Impulse Spending...

Yesterday was quite an interesting day for me. It was only day 4 of this month, and I was already struggling with spending and looking to find loopholes.

We decided that if we have gift cards to a store that is not on our list that we could still go to that store with our gift card, as long as we didn't spend our own money. I had a bit of a break yesterday morning and decided to go to Starbucks with a gift card to do some reading. The Starbucks I was at is in a strip mall that has all different stores. As I was leaving Starbucks, I had a thought of walking in to the stores to browse and see if I needed anything. Before I even made a move, I thought about how I really shouldn't go in to any of the stores because 1) the stores weren't on my list, 2) I really didn't "need" anything, and 3) I could see how this would be a slippery slope---going in to a store just to browse and see if I needed anything and the chances of me finding something to buy just to buy, would be high. This was just an example of how I could have fallen in to impulse buying and how so often I end up buying something I really don't need because I'm bored and because it would be nice to have.

My other dilemma was that I was going to meet up with a friend for coffee/snack after my day of internship. I found myself having to be honest with her in where I could go (I had told her a few days ago about this experiment). It was quite humbling! I wished I didn't have to put boundaries on where we could go and that we could have gone to a place that would have been fun for both of us. I was upset about not having the freedom to choose. But, as I reflect on this today, Josh and I are so lucky that we have the freedom and resources to choose where we spend our money. There are so many others out there that don't have the resources or freedom to go out with friends for coffee or food whenever they want.

I really think that this month will be stretching for me. I'm used to spending my money in whatever way I want because I have the resources to. However, there are so many other fruitful ways to spend my money and I think this month will be a month of me evaluating what this is like in my life.