Transformation Tuesday #27: Spend to Save
An old colleague of mine (who also loves organizing as much as I do) would always say "spend to save" when making a purchase of any kind. I think a friend of hers taught her that and I'm adopting it now, too. Because my $60 mistake a year ago is costing me 10x that today.
I'm more mindful these days about the purchases I make but, like anyone else, I love getting a great deal. Last summer, I picked up a pair of Mizuno running shoes from DSW for about $60 to start training for the Seattle Half Marathon. I've worn the brand before in a size 9 but couldn't remember the style. The shoes felt fine in store (as they always seem to do) but they felt really awesome because they were on clearance!
So I picked up some great shoes and began my training a few days later with an easy three mile run. I noticed immediately that my big toe on my right foot felt like it was poking through the shoe. I thought "these are just a bit snug, I'll break 'em in and they should be fine" and then they really did feel fine for the next 195.1 miles of training over the course of ten weeks (this is the program I follow).
Race day arrived and immediately after, I noticed that both big toes felt really tender. I figured it was due to running faster at the end but the soreness lingered for a few days which prompted me to Google the issue. This prompted me to remove my polish and WHOA I found out my big toe nails were bruised (the right one was purplish and the left one wasn't too bad. I took good care to wear roomy shoes and promptly donated the Mizunos. I headed to my local running shoe store and got fitted for shoes and inserts. I usually go to this place every other year or so. I was so tempted by the clearance shoes though!
The new shoes (a pair of Asics ... and in a size 10.5!) and inserts ran about $180 (and I've already spent $60 on the bad shoes). I thought I was in the clear but this summer, my right big toe nail partially came off and grew back as in ingrown. So now I'm off to the podiatrist on my new health insurance so I'm paying for this visit ($153) and am now awaiting the bill for the surgery I had to fix the ingrown (will be ~$350 or so).
Long story long, cutting corners caused me to spend WAY more money than I would have liked, plus I had a toe situation going on for an entire year. After all this, my sister was kind of enough to treat me to a pedicure a couple weeks after surgery.
I know this is a different kind of Transformation Tuesday, but I liked the transformation from World's Largest Toe Bandage to the seafoam green pedicure. So friends, please ... spend a little more today so that you can save yourself from having to throw money at the problem in the future!
Let me know how you've used this advice - what do you spend money/invest in?