Who doesn't love a bargain?

My freshman year in college I lived in a heinously small apartment with four other girls. And by apartment, I mean two adjoining rooms with a bathroom in between. In the "apartment," we didn't have a dishwasher. Heck, we didn't even have a kitchen or dishes to wash. What we had was a mini fridge, a microwave (in the closet because someone's mom said it was unsafe to sleep/live in a room with a microwave), food in microwavable containers, and paper plates, plastic bowls and utensils. I grew accustomed to eating and then, instead of doing dishes, throwing away the dishes and utensils. Sometimes we borrowed dishes/utensils from the dining halls, but that's a story for another time...

Fast forward nine and a half years (has it really been 9.5 years since I moved into room 1007W?), and I'm living in my own apartment (and have been for five years) with an exquisitely renovated kitchen and brand spanking new dish drawer (that's 2010 speak for a dishwasher that pulls out, rather than opens up). And I continue to use plastic forks, knives, spoons and chopsticks and paper plates. Last week, I even considered buying them in bulk during a visit to Costco. But given my New Year's resolution to use real dishes (I've got a ton that I "stole" from Grandma and Grandpa's house in the country when we shipped G&G down to Florida full-time and decided they didn't need a full set of dishes up here anymore), I figured that I'd finish the plastic and paper stuff I've got and then start using the real deal. It's a joint effort between my desire to reduce my carbon footprint and save a few bucks...

That said, I was passing through Gracious Home yesterday to pick up a reusable shopping bag for a friend when I hit the mother load. All holiday items were 75% off. Yup. That includes the holiday plates and napkins. So I just had to buy eight packages of plates. And napkins.

I know my New Year's resolution was to avoid this stuff, but I just had to get them. I mean, at 75% off, they were practically free. It would be wasting money not to buy them because, let's face it, I'd surely suffer a relapse and end up buying disposable stuff full-price later in the month. So I'll use these up. And then I'll start using the real thing. I promise.

And oh yeah, I also got 20 packs of little Sniff tissues for $0.37 each.