In my quest for frugality, I’m trying to separate how to be frugal without being cheap. Frugal is cool; cheap is, well, not so chic.
For example, buying only the necessities (plus a cute hat for $9.99 ON SALE) at Target is cool.
I got the hat when I went to Target again two days later. For more necessities, of course.
But saving the remnants of a partially eaten (and ripped) bag of Goldfish instead of pouring your kid a new one, not so cool.
I mean, seriously people, even my husband agreed that we couldn’t throw this bag out. Then again, this is the man who saved three, count ‘em three pieces of elbow macaroni when we moved houses.
“Finding” $500 worth of unused gift cards and store credits in my file drawer was really cool. (Now I know what Oprah means by “found” money.)
That $10 gift card to Target is going to go a long way. Crap, I could have used it to buy my hat.
Using those gift cards to buy my friends’ kids birthday presents, hmmm… debateable.
In the quest to spend less money and save more, I’m finding myself just running into dilemmas like this: do I spend the $4 in gas to return the $10 worth of chicken salad that I bought from the store which spoiled in 2 days which I only bought in the first place so that I wouldn’t eat lunch out as much?
See what I mean? Being frugal cool is a lot of work.
I think I’ll go blow that $40 store credit at the Gap on myself tomorrow. It might clear my cheap head and I might look a little more chic in the process. I can only hope.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I feel your pain! I have a pair of shoes I bought my son, oh back in August I think, that I have not returned because I don’t go near that store on a regular basis. I’m trying to combine errands, not waste food, buy what we need etc. etc. It’s hard! Have fun at Gap!
Not that you were soliciting for advice, but that shouldn’t stop me,
right? My tip is to think of what you want before you go, and then
basically not allow yourself to deviate from the list once in the
store – that way you don’t come home with more “necessities” than
you really need. (Of course, there’s gotta be a reasonable limit to
this idea – if you see the toilet paper aisle and remember you’ve
got none, I wouldn’t force yourself to forego it just to come back
the next day!) But you see my point – it prevents the purchase
of extras that we think we need but don’t, really. Good luck!
i love that your husband saved 3 pieces of macaroni. he must be friends with my husband.
those gift card finds are GOLDEN!!
I know what you mean about the gift card for gifts dilemma. I have a gift card that my aunt gave my older son a long time ago for Barnes and Noble that he never used and doesn’t remember getting. There are a couple books he would like for the holidays…
Wow. I can’t believe you had that much in gift cards and credits in your drawer!
Oh my gosh. You are so funny!
I personally hate store credits because I never carry that card when I go to shop that store the
the next time..all it does is lie in some drawer,forgotten!!
My trick for not spending a penny on anything other than necessities is to shop at KMart. Their prices for things like baggies, cat litter, etc. are great (and sometimes they double coupon), but they don’t have the cute little extras that Target tempts you with. Plus, Kmart as a store is so disorganized and unpleasant that you don’t want to spend lots of time there. For me, this works great!