Me a recessionista? I'm trying!

One of my new years resoluion is to reduce my unnecessary spending. However I haven't truly defined what "unnecessary" means to me. I LOVE TO SHOP! I love new clothes, new make-up, antiques, and buying gifts for people. I made it 15 days in January without buying ONE thing (other than food)! Seriously! For me, that is amazing! However, on the 15th I stopped by LUXE gift boutique with the intent of buying my sister a card for the birth of her new little girl. I picked out the card, then browsed around and stumbled upon the Christmas clearance. Oh, how I love the Christmas clearance section of a gift store! You never know what you're going to need for next year. I found the cutest roll of double-sided wrapping paper. Red and white polka dots on one side, and snowy owls with santa hats on, on the other. I also found an adorable pair of Christmas socks for my niece next December, and a little snowman that grows in water for my nephew. $9.04 later I was out of there. Whew. It felt so good to spend a little bit of money. Now other than the $3.50 card, the rest of the items I bought would fall into that "unnecessary" category. However the old me would have spent three times that much. Not bad, not bad at all.

That night my husband went grocery shopping with me. Two months ago I decided to take up the art of coupon clipping and using. He is impressed. He loves my little accordian organizer that I store in my purse, and is so pleased at the checkout that I have the coupons ready. I feel really good about it too. What he doesn't know is that I traditionally treat myself to a magazine at the checkout with each shopping trip. However, now that I am trying to reduce my unnecessary spending, that $4 magazine doesn't feel quite as necessary. So out we walked saving over $8 with our coupons and another $4 without the purchase of the magazine.

On my list of necessary expenses is to replace my MAC blush. I am almost out. I have categorized this as a necessary expense because of my job. However do I need to spend $18.50 on blush alone? Hmmmm...I don't think that the 2010 me does. I recently discovered the brand EYES LIPS FACE. E.L.F has many products that start at $1. I searched for a coupon code for free shipping on: I found one: FREE SHIPPING on orders of $15 or more code: NEWSHIP. I can't wait to receive my package from E.L.F! For $18 I ordered: 1 Hypershine Lip Gloss in Honey (cotton candy scent), 1 Eyeliner Brush,
Nail Polish in Champagne & Medium Red, Eyeliner in Ash, Blush in Tickled Pink, 2Minty Lip Gloss in Nashville & Los Angeles, and 2 Eye Shadow Brushes. To top it off, at checkout since I referred three friends, they gave me a free gift: Candy Shop Gloss Gift Tin (value $2). All that and free shipping! Yeah me!



So, with that being said I feel like I am off to a good start. Coupon clipping, clearance shopping, thinking of less expensive-alternative products, and passing on lattes and magazines. So far so good.