PROMPTuesday #49 - Pieces of Me

Yay! It's a PROMPTuesday that doesn't totally intimidate me!

So, this week, let’s look in our purses and billfolds, poppets. Pull something out. Tell a story about that something. Where did it come from? Why do you carry it? What does it mean to you, if anything? (And just so you know, tampons (unsullied) totally count.)

Here we go...

I used to carry a bigger purse, it was just plain and black, and I got it at Target. However, this purse became my "carry all" for everybody else's crap but mine. I would find my kids' socks (that they wanted to take off while we were out a park or something so they could run around barefoot), crayons, stickers, pieces of toys, etc...and if my husband and I were out together, he would always ask me to carry his wallet, cellphone and keys so that he didn't have to put them in his pocket.

BUT...for my 1 year anniversary at my company (last April), they got me a gift card to COACH (yes, COACH!)...and as much money as they put on the card, which is WAY more than I would ever spend on a purse myself...it was still only enough for one of their cutest, teeny purses.

This purse can no longer carry everyone else's crap, and because it's so small, I'm pretty anal about keeping it cleaned out. If I don't, every time I open it, all my receipts/papers/whatever, comes flying out.

So, I have your basic items: Cell Phones(work and personal), a Pen, a flash drive (in my industry, you never know when you might need to save a file), a bunch of change, Lipstick/Lip Gloss, Check Book with credit cards, Business Cards, and yes 1 tampon for just in case.

I also have coupons to Target and coupons for Baby Formula which I'm not going to use because we just took Baby Pants off of formula about a month ago, and I've been meaning to drop them off at my babysitter's house so that someone can get some use out of them before they expire.

The only two things I have in there that might be of interest are:

#1 - My Coach Gift Card with a balance of $54.22

It wasn't quite enough to get the next size up in purse, but still enough to get something...but I just didn't know what. So, here we are, almost a full year later...and I still have not purchased my next Coach item. I don't know how long it's going to sit in my purse...and I'm pretty certain I won't actually go back into the Coach store, because let me tell you, it is an EXPERIENCE where you have 3 or 4 women fawning over you and telling you how awesome your selection is...and I don't want to tell them, "Hey look girls, I only have $54.22 to spend" and then have them frown at me as they see their commission dollars flying away. So, I'll more than likely spend it online...and I did see that they have a pick up in store option...because I don't want to use my money on shipping for heaven's sake! If you have any suggestions on a must-have Coach item (that doesn't cost more than $54.22), throw a comment my way.

#2 - My Notebook of Items at Costco with their Unit Price

Yes, I took a notebook to Costco and wrote down all the different stuff that we buy at the grocery store and noted the size, and price per unit. Why, you ask? Because my husband refuses to shop there. Lord Bless Him, he does all the grocery shopping, but he is ADDICTED to the Fry's grocery store, and refuses to go anywhere else. But, with our family of 6, and the amount of stuff that we go through, I REALLY think we would save money if we shopped at Costco. So, that's why I conducted my experiment to compare price per unit on stuff at Costco versus stuff at Fry's. I haven't confronted him with it yet, for two reasons:
#1 - I was waiting for the Costco to be built at the Paradise Valley mall which is less than a mile from our house, and he wouldn't have the excuse that it's farther than Fry's. (However, I haven't heard anymore about that location opening, so it's a possiblity that the project was put on hold because of the "economy")
#2 - I have a curio cabinet that is full of my Mary Kay products (because I decided at one point I'd be a really good consultant, but when the hell did I think I would have time for this with 4 kids, a husband, and a full-time job?...umm, never) that I want to sell/get rid of so that I will have a place to store our dry goods that we purchase from Costco so that I don't get the excuse that we don't have enough room in our kitchen cabinets (our kitchen doesn't have a pantry...waah).

So, once I get #2 taken care of, I will look more into #1 and see what the hell is taking so long for them to open that Costco. Then, I will book a time for my Mother-in-Law to come watch the kids so that hubby and I can take a field trip to Costco, and I can win him over to the bulk-side.

And that turned into a WAY longer blog than it was probably intended to be. ;)