Too Old for Cheap Tampons

I've decided I'm too old for lots of things I used to put up with. Like cheap tampons.

Early on in my adult life, I learned the lesson that just because my parents could afford to provide me with clothes from Talbot's, it doesn't mean that at age 22, I could continue to do so.

That discovery was made during a very embarrassing trip to Talbot's to return about $600 worth of clothes I couldn't afford. Lesson learned: look at the price tags. Mama ain't here to do it for me any more.



My thrifty stage began that day and lasted about the next 15-20 years. I bought clothes at consignment shops and Target. I shopped sales. I bought store brands. I clipped coupons. And this wasn't necessarily because I didn't have the money for more or better. After a while, it just became a habit. I learned to like other things more than Talbot's.

Like not having debt and having savings.
Like private school and high school sports.
Like being able to pay a hospital bill when it comes due. And Lord knows we've had a lot of those lately.

But I'm getting old, dammit. And I'm starting to realize that some things just aren't worth compromising on any more.

Today I declare it publicly: I deserve Tampax.

There are other things that growing older has taught me not to compromise on.

• Notebooks — Moleskine notebooks ... oh my. Don't let me start waxing poetic about that. My eyes roll back in my head and I get tingly running my hand across a page of a Moleskine notebook.
• Shoes — My feet have told me under no uncertain terms that if I cram them into one more pair of cheap, fake leather pumps, they will go on strike.
• Ice cream — Clark Howard — the man who will go to a Costco in Mexico city for the $1.50 hot dog and Coke — only buys fancy, full-fat ice cream. Who am I to argue?
• Pencils — Ticonderoga, baby, all the way. 
• Soap — Last month I suffered through the last of a bottle of Great Value body wash. Compare to Olay! I did. It didn't. 

And it's not a matter of money. It's a matter of enjoying life now and not waiting until later. I used to buy a pint of Ben & Jerry's and keep it in the freezer, testing my willpower to see how long I could stand not eating it.

Until the day I opened the pint and it had gone bad. 

Life's too short to waste good ice cream. Or use cheap tampons. 

Finish Well.