Alright, my friends. Did I properly grab your attention?
I hope so.
Cuz I have some very important questions and I hope you can take a moment or two to help me out.
If you've talked to me EVER, but more particularly, in the last little while (as in as my Mat Leave progresses and my disposable funds digress), then you know that I. Am. On. A. Mission!
That is right, my friends. I am on a very serious quest here!
Maybe I'm bored.
Maybe I just need some cause on which to focus my ever distracted attention.
Or maybe I am really in a place in which I truly need to focus my full attention on this cause.
Okay people. Talk to me. How can I pinch my pennies and make them into $100.00 bills, yo?
Yup. That's right.
I need some magic money management guidance, please!!!
Do you pinch pennies?
Are you good at it?
I generally pick them up and throw them away.
It is not just a metaphor for how I, the proverbial Aries, treat money, I am afraid...I seriously pick them up and throw them away. I mean, what are they good for anyway???
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Being a fairly impulsive personality, money and I have always had a love-hate kind of relationship. I do love to shop, you see: if I see it, I want it, I buy it.
And in the moment...my new items fill me with true, undying, head-in-the clouds, nothing else matters, love...
It's that easy.
And why not?
But then I get my bills.
And you guessed it!
I am no longer in love.
Well....maybe less in love....
Well....maybe less in love....
-----
Shopping and spending and money are a fun little hobby of mine. I even love grocery shopping. It's a metaphor for life, you know, grocery shopping. When one walks in to the abundant grocer, the possibilities are endless, and I can buy whatever I want.
And I can provide....
But I am learning that I need to sim sim simmer....I don't need clothes, nor can I really afford them. And, while I'd love to buy e every little item she picks off the shelf as the must-have, I really cannot do that either....
I am asking myself to go against my natural inclinations, people!!!
AND I NEED YOUR HELP.
You see, along with being an excellent shopper and an impulsive personality, I am also really sh*tty with details, and budgets, I am afraid, ask for detail, precision, discipline...
However, that said, I have decided that I am doing this!
I am swinging full throttle to the other side of the pendulum and trying to do EVERYTHING I can to suck in the belt, stretch the dollar, trim the fat....
Sounds like a diet, no?
Well, it might turn into that if I cannot afford my groceries!!!
Ha!
But seriously.
My question for y'all is how do you stretch your funds? Do you have savings?
How do you try and budget for the everyday and for the future?
I am looking for tricks.
Old fashioned, new wave, whatever ya got!
Please help me. I am not above groveling!
I am totally going against my own grain here, and I have to really stretch my mind, understand the abstract, speak a new language, and all that.
I am finding money and saving that difficult to master.
For instance, I just switched dr b's formula from his $40.00 for 32oz X 6 days a week hypoallergenic gold to the PC $15.00 for a similar amount.
I determined that I was saving a whopping $376.00 or so. To be fair, I can't be COMPLETELY sure of the savings as PC measures in weight, not volume, so I am not sure the conversions are really equal.
Regardless!
After accomplishing this crazy-ass-feat (which, by the way, I am not sure is really helping my son as he is all phlegm-y and puke-y, and has a rash...but he is also teething, so I am persevering with slight guilt...), I realized that the replacement of formula to save money, while a good and frugal idea, was still not enough for me to consider myself a savvy shopper and money-conscious individual.
No....
No.
I was still being my usual, frivolous Aries self, rationalizing that I'd already saved money; I was always making 7 oz bottles, (you know, in case dr b was STARVING or something) and often throwing out three or so ounces. 5 X 3 would be 15 oz a day X 6 = A hell of a lot of formula and $$$ down the drain (literally!)
So one week and three days in and I've mended my ways.
I am thinking this whole being a money conscious, paired-down individual is going to always be a work-in-progress, and a battle of wills and wants with me...
So your help and your ideas are very much appreciated!
What else can I do to cut corners?
And btw, while asking this, please remember that I am not allowed to touch jb's television, HD, sports, or Internet...Or his allowance....ahem, budgeted earnings (?)
What else can I do???
Thanks in advance for reading, considering, and attempting to better me in this oh so frustrating and essential life skill.
UGH.
Oh. And I am almost one month down and I've not bought clothes yet!
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