Curbing my inner shopaholic

I love to shop....not just that I like to but it has gotten to a compulsion with me...I LOVE TO SHOP! I had a real wake up call about a year ago that shocked me into becoming more responsible with my spending, but even knowing that I still have to smack myself sometimes for buying needless things. Even though I have drastically reduced my shopping habit I still buy things without thinking about the long term effects on my debt repayment schedule. This week for example I have bought a number of things that I really didn't "need" but that I got anyways because....well...when I figure that one out I will let you know!

*Fetal Heart rate monitor $35
*Gender Predictor test $55
*Easter Dress for Sara (she had dresses she could have worn) $18
*Book $6

For a grand total of $114 in random spending for stuff that I really didn't need in the first place. Does this stop me from thinking about the next thing I could buy? No not for an instant. Take for example my DVD/VCR on Monday the remote died and I couldn't change the channels on the tv without getting up and manually doing it (Yes I know a real hardship but with morning sickness it got real old real fast). I changed the batteries and did some very colorful swearing while smacking the remote on the floor...surprisingly this didn't fix it. What is a frugal girl going to do....why buy a new remote of course and if I couldn't find one I was going to buy an all new DVD player. Yes I know not at all frugal but that little voice was screaming in my head "buy a new one!" Well after thinking and thinking about it I finally talked myself out of buying a new one and decided we would just live with having to get up and change the channel (I am a huge channel surfer so this was a big deal for me). After I made the decision not to buy a new one I started wondering why the stupid thing stopped working in the first place. After a little investigating I found that a certain button got pushed on the remote rendering it useless....press the button again and boom it works again! Now if I hadn't talked myself out of buying the new one I never would have found the solution to the problem. Just goes to show you that sometimes you have to investigate all the options before you run out to the store to buy a replacement.

Now I have a new challenge Bry did the vacuuming last night and tells me that there is something wrong with my 1yr old vacuum. The brush apparently is not spinning now even after he cleaned it off. So what does my inner voice scream "Go buy that $600 one that you have been wanting forever" but I have learned from my DVD player that that is not going to be the solution until I have tried everything else. So I am going to do whatever it takes including taking the darn thing apart if I have to before I will be convinced that I need a new one.

So apparently I have my compulsion for shopping semi under control, big items are out but I am still a sucker for the little items through out the week. Not sure how I am going to get that under control as well....baby steps I guess.