Shopping Spree

If you have read my blog in the past, you know how much I hate grocery shopping. For someone who likes to cook, I really dislike going to the grocery store.  Actually, I don't mind going to various markets (meat, produce,etc), but my area of the world does not have such stores.  Just over priced mom and pop local markets and the big chain markets. Spending more that 15 minutes in the grocery store gives me a headache, it really does.

After having such a crazy few weeks, I realized I was getting to the point of nothing in my food cupboards. Not that they were bare, but that I got to the point where I had no idea how to combine the last few items to make anything that was tasty. I even used up the last two cups of ramen noodles, some dying vegetables and leftover hoisin sauce to make, yup you guessed it, hoisin noodles with veggies. It's not so bad provided you don't use all the MSG filled broth in your stir fry.

Non the less, I made a list and went guilt free shopping yesterday.  I spent $93 on assorted groceries and sundry items (cleaning supplies), out of that $93, about $15 were on "processed foods".  Things like a bunch of Lean Cusisnes, some boxes of chicken broth, a box of Hot Pockets which I was craving, and a package of cookies. I did pick up some duplicate items to take to my weekend job as that pantry is spare and I do have my own assigned food shelf, those items are neatly bagged for my next work weekend.  I also got a nice pork shoulder that will be dumped in the crock pot on Friday and set to simmer with all sorts of spices. I'm hoping to can pick up a few windfall apples as I walk past the local orchard tomorrow. 

Even though I spent $93, I still did not pick up nearly enough fresh veg or other types of protein product (chicken pieces, ground beef, tofu). I have to make a Costco run tonight to pick up some items for work and will pick up my protein product then and my case of Seltzer Water that I drink everyday. 

The good part to this shopping spree is that I now have a nice assortment of items for my pantry so that I can make things like soups, stews, casseroles, breads, to feed my face at dinner and have the leftovers for lunch. Even though I walked out of the store feeling a little overwhelmed, at least I'm well set on pantry staples to last me at least the rest of the month if not more!

Hoarding, Binging and Purging

May was an interesting month to say the least. I saw my part time job come to a crashing halt, and I spent a lot of money on a bunch of Wants and not Needs. AND to top it off, I feel like I'm stuck in a bucket of Molasses. Able to move, but ever so slowly.

As I posted before, I got my last large check from my weekend job. I promptly used it to pay off a bunch of bills. I realized going through my desk that I had let some bills pile up and go unpaid. Things like a license renewal for my real estate license (which just made it to the state under the wire), the last of my winter fuel bill, a property tax bill, some payments for my hobby, an overdue vet bill. I was hording my bills and hording my money. I went from both feeling really good about paying off all these nagging little bills and having nothing pressing to be paid on my desk to wanting to horde my money because, well, just because. I don't know why I was “hoarding” a bunch of the small bills, I had the money in my account to pay them, I just let them sit on my desk.

I'm feeling more than a bit frustrated about various parts of my life. How did I cope with the frustration? I ate more than my fair share of food, drank more than my fair share of liquor and did a bunch of shopping. I shopped for items that are most defiantly wants and not needs and I did some clothes shopping.

As I previously mentioned, I did a purge of my possessions in May. I also got rid of a bunch of clothes that were either too small or stained or had rips, tears, or what ever. I did a very halfhearted tour of the local consignment and thrift shops to look for some replacements. Nothing caught my eye, or fit, or whatever. I ended up going to a couple stores and bought 6 new tops. They were on sale, but I bought new. I also went shopping for a bunch of wants. The list includes a new bistro patio table, a pair of Crocs, a tent, a new to me nightstand, new laundry basket for my bedroom, a bunch of miscellaneous items from IKEA that were not needed, and yes the new laptop too, but just wants, and well, the list goes on with nothing that was very expensive, but added up to a chunk of change in the end. I even spent the money I had earmarked to go to my E fund.

Sigh.. Why I did this, I have no decent explanation. It was like I was taking out my frustrations shopping. Honestly, I hate shopping. It's a chore for me to go to the grocery store to do my big shops, I prefer to shop on line as much as possible, malls and most stores give me a headache. I know it's human to fall off the fiscal wagon so to speak, but I felt like all I did was grab my debit card and shop. Can you say a frustrating month?

Car Refinancing And Looking at My Budget

This is actually a multi part post, this post has generated my next couple posts that have been swirling around in my brain.

I filled out the application for the car refinance to take to the credit union tomorrow. I also had to take a look at my income and boy did I surprise myself! I work about 7.5 weekend out of every 8. My income should break down like this.

Paycheck 1 from "Full Time Job": Cell phone, land line, 1/4 groceries, 1/2 gas for the month, car insurance, health insurance co-pay and have some extra for misc (savings, utilities).

Paycheck 2 from "Full Time Job": Should cover mortage payment, student loan, 1/4 groceries, 1/2 gas and most remaining utilities with some extra.

Paycheck 1 from Part Time Job: Should cover my car note with room to spare (and in the future it will be snowflaked toward the principal.)

Paycheck 2 from PT Job: Should cover taxes and remaining 1/2 food.My part time job does not deduct taxes, so I need to plan for tax time next year.

Paycheck 3 from PT Job: Should be straight savings/Efund.

Paycheck 4 form PT Job: Fun $$, hobby expense and putting cash towards animal care (food, vet, etc) with some leftover.

The leftovers from Full Time Job should (and have in the past) paid for my car note, but I specifically took my current weekend job with the above plan in mind.

This has not happened. And I'll explain in my post tomorrow. I sort of had this figured out in my head, but did not follow through with it for a couple reasons. I had some unexpected household bills (greater utilities costs due to our frigid January, I kept my heat on higher than I normally would have when I was away each weekend), putting money towards my trip in March, not getting paid while on my trip (I lost 2 weekends of work), replacing parts of my wardrobe that sadly needed to be replaced, routine car maintenance, and my three month experiment of money and friends.

My experiment was expensive, but it was an experiment I needed to conduct and I'll share with you the outcome and some decisions I've made with my life based on this experiment. What I can tell you was it was a large eye opener for me, a large expensive eye opener for me, but I am very glad I did this experiment and grateful for the outcome.

Hope you all had a great Holiday weekend!

A Good Start to The New Year

I've had a good couple days to start the new year. Which is a good thing! I had a great New Year's Eve party with my neighbors (despite the bitter bitter cold New England Temps). I slept in a bit the next morning, but still got up early to take part in an old New Year's Tradition.

When I lived in the Washington DC area, I used to have a New Year's eve/day routine. For some reason, my then boyfriend would take off to visit friends and family from after Boxing until the 2nd or 3rd of January. I'd be on my own. I'd make Hopping John on New Years Eve to eat on New Years Day. It's an old tradition in the American South that if you ate Hopping John (which is a blacked eyed peas and rice dish), you would have good luck in the upcoming year. New Years Day, I'd get up, watch some TV, clean my house and then make a drive to IKEA to pick up a couple items and have the Swedish Meatball lunch.

Shopping at IKEA on New Years Day is always interesting. Lots of slightly stressed parents, lots of cranky kids, lots of many things. I usually breeze in there with my list of items, check out some things that I saw in the catalog, grab my lunch and head home.

I went a bit over my $30 limit at IKEA, but I did not spend it on anything not needed. I got a nice glass shelf for my bathroom, 2 pillow covers for the pillows I'm using as couch cushions on my love seat (the pillows are an unusual size and I was having a hard time finding covers I liked that were not $40 each), a new hanging lamp for over my kitchen stove,a wicker basket in a size I really needed for an upcoming project and a couple miscellaneous items. I also checked out the new beds they have and drooled over a couple of the metal/iron framed ones. I'd like to get a new bed this year and the two styles I saw where less than $200 for the frames. Maybe not this month, but I will see how I can re-work my budget come March. It's given me an incentive to save additional funds. I can be sooo materialistic at times.

I did make it home in time to get the car unpacked, eat my Hopping John and take a nice nap while watching the Rose Bowl. It was a good way to start my New Year!

The Temptation to Shop Was Removed

I posted the other day that I was feeling pressure (all mine, all internal) to shop for additional gifts to give to some people I'm having Christmas lunch with. They were not on my list and I was starting to put myself in a small panic about what to get and how much to spend.  Part of me just could not show up at dinner without "something" in hand.  This is a habit I have to break.

I left the second job yesterday afternoon and left my briefcase/bag sitting in the house.  I did not realize I left my "life" at the second job. Thank goodness a projected quiet week at the office means I won't be missing my work files all that much.  I had my wallet in the car and had stopped to gas up the Escape.  At some point during the drive home, I realized my briefcase was sitting on a chair in the dining room. I keep my bag on a bench in the front hall and from the hall items go into the car.  I had not put the bag in it's usual spot(I am such a creature of habit) and when I did my last walk thru, probably assumed the bag was in the car, with my suitcase and laundry-WRONG!

How did this remove the temptation to shop? Simply by the fact the bag with my lists of potential presents(and the last of my holiday cards to be mailed), my checkbook, and credit card wallet  is not in my possession makes me less inclined to shop.  I have enough cash in my wallet to make it until Thursday (I'll pick up my briefcase on my way to Christmas lunch), I can't spent the cash on extra presents and I have absolutely no plans to run to the bank to get extra cash either. 

Trying to Support A Local Business Can Be Tough

I try to shop as locally as possible and support our local small businesses. Today was my restock the kitchen at work day. Seems food shopping is my theme for yesterday and today. I needed about 5 items and figured I'd pick them up at our local market instead of hitting the grocery store on my way to work tomorrow.

Yesterday I bought a jar of mayo for $2.79. I saw the same jar-brand and size- at our local market for $7.99, yup $7.99. We don't need mayo at work, I just happened to be doing a little comparison shopping. I was more than a bit surprised to see the dramatic mark up between the chain store and the small local market. That's a $5.20 difference!

For most of my office shopping, I'd rather support the local business and purchase our snack food and misc coffee break items there, but the costs have gone through the roof. Our office has a budget too. I can understand that the market's costs have gone up, but wow, what a difference in price between the two stores.

I Spent $58.66 on What?

Today was payday (and nope, no holiday bonus as I suspected might happen this year), but it was also time to go grocery shopping. I made my list and checked it not twice, but three times. I had some cash in hand and my meal planning from the cupboards has been pitiful. It was time to restock so I could meal plan from the cupboards and not wander aimlessly around the grocery store as I am apt to do.

I won't bore you with the entire list of things I bought, but I pretty much stuck to my list-actually, I did stick to my list except for three items. 1) a bouquet of flowers 2) Frozen Turnip Chunks (I love turnips, just hate to peel and cook them) and 3) some Ellios Frozen pizza slices(dinner). I did shop the specials, but since my pantry has been low on a number of staples, I had to restock. Peanut butter, mayo, red wine vinegar, pasta, paper goods, etc. I was very happy to find that the store had an ample supply of loose bulk onions. I was able to pick up a couple pounds of onions in assorted sizes, which is good. It's been a pet peeve of mine that I'm forced to buy bagged produce. I like to pick and choose! I did get a $3 off my next purchase coupon. I may have spent close to $60, but I feel well stocked up. I do have to pick up a few more items but I can probably pick most of those up at Aldi.

I got some inspiration shopping the reduce produce isle. I picked up enough veg to feed 4 people for about $3. The reduced produce isle can be hit or miss, but it was a hit today. The veg will be chopped up and made into either a root vegetable stew or a vegetable curry to simmer happily away in the crock pot.

For the past month, I've been shopping as needed when I've been planning my meals and using up most of my cupboard staples. I've not done a food shop of any great size since, um October?. While I did spend $58.66, I think I'll end up cutting back my grocery bill. When I 'shop per meal" I end up buying items I don't necessarily need, but I pick them up anyway. I'll walk into the grocery store to buy some veg and fruit, then wander the isles looking for whatever. Not good.

Oh well, it may have been $58.66, but now I have a cupboard of food and can plan some meals that are actually exciting and fun to eat!

An Unsatisfying Shop

Before my Poochie2 fiasco, I stopped at my favorite ethnic market for a re-stock on supplies that you just can't buy at the chain grocery stores. I'm starting to get back into a cooking mood and wanted to re-stock my pantry with some essentials and non essentials as well. I have not been to this particular market in a while, I just have not been to the town where it is located and I'm being careful not to make too many needless car trips.

I was in for a bit of a surprise. The sign on the door said under new management. At first glance, all seemed good. I went in and as I wandered up and down the aisles, I could see some disheartening signs. Each aisle focuses on a different ethnic theme (Italian, West Indian/Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Central/South America, Mexican, Chinese/Asian, Hungarian, Middle Eastern, African). The amount of goods were reduced, several of my favorite items were not in stock, the produce bordered on the over ripe (meaning it had to be used up no later than today), the dried beans, condiments section was low on inventory and up on price. Not good.

This particular market usually has a lot of customers up until it closes. You can pretty much guarantee a crowd of people in the store at 6:30 PM. Last night I was only one of three in the store. I do hope it's a temporary glitch while the new owners get up and running and not a sign of the times. I really like shopping at this market. It's one of the few places left where I can buy 3 onions or 3 potatoes and not have to buy a 5lb bag that won't get used up. It's my grocery store treat to myself.

Another Reason I Like ALDI-Part 3

I've posted before that I'm doing more and more of my shopping at ALDI. The ALDI does not carry extensive inventory, that's not their style and they admit it. They do carry the basics plus some extras and that's ok. I needed to do a basics shop this week. I got my usual eggs, cereal, canned goods, flour, sugar, some frozen veg etc. I had two full bags of groceries and walked out of there spending $20.16.

My cupboards are slowly getting re-stocked for the next few months (pasta, rice, beans, canned goods) and I'm not spending a ton of money. I'm not brave enough to try their meats. I have a good local grocery store that has very fresh, very good, and fairly priced meats, cut by an in store butcher. I'm a little leery of meat that has traveled half way across the country pre-packaged. (think all those salmonella outbreaks).

Lots of Driving, But A Good Trip

I had a very nice weekend. The weather co-operated all three days, the animals that came with me were well behaved, my friends are lovely and it was nice to get away. I need a few more weekends of AWAY.

The only downer to the weekend was the shopping. I went off to the land of the outlet malls with 4 items on my list of things to buy. I got one. I really need/want all 4 items. This was the first time in about three visits to the land of the outlet malls that I did not find items I needed/wanted. I may have to pay RETAIL. Ah well, it was what it was.

Bill Paying Time and Then AWAY I GO

Today is payday for me and bill paying time. I wrote out checks for car loan, my share of my health insurance, student load, my landline phone bill, my mobile bill, partial payment on my propane bill (I set up a payment plan with the local office, it was an expensive fill up last month), and paid out a boat load of non covered medical tests from my July doctors visits. Even with health insurance, I still am responsible for payment of tests and services that are not covered by insurance or are considered preventative care. One blood test was $275 of which I'm responsible for $175. Full coverage kicks in when I hit $1250 in my expenses. I'm just over $750 for the year. I think my total responsibility for those bills and tests is about $375-$400. I have to add up the total cost when I file the bills.

I decided last minute to get the hell out of Dodge and go visit friends in New Hampshire. I'm feeling cranky and I want to split for a few days. I am heading up to the Land of the Outlet Stores. I've given myself a clothes budget of $75 for some new clothes and shoes. I have a couple things I do want to get, my wardrobe is pretty well set for the year. I only need a couple winter items and I'm hoping I can find some good deals. Last year I hit a couple stores just at the right time and got several items that fit me well, I liked and have gotten a lot of use out of.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on getting lucky again this year-you just never know!

Dear Grocery Store

Dear Grocery Stores (all three of you!)

Why is it that you insist on offering an overwhelming amount of your root vegetables for sale in bags and not loose. I really only needed three small onions for two dishes on Saturday and two small white potatoes, yet it cost me an extra 30c per pound to get loose onions and I had to substitute a baking potato for an all purpose white one? Parsnips-heck those babies only come in a two pound bag and I only needed one singular parsnip.
You all had me over a barrel. I had no desire to drive to the "big city" to do my shopping this week, where at the ethnic market I can get my veg loose, bagged, and in bulk and I missed the local farmers market. I leave in three days for vacation and just needed a few small items. Given my recent "house guest" the less food I have around when I'm not there, the better.

I really don't have any use for 10 pounds of potatoes, heck, I really don't have any use for 5 pounds of potatoes, yet that seems to be the only way to by nice basic small all purpose potatoes. My craving on Saturday was for a root vegetable soup. I needed two small AP potatoes, one small onion, one parsnip, I had the garlic, carrots, ginger and squash, but you made it so difficult to make my soup for two.

I miss those days living in Washington DC and shopping at Eastern Market where you could buy two onions, three potatoes, one small squash and the produce guy would give you a banana for free.

Please grocery stores, put back your sections where you can pick and choose your own onions and potatoes. Those of us who live alone,don't cook that often,or don't have the space, really miss the bulk bins.

The ALDI Shop- I've been impressed

I got paid yesterday and went out for a small food shop. I went to my local Aldi, which I am liking better and better. I never shopped at Aldi until this past year and I've been really impressed with the quality and, most importantly, the prices. I've been bringing my own shopping bags to the grocery store for years (before it was the 'cool' thing to do), I did purchase two of their insulated cooler bags, I don't pack a cooler in my car. For $14, I walked out with a boat load of food.

I have found is that a majority of items are the same quality and much less expensive than the grocery store. I'm getting most of my staple items from Aldi-sugar, flour, most dairy, basic pasta, rice, cereal, baking supplies, frozen veggies, french fries, ice cream, chips, salsa, canned soups, etc. A couple things I prefer a store brand or name brand (Aldi brand Triscuts just don't cut it, sorry tried twice, they don't carry unsalted butter, and I don't like their low fat yogurt). They don't have a extensive dried bean section, but I tend to buy my dried beans at the ethnic market every couple months.

The cleaning supplies and toiletries are not name brand, but I know folks who swear they are just fine (and probably no different than getting the Target or Wal Mart brand). The do carry some amazing ultra dark chocolate bars. I even gave them out as Christmas presents and one recipient asked for a couple more bars as a birthday present this month. Best $4 I ever spent.

I have found an Aldi, Job Lot Store, Target, the great ethnic market and Costco all within 15 minutes of each other (actually the Aldi, Job Lot Store and Target are in side by side shopping centers). I'm now planning my shopping around these five stores so I can save time, money and gas. For me, this is great, because I actually dislike shopping unless I have to. This works out well for me.

The moral of this story is sometimes you have to just try out the non chain grocery store, weather it be an Aldi or some other chain.

Stupid Purchases

Graceful Retirement put up a post about her blog and her lack of regular posting or worrying about posting about the mundane aspects of life . I don't mind reading about the mundane aspects of life, or the things we tried and did not succeed at. We try things and either we are successful or we are not. It shows we are all human! Plus I like to read about just us regular folks.

I totally admit, I sometimes I get annoyed when I read blogs and I hear about folks who got $100 worth or groceries for $50, or they are already over half way to their Roth IRA max for the year and this is only February, or they went under budget on groceries,or they made an unexpected killing on E-Bay or they resisted Starbucks for three months, or they are sooo upset that they went over their gas budget by $2 or what ever! It seems like we never hear about the over budget mishaps (unless it's a major thing like an unexpected car repair), or they blew their entertainment budget drinking Margarita's at happy hour. I'd like to reach through the Internet sometimes and give them a little bit (OK big) shake. Sometimes.

I'm human, I make mistakes, I will make mistakes. I'm admitting to two really stupid purchases these past couple months.

In October, my vacuum cleaner died. It was about 11 years old and died. I loved my Eureka Canister vac. It did it's job and did it well. Silly me went and replaced it with a small Shop Vac. The Shop Vac was on sale for $35 (give or take a few $$) and while it does suck up the animal hair and large dust balls around the house, it is not exactly cut out to be a carpet vacuum cleaner. Plus is spews out fine dust and that gets everywhere. What the hell was I thinking when I bought this sucker? Who remembers at this point? Point being, this was a wasted purchase and a waste of $35 and I still broom swept the carpets to get up pet hair.

To replace the Shop Vac, when I had my post Christmas shopping meltdown, I ended up at the K-Mart and bought this little bag less canister vacuum. It's very cute, it's yellow and I hate it. It does not do a great job sucking up the animal hair from the carpets (something I am a freak about, I have pets, but I don't need pet hair all over my floors) and it's little. I thought the little would be OK. I don't have a ton of storage space, but this little (did I say it was little) vac fills up after about 5 minutes of use. I do have to give it credit, it seems to do an excellent job sucking up dirt, the dirt canister gets full, it just does not really get all the animal hair out of the carpet.

This means I know have two fairly useless vacuums. My solution, save up some $$$ and buy a decent canister vacuum in a month or two (I don't like uprights). I will probably keep the Shop Vac but probably sell the little one on Craig's list. Until then, I'll use the little yellow vac, and borrow the neighbors "real" vacuum every so often to help de-hair the carpets.

Human, yes I am.

You Look Marvelous

OK folks, Bankrupt Betty is here to tell you, It's OK to spend some money on personal care and clothes. Reading a number of blogs the past couple days I have this sense that those of us in the PF blog sphere are feeling less than marvelous this month. Dare I say we are feeling a bit Frumpy? But you are afraid that by purchasing some new clothes or treating yourself to a decent haircut, your budget will be blown to bits or your goals set back months, no years, gasp horror!

And you want to replace parts of your outdated, outgrown, shabby wardrobe and you don't want to shop at Goodwill. I don't want to get cranky with you all, but if your jeans are too small or threadbare and your undergarments have lost all elastic, PLEASE TREAT YOURSELF TO SOME NEW CLOTHES, GET A DECENT HAIRCUT**

Folks, it's ok to want a new pair of pants, get a decent haircut, get some new shoes.-GO SHOPPING * I'm giving you permission to buy a new pair of pants or shirt or two. It's really OK, you will look better and then you will feel better.

To quote Billy Crystal as Fernando, "It's not how you feel, it's how you look". Enjoy the Video.






*Just do it in moderation :), there are some decent sales on at the shops and you can find good stuff at TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Macy's.

** A good haircut can make you feel like a millon bucks

A Wasted Trip to The Mall

I am down to the last few gifts I am purchasing for holiday presents. Last night I realized I had to venture to a shopping mall for the last couple items. I was looking for a specific gift (being given to three people) and it was not available locally. I found a store that carried these items and decided to brave the holiday shoppers and go out for these items.

I was dead certain a particular mall had a particular store, so after an early dinner, I hopped in my car and off I went. I should have gone to the mall web site, the store I was looking for was not in this mall, or the other shopping center close to it, nor was there a comparable store in either mall. I did check the store web site and saw it had a location in the same town as this particular mall. I made the wrong assumption that since the store was listed in the same town, it would be in the big mall. It was not. In fact, for all the hype this mall has about it's great stores, (except for one of the anchor stores) I was not overly impressed at all. The prices where the same as my local stores and I wasted 40 minutes each way of travel time.

I was annoyed at myself for wasting the trip and the time it took to get there. The only highlight was finding a great parking spot close to a store entrance. Lesson learned, I should have double checked the mall web site 1st and the store web site more carefully before heading out the door.

The Weekend Round Up

The money spent

CVS-$17.
Gas: $51.49
Outlet Shopping: $184.88
(2 shirts, 2 skirts, 2 prs shoes, 1 pr sunglasses, 1 totebag)
Misc. Eats and Treats: $12.91

Total Spent: $266.28

I have "leftover gas" from the trip and probably won't have to do my weekly fill up until Friday. I'm still debating on the additional shirt, keep or go back. I think I'll try it on tonight and make my final decision then. That would put me almost back on budget for the clothes shop. The miscellaneous eats and treats was coffee and a muffin at Duncan Donuts each morning and lunch at the local fair we went to. The burger booth did not do receipts. Costs were low because I stayed with freinds (no hotel and no additional food fees) I made a side dish with things I had at home (except for a small packet of frozen peas) for our pot luck. Good friends that they are, they did not expect a hostess gift. Instead, I helped to weed some flower beds which was a better gift to the family than a bottle of wine or other treats.

As I state earlier, the clothes budget for the fall is done and dusted. No more new purchases. All my money now is going towards my car and computer fund.

Just Some Thoughts

I can add to Frustration Factor 2b later, as they say, The Beat Goes On. I went away for the weekend to see some freinds and at least the 5 hour car ride gave me some time to think and think about my situation. But just some other random observations of my weekend

I budgeted $160 for personal shopping this weekend. It is pretty much my clothes budget until mid winter. I was in an area of great outlet stores. I don't have all my recipets here, but pretty much this is what I ended with: 2 pairs of shoes which can be worn year round (and one pair is soooo comfy) $90, 2 skirts (ended up being 70% off), 2 shirts, 1 pr new sunglasses and one new tote bag $80. I think I went over my budget a bit, the shoes were a tad more expensive than I normally pay, but they are both comfortable and can be used year round. Both pairs are replacing two very old pairs of shoes, the sunglasses replacing a pair that are too scratched to really see out of (and i did buy an inexpensive eyeglass case to protect this pair) 1 shirt I may be returning, I got home and went to put it in the closet and thought, hum, I really don't like you all that much. That may drop me back to my budge range.

The good part was I stopped shopping after I scored the two skirts on the big sale. The skirts were on my list of things I needed. I got them, I stopped shopping. The old me would have tried one more store.

Just like going to the grocery store, keeping to a list was very helpful. :)