200 Candles
Dec. 16th, 2021 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerWhen Hawk and I moved out of our college/grad school digs years ago and moved in together we had to start furnishing our home "for real". For real, as in buying things that we'd not had to own before because we'd lived in furnished student apartments or had housemates who'd owned a lot of stuff. I remember making a trip to the Ikea store in Emeryville, CA, about an hour away. We wound up not buying any furniture at Ikea— we actually chose cheaper stuff 😜 used or in kits from a hardware store— but we did buy some candles.
The candles were in the "maze". You know, the part of the store right before the cash registers where Ikea forced you to zig-zag through a bazaar of cheap stuff they hope you'll buy as an impulse purchase. (Okay, actually all of Ikea is laid out like a maze; this is the maziest part right at the end. 🤣) We were impulsed by seeing a bag of candles— one hundred candles— for just $1.
"OMG, do we really need 100 candles?" I wondered for a moment.
Back then we used candles regularly. We liked burning a candle or two late in the evening rather than using electric lights. But candles were expensive. Even basic candles were $1 each, and fancy ones cost several dollars apiece. Instead we could buy this bag of 100 tea lights, and the savings would be immense.
So... what do you do when 100 candles are on sale for $1? You buy two! And by two I mean 200 candles. 😳😂🤯
"This will last us a few years," we agreed. Wow, how naive! Because here we are 25 years later and we still have candles left!
Part of it was we got out of the habit of lighting candles in the evening. Part of it was the bags of candles got pushed toward the back of the closet shelf and we basically forgot about them. In fact, we went several years without really touching them and discovered half of them had melted (warmer summers, etc.) into shapes that made them unusable. Even after throwing the bad ones out and slowly using the rest there are still about 35 left. From 25 years ago.
Update: And the matches I've been lighting them with are even older! 😂
The candles were in the "maze". You know, the part of the store right before the cash registers where Ikea forced you to zig-zag through a bazaar of cheap stuff they hope you'll buy as an impulse purchase. (Okay, actually all of Ikea is laid out like a maze; this is the maziest part right at the end. 🤣) We were impulsed by seeing a bag of candles— one hundred candles— for just $1.
"OMG, do we really need 100 candles?" I wondered for a moment.
Back then we used candles regularly. We liked burning a candle or two late in the evening rather than using electric lights. But candles were expensive. Even basic candles were $1 each, and fancy ones cost several dollars apiece. Instead we could buy this bag of 100 tea lights, and the savings would be immense.
So... what do you do when 100 candles are on sale for $1? You buy two! And by two I mean 200 candles. 😳😂🤯
"This will last us a few years," we agreed. Wow, how naive! Because here we are 25 years later and we still have candles left!
Part of it was we got out of the habit of lighting candles in the evening. Part of it was the bags of candles got pushed toward the back of the closet shelf and we basically forgot about them. In fact, we went several years without really touching them and discovered half of them had melted (warmer summers, etc.) into shapes that made them unusable. Even after throwing the bad ones out and slowly using the rest there are still about 35 left. From 25 years ago.
Update: And the matches I've been lighting them with are even older! 😂
no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 08:15 pm (UTC)I've bought those candles! For better or worse, we actually did go through them and had to get more. Somewhere been power outages and once a year Halloween lighting...
no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 09:14 pm (UTC)EDIT: Nevermind, I answered my own question. Glimma 100-packs of candles at Ikea cost $3.99 today. 😂
no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 09:32 pm (UTC)😁
I was going to look. I've only got 5 left!
no subject
Date: 2021-12-18 07:36 pm (UTC)