Bought Wit

As a kid growing up, I heard "Bought wit is better than told…" often. I had no idea what it meant. I only know that it was used whenever someone did something they had been warned against doing. I can still hear it to this day, "bought wit is better than told." It rings loud and clear whenever my gut says not to do something.

By the time I married and had my first two children I had become the frugal little housewife/mother. Not much excited me more than finding a great bargain. I preferred garage sales and thrift shops over shopping at the big department stores. Coupons were like dollars to me, the more I had the better I felt. I couponed like a champ.

Deep inside my frugality there was an innocent ignorance though. Little did I know that "cheap" was not the best criteria for judging if you had a good bargain. So, time after time when that "cheap" package of toilet tissue or that store brand of dish washing liquid ran out before I could get it home and put away, I still did not "get-it". Even when 4 cups of detergent didn't make suds in the washer, I couldn't go down without a fight. I switched to another "cheap" brand. Same thing. No suds. Had to use almost half a box to wash one load of clothes.

It took a while, along with quite a bit of visual research - in other words, watching how other people's things did or didn't last. The real kicker was a bit of sarcastic humorous teasing from my brother. He laughed, talked, and joked for days about my "cheaply" pitiful paper towels, said they fall apart so badly I might as well take some dollar bills out of my wallet and throw them in the trash. After all this, something began to sink in - "this bargain hunting and frugal couponing is NOT working."

Not being stupid, I gradually began buying quality name brands. It hurt my pride as much as it hurt my wallet to buy the three dollar and something (almost four dollars) 4-roll pack of toilet tissue so I said nothing - not to anyone. I noticed the difference immediately but, still said nothing. Instead of the usual three to four days that the cheap brand lasted, the name brand was still around three weeks to a month later. WOW, big difference - and savings ( didn't have to keep going back every few days to buy more cheap stuff.

Same thing happened with the dish washing liquid. I drug myself kicking and screaming into the store to pay a dollar and something for dish liquid as compared to my usual sixty-nine cents. But, wonder of wonders, the name brand lasted a good two to three weeks. Cheap stuff? Only lasted four days. And, so it went, on and on, right? Each time I bought quality over cheapness -- quality won.

"My bought wit"? - I paid the price and learned my lesson - the hard way.

So, there it is…

"Bought wit is Better Than Told".