I had always been one that shopped for bargains. My mom taught me that. I never in my life went to a store without going to the sales rack first. I used to get frustrated with my mom because she would say "No Cara. We aren't buying that. It WILL go on sale and we can get it then." Especially as a teenager I would get SO mad. Thats why I got odd jobs like babysitting, and working for my friend's mom at a gift shop and even took a job as a checker at the grocery store. I wanted to have MY money to buy what I wanted. I remember a fight with my mom in our local JCPenney store when I was so rude and said to her "I can't WAIT to grow up. I will NEVER buy anything on sale!" Wow did I eat my words. :)
I would work and save my money to go buy whatever cute shirt I had seen wherever but after a while I would get to the store to buy it and my stomach would knot up. I would see myself taking my hard owned money from changing diapers, and checking out peoples disgusting groceries **Worst part was when the blood from whatever meat they bought got on my hands. GAG* and it was really hard to watch that money go away so fast. So I found myself looking for bargains. I realized that I could buy so much MORE stuff if I waited til it was on sale. I would get excited to run into my favorite store *Keep in mind I grew up in a town of 10,000 people so there were 2 stores to chose from* and check to see if my shirt was on sale. It became a game to see how cheap I could get things!
I have splurged a time or two in my life on something that I REALLY wanted but I can safely say that everything in my closet came from a major store sale *major=wayyyy more than 50% off*, a consignment shop or a garage sale. And i'm not gonna lie... I got some cute stuff :)
Then enters my daughter. This precious little girl that I want to dress head to toe in pink, and hairbows, and the cutest shoes ever! WOW--thats expensive! I had to learn to hit the sales, consignment shops, put it out there on facebook *Hey friends! anyone have any 4t stuff they wanna get rid of??* Saying that stuff doesn't make me cheap it makes me SMART! I have managed to buy my daughter a TON of cute clothes, awesome winter coats perfect for all this Arkansas snow we have experienced this year AND some cute clothes just because they are cute and on sale.
It's been a journey and its not over. I have to put back a LOT of fun things that I want. I love jewelry. Costume jewelry can fix ANY boring outfit... but I still have to watch my money closely. My journey is not over because I am learning more and more ways to shop frugally, and still have what we need and a few wants.
Thank you for following me on this journey... I hope it helps you see that it CAN be done.
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