Archive for the ‘New Spending Habits’ Category

My Fall Spending Relapse

Ok, so I have to admit that I’ve had a minor spending relapse over the past couple weeks.  I woke up bored on Labor Day, so I decided to go shopping with my sister.  We ended up making it an all day event with a break for lunch.  I think we hit up about four [...]

September 16, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Credit Cards, My Progress, New Spending Habits, Want vs. Need  No Comments

A Cheap Family Vacation

So I’m finally back at home, unpacked, and settled in.  So let’s talk about my vacation.  For starters, it was pretty cheap.  Cheap as in affordable, not tacky.  We stayed at a nice beach house in the first week of off-season, so the rates were much more reasonable than if we had vacationed in the [...]

September 11, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Cheap Thrills, Food, New Spending Habits, Travel  No Comments

Spending Zero Dollars and Drinking at Bars

Last Thursday, my sister met up with some friends for drinks downtown.  It was supposed to be a low-key evening on a patio, but things quickly got out of hand.  For starters, she opened a tab at the bar and started ordering rounds for her friends.  She quickly lost track of how much she had [...]

September 10, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: A Night Out, Cheap Thrills, Lessons From My Family, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

I’m Officially Out of Debt

At last!  I just paid my credit card balance down and paid back the personal loan that I borrowed from a friend.  I started seriously attacking my debt back in June.  I managed to pay down $4,700 in debt within three months.  Needless to say, I’m a little giddy right now.
I thought that getting rid [...]

August 28, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: My Progress, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars, Want vs. Need  One Comment

Frugal Summer Reading

It seems that publishing has caught up with our view of the economy and spending habits.  Gone are the days of “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Sex and the City”.  Here is a list of new fiction for today’s frugal women:

Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni
Social Lives by Wendy Walker
The Penny Pinchers Club by Sarah [...]

August 17, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Cheap Thrills, New Spending Habits  No Comments

Seasonal Shopping to Save Money

photo courtesy of NOAA
So I’m getting ready for a week at the beach around Labor Day, and my bathing suits don’t fit (in a good way, they’re too big).  I know that I’ve sworn off shopping for new clothes, but I can’t wear a droopy suit!  I went online and found a new bathing suit [...]

August 14, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Cheap Thrills, Discounts, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

The Luxury of Laziness

One of my friends spends her entire Saturday morning shopping for groceries.  Each week, she scans the grocery ads that come in the mail, looking for deals.  Then she plans out which stores she will hit for these discounted items.  Grocery shopping takes her and her husband about 4 hours every weekend and they often [...]

August 12, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: DIY, Money News, My Progress, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

Closet Full of Clothes, Nothing to Wear

Shortly after starting my new job a few years back, I upgraded my wardrobe.  I bought new clothes partially because I started earning more (and the money was burning a hole in my pocket) and partially because I needed to look nicer at work.  So there I was, looking nice, sitting for 8 hours in [...]

August 10, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: My Progress, New Spending Habits  No Comments