Get It While You Can!

Dear reader, the true Wild Frugalist does not hem and haw when it comes to small purchases that excite them. You must learn to discern between an "impulse buy"( that can of artichokes in the supermarket that's on sale, but you know in your heart you'll never really use) and something that you don't buy often, but you might really like.

Consider the times we live in. I'm not necessarily saying we will imminently have to begin waiting on long lines for toilet paper and other supplies as in the former Soviet Union.

Citizens of the former Soviet Union waiting in line for consumable items, pass the time by silently resenting their neighbors who were able to get there 2 hours before they did.

Then again, lets not kid ourselves. Things being what they are at the moment, anything is truly possible now. The gutter's the limit!

About a week ago or so, I was in the supermarket and in one of those end of the aisle displays they had a new Dove beauty product: Dove Exfoliating Body Polish.

Possible life changing "beauty" product

( Question: Should body wash, soap, and deodorant actually be called "beauty products"? I mean, does staying hygienic actually make you more beautiful than you would have been if you just neglected to bathe completely for a while? But I digress.)

As I looked at the display it seemed like something I might be interested in. A supermarket/drug store priced version ( it was $6.99) of the type of product I have bought from fancier more expensive brands, and hadn't gotten in a long time. Cold dry winter weather makes exfoliating a good idea, and the thing came in 3 appealing sounding scents.

And yet...I didn't buy it that day. Plain old boring frugality won out over my Wild Frugality.

Fast forward to this past weekend and I am in the same store, pass the same display, and now there is one lonely container of this stuff left from the entire display on the shelf. Plus, it's now on sale for $5.99.

Dear reader, I grabbed it. When I got home, I googled it, just to see if I could find any reviews .

I found a few nice customer reviews, but here's what I found most interesting: a complete and utter scarcity of this item from the typical retail outlets, AND what appears to be a resulting LARGE inflation in its price.

I googled the pomegranate version online at Target and clicked to find, "product not available."

It was the same deal with the crushed macadamia and rice milk version and the kiwi seeds and cool aloe scent on the Target site. Gone, girl.

As of ten minutes ago, you can order the macadamia version from Walmart ( and for a cool 6 cents less than I paid! ) but you better hurry because apparently there's only 5 left.  In all of Walmart land.

You CAN order it from Amazon,  if you want to pay $22.99 or more per container. ( I just saw a container of the kiwi and aloe version going for $24.99.)

What gives? Is this somehow tied to the rubbery bouncing action of the stock market in recent weeks?

Perhaps the prepper community has expanded their vision from merely stocking up on hundreds of pre-prepared meals and toilet paper, to including in their hoards some hygiene products to enhance their post appocalypse monthly rainwater tank bath?

I don't know, but I will leave you with this Wild Frugalist thought; if you see something, particularly a "consumable" type item and it's relatively affordable, just get it, lest you regret it.

Soviet women of the past, waiting in line for consumable items, pass the time by resenting Westerners intensely. 

Until next time, stay wildly frugal, and as any of the ladies in the photo above would have told you, get it while you can!