bargain hunting

The Costco magazine often offers a recipe so before I recycle it, I flip through the pages. 

This month my eyes wandered to an article featuring an interview with Clark Howard related to his most recent publication Living Large in Lean Times.  I'd never heard of him before and thought, 

 {hey, he might reveal a useful tip or two...}

 I didn't make it past the first question.

The interviewer asks: 

What do you say to the person who says, "I don't have time to go bargain hunting?

Clark Howard says:

I would say, 

"Are you occupying every hour of your day every day of the week?"  

If you look at time as productive hours, the hours we're awake, we're truly not productive all of them.  

There's downtime, there's leisure time...that's time that we can productively put to work saving money.

{um, are you for real?!?}

Listen, I am all for saving money.  

I am all for finding ways to incorporate bargain hunting strategies into my lifestyle.  

However, Howard's glib response to the valid feeling an average person has about life's time constraints leaves a great deal to be desired.  

His response is unbounded and out of balance.  

It is not reasonable for one to spend every awake minute accomplishing the essential tasks for daily living AND bargain hunting.  

Play is important.

Relationships are important.

Relaxation, recuperation, and recreation are important.

{Peanut gallery, any thoughts?}