How Frugal Are You? The Baseball Photo Test!

My son is now involved in spring baseball. His team is the Cubs. Recently, we had to take a team and individual photo session. I found out that Sports Legend Photography was the company taking the baseball pictures for every team. Choosing the type of “package” you want is a real test of frugality. Here are the choices available.

Player Pack (Package A) – The player pack cost $30.00. It consist of a Composite Memory Plate and 16 Trading Cards. According to the brochure, it was a $42 value and you save $12!

Sports Pack (Package B) – This package consist of a large memory plate and four wallet photos. At $15.00, this was the cheapest package.

Best Buy Pack (Package C) – For $35.00, you get a memory mate, eight mini wallet photos, four wallet photos, two individual photos, one photo magnet and one bag tag.

Pro Pack (Package D) – The Pro Pack came with a large memory plate, eight trading cards, two individual photos, eight wallet photos and two micro magnets. The cost was $45.00 – $57 value save $12!!

Plague Pack (Package E) – This is the mother of all packages. You get one team with individual walnut plague, eight trading cards, two individual photos, one ID pack which consists of two ID-cards, three zipper tags, two key tags, one bookmark and one door hanger). You also get one photo magnet. The cost is $55 (but off course it is a $64.00 value and you save $12.00).

Individual Pack (Package F) – The individual pack consist of one collector’s pack (one photo, four wallet with text and graphics – whatever this is), two individual’s phots and one photo magnet. This one cost $20.00 ($28.00 value – you save $8.00!).

Which did I choose?

Well, at first Mrs Credit Card wanted to just get the Individual Pack. When I got to the photo session, I asked them which was the most popular ones. It turns out that the Sports Pack (the cheapest) and the Player Pack ($30.00) was the most popular. The Player Pack was popular because of the trading cards.

I asked a few parents what they were getting. A couple said they were just getting the cheapest. One commented that their wife filled it out and they got the most expensive ones! I decided to get the Player Pack because I thought my son would love the trading cards. I got the Player Pack not because my son wanted it. Frankly speaking, he did not really give a toss about it. It was just me!

It made me realize that many times for our kids, we things that we either want them to have (cos we did not have it when we were kids) or because we think they would like to have it. What ends up happening is that we spend more on things that they will either not remember or will probably lose them!

I’m certainly guilty of this. Are you? Share your views on this. Which package would you have got?

Left and Middle – Individual and Team Photo, Right – Memory Mate