The Chronic Consumer

Having used the same wallet for six years, I was desperately in need of a new one. My old one was battered and worn, and the clasp was broken, making it impossible to close the thing securely. So when I was at the mall last weekend, I stopped off at Carson Pirie Scott to check out their selection. I was hoping for a nice Liz Claiborne wallet because I had one a long time ago and loved it, but I ended up buying this Rolfs Ziparound Clutch instead.

What initially attracted me to the Ziparound Clutch was its size and features. I like that it’s roomy enough to hold everything I’m likely to carry in my wallet. There are plenty of slots for credit cards, two zippered sections that can be used for coins, two places for cash, a checkbook cover with ID display case, a pen holder, and picture inserts. The checkbook and credit card section of the clutch closes with a button snap, while the cash and coin sections close with zippers. The wallet is hefty for sure, but it’s nice to be able to have all of these things in an easily accessible place.

Another thing I like about my new Rolfs Ziparound Clutch is that it’s made from genuine leather. It looks very nice and is incredibly soft. I went with the black model so it would match my purse, and I’m extremely happy with my purchase thus far. The wallet retailed for $30, but was on sale for 25% off. After taxes and everything, I ended up paying $24.47, which is not a bad price at all.

If you’re looking for a new wallet, I recommend checking out Rolfs. This might not be the first brand you consider, but I really like my ziparound clutch and think it was a terrific bargain!

Our 10-year anniversary is about a year away. We usually don’t do anything too special for our anniversaries, but we’ll try to celebrate this one in style since it’s sort of a milestone (particularly in this day and age). I’m not the kind of woman who needs jewelry or flowers or big, romantic gestures for these occasions, so instead of something like that, we’re thinking of taking a trip. The list of destinations is pretty short because we can’t really afford anything completely exotic. The finalists at this point are Hawaii, where we got married, and Las Vegas, a place that neither of us has been to yet.

We’re leaning towards Vegas because we’re not the kind of people who like to go to the same place over and over again. Sure, Hawaii is awesome, but we sort of feel that it would be a waste of money to go there again. As a result, we’ll probably end up in Vegas, which is fine by me.

I’m already checking into different las vegas deals to see how much a vacation might cost us. We wouldn’t necessarily have to gamble the whole time, but would like to take in the Hoover Dam, a few shows, and of course a buffet every day. I’m sure this sort of anniversary trip would have some people rolling their eyes because of how commonplace it seems, but whatever. It sounds like a blast to us!

I’m going to keep looking for some good deals. Who knows, maybe I’ll even end up booking a trip well before our anniversary. That would be cool too!

I have bought a ton of stuff during my vacation, which means I’ll have lots of new reviews for this blog in the coming month or so. I’ll be talking about everything from prescription acne creams to Under Armour cold weather gear and a bunch of stuff in between. I completely blew my budget on this trip, spending close to $1,000 on stuff — which is more than I paid for my plane tickets. I’ll need to really cut back in order to recover from this deficit, and maybe do things like find a lower car insurance quote or freeze my credit cards for a while to limit spending for the immediate future.

But I’ll deal with all that stuff later on. In the meantime, I’ve had lots of fun shopping and buying without worrying too much about how I’m going to pay for things. Sure, that’s not a very responsible approach, but I don’t always live like this. It’s just nice to cut loose once in a while!

The last day of my vacation is finally here. I know most people wouldn’t look forward to the end of a holiday, but I just need to get back home and get into my regular routine again. I miss my daily schedule of exercise, work, studying, and watching my TV shows. I haven’t done any of those things while on vacation, and while some would probably appreicate the break, it just makes me anxious.

Maybe what I really need is to start traveling in a way that allows me to bring most of my life with me. I’ve seen a lot of sell motorhome ads recently, and got to thinking that if I had something like that, traveling wouldn’t be such an ordeal. I’d have my very own place to retreat to at night, would be able to have a mini version of my office installed, and would be far more productive than I am when I have to rely on other people’s computers and internet connections. It’s definitely something to think about, though I’d have to curtail my other shopping and spending by quite a bit in order to afford that kind of purchase!

I bought my Nintendo DS Lite back in June 2007. The thing worked great for the first two years I owned it, but then it started acting up a couple months ago. The graphics suddenly became scrambled and pixelated whenever I would play certain games like Mario Kart, making it impossible to see what was going on on the screen. I debated whether to have the game repaired or just buy a new one. I decided to go the repair route for once in my life.

I checked through my papers and found that I actually had an extended warranty, which I didn’t remember buying. So any repairs would be complete free anyway. I contacted Nintendo via their website, filled out a form, and received a special shipping box in the mail. I then loaded up my DS (as well as the Mario Kart cartridge) and sent it off to the the warranty fulfillment center. About two weeks later, I received the unit and cartridge back, all fixed up and in working order.

The problem turned out to be a broken chip somewhere in the DS. The chip was replaced and everything else was checked out. I’m happy to say that the game works just find right now — and my son certainly is happy to have it back and fully functioning! Nintendo really made the whole process very easy, so kudos to them as well.

If you look at my entries for the past few months, you’ll see that I’ve purchased quite a few Missouri Tigers items. The reason for this is that I love wearing sports-related clothing, and am excited about being in grad school at Mizzou. I never went to a school with a big sports program before, so I want to show off my Tiger pride whenever I can. Mizzou happens to sell a wide range of branded items — everything from hats and jackets to home decor and dog supplies — so I’ve spent quite a bit of money on their products this year. One of my most recent purchases was this Tiger Head Tee.

This is a very cool basic t-shirt that features the Missouri tiger head logo and the words Missouri Tigers across the front. It’s got a kind of distressed look going on, making the shirt appear to be something that’s been in my collection for a long time, instead of something I just added a little while back. Plus, it’s made from 100% cotton, making it very soft and comfortable.

This is the third Missouri t-shirt I’ve bought in the past three months, and I love it! I’ll continue supporting my school in this way until I graduate — at which time I can start buying “alum” items!!

Do you take any extra precautions to safeguard your personal information when you shop online? I’ve probably been over this before, but I’m thinking about the issue again because I just heard that my cousin Michelle had her credit card number intercepted during an online transaction at a smaller website. She didn’t have any type of identity theft protection in place, and is now involved in a huge mess with her credit card company in trying to prove that nearly a thousand dollars worth of charges weren’t actually made by her and that she shouldn’t have to pay for them. Plus, she now needs new credit cards and all that stuff as well. What a mess!

To be honest, I don’t have identity theft protection either, but I’m very careful about where I shop. I only enter my credit card number on secure pages, and I also check my account online at least 3-4 times per week to make sure there aren’t any mysterious charges on there.

This system seems to be working for me so far, but as would-be thieves get more and more sophisticated, I might need some real protection somewhere along the line. I just hope nothing bad happens in the meantime!

My face is in a pretty sorry state right now, so I’ve made a dermatologist appointment for tomorrow afternoon. My insurance doesn’t cover this type of thing, calling it a cosmetic/optional procedure instead. So that means I’ll be out $129 just for the visit, plus I’ll have to pay for whatever kind of acne treatment the doc prescribes. But at this point, I don’t care. I’ve reviewed tons of acne products on this site, and though some of them work for a while and provide temporary relief, none of them can keep me clear for an extended period. I’m hoping I get a prescription for anitbiotics or something because I have a feeling that might be the only thing that will do anything for me now.