Being a doer instead of a talker

This idea has been really present in my mind recently. I've grown up being told that you need to have a plan for your life. year, week, etc. and that maybe a back up plan or two would be good as well. With these lessons, I got good at being able to tell people what my next steps could possible. However I am horrible procrastinator. Thus I have all these plans and the best of intentions, but I get distracted by TV and movies and paralyzed by fear of failure and the what-ifs. This helped my finances as in I've automated my savings, so I have a good amount in there. I have a couple sets of plans for this money. But the what-ifs keeps the money in the savings account. However I have figured out one plan to use the money. I am getting a tattoo on my birthday in exactly a month. I'm excited and weird sense of calm about coming to the realization of where to get the tattoo and the ability to give artistic license to some one else. Its a step in the right direction to become a doer instead of a talker. For what is savings for, but for to experience life fully.

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.