Saving Myself into Debt

Yes, you read that correctly, saving myself into debt. Wanna know a bit more about what that means. Follow my day.

It's been a dark and stormy January day and I took the day to clean off my desk and clean out my email. I realized at the end of the day, my logic may have caused me more harm than savings. It started with a stack of mail on my desk. Letters and offers that I had put aside thinking I would take time to study them later. Today was later, so I first opened an offer from Southern Living magazine. You know the ones, last chance, we want you back so bad we will make this almost free with a savings of 86 percent. Makes you wonder how print stays in business with such deals.

I had decided not to spend any money on magazines until I was debt free. Sadly our local library closed down the magazine and newspaper area this year, so I can no longer go read for free. I caved. Just one magazine subscription will not break the bank. I wrote a check for two years, the max I could buy at the super discounted price.

My next letter, from a clothing store I frequent, had a nice 20 percent off all I purchased, ending, oh joy, today. No time to think about it, I knew there was a 80 percent off rack in the store, so really at 80 percent off already and another 20 percent with my letter, isn't that FREE? I made a mad dash to check out the mark down rack. Funny how nothing on the 80 percent off was anything anyone I knew needed or could wear, but that other rack, that 60 percent off one, was loaded. I ask my son John to hold shirts as I looked for all the shirts in his size. Okay, let's understand this, John has grown up in second hand clothing, and now that he is grown and stays the same size, I have been getting him new and better quality clothing. I did buy a bag of clothing for a low price, but it was only as I was hanging the new shirts in his closet that it hit me, I had not planned to spend any money until after I paid the taxes....I had not even written the check for the property tax yet....

I went back to my desk and opened my emails. I told myself I would simply delete every offer that popped up. Well who knew, my Avon lady is no longer selling Avon so I got a new representative. With that came a 10 dollar discount and free shipping if I spent 30 dollars. Hello, savings time again. This time I had it figured out. I had used swag bucks to buy pay pal dollars, and I could use them to pay Avon. FREE stuff! Well, not quite, I was short 4.76 in pay pal so that came out of the checking account, but hey, that was stuff I would have bought anyway. No, not really. Because many of the products I purchase were highly discounted, it took me buying things I did not need, or know if I would even like to make the full 30 dollar request. I realized that after I closed the sale.

I sat at my desk and noticed one more letter. A notice from Kroger that if I took out a credit card, and used it in the store, I could get points that I could use to save on gas or turn into cash. I though about it, in fact, I even wrote my name on the application before sanity hit. Wait, we don't use credit cards anymore. But if I did take it out and if I did pay it off as soon as I got back home, it would balance, right? Looking at my morning track record so far, I would say, no, it would only help me save my way into debt. Why? because I had already bought things just to score savings. If I had that card in my hand, how wild would I become in shopping to save up points to turn into cash. In doing so, odds are I would over spend and try and justify my actions.

Late afternoon mail brought me a great offer from Discover Cards. Yes, I still have it tucked away for safe keeping, though I don't use the card anymore. I guess they really, really want me back, they offered me 75 dollars each month that I charged 500 for the next 6 months. I shredded the offer before I could sign up to participate. Some days you just know when you are headed for deep water, and today was one of those days.

I am proud to be a penny pincher. What I really need to make sure I am, is a wise penny pincher. I need to remember that stores study our shopping habits and entice us spend more even in the name of savings. So here is to new shirts for John, lipstick for me and two years worth of Southern Living magazines...and yes..I did sit down and write out the property checks..so here it to broke for the rest of the month!