At last I have a chance to update my buddies on my trip into Topeka Good Friday night.
Mom got the scoop when she came over Holy Saturday morning but this is for Monnie if she is interested and for my own records. :)
May I just say that procrastination is key in not spending? Haha! The longer you can put off buying something or needing to buy something, the better!
I also would like to insert a brief comment on the psychology of how you dress when you go shopping. I have quite the hunch that being more put-together and neat in your attire when you go shopping helps very much with feeling put together and organized in your spending. Strange as that may sound you know how they "dress for success"!
One last note -- I am quite smitten with the idea of separate transactions (at the same checkout) for things that come from different envelopes. REALLY helps keep it clear -- the change goes back in the right spot and you have separate receipts.
Alright, here's the lowdown, mates!
Withdrew $320 from SMSB:
- $125 rent (joined the $250 in the rent envelope)
- $100 groceries (joined the leftover $13 from last week in the groceries envelope)
- $15 scents
- $50 gas (joined the $35 left in the gas envelope)
- $10 clothes (joined the $10 in the clothes envelope)
- $20 car
Spent:
- $85.69 on groceries (leaving $14 + 13 in the grocery envelope, total = $17)
- $9.95 on a dozen red roses and baby's breath (leaving $5 in the scents envelope)
- $30.75 on gas (leaving $19.25 + 35 in the gas envelope, total = $54.25)
And that's it! I don't think I'll ever forget the picture of the sale sign in the store saying "You could save 100% if you don't buy anything today!" LOVE IT. So true!
What's funny is that I was scrupulously tallying every item as I added it to my cart and found myself around $121 by the end. I reassessed my cart and put back a few things that I knew I could wait on or that weren't strictly necessary and traded my hunk of cheese for a smaller hunk of cheese. I did not think I would come in much under $100 so I obviously put back more than I realized.
I have known the taste of regret far too many times to ever want to taste it again.
And do I feel stretched and strained with the groceries I bought? Just ask me! No, I don't. I have a beautiful (organic) cauliflower, gorgeous (organic) beets, (organic) eggs, (organic) yogurt, Bonne Maman jam, fresh bread, cheese, turkey burgers, (organic) milk, (organic) half and half, hummus, cottage cheese, (organic) oats, and (organic) jasmine green tea.
All that and I managed to buy the stuff to make my Easter dessert dish, namely, (organic) Peanut Butter, (organic) sugar, and (organic) chocolate chips. Oh, and 5 (very important) gallons of water.
And on top of that I still have a pear, a couple kiwis, some turnip, and miscellanea from last week's trip.
I do think I was lucky this time because it seemed like half the stuff I needed to buy was on sale, so I saved $10.09 but I don't think that's something you can't do on a regular basis if you're carefully about shopping the sales and not buying something till it IS on sale.
Speaking of procrastination, though, I still have not actually bought the stuff to make laundry detergent on Amazon.com although my $25 gift card from last week's grocery trip was for that. I don't mean to sound miserly but it makes you feel like you're your own certificate of deposit in a way, to have money or a gift card just sitting there -- it seems to increase in value the longer it sits there simply because between the time you earned it and now you have done nothing to keep earning it and yet it is still there. Nothing... except not spending it, that is. A penny saved is TRULY a penny earned.
But I am out of laundry detergent now, so I am off to buy some Fels Naptha and the like, through smile.amazon.com. I'm so glad they now let you support a charity through the site! That is just awesome - a real win-win!
Anyway, that is it, mates! Thank you for reading :)
I hope you will forgive an itemized comment, in the spirit of accounting, haha!
ReplyDelete1) So true about procrastination saving money!! That is true, though, only when it is not procrastinating fixing an ever-worsening problem (in that case, procrastination is expensive.) But yes! You can go a long time with the last of a tube of toothpaste or bottle of handsoap if you're not TOO quick to replace it. :) Very true for clothes as well.
2) I think you're right about dressing for success... When I feel put together (have earrings or makeup on, for example) while I'm grocery shopping, it seems to translate into being more disciplined at the store as well. Crazy psychology! :)
3) Small note, and I think it was probably just a typo - but I think you probably had $27 total in the grocery envelope, rather than $17?
4) Don't you find that you are also more responsible in your USE of the goods you buy when you're paying attention so? More happy to make use of leftovers? Perhaps content with less at a meal? It doesn't seems orced; it seems to flow naturally from being intentional on the buying side of things.
LOVE the itemized format - very apropos! =)
ReplyDeleteRegarding procrastination, quite right. :) My goal this week is to get back to Scott at L&L and get my car in to be fixed up. That is something I should *not* keep procrastinating. :)
Ah, yes - $27, not $17. :) Thank you, accountant!
I definitely find I'm more likely to make things last or make things 'work'. My sheets are a perfect example - I see these organic cotton sheets at Target but my sheets really are good enough and I can't bring myself to replace them yet because it's not a real necessity. Same goes for how I am not using the agave nectar I bought a few years ago (when I still lived at Mom and Dad's) before buying more sweetener because when I ran out of sugar and honey I found that the agave worked just fine and it seems wasteful to go buy something you already have a perfectly good source of.
I definitely paced my smoking for the majority of March with the idea of rationing in the back of my mind. It did certainly stem from having bought my packs for the month in advance and having the idea of rationing in mind. Unfortunately with the stress lately I've been smoking more but if I can catch up on sleep I know moderating will be easier again.
Whew, long reply! Hope that makes sense! Thank you again SO much for being my accountability buddy and feel free to share y'all's victories or struggles or temptations or failures too! <3