by Maggie Ybarra
Daily Lobo
'Twas the sixth day of Christmas, and the Bookstore gave to me $40.50 - for more than $200 worth of books.
Unfortunately, a combination of low standards and desperate times forced me to accept the disproportionate trade in exchange for some quick and easy money to buy Christmas gifts.
The first year I sold my books back to the Bookstore, I was shocked at how they had managed to decline in value over the span of four months and angry that two of the most expensive ones were rejected because they had been replaced by revised editions.
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By the third year, however, I had acclimated myself to being disappointed and was absolutely thrilled when I received enough money to buy a new DVD player, a crock pot and a tortilla from the Frontier.
This year, a series of miniscule paychecks have ensured that my Christmas shopping is completely contingent upon the money I received when I sold my books back to the Bookstore employees - who glare at me every time I try to haggle the price.
Of course I'm aware that they're not running a garage sale - but a girl doesn't know what options are viable until she tries them out.
That afternoon, I walked into the mall fully aware that shopping on a $40.50 budget for a brother, sister and two parents that I barely have a relationship with would be a difficult thing.
Luckily, I've held the title of black sheep of the family for the last eight years running, so it's perfectly acceptable when my gifts are less thoughtful and more affordable.
The problem that comes with being a woman shopping on a shoestring budget in the mall is that the word "shoestring" only helps remind you that you could use a new pair of shoes. Thus, it only takes five minutes into my shopping venture for me to find my way to Payless and convince myself that I should take advantage of their buy-one-get-one-half-off special on behalf of myself and my mother.
And $20.99 out-of-pocket later, I felt like the Grinch running off with a new pair of high-heeled shoes to spoil Christmas in with a discounted pair of boots for my mother in tow.
Since it was apparently too dangerous for me to remain at the mall, I hopped on a Rapid Ride to San Mateo Boulevard, where it's only a two-block walk to Fallas Paredes.
Fallas Paredes is a Mexican discount store that opened up next to the Dollar Tree almost a year ago. It brings in overstocked items from other stores and sells them at deeply discounted prices.
You can get Mossimo shirts for $3 and LEI jeans for $10. Most of the time, the staff leaves the original tags on the items so you can see how much you would have had to pay for them at their store of origin.
At Fallas, I bought a blue shirt ($3.99) with Cookie Monster on it stuffing his face full of cookies and screaming, "Mas, Mas, Mas," for my brother. I also bought him a bag of socks ($2.99), because he tells me every year that all he wants is tube socks and that any attempt to buy him something different will be viewed as lame.
I bought a classy-looking St. John's Bay sweater ($5.99) with a zipper down the front of it for my sister, who is breast-feeding one of her biological products and has problems finding appropriate clothes.
And, for my father, I bought an army green baseball cap ($2.99) to watch his war movies in, because every hard-core veteran needs a way to match the constant sound of bullets flying in his bedroom.
If the Bookstore employees can see fit to buyback my last two books after finals are over, I'll go to Wal-Mart and buy another war movie for my father. Then I'll return to the mall to take advantage of the Wilson's Leather clearance sale and buy my mom a nice pair of gloves to match her boots.
At the end of the day, even after my shopping venture had been compromised by a buy-one-get-one-half-off sale at Payless, I managed to spend less than $40 and still had enough left over to buy a celebratory tortilla from the Frontier.
Therefore, I thank you, Bookstore employees, for adding to my education by teaching me to overcome continuous disappointment and to shop on a shoestring budget.
My mother would be proud.
