Minimalist Valentine's Day

I know I am little late in the game on this one. But let me just tell how I spent my Valentine's Day. First Cappy hand delivered a dozen roses that he arranged himself in a vase we already had with a tin of Ghiradelli chocolates. I appreciated this because part of getting flowers is sharing with people or showing off to people especially since it was right next to the register. I got him a nice rib eye steak. I like that we got each other consumables instead of stuff like dumb stuffed animals or even jewelery. For dinner, we used a groupon to a bar we could walk to from our house and saw a free screening of a local film while there. We did get a bottle of champagne, however it was only 8 bucks, which we drank out of mason jars. So no too spendy and very tailored to our personalities.

Unwanted gift cards

So I got these ugly pajama pants from my brother for Christmas. So instead of being polite and say I liked them and totally would wear them, I did the rude and honest thing and said good attempt, but I'm not that kind of girl. The next day I returned them. He got them from WalMart, even though I told him in the past how much I despise WalMart and don't want presents from there. So now I had a gift card that I didn't really want. I looked on line to see if I could sell it on one of those auction websites for gift cards, but since my card was for $17.98, I had hard time finding a site that would take it. The lowest amount most of them would take was $25. I did find one, ABC Gift Cards. It was a little more of around about way than the other ones. I had to send in a request to see if the would accept it and then they sent me an email like a week later. They sent me a form to mail in with the card, and at that point, I also accepted that it might be a scam and I wouldn't see the money or gift card at the end. However, in a couple weeks time, I got the PayPal email saying the funds were transferred into my account. So I really recommend these guys. So glad to have money in my bank account, instead of cheap crap from WalMart in my house.

Theoretical vs. Actual Savings

The No Spend Challenge has got me thinking about savings cause isn't the point of this exercise. I think it is a little silly how grocery stores and even Starbucks say how much you saved at the bottom of your receipts. I didn't save money, I just spent money. It didn't go into savings or towards paying down debt. I most likely would not have bought that thing if it cost that much more, my purchasing threshold was due to the actually price, not the savings, my mind does not work that way. However, Cappy is totally falls into that trap of theoretical savings and spends more because of the value and just saving so much on the one item he can then get those other things too. This is why it is amusing to see what he comes home from the grocery store. So I'm wondering if there is a way to bridge the gap between theoretical and actual savings or if it is necessary to. Again it seems dumb or too much effort to take those receipts and move the theoretical money saved from the checking account into my online savings account. I have the fear that I didn't budget for this and if move to much money I'll just have to dip back into the savings, which I worry will create a habit of it or if that money is moved to pay down debts that I will need to use a credit card, thus a vicious cycle is reignited.

Extraneous or Just Real Life

So I'm trying not to spend any extra money. However, I'm trying to hang out more one-on-one with friends to build stronger relationships. This has been leading to spending more money at coffee shops and restaurants. I'm sure how and if I want to stifle this spending, because it straddles that line of superfluous and necessary. Plus I'm always in the mood to try a new coffee shop as I am still learning about my new city. Also I have these craft projects I want to do, but again I don't want to spend extra money. I kind of have in my mind that if I use my tip money to pay for it doesn't count.

Clothing Swap Time

So as a part of the decluttering of the wardrobe, I given up on some of those cute clothes that are totally gorgeous, but so not me. It's time for a clothing swap party so those clothes can go to good homes and where most likely I'll see them in their full glory on one of my friends. I actually was talking to my old roommate about the first one I did 6 months ago after hearing about it at "And Then She Saved." Now that she has moved all of her stuff back to the parents. She realized she had 2 bursting wardrobes and a small childhood clothes to try and fit them into. So we decided hopefully at the end of the month, we will co-host another clothing swap. It will be fun finding new things that I like, while drinking wine and hanging out with the ladies. However, just because it's new clothing item, I have to love it before it can added to my life. Because the reason behind this is to get rid of clothes after all. I excited that I'll be able to this during the challenge month as well as being a frugal social activity to hang out with friends without having to go to bar or restaurant.

photo via And Then She Saved

Declutter Challenge

So my starting number for my closet is 220 items. I did the full inventory a week or two ago when I looked at Leo Babatua's Clutterfat Challenge, but I ended up not liking the interface. Nevertheless, it has gotten me started in the right direction.  I would love to get down to 100, that is my ultimate goal. My intermediate goal is to get rid of all the clothes I don't like, don't fit, or needs to be fixed, cause at this juncture I am not going to get around to fix it, nor do I know how. So that's where I am starting out at.

February Challenge Goal/Reward

So it's February 1st. Let's set out the goal for the low (no) spend challenge. I want to direct all my excess monies to my emergency fund to achieve the goal of 2000 dollars. If I reach that by the end of the month as I am 389 dollars away at this point, the rest will go towards my student loans, which is around 8000 at this point. I am also going on vacation in March and April so I need to save for that. But I need to think more on that. Since Cappy gets paid more than me, he has no problem saying majority of it, but I do want to pull my own wait. So that's what I am starting with for this challenge. I am super excited.