Goodbye Target?

This morning in the shower I was thinking of ways to save money in the coming year.  With the new year starting soon, it actually is the perfect time to do this.  Often I get on these kicks in the summer, and it is really hard for me to start something new at the wrong time.  Like, if I want to do a twelve month experiment such as this, I cannot go from July to July, I just think, "oh, I'll start in January."  It's just an excuse, but it's an excuse I don't have this time.

So this morning I'm in the shower and I'm thinking and I'm reminded of this book I read a couple of years ago, Not Buying It.  I love this book.  It was the inspiration for our living more simply the first time.  In this book the author and her partner make a commitment to drop out of consumerism for a year in order to pay down their credit cards.  And, as I'm taking a shower in preparation for an outing to Target (after my outing to Wal-Mart yesterday), I think, "do I really need whatever it is I'm going to buy at Target?"  Probably not. As far as food goes, I have a pantry full and a freezer half full.  All of us have closets and drawers full of clothes.  And no one needs more DVDs, Blu-Rays, or video games.  And I'm in the shower looking at the array of fine smelling shower gels lining the tub and remembering how when I was a kid I got a bar of Ivory soap and some Suave shampoo.

I pride myself in our lifestyle.  I feel that we spend a lot less money than most people.  We don't have a car payment (though both cars are on their last legs, so there is a threat that a car payment may be imminent), we don't have cable (though we do pay $10 a month for Netflix), we only eat out about once a week.  But really, there are so many ways in which we could stop spending money without it really hurting our lifestyle.  We buy just to be buying.  Sure, our expenditures are at Target and Wal-mart instead of high end establishments, but they're expenditures all the same.

So today my goal is to come up with a list of guidelines for the following year.  Will my husband like it? No, he will not.  But I'm thinking if he saw our budget and checking account balance as much as I do, he would like those even less.  So wish me luck as I come up with my list, which hopefully will not include too many easy outs.