Sunday, December 20, 2009

save, save, SPEND, save, save

I don't regret my recent vehicle purchase, but after an entire year of trying to get my debt down, not much annual saving will show up in my year-end report due to that purchase.

Likewise, I've been diligent this Christmas about saving money wherever I can. As one example, a local department store gives a 10% senior discount on Tuesdays. I had two GameBox 360 Elite's to buy, and they haven't gone on sale anywhere that I could find. But thanks to being over 55, I got $30 knocked off the price of each of them.

But then, I blew some of that good work by failing to watch my dates closely. Somehow, I thought I had until Saturday to send my sister's Christmas package to New York at regular postal rates.

WRONG!

VERY, VERY WRONG!

Instead of $15+, it cost me $43 to guarantee that her gifts and her stocking would arrive before Christmas. These weren't even the expensive gifts, which I ordered and had sent directly from online sources. The whole package contained around $100 in gifts.

I get so annoyed with myself when I make mistakes like this.

It usually happens when I'm tired, when I'm stressed, or when I'm in a rush. All three conditions lead me to make financial misteps.

Hence, one of my New Year's Resolutions: Slow down, think about what I'm buying, and pay attention to dates!

3 comments:

Mr. GoTo said...

I've been there, done that but no more. Next year, put the kibosh on intra-family gift giving. My four siblings and I did that last year and it was a great stress and $ reliever for all of us. If you can't bring yourself to do that, shop at Amazon (if you can't find it there, it's probably not worth buying), sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime and get free 2 day shipping or next day shipping for only $3.99 all through the holidays. Respectfully, you are just bleeding money in the worst ways and at the absolute worst time of your life. You need to take control - now. Good luck.

Sharon said...

I hate when that happens..like when I wasn't paying attention and forgot to get boxes for gifts I was sending out of town...ended up costing me $40.00 for boxes!!!

Ugh.

Fede said...

Don't feel so bad Grace. I am notorious for doing that. It's nice to know l am not alone.. ;o)