self control
It was so hard to keep from busting my Christmas budget over this past weekend. I want to give really fun and expensive gifts to the people who are closest to me. I could have gotten them for great prices over the weekend. But I still would have gone over my $200 spending limit, and then, like a compulsive fill-in-the-blank-er, I would have felt very, very guilty afterwards. I did well. I bought two Christmas presents and I spent about $60-something. I still have about five more presents to get for people, but not one of them has to cost a lot. I just have to look for good deals and be creative.
Folks have been asking me what I want. I don’t really need or want anything except some clothes, and when I tell people to give me gift cards for shopping, no one wants to get me that. They all want to give me tangible gifts that can be wrapped, and they don’t want to buy me clothes, because they don’t want to offend my tastes. I understand their concern, but I don’t want tangible, wrappable gifts. My honey and I are sharing a one bedroom apartment and renting a storage space. Neither one of us needs any more stuff! My only exception to the clothes thing is CDs or gift cards for stuff other than clothes. That’s what I’d really truly appreciate, as I am about to start squirreling anting away money for the house.
Over the weekend, I visited my aunt and uncle’s new home. I really like the place - the sunlight, the floor plan, the size, the neighborhood. I’m hoping that when I get a second home it’ll be as nice. It was inspiring. My mom thinks that I should aim that high for the first home. But I told her that in order to do that, it would take at least three or four years of saving while living in an apartment. I refuse to wait that long. I feel like I’ve already been waiting long enough, and a small, modest starter home requiring a more affordable down payment will work just fine for us.
