Bargain Hunting Mishaps: Will I Ever Learn?

• This week I dropped my cell phone in the grocery store parking lot and didn't realize it was gone until I arrived back home.

• Last month, daughter #2 dropped a jug of V8 juice, splattering red liquid down the aisle.

• On an earlier trip, the same daughter was carrying a quart of yogurt to the car. Yep. Down it went onto the pavement.

• I found great bargains at the Salvation Army Thrift Store--several pieces for each of my kids! After loading all three kiddos into the car, I drove off without my bag. There it sat on the asphalt until someone took those lovely clothes home.
  

• I found a blouse at the mall for under $5 that matched a silk skirt of mine perfectly. One of the kids jostled it out of the stroller basket, and we left it behind on the sidewalk.

The incidents above are good reasons to shop alone, and these are just examples from 2009! Usually I try to do a Tuesday night shopping trip after my children are sleeping, so I can focus on my list. But this is not a foolproof strategy either, since I have left bags of my groceries behind more than once. Sometimes I have been able to retrieve the forgotten items, while other times I suffered the full consequences of my carelessness and did not my get my purchases back.

Haste, carelessness, and distractability often plague me at this stage of life, and this week my weaknesses were again blatantly obvious. So instead of scoffing at my husband's tendency to double check things, I should learn from him. But I resist humbling myself, especially when I think my uniqueness is being threatened. After all, isn't it a good thing to be so carefree?

Really, though, I should be free to focus on the task at hand, and need to take the extra minute to make sure I have everything in order before moving on to the next thing. And then there is the primary question: Is what I am doing at a given moment worthwhile? The number of store receipts I amass and my internet browsing history reveal a need to change.

"Electronic sunsets" are a feat I managed on a couple of nights last weekend. When I turn the computer off, I can devote myself to higher priorities that bring order and peace to a chaotic house (Thanks, Rachel Anne, for spurring me to improve). The weekend trial run proved that this needs to be a regular discipline for me. Of course we can make an exception for our weekly movie night and perhaps e-mail. But It would be wonderful to welcome my dear friend who is arriving on Tuesday to stay in a home that is more sanctuary-like than it was this past week. So here's to another weekend (and week?) of these sunsets!