I'm done with spending

I feel like I've been on a spending treadmill the past few months. I'm now more than ready to get off that shopping treadmill. Just after writing the last post about the zipper breaking on DS's winter coat, the zipper on his rain jacket ended up breaking too. I couldn't believe our rotten luck. Now he's had the jacket for about 8-9 years, so I really can't be mad about it wearing out. I remember buying it at Macy's for $20 + tax. It was on clearance for $30 and back then those lovely $10/25 coupons still worked on most brands. The jacket is still in excellent condition, but I don't know how to replace the zipper. I might have to watch some Youtube videos or just sell it if it's too much work. 

So I, of course, had to look for a new jacket. I didn't want any of those thin ones that cling to your skin when they get wet. So I searched for something similar to what he had (which is really hard to find), but it's starting at $70!!! What one earth. This mama's not bonkers enough to spend that much money. More searching & searching and finally found a waterproof jacket for $20 at Costco. Well Costco has this online deal where you get $20 off if you buy 5 items. So I bought him 2 jackets and 3 items to resell. That cost me $54.99 for the 5 items and DS now has a spare rain jacket too. 

Well about an hour after placing the order for DS, I sold 3 things of his that added $66.64 to our pockets. Score!

Then I wanted new shorts for myself. I've searched high and low for cotton shorts. Old Navy had ones that I really liked (I bought some years ago and really liked it). ON is selling it for $15 (limited time deal, so discounts don't apply). Mmmm, not good enough for me. Then I saw that Eddie Bauer has free shipping and they keep mailing me a $10 Q. So I used that $10 Q and bought 4 pairs shorts at $20 each. Now I haven't bought shorts in years. I don't have nice legs (at least I don't like my legs) so I tend to skip shorts purchases. But I needed some new ones. I can't keep rotating the old ones. Besides half of them are too small no thanks to the pandemic. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...lol But that's more money out of pocket. Sigh.

I also finally found sports bras. I prefer the Under Armour ones, because I do mid to high intensity cardio (I'm an action girl) and they provide great support. Once again, I searched and searched online and none of my regular stores where I bought them before had any or they were priced out the wazoo. So I went directly to the UA site and bought some. They cost a little more than I would've liked to pay (can y'all tell I'm really cheap about what I spend, when $22 is too expensive for me for a sports bra...lol. It's not that I can't afford it. It's because I know I can get it at a lower price. However, shopping for anything is so much more different these days). Rakuten happened to have 8% cash back then, so I felt a little better about my purchase. But that's almost another $100 OOP. 

So now I'm done shopping. I tried getting sweatpants for DS with my mystery discount at Kohls, but they didn't have what we wanted. I know we had the same problem last year. So I'll continue to save my Kohls gcs and wait until the stores restock winter items in 2-3 months. 

I'm really over shopping, but I actually feel a sense of relief that we have everything we need & more. I remember doing the same with grocery stockpiling once our state opened after lockdown last year. I shopped hard (remember there were grocery shortages last year) and stockpiled so well that we are still benefiting from it. 

We don't need a single thing! I'm done. Well okay, I'll still splurge at WHBM. I have oodles of gcs after all. As long as DH keeps the gcs coming, I'll keep splurging...lol. That place is my guilty pleasure. Besides, I'm not spending any money there anyways. 

DH and I are both self employed. We know that there are busy times and slow times for business. We are financially independent (no mortgage or any debt), but we still plan & save for a rainy day. This is another reason why I shop the way I do. We've been through that rough recession and now the pandemic. However, it didn't hurt us, because we planned for the future. Now if there's still shortages, a job loss or whatever other natural disaster, we don't have to panic. We've been blessed to always have everything we need. It's all about planning.

Every single penny can now go towards savings. Not that I haven't been saving. I've actually done well with saving this year. I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about any more unnecessary expenses. At least I hope so.