I am a person who enjoys a bargain. My favorite place—my heaven, let’s call it—is the clearance section of Target, where perfectly good stuff is invitingly priced at 75 or even 90% off. Things I wanted at the beginning of the season are already available to me for mere peanuts! Why, it would be a crime against nature to leave them behind! I have been known to consider purchasing a replacement carafe for a coffee maker I do not own, just because it is 90% off and it seems like at that price I ought to buy it.

I particularly enjoy seasonal clearances. This year I bought four fluffy frilly glittery costumes for Elizabeth to wear when she’s older, maybe for Halloween or maybe for dress-up, or maybe not to wear at all if it turns out she’s the sort of little girl who won’t have anything to do with that sort of thing, but anyway I bought them, and they were 75% off, and I rejoiced. Am I going to spend $19.99 for a few scraps of fabric calling themselves a fairy costume? No, I am going to spend $4.94!

I also bought a snuggly little tiger costume, really more like a hooded sleeper, for the new baby to wear. William and I saw a baby wearing this very costume a few days before Halloween, and we both nearly blew a cuteness gasket.

Here is the point, though, of this discussion. There was one time when I saved a great deal of money, and it was the stupidest money-saving decision I ever made. It was when we moved across the country with our 10-month-old baby (Robert, our only child at the time, which seems so hard to believe now), and Paul drove the moving truck and I took a flight with the baby, and I held him on my lap instead of paying the $250 so he could have his own seat. When I was booking the tickets, it seemed ludicrous to pay that much money for an infant who could ride for free if he sat on my lap. Five minutes into the first flight, I had completely changed my mind. Seven years later, I still regret it. It was miserable for me, miserable for Robert, and miserable for the poor, poor woman in the center seat next to us. Why didn’t I buy him a seat? He could have been strapped down in his car seat, maybe even sleeping. Instead he was twisting and fussing in my lap, wanting to GET DOWN. Instead he kept dropping his toy on the floor at the feet of the woman next to us.

There is saving money, and then there is saving money. Better to spend it on that airplane seat, and then make up for it ever after with the 75% off Halloween costumes.