happenings

I totally spaced on Saturday and bought Wawa before my newphew's championship football game. Did not even remember about the challenge until Sunday night - whoops! Back on track.

Bought food at our work cafeteria yesterday, even though I brought leftovers for lunch. Trying to just acknowledge the shortcoming, but not beat myself up over it. No more buying food this week!

The Hubs and I signed up to be Secret Santas for a local child in need. He's six years old and only asked for essentials like socks, pajamas, and t-shirts, which makes me think his family might have lost everything in the storm. He also wrote he liked Jake and the Neverland Pirates, so last night I ordered the VTech J&NP Learning Laptop for him as well as our nephew whose birthday is the first week of January. Hopefully, it comes in time (we're supposed to turn in the presents by Saturday).

In bad news, my car's transmission has taken to clunking when shifting into certain gears. It's most notable if I accelerate quickly and when I put it in reverse. So far, I've been able to avoid driving except when necessary, but obviously I can't avoid travel all together. There's really nothing I can do about it, anyway, since we don't have the money to get it fixed and I definitely don't have the money for another car right now. It's mostly just frustrating.

Anyone want to contribute to my car fund? I'll chauffer you around in exchange for your donation ;-)

copycats

I originally wrote out a whole post about how I thought I was being ripped off, only to find out I technically wasn't, so I revamped the post accordingly.

Have you ever had a moment when you realize you've been ripped off? I did this morning and I was pissed. Then, a bit later, I had another moment where I realized I actually hadn't been ripped off and I was relieved. And kind of annoyed. Let me take you through the journey.

Last weekend, The Hubs and I were conferring on what to get his parents for Christmas. We had picked their "joint gift" about a month ago in a catalog, but wanted to get them each something small. We had a theme going on and decided to stick with it. I can't spill all the beans, since I know they read the blog, but trust me, it's awesome.

I was purusing Groupon and LivingSocial for deals that day (for others and for us) and noticed a gift that would be great for my mother-in-law and tied into the theme. At $20, it certainly didn't break the bank, so I ordered it.

Last night, I was searching Etsy for some ideas to give my siblings-in-law for the annual family Pollyanna. Lo-and-behold, I stumbled upon the same gift I had just ordered for $8.00. $8.00!!  My first thought was: Is LivingSocial taking such a high percentage of a seller's profits that they needed to mark their products up more than 50%. And, what's even worse, LivingSocial lists the product's "retail price" as $28.00. No where in their Etsy shop is that product listed for $28.00.

I later realized the product I was looking at on Etsy was a copycat of the product I had bought on LivingSocial. I mean, seriously, I couldn't even tell the difference. I would put a picture up, but then it would ruin the surprise. Note, after pasting them side by side in Paint, I realized they actually don't look that similar. But when you're clicking back and forth between webpages (and simoultaneously trying to look like you're not blatently online shopping at your job) it looked like the same thing, I swear.

Moral of the story: when buying goods off a deal-based website, do your homework. Is that the actual retail price? Can I get it cheaper somewhere else? Would my my mother in law really been able to tell if  I gave the $8 product or the $20 one if I didn't just tell the whole internetz? Lucky for me, she knows I'm frugal cheap and she loves me anyway.

hall-o-weenie

Your financial tip of the day: Get to the store & buy your Halloween candy for next year at 70% off. Don't buy chocolate though, it doesn't keep as well.

too soon?

I come from a pretty traditional family. Not the "you can't live together until you're married" traditional, but the "you can't decorate for the holidays unless it's the same month." For most of my childhood, we didn't decorate our Christmas tree until Christmas Eve.

When we bought our house, I couldn't wait to start decorating... except it was the end of February with no major holidays in sight (St. Patrick's Day doesn't count for me) and we were getting married in less than three months, so there were other things I needed to spend my money on. I tried to resist the urge to buy holiday decorations at full price, but I couldn't pass on the Christmas cheer, regardless of how much it cost.

Now, we've got swag decorations for pretty much every occasion, thanks to the clearance rack at Tar-jay. Which leaves me with the conundrum: What do I get everyone for Christmas this year?

I can see your heads spinning now. Christmas??? You say.... It's not even Halloween yet!

I know, I know. For most people, it's entirely too soon. But, if there's one thing I've learned from all my financial hiccups over the years, it's much better for me to spread out buying everyone's presents over the course of three-ish months, than to try to cram it all in between Black Friday & Christmas. The latter almost always reverts to me using my credit cards, which is a no-no this year.

I actually have three presents so far, two for my mom and one for the hubs (which I bought yesterday). Then I have a bonus present, which means I haven't decided what family member or friend will get it, but it'll be good for someone. Momma Q has given me a few ideas about what she wants, which is great, plus there's always a nice stand-by of gifts I know she needs/will use. It's always hard for me to practice gift-buying restraint when it comes to my Mom, because to me, she deserves everything!

I'm going to suggest to the hubs that we pair down the gifts we give each other and maybe get something for the house that we'll both enjoy or go on a trip somewhere instead.

Has anyone else started their holiday shopping yet, or am I the only one?