TAX FREE DAYS

There are rare times when I do not attempt to question the wisdom of our State legislature. On August 16th and 17th this year we once again have tax free shopping days.I could see no way this could be helpful to me as I did not have the budget for, nor plan to buy, big ticket items. Nevertheless, I bought a sewing machine I had been wanting for many months, saving $16.45. Now that would buy me a nice lunch or even a dinner out.

Since I was expecting family to arrive, I needed some groceries. I went to the local Costco and roamed around doing my shopping. While there, I looked around for all the taxable items that I could use though storage becomes a problem since my house is a blivet (3 pounds manure in a 2 pound bag). I saved another $







23.49 and now have paper goods to last a while, some items that will probably outlive me, and even less room to walk through my basement.



I'm not certain just how the loss of income is justified but past years seem to point it out as worthwhile to the overall State economy, as it was to mine. Having been taught from childhood and the Great Depression that a penny saved is a penny earned, I still pick up any coin I see on the ground, whereas younger people would not bother to stoop for such a nothing. Maybe it is because I am so short and close to the ground that I see coins where taller people miss them. I have never spent one though I have no superstition about them, only pure greed at something for nothing. It is surprising that they turn up regularly in parking lots and places where people pull keys from their pockets.

On day two of tax free, I went to the grocery store down the street and saved more, though I only really needed a quart of milk. The joy of living in a house is that there is always room to cram in a little more! There are many more things I could have bought but the singular thing preventing me from doing that is that I will have to pay for them!