The Mad Freedom of Returning Things

How many times have you bought something, particularly clothing and regretted it, instantly if not sooner after getting it home from a store? For instance, I went through a phase of shopping for stuff at an H&M across the street from where I worked at the time before going home for the day. I would often be tired, plus the try on rooms would always be packed and I had no patience for waiting on line to use them.

 More probably if you're like me, you have received something in the mail having bought it online, and realized right away that it's wrong for you.

You get excited about that new dress, pair of boots, salad spinner etc. for hours or days; dreaming and fantasizing of the ways in which it will fulfill you and change your life for the better.

You're SURE it will fit your figure, your body or your lettuce.

And yet no it doesn't. All those hopes, dreams, dinner plans down the tubes.

Moreover, what about the money you wasted on this thing?

Dreams may be tricky to redeem, but you CAN and SHOULD get the money back and you will, as long as you took the time to plan ahead before you purchased, AND as long as you don't succumb to "I can't return it." guilt or laziness.

Before you buy an item from a retail establishment you visit, or something that you’ve ordered online ( from Amazon or an individual company, etc.) always check their return policies. 

Do you have to pay for returns? 
What are their criteria for being able to return an item?
Does the item have to be damaged, or incorrect relative to what you ordered for them to take it back? Or can it just be that you don’t like it as much as you thought you would?
Do they give FREE shipping and if so, can you take the package to any post office or does it need to be a U.P.S. outlet? 

Then be prepared to return the item, come what may.  Don't get lazy and "forget" or worry that the customer service people will "judge" you for returning 3 separate sizes of corsets in a row when none of them seem to do the trick. 

BTW quick follow up on last week's post RE: The Ordinary  I've used the two skin products, and the makeup foundation I purchased from them and so far so good. They seem to agree with my skin quite nicely and I consider them all good buys; easily on par with similar things I might pay $20 or more a piece in a drugstore, yet each one cost a mere $6 and change. So go forward and order from the company, fellow Wild Frugalists.   

You Can Go Your Own Way!

Part of wild frugality is having the devil may care independence to decide what you really want to buy and what you don't.

This may seem fairly self evident, but hear me out. 

Often people get guilted or herded into buy things a certain way, at a certain time,  to the point where they don't even remember why they spend a certain way. 

It’s up to you to actively decide where your income gets spent or saved. Remember to think of your money, as YOUR money, not something that has to get spent a certain way because your friends do it that way, or your family always has, or because of that new commercial with the rah rah song or the shiny pictures that make you feel good about yourself.

This is not, by the way, a recommendation to be cheap. Cheap people always look for the least expensive option in EVERY situation, to the point that they buy things they don't even like themselves. 

If you're frugal on the things you have to be, you can go wild ( or at least wilder) with extravagance on things that are really important to you. And you can be more generous in terms of giving things to the people you love. 

I don't know why, but I believe these women capture the essence of  The Wild Frugalist. 

Part of this is being aware of your shopping opportunities at all times. 

Let’s say a you see a Groupon ad for something that would be a holiday gift for a loved one, at a large discount.

So what if it's June and Festivus is six months away? Pull the trigger on that sucker. Don’t just think , “Oh I’ll figure something out for the gift closer to the time.” Your wildness now will insulate you from rushing to find a more expensive gift later.

On the other hand, use due diligence. Check out reviews of the product and company online
(Groupon always has them up, but you can also just do a quick independent google.) Make sure that the savings doesn’t turn out to be a false one because it’s a bad or poorly made product.

In other news, my products from The Ordinary ( which I mentioned in my last post) came today, just a few days after I ordered them.

My The Ordinary Products are here!

I'll report back on the exciting results and/or disturbing side effects soon!

And so my fellow Wild Frugalists go your own way, and find a way to live it up  a little every day, because, let’s face it, this whole thing could collapse tomorrow, or it could go on for years.

Welcome to the Wild Frugalist

Let's face it, friends, unless you’re a part of the 1%, you and everyone you know is living on a "limited income." It's limited because you can't BOTH buy absolutely everything you might want, at any price, AND still have enough left over to eat regularly and live indoors. 

On the other hand, your time is limited too. Both in the sense of "If my train is late getting home from work I won't be able to BOTH cook dinner AND re-binge "The Gilmore Girls - A Year in the Life" on Netflix, AND in the sense of "Look at the news. Should I even try to plan any activities past this weekend?"

And saving while spending can take time. How does one find a happy medium where money wasteage is at a minimum and yet one can still have fun now, and maintain the hope of future fun? 

This is where I come in:The Wild Frugalist. I will teach you to tear through life like a hedonist on a budget.          

Today's tip from the wild world of extravagant frugality, is for all you skincare product fans.  It is: The Ordinary.  They sell very inexpensive, plain labeled versions of a variety of skincare products and also a few makeup items. 

The gimmick is that each product features one or more popular chemical or organic ingredients that you generally have to buy fancy, expensive "name" products to obtain. For instance this Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 product, is apparently "hydrating, ultra pure, and vegan."

It costs ....wait for it... $6.80.  As opposed to a similar product you might find in the drugstore for $25 or way more than that in the fancy skincare counter of a department store. So far the reviews I'm reading about it are all good.  

I'm about to try a few items so I'll report back when I get them. 

And so I leave you for now, my fellow Wild Frugalists, with this thought: “Find a way to live it up  a little every day, because, let’s face it, this whole thing could collapse tomorrow, or it could go on for years."