Sunday, February 22, 2009

Budget Friendly Tip #2- Buy YOURSELF a gift...

...a GIFT CARD that is!

This is just really pre-allocating funds and sticking to it. It especially comes in handy for those guilty pleasures that send us over our budgets. For me, it is hot chocolate and a pumpkin scone from Starbucks or a book from Barnes N' Noble. So why not:

  • When you have a little extra cash, buy a gift card for your "hot spot".
  • Allocate a time allotment for your card, say one month.
  • Give yourself permission to use your gift card in that time period, but when it's done...it's done!

This gives us permission to still do the things that are important to us, which will help us stick to it. If sticking to allocated funds is difficult for you, why not buy gift cards for all of your sub-categories (groceries, TARGET, etc). Good luck and let me know how it goes!

5 comments:

Jan said...

You are always so full of great ideas Jen. Thanks. I love it.

blueladybug said...

Great idea! thanks!

Unknown said...

I love this idea!

Jessica said...

I actually really like this idea, especially now that I am an "almost" stay at Mommy. It is a little hard at first not to be contributing financially, especially when you see a really cute dress (darn that Spring collection) and you want to buy it but you know the funds should be going elsewhere. And then you have your husband telling you to get it...I think I will add that if you don't work and you feel in any way like me, have your husband buy you a gift card to your favorite place and then you won't feel guilty one bit...because you do need to treat yourself every once in awhile. Jen, this is something that Ben is trying to teach me right now because everytime we are at the mall I have to remind him that I don't make money anymore and I am not comfortable spending it on myself right now, especially if Emilia is coming. Man, I sound like my mom, she always goes without for us!

Casa Mia said...

Love this idea....thanks for sharing.