Where do you frugies buy earrings? That is my questions of the day. (Particularly nickel-free earrings).
Yesterday I went to aerobics, the bank (deposit Xmas money) and to Target and Kohls. Got home around noon and pretty much slept the rest of the day. So I'd consider it a lazy day. Though with a sprinkling of productiveness thrown in.
But shopping is something I rarely do - just no time. It is AMAZING how much free time I seem to have these days with the kids getting bigger. I could spend half the day shopping and still have 1.5 free days. IT's been a while - babies can be rather demanding!
& this is bad. It is easy to save money when you have no time to shop.
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I'm getting lazy about balancing all my spreadsheets ("savings buckets") to my bank accounts. Maybe only balance to the dollar every other month any more. So I balanced it yesterday. I was actually only $1.50 off (probably some forgotten interest) and so I added it to the mid-term savings. It was a nice surprise.
I transferred $200 into my ROTH MMMF (cash). From Xmas money. This puts our ROTH EFUND at precisely $7k. ($5k is in taxable cash accounts). I had been adding the interest to our savings and keeping more elaborate bookkeeping than I cared for. So, I contributed $200 to my ROTH AND got the amount to an even $7k. Thus, I am going to invest the earnings back into the ROTH, going forward. I think I need $50 to buy, so could be a while. But, that will make my life easier and my ROTH bigger.
We are earning about $20/month in cash which will keep going to the mid-term savings fund. So, still some interest growing our other savings.
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I returned 3 gifts at Target for a $40 gift card. Not bad! I was going to buy BM some clothes, but ended up getting myself a few treats. Some Christmas-y earrings, and a winter hat. & a plain black shirt. I had gotten one in purple and decided I could always use another plain black shirt for under sweaters and such. So I exchanged that one for black, in a smaller size.
(BTW - I don't think I have EVER returned a gift. I am getting stingy - hehe. I usually regift or donate, so it was just different. Mostly I don't like the hassle, but there was enough to return it was well worth it. & there was no line at Target for returns at 10am in Saturday. I was shocked, but pleased).
I got BM some pajamas, underwear, and socks as requested. In the end I spent $30 of my own cash. But I thought it worked out well.
He still needs pants. They had some that would even do for school, but NONE in his size. Yeesh. Will have to try again later. Piles of 5s and piles of 7s, but no size 6!
I then went to Kohls with my "$10 off" and came out forking over $80. It's the way it goes?
Actually, I found a light, black sweater, that I had been searching out for AGES. I thought it was $20-something for sale, but it rang up $33. I was overly optimistic I guess when looking at the prices. But something I have been searching for forever, and I actually really like the fit. So I keep it. I just wanted something to cover up a bit on some of my dresses. But nothing too heavy or warm either. I also spent about $50 on earrings.
So, the story on the earrings...
I LOVE earrings. I used to have a giant earring collection and enjoyed wearing "different" and BIG earrings when I was younger.
BUT, my dream was to get more piercings and I got my wish probably around age 16. I have 3 holes in my left ear and 2 holes in my right ear.
Well, WORST thing I ever did. Since then my ears became very sensitive to earrings, and then I was working where multiple earrings were not allowed (about 3 years in high school and college) and then I was completely broke in college and too busy to worry about earrings anyway. So I just stopped wearing them. Entirely!
Which is kind of sad.
So when I was shopping yesterday I thought, "I want some earrings."
When I sold Cookie Lee jewelry I would buy some, but in general, too heavy for me. Which is saying a lot - I like big earrings. But I just didn't mesh well with CL earrings.
So that was another obstacle to my life with earrings. As it was the only jewelry I bought for many years since it was of good quality and deeply discounted for me.
Anyway, Target really didn't have much, but had some cute Xmas-y earrings. I spent about $12 on 4 pairs.
Now, Kohls had nice earrings and they were mostly 60% off. I decided to stock up on a few basics and just start over.
I don't know what happened to most of my earrings, but I have some more modest/professional ones. I have to go through them, though my ears are so sensitive I just kind of wanted to start anew.
& I am well aware of the magic of clear nail polish!
For the long run, if I am going to get back into earrings, I need to get more frugal about it. It's one of those things I can't see buying used though. & cheap is not good for my ears.
Kohls was a good start. On sale they had some nice earrings at reasonable prices. I may run to Claire's and pick up some "sensitive" earring studs. I would like some more studs. But I can slowly accumulate larger earrings, and I don't need that many. That is the good thing!
Earrings?
December 28th, 2008 at 03:56 pm
December 28th, 2008 at 06:22 pm 1230488525
Of course, no one in their right mind would spend that much on earrings, but I'm glad he did!
I don't have tons of pairs of earrings. I probably buy one pair a year, in the range of $13-25. I buy sterling silver, which I have found to be "better" for my ears than anything else. I have one nice gold pair that are years old, and several silver pairs with different color stones/designs. Mostly I wear the gold hoops with the diamond studs. Boring, I know.