Personal Investment

[hsifeng]

 This is something I need to try and remember to do. Not because I buy pricey clothes (I am a Thrift Store denizen and proud of it!) but because I do spend money I don't need to and then end up wondering where my cash has gone at the end of every month.

Part of this is the unavoidable side-effect of two adults with a first- and second-mortgage living with pets on one income (and I am damn proud that I can support my husband while he's going to school!); but part of it is me refusing to coupon, and not paying attention to sales on food products, and generally acting as though I somehow *deserve* only the best when it comes to the things I put in my mouth.

I am a food whore, it's true. Anyway. Replace the comments about clothes in the following message with "pricey gin", "expensive cheese" and "ribeye steaks" and you have something I need to get behind more:

(via hickville on Tumblr)

I think you should save money and not spend it all on fashion. Is that controversial? Save 10% of what you earn. Always. Pretend you never earned it. Because one day you’re going to want to buy a house to live in, and you can’t do that if you’ve spunked it all on not-so-cheap threads. I love that phrase ‘spunked it all’.

Save some money, because you work hard, and at the end of each year, you can look at that bank deposit and say “that’s what I have to show for it.” Fetishise over the balance as much as you do a new pair of Miu Mius. You deserve more than a pile of potential op-shop donations for your hard work.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you need to buy clothes all the time. You don’t. People like me who talk about clothes all day do it for a job. Other people talk about bin collecting all day, or hedge funds, and you don’t fiendishly slave over what they’re saying. Maybe you do, let’s talk. You’re funny.

Buy once and buy well. Love clothes and enjoy them, but choose pieces that work for your body, you’ll go back to them year on year. Update with seasonal purchases here and there. Don’t panic buy and treat sales like brain surgery. Be precise, make only considered incisions into your wallet.

Save money, buy a flat, but don’t worry about when it happens. Whenever you manage to land your own home, it will eventually make you money. And at that point, you can spend the extra on clothes.

 

Comments

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

“The biggest down side is that it's also very expensive in terms of time. It takes time to find the sales and clip the coupons, but in all honesty that's the fricken easy part. Coupons come in the newspaper or you can print them out on-line (I use www.couponmom.com), and the grocery sales fliers are delivered en masse to my house every Tuesday in the mail.”

Thank you for the website recommendation! I don’t want to become totally coupon driven (I am not going to buy 500 rolls of toilet paper, no matter how good the sale is) but it seems stupid to not take advantage of the discounts I *can* readily use in my normal shopping routine.

“I'm even saving up to purchase a storage freezer so that I can really take advantage of those amazing meat and steak sales.”

I am fortunate to have a friend with a storage freezer that lets me use space there. It is where our bulk sauces (Yeah! Garden!), wild game meats, and whatnot get stored when our own fridge is out of space. It’s been a lifesaver a number of times and I am all for buying big cuts of meat and then doing our own butchering (in fact, C prefers it that way).

Meal planning is another HUGE way you can save money. I used to go buy stuff, then make a meal plan based on what we had. Now I do through my freezer, plan the meals based on what we already have and then purchase only what we need.”

This is where I really need to start getting my act in gear. We have a ton of canned and frozen goods that just need to get used more regularly. I am always shocked when we end up staring into the fridge and coming up empty handed when the damn thing is bulging. Just because there isn’t a tiny chef in there with an already made veal picatta in hand doesn’t mean that we can’t eat well from what we have. *chuckle*

“Alcohol is the kicker, but that too is available via sales (since so many grocery stores now stock actual real liquor) and also coupons. First time I ran across a hard alcohol coupon I was stunned. Turns out, they are common!”

I am finding that I can *make* many of my favorite flavored drinky goodness with vodka (cheap at CostCo) and the right citrus/berries.

“If you ever have any questions on this one, feel free to ping me. I grew up with a super-couponing-rebating mom and now I'm doing it too. heh. It's fun for me to talk about, but for most folks it makes their eyes cross.”

Thank you for the offer honey! The website you recommended alone is gold but I will certainly keep you in mind as a resource.

BTW – Are you doing CoCo this year? Any chance you’d want to come join claughter713 and I for dinner some night?