Do You Throw $ Out the Window?

I feel like I jumped off of a financial cliff last week. Like I threw a wad of money out of the car window. Yes, I am exaggerating in a major way but still a girl can’t help the way she feels. Child #7, Mother Fran and I took our annual trip to the Outlet Mall and I went a bit crazy. Usually, I end up with a small purchase, grab a bite to eat and call it a day. This trip was different. My adrenaline was pumping and my filters were off. We plan this trip for the first week of September to coincide with “Back to School Sales” but we don’t go until after the kids of have actually gone back to school. Brilliant, right?

Here in My Little Blue Kayak, I choose wealth and don’t believe in throwing money out the window. My feet are firmly planted on to top of the financial cliff. I consider myself to be pretty frugal and my budget for clothes in pretty minimal. I do the majority of my shopping at thrift stores and love to get a bargain. I hate to pay retail for anything. At this point in my life, most of my closet is filled with clothes purchased at Thrifty Shopper and Salvation Army. You can’t beat your favorite brand of jeans for $7.99 or fun t-shirts for $1.99. I even scored a pair of practically new, name brand sneakers for $8.99 recently. Shopping at thrift stores is my retail therapy at bargain prices.

On this trip to the Outlet Mall, I bought 2 pair of light weight hiking pants, 1 pair of regular pants, 1 short sleeve shirt, and 2 pair of sneakers. I spent about $100. I honestly don’t know what got into me! By the next day, I was checking out all of my purchases and beginning to feel a bit of guilt sink in. I hadn’t planned to buy sneakers at all and 1 pair of pants would have been sufficient. Spending too much on clothes (that I don’t need), is what happens when I don’t plan ahead, before arriving at the stores.

There are a couple of lessons for me to learn from this extravagant (for me) shopping trip. The first lesson is to plan ahead so I know exactly what I am looking for. That way, I won’t get tempted to buy those cute sneakers that look like work boots when I don’t really need sneakers. The second lesson I need to learn is to not beat myself up when I hit the stores a bit too hard. Spending a hundred bucks on clothes is not really like jumping off a financial cliff or like throwing money out the car window. This trip to the Outlet Mall is not going to sink my financial ship. On the plus side, I did get to spend a beautiful September day with Mother Fran and Child #7. Mother Fran even treated me to lunch!

Lake Girl