Oh the things we waste our money on

This weekend I was entertained by several things. I got caught up in people watching at the Arts and Crafts fair, and I laughed when i flipped through the Target ad. Let's go back for a bit....

The Arts and Crafts fair is one of my favorite things that takes place in Hot Springs. I don't like roosters, and tacky wreaths, and knick nacks, but I always enjoy walking around the Arts and Crafts fair. I do lots of Christmas shopping (well some at least), and that is always the perfect place to buy Ava's hairbows. I wanted to get a Christmas sign for our front door. Something that was personalized and different. I have been looking online for one and found some adoreable ones but they were like $45 dollars! Are you kiddin' me? So I held onto my hard earned money and saved it for this past weekend. I found 2 signs for our house and spent $30 and because my daughter is so cute they threw in an $8 dollar value sign for free. :) I think I scored! Now back to my entertainment.... I love people watching. People are some funny creatures. A lot of folks enjoy going to the zoo and watching animals in their habitat but i'd rather be sitting at the mall observing the most interesting creature of all---HUMANS! I watched as people threw their money away left and right on the most RANDOM items. I'm not judging what others buy, i'm just simply saying I find some of these things very odd. Magnetic bracelets that were $45 dollars, gaudy jewelry that was overpriced, crocheted oven mits(is that even safe?), and of course there was all the snacks. Okay so I need you to hear me say that I am not judging what people spend their money on. Not in the least. We ALL have different interests and different things that make us happy (hence the reason I say we are the most interesting creatures of all). But it's the looks I saw on their faces. I saw mom's saying yes to things for their kids and then pausing to look in their wallet because they knew they shouldn't spend the money. i heard people ask if they'd take a credit card over the phone. (Really... it's an outdoor fair). I saw looks of panic on these womens faces as they knew they had bought too much.

But it's so EASY to do that. I found the cutest little booth that had adoreable handmade kids clothes. I'm talking the CUTEST outfits you have ever seen. And they were different. Not overpriced. One little Christmas dress was $18 dollars. And one little Razorback outfit was $24. Honestly, when i walked up I expected to see upper $50's on most items so I was so pleasantly suprised. Here I am, this bargain hunting mommy that is striving to live life to the fullest on LESS, and I have all of these items in my hand thinking they are bargains. I looked at my husband and said "What am i doing?" I put them down, walked away and I felt shameful. NOT THAT I THINK PEOPLE THAT BUY CUTE THINGS LIKE THAT SHOULD FEEL SHAMEFUL. PLEASE DONT HEAR ME SAY THAT BECAUSE THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEAN. I just meant for ME, it was wrong, and I knew it. But i got caught up.

So I thought alot on Saturday about what crazy things we waste our money on. I could have bought that adoreable little Christmas dress for $18 dollars, taken a few pics in it and she would have worn it once or twice. It may have fit next year too, and at some point I could have put leggings under neath it. I know I would have gotten my moneys worth. But is that something that I NEEDED to do? No. Do I kinda wish I had of bought it? YES! But that's how it is folks. We get so caught up in things that we don't need but wish we had. We want our kids and ourselves to be dressed adorablely all the time and then our kids paint on their clothes and we wash a bleach rag with jeans... it is just stuff. And I am trying so hard to over come "stuff-itis."

then on Sunday in the newspaper there was the Target ad. We don't even have a target but i love looking through their ad. i love their clothes. I don't even buy new clothes, but I still enjoy looking. But there were all of these random items in there. All of these options for things to purchase. And it got me thinking about all of the random stuff we waste our money on.

I could walk about 2 seconds into my house and see items that were not necessities. I can see items that i don't even use. I have 3 cabinets in my kitchen full of things I never use or rarely use.

1. blender
2. mixer
3. griddle
4. extra pots and pans
5. 72 plastic cups (really--i'm pretty sure I threw out 30 cups last month)

I have so much stuff in my house. i have books that I put on a shelf, I have dvd's and cds that just sit there and collect dust. At some point in time those were important enough to me to buy and now I look at them with disgust. If there is one thing this journey has taught me it's to really stop and think about what i spend my money on.

I think i'm rambling so I will stop now. But think about it... what do you waste money on? What do you have in your house that you do NOT need? Is there anything you could sell, give away, donate?