How I Shop & Eat for Free

Do you know what I love? Getting things I would be willing to pay for completely free. It’s awesome.

The other night, I sat down and looked at the reward points I’ve accumulated, partially through my Visa debit/credit card and partially through MyPoints (reading e-mails*).

The result? $25 at Target and $10 at Starbucks.

*Do you know MyPoints? Essentially, you click on e-mail ads, and they give you points. After you’ve earned a certain number of points, you’re able to redeem them for gift cards! If you’d like a referral, e-mail me!

On Shopping: What I Wear & How I Wear It

Inspired by the clothing fast going on at Well-Heeled, I’ve been thinking more about what I wear. For the past three weeks, I’ve planned my outfits out ahead of time, writing out a week’s worth of choices on a 3 X 5 card that I place in my closet. I still bought two new sweaters at H & M this week and a fun dress at Target last weekend, but I have been learning a few things.

1. There are a lot of things in my closet that I never want to wear. Why is this? I can’t decide if I should give them more time, in case I find something I want to pair items with at some point, or if I should just get rid of everything I don’t love.

2. There are a lot of things in my closet that I forget about. Generally speaking, I get into a routine of a couple items I *really* like, and I wear and rewear them silly. My v-neck black sweater has worn elbows, but I still wear it weekly. This is at the expense of other things I let waste away.

Planning my outfits helps me add versatility to my outfits.

3. Quality matters. There are things I bought years and years ago that I still wear because I like them and the quality is so good. This is definitely worth it.

Redbook, Win Me Over.

Very mysteriously, I’m still getting my unordered, unpaid-for Redbook magazines.

In fact, after I originally posted, wondering where they were coming from and why they were bothering me, they didn’t disappear; they procreated. Now, I’m also receiving US Weekly, which, truth be told, I still throw in the recycling bin as soon as I receive it. I just can’t get in to all that celebrity gossip.

Redbook was a quick toss, too, for a while. Then, last month I think, I noticed Giada Di Laurentiis was the cover story and thought: AH! Now they’ve got me.

In that perusal, I noticed the mostly trashy Redbook also features financial articles, go figure. There was the one about the overspenders, the one about financial tips, the one with a write-up about the Budget Fashionista.

I don’t know. Maybe this was their plan all along.

Here’s How I’m Spending my Money, Lately

A few weeks ago, one weekend evening, I sat down with my laptop, a bundle of receipts and some paper. I was on a mission: a mission to analyze my spending.

Since July, I’ve been tracking/budgeting my money through Budget. Here’s what that looked like: every other Friday, I’d get a paycheck auto-deposited into my bank account. Sometime that weekend, I’d manually enter the payment into my budget, allocate it (each time) into envelopes, and be done. I do almost all my spending through my credit/debit card, out of my bank account, so I would record purchases in my checkbook during the week. Every few days, I’d enter those into Budget, removing money from envelopes accordingly.

This was good–I was spending within a predetermined limit–and bad–that limit fluctuated each month.

So I did something about it.

In a kind of elaborate Excel spreadsheet that made sense to me I figured out how much I’d been spending in every category on average. Here’s what I found: only half or less of my money is set spending (giving and saving). The rest goes to a myriad of things: restaurants, clothes, toiletries, gas, other gifts, etc.

Most months, I’d still have extra money (gravy, if you will) just sitting around. Sometimes I’d leave it in the envelope, padding it for future purchases. Sometimes I’d leave it in the envelope, forgetting about it.

So here’s what I’ve changed:

1) New Categories: I never spent from the “entertainment” envelope, so I redesigned that to be my ER fund. This envelope will get a set $75 every pay check, but it will also start receiving extra, otherwise unallocated funds each month.

I’ve been thinking of moving out, and whether it’s soon or in the future, I want to have the money for home stuff when I need it. So I made a “household” envelope, which will be getting a set amount of money and which will become an ING very soon. It came in handy, by the way, when I decided to redo my bedroom–an investment in the future, I say.

2) Scheduled Allocations: Now, every paycheck (from both jobs) will be depositing the same set amount into each envelope. This way, all I need to do is click “pay” every two weeks. The money will be the same, though I can always move stuff around if I need to.

3) Rethought Priorities: I really don’t need $200 each month for clothes, even if I *can* put it in there. Sometimes I’d let myself think I had to spend, since the money was in the envelope. I lowered the amount to go there, realizing I usually had leftovers anyway. This will help me put money into smarter resources like my ING accounts, my IRA, my personal stock portfolio and into giving.

4) Knowledge: Now I know what I spend–I mean, really know. While I can’t recite numbers off the top of my head, I can easily consult my charts, and I can give you a ballpark idea. It’s nice, and it’s empowering.

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And Now I Heart J. Crew

Last night, when I was writing my post about my pretty, pretty Christmas coat, I went to jcrew.com to find the links to the others I had considered. In the process, I realized my now-loved, already-purchased coat, the one I was wearing and blogging, had gone on final sale. (Who says PF-blogging doesn’t pay off? I never would’ve noticed if not for the post!)

Tuesday, I (my parents) had bought me the Gramercy, in black. The picture online doesn’t do it justice: beautiful! I love, love it, and it’s just what I wanted: fitted, a solid color, warm. The thing was, it cost $350. Mom and Dad were supercool and said if I loved it, it was fine with them. So that’s how I ended up with a ridiculously expensive gift.

Then, last night, I realized it had dropped to $229.99! I felt terrible. BUT: J. Crew has this awesome price-adjustment policy, if the price drops within seven days. Meaning: they’d refund the difference.

I went in today, and they gave me the new price, plus an additional 25% off! Total cost now? $172.99.

J.Crew, I am now your biggest fan.

I heart my Christmas coat!

So remember my Christmas coat saga? After I researched online extensively and could not make a decision, my savvy-shopper brother intervened. Order a few, with the free shipping code, he told me. Then return the one(s) you don’t want.

Brilliant! I can’t believe that didn’t occur to me before.

Here are the coats I ordered:
the red Lady Day
the black Gramercy
the sea salt Sybil

Can you guess which one is the winner?

Enjoy Shopping Again!

Last night and this afternoon, I had an absolute blast shopping.

Yesterday, I whipped through Bed, Bath & Beyond, Linens N’ Things, IKEA and Target. End result? $200 spent, my room revived and not one ounce of guilt. Why, you ask?

Since I started thinking about moving out, I set up a new envelope in my budget: home decorating. I haven’t moved anywhere, so the money’s accumulating, and investing in bedroom stuff seemed a good way to begin.

Purchased: red fitted sheet, red pillowcases, two Euro-sized pillows, two Euro-sized pillow shams, two red shiny pillows, two lamps, a duvet cover.

Next on the agenda: wall art, a mirror…

I know I said I feared overspending, but when I’m using allocated funds, funds I’ve already set aside, it’s A-OK. I love budgets, and I love shopping!

Who Else is Returning a Christmas Gift?

Was it something you asked for? Mine is.

Weeks before Christmas, upon request, I specifically e-mailed my mom the cut, color and size I wanted of this certain J. Crew coat. I chose the one with thinsulate, making it near $300. I sent Mom a coupon for 20% off, but she forgot to use it, so it really was a hefty sum. So generous of her!

Christmas morning, I opened the package and tried it on: too big. Even when I choose my own gift, it doesn’t work out right!

Yesterday after work, I returned the coat, and the store put the money back on my mom’s credit card; they didn’t have anymore in the store, let alone in my size. So now, Mom says, I can find a coat I want, and she’ll buy it. Talk about an unexpected luxury: shopping without spending!?

Here’s How You Get a Money-Grubbing Addiction

Somewhere in the midst of apartment-hunting and gift-giving and holiday-merrymaking, I found time to take up an interest in home decorating. Okay, I take that back: more like I found time to develop an obsession with home decorating–an obsession that could be a big problem for my budget.

See, here’s the thing with me and obsessions: I seldom have a knack for whatever the latest craze is–knitting or scrapbooking or home decorating (and yes, I’ve done all three). I dabble, I try, I make one grand, noble stab. Then I see my lack of skill and withdraw.

For months now, I’ve been browsing articles at HGTV, skimming staging photos, reading interior design articles. The result is an inclination towards the aesthetically beautiful, indoors. And I can tell you what I like: rooms like this and this, for example. I can’t, however, tell you how the heck I can make mine look like that.

Lately I’ve gotten into the site “Rate My Space”–do you know it? All kinds of amateurs and professionals post their rooms and remodels, letting the Internet public rate them. Intimidating and inspiring, both.

I wish I were one of those talented people who could look at a design and mimic it on a budget. I fear I’m much more likely to go all shabby chic (emphasis on the shabby) or the other extreme: all brand-new and overpriced.

Sigh.

Co-Worker Christmas Gifts

Tell me: what are you getting your co-workers for Christmas? Anything? Something small?

I manage a department with (5) mainly part-time workers, and I’ve been wanting to get them something for Christmas. One girl doesn’t eat really (another topic in itself; how to respond to that?), so a food gift was out, and that makes things harder. I had decided on Starbucks gift cards, boring but practical; someone recommended $10 would be much more professional than $5. So $50 was my department budget for Christmas gifts, and that was set.

Then Friday night I went to a Crate & Barrel outlet and found these super cool coffee cups in red and green colors. $1.95 each. I bought five–three green and two red. $10.41 total.

Now I’m planning to give each employee a mug with a $5 card, meaning I’ll spend a total of $35 for the department. Not bad at all.

I’m still trying to figure out how to handle everyone else. My boss? Other departments that I interact with? Pretty soon I’ll really just need to get something for everyone, so I’m wondering if I should bake cookies and put them in little packages.

Any thoughts?