A Look at Contentment Part 1

you'll have what you want

During a long illness last winter, I watched every episode of “Say Yes to the Dress.”  It was shocking.  I couldn’t look away.  These brides willingly dropped half an annual salary on a dress they would wear once, for a marriage that was likely to end in divorce within the next 5 years.

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Many girls would turn down beautiful dress after beautiful dress only to see a dress across the store that they had to try on.  Their consultant would discourage them.  “Don’t do it; It’s not in your price range…”  The determined bride would try it on anyway, and then nothing else would do.  Any sacrifice necessary to have that dress was made, or the bride went home disappointed, unable to settle for less once she tasted real luxury.

It’s easy for me to look at this situation and see the utter ridiculousness of it all.  In my sub-culture weddings were about the marriage.  The months of planning before the ceremony centered on pre-marriage counseling and preparation for a commitment that would last a lifetime. We had cake and punch receptions; a modest dress, often handmade bridesmaid’s dresses and pew bows crafted in the maid of honor’s basement.  A friend of the family sang a song or maybe played an instrument.  It was simple, affordable.  No one was trying to prove anything.

“Say Yes to the Dress,” kind of ridiculousness can bleed into many areas of life:  Our cars; clothing; home decor; schools.  At the end of the day, being content with what we can afford to have is what brings happiness.  And here’s how we get it:

1. Being grateful.  Recognizing our immense blessings.
2.Not comparing. What someone else has doesn’t minimize what we have.
3.Putting value on eternal things: Our faith; our family; our friends
4.Knowing where our value comes from:  We are valuable because we are created in the image of God.  He valued us enough to sacrifice His Son’s life for ours.  Careers, the car we drive, cool clothes, a fancy house… nothing can change our inherent worth.

I’ll be honest, I’ve caught myself getting sucked into the trap.  We are remodeling a house that was barely inhabitable, and I find myself wanting to use this ONE shot to make it as stylish and trendy and beautiful as possible.  When, really, it’s all fleeting.  Styles change; stuff gets “broken in.” Things get dirty.  Wanting to do a good job with the remodel isn’t wrong, but what is wrong is getting so caught up in the decisions and slowness of it all that I let it steal my peace.   In the midst of it all, I’m learning a deeper lesson in contentment.

How about you?  How have you been learning contentment? Has it helped you stick to the budget?

P.S.  There’s still 2 days left to enter the Plexus giveaway.

 

Teaching Kids to Handle Money: The Trip Envelope

My parents have 8 grandchildren. Two years ago, they started an annual tradition to build personal relationships with each of the kids in small groups. Every year, they take 2 of the kids on a road trip to see some national treasure like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite or Pike’s Peak.

Lion Country Safari

 

For the year leading up to the trip they have those 2 kids over for trip planning meetings to involve them in the process. Every meeting builds anticipation and excitement. Also during that year, my parents host several work days. Heidi and Caleb painted the fence (a LOT of fence.) The next year, Heather and Dub did yard work. Because of the rough, long lasting winter, they didn’t get quite as many work days in. My parents paid them in cash in an envelope for their trip.  It worked so well, that my folks recommended we do the same thing for our kids on our drive to Florida.

Lion Country Safari 2

We had envelopes for each of them with 20 crisp new one dollar bills. I forgot to pass them out at first so when we stopped for gas I gathered them around in the filling station for a chat. “I have an envelope for each of you,” I said. Their eyes got wide as they saw me take out the bills from one envelope and spread them. “Everyone has the same amount to last for the entire trip. You can spend them any way you want, but when it’s gone, it’s gone. We will provide the food for your meals, your clothing, and pay to get you into Lion Country Safari, but if you want snacks or souvenirs, it comes out of this envelope. Whatever you don’t spend is yours to keep when we get home.”

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Brandon, who is 6, took his envelope from me with a knowing look. He elbowed his brother, Dub, and said, “It’s a money test. They want to see if we are going to be wasters.” I heard a snicker and looked up at the cashier who quickly turned away and pretended to be uninterested.

A few of the children chose a frozen drink and timidly handed their money to the cashier. He paid the sales tax for them from his own pocket so they wouldn’t have to break a second precious dollar.

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It was interesting to watch the different personalities of the kids. My oldest, Heidi, saved her money and when it came time to buy a souvenir she left the store empty handed. On the way back to the car she mentioned there was a shirt that was really cute that she loved. “Why didn’t you buy it?” I asked. She shrugged. I dragged her back to the store so she could show me the shirt. It was on the clearance rack for $7 and was adorable! It was a flattering feminine cut in her favorite color and had the name of the park down the side in a tasteful but not typical fashion. “You are a super shopper, girl. Buy the shirt.” There’s a personality type that can feel guilty spending ANY money at all, even when it’s a time they should spend. Part of parenting our kids to be smart with money, is to help them find that balance.

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My second oldest was always thinking of others. He would look for packages of things that he could share with the group and rarely bought something just for himself.

All of my kids saved most of their money for their trip out and bought tasteful souvenirs at the park. But on the way home some of them went crazy with spending. It was like they thought the money would self destruct if there was any left when they got home. We had several whispering gas station conversations that sounded like this, “That $2 piece of candy is only $1 at Dollar Tree at home. Are you sure you want to spend your money that way?” Usually those kids made good choices, but when we got home, they begged for a trip to Dollar Tree to spend the rest of their money. My older ones set theirs aside for future possibilities. When the younger ones think of something they’d really like to buy in the future, they’ll get a lesson in opportunity cost (now that their money is gone) and the value of hard work.   Those lessons are harder to learn from a lecture.

What You’ve Wanted to Know About MomCEO…

..but been afraid to ask.

Let’s talk a little about the MOMCEO ad button in the right hand side bar.  The one that looks like this:

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Some of you have clicked it and some of you have been curious but afraid to click.

I want you to know that I personally just signed up with Sandi, the Mom behind MOMCEO. I took a few years to think about it, but it just makes sense for me right now.

It all started with a box in the mail that Sandi sent me awhile back as a thank you for allowing her to be an advertiser on my blog.  I was making my own cleaning products at the time, but gave hers a try and they worked.  In fact, they worked better than my homemade ones.

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Here’s Sandi and her children.

One of my best friends in my hometown also used the products and shared a few more with me.  Everything I tried was impressive.  For example, I’m a lazy cook.  I’ll put a pot of noodles boiling in milk and water on the stove and walk away.  It usually boils over and burns on the stove top and the bottom of the pan.  Cleaning that up was really hard until I tried one of these products.

This summer I had a chance to try a product I had never used before.  I was teaching the children’s choir at reunion “camp meeting” and it was the night for all the children to bring their special music. My daughter, Heather, dressed up in her brand new pure white dress, which matched her friend, Colette. They went into dinner together for the early shift with the other choir members.   Our campground has an ice-cream machine with 3 different flavors.  That night Heather chose a chocolate cone and enjoyed it outside.  By the time I caught up with her most of the chocolate ice-cream had dripped all over the front of her white dress while she was blissfully unaware.

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There were tears when she realized what had happened.  It was her only dress.  She was embarrassed to show up to sing in front of hundreds of people dressed inappropriately.  I helped her back to the room to find her dressiest pair of shorts and t-shirt, reassured her that she was more important than any dress,  promised to seat her towards the back and we headed out to our final rehearsal.

That night a little girl knocked on our door.  She had a bottle in her hand with a note attached.  I thanked her and read the note:  “I heard what happened and thought you could use this.”  It was a bottle of gel stain remover that happened to be from the same company that Sandi represents.  I rubbed it into the stains. Mind you this was HOURS after the accident and with our responsibilities and time constraints we hadn’t even soaked the dress in water yet. We had just counted it as a total loss. The next afternoon I decided to run a load of laundry and threw the dress in with the rest.  I hadn’t done anything besides the pretreatment the night before.

When it was time to switch everything to the dryer I checked the dress carefully so I wouldn’t set in the remaining stains. To my shock and delight the dress was SPOTLESS!  I was blown away.  As a result, I’ve signed up so I can keep this product on hand at all times along with all of the other products that I’ve learned to love.

The best part is that most of the cleaners come in concentrate bottles and have spray bottles with the appropriate mixing lines on them so the cost of the products is less than what you would pay for a similar but inferior product from Wal-mart.  The product line isn’t limited to cleaners though, they have health items, food items, cosmetics too.

Of course, there is a personal business side to this as well.  If people you come into contact with fall in love with the products or business opportunity there’s money in it for you.  Several of the readers here have already contributed to their family income by taking advantage of this opportunity.  Of course, it’s not for everyone.  If you are curious, Sandi is the perfect person to talk to, to find out if it’s right for you.

 

House Remodel Update

Have you ever been pregnant almost 2 weeks past your due date and someone asked, “Have you had that baby yet?”

“Um, look at me.  Do I look like I’ve had this baby?”

I know people are just trying to reach out, to make conversation and say “I care about you.” What an overdue mama really needs to hear is,”You are beautiful.” “Can I bring you a meal?  Can I scrub your kitchen floor?  Are your kids available to come over and play? I’m dying to scrub someone’s toilet besides mine….can I come over?” “Have you had that baby yet?” makes her feel like she messed up or something.

I feel like that whenever anyone asks me about my house progress. Only, the kitchen is not 2 weeks past it’s due date, it’s a year past, lol.  That’s how remodeling goes sometimes.  But I do have some progress to show you.  The last update was here.  We were getting ready to paint our countertops gray and still had some hardwood floor to finish on the kitchen side.  The counters now look like this:

Insert the picture here, if you ever get your counters clean enough to photograph

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They work really well.  I wish I had just painted them and not tried to stain the wood, that I had sealed the seams ahead of time with paintable caulk and then sealed the whole thing with Annie’s soft wax.  We used marine sealer which added a yellow cast to the color that I’m not a big fan off.   I plan to sand, caulk, paint another layer and reseal, but I’m not in any hurry.

The kitchen floor is done, and we (and by we I mean, Darren) still need to finish the floor on the family room side.

Darren leveling family room floor

That part of the huge room as been especially difficult since the floor was so unlevel.  Nailing hardwood to unlevel floor can cause splitting and cracking and squeaky floors.  He has been creating an intricate puzzle of shims, wood shingles and plywood to get as perfect a level as a perfectionist can get. Darren promises it will be all done by the end of August and I’m super excited to put a rug and furniture in that room and reclaim the other rooms that have been storing it all.

Insert Current Pantry Photo here if you ever get all your laundry folded

The pantry has been framed in and painted and our carpenter is coming back this week to put in the plywood countertops.  I plan to finish those the way I wish I had done the kitchen ones and see if I like it better–only with gel stain instead of paint. Here’s an inspiration photo:

pantry inspiration

 

The two BIGGEST updates to my kitchen are our new fridge and dishwashers.

all fridge

It’s just a fridge, no freezer, so we have more space for food for our big family.  We have a chest freezer in a built in closet right across the room and we love everything about the arrangement, EXCEPT we miss the ice machine. We are saving up money to put an ice machine in our island which will be built right across from the sink. For now we keep a pitcher of water in the fridge, but it’s really not the same.

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The other AWESOME addition is a 2nd dishwasher.  After feeding a family of 8 for a year with no kitchen and NO dishwasher I’m really digging having 2.  I think mountains of dishes is the most overwhelming part of a kitchen remodel.    They are both running several times a day. They still need to be framed in and secured but for now they are running great.

My friends at Young House Love do a great job making a list of all the projects they needed to do in their house and then showing where they are in the progress of it all.   (Ok, we’re not friends, I just stalk them via their blog, and pretend.)  So here’s our similar list for the whole house:

Heidi’s Room:

Peel Wallpaper

Paint and Carpet

Sew Duvet 

Sew bed pillows

Create an upholstered corner daybed like this one:

upholstered corner daybed

Improve her picture gallery wall (The frames still have the pictures that came in them….it’s been a year….hanging head in shame.)

Remove popcorn ceiling (At first we decided not to do this and just painted it, but I’m planning to remove all the popcorn in the house eventually. This room will be last.)

Heather’s Room

Heather's Room

This room is done for now.  You can read all about it here.

Family Room:

Finish floor

Paint French Doors

Paint French Door Trim

$$$ Move bedroom door

Repair drywall, paint

Put in floor trim and TV shelf trim

Hang 4 clipboards on other side of mirror

$$ Throw pillows on sectional (navy and spa blue)

Clean and Organize fireplace and TV stand (put back shelves)

Kitchen

Call Cabinet giant about order mix up

Install remaining cabinets

Install fridge surround

Install crown molding on cabinets

Install kick plates

Install floor trim

Frame in dishwashers

$$$ Install microwave

$,$$$ Build Island

$$$ Build deck stairs

$$$ Cut out 3 windows and install sliding glass door

Pantry

Paint lower shelves

Order 14” board and cut out, sand and paint corbels

Hang upper shelves

Hang wrought iron brackets and shelves over washer and dryer

Install oak countertops

Stain countertops and seal with soft wax

Sew and install curtain (handkerchief?)

Entry

Remove Carpet

Sand, stain and seal steps

Paint stair risers, spindles, and trim white

Move armoire into living room trade with console table

Clean and Grout Renew floor

$$$ Paint walls Silver Drop (hire the high parts or buy scaffolding)

$$ Add art

Girl’s Bathroom

Remove popcorn

Mud and repair ceiling

$$ Install new light and exhaust fan

Paint floor trim and vanity

Remove wallpaper

Sand peeling paint off walls and repair cracks

Paint room

Living Room

Remove Popcorn Ceiling

Drywall repair and paint ceiling

Paint walls Behr Silver Drop

Remove carpet

Level floor

Lay underlayment

Lay Hardwood floor

Add Moldings

Caleb’s Room

Strip wallpaper

Paint

Remove Popcorn Ceiling

Remove Carpet

Sand down reclaimed wood

Level Floor in Closet

Face Nail Reclaimed wood floor

Use Reclaimed wood scraps into an arrow wall art border

Install roller shade

Curtains

Install lego organizer

Replace desk with a big boy version

Remove my stuff from his closet

Attic Bedroom for Dub

Rug for under the bed

Navy Dust ruffle

Insulate and cover hole in the wall behind the bed

Paint wall behind bed green

Make navy headboard from foam board and attach with Velcro

Curtain off room to keep it cooler in summer

Turn mini blind into a Roman Shade (I’m thinking white with gray ribbon trim.)

Install lego and desk organizer  in hallway to the left of the bed

Turn pit beside bed into a reading pit with a gigantic beanbag (will order if goes on sale Labor day.)

Bring up dresser and put it in one side of the closet

Put a hanging bar in other side of Closet

$$$ Couch and rug where hope chest is, use hope chest for coffee table (IKEA)

$$$ 2 chairs for other side of sitting area (IKEA)

Move boxed books downstairs and create a library in basement or living room

Use the sitting area shelves to organize Dub’s Toys

Replace bed side lights

Master Bedroom

Move bedroom door from the family room to the entry

Move closet door

Wall off bathroom

Add toilet room

Add tub

Tile shower

Add double vanity

Add sliding barn door with windows to block off bathroom

Paint walls and trim

Replace flooring

Replace ceiling fan

Add lots of recessed lights

Make tufted headboard

Add curtains

Add foot stools at the end of the bed

Replace rocking chair with a chaise lounge

Darren’s Office

Use pine paneling to complete ceiling and walls–or take it all down and drywall

Paint walls silver drop

Paint trim white

Retile hearth in front of fireplace

$,$$$ Lay laminate wood floor in both halves of the basement

$,$$$ Seating area around fireplace (IKEA)

Desk and filing system

Find a place for a large glass dry erase board

New door with full glass panel

Under Deck/Backyard

Remove wide walls on deck

Build wooden deck floor

Insulate ceiling and cover, paint

Stain wood

Outdoor furniture—sitting area

Outdoor eating furniture

Remove Rose of Sharon volunteers, dig roots

Mulch play area (get free mulch from Independence)

Build 4 more garden boxes (fill with stuff from the farm)

$$$ Build swing set

$,$$$ Build fort on stilts

Upper Garage

Repair garage door opener

Paint walls, white

New curtains

Move food to pantry

Move metal shelves to basement or lower garage

Remove all storage items—either put away or donate

Build locker system for kids

Put down an outdoor rug, cut into a runner ($17.88 home depot)

Angela’s Office

Paint paneling white or hang new beadboard plywood sheets on ceiling

Remove carpet

Lay laminate floor

Trade desk with sofa

Replace ceiling fan light fixture

Sell cutting table and mat

Sell lots of misc supplies/fabric

Lower Garage

Tear out wood storage in the middle and middle work bench.  Open area up.

Improve lighting

Replace door between two garages

Insulate garage doors

Repair garage door opener

Designated storage areas for:

Camping

Garden

Paint

Wood work

Plumbing

Bikes

Sports equipment

Lawn mowing equipment

2 Spaces to park cars

Workout Area

Paint paneling

Lay laminate floor

Hang permanent mirrors

Move light switches in storage room

Replace pegboard walls in storage room

Finish bathroom wall

Redo shelves to look more finished

Organize free weights; balls; videos; and other equipment

Make a floating shelf to hold dvd player with Netflix device

Move pool table to garage area

Add a seating area with a pull-out bed for guests to use with the new bathroom

Basement Bathroom

Move wall out to accommodate larger space with sink and toilet

Redo tile work

Redo lights

Redo storage

Make it all very cleanable

Plan a space for massage table

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I’m still glad we bought this house, but if we ever move, I’ll never take on a project this big again.

Every Yes is a No

This basic fact is something my parents taught me when I was young.

I remember wanting a toy at the store….a baby doll care set.  It had a training potty, bottles, bowl and spoon, pretend diapers…everything.  It was beautiful.  I was all about baby dolls at that age. (Which might explain my 6 kids .)  It wasn’t my birthday, not near Christmas.  If I wanted that toy, I was going to have to save up the money and buy it myself.

doll care set

I got a weekly allowance that I could use to buy lunch at school, or I could use the food my folks provided to pack my own lunch and keep the money.  I packed my lunch and saved the money towards the toy.  My parents also paid small sums for odd jobs like lawn care.  Some jobs we did just because we were allowed to live there, but the bigger more strenuous ones came with a financial perk. (Albeit a fraction of what it would have cost to hire an adult to do the job—and rightly so.)

Finally the day came that I had enough money to buy the toy and I realized that if I bought it, I would be completely broke.  So I started saving again.  I decided when I had double the cost of the toy, I would buy it. Then I would have the toy and still a comfortable little nest egg.  The work and saving continued.

By the time I had double the amount to buy the toy, I had a LOT of labor invested.  My mom drove me to the store and we walked together to the doll aisle.  My heart was beating a little faster.  I wondered if they would even still carry the beloved dolly care set. I held my breath as we rounded the corner.

….Shoo, it was still there.

I gripped my little wallet and we stood in the aisle looking at it together.  My Mom said, “Would you rather have that toy, or would you rather have the money?”  It was a simple statement, but I knew she really meant, “Would you rather have that toy right now, or would you rather have the unknown opportunity the money can provide in your future?”

I left the store without the toy, still clutching my full wallet, and I was happy.  My mom never once mentioned that it was a wasted trip.  She was ok with either decision I would make, and either decision would have been a good one.  The important thing was realizing that a yes right then was saying no to something else and making the decision with that knowledge instead of with heated emotion.

Every No is a Yes

When we take the time to write out a budget, we can know whether our latte habit could prevent a summer vacation.  That if we buy these shoes, we will still be able to eat.  It’s freedom from worry.  It’s freedom to spend within boundaries that we set up while considering the cost to our future happiness. While boundaries prevent us from going very far in one direction, they also prevent bad stuff from getting in…like debt or slick sales presentations. The beauty of budgeting is you get to set your own boundaries.

I think the technical term for what we are talking about here is “opportunity cost.”  They talk about it sometimes in economics class, but the best way to learn it is in the toy aisle after a bunch of hard work.

{BTW, this principle is true in more than just money.  When I say “Yes” and overcommit myself, I’m saying No to good health and family time.  When I say Yes to Cake, I say No to energy and a trim waistline….}

What do you think?  Are there any yes’s you made where the resulting No came as a surprise? Any time you changed your choice because you thought about future consequences?

 

The Frugal Way to Eat Out: Weekend Links

Frugal way to eat out

When we were getting out of debt our kids were 4,2,and 1 and couldn’t remember ever being in a restaurant.  One day my parents called up and offered to take us out.  I told the children, “We’re going out to eat!”  They started jumping up and down and clapping, chanting, “A picnic, a picnic. We’re going on a picnic.”  And that my friends is the frugal way to go “out” to eat, lol. They were pretty disappointed to end up inside a restaurant.

Here are some fun links for you for weekend reading, inspired by a family bonding picnic. Click the photos to go to the source and read more.

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windproof_picnic_blanket_thumbalissasaylorphotography_job4-21-of-24Memory Recording Picnic Blanket

Have a great weekend!

 

Summer Vacation

Dear Readers, my blog is officially on summer break. If you miss me, The menus will still be going strong with new recipes all summer! My family will be home this summer and I don’t want to miss a minute of them.  See you in August 🙂

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What Are all Those People in Line for?

Have you ever walked or driven by a huge line…and been all insecure? Like they know something awesome is going to happen and you don’t have a clue?

That almost happened to me.  Ok, it happened this week but the good news is there are still 5 days for us to join in and we don’t have to leave our house or stand in line.

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This is a huge set of resources on how to be a better everything.  Purchased separately they’d cost $698 which doesn’t include $200 in additional bonuses.

BigBookBundle

It’s available as a ($29.97) pdf set or a ($39.97) Kindle set, but I couldn’t help to notice that the pdfs were $10 less.

If you buy through the links here, some of the proceeds goes to support the blog and helps my family, but it doesn’t cost you a dime more.

I’m off to grab my set.  If you are thinking about getting it too, you should know the sale ends Monday night.

An important fact about Playdough

I was shopping for birthday gifts this week for a little boy that’s about to turn 3.  Is that even possible? This boy is particularly fond of playdough.  Sometimes I like to make my own, but this time I wanted him to have some with vivid bright colors and decided to splurge for the real thing.

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There was a 4 pack at the store for $2.96.  I know I can get a 4 pack at Dollar Tree for, well, $1.  It’s off-brand.  The dough is fine, but the packaging is poor.  The lids don’t fit well and the dough drys out pretty quickly once the seal is broken. It’s his birthday and all–I wanted to get the good stuff.  But then I said that already.  Now don’t laugh, but the $3 price for something I could get for $1 was bothering me.  I stood there for awhile checking out all the options.  Then on the end cap I spotted this:

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Individual cans of Playdough in 11 color choices for $.50 each.  I needed a snack or something, could this be right?  I could buy 4 cans in any colors I wanted for $2.  Or I could pick a 4 pack of colors they selected for $3?  Another mother walked by like it was no big deal and filled her cart full of the individual cans.  She said, “Easter Baskets.”  As if that would explain her sudden interest in so much Playdough. (Which is a genius idea, BTW.)

“Excuse me,” I said.  “But is it right that I can get these for $.50 each or buy a 4 pack for $3?  Are the cans the same size? ”

“Crazy, Isn’t it?”  She said as she confidentially pushed her cart away.

I bought one of each color, and used them for Easter Baskets too.  I think I should note that these individual cans won’t scan at checkout and every one must be typed in individually, because each color has a unique number.  If you go through the self checkout, start typing the number with a 6 then leave off the final 8.

How to Properly Use a Red Card

How to Properly Use a Red Card

Ah Target. For all your personal flaws, I like your aisle style.

I love that your red card includes a debit card option, gives me a 5% discount, donates a percentage of my purchases to my school, and gives me free shipping online.

You have an ulterior motive though.  I can see through your niceness.  You know that if I swipe a card, be it credit or debit I will spend 50% more.  Give me a card; you make more….smooth.

I thought money fights in my marriage were a thing of the past, but you temped me to misbehave and I took the bait. I swipe my card knowing I have the cash in my purse to cover it, in all the proper budgets.  No stress, no fear, easy swipe. I intend to put the cash in the “return to the bank” envelope so we know it is spent. Still, sometime in the ride from the store to home, someone has to unload the car, potty, break up a fight, and get a snack, make dinner…and I forget all about the cash.

I forget, until it is time for my husband, (who is a CPA and VERY detailed) starts asking me about all the Target draws on our bank account and what they are for.  And why the “back to the bank” envelope doesn’t have the same amount of cash in it. And where that cash is now.  My chest feels tight, and my head hurts, because I know the money is gone.  I spent it twice. Since all of our money has a name, I spent the money we set aside for other things on something I don’t care about as much, and now I’m mad.

back to the bank

I’ll keep the card and I’ll come back, but we won’t fight anymore.  I have a secret plan.  It’s a little envelope in my purse called, “back to the bank.” So now, while I’m standing in line, I will swipe my card and put in my pin and save my 5% and send some love to my school….and I’ll put the cash into the “back to the bank” envelope right then. No delay between swiping the card and driving home to give me time to forget about moving the cash.

Yep, we’re both clever. See you in the dollar aisle. 😉