Say No to Valentine!

It's that time of the year.  Everywhere I turn, I see red and pink.  Hallmark telling me to send a card.  Party Stores tell to through a party.  Dunkin' Donuts is hawking pink heart-shaped fried fat doughs

The Mister is not allowed to buy anything for Valentines Day.  The little one is still too young to know the difference between one day to another.  So I don't have to worry about her.

There are many many blogs and articles talking about why a specific day set apart for love is a dangerous and insincere.  Me?  I look at it from the point of a amature economist or a frugal mom (same difference).

Roses - those things cost too much on normal days.  On this commercial driven day, they cost double to triple the price.  It's not worth it.  There's no added value from one day to another.

Chocolates - I love chocolates, I love chocolates that are market-priced on a normal transparent market.  Not in a bubble market created by bunch of forgetful husbands/boyfriends who think they need to make up for not appreciating their wives/girlfriends on the 364 days of the year.

Jewerly - Don't get me started on the whole scam that is diamond.  I don't see the point of these decorative baubles.  They don't keep me warm.  They don't fill my empty stomach.  They don't put the roof over my head.  Don't need them.

If we are going to spend money on stuff.  I want those stuff to have value or create value.  Books, educational toys, or even simply, save the money for something that truely has value down the line.

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Efficient Gifts

It's just a couple of days before Christmas, and we are still trying to finish up with the gift buying. Gifts for all the kids are taken cared of, its the adults that we are still working on. The Asian in me still believe giving money as gifts is not a taboo. The amateur economist in me also believe in the efficiency of giving cash as gifts. There is no worry of friction and loss of value. I have gotten my share of bad gifts that fills half of my closet. I can't really return them for money for fear that I have to produce that gift on request. A quick mental calculation put the original cash value of the gifts at approximately $400. Not much money by any stretch, but that could almost pay for my current favorite toy, the iPad. Or the $400 could pay for a decent telescope.

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One week of $50

We survived, kind of. I didn't spend my $50 during the weekdays. I didn't even spend it on Saturday. However, Sunday, we went to BJ's to get some grocery and stuff. But, I saw something that I really really had to have, an Oregan Scientific digital thermometer that shows indoor and outdoor temperature on one screen. The information is sent wirelessly. Definitely cool and I've been wanting one for a while.

I gave in and bought one with the extra money I saved fro the $50. Granted, I overspent the $50. As I walked out of BJ's, I felt defeated. I lost, I spent money that I should not have.

New week is starting, another $50. Hope I can do better.

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Day 2 of $50 a Week

Well, we had our first hiccup in our experiment. I've been bringing lunch and breakfast to work for the first 2 days. I spent $0. Evan hasn't been so frugal. He bought coffee and lunch for these two days. He's making a decent sized dent into his $50.

Today, we wanted to buy grocery for dinner. Of course, instead of just getting the necessary provisions for dinner, we both chose snacks, chocolate cookies for me, cheese and pretzels for Evan. Question was, who is going to pay. In the past, one of us will pay since after enough times, we figured things will even out. Now, we have to decide.

I want to save part of my $50 for a decent bottle of wine this weekend, so I don't want to dip into my $50. Of course Evan don't want to spend more of his $50. So, we had to split everything in half. Never done that before. Let's see how tomorrow and the rest of the week pan out.

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$50 a Week

We are going to do it. We will live on $50 a week each, starting tomorrow, 11/26. We went out today to run some errands and came home with stuff. Stuff we don't really need. Since we can afford them and they were there, so we bought them. It's now at a point that we have to pro-actively limit ourselves.

The rules are $50 have to cover food, entertainment, and any extra spending. Mortgage, utilities, insurance, Christmas gifts, and car payments will not count. This will hopefully keep us from going to dinner just because, buying whatever strikes our fancy, and stop the "buy buy buy" mentality.

We will start this experiment for the next 30 days.

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Black Friday

Yes, I participated. I shopped. Didn't want to be part of the big spending horde storming the local mall. My local mall is only 5 minutes away. It was calling me. So, I went.

The bargains were there. 40% off on sweaters in Old Navy, 30% off on dress shirts in Banana Republic, $20 off on all jeans in Express. I have never seen so many people at the Poughkeepsie Galleria. It was kind of fun to be part of the great big American Consumerism tradition.

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