Should I? Could I?

No ground breaking frugal news for you today...except maybe that I got $161.70 in free stuff from the cable company last week! Another reason to always, always keep track of your paperwork and it really does pay to make a phone call or 6. Basically what happened is they kept making the same mistake. Over. And over. And OVER again. I had to explain the situation like 14 times. To 7 different people. Always be polite but firm. If someone can't offer you a solution, ask for their manager. Yes, I was on hold forever. But how long would you stay on hold for $161.70? I was multitasking at the time...no skin off my nose so to speak!

Lots of people have been asking me questions, telling me all about their frugal conquests {which I love by the way...way to go on that water bill Barb!!!} and just generally taking interest in where their money goes. KUDOS TO YOU PEOPLE! It's our own business how we spend our money...but we need to be conscious of what we are doing. With our eyes wide open to the consequences. That's it. For every action there is an equal reaction. So my point this week is the reason I am all about the frugal-ness in my world is so that I will have the extra cash for those things that are important to me. Some might say that it is wasteful of me to spend the money I do on the 2 scrapbooking events I attend every year. But really, compare it to someone who buys coffee everyday. For the sake of easy math let's say they don't drink what I drink {which costs $4.79 and that's why I don't do it all the time! LOL} $3 per day times 5 days a week times 4 weeks a month times 12 months a year. $720. That amount covers most of my "scrap event budget" for the year. So I choose that over the coffee. I can't speak for everyone who does the frugal thing but in our world we live comfortably. I have been working on this for a few years now and don't really feel it as "a pinch" anymore. I just choose carefully where I want my fun money to go! I would rather lounge on a beach in Mexico every 2 years than buy new jeans every month. I'd rather drive a newer vehicle than go out for supper every week. {For a family of 4 that's almost $2000 a year extra at a cheapo restaurant-wow!}. And I would much rather hit every concert that comes to town than unconsciously twenty my money away. Budget binder {write everything down}. Save your receipts. Plan for those credit card purchases. When I buy concert tickets, I take the cash and put it in an envelope. Or any credit card purchase for that matter. Cash goes into an envelope, then when the bill is due it's right there. A fabulous example of how twenty-ing your money away can get you into trouble is when you travel with others. Camp Croppin' was a whale of a good time. Megan puts on one amazing event! Went with some fun gals and for the sake of convenience I put 2 registrations, all gas and hotel on my credit card. There were 4 of us, we drove 6 hours away and we stayed 2 nights so that can amount to a good chunk of change. At the end of the trip I tallied everything up, divided it and everyone paid their share. Now if I would have put it in my wallet and just twentied it away, that credit card total would have been very scary when the bill came. Well, it was already scary actually because the Hubs opened it before I did! LOL His eyes goggled out of his head like the Coyote when the Roadrunner runs right past his trap and he realizes that now HE is going to blow up. :0) Before he even blinked again I handed him the envelope of cash and asked him to deposit it the next day. He smiled {HUGE}, gave me a kiss and sent me out the door to my gym class. Now that situation could have gone a lot different. Could you imagine the stress if I had chosen to spend that money elsewhere and just closed my eyes to the bill coming in a few weeks? Chaos. So in a long winded, round about way my point is that being conscious of how you spend your money means you shouldn't have to live hand to mouth. It saves you grief and argument in the long run. Because life is far too short to be stressing about money right? I'd rather be at the spray park with the kids. Have a lovely summer weekend!