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rain, glorious rain

June 12th, 2006 at 04:39 am

Didn't get to walk tonight because of a huge rainstorm with lightening and hell. Even though I missed the walk I love rainstorms. We really need it too. It's been trying to rain for over a week. It gets cloudy in the afternoon and then it all blows over, leaving maybe a 2 min sprinkle behind and most day's leaving nothing.

Went to Barnes and Noble this morning. Spent $9.07 on a book and the Denver Post. Used a free gift card. The Post increased it's price by 50%, went from $1 to $1.50 I'll still buy it since they have better coupons than the local paper and my mom gives me those for free.

Went to Best Buy and bought black ink for Father's day. Spent $22.51. Had a $15 rewards gc.

Went to Longs and spent $23.56. $5.99 for mascara that will be free after rebate and will be given to my niece for a belated bday gift. Also bought both nieces earrings and spent $14.50. Spent $1.44 on stuff for me.

Met my parents at Ruby Tuesdays for lunch. Spent $9.78.

On the way home stopped at King Soopers and spent $2.02 for this weeks groceries.

Last stop was the library where I picked up my holds.

Finished reading the library book Give It Up My Year of Living Better with Less by Mary Carlogmagno. Saving. Ok. The author gave up one thing each month for a month, but then after the month she bought/did it again so I don't really see the point. She gave up things like drinking, swearing, taxis, elevators, chocolate, coffee etc.

To me saving money is not about depriving myself, it's about defining myself. For example, what are the things I care about? What are the things I don't care about? I'll conserve spending in the areas I don't care about to be able to spend more in the areas I do care about. I'm not going to cut all the things that give me pleasure, just to save money.

My number one care about item is retiring, so that gets the most attention and I'm willing to give up a lot of other things that I don't care about that much to meet that goal.

Another care about item is reading. However over the years I've gradually spent less and less on reading as I've found more books at the library and as I've pared down which books I need to own and reread over and over and which books I'm content with just reading.

Utilities are another area I don't care about much. I'm willing to dress more warmly in the winter and lower the thermestat, but I'm not willing to cut short hot showers. I love taking long hot showers.

Another example, is oatmeal. I want old-fashioned oats. I don't particulary care what brand they are and the cheapest ones taste just the same to me as the expensive ones. On the other hand I want Jif Peanut butter, which is more expensive than the store brand, but tastes so much better that the extra price it worth it to me. Although I will stock up when it's on sale so I don't always pay full price.

It's a learning with adjustments occurring constantly, things that used to matter, will one day only get an 'eh' that's not important. It's a ongoing process of defining who I am and what matters to me. It's a series of tradeoffs and as I get older the things I don't care about spending money on gets bigger until more and more of my spending goes to fewer categories.

6 Responses to “rain, glorious rain”

  1. boomeyers Says:
    1150085871

    I agree. It all has to do with your comfort level.

  2. Ima saver Says:
    1150119053

    I agree, also, the older I get the less "stuff" I really want.

  3. fern Says:
    1150123668

    I liked your definition of what saving $$ means to you. Like you, i worked for many years making very little money, but things changed for me in around 1993, mainly due to the industry i was working in; for the past 3 years or so, $$ has been tight again, but at least i know what my priorities are, that having more time in my life, less stress is more important after a certain point, than more money. My goal is to live as nearly debt-free as i can, becus it's the debt that will force you into doing things, taking jobs, for instance, that really don't make you happy. Being debt free to me is all about freedom and autonomy. Best wishes!

  4. Thrifty Ray Says:
    1150124831

    Great post!! I loved your definition of what saving money means to you.

    I did see one teeny thing you didn't mention in your examples of what you won't sacrifice....and that is your beloved nieces....you are always doing something fun for/with them and they must adore you....they truly are lucky to have an auntie like you!!! (My kids grew up without an uncle or an aunt so they never had that bond!!!)

  5. retire@50 Says:
    1150131383

    I agree that time spent with nieces doing fun things is something I won't give up just to save money. I do occasionally try to find cheaper things to do, but mostly I just do stuff that I think we will both enjoy and budget it in. They will only be young once and it's worth it to have the experiences now.

  6. baselle Says:
    1150172385

    Isn't that the case? Really all we are doing is enjoying our favorite things more cheaply. And putting some thought into our favorite things so we concentrate them, lower the number...or if we find a new favorite thing, to pare down a less favorite thing.

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