Another Busy Week!

This week has just flown by! I discovered when about to write my next post that I’d forgotten to post this one and it was in draft form! My computer was misbehaving so I turned it off and forgot to go back to it to send the post! Oh well, most of what I was going to write related to both posts, so I’ll just combine them

Mr Sammyleia’s work lap-top was hacked into and basically destroyed, so he is getting a new one. He has also ordered a lap-top for me! Yay! This computer is sure to die very soon and I didn’t know how I was going to afford another one on my budget. Often I wish that I had a lap-top so that I didn’t have to go downstairs every time I wanted to use the computer. I am very grateful!

Tuesday I was out all day and night, except for about an hour when I was putting away groceries and having a quick dinner. I went to a Church home group that night and didn’t get home till 10:30 and was too tired to do anything other than flop into bed, so no blogging was done, sorry!

Yesterday my car went in for a major (and expensive!) service. Luckily Mr Sammyleia has budgeted some money to cover it!  After taking the car in, Mr Sammyleia drove me home and I spent the afternoon catching up with some emails, washing clothes and taking ages to do the last Avon order. After picking up the car, I had to make dinner and be ready to leave for club by 6:45 pm. I hadn’t seen the ladies at this club since Christmas and it was great to be able to catch up with everyone’s news.

It is just as well that I’m not going to be an Avon rep. any longer. The total of the order placed was $281.82, of which $67.96 were items that I’d ordered!

After decluttering (or attempting to) declutter my wardrobe, I realized that there were a few basic items that I still needed, even though I had a lot of clothes. They are:

• a white short sleeved T shirt
• a white long-sleeved T shirt
• a neutral coloured long sleeved T shirt
• a black jacket
• a pair of long brown pants
• black low heeled shoes
• brown low heeled shoes
• slippers

In the Avon clearance brochure, there was a pair of black shoes reduced to $19.99 (less than half the original price) and a pair of brown shoes reduced to $24.99. Also there was a pair of slippers reduced to $12.99. I ordered all three of them, plus some jewellery cleaner which was reduced from $16.99 to $9.99. I’m sorry but I couldn’t wait till next month as they would have been out of stock then! (At least my profit from this order covered these expenses!)

Now I must NOT buy any more shoes! (Except maybe when I go to Italy in August…?!)

This morning I had another craft club (I was learning to knit teddy bears for charity, but that was a bit hard for a beginning knitter so I’m being shown how to knit coat hangers instead!) and I have yet another craft meeting tomorrow morning and then a dinner with friends in the evening.   I’m would be very happy to stay at home more often, but as I once was a severe agoraphobic, I’m supposed to force myself to go out as much as possible to prevent a relapse. Trouble is, I get exhausted and then don’t feel like doing anything for the rest of the day. (And I’m more tempted to shop!)

On Tuesday immediately after volunteering at the Food Bank, I had to drive Miss Sammyleia to work as I needed the car for the rest of the day/ night. (Luckily her brother said he’d pick her up after work).  One of my nephews’ birthdays is 1 March (another’s is 3 April, the day after my son’s birthday by the way)and I had a request for a certain Star Wars lego item as a present. Therefore I had to go to the Shopping Centre – VERY DANGEROUS!

I priced the lego item and it was $117! After a quick call to my brother, we decided on an alternative lego item. Unfortunately it was $38.72 – nearly twice my allocated budget amount. I walked over the entire shopping centre to see if I could find it at a cheaper price, but unfortunately in the other stores it was slightly more. I’d had enough by then, so I went back to the original store and bought it!

Now while walking around the shopping centre looking for lego, I remembered that I had a $20 voucher from one of my favourite clothing stores and only had a week and a half left to use it. I had to walk straight past that shop, so in I went and out I came with another scarf (what low spend February?!), that after the voucher cost me $4.95. (Yes I know, spending again! At least usually I would have spent more than that!)

When I went back to the shop to buy the lego, I had a look around the clothing section as I wanted a short and a long-sleeved T-shirt to work in with my wardrobe. (Hello! No (Low ) Spend February??!!) I walked out later after spending $58.24 in that shop. This is what I bought:

• Lego set: $38.72
• White short sleeve T shirt: $6.94
• White long-sleeved T shirt: $5.00
• Neutral coloured long sleeved T shirt: $7.58

Then I did my grocery shopping. I bought some at Aldi to save money and the rest at Coles, but still spent around $200! And this is where I was really naughty.

I still carry the joint credit cards but usually have self-control with them as I know that Mr Sammyleia studies them with a fine tooth comb. I’d be in heaps of trouble if there were anything bought from places other than grocery stores, petrol stations, pharmacies and Dr’s offices! For a change I went to a different branch of Coles, and this one had clothes! I bought this orange cardigan there for $15 (it’s not as bright as in the photo!) and because it was part of the shopping, Mr Sammyleia wouldn’t know. Boy, this addiction is bad if I do something like that! I’d better stick to my reguar Coles in future to avoid being tempted again.

I also managed to declutter a couple of items from the bag of clothes that I found after decluttering my wardrobe. Nearly all the tops fitted, but the pants were still slightly too small. I’m keeping them until next winter in case I lose any more weight, but I think I’ve plateaued now.

The pink shirt is too big for me. The turtleneck tops were handed down to me but I really can’t stand things that are tight around my neck, so have never worn them. I’ve never worn the scarf but it really doesn’t suit my colouring. (So why did I buy it?!)

There’s one more confession.

When I had cofee with a friend on Monday (at a shopping centre!) I picked up a pair of brown pans that were on sale for $9.95.

Luckily my credit cards haven’t been with me this week and they are staying out of my wallet. I used cash and EFTPOS (Except for the orange cardigan which was hidden in the shopping budget!). Still, I know that money should have gone elsewhere. I don’t think a cold turkey method works for me in the spending department. I think that I was so bad at spending money, the habit has to be changed gradually.

The first step has been to remove the credit cards from my wallet. Just by not having my credit cards with me, I’ve drastically reduced the amount that I would have usually spent. Having a list helps a bit. (I know, the orange cardigan and scarf weren’t on my list!) Yes, I’ve bought things I shouldn’t have. I think what I need to do is add up all the naughty expenses this month and aim to spend at least $20 – $50 less than that next month, then keep reducing the amount each month. If I try to reduce my spending too much in one go, it looks like I rebel and do the opposite. I want to get over this addiction of spending but I’m finding it REALLY hard, so maybe a gradual approach is best. Who am I trying to kid?!)

And so the battle  to stop spending goes on…