Day 2 - slight panic

It is day two of my new pledge and already I have a million questions.

What, exactly, is off limits? I could talk myself into anything with enough reasoning. I need clear rules – what’s ok to purchase and what’s not. For every question that pops into my head I’m trying to think of alternative solutions or, if nothing else, cheaper ones. Here are some examples:

1. Hair conditioner – Um, gotta have it! If I run out of hair conditioner in the next 6 months, I can use mineral oil when I blow dry. I’ve had to do that a few times and it helps condition and softens my ends. Here’s hoping I don’t run out though!

2. Chapstick. Anyone who knows me knows I am addicted. I must have about 5 or 6 floating around my house but my favorite is by Covergirl. What do I do when it runs out? The other ones don’t moisturize and give a hint of glossy color. I mean, it’s a useable good so doesn’t that count as an exception? This is a bridge I will have to cross when I come to it.

3. Oil changes – these are required for good car maintenance. It would cost me more in the long run to ignore oil changes. But what about learning to do them myself? I think that’s a worthwhile thing to learn. I just had it changed over the weekend but next time I’ll give it a shot…

4. Lotion – For some reason, people love to give me these silly lotions for Christmas presents. I have an assortment of awful berry and herbal scented lotions. I guess I’ll use them all before purchasing new lotion but yuk! They smell awful.

5. Frontline – I don’t think this is negotiable. My cat, Kairi, needs to have flea protection. It’s not a purchase for me or to benefit me. I do, however, have a coupon to receive a free Frontline dosage with the purchase of three. I might as well buy them all at once and save some money.

6. Coffee to go – I usually make coffee at home but sometimes I get lazy and pick it up. It’s only gas station coffee and not very expensive but it is an expense. I think this will be the hardest thing to avoid. I don’t know… it’s a beverage… it could count as food… What do you think?

The more I think about it the easier I think this whole thing will be. It’s unfair really – I just scratched my shopping itch. In the past two months I bought a new pair of pants, two jumpsuits, some accessories, two new tops, a sweater, two pairs of shoes and two jackets. No wonder I feel O.K. without shopping for a while – I won’t be missing out because I just bought a ton of clothes! In my defense though, all of those things were purchased under great holiday sales.

Crap! That sounds like the justification of a consumer.

Switching gears, here’s the things I’m doing to save money and stop shopping. Some of these things I’m already doing and some are new.

1. Divide and conquer

I love the Dove facial cloths. They usually last about 3-4 uses before the soap runs out. I used to think that was pretty good but now it’s not good enough. I cut every cloth into quarters and because less cloth is getting wet they last 2 uses each. That gives me 8 uses per cloth – twice what I was getting before.

2. Ulterior motives with alterations

I bought jeans from the Gap months ago that were the wrong fit – the legs were long instead of regular length. They were on sale for $8 and I bought them anyways. After wearing them with heels a few times I took them to the tailor over the weekend and had the length hemmed. That cost $10.50 so the total cost for a new pair of jeans was $18.50. Not too bad for a good pair of jeans. I also had the hem of two existing work slacks repaired for $5.00 each. That extended the life of my pants and saved me money in the long run.

3. Make-up remover be gone

Have you ever looked at how much it costs to buy makeup remover? Whether it’s pads, cloth or cream that stuff is expensive! I found a cheap and easy solution – baby wipes. I bought Target brand baby wipes and get about 2-3 uses per sheet.

4. Plant seeds of savings

The cold snap we had this winter has killed my potted flowers. Instead of buying new flowers, I’m going to plant wildflowers seeds that are free from Public Information at my work. The wildflowers are “Florida Friendly”, formerly known as Xeriscape, which means they are native, drought tolerant and often take full sun. I think with a little reconditioning of the soil (maybe I’ll bury some egg shells and other biodegradable waste into the pot) the seeds will do great.

5. Reuse and recycle

Instead of purchasing Ziploc bags or new Tupperware, I have begun saving all plastic containers. The tubs of butter, sour cream or to-go containers are my new Tupperware.

All of these are simple, common sense practices. They’re almost so obvious that it’s ridiculous I needed to brainstorm to come up with them - and that’s just my point. The retail and marketing industry doesn’t want you to have common sense. They want you to buy new products, new clothes and replace what is broken. We have forgotten the option of fixing it instead of replacing it. We have been fooled into thinking they are reinventing the wheel when in reality all they are doing is painting the wheel a new color. It’s all about recognizing want versus need.

If anyone else has tips for saving money at home please share them (besides tips like “clip coupons” or “shop at Goodwill”).