Works For Me Wednesday - Buyers Remorse or Stay The Course

January 27, 2010

I love to shop...our budget however is not as affectionate towards unbridled shopping trips. Inevitably I have experienced "buyer's remorse" on more than one occasion. It hits sometimes as I am walking away from the register or once I get in the car. If I am practicing denial that day it won't hit until I balance the checking account.

Now I am not a shopaholic, and no I am not in denial about that! I have learned some good lessons that work for me now though!

As part of our monthly budget my hubby and I have a spending allowance. He has his own checking account and I have mine to put our splurge money in. We do that so that our joint checking account is not seen as a bigger supply of spending money than it should be. Once that month's spending money is gone we have to wait until the next month to refund our spending accounts. This helps us to be a little more frugal with what we will spend our money on.

Part of my strategy for stretching my monthly spending money is to be sure I hit the clearance areas in all stores I visit. You never know what you will find! I bought the cutest dog collar and leash at Books-A-Million of all places and for only $5! I had to take the collar off of her to get the picture because she is like a fuzzy white bear right now!

Another tactic I employ is to take inventory of my cart before heading to the registers. I look at each item and ask myself some questions. How much is this? Is that a good value? How much do I really want this? Do I need this? I also do a total in my head of about how much I have in my cart to better motivate me to maybe put an item back on the shelf. No I am not the notorious person throwing stuff back on the closest shelf to where I am, though I have been tempted to do that, my little girl corrects me saying I have to put stuff back where it belongs and she won't be fooled either!

These little things help me to stay on budget and that always works for me!

I am linking up with We Are THAT Family for Works For Me Wednesday. Share what works for you by leaving a comment or linking up!