Time spent in the freezer aisle

I'm not a lucky person, I rarely win anything. However, at a Married Life Today Conference at our church this morning, J and I were chosen for a game of Deal or No Deal. We won a pretty sweet date night package."Howie Mandell" did some good improv and at one point while talking to the "banker" shouted out "Yes, I know know J's head looks better than mine!" We were rather entertained.

Today was rainy and I was planning on finally making the bedroom curtains that I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about. However, J had other plans. So he took me to lunch at a yummy little Italian place and then we went shopping. After his little spree of two hundred bucks, I'd say I get a nice free pass when I head to the outlets when Bex visits this weekend, right? Furthermore, since he bought a nice khaki suit that means that since our anniversary is in 28 days, that he should wear it, and I should play in my wedding dress, and it will be fun. That's totally a rule, right? You play in wedding clothes on your anniversary?

During our shopping I had an overwhelming sweet tooth that just would. not. go. away! J and I stopped by the grocery where I found thin mints! Well, not exactly thin mints bu the store brand of a cookie that tastes exactly like them and were only a dollar! A dollar!! I just may eat thin mints every day for the rest of my life. A dollar! The Girl Scouts should just buy and resell them, they'd make more money that way. So after I nearly tore open the package and ravaged them all right there in the cookie aisle we were on to ice cream. Sadly, the amount of time J and I spent in the ice cream aisle is most definitely more than the time we'll spend name children. After much debate he got strawberry for a milkshake with fresh strawberries at home. I finally (finally) decided on chocolate chip cookie dough. My thoughts? Well, it's kinda like the mint chocolate chip I wanted and I can eat it with the cookies. But I can also throw in in the blender with peanut butter for a peanut butter milkshake and that will be tasty too. I mean pb and chocolate chips and the cookie dough will be like pb cookies. That makes sense, yes? I know I could have totally gone for vanilla and achieved the same desired outcome, but that seemed too easy.

No, I'm not pregnant. At least, not that I know of.

Clearance was my first word

I love to shop. I love to shop cheap! Fortunately for me I married a wonderful man who loves the clearance racks as much as I do! Clearance is my favorite. Clearance what you ask? Clearance anything!

I find it hard to pay full price for just about any item other than a Reese's cup (because sometimes you just gotta have a Reese's cup!). I can also talk myself out of just about anything whether it's on sale or not. I'm tight fisted too, I know where every cent goes, and sometimes I worry I'm downright cheap. Lucky for me I'm married to man who is as much in love with Clearance as he is me! We make quite the cute thrifty and frugal couple.

I often wonder if we'll always be cheap and thrifty. Currently we're working to pay off debt and build several months income in a savings account. We only finance items such as our house (because if you have 200k lying around, you should share it with me!) and our future cars. We don't finance large purchases (TV's, Computers, etc) or vacations (Europe anyone?) so we also save for those sorts of purchases. Since we're both in the early stages of our careers (and going to grad school) we know that this is probably about the poorest we'll ever be, and thus far, we are extremely blessed!

So I often ponder if when we have more disposable income if we'll be a little more free with our spending and purchases? I'm quite certain that we'll still know where every cent goes, but will it be as big of a deal purchase things as it is now? Then I think that if we opt for me to be a stay-at-home-mom, well we'll most likely find ourselves in a very frugal state just because we want to make the most of one income.

But all of that aside, no matter how much money J and I have or ever have, I just cannot see myself gallivanting into Banana Republic or Ann Taylor (or Gap, Limited, Express...make it stop!!) and purchasing an outfit at full price and walking out with it. The same goes for any fabulous handbag or pair of shoes that I find at Belk, Parisian, (or any of the other fabulous stores that I'm just not strong enough to mention...) and purchasing a full priced item, just as I cannot see myself purchasing my overpriced Clinique that I love unless they're having a bonus. I also simply cannot purchase any item at target because I know without-a-doubt that it will be on clearance within 30 days.

Maybe I'm cheap, but I think I'm just a smart shopper. Trust me, if you could see my closet and witness my vast collection of shoes and handbags, you'd know that I'm not doing without, I just find better options more times than not.

So what about you? Are you cheap? Do you spend without thinking/caring? What are your splurges? Do you find things you absolutely have to have and will purchase at any price? Do you have so much money that you can buy anything you want and also send me a check? Good!