Just in case

I'm a pack rat because you just never know.

Take today, for example: My mom wants me to send her some long-handled measuring spoons (apparently those are hard to come by in Italy, even though containers are tall). I told her I knew just the kind if she was willing to pay $10, and luckily for both of us, Bed Bath & Beyond was (sorta) on the way home. I found what I was looking for after scanning 10-foot walls of kitchen gadgets and was happily driving away when I saw a gentleman walking through the parking lot with his BB&B 20%-Off Coupon in hand. A coupon that looked hauntingly familiar.

Rewind to yesterday afternoon. I, like most of you, received yet another of that very same coupon for 20% off any single item at Bed Bath & Beyond. Usually I've dutifully filed these coupons away in my coupon folder --- just in case I happen to want another household gadget, just in case Bed Bath & Beyond happens to carry the cheapest version of said household gadget, just in case I consciously decide to make a non-food purchase requiring a trip to a store I never visit. You know --- just in case.

Yesterday was different. Yesterday I was a new woman. Yesterday I released myself from just-in-case-you-never-know-ness. Yesterday I thought, "I never go to Bed Bath & Beyond, and I'm going to throw this away." Unprecedented.

Well, you can guess the rest---after realizing I paid too much for something, I came home, checked to see if any of my old coupons hadn't expired (they all had), dug yesterday's coupon out of the garbage, cleaned off the potato peelings, and I'm headed back to BB&B to get my mom's two bucks back. It's a matter of principle. (And a personality quirk that should be the subject of another post.)

As for throwing away coupons (and other items that might possibly be useful in the future), this is exactly why I don't do it.