Stop Window Shopping, Wait on Second Thought...

For Christmas this year, I received a bit of money from my IL's.  MIL likes to give us our cash BEFORE Christmas so that we might purchase something for ourselves while we are out and about doing our Christmas shopping.  So, as I was shopping the week before Christmas, I had a little extra cash in my pocket that I could spend on anything I wanted.

It just so happened that, while I was on my last Christmas shopping trip of the season {and my amazing hubby had actually kept home 2 of the 4 children-it was seriously like being alone!}, I managed to lock my keys in the car.

Thunk, thunk, thunk {that's the sound of my head hitting the wall}.

So, I had to call my husband to come an unlock the car.  He wanted to scream I am sure, but he graciously came-with 2 children in tow-to unlock the door.

Did I mention we live 30 minutes from town??  And, Explorer was down for a nap??  And, hubby had to find car seats to put in his car???

So, yeah, Charger, Mini Cooper, and I roamed every.single.square.foot. of TJMaxx and Kohl's.

At first, it was kinda fun.  We slowly looked for that last gift we needed to get (and were completely stumped on).  We looked at housewares, clothes, toys, shoes, snacks, decorations.....you've been there, right?  We saw it all.  Pretty soon, I started looking for ME.  After all, I had a little extra money in my pocket.

I found myself walking up to something and admiring it.  Oooh I like this it, it's pretty.  Or, oh the kids would learn so much from this toy!  Best one, THIS will make me organized.  I checked a few tags, noted that I had the money for the item, and started to consider buying the items.

At one point, I even picked one item up and had it IN MY CART.  It was ON SALE!!  60% off!!  I was going to save SO MUCH money!!  I would be SO MUCH happier!!

Thankfully, at that moment Mini Cooper had to go to the bathroom.  Which meant we had to put down any merchandise before we went in.  I put it down, and came to my senses when the product was out of my sight.

I had plans for that money.  I was putting it with other money I had, and other money I was going to get for Christmas.  I had been SAVING!!  If I bought the item I had found in the store, I might not have enough to purchase what I meant to!

Thankfully, I made it out of the store without purchasing anything that wasn't on my list.  But, so often in the past, this has not been the case.  I go to the store and just purchase one or two items that I just have to have, and before I know it, all my money is gone, and I honestly don't really know where it went.

Am I the only one who has been there??  Ever gone into a nice clothing store, admired a beautiful dress in the window, and then found out that the price is more then you can spend?  So you walk over to the clearance rack and pick up a cheap shirt, because you can pay for it.  This happens 5 or 6 times over the course of a month, and in the end you have 5 shirts that you don't really want and-ironically-the price of all 5 shirts equals the price of the dress that you couldn't afford!!

January clearance time starts right now, and I know so many people {ahem yes I am one} who enjoy going to the sales just to see what they might find.  I don't have a plan, a budget, or a true need.  But, off I go looking for a deal.  In other words, I'm looking for who is going to talk me out of my money first.

Now, I'm not saying that you should never go shopping or that the clearance rack is a bad thing.  There are instances where it's a great thing to find something on sale.  What I am trying to say is that if you didn't really need the item, don't really like the item, and probably won't use the item...then it wasn't a sale.  It's just one more time where you added clutter instead of something you actually wanted.

I titled this post stop window shopping, but I had to go back and change it.  Maybe you should start window shopping.  Find the window you want and focus (your spending not your life) on that item.  Save up for it, look for reviews on the product, think about it for a couple days instead of hurrying to buy it, see if you can catch it on a sale.  Figure out where it is going in your house!  Get rid of items to make room for it (or pay for it).  Pray about it!

We plan to fail if we fail to plan, the old saying goes.  But, this goes for our money and our things, too.  I want to be a minimalist, or specifically a purposefullist {yep, I just made that up}, and the best way to keep my home from being full of things I don't want...is to not bring them home.  I've got a plan on how to do this, and I will share it with you soon.  In the meantime, I encourage you to just window shop this clearance season.

Happy New Year!!!  and God Bless,