View Full Version : March 2013 UN-frugals
What were your un-frugals today? Here's a thread to remind ourselves why we're frugal more often than not! :D
No un-frugals today since I am at work, brought my lunch from home, and we will be having leftovers for dinner. But, tomorrow, I am meeting friends for lunch and I am planning to order whatever I want, dollars and calories be dammed! We are going here (http://www.icecreamery.net/), which is why I mention the calories. :D
Kara
DH and I took our best friends out for lunch. We went to a nice local restaurant, had a lovely meal, and enjoyed dessert and coffee. With so much turmoil in our lives lately, we had almost forgotten how nice it is to spend time with good friends. Since we had a gift certificate balance, I guess it wasn't even that un-frugal.
No un-frugals today since I am at work, brought my lunch from home, and we will be having leftovers for dinner. But, tomorrow, I am meeting friends for lunch and I am planning to order whatever I want, dollars and calories be dammed! We are going here (http://www.icecreamery.net/), which is why I mention the calories. :D
Kara
yum yummy yum! In this case I'd eat dessert first!
Cdttmm. LOVE seeing the UN-frugal thread start! Just love it!!!
Will be adding to in the days to come...
I am tired of the rain! So yesterday a co-worker and I decided to go to Kauai in April for 9 days. She and I went 2 years ago as well. I feel a tiny bit guilty leaving my husband and kids at home. just a tiny bit. I splurged and booked an ocean front 2 bedroom condo in Poipu. So not frugal, yet I am so excited!
I am tired of the cold here. I turned the thermostat up to 57F and it is staying there. I might use the little heater, too.
This will sound like a downer but it isn't meant to be. Just is what it is. Our unfrugal this month is health insurance. While home recovering from his stroke my DH was laid off and with that job went our health insurance. Thank God we have been living below our means because we can't be uncovered right now. We decided to go with COBRA for now and it is $1500 a month. We will play it a month at a time.
ApatheticNoMore
3-3-13, 4:21pm
Picked up lunch from a restaurant two days last week, one because I had an aweful long meeting to attend (treating myself yea - I had mexican restaurant nachos for lunch with guac and sour cream - yea not everyday fare), one because I hit the doctor before work, and wasn't organized enough to have planned lunch the night before (regretted that one, don't even really like the restaurants near work).
I spent $700 on a new freezer. I think, in the long run, this will be frugal. We have a family of eight and entertain frequently, so having a large freezer makes a lot of sense for us, but ouch. It was hard to part with that money.
My un-frugal for today...I bought a soda and a bag of corn chips from the vending machines while at my meditation retreat. Only spent $1.75 but it was for absolute cr@p.
Un-frugal of the day...two trips to town. The first one was so that I could go to the gym for a yoga class, go to the running store to buy an IT band wrap, and to the evil Walmart to buy batteries. Trip number two: back to the gym for me so that I can run and for my partner so that he can do some strength training. He's rehabbing his IT band and feeling pretty bummed about it so I'm indulging his desire to go to the gym. Cost of this un-frugal: ~$5.50 for gas.
My un-frugal for today...I bought a soda and a bag of corn chips from the vending machines while at my meditation retreat. Only spent $1.75 but it was for absolute cr@p.
Yup, I did the same - a giant bag of Monster Munch snacks.
Also, I went into town with the goal of getting a Mother's Day gift for my MIL, but I seem to have come home with a set of tea light holders for myself instead. Those shops are DANGEROUS I tell you.
LOL! You guys are all putting me to shame thus far (this month)! My UN-frugals are a comin'!
Ack. Massively un-frugal yesterday with a grand total of 4 trips to town between the 2 of us. Some of the trips couldn't be avoided or combined (I had my meditation class in the morning and a haircut appointment in the late afternoon), but the separate trips to the gym because of poor time management...well, that just irks me.
I used my allowance to buy a curling wand. I am trying to rationalize it by saying that it was my own money and this one item will replace three others--my one-inch iron, my three-inch iron, and my hot rollers. My two old curling irons are from ninth grade, I think (I am thirty now!), and the hot rollers take up a ton of space and hardly ever get used. So...as with most of the frugals I post here...I am not really that sorry. ;-)
To make it even worse, I am planning on buying some heat protectant spray at the store this weekend. At least I have a coupon. Ha!
Last but not least, DD has really been into playing her toy piano but has really outgrown it. It is very babyish with only four keys. I saw a keyboard for older kids at Target the other day and think she would love it. It's not a need, I know, and she has a guitar and a drum already. But she loves music, and I figure if I do buy it for her, she will get a lot of enjoyment from it, and any future kids can play with it, too (since it is fairly gender neutral). So I just might spend $20 on it.
Anyone ever experience "guilt" over their un-frugals?
My wife has what she calls "Mad money - guilt free spending." She is by upbringing and choice very frugal. But several years ago we created a budget category for her called "Mad money" and she tags it as guilt free spending. It can be used for anything, herself or others. Whatever she wants to spend it on. It is used without any comments from me asking her, "do we really need that", "is that the best thing to do with our money", "wow, that's an expensive gift."
A few weeks ago she bought an indoor / outdoor smoker. We really don't need a smoker. When the package from Amazon arrived, I asked, "what's this?" She said it's a smoker. I said, "that's nice how much did it . . ." Before I finished she said, I bought it with my mad money. End of my concern and guilt free for her!
The delicious smoked pork loin and turkey we ate from it were guilt-free too!
- Kevin
Great idea Kevin - and a route to marital harmony.
treehugger
3-8-13, 12:51pm
I just realized that my last post in the cook at home thread actually belongs here. "Going out of town for the weekend (leaving tonight after work), so no cooking at home for the next 2 days! This is a big deal since I usually work overtime and cook things at home to bring with us. But not this time. I am actually going to relax and just eat out."
And no, I don't feel guilty. :D This is planned, and long anticipated, and in the budget. Can't wait!! Going here, btw: Sonora Celtic Faire (http://sonoracelticfaire.com/). So, there's actually another unfrugal to report. In past years, we have worked the booth for our friends' band, The Wicked Tinkers (http://www.wickedtinkers.com/), since they perform at the fair. That gets us in free. This year we bought tickets so we can just enjoy everything and not have to work.
Kara
That is what we do, too, Kevin. We each get a monthly allowance that is ours to do with as we please. It works well for us.
DH asked me out on for tomorrow. A real date. I am totally going...AND I will be curling my hair with my new curling wand. ;-)
I thought I felt a little guilty about last month's cruise. Looking back, though, I think it was that we were spending more on this one unscheduled thing than we had since I left work. I knew DW needed a vacation. I knew we'd done our homework in getting a certain level of service and quality as inexpensively as we could. I knew it wasn't taking money away from other obligations/commitments. But it still felt a little -- well, I had to think a few times before clicking on "Submit".
On a daily basis, I think we're both too cheap :|( to spend any more than maybe $20-25 without discussing it with each other first, more as a courtesy, not seeking permission.
OK, make me spend some frivolous money. My mom sent me $200 for a dress for my anniversary. She sent it over a month ago and the money sits unused in my savings account because I can't make myself spend the money on myself. I have spent most of the last decade pregnant and I really do want to have something that makes me feel cute, but I keep telling myself that I'll do it when I lose weight.
Stella--OK, then spend the $200 on losing weight.
I spent $600 over 3 months to hire a personal trainer to get me over the hump. It worked.
And I gotta tell ya... the $15 Goodwill dress looks just as good as the $300 Neiman Marcus one does when you are in shape.....
We went out to eat last night for no special reason. Eating out is expensive, even if it's not a pricey place, so I think it's not really worth it unless it's a special occasion or we're having something really special to eat.
Stella, I joined Curves just before the new year. I don't know if there's one near you. I'm getting fit and my clothes look better on me and I'm sleeping better and have a more even keel emotionally (I have a short fuse on my temper) The great thing is that my insurance will kick in half the fee after 4 or 5 months. I think it is good value. I also think you should love your body for what it is and celebrate it with a nice dress (consignment store rather than Shopping Mall?) in the size you are in right now. Zack loves you.
Hi Stella
Use the $200 dollars as a lever to motivate you to lose the weight?
Instead of waiting for Janet Evanovich's new book Notorious Nineteen - I'm on the library's waiting list - I bought it on eBay for $7.99 plus $3 shipping. Once I've read it I can resell it, probably for a similar amount. So it might be unfrugal, or it might turn out to be profitable.
early morning
3-11-13, 6:40pm
Well, I went out to lunch with a co-worker today and spent almost $6. at the golden arches, but we spend no time together outside work and there is so much that just can't be said there........
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