we had our moment where we realised that you just dont need to get a bargain just 'cause it is when we were travelling OS. i realised just how much fun it is to actually have very little to wash, pick up and play with!
when we got back we decided to continue our lack of consumerism ways and it is really liberating! it is amazing how much more time we have just for doing simple, fun stuff rather than traipsing from one supermarket and shopping centre to the next. and the big bonus is that we now have a much better cash flow and can actually direct our funds into stuff that is more meaningful as a family. (for example, all the cash that DH gets from soccer refereeing used to be our 'spend at will' money, but now we have been able to save it for the last 6 weeks and have enough for a weekend away as a family!). it all adds up those $5 "bargains"....
Good luck Astrid. I am trying to do something similar too. A few weeks ago I realised how much we spend needlessly when dd threw a serious sook because i wouldn't buy her a small treat. She had come to expect something every time we went out of the house. So now we are trying to do weekly grocery shop (it's amazing how much extra stuff you end up buying if you just nip down to the shops for one thing....) and no buying anything unless it's preplanned, ie no impulse buying.
Don't know how well I went today. Had to do the grocery shop (thankfully without DH in tow). Only blew it by $7.
Did by the girls new sunglasses, as theirs current pairs were broken. Was not sucked in to buy extra to go into a chance to win Gift Cards.
Did spend money on drinks and nibbles whilst the kids watched a free show at the shopping centre. Kept it to the bare minimum though. I don't need a snack if I am having a latte, the milkiness of it is enough.
Now I think of it, not the best day to start with everything that was going on a the shopping centre (the free show, face painting, competitions, special deals etc). I think I did well overall though.
Count me in. I'm a consumer, love to shop. But I'm spending so much money on crap that we just don't need, just for the thrill of the purchase. I am planning to do a budget this week and my goal is to save some money 'for a rainy day' and to pay extra off the mortgage. At the moment, if I've paid all the bills and the mortgage I figure anything left over is for spending.
I'm about to review our spending and set us some goals. I used to be so frugal (lived without a couch for two years) but now I'm just silly. We waste a hel of a lot of money. Now that we've lived in this house for two years (our utilities are enormous because the house isn't well insulated and we live in a very cold area)and have a good idea of our expenses, I need to do a proper budget.
Im bad with this too. We've started withdrawing our leisure money as cash, and only using that, no matter what. We also bought woolies/coles/kmart/target card through the entertainmentbook (5% discount) and only use that for our shopping. We actually spend an extra 30% on groceries than I budgeted originally!
Well I absolutely suck at this. Probably not a good thing to start before a big birthday, show day etc. Plus the girls shoes seem to have all fallen apart at the same time, I suppose that is necessary spending though, so does not count.
Good thing has come of it though, DH has finally seen the light about us only going to the show every 2nd year and another big kiddie as well. He can see that a few hundred at a crappy show is just waste, plus we are missing out on better events that are cheaper (like there was a rockabilly weekend near by I wanted to go to). DH is a creature of habit, going to the show is what he has always done, pity it has taken him 10 years to get to the same place as me, that every year is too much.
Astrid, how are you finding the software? I'm tying to stick to our budget but excel just isn't doing it for me. I need something more visually appealing and easier to see where the money is going.
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