Money is a touchy subject. Some people have lots and lots of money, some people don't have that much money and some people are in the middle. I'm one of those middle people. I'm not poor but I'm not rich. I have lots of bills to pay and a little spending money at the end of the month. Okay, confession time, I LOVE to SPEND SPEND SPEND money!!!!! Can you see the enthusiasm? It doesn't even have to be fancy stuff. I easily can spend $200 at Target or Walmart without blinking an eye on crap I don't particularly need. I call those stores impulse buys. Everything seems inexpensive until you get to check out and your credit card gets sucked dry. Amazon prime has been my enabler for years now. It doesn't get easier than sitting at your computer, clicking BUY, check out cart and you're done! The mailman brings you presents on a daily basis - the Jewish Santa! With horrible pregnancies and little kids, going to the store was a dreaded task I avoided. Instead I purchased toothpaste and everything else on Amazon. Recently visiting Target has become a summer activity. All of a sudden I realized I was easily paying 50% to 100% markup on all the toys I was buying the kids online. I feel slightly duped and taken advantage of by dear Amazon and am considering a strong breakup in the near future. Or at least, more comparative shopping. Unfortunately my shopping habits are biting me in the ass. In a bad way. Last month's credit card bill was not helped by a big car maintenance bill and a few other had-to-be-done stuff, but my impulse buys made the situation worse. I may have spent a bit-more-than-I-really-could-afford on a few fancy wraps. But let's not talk about that. Let's discuss happier thoughts! I have decided on a solution. Tracking money is half assed at best and not really my thing. No, instead, I am going to create a LIST. If I could have a running .gif of LIST flashing like a Vegas sign with lots of shiny sparkling lights around it, I would. Unfortunately that's out of my talent. But, I digress. I am going to make a list, a sort of written pinterest where I write down everything I want to buy. Here, let me start creating my list: 1. Range Rover 2. Porsche Cayenne Turbo S 3. UppyMama wrap 4. A bed so we can stop sleeping on mattresses on the floor That was off the top of my head in the first ten seconds of writing. I have a list, it lives in my head. I have come to a phD conclusion, if I continue to spend money on crap I don't need that accumulates in my house and I end up throwing away (giving away) every six months, I will never own anything I actually want on my list. So, that's it. No more impulse shopping. No more wasting money on kids toys that are forgotten within 2 days of purchase. I'm done. I live in a small house and it's filled with clutter. I have bins of toys that sit around taking up space and are never touched. I am making my stand against stuff. Against clutter. Against $200 shopping sprees at Target that are challenges to pay off when there were three visits in one week (and what the hell did I buy???) List here I come. It might be a novel's length, which is a different problem entirely, but it will be so much more satisfying in the long run (like a media console instead of that thing I am using to hold my dvd player.) Finally, with a list I can compare what the item costs versus what we have extra and viola, I can mark the item off the list, which is so ef·fi·cient /iˈfiSHənt/ of me!
1 Comment
Flora
6/26/2013 02:59:11 pm
Sounds like me, except I went from Target to Whole Foods. The sad part is that you spend so much but theirs no perks or discounts. You'd think the sales people would be much nicer, I guess that's old school-;). Anyway a list is easier said then done, I'd probably go "off" the list a few minutes into shopping. Good thing is I can't stand hoarding to the millionth power, so I may buy things I'd use that I don't really need only once.
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Meet the Blogger!
I'm a mom. A writer. A lover of good fantasy. A proponent of nursing when possible. A birth advocate. I am absolutely horrible at keeping my house clean or the dishes washed or the laundry done. I strongly believe in women having a positive birth. When we start to respect women's rights to birth the way they want, we can start to treat women as equal people in this world. Archives
February 2016
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