Bigger isn't always better

Last summer we went to Glacier National Park.  We bought plane tickets to Kalispell, Montana.  A few days before we were supposed to leave, Brian noticed that our tickets didn't include any luggage.  We apparently bought the basic tickets that allowed us all to bring one tiny carry-on item.  Whoops!I panicked a bit.  Seven of us were going to be gone for a week!  We would have to pay for our bags.  Ugh.  I did not want to pay $50 for each of our seven suitcases.  Then, in a stroke of genius, I (or maybe Brian?) came up with a plan where we would all pack in two bags.  We could pay for and check two suitcases, and everyone would still have a small carry-on bag of their own.I went to TJ Maxx and started looking for big enough suitcases.  All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bright red clearance tag.  It was on a large, rolling suitcase that looked perfect.  Well, it actually looked enormous; but it was on sale!  It was HALF the price of the smaller ones.  If I could only find one more...I found another one!  I could not believe my luck.  This was going to work out fine.  I rolled my two oversized pieces of luggage through the checkout line, smiling at all the money I was saving.We started to pack.  I had four people in one suitcase, and three in the other.  As we put in the clothes and shoes and toiletries, the bags seemed to grow.  Were they really this big in the store?  The space inside seemed never-ending.The day we left, I stood up the suitcase and rolled it to the car.  Thinking I would just set it in the trunk, I grabbed the handle and lifted.  Nothing happened.  I tried again, and barely hefted that thing into our car.  It was HEAVY.Uh-oh.We arrived at the airport and went to check our bags.  Now, I'm sure I knew at one point that checked bags have a weight limit, but I clearly had forgotten.  Brian had gone to a different check-in point with two of the kids.  I had the other three with me.  I set the bag on the scale.  60 lbs."Ma'am, the weight limit for bags is 50 pounds."Crap.  The person helping us asked if we could take some things out?  I unzipped the bag and started handing shoes, my camera, jackets, and anything else I could to my kids.  We all stuffed more and more into our petite-sized bags.  I weighed the suitcase again.  54.We had no more room.  How could shirts and underwear weigh so much?  I asked what we could do.  The answer was simple.  Pay.  Pay A LOT more money.My mind flashed back to TJ Maxx and the stupid grin I had on my face as I "saved" money.  I begrudgingly handed the worker my credit card."Go ahead."At the same time, Brian was having the exact same experience.  Luckily, their bag was only 2 pounds over the limit, so they easily unloaded the extra weight and moved on.Several hours later, we had all landed in Kalispell.  My suitcase made it.  Brian's did not.  The situation was not ideal.  Brian spent a significant amount of time on the phone, trying to figure out how to get that suitcase to us.  The next day was Sunday, and we still had no bag.  We went to church anyway...some of us dressed nicely, and some of us wearing the same clothes they had worn the day before.That night, we finally got Brian's suitcase.  The vacation went on as planned and we had a wonderful time in a beautiful place.I learned a valuable lesson: Bigger is not always better.  It certainly wasn't in this case.  Even though it seemed like I got more suitcase for less money, I certainly paid more in the end.  I should have purchased a suitcase that we needed, not a huge one that only caught my eye because of its clearance tag.  Also, the airline wouldn't admit it, but I KNOW that bag got "lost" because it was huge and heavy.  No one wanted to try and throw it onto the conveyor belt...so they didn't.At the end of the vacation, we stopped at Walmart and bought two small carry-ons for my youngest kids.  Everything worked out on the way home.  My bag with only TWO of us in it weighed 47 pounds.  Perfect.Ironically, my clearance-priced luggage ended up being quite an expensive lesson.(the chair is there to show how HUGE this suitcase really is!)