As a teacher, I'm all too familiar with the testing of my patience. I'm a special educator at the high school level in what some consider a "tough" district. In fact, I'd like to think that on some days, after answering the same question ten times and explaining the same concept in twenty five different ways, only to be told "I don't get it," that I have the patience of a saint. Not only has this excessive amount of patience allowed me to leave work on a fairly regular basis with some sense of sanity left in tact, it has also helped me save hundreds and hundreds of dollars in the past year.

When my older relatives used to remind me over and over again growing up that "patience is a virtue," I'd roll my eyes. And I'd still be rolling my eyes if I hadn't seen for myself the benefits and savings that are wrapped in a pretty little giftbox called patience.

Case in point: my husband had been whining on and off for months, all throughout our house renovation projects, that his life would be so much easier if he had a table saw. This coveted table saw retailed at over $500 at Lowes and Home Depot. I started my search during the summer, in fact, during these home renovations. I googled searched table saws, I checked craigslist, I visited ebay and even price compared at all of the major stores. After about a month of searching I finally found a gorgeous Craftsman table saw (wait, now I sound like my husband... can power tools actually be gorgeous?) that had all of the bells and whistles of the coveted one for a lesser price.

Unfortunately, even this saw was way out of my budget. With a saddened heart, I temporarily "gave up" and instead tried to find a back up plan for his September birthday and then for Christmas. I scouted out smaller gift items and purchased them at crazily discounted prices as the stores' end of summer specials rolled out. Allthewhile, I continued to revisit that particular table saw. I watched the price jump up fifty dollars, then drop down seventy five dollars, then jump back up again. I saw various discounts that could be applied to an order, $5 off $100 order, 10% off any Craftsman item, double points back when you use your store card. And still I waited. Because that gosh darn saw still was out of my price range!

Fast forward nearly six months from when I first started searching. The stars and planets aligned and I hit the jackpot of a deal! I can't specify what I paid for the saw because my husband reads these (I promise you I didn't pay retail, Jon!), but I can tell you I saved over $150 off the initial price, then I saved another $10 on account of another discount offered by the store, plus I could pick it up at the store for free that day AND I earned what seemed like a bajillion points on my store loyalty card (not a credit card, but sort of like a Stop & Shop gas points card). I later used these points to "buy" napkin rings for FREE! I managed to get the price down enough that I could even afford to buy the 5 year additional warranty god-forbid my husband breaks it within the next half a decade.

So yes, it took a lot of searching to find the ends of the Internet and six months or so of my time, but my patience and persistence finally paid off.

My husband couldn't understand how I could have afforded such an "extravagant" gift, but even more, he couldn't fathom how I could wait six months to buy it either. My husband, like most men it seems, is an "I want it and I want it now" type of person. Before I took over the grocery shopping for the house, he would decide he wanted steak, walk into the store and buy whatever fancied him, whether it was $5.99 a pound or $25.99 a pound. If he woke up one day with an inkling to buy sneakers, he'd go and toss $100 in the trash on the first comfy pair he put his feet into at Jamiel's Shoe Store.

This nearly killed me. The horror that clenched my heart as he'd buy that steak that wasn't even on sale!! My patience when shopping helped me purchase my husband's Christmas gift, but it has also helped me get the best stock up prices on grocery items, wants and needs.

In the wintertime I have to wait to buy my favorite fresh fruits and veggies and instead settle for frozen ones. In the summer, I avoid making my favorite butternut squash casserole because squash is simply not in season and thus not on sale. If I know I'll need sneakers or T shirts or toilet paper or just about anything else for that matter, I start searching and price comparing long before my shelves are barren. And I wait. And wait. And sometimes wait some more until I finally find a price I'm okay with paying.

So patience, indeed, is a virtue. My husband is still learning this. He's completely out of his Axe gel. He waited to tell me that he was on his last jar until he had 2 days worth left. I price compared: would you believe that CVS has the nerve to charge $9.79 for ONE JAR?! It took me a week, but I finally bought them on Amazon. $15.22 for 3 jars using subscribe and save, free shipping, and I had $10 in Amazon bucks - $5 I earned and $5 I won, meaning I paid only $5.22 out of pocket for 3 jars. In your face, CVS!

Unfortunately for my husband, he's now using my less-expensive, not-as-fancy gel and has discovered that I will not jump on his instant-gratification bandwagon. No matter how hard he pushes his "I want it and I want it now" mantra, I will wait. And I will save money. Patience, indeed, is a virtue.