Thrifty Thursday: It's Chic To Be Cheap!

Saving money does not come naturally to me. Confessions of a Shopaholic, one of my favorite chick lit books, comes out in film to theatres this weekend. It could very well be the story of my life. Well, I'm not quite so bad as Becky Bloomwood, but I do find it hard to resist the urge to splurge.

I enjoy finding a bargain, perhaps almost too much. The Dollar Spot at Target lures me like a siren each time I enter the sacred store's doorway. The Dollar Spot is truly fabulous, but 20 items later, I am $20 in the hole. I love knowing that I am finding fun and afforable merchandise, whether it's clothing, shoes, accessories, or stuff for my house. When I eventually get to decorate a little in the "new room" (we still call it that--I don't know what to call it!), I will have to post photos of the amazing ways I found to save in decor by "shopping my house", and shopping cheap! L, if you are by chance reading this, I still haven't decorated, and I am not too big of a person (figuratively, not literally) to ask for help!

Luckily, my children are too young to know that I'm being thrifty. Growing up, if the tag didn't read Abercrombie & Fitch, Express, Limited, or J. Crew, I didn't want to be seen in it. My mom would bring me home a red prairie-length skirt from Wal-Mart, and I really didn't have the power to disagree with "she who holds the purse strings." My sister, Alison, who has always been billed as the smarter of the W girls, discovered at age 16 that she could (gasp!) earn her own money and do what she wanted to with it. I took note.

This turned out to be a mixed blessing. I finally had my own money to purchase whatever skimpy, poor quality tee-shirts from Abercrombie that I wanted, but I became a shopaholic. If it was cute, if it was on "sale," I had to have it.

Fast forward ten years. I still struggle with this. To keep myself honest, and to get some more ideas, I am planning on doing a Thrifty Thursday post every Thursday, or for as many Thursdays as I can remember. If you have ideas on how to save money, where the best buys are, or anything that works for your family, please feel free to post a link to your blog's post in the Comments section. On Saturdays, I'll attempt to remember to do a little feature with your suggestions. (I know my sister and her twenty-something friends will love reading these. I guess I will too, since I'm still a twenty-something)

So now you know how much I am enjoying being thrifty! I have a cute frugal find to share with you for next week's Thrifty Thursday, but for now I bid you Adieu. Naptime doesn't last forever, and my TiVo'd episode of Fringe is calling my name before I tackle the dishes!