As my husband likes to say when referring to me, I stick with what I like.
A few months ago, anticipating our costly roadtrip to California I decided to go cheap when it came to buying a mop. My all-favorite kitchen clean-up tool gave up the ghost. I bought the Swiffer mop (the deluxe battery-operated model) when it first came out. I was so impressed with it. The handle broke, or more accurately, Liam was using it as a "Yee-ha" (translation - horse) and it snapped.
After a week of muddy paws, oatmeal encrusted, sticky juiced floors I decided it was time to purchase another Swiffer. Now I do have the old-fashioned fill-a-bucket mop but I like the everyday convenience of the Swiffer. I get to the store without a coupon and the price! Whew. I'm trying to save money for our roadtrip! Can I justify spending $25 on this mop, knowing the cleanser and pads that I have to buy later cost almost $4 each! Hmmm...there's the Clorox mop...a little cheaper...so is the cleanser and pads...hmmm. I'll be smart and buy that one instead. Regrets! Don't waste your money. The cleanser isn't that great of a cleanser and doesn't have the fresh scent of a Swiffer. The spray doesn't spray but dribbles out. And the pads don't last more than 5 or 7 wipes on the floor, beside that they fall off the mop quite easily. So I wasted $15 for the cheaper mop that I hate and have to use twice as many pads/cleanser to get my floor as clean as it got with the Swiffer. Now, do I simply toss the new mop, give it to the thrift store and purchase a Swiffer or endure my lack of purchasing wisdom and continue to frustratingly mop my floor with the Clorox mop.
Lesson learned: Buy what you like and stick to quality over cheapness.
The same goes for Pampers baby wipes. I got an amazing deal on Pampers diapers about 4 months ago through Amazon.com (yeah, they sell diapers.) These were cheaper than Walmart and "everyone knows" that Pampers are the best!? (I usually buy Huggies.) The deal was to buy ALOT of diapers and you'd get a really good price. I added the wipes to my order, still getting a really good deal. Now stuck with 3 huge boxes of wipes-though a great deal - the wipes are far inferior to Huggies, thin, small, no great scent (like Huggies with Shea Butter).
So learn from my lesson. Do you have any shopping lessons to share?
