Souviners- "What Was I Thinking!?"

How many times have you gone on vacation and told yourself that you won’t waste your money on worthless souvenirs? I know I tell myself that every time we travel, but what always happens? I come home with so much random trinkets that my three year old nephew won’t even play with. Souvenir shops are everywhere, in the hotel lobby, right outside the hotel, and you can always get something at the nearest gas station. There always seems to be a good idea to buy the random pet rock that says “We had a rockin’ time at the Grand Canyon!” Or we buy the embarrassing souvenir t-shirt that says “Look at my weiner” with a picture a weiner dog on the front for your brother-in-law that can’t take a joke. It seems at the time we are in the store shopping that we have to buy things just because we are on vacation and we are supposed to spend our hard earned money on silly souvenirs that will probably will never use or see again, except in our garage sale a few years down the road. Then when we get back to our room and discover that we don’t have any room for all the souvenirs, we are surprised. Then when we come home with more luggage than we left with, we wonder with in the world did we buy such useless things.

Some people will use those souvenirs, don’t get me wrong. Just because your brother-in-law didn’t like the t-shirt with the weiner dog, doesn’t mean your second cousin whose birthday you forgot about, won’t like it. At certain times, souvenirs come in handy, just most of the time they are discarded or forgotten. If you buy and use your souvenirs, then just start leaving some extra room in your bag, so you can go souvenirs shopping all you want. For those of us who just have a bad habit of spending just to be spending, try and find something more worthwhile to spend your money on. If you and your significant other wanted to go to a fancy dinner, but aren’t sure if you had enough money. Just do it. How often do you get to get all dressed up and have other people wait on you? Plus you will have something substantial to brag about instead of showing everyone at work your “super cool pet rock.” Don’t blow your hard earned money on souvenirs that will be smashed on the trip home or just forgotten about and put in your basement. It’s your hard earned money, spend it on something that you really want.