Thanks to the social media site’s clever advertising, I’ve discovered online discount shopping. I’ve always prided myself on getting great deals on things, so this appeals to that side of me with shopper satisfaction, but it’s recently turned me into the dream consumer — one who brainlessly buys stuff because “it’s a great deal” and not because I need it and was going to get it anyway. These discount sites with the “limited time major discount offer” daily emails say to me, “Hey, go ahead and be an impulse buyer. We’ll rub this Discount Balm on your conscience.” It worked for awhile as I was buying dresses by the 4-pack, hats and outfits for Allie “just to try it out and why not cuz it’s so inexpensive,” but I realized it was getting out-of-hand when month after month my credit card statements have been hundreds of dollars higher than normal due to my one-time “exception” purchase of, like, 4 different things, and just this morning I thought, “Look at these great deals on Android tablets. I don’t need one. Do I want one? Hmm, not really. But I want to BUY one because look at these prices!” So now I know I have to stop. I have to stop before I start buying jewelry online. Even if they’re $17 for a convincing-looking CZ ring.

OMG, I just saw a thermoelectric generator that allows you to charge anything USB-chargeable…by the energy of heat derived from a pot of boiling water. I can charge my phone WHILE CAMPING simply by clamping the wires of the generator onto a metal pot over the fire! Does it matter that I don’t go camping? *pulling out credit card*