Sorry Joe, Maybe I'll feel more Trader-y next week.

[susandennis]

Yeah, no Trader Joe's today. I added more to my TJ list and then I decided I had enough groceries for now. My freezer is kind of full, too. So, another time.

I might go out today, though. For lunch. I'm seriously considering ordering up a sandwich from my favorite bagel place for pick up. Maybe.

Once upon a time, some friends from New Zealand came to visit and brought a box of goodies. In the box was some hand cream that I fell passionately in love with. It goes on so smoothly and absorbs immediately and smells wonderful. The problem is that it is made in Australia and sold only there and New Zealand. The stuff is nearly impossible to get here. When msconduct and Tashia came, they brought me some. The friends who gave me the original sent me more once. I scored some on eBay once but, I'm now getting worried. I still have a little but none in the pipeline. None on eBay.

So I ordered up some from a New Zealand website. The shipping, of course, is more than the handcream but, hey, it has to come a long way and is still cheaper than my going to pick it up even if the cornovirus would let me. The order went through and my card was charged and then, 3 days later, I get a note from the place saying they have canceled my order as they are not allowed to ship it out of the country.

Holy fuck it's hand cream!!

Last night, I went on the hunt again. This time on Australian websites. Found one that had it and would ship it to the US. So I ordered up. This time, the shipping was actually far more reasonable. And, a few hours later I got a tracking number!! It looks like this time, it may get here some day!

It is not rational, my attachment to this damn handcream. But it is what it is.

I did a deep dive into my finances yesterday and was surprised, actually, to discover how much money this whole virus thing has saved me. I totally get that I am a financial snowflake. The stay at home, work reduction, closing all things, did not impact my income at all but, apparently, made a big dent in my spending. But, not really in any one area and not in any really explainable way. My Amazon spending, always ridiculously high, is even a little lower. I'm not saving a bundle on gas, because I don't ever really spend that much on gas. Grocery costs are down but also restaurant costs. It's fine but weird.

Oh one big pot o' savings is cable TV. With no baseball, no need for the pricey package. Although that may actually be about to change. There's serious talk about starting up the third week in July so that may mean some extra costs. I'm perfectly fine with that.

It's already getting warm in here. This could end up being an air conditioner day.

Biggie is contemplating...

Comments

[hopefulspirit.livejournal.com]

That hand cream must be amazing, you're making me want to try it. lol I'm a lotion fiend. I've paid ridiculous amounts of money to ship lotion up here.

A friend of mine was just telling me her grocery spending has gone up significantly, but she hasn't been eating out as much so she's actually saving money. It surprised her.

[susandennis]

One thing that did occur to me after I wrote that was that I did, particularly in early days, use up a lot of stuff I had on hand. Old stash. My cupboard is now a lot more streamlined which is an excellent thing. Also early on, it was hard to get deliveries and the pickup scene wasn't there yet so I had no way to spend grocery money. Or restaurant money.

[mairi-dubh.livejournal.com]

Totally getting your attachment to your hand cream!
I've had several good ones over the decades, and one by one their manufacturers have either discontinued them, or have themselves gone out of business.

Right now my skin cream of choice is Gold Bond Ultimate Healing, With Aloe. It does for me what your Australian-made cream does for you, going on smoothly and absorbing very quickly and has no annoying fragrance; costs a bit more than many others at the regional drug store chain where I buy it (although it can be found in other places that's where I shop because it's very convenient for me) but it's there when I need it and is worth every penny, in my opinion.

So I totally get it.
And, I'm totally glad for you that you've found it and have a source which will ship it to you.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

I sort of know how you feel. I had three sources for perfume and they're all gone now.

[rosegardenfae.livejournal.com]

My spending has been significantly reduced. I am finding it more difficult to play at being a good little Capitalist. lol

[susandennis]

I hear that! I'm hoping my skill set will return eventually.

[rosegardenfae.livejournal.com]

For sure. I suspected something was up when you didn't buy that new Chromebook...LMAO...I must confess. I ordered yarn today, having a third great grandchild and they want a Yoda hat. Wishing you were here to do it for me.

[susandennis]

Hahaha! As you saw or will see, I corrected the chromebook purchase situation today. Whew.

A yoda hat will be fun. I shall cheer you on from the sidelines.

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

Glad you've found a new source! I only wish I could come back to Seattle to deliver one in person. Meanwhile, it's just like you're a New Zealander - things are really hard to source and even when you can get them shipping is horrific:).

[susandennis]

My friend in Cromwell has a business in Portland he gets stuff sent to and they send it on to him. I was wondering if I was going to have to find a reverse place!

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I haven't checked to see how our finances have changed (or not), but I'll note that one of our normally big expenses is travel, which of course we haven't done any of since March, and various travel plans for the summer are also not happening. Another one is entertainment, and there there's not much change, as we donated the remainders of this year's subscriptions, and optimistically bought tickets for next season's opera and concert seasons. Baseball is an equivocal case, as the Red Sox gave me the option of leaving the payments for cancelled games in the account with a 10% bonus, although so far I think they've only applied this to games through May.

Dining out, which we don't do all that often anyway, nada. Groceries is probably the other major item, and that's stayed about the same.