It has been over a year since I have been very serious about coupons. Overall, it has been a great experience. I no longer go to Walmart and give $300 a month to them for items I would buy there with no reward. More importantly, I do not hate grocery shopping anymore. It is actually fun for me and a challenge to see how little I can spend for an item.
I do still go to Walmart every once and a while, but I always use coupons. It is a fun game for me to see how little I can spend on an item. Sometimes at Walmart you can get items for under a dollar and they do match other stores deals. For instance, if I saw that Piggly Wiggly had there cokes for 3 for $10, Walmart would match that and I would only spend $10 on the 3 12 pack of cokes I wanted. Non the less, I really love Kroger because they keep track of what I buy through my card and reward me for it through sending me in store coupons in the mail, etc. This post is not about grocery store shopping, however, I have regressed.
The point of this post is to discus my shoe issues. Since I worked out the majority of my pregnancy with Abigail, I am really not that out of shape. However, recently during the classes I have felt like I could not do them anymore because my feet hurt so bad. I was talking to one of my step instructors last week and asked her advice on getting good tennis shoes for exercise classes and I told her my problem. She told me about a place in Columbia called "Fleet Feet." This tennis shoe store gets you on a tread mill and analysis what is wrong with you feet. My feet hurt so bad last week, I decided to go out there Saturday with Jackson. It was very impressed with the whole process, and she told me that I had one of the worse cases of "pronation" problems she had ever seen. My parents reminded me that I did have to wear special shoes when I was little. Anyway, I did end up getting the perfect tennis shoe for my problem out there for $100 (Brooks are the brand). I really really hated spending $100 on tennis shoes when I spend so much of my week pinching pennies and cutting coupons. This is where I think I get to obsessed and money become an "idol" that I want to protect. I have a medical problem so it is going to cost more for me to have a pair of tennis shoes. Do you struggle with finding a balance between cutting costs and feeling bad when you have to pay full price for an item? I guess that has become my new goal, not to spend full price for anything I buy.
However, if you have any kinds of feet problems or work out 3 or more hours a week, I would highly recommend this place. Bring your dress shoes in there and they will find you the perfect insole for you (they only sell tennis shoes here). She does recommend getting new tennis shoes about every 6 months. There is no additional cost for them video tapping you walking on a treadmill.
4 comments:
First of all, way to go on the groceries and Kroger. I heard they have the BEST deals. We don't have one but I've heard all about it! I do the coupons and deals too and I have found that since I've started it, it does make it hard to pay FULL PRICE for things but medical things are way different. That shoe store sounds awesome! I hope your new shoes make your feet happy=)
My family has been buying shoes at Fleet Feet for many years now. Did you sign up for their mailing list? Every time we spend $250 there, we get a $25 gift card. Fitting 5 people with sneakers (including the year my dad trained for a marathon and bought a LOT of sneakers) it seems we get discounts there all the time.
Hi! I stumbled across your blog by mistake, but do have a thought about your foot problem. My husband's feet hurt a lot because he stands or walks around for most of his work day. He went to a podiatrist and was "prescribed" insoles specially fitted for his feet. Apparently they can cost between $200 -$500 dollars but he only had to pay $25 for them with his health insurance and his copay for each pod. visit is only $10 or $15. Apparently he has flat feet (ha, ha...the name of the store). The podiatrist also gave him some stretches he can do to help. He's not good about doing the exercises but the insoles alone have pretty much solved his problem and he can take them out and switch them from shoe to shoe. The podiatrist also recommended certain brand shoes and said he had specific recommendations for people who run, cross-train, etc. but since my husband does not exercise, all he could remember was that Rockport, Keen, and New Balance were recommended. If you saw a podiatrist, he or she could probably recommend the best brand for the type of workout you do. I don't know how your insurance is, obviously, since I don't know you :-), but it is worth a try or at least finding out how much a visit to the pod. would cost and whether or not your insurance would cover insoles and how much you would have to pay. Even if "flat-footedness" is not your problem, a pod. and personalized insoles may help!
Hahaha. I find it a victory the more I save grocery shopping. The more I save, the more I feel like I conquered. I pronate too and went to Strictly Running downtown to get fitted for shoes. It's either pay more for shoes now or pay more on doctor bills later when you mess up your ankles and knees :) Or at least that's how I justified my purchase.
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