Day 148: Religion, Politics, & Food

Church -- $15.00
Weekly offering.

Old Navy -- ($12.91)
Returned the two packages of men's size small briefs.  I was talking to the manager about something else and mentioned my frustration about

1. the fact that Old Navy's boy's size 18 pants have an inseam that is 4" shorter than Gap's boy's size 18 pants;
2. Old Navy doesn't offer an waist/inseam sizing combination that fits tall, slim youths (waist size 29 comes only in a 30" inseam);
3. that there's a huge size differential between Old Navy's boys size XL underwear and their men's size Small.

He commiserated and acknowledged the issues with both the underwear sizing and the inseam offerings.  It seems likely that they're heard those complaints before.  As for the sizing differences between Old Navy products and Gap, he said that even though Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic are all owned by the same company, they all three purchase separately from different manufacturers and that there's no carryover from one brand to another.  Not the answers I really wanted to hear but for the first time I really felt listened to.  I hope that someday The Son will once again fit into Old Navy pants since the store is much more convenient for us and, naturally, less expensive than Gap.  But for now, Gap's more generous inseams are what The Son needs.

The good news is that The Son should be able to make it through the rest of winter and this spring with the pants he has.  The two pair of boy's size 18 Old Navy khakis that he really likes are simply too short but he does have three pair of Gap cords and one pair of Dockers khakis that I picked up at a thrift store last fall.  The Dockers are still a bit big and look a bit silly but not quite as silly as the too small Old Navy khakis.  He'll need a whole new collection of shorts this summer but hopefully we'll be able to get those at Old Navy since inseam measurements aren't as critical with shorts.

But all of this gets us no further in our Great Underwear Search of '08.  So far we've tried Alfani, Calvin Klein, Old Navy, and Tommy Hilfiger briefs -- with no success.

Old Navy -- ($20.97)
Returned the wool pea coat that The Daughter bought early this month while shopping with her grandmother.  I exchanged the coat last week because the original coat was losing a button as it was not a simple matter of reattaching it (had a fancy ribbon and toggle button arrangement).  Once I got the replacement home, The Daughter started rethinking the overall usefulness of the coat and decided, in the long run, to return it.

Old Navy -- $31.74
While I was busy chatting with the manager (see above), The Daughter was busy shopping and found a pair of brown suede cork wedge shoes that she liked.  I think they're pretty hideous but she had a pretty good argument for having a pair of brown dress up shoes and, besides, our new clothing allowance arrangement means that I only veto purchases that I consider inappropriate.  Other than that I'm trying to keep a hands-off approach to her clothing purchases and give her free-rein in choosing what to buy and how much to pay.  The full price of the shoes was $31.74 but The Daughter applied the $21.35 gift card she received during the exchange of the pea coat so only $10.39 came from this month's clothing allowance.

Kroger -- $95.07
They had furnace filters on sale (not a huge savings but every $4.00 helps) and I need to replace mine again in another four weeks or so.  The filters accounted for about $30.00 of this total and will be entered in to my budget as a Household: Consumables expense, not a grocery expense.

• two 3M furnace filters -- $13.99/ea. (saved $2.00/ea.)
• Idaho potatoes -- $2.40
• sweet potatoes -- $2.32
• onion -- $0.36
• green onions -- $1.29
• broccoli -- $2.95
• red cabbage -- $1.75
• Fruitabu smooshed fruit leathers -- $4.49
• Coleman ground beef -- $4.91 (frozen for future use)
• Coleman ground beef -- $6.29
• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal -- $3.69
• Meadow Gold sour cream -- $1.59
• Spectrum canola oil -- $5.19
• Naturally Preferred maple syrup -- $5.29
• Arm & Hammer baking soda -- $0.99 (small box for kitchen)
• Arm & Hammer baking soda -- $1.29 (large box for laundry, etc)
• 2 Promax energy bars -- $1.59/ea.
• 2 Balance energy bars -- $1.00/ea.
• 3 Pria energy bars -- $0.89/ea. (saved $0.10 ea.)
• Sunsilk shampoo -- $3.99
• Crest sensitivity toothpaste -- $4.39
• Colgate toothpaste -- $1.50 (saved $1.19)
• bag credit -- ($0.15)

Obama for America campaign -- $25.00
Another donation.  His win in South Carolina was pretty exciting but the real reason I donated again is because of what I'm learning about him from reading his book,
The Audacity of Hope.  The book is very readable and accessible -- but most of all it's speaking to me and my internal conflicts between my own liberal and conservative ideas and philosophies on a very deep and personal level.  I have been deeply moved by the level of insightfulness and wisdom that exists in Obama's writings.  I'm convinced that he can both lead and inspire and do good things for this great nation of ours.

I realize that laying my political affiliations out like this might turn off present and potential readers/subscribers.  I spent some time pondering whether or not to come out of the political closet and finally decided that honesty is the only acceptable policy.  My initial and over-riding goal in beginning and maintaining this daily dollar diary was (and is) transparency.  What good is an honest and transparent look into the daily financial life of a middle-aged middle-class suburban wife and mother if I can't be honest about my political leanings?

Related posts:

1. $$: Clothing
2. Day 101: Definitely NOT a No-Spend Day
3. Day 252: PJ pants & a Mortgage Payment
4. Day 126: Gas, Flannel PJs, Mouse Traps, and Ground Beef
5. Day 50