Sorry for the lack of posts lately-girlfriend has been b-u-s-y. Plus, I worked on this mindless but fun post for about an hour on my iPad last night and it won't publish...grrr. I am sure it will pop up randomly months from now or something. Is anyone else having issues with the Blogger app on the iPad? Is it user error?
Anywho, onto the good stuff. I have declared this month Frivolous Spending-Free February. As you will remember from my post here, one of my goals this year was to spend less and save more....fast forward one room makeover and 4 birthdays of good friends in January and I am off to abad terrible start. Some of the spending warranted, but the overwhelming majority of it not. One thing I realized just from cleaning out my room and looking at my stuff (as opposed to cleaning and organizing it....) is I literally need nothing. NOTHING. Not a damn thing. I have more clothing, ribbon, stationery and belts than I know what to do with. Just from rearranging my room I had at least 3 bags of Goodwill items and a LOT of trash.
Allison at Smart and Sassy with Sprinkles did a complete spending freeze last year, which is where this idea came from. I am not going on a complete spending freeze (the mental hospital bills would negate the effort.....), but anything that is not necessary is out this month. I have to buy a new dresser and car this year, so my weekends of endless shopping are swiftly coming to a close. (I am currently taking suggestions of new, cheaper hobbies....please leave your suggestions in the comments below.) Much like Allison's spending freeze, I am making some rules to keep myself in check and my eye on the prize. (Eye being $$$ in the bank.......)
1. Only eat out 2 lunches and 1 dinner a week (including weekends). I understand that you are thinking 'eating out is frivolous' but I don't cook at all really, so I have to be practical about my lifestyle. I currently eat out at least 5 times a week (lunch & dinner combined) and basically every meal ALL weekend..... so 2 lunches and a dinner per week is not unreasonable and necessary for me to maintain my sanity. I will probably use one of the lunches over the weekend and one during the work week-I am pretty good about bringing my lunch, but sometimes I work late and just don't have the time. The point of this is to learn how to live my life by spending less, not to confine myself to my house and not socialize. Plus, I look at this as a great opportunity to practice some cooking!
2. Purchase only NECESSARY things for the closet-clean out. Cleaning out my closet is on my list of things that MUST get done. It's a disaster. I would take a picture if I remembered last night, even though it's embarrassing. Luckily, last month when I cleaned out and re-did my room I thought ahead (well, I was really thinking I could convince M to do my closet that night, but after 2 extra Homegoods runs we kinda ran out of time.....) and got some storage bins/baskets/etc for the closet, so there shouldn't be too much (if anything) to get. I am going to make every effort to deal with what I have. With that being said, I want to do the project right so if there is something I NEED to make the closet more effective, then it WILL be on sale or it will wait until March. Period. The cute, pink felt hangers I want to get gotta wait. I have PLENTY of white hangers.
3. Treat myself to takeout/(cheap) bottle of wine on Valentine's Day (limit $30). Because I am single, fabulous and do not want to have a mental breakdown. End of story. If you disagree I a) don't want to hear about it and b) don't want to be your friend anymore. I also really want to see either The Vow and/or This Means War, too. I may sub the bottle of wine for a ticket to ONE of those movies.
4. Buy a new big-girl dresser. My Ikea dresser is literally more than half-broken. 5 out of the 8 drawers do not work properly and take all my might to open and close them. It's really bad. Even my roommates and friends will agree that purchasing a dresser this month is NOT frivolous. My bargain-hunting, crazy couponing, shopaholic of a Dad (yes, we are of the same blood....) has been looking for good sales and ALWAYS comes through for me. I gave him my criteria, sent pictures and he has been on the prowl since Christmas. We went in January and he said I could do better President's Day weekend. President's Day Weekend is in February, so I will have to go for it if he is right. (Which he usually is- DO NOT TELL HIM I SAID THIS!)
5. Purchase P's Bridal Shower gift. I have a bridal shower the first weekend in March and it's not the bride-to-be's fault that I have a shopping problem. Plus I refuse to show up to a shower without a gift because I basically put myself in shopping timeout.
Now, for those of you who don't know me outside of this blog, I am the first to admit know this is going to be extremely difficult for me (if not impossible), but I am determined to do it. I have enough personal training sessions to last me through February (I do not apologize for having a trainer...the money spent on it is well worth the happiness and overall health benefits.....) AND to properly comply with my own rules, I just moved my hair appointment from the last week in February to the first week in March (if you knew how hard it was to get in with my lady who is 45 minutes from my home you would understand where I am coming from).
There are only 29 days in February so it can't REALLY be that bad (and I have giftcards when things get REAL bad). If I reach a breaking point, I will use ONLY THE VALUE OF any giftcard from Christmas in my wallet (Chick-Fil-A, Sephora, Pinkberry, Fandango and Anthropologie....) since it's not MY money anyways. These gift cards should provide me with more than enough "free money" for the month.
And if you are one of the people who I actually go out with on the weekends to either shop or eat (ahem Roomies, Cronies, Tor, M, K,.....etc) please a) understand if I a) say no b) get bitchy about it and c) do not let me have a moment of weakness. Also call me out if I attempt B or C at ANY TIME.
I realize to some this post may make me seem shallow, materialistic, ridiculous and in desperate need of a therapist. I can attest that I am none of the above, but at the same time I have never pretended (nor will I ever in the future....) to be someone I am not. I have a slight addiction to shopping and am hoping to use my blog as a means of accountability to leach myself a lesson.
Anywho, onto the good stuff. I have declared this month Frivolous Spending-Free February. As you will remember from my post here, one of my goals this year was to spend less and save more....fast forward one room makeover and 4 birthdays of good friends in January and I am off to a
Allison at Smart and Sassy with Sprinkles did a complete spending freeze last year, which is where this idea came from. I am not going on a complete spending freeze (the mental hospital bills would negate the effort.....), but anything that is not necessary is out this month. I have to buy a new dresser and car this year, so my weekends of endless shopping are swiftly coming to a close. (I am currently taking suggestions of new, cheaper hobbies....please leave your suggestions in the comments below.) Much like Allison's spending freeze, I am making some rules to keep myself in check and my eye on the prize. (Eye being $$$ in the bank.......)
1. Only eat out 2 lunches and 1 dinner a week (including weekends). I understand that you are thinking 'eating out is frivolous' but I don't cook at all really, so I have to be practical about my lifestyle. I currently eat out at least 5 times a week (lunch & dinner combined) and basically every meal ALL weekend..... so 2 lunches and a dinner per week is not unreasonable and necessary for me to maintain my sanity. I will probably use one of the lunches over the weekend and one during the work week-I am pretty good about bringing my lunch, but sometimes I work late and just don't have the time. The point of this is to learn how to live my life by spending less, not to confine myself to my house and not socialize. Plus, I look at this as a great opportunity to practice some cooking!
2. Purchase only NECESSARY things for the closet-clean out. Cleaning out my closet is on my list of things that MUST get done. It's a disaster. I would take a picture if I remembered last night, even though it's embarrassing. Luckily, last month when I cleaned out and re-did my room I thought ahead (well, I was really thinking I could convince M to do my closet that night, but after 2 extra Homegoods runs we kinda ran out of time.....) and got some storage bins/baskets/etc for the closet, so there shouldn't be too much (if anything) to get. I am going to make every effort to deal with what I have. With that being said, I want to do the project right so if there is something I NEED to make the closet more effective, then it WILL be on sale or it will wait until March. Period. The cute, pink felt hangers I want to get gotta wait. I have PLENTY of white hangers.
3. Treat myself to takeout/(cheap) bottle of wine on Valentine's Day (limit $30). Because I am single, fabulous and do not want to have a mental breakdown. End of story. If you disagree I a) don't want to hear about it and b) don't want to be your friend anymore. I also really want to see either The Vow and/or This Means War, too. I may sub the bottle of wine for a ticket to ONE of those movies.
4. Buy a new big-girl dresser. My Ikea dresser is literally more than half-broken. 5 out of the 8 drawers do not work properly and take all my might to open and close them. It's really bad. Even my roommates and friends will agree that purchasing a dresser this month is NOT frivolous. My bargain-hunting, crazy couponing, shopaholic of a Dad (yes, we are of the same blood....) has been looking for good sales and ALWAYS comes through for me. I gave him my criteria, sent pictures and he has been on the prowl since Christmas. We went in January and he said I could do better President's Day weekend. President's Day Weekend is in February, so I will have to go for it if he is right. (Which he usually is- DO NOT TELL HIM I SAID THIS!)
5. Purchase P's Bridal Shower gift. I have a bridal shower the first weekend in March and it's not the bride-to-be's fault that I have a shopping problem. Plus I refuse to show up to a shower without a gift because I basically put myself in shopping timeout.
Now, for those of you who don't know me outside of this blog, I am the first to admit know this is going to be extremely difficult for me (if not impossible), but I am determined to do it. I have enough personal training sessions to last me through February (I do not apologize for having a trainer...the money spent on it is well worth the happiness and overall health benefits.....) AND to properly comply with my own rules, I just moved my hair appointment from the last week in February to the first week in March (if you knew how hard it was to get in with my lady who is 45 minutes from my home you would understand where I am coming from).
There are only 29 days in February so it can't REALLY be that bad (and I have giftcards when things get REAL bad). If I reach a breaking point, I will use ONLY THE VALUE OF any giftcard from Christmas in my wallet (Chick-Fil-A, Sephora, Pinkberry, Fandango and Anthropologie....) since it's not MY money anyways. These gift cards should provide me with more than enough "free money" for the month.
And if you are one of the people who I actually go out with on the weekends to either shop or eat (ahem Roomies, Cronies, Tor, M, K,.....etc) please a) understand if I a) say no b) get bitchy about it and c) do not let me have a moment of weakness. Also call me out if I attempt B or C at ANY TIME.
I realize to some this post may make me seem shallow, materialistic, ridiculous and in desperate need of a therapist. I can attest that I am none of the above, but at the same time I have never pretended (nor will I ever in the future....) to be someone I am not. I have a slight addiction to shopping and am hoping to use my blog as a means of accountability to leach myself a lesson.
for number 4:
ReplyDeletecraigslist, campaign dresser, light pink paint
done and done