Can't Buy Me Love

First, can I just say that I LOVE my followers (the ones who are listed and the ones who aren't - you know who you are!). I truly do. You guys are SO encouraging to me. Your comments make me smile and laugh and make me feel like my writing isn't all in vain. So, for that...thank you! :) You all ROCK! XO


My desire is to uplift, encourage...make you smile, laugh...think...or just to otherwise entertain you for a brief minute of your day...I hope that I am attaining my goal so far! :)

As many of you know, I LOVE music and I love to change my music on a daily basis in keeping with the feel of my individual blog posts (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...just got a good idea...I think? I'll keep that in for now...possibly look for changes on that in the future...I'll be sure to keep you...POSTED. ;). With today's blog post being about $, I thought of a few fun song choices that I'd love to use...however, I started thinking about the little ears that might be listening and dancing to my little jingles (Hi Silas and Caden!) including my own little dancin' fools and so I thought better of my choices (One of them was Nelly's It Must Be The Money and I couldn't find a radio edit to eliminate some of the not so nice word usage) lol. Just wanted to let you know that I am keeping your family's best interest's at heart! Not to boost myself up in any way, just to let you know that I care! :)

My goal is never to offend or be a stumbling block but this is the real world afterall and I know that is bound to happen at some point. If any of you do become offended by my music selection , please don't stop reading, please just take your mouse right on over to the pause button on the music player and read in all your silent glory. :)


With all that being said...let's get right into the nitty gritty of what this post is really supposed to be about! :)

Money

A conversation with my hubby:

Jer: "What do you think, money grows on trees?"

Jen: "Well honey...since money is made of paper and paper comes from trees...yes, technically money DOES grow on trees."

At the top of this page, I describe this blog as being about "one woman's love affair with fashion, frugality, food, faith, fun and of course...family." I don't know what woman I was referring to when I said that she had a love affair with frugality 'cause it's certainly not me. I think that what I should have said is that I'd really LIKE to have a love affair with frugality...sorry if I misled you a little bit there... ;)

K...

I'm just gonna say it. I am not a good financial steward. I'm just gonna be real honest here and tell you that. I wasn't when I was single and had "my own money" and I'm not now that I am married with children...at least, not without my husband's help. Money has always had a way of burning a hole right through my once-upon-a-time designer pockets. I have always been a major impulse shopper (kind of an impulsive person all the way around but that is a whole other post). When I was single, it was anything goes. Cute shoes, check. Cute jewelry, check. Cute purse, check. Cute clothes, check. Cute bedding with coordinating decor, check. Cute car...check check. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners OUT...check check check. And that doesn't even begin to cover my super cute love of all things skin care and hair products. Check times hundreds of thousands or so it feels like. Nothing was out of my reach (within reason) financially. Because of that, I was in debt. Thankfully, my mom wisely advised me to pay it off BEFORE I got married. And so I did. Still had the semi-hefty car payment of my fabulous little luxury VW Jetta (with leather, woodgrain, sunroof, Bose sound system and VROOM VROOM too fast for my already lead foot V6 engine...ahhhhhhhh) but that's it. Ahhhhhhh...what can I say, the girl has expensive taste and a super quick draw with ye ol' Visa). Thinking back to my single days is funny now...I would occasionally wear sunglasses to Walmart so that no one would know who I was (Ugh, Walmart?! Please!)...would never even think about stepping foot onto someone's yard for their sale (Gross)...and used to tell my mom that I would NEVER buy the generic brand when I went grocery shopping once I had my own family). Man, was I deluded, huh?!

Talk about a SPOILED ROTTEN BRAT.

But let's just say...things change. Oh do they change.

Life's been a little different for me since 2004 (married in July). There have been lots of financial ups and downs.

But through it all, this is what I have learned from it...

I have learned to buy things that are ON SALE. Or even better...CLEARANCE. Cha Ching.

I've learned to do without - and actually feel better for it...imagine!).

I've learned that Walmart isn't as bad as I thought it was (depending on the location - sorry p-town, you are still a little gross for my taste and I do occasionally still leave my sunglasses on)

I've learned that yard saling is my new favorite sport...it gives me that shoppers high without all of the shoppers remorse...

I've learned that most smart people do not buy new cars like I once thought...so now, I am just super sexy savy saver girl driving my previously lovingly owned minivan (which is also something I thought would NEVER do but that is a whole other post) - by the way, I also have greatly lightened up on my gas pedal...because I have precious cargo who are worth far far more to me than any ultra luxury package vehicle I could ever incur...

I've learned that generic brands (most of the time) have the same ingredients as the name brands only for a fraction of the price. So...my mom wasn't being cheap, she was being smart. :)

I've learned that I do not need a $25 bottle of shampoo because that...is just madness.

In keeping honest, we do have to agree that sometimes less is NOT more and there are times when the "more expensive" is the best way to go. The trick is to do your research and be smart about your decisions. Balance is always key to pretty much anything.

I've also learned that despite learning some of these things, I still have...A LOT to learn.

I still have a bad habit of impluse shopping and let's face it, even though something is on sale, it's still out of our price range if it's not "in the budget".

My friend, Megan, recently talked about her love of "Starbucks and Target sale racks"...mmm hmm...yeeeeaaah, that's me. Yummy Chai Tea runs and hello...Target is RIGHT THERE...I mean, it would almost be irresponsible NOT to go, right? Right? (crickets chirping)

Something that my friend, Sande, wrote on her blog, http://sugarandspiceandsavingssonice.wordpress.com , recently is this..."my husband works hard to provide for our family, and I felt like it was my job to spend that money wisely and not disrespect him by making bad choices with our finances." (She is AWESOME when it comes to saving $$$ for her family...check out her blog. She's my inspiration for this post. :)

Big ol' arrow straight to my heart...ticket for one to Conviction City please...

I'm a stay-at-home mom which means that my family runs on ONE INCOME. Thankfully, my husband is VERY frugal (bordering on stringent - I use the term bordering VERY loosely). If it weren't for him, we'd probably be living in a cardboard box...honestly. He seriously rocks when it comes to the finances and though sometimes I could talk about it through gritted teeth (since it goes completely against my grain), it makes me feel very secure knowing that I have a husband who isn't a frivolous spender and who cares about where we are going to be financially not only tomorrow but also when we are old and gray. God knew what he was doing when he put us together...he knew that Jer would be good for me and though he sometimes wants to pull his hair out with me (both Jer and God), he'd (Jer) probably admit (though perhaps a little hesitantly) to you that he's thankful for a wife who enables him to be a little lax occasionally and have a little fun with his money... ;)

I've been thinking about this subject a lot lately. Our own financial situation combined with vlogs and blogs I've been perusing on the subject have gotten me thinking about making a change. One way that I think I could get better (since I am financially ill) is in using COUPONS. Are any of you avid couponers? I'm not. I do use them on occasion but I'd really like to incorporate them on my regular shopping trips.

Example:

The other day, I wanted to purchase something for my dad's birthday but didn't really have the funds to get what I really wanted. I had to make a decision...what to get...what to get... I had found a Rewards coupon when cleaning out my purse the other week. $10 off any purchase. YAY! I'd have to use my Gap card but that's ok...at least it wouldn't interfere with our bills for this month by taking $ out of our account. You may think...uh...hello...credit cards = debt. Well, thanks to my husband, we pay off our credit cards every month and they never escalate beyond our control. Again, thanks ONLY to the hubster. So...off to the Gap I went. At first, I didn't think that I was going to find anything worthy of my dad (he's not really a "Gap guy")...they had a semi-limited selection but THEN...I found a sweater that I thought would look really great on him...his style...would bring out his eyes...and found close by, a shirt that would coordinate perfectly. Ahhhhhh...THANK YOU LORD. :) In effort to not spend any more money than what I spent @ Gap, we wrapped his gift in Christmas wrap (though you'd never know) and made a card. It really IS possible to live on a budget, ya know? And it makes you get a little more creative too. It's EASY to buy things...but it takes a little something extra to CREATE something out of nothing. Ya know what the best part was??? My dad really liked the sweater and shirt...(and he's picky!)...he said that he liked it several times...like he was almost surprised...lol Which by the way, he wasn't actually surprised because my son Nicolas was talking to him on the phone before we headed over to my parents place for dinner...he said, "Hi Pop Pop, we're wrapping up your gift now...it's a shirt!"

Nice...thanks babe.

Ahhhhhhh...kids.

Gotta love 'em...

No matter how much money you have or don't have...there is NOTHING on earth better than love.

And money can't buy that.

XO

Just for fun: