{Like porn for shopaholics}
This week, I’ve been doing a ton of shopping, much to the hubs’ dismay. Lucky for him, not all of it has been for myself. You see, I’ve discovered a handy little trick for shopping-addicted fab housewives {as if there is any other kind} who, like myself, have committed to saving money… say for a down payment on a home perhaps {wink!}. It’s really quite simple: just spend other people’s hard earned cash. Be a bad influence on a friend. Use phrases like, “it was made for you,” or “you can’t live without it.” You’ll be surprised to discover how much of that urge to buy has more to do with taking advantage of a good deal or a fab find, and less to do with actually owning that item yourself.
This week I was helping a friend redecorate. That meant a trip to my very favorite furniture store in L.A.- H.D. Buttercup. We discovered so many treasures. Here are some of my favs:
{First buy of the day, a Parisian settee..ON SALE!!!}
{How fabulously rustic glam is this cowhide stool?!?! It’s the perfect accessory near a stone fireplace or decorative wood stack.}
{Came across this delicious DIY inspiration. A kitchen chandelier made entirely of spoons? It was one of those ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ moments.}
I also find refraining from shopping to be much like dieting. You can’t deprive yourself, otherwise you’re more apt to splurge. Instead, indulge in moderation. This week I stocked up on one of my favorite trends for spring…
{Truth be told, this whole stripe thing was a complete accident, but when my package from J.Crew arrived, I realized I must have had a craving.}
How do you deal with shopping on a budget woes? I could use all the help I can get…
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ha! here is a good one…get pregnant and then you feel so huge that nothing looks cute anymore and you just feel like a whale and give up trying to look adorable.
Or…this backfires on my sister and I…we go shopping for each other for our birthdays or Christmas, thinking we are being good…then we just want to keep everything we bought for ourselves. yikes!
Dear Hawlie~
I’ve thought about this post quite a bit over the last two months. The humongous financial goals slipped into “oh… yeah, those” category, and the question you posed gave me some much needed refreshment/focus.
Our first year after college graduation, we (note plural) made $26,000, and somehow paid off $8,000 in student loan debt. It was kind of like doing the master cleanse… real extreme… real effective… not real sustainable.
I say this to say- I know budgets. And… this is my latest endeavor:
I read in some banking magazine once (while sitting in a bank) that the pleasure sensors that go off in our brain when we want to buy something are very powerful. The entire brain lights in experiments when they tested what happens to us while shopping.
When we think about saving, on the other hand, there is hardly a flicker of pleasure that gets released. Long term goals like 401K millions don’t have the pleasure power for our brains like that frothy latte, or pair of shoes, that are at such a close reach.
The columnist stated that the way to get this to work in our favor is to dream a relatively attainable dream so big, and so vividly that the pleasure associations with it overpowers the impulse shopping temptations. They suggested that we make an envelope with the dream stated and photos of it all over it, and fill it with savings. I read this just before that epic $8,000 towards tuition debt year. And then the excitement of paying a loan, or saving $1,000 then $2,000 then $5,000 kind of fuels it along.
Thanks to YOU, I’ve fallen pretty hard for Pinterest (seriously… thank you…). One of my boards is entitled “one month in the Caribbean”. Anwar and I decided that when we pay off student loan debt (short term goal), we will rent one of those $20/night villas in Puerto Viejo for a month for our wee family of 3 as an epic celebration!
When I get tempted to go over budget, I pin. I flood my mind with Puerto Viejo. I feel the sun there. I taste the food. I smell the sea. I imagine the tropical fish- and Samaria’s first time snorkling in the Caribbean, and…
suddenly the movie theater or dinner out doesn’t … light me up like shoving the $35 bucks at our student loans does.
I’m about to go pull out some Dave Ramsey and re-tighten the budget/plan. His stuff breaks it down, and helped in the past.
Awesome housewife question to pose, you housewife extraordinaire. Thanks for putting it out there!
Excited to read about your feats!!
Muchos Besos,
Laura