Our family is notorious for wandering around aimlessly in Target and Costco and Wal-Mart. We tend to treat it as an outing for the baby, unless we’re under a time constraint. But those wanderings can become expensive if we’re not organized.
It’s too easy to grab an impulse purchase or two. Or ten. Unless you have a list that you stick to. And we’re trying to start doing that. Because if we don’t, we’ll wind up doing what we did just last week: go to the store, get a few items we needed, a few we didn’t, and forget some things we actually needed because we didn’t consult the list.
And since we forgot some things, we’ll have to make another trip at some point. Wasted gas, wasted time, wasted money. We’re trying to be more frugal now that I’m working from home. We experienced a major drop in income when I left my previous job, so times are tight. Like everyone else, we need to save money.
Impulse buys do not help. So I’m working on making lists each time I remember something we’ll need, or we get close to running out of something. I keep that list in my purse so if I have time to swing by the store, I at least know what we need to get.
Let’s face it – we moms have to remember so many things. I still have that fog of new motherhood hanging over my brain. (Does that ever go away, or does it just get worse the more kids you have?) I can’t rely on my memory alone to make sure we get all that we need at the store.
I’m working on cutting out those impulse purchases by getting organized and using a list. What are you doing to cut out unnecessary expenses?
[image: stock.xchng]
Tags: frugal living, impulse buys, lists, save money, shopping
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