NO?!?! How can I say No to myself - I'm so cute and innocent looking - lol. All joking aside, I did say No to myself this weekend... I went to the grocery store I had a few things on my list, but it started with the "oh I need this and oh I need that"... I love the skin and hair products isle. I had two things in my cart. When I got to the register, I looked at what I had and said - No... I look fine without this lotion, my hair is fine without this tonic, etc.... I put them back. I actually had my eldest daughter put them back so I would not change my mind as I walked back. I am trying to say No, it is very hard.
Right now I am struggling with waiting on a purchase. My husband and I want to buy portable DVD players for the girls. We know they will be a lifesaver for our 14 hour drive to and from Disney, but we keep thinking - we survived without it when we were little (I lived in FL and we would drive to NJ to visit family every six month - I thought I was hot stuff when I got a walkman to listen to my own music - lol). Anyway... most likely we will get them, the "I Want It Now" disease kicks in. I want them now - no matter what the cost, but my husband wants to wait until 4th of July weekend when there will be tons of sales. It was a struggle with myself for a few minuts, but I am doing okay. In the past I would complain a little about not having it now, but I think I am getting better. I actually agreed with my husband out loud that waiting until the 4th sales would be our best bet.
Me. That's my worst obstacle. No doubt. I *still* hate scaling back, and there are things that I really really really don't like to do (like take my lunches to school with me, LOL)but do anyhow. Sometimes... :D
In many ways, it's easy to say NO, especially with DH's family. We're regarded as the 'poor' ones. I think that maybe appearances are deceiving. I have one BIL/SIL who truly do well, and I am thrilled for them. Yep, I wish that we could do/have what they do, but that's not in the cards right now for us. My other BIL/SIL seem to be busy trying to keep up with the first set, which is fine. Because we don't do the same, and we aren't buying new stuff, I know that the family sees us as less well off. Right now, though, we just have different priorities, like getting us both through school, and getting all the debt paid off. I know our day in the sun is coming!
However, somedays, it seems like a loooooooooooooooooooong way off, and I will see something I MUST HAVE. Most of the time, I can walk by. And usually, I have noticed, it's not a big dollar item. Thing is, those little items add up!
I've never had debt problems until I got with dh. He is 5 years younger than me, heck we married when he was 18 (about 6 months after I met him) and he's a very responsible man, he just never had anything when he was younger so now that he's an adult and has "control" over his money, he wants stuff he can't necessarily afford. Everything has been cc debt. But, I've been working with him, and he's of course growing up and maturing, and it's gotten much better. I even have to honestly say that the "hardships" we have gone through financially was even good. I've learned great ways to save money, how much of each paycheck (percentage wise) should go where, etc. I don't regret the financial problems we've had. It didn't really hurt our credit, I mean, we have good enough credit to buy a house so that makes me happy, it's even gone up since the last time I checked in October, and we've never been close to filing bankruptcy or having creditors calling us. It's been tough and we've had our share of fights, but we've learned from it and I believe it's made us so much wiser.
My hardest thing is saying "No" to DH. He knows we need to cut back and tries to cooperate but I feel like he really puts me on the spot in terms of saying no about once a day. Here are the big areas-
I have to watch myself on scrapbook supplies but a splurge on those is about $20. DH also likes to splurge but on things like an iPod or he really wants a big screen TV. My in-laws give us each money for birthday so that's where splurges tend to come from.
I wind up saying no a lot on little things because DH has a hard time following that little things do add up. If we run out of something, he's ready to jump up and go to the store instead of looking at the budget and making do with something else.
NO?!?! How can I say No to myself - I'm so cute and innocent looking - lol. All joking aside, I did say No to myself this weekend... I went to the grocery store I had a few things on my list, but it started with the "oh I need this and oh I need that"... I love the skin and hair products isle. I had two things in my cart. When I got to the register, I looked at what I had and said - No... I look fine without this lotion, my hair is fine without this tonic, etc.... I put them back. I actually had my eldest daughter put them back so I would not change my mind as I walked back. I am trying to say No, it is very hard.
Right now I am struggling with waiting on a purchase. My husband and I want to buy portable DVD players for the girls. We know they will be a lifesaver for our 14 hour drive to and from Disney, but we keep thinking - we survived without it when we were little (I lived in FL and we would drive to NJ to visit family every six month - I thought I was hot stuff when I got a walkman to listen to my own music - lol). Anyway... most likely we will get them, the "I Want It Now" disease kicks in. I want them now - no matter what the cost, but my husband wants to wait until 4th of July weekend when there will be tons of sales. It was a struggle with myself for a few minuts, but I am doing okay. In the past I would complain a little about not having it now, but I think I am getting better. I actually agreed with my husband out loud that waiting until the 4th sales would be our best bet.
Jennifer
Me. That's my worst obstacle. No doubt. I *still* hate scaling back, and there are things that I really really really don't like to do (like take my lunches to school with me, LOL)but do anyhow. Sometimes... :D
In many ways, it's easy to say NO, especially with DH's family. We're regarded as the 'poor' ones. I think that maybe appearances are deceiving. I have one BIL/SIL who truly do well, and I am thrilled for them. Yep, I wish that we could do/have what they do, but that's not in the cards right now for us. My other BIL/SIL seem to be busy trying to keep up with the first set, which is fine. Because we don't do the same, and we aren't buying new stuff, I know that the family sees us as less well off. Right now, though, we just have different priorities, like getting us both through school, and getting all the debt paid off. I know our day in the sun is coming!
However, somedays, it seems like a loooooooooooooooooooong way off, and I will see something I MUST HAVE. Most of the time, I can walk by. And usually, I have noticed, it's not a big dollar item. Thing is, those little items add up!
Here's to adding NO to our vocabulary-
Lisa
My hardest thing is saying "No" to DH. He knows we need to cut back and tries to cooperate but I feel like he really puts me on the spot in terms of saying no about once a day. Here are the big areas-
I have to watch myself on scrapbook supplies but a splurge on those is about $20. DH also likes to splurge but on things like an iPod or he really wants a big screen TV. My in-laws give us each money for birthday so that's where splurges tend to come from.
I wind up saying no a lot on little things because DH has a hard time following that little things do add up. If we run out of something, he's ready to jump up and go to the store instead of looking at the budget and making do with something else.
Taleyna