Think Outside The Piggy Bank

thrift store clothes shopping

We have an excellent thrift store here in town and every once in a while they have a fill-a-bag-with-clothes-for-$6 deal. I've taken advantage of this twice already, and boy, have I lucked out. The first time I got two pairs of jeans, a bathrobe, three long-sleeved tops and a T-shirt. Yesterday I picked up one pair of jeans, a beautiful dusty rose sweatshirt, a purple long-sleeved top that I'm wearing right now because I absolutely adore the colour, a T-shirt, and two dressy shirts. Not bad eh? Brought 'em home, popped them in the wash, and now they're officially mine.

And while I've seen others stuff their bags with even more clothes, I'm picky enough that I still try everything on, and still have to really like what I buy, because even averaging at about $1 per item, I'm frugal enough to not want to waste money on anything. A former friend of mine used to always say, "Oh, at that price I can't say no", which I disagree with because there's no point buying something only because it's cheap. Unless it's something you really need or want, you should ask yourself how much clutter you have already. My technique is to not go into the store too often, because too often too many things will demand that I become their new owner! Like the book, mug and trivet who now seem to feel right at home. Still, my total bill was $7.50, and if I say so myself, I look quite ravishing in purple. ;)

7 links to keep you busy

I promised you links to worthwhile sites a couple of posts ago, and they're up and running now. Just scroll down the left-hand column until you hit Smart Reading. Here you'll find tons of ideas covering creativity, productivity, personal development, happiness, organization, purpose, passion, growth, and ways to keep more of your dollars in your wallets. There are of course countless blogs devoted to any one (or all) of these topics, but if you're like me and easily get overwhelmed by the sheer number of sites you could potentially follow, then these select few are all you'll need to get started. Enjoy!

think outside the date

I should not have been able to write this post. In fact, maybe I (and definitely my yogourt) should have expired by Friday, July 11, as the container ominously warned me the other day. I looked at the date, said HA! and ate it anyway because frankly, I think those dates are a bunch of hooey. A great big ol' marketing ploy to get us to buy more. And apparently I'm not alone in this belief. My good friend Krissa (thanks Krissa!) sent me this amusing (although with some startling statistics) article a while back and although I wouldn't go as far as the author does (moldy bread, no way), I agree with his point of view.

Okay, I HAVE gotten food poisoning once from eating stuff gone bad, but that was entirely avoidable had I listened to my kitty. He didn't want the fish offered him, so I should have known better than to eat it myself. Still, I lived, and have eaten more "expired" things since that time than I can remember. Obviously you have to use your eyes, nose and common sense (or listen better to smarter animal companions), but for the most part I think you can be a pretty good judge yourself without having to pay attention to arbitrary dates, and without wasting both food and money.

Um, in honour of its title and intention, today's post was mostly written last Wednesday. Because you know, dates are meant to be ignored. Snort.

darn(ing) socks

As some of you know (having complained about this on Flickr), these socks were ruined the first time I wore them. The problem is, I don't know what to do with them. Right now they're curled up in despair in my closet, but it pains me to throw them out. Once upon a time the darn socks would have been darned of course, but I'll be darned if I know how! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Even my mom doesn't darn anymore, although I have vague memories of her doing so a long time ago. But to throw away perfectly good socks after only one use? And it got me to wondering if there are people out there who still do darn their socks. In a way it might make sense given our current economic climate, and even more so, greater environmental awareness. Repair, reuse, recycle -- isn't that how it goes?

Could darning someday make a comeback? Or even become trendy like knitting did a few years ago? Somehow I doubt it, but I'm still left with these damn socks. Should I phone my mom and ask for instructions on how to darn? Figure out how else to use them? Or just toss 'em? What would you do?

Um, hang on a second while I do some Googling.

Well I'll be darned, snort. There's over 18,000 hits on darning socks, all kinds of tutorials, and even how-to videos on YouTube! Seems like this lost art may not be quite so lost after all. Still, do I want to make time for this?

rain cheques

You know I like coupons, and sales, and combining coupons and sales, but what I like almost even more are rain cheques. A rain cheque, as you probably know, is when a merchant has run out of stock of an advertised special, but will offer you a voucher for the sales item at a later date. I love rain cheques because while I usually want to take advantage of an item on sale, I don't always need it at that particular time, and with a rain cheque I can get it up to four weeks later. The key of course is that you have to ask for it and normally have to do so at the customer service desk, but to me it's worth the little bit of extra time. And while the clerk is often apologetic about the item not being available right then and there, I usually end up having to suppress a little yes, I get a rain cheque! whoop. Because you know, it's the small things that usually make me happy.

S&M (twice)

Okay, now that I have your attention, snort, SSMM is my own financial term referring to stretching, saving, managing and making -- skills everybody needs when it comes to money. In my case, as mentioned in the previous post, I excel at stretching those slippery little dollars. I'm also good at saving and managing, but have to admit that my money-making skills pretty much suck. Still, three out of four ain't bad, and those three skills have saved my hide more than once.

Throughout this blog I hope to sprinkle tips on how to improve your stretching, saving and managing techniques (I'll leave the money-making side of things to someone more qualified), because I firmly believe that it's not what you make, but what you do with what you have that determines your (self-defined) financial success. Because let's face it, if you have difficulty managing smaller amounts of money, how will you fare when you start making more? How often haven't you heard of lottery winners gone broke? No, it's not the amount that counts, but how you manage with what you have. Learn the basic principles, and you'll do fine whatever your income level.*

* I'm obviously not talking here about people living in abject poverty where even successful managing will only take them so far.