I’m working on cleansing out my house and trying to unload things left behind in my house. Everything I do these days when I’m trying to be more mindful of spending is a spending trap. The bookstore is really not a good place for me to go but I want my house decluttered so here I am at Half Price books sitting and waiting for my total. Walking around with opportunity to find more books to buy is not a good thing for me. Self-discipline, mindfulness, and sure will is what I need from God when I go outside to places like these. I’m hoping soon once I am done sorting my life, I realize automatically these money spending traps.

I ask myself this question every time I have to explain myself on purchasing something. Why did you buy that? Do you remember when you bought this! I don’t know to both. Half the time, I can’t recall instantly what the charge was for or why. Usually, after some thought about the dates or where I was at the time, I can make some association to the purchase and usually what ever the reason, seems quite logical to me. It was a gift. It was for my research. I was out of that. All most always it wasn’t directly for me, which is why the two bank categories personal and shopping seem ridiculously misguide. All this is what has led to my enlightenment of unnecessary spending.

The behaviors related to this is what I can’t explain. I can relate to sacrifices but I don’t practice it. I know afterward I usually decide it was unnecessary and return things. Returning is my only strategy that seems to fix the spending but the act of returning things doesn’t bother me at all. It appears to be my only solution in the end.

The Stop Sign Strategy is my new visual cue to remind me to stop and think about what you are buying. Is it a value. I like that the Stop Sign is an image of the back because it helps me to think about trying not to do something that would cause me to move backwards but to really think about my actions. It’s a strong visual image that is really pretty powerful when you break it down metaphorically speaking. Finding meaningful metaphors that can help me be more mindful have the potential to make a difference with my goals to be a better Steward of God’s Money.

Finally, made some thoughtful changes with using cash only through the debit. I also am receiving daily summaries of my account balances so it’s not such a mystery of how much money I have.

There are four smart things I am going to be working on in January and they are:

1. Looking into ways I might be at risk for identity theft.

2. Planning the care of my parents

3. Beginning the Estate Planning Process and setting some goals.

4. Looking at my own life insurance situation.

I’ve got a lot of work to do and it’s going to take time but I’m going to try. I welcome tips of Wisdom

Today is my birthday. I’m a Platinum member at Ulta so I went to get my 2 Free Birthday gifts. First, there are little Displays that extended the check out line. Merchandise I can purchase in small quantities. I stood to wait and thought about this brilliant way to get me to go to the store and ultimately spend money. I’ve never stepped on a Bear trap before but I’ve seen films on it and that is what it felt like.

I asked about my birthday gifts, since I get two and it would have been this tiny little free sample of perfume; the kind you normally get if you want a free sample. Sounds sort of bad but I asked the check out girl if she thought this was a birthday worthy gift?

I ended up with some good smelling lotion, a sample of moisturizer and some night serum in a sample container. It is a lesson that cannot continue. The free samples I’m getting on my birthday to get me in the stores. It’s simply a Bear trap.

It’s very easy for me to understand what not serving two masters looks like from a spiritual perspective? It’s been an application of faith my entire life. But it appears the serving of God and my own inability to become money savy or wise with God’s money has been a short fall of mine. When it comes to money, I’ve actually always followed a bible passage, “surely if God takes care of the birds and the bees, he will take care of you.” This belief has always been true, so it’s possible I went too far in this thinking and spent without thinking. My money Mystery and my willingness to get a handle on it and be smarter perplexes me. It’s such a bad habit that it’s become natural in some sense making it easy to think I’m serving one God but in reality I’m not. Now the personal battle I face with money reality and failure facing me smack dab in the face certainly makes me feel bad. That reality has s Satan who wants me to fail. I think at best by trying to examine my conscience is pointing my ship back in the right direction. The strategy becomes first the free will to change and try again.

The 2019 bank statements produced some disheartening bad behaviors. I had to categorize all the pet expenses into miscellaneous. I discovered not all shopping for the year was for me but a lot for gift purchases. It appears I live buying gifts or love a reason to spend money so buy gifts. I spend way to much on gifts that I don’t think are even used or appreciated not to mention the excessive amount of time it takes to shop for these gifts that go unappreciated.

My pet expenses to me were excessive and I also discovered our pet insurance was outrageous so I canceled it today. After realize I charge two to three times a day but s way too many charges to monitor.

I was happy to see fewer charges for fabric but Amazon became the addiction, which I have removed my account.

Home had hardly any charges and really the home needs a lot of attention. Groceries ate way to expensive and I really need to cut that expense. Dog food needs to be cut in half. The HP printer has increased a lot.

Mostly I learned I make appointments with others and use the credit card to charge the event and this needs to stop. I think I’m charging things to make me look good but never check with my husband first. These are unnecessary charges not too mention gas expenses.

My strategy is use the debit card. Evaluate the categories and come up with a budget.

When will I get it. Credit card charges are not my money. It’s credit. Spending what is mine first should be the thinking and that’s my goal. Figure out some better strategies to credit card charges. Debit makes more sense to me and it seems to click slightly better.

I’m starting Frugal Friday’s as a strategy to help me find ways to be frugal. Please tell me how you go about being Frugal. Do you have a story to share?

This is a shop I went to in Riga and it reminds me of making things as a gift.