Curbing Consumerism Club: 2009 Edition Part B

[loveMandieLee]

I almost convinced myself spending $600 on 2 concert tickets was something I could afford. Luckily, I woke up from this crazy dream where I was rich, and realized $600 would pay off one of my CC's. I can have just as much fun in the $50 seats than if I paid a broker for $300 seats. Whew! Very close call.

[amymarie]

I got a fat refund check from school which will go towards rent and then paying off 2 credit cards! The rest will be budgeted for my monthly expenses.

I just moved into my new apartment and spent $300 at Target on groceries and misc. things for the apartment. I am very tempted to purchase a new TV, around $400-500 :(

I am waiting to hear back from two jobs this week, I really hope I get one!!! wish me luck please! :o)

[Nola]

Originally Posted by Allisonfaye

Nola: I have a question for you. Who handles the $$ in your house? Who pays the bills and such? Taking that over has really helped me curb my spending because I used to just buy and deal with teh consequences later but now that I know I am running out of money, I wait til the next credit card cycle to buy.

Me, I handle pretty much everything so that isn´t helping me much obviously lol!

Loganz-Thanks for the encouragement!

Amymarie-Awesome!!!! Luck with the job hunt!

Juneping-Yes, exactly. Once you buy something, it´s so much easier to buy another thing.

[dcooney4]

Twiggers- I hope she starts paying up ,since you were so kind as to take a chance on her.

[dr. twiggers]

June: Can you put aside a little bit this month and then wait until sometime next month to buy the facial stuff???

[dr. twiggers]

Mandie: I struggle with the same thing. I am buying hockey tickets for my favorite team in the world that I haven't seen since I was like 13 (I haven't lived in a city with a hockey team for a long time). I wanted to buy the $150 tickets....hubby said the $35 nosebleed seats would pretty much be the same! Which is true :-)

Amy: Hang in there! The beginning of the school year is always the worst for spending. GOod job on using that money to put towards CCs. Hold off on the TV if you really don't need it. The prices on those things drop so rapidly...if you wait 6 months it might be much cheaper!

[juneping]

Originally Posted by dr. twiggers

June: Can you put aside a little bit this month and then wait until sometime next month to buy the facial stuff???

i will buy some online (10% discount) and buy the rest from the store bc that site doesn't carry all the products. the one online isn't bad but the stuff from the store is going to hurt me bad. they last a year so it's not that bad. but i think the stuff to get from the store will need to wait will late sept or oct.

[Nola]

Mandielee-You did SO good on resisting!

[dr. twiggers]

Originally Posted by juneping

i will buy some online (10% discount) and buy the rest from the store bc that site doesn't carry all the products. the one online isn't bad but the stuff from the store is going to hurt me bad. they last a year so it's not that bad. but i think the stuff to get from the store will need to wait will late sept or oct.

Yea, the beauty stuff is one of those ouchie big one-time expenses! I actually walked through my bathroom and noted everything and put it into my budget....so once or twice a year I won't have a heart attack when I need to fork out money on it!

[plumaplomb]

I bought two designer dresses in the space of a couple weeks... my FIRST designer dresses ever. I don't regret them because they were on supersale and I love everything about them. But I am way over my clothing budget for the month. Hope this doesn't happen again... I am saving up for a new computer for school.

[digby723]

Originally Posted by amymarie

I got a fat refund check from school which will go towards rent and then paying off 2 credit cards! The rest will be budgeted for my monthly expenses. I just moved into my new apartment and spent $300 at Target on groceries and misc. things for the apartment. I am very tempted to purchase a new TV, around $400-500 :( I am waiting to hear back from two jobs this week, I really hope I get one!!! wish me luck please! :o)

Budget and wait until black friday for the tv, they will be on sale and for cheap! :)

I have run up a little bit of debt, about $500 in the past month since I quit my job in May to travel around Europe and spent a little more in Italy that when I had budgeted for. On top of that I moved to go to school about 3 hours away, so until I can get a job all of my expenses are going on my CC. I have some savings, not anything substantial really, which I will have to dip into when this CC bill is due next month if I still don't have a job. I've applied for like 6 places, and am going this weekend to go talk to some people face to face. I'm keeping my expenses as low as humanly possible, I took tons and tons of food and stuff from my parents house lol, and I've spent about $50 on food, toiletries that I forgot or couldn't bring with me, and about $30 on gas so far. I've not purchased a single thing that I didn't have to, and thank god books this semester was relatively cheap, about $250. Hopefully I will be able to find a job soon, I don't need anything great, just a good basic retail job would be fine. I was really hoping for Traget to call me back since they offer part time employees health insurance, and since I'm now 23, I've been taken off of my mom's insurance plan.

[Allisonfaye]

Originally Posted by plumaplomb

I bought two designer dresses in the space of a couple weeks... my FIRST designer dresses ever. I don't regret them because they were on supersale and I love everything about them. But I am way over my clothing budget for the month. Hope this doesn't happen again... I am saving up for a new computer for school.

I am going to call you out on this one. You say "hope this doesn't happen again'. You leave out the word 'I'. This didn't happen to you. You did it. You have to take responsibility.

[VanessaJean]

I found DF another guitar after the scam with the last one so I bought that and some wedding tanks for my bridesmaids and I. They are supposed to pay me back but they are bad at that sometimes.

[nauticalstar]

So I've recently re-done my budget, and decided to use four sections for my money: House expenses, Car expenses, Entertainment/food, and an Xmas/bday fund. SO and I have two joint accounts at our bank, and got offers so that if we each open another we'll get a bonus. So I think this is a great idea- all the accounts show up in a row on my online banking, so I'll be able to easily track spending. Also, most of my car expenses are yearly or occasional, such as insurance, oil changes, and inspections, so it was making it hard to track the money for our home expenses because I got fooled into thinking we had plenty- then the insurance bill would come in. Anyway... I know a lot of you use divisions in your accounts or multiple cards, and may have the same problem I am thinking I will have- and thats how to tell apart the debit cards! I have my main debit card that at the ATM I can choose any of my accounts and I can transfer money online, so I will not often need to carry the cards, but I definitely do want to get one for each of these new accounts. So, for example, when I christmas shop I don't go crazy- I can bring only that card and leave others at home so I am not tempted to spend extra.

Do any of you have a method of labeling your cards when they all look the same? Stickers? I am thinking of using those sticky colored dots people use for garage sales. Eventually I am sure I'll get good at remembering the numbers but I want to make sure I can keep them straight until then.

[canadianstudies]

Originally Posted by digby723

and thank god books this semester was relatively cheap, about $250.

So far, I've spent $700 on books... for one course. (er, thank goodness for funding?)