Friday, December 14, 2012

The Internet Makes Me a Happy Shopper. Sort of.

File:Pre Christmas shopping - geograph.org.uk - 1103457.jpg
Photo by Sebastian Ballad from wikimedia

 Let me start off by saying I really, really hate shopping. It’s the crowds. People who wear too much perfume. People bumping each other. The heat of too many bodies in too small a space. Walking around seeing 12,000,000 pieces of clothing, knowing that most of them are poorly made—look, that seam hasn’t been properly finished and will unravel in the first washing.

So I love Amazon shopping. No crowds. I can shop in my pajamas while I drink my mug of morning coffee. No odd smells (unless you count Jezebel nudging me for her morning walk). And if I use my daughter’s prime account, I don’t always have to pay shipping costs.

Shopping bliss. Until I discover that the perfect present is out-of-stock. Or the shipping costs double the price of the gift since it would be shipping from a third party in Outer Boondocks Eastern Europe and isn’t eligible for free prime shipping.

And there’s always the dog nudging me—she still hasn’t been walked. And my daughter who wants me to look over an essay for grad school number three, which wants something different than grad schools one and two.

I can’t forget that I need to start laundry—it’s bedding day. And then Matt and Luke need haircuts before we do the Christmas photo. (Yes, I cut everyone’s hair. And yes, I still haven’t done the photo.) Speaking of Christmas cards, I still have to edit the Christmas letter and get everyone’s approval—this is the time of year where they get payback for every paper/letter/essay I’ve edited for them.

You know, store shopping doesn’t sound that bad.

4 comments:

  1. I too hate going shopping (Grocery stores are the worst) and so I generally look for an online alternative (or in the case of grocery stores, I go to small farmer's market-type ones instead of the big chains to avoid people)

    I love my prime membership, but it's made me HATE paying for shipping. Good look with the last of you holiday shopping!

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  2. I do most all of my shopping online...and if I make out the list, Hubby even does the grocery shopping! However, I've found I spend MUCH more time online shopping because I'm thrify...OK, I'm cheap. With a bizillion stores at my fingertips, I can spend hours shopping for one item...only to finally make a decision, put it into my cart...and yep, it's out of stock.

    Of course by then, my fingers don't remember where all they've wandered, so I scrounge through my History List looking for the next-best great deal, basically starting from scratch. At least if I went to the stores, I'd just choose from the limited choices the stores had and let the recipients do the exchanges for what they really wanted.

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  3. Haha, there are downsides to everything! I do like online shopping though because of the convenience and sometimes the prices are better (like on Amazon). On the other hand, I do like LOOKING at the actual items (particularly with clothes), and shipping is always annoying when it adds up to like half the cost of the item!

    In any case, I hope your holiday shopping is going well! :)

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  4. Hahahaha I also despise Christmas shopping in December. Which is why mine tends to be done by November.

    See, here in the coastal town where I live, we also have to deal with obnoxious summer tourists as well. >_<

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