The Chronic Consumer

Since I get all of my news from the Internet or television, I don’t subscribe to or buy newspapers anymore. That wasn’t a problem or anything, except for the fact that I no longer received all those circulars and grocery coupons that were usually stuffed in the Sunday edition. As a result, my grocery bills have been steadily rising ever since.

I didn’t really care before because I always thought clipping coupons was a bit of a hassle anyway. But now that times are a lot tighter, I’ve started using them again. Only now I’m getting my grocery coupons online instead of from the paper. There are a lot of websites out there that offer printable coupons for national brands, which can then be used at local stores.

I’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks now, and have never had a coupon questioned or rejected. The savings have been awesome, too! While using coupons won’t exactly leave me with enough money to start snapping up prime Corpus Christi real estate, I am definitely noticing a difference, and now I don’t feel right about grocery shopping unless I have a bunch of coupons in my purse!

Ever since the Amazon Kindle portable e-book reader came out a few months ago, I’ve been debating about whether or not to buy one. I love reading e-books, and have been wanting a dedicated reader for a long time now. For the past couple of years, I’ve settled for reading on my iPaq PDA, but the small screen and overall small size of the device makes that task a bit difficult, which is why I’m shopping around.

The Kindle has received mixed reviews from users on the Amazon.com site. It currently has a 3.5-star rating average out of 2,194 customer reviews. But I think that number could be a bit misleading, since a lot of the reviews seem to be from people who don’t even own the device yet.

Anyway, the features I’m most interested in are the size, weight, battery life, and of course, the eInk screen. The Kindle is significantly bigger than a PDA, while still being smaller and lighter than a regular paperback, making it the perfect size (as far as I’m concerned) for a handheld book reader.

I’ve also read that the Kindle’s battery life will allow you to use the device for a week or more without needing a recharge, and then when you do recharge, all it takes is two hours.

And finally, I’m very anxious to try out the eInk technology that makes reading text on the Kindle easy on your eyes. I end up suffering from eyestrain if I read from my PDA for too long, so I’m hoping that will all change with Kindle.

Unfortunately, with a price tag of $399 and limited availability due to a very long wait list for the device, I don’t think I’ll be getting a Kindle anytime soon. I really do want one and am putting it on my Wish List in case anyone out there wants to surprise me with one (ha!), but realistically, I won’t be seeing one in the near future. Maybe that’s better, as I’m sure subsequent generations will be cheaper and will have more features… at least, that’s what I keep telling myself to ease my bitter disappointment at not being able to buy one!