aajif4.jpg

We shopped around for a "garbage can" that exactly "fits" (supports)
the bags that we use. This gives the bag the required support
when we need it. And, gives us a garbage can when we don't
(e.g., to collect twigs that would otherwise rip a plastic bag).



I've been cleaning up my back yard and garden today and used my bag
contraption. LOVED IT! Cleaning up yard waste was a breeze. Now, I
have to decide if I'm going to upgrade it from zip ties to screws and
bolts. lol

--
Maggie