Ask Someone Else's Mom

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My husband loves shopping for bargains. The trouble is he has a habit of spending too much to save some money. We have stockpiles of stuff in our basement like toothpaste, deodorants, cleaning products, paper towels, pasta, and the list goes on. We end up throwing away some of the food items that go past their use by dates, and that seems wasteful to me.

I know things have gotten crazy expensive and I don’t blame him for trying to save us money when he can, but I feel like we should put some of the money to better use now instead of putting it all in the things we eventually get around to using, preferably before they go bad.

I don’t know how to stop him from all the stocking up, especially since he does most of the shopping on his way home from work. We have definitely had shortages of things the last few years and I know my husband is keeping those times in mind, but do we really need to keep buying the way he does? --- WIFE OF A BARGAIN HUNTER

DEAR WIFE OF A BARGAIN HUNTER: I fully understand the pull of a good bargain. To the frugal-minded they’re hard to resist. Unfortunately, they can also end up not being such great bargains after all.

One recommendation I’d make is to try, if possible, to time the shopping trips around your schedule so that you could join your husband on his excursions.

That way you might be able to rein him in or at least redirect his tendencies to save towards the kinds of things that are less likely to collect dust in your basement along with the other supplies already down there.

Sometimes a little constraint and supervision go a surprisingly long way.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Turtle was my cat before Keaton and I moved in together. I buy all Turtle’s food, treats, and most of her toys, pay all her vet bills, feed her, and clean her litterbox.

Since we moved in with Keaton, though, Turtle basically ignores me whenever Keaton is around. She even sleeps on his feet at night.

I hate feeling jealous of Keaton, but I do. I know it isn’t his fault Turtle loves him.

Do I say something to him, or just zip it and accept I am now in second place in Turtle’s heart? --- USED TO BE HER NUMBER ONE

DEAR USED TO BE HER NUMBER ONE: In my experience the animals in our lives decide for themselves who will be their favorite. They choose us maybe even more than we choose them. Upon occasion, they even lock onto the human in the house who doesn’t particularly like animals.

I’d advise you to just go with Turtle’s flow. As I see it, her taking to Keaton is a much better scenario than her rejecting him and avoiding you both when he’s around.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My uncle has scored some valuable items in the storage lockers he’s bid on at auction. One locker had two jewelry boxes with what turned out to be nearly $7500 in old earrings, necklaces, and watches. He slowly sold the higher-end pieces to different jewelers. He had heard if you sell everything in one lot, you don’t make as much as doing it piece by piece.

After I saw how much you could make by taking a chance, I decided I would give it a try and went to an auction.

The locker I won the highest bid on was a small one, but it was packed. The best thing I found was a sterling silver cutlery service for 8 that got me nearly $2,000, which was double what I bid, so it worked out pretty good for me and is enough to make me think I want to try it again in a few months.

A lot of what was stashed in the locker was straight up junk. What I wasn’t expecting to find was a bunch of sex toys crammed into a boot-sized shoebox. This stuff was wild and totally out of whack with the rest of what was in the locker, all of which seemed like it belonged to an older couple.

I made a nice bit of money reselling the rest of the stuff in the locker, but I dumped the sex toys and the junk.

The whole thing got me thinking about why would you keep that kind of weird stuff, especially if you are getting up there in age? It grossed me out. --- NOT WHAT I EXPECTED

DEAR NOT WHAT I EXPECTED: Haven’t you ever heard the expression, “Old ain’t dead”?

Most likely the owners of the storage unit either forgot their sex toy stash was still around or they didn’t anticipate strangers coming across it.

Look at this as a lesson in the secrets we all shove to the back of our closets. It’s a very human thing to do and one day someone may make a few interesting discoveries about you.