Today’s post might take a different direction today. This week has been a good week for money at our house with an extra little bit showing up to help with some extra bills and holiday shopping. Did I spend money recklessly? No. Did I think carefully about all my purchases? Yep.

I had a huge list of things to buy that were on sale Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I have been looking at ads for today also. I did not buy even a quarter of the things I had listed. I have a tactic I like to use when big sales come up or an opportunity for a big shopping trip.

I write down everything on sale and everything I would like to buy. Everything. I don’t care what those items might be, but I write them down. Then I start to think about what I have written down. Is the price for those items really that good? Is the sale worth it? I categorize with the needs, wants, or just to have its.

The amazing thing with the list is that the list drastically starts to change. And will continue to change before I walk into the store, after I walk into the store, and if I even walk into the store. I might decide that the sale isn’t even worth me being there. My time has a cost too and I don’t like to waste it by shopping for things that I don’t need and will feel guilty about buying later.

So what did I buy? I did buy the $20 camcorder on sale at Kmart to keep recording the concerts and other school events for the grandparents. At Bomgaars, I bought a compact jumpstart for the vehicles and emergency power backup at home, booster cables for Jordan’s car, softener salt, and some stocking stuffers for the kids. Not much, but I could give purpose to everything I bought and not feel like I wasted money.

I will be going to Kmart again today for a memory card and a flash drive they have on sale. The memory card will be for the camcorder and the flash drive will be to backup this blog so I don’t lose everything. I haven’t looked at my list yet to see if there is anything else I think will make a good gift or we absolutely need, but somehow I doubt there is.

Otherwise this week has been okay for saving money and not spending money. We did go out to eat one night as a celebration of all of being together one night that wasn’t a holiday. *smile* Other than that, I thought we did pretty good.

This week’s frugal activities:

1. I made granola bars and  packed water for the trip to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving. Packing our own snacks/breakfast really helps and stops the trips to stop at a convenience store to get a snack.

2. I stayed home last weekend and did things around the house. Cleaning and decluttering really helps me feel better. Cleaning up the clutter at home keeps my mind from being cluttered too. Cleaning is an activity that doesn’t cost a thing unless I break something. Which I didn’t this weekend!

3. I downloaded books for free onto my Kindle. I even read some of them this weekend! Woo hoo!

4. We experimented a wee bit with essential oils. This has been something I have been interested in for quite awhile, but I use them somewhat sparingly because of cost. However, we found out that peppermint essential oil rubbed on the temples will significantly ease headaches if not take them away altogether! Yeah!

5. We (meaning I) are trying to significantly reduce our electrical usage since our whole house is electric. The computers were already being shut down at night and power strips shut off. The router is on a different outlet and now being shut down at night too as well as all chargers being unplugged when not in use. Little steps make a huge difference.

**Our usage went down this last year overall, yet our budget payment increased by $12. Not good. Not good at all for the future either.

Not much for this week, but the emphasis is still on not spending money unnecessarily and doing things ourselves instead of getting them done by others. I wish this applied to oil changes, but I do not have all the necessary equipment for that yet.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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