Kinda Broke and Semi-Banned !

[lulu3955]

Originally Posted by Stormy Heart

Being semi-banned is like a diet that allows a little cheating so you don't obsess over the deprivation. Much less stress. Has anyone an Orange account ? I was thinking of a llttle ING.

I have an orange account. I love it! It's so easy to use. I have it automatically take a percentage of my salary out each paycheck. which is great cuz then I don't even see that money. It takes 1 business day to get in the account and then 2-3 days if you want to take it out.
In high school my business & life skills teacher taught us that if you put $25.00 a week into a savings account from the time your turn 21 until you retire at 55 you will have 1 million dollars. So that has always been my goal. Even if times have changed and the interest rate isn't the same It's still a hefty sum of money to "retire" on. I double it cuz I'm greedy and want to "retire" well and if you think about it.... instead of buying 1 luggage tag everytime a HH sale pops up, or buying a 5 dollar cup of coffee at starbucks everyday I can have a worry*ish* free later years.

I've officially move myself from the banned thread to the semi-banned thread. ok back to hunting for HHs on my list

[Sybaryte]

Originally Posted by lulu3955

.... instead of buying 1 luggage tag everytime a HH sale pops up

Ouch! That hurt!

I have an orange account that has gone unused for a long time.

[lulu3955]

Originally Posted by Sybaryte

Ouch! That hurt! I have an orange account that has gone unused for a long time.

I only say that cuz I'm very much guilty of buying A luggage tag and some other small stuff and paying thru the a$$ for shipping. LOL

[tonij2000]

I haven't bought any bags during this sale b/c well, I have too many and none really spoke to me so yay! I couldn't resist the Athena sandals in black and moonbeam for $63 though as I totally need cute summer sandals!

[Sybaryte]

^^Wow...I never saw them for less than ninety-something. Sweet!

[RealMcCoy]

Originally Posted by gingeybear

No I don't pay full price for anything..no matter how badly I want it. I can't...and I won't. Period. I don't subscribe to magazines..I can take them out of the library.. AND...I shop physical and online sample sales..and try to know the lowest price something has been before I go..

I don't pay full price for anything either. And I don't consider anything less that 50% off a sale. I may look at something 50% off, but I think on it strongly before taking the plunge. If something is a want or luxury, like handbags, then they need to be 60% off or more.

When each season debuts, I make a "short list" of the items and the max I am willing to pay (generally 50% or more off list price) and I post it on my monitor. It stays there that season and into the next. It is front of my eyes during HH shotgun sales when everything is on again - off again. If I see something I am tempted to click on, I look at that list first and know that one of those TRUE LOVES will have to be sacrificed to pick up the "Oh...the excitement of the hunt" item.

I have been through Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University twice (yes, it took me twice to get it through my thick skull). Now, sales are on a cash basis. When you terrific HHHotties let me know ahead that there is a possible sale coming up, I move cash, take on extra contracts, and/or ebay things to have a "play fund" sitting ready in a Pay Pal account designated for fun use. I only use that to fund my HH purchases. When it's out...I'm out. I found if I used several different cards (even if they are debit cards) I couldn't keep a clear running total. Adding up afterwards robs my peace.

Gingey, I don't subscribe to magazines either. I read them online once they move into "archive issues". I don't subscribe to cable TV. I kept a record one month of the shows I watched and the time spent with TV. Then I went online and found how many of them could be viewed a week later free. I found I was paying $10 per hour show! So, no cable for television purposes. Instead, I put my $50 cable money into my internet service - because I double benefit from it. It is fast enough to watch TV broadcasts online and I use Netflix which lets me view instantly and broadcast it to my TV. I found I enjoy my favorite shows like BBC much better when I can view the whole season at once over a weekend instead of "cliffhangers". Plus, I can choose whether I want to watch them on my TV or my monitor. This means I can watch Dr. Who right beside refreshing HH sale pages, LOL. Also, I don't have a land line phone. I am strictly cell phone, so that cut out another monthly bill. So, I would say I generate my biggest savings through strategic tech.

[fafnir]

I have to start thinking about how I am going to make it until the Fall stuff goes on sale without my head or bank account exploding... it's gonna be a long stretch.

I'm starting to feel like a junkie going through withdrawal. Um, not that I have personal experience of what that would be like, um, uh...

[backstageAntics]

I'm going to come over here and sit in this thread with you ladies for awhile. Between the sample sale and shopping for "nice" work clothes for the new job and a couple of other shopping addictions I need a serious time-out from any kind of shopping. Well, except my favorite thrift store but since nothing there is more than like $3 it doesn't count. I just blew through some serious dough on evilBay on this designer whose jewelry I just love... and a one-of-a-kind piece came up, and I went to the max I was willing to bid. I won, though, but ouch, some serious dough. So I quit, I stop, I am kaput, over, finished with any kind of shopping other than grocery for at least until I get this credit card completely paid off and get the new roof I need for my house!

[tonij2000]

Come on in and grab a seat! But truthfully, it's kinda lonely in here, lol.

[fafnir]

Originally Posted by tonij2000

Come on in and grab a seat! But truthfully, it's kinda lonely in here, lol.

Especially during sales. You can just hear the crickets then.

[Stormy Heart]

Backstage, I think we have all gone through phases of collecting something until we feel satisfied with the lot. That you ended with a very special piece puts a sweet cap on it and now you can wear them in different combinations that feel new every time.
Is there a best time to reroof, maybe Fall when the workers aren't so busy?

Lulu I will Orange but in my early twenties I was reckless and thought my older friends were silly when they told me to use eye cream ! Retirement seemed too far away to worry about and I cashed mine in to move cross country alone on a whim and travel to the South Pacific and Europe.
Freedom made me loose with money.

MCC how did you become so disciplined ? I have wishlists with notes of how much I hope to find each item for, but it hardly ever works out just right. "Never pay Retail" was a lesson learned from a millionaire, also "take care of the pennies and dollars take care of themselves" Also, invest in Gold. Seriously.
I never even heard of D Ramsey.

Fafnir, do you mean it feels kinda empty to suddenly STOP ? We'd be online shopping if they locked us up in HH reHab so semi-banned it is !

We need a Christmas Club savings, a Big Bang, and Sample Sale account...I like the idea of totally set-aside $.

No cable here, and Public Library DVDs. (lots of BBC)
My internet comes from the phone company so how can I ditch the landline? Separate broadband cost more. There are whole towns that have free broadband: wonder when it will be Nationwide.


Those dam crickets

About crickets. I had just moved into my first gorgeous Custom Home. Everything was perfect, except the sound of cricket nonstop loudly driving me crazy. I could not find it in my house. Finally I called Orkin for a consult. Turns out my cricket is in the wall and likely got there during construction. Can they help me ? NO ! The man told me to turn up my stereo. no charge.
Later I learned that when the crickets' chirps are slowed waaaaay down, they sound like angels...I should have respected that.

~ I also have stories about herds of cats, a stray17 ft snake and a mountain lion face-off. Oh and a runaway horse

April is a big month at our house, everyone's birthdays !

[leothelnss]

Stormy - Congrats on your house!!! I bet it's amazing

Contribution...
My paypal balance is my spending money. I just bought a bunch of smashbox stuff (my collection of my fav cosmetics is only about 2 pieces and that needed to change). Whenever I want to buy something online, I need to sell something first! Or use my available balance.
Any money in my bank account goes toward the CC and/or bills. That's the current plan. Let's see if I can stick to it.

Anyone else have an outline of what they're trying to do to cut back on spending?

[fleurdelis816]

I'm with you gals on the things you've already posted about. I cut back wherever possible. I don't use my cc unless it's for something I NEED and don't have the funds. I only pay "cash" (debit card) for the things I want. And if I run out of my alloted spending money...well then no more goodies for me until I get more cash money. It hurts, but at least I won't be "paying" for it later. It's still hard to find restraint during sales though. I couldn't tell you the last time I paid retail for something fashion related. I've gotten into so many sales lately that finding an item for retail and then thinking about purchasing it just blows my mind. It would have to be something I had been wanting forever to pay retail for it. Back to restraint during sales though, I make a list of all the items I want that are made by a certain brand (usually only do this with shoes and bags because I stick to a certain few designers..clothes I get from all kinds of places so I just keep a list of the types of items I want/need)...and then I think about how much I'd be willing to pay for it...and I only go over that IF this is the last time this item will be available (other than evilBay, etc.) and I just can't imagine living without it. Still, even with all these plans and cutbacks I make, it's still so hard sometimes. Life is expensive!

By the way, what exactly is an Orange account? I mean, I know of ING (my retirement shizz through my work is with them) and I have a savings through my bank...but is an Orange account something special?

[backstageAntics]

@fleurdelis -- My resolution for the month is to STAY OUT OF DEALS AND STEALS! That's my problem -- the SALES! "Oh, it's so cute, and it's half off!" Well that half off is still money out of my pocket

I'm going to see if I can start selling a few things on eBay and possibly have a garage sale. I need to go through my house and consolidate all of the "stuff" that I want to get rid of, and see if I can get it out of my house AND make some money on it! Normally when I "declutter" I would just take everything straight to the Goodwill, but I think I can dip my toe in the pond and check out eBay or maybe Bonanzle or etsy!

[fafnir]

I very rarely eat out, make my own lattes on a little stovetop Moka pot, and make good use of the public library. I use the library for dvds, too, but I also have a minimal Netflix account for the stuff our library doesn't have (I have 2 teenagers). I don't go to movies, don't buy cds or books. The only magazine subscriptions I have are the free ones I got through Deals & Steals here.

Like Stormy, I'd love to ditch my landline, but I get my internet through them. Don't have (don't want) cable. Some cell phone services are starting to offer wireless internet, and I'm hoping mine will get onto that sometime soon.