Lay Away

So, I'm driving to work this morning and the oddest most random thought pops into my head.

Lay Away.

Do people even do that anymore? Do stores offer this option anymore? My guess is no. I suppose with the advent and popularity of credit cards, there is no need for this once popular retail plan. And that makes me a little sad.

I remember being a kid and seeing cool things at the Twin Fair, Big N or Kings that I wanted. A Barbie, a pair of "high heeled" (1/2") shoes, or even a winter coat. I don't think we were poor really. I honestly have no concept. But I do know that we didn't just buy every little thing our hearts desired. And I always thought (though I can't say that we ever actually did) that maybe we could just put the desired item on lay away. As I understood it, you would put some small deposit down, they would hold the item in the "back" and you would periodically make payments until you had reached the final retail price at which time you could take it home. It was like saving up for something but paying on it as you saved. Kind of a neat idea, really.

But now we have credit cards with limits reaching into the thousands of dollars and, rather than storing the item in the "back" while paying it off, we take it home and begin enjoying it at a rate of 19% interest.

Yep, that's really all I have today. It just struck me as interesting. If any of ya'll are out and about at your local department stores this weekend, be sure to ask the sales gal if they have a lay away plan. Just curious.