Christmas Presents

[Tdarcos]

My sister called me Wednesday telling me to come over and borrow her credit card so I could buy a few decent presents instead of going where I can afford them, i.e. dollar stores.

I went over Thursday to get the actual card as it's too late to order stuff on-line and get it in time, I'd have to go to stores which means I need the plate iself, not just the numbers. She asked me to check on how much of her credit limit was availiable. Back around August, I think, I had to buy a replacement battery for my wheelchair, and she was nice enough to let me use it then but I had to immediately pay it back because she didn't have a lot available. (I have my money in a credit union that won't even issue me an ATM card.) I had about $350 in the CU, and the battery had a $228 co-pay.

She had about $300-400 in available credit then.

Thursday when I checked she had $3104 available credit. So I figured that was more than enough. (On my own I'd probably have spent what I could afford, around $30 or $40.) So she tells me not to spend that much.

Oh she should know me better than that by now. When I was living there I was basically the office manager for the house, I watched everything that was spent even though it was her money. She even noted that my vigilance over finances made her afraid to tell me when she bought something. All I ever did was ask what a purchase was for so I could reconcile it against bills; it's her money, she can spend it as she likes.

She's used to spending money as she pleases because she's used to working in high-income occupations. I have been used to watching carefully what I spend because I made normal amounts of money. I spend what I have to in order to get a job done but I don't spend excessively. There are a few minor places where price is not an issue; when it comes to safety I do not skimp because an extra few dollars for a safety appliance is less valuable than losing a finger or an eye. When it comes to safety I buy what is right, not what is the least expensive. But since the safest means is often uglier I've found better safety costs less.

But I digress. Anyway, I end up spending what I figured, about $350, or ten times what I would have been able to spend if I only had my own money. One of the things I bought for myself was an HP OfficeJet 4500, an all-in-one printer consisting of fax machine, printer, and scanner which provides a 15-page document feeder. $69.95 at Staples, which was such a good deal that if I had seen it at Micro Center I might have bought one (I saw an all-in-one I planned to get in the future, which was priced around $190).

I happened to stop by Target, and the exact same HP OfficeJet 4500 is priced at $99.95, or 150% of what I paid for it at Staples. I thought $69.95 was an excellent price, and I discovered that the only other place having it that low is also Micro Center.

I am the cheapest son-of-a-bitch in town.