Well, today I have to control myself. The stray cat I found is going up for adoption. I am feeling surprisingly level headed today. If he went up yesterday I might have brought him home! Will see...

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Today we ran the errands that piled up from a busy week.

In the morning I went to Kohls to make a return and no one was there. So it was very quick. I think even if dh does get more bogged down it doesn't really matter since I am an early bird. We can still live a very "off peak" existence. (I noticed the grocery store is open at 6am, for example. Sounds perfect to me; can do that chore on a weekday with no discernible difference to my schedule).

I did end up spending $20 (net) at Kohls while there. There was a vest jacket type thing I have been coveting for well over a year and I was able to get it for $10. I just bought the bullet and bought a few cheapie shirts to wear with it (they were so soft and pretty but general not the kind of thing I'd wear by itself because just kind of cheap and not flattering). & I remembered another shirt I have that will go great with the vest - I am sure I have others. It will significantly spice up my cold weather wardrobe. If it ever cools off...

As to the $500 in gift cards that we were planning to blow... Our external hard drive is giving us issues and dh wanted to replace his 20-year-old (or older) razor. I had thought we could get Amazon gift cards but I guess we could not. But these items were in stock at Best Buy and they also price match. So I had gotten $275 in gift cards specifically for those items and picked them up today. I paid $10 out of pocket and I put both this and my Kohls charge on my credit card that already closed for the month. We spent enough this month already, so just kicking the can down the road a month.

I had also redeemed $100 in Target gift cards which would cover a month of our grocery spending there. We discussed if we should or should not get some snack food ahead of time since it is so expensive in Hawaii, and I realize I should have just gotten $225 in Target gift cards and could have covered most of that spending (grocery spending and whatever else we nee while in Hawaii). I didn't think that far ahead, but we can use what we have left of the $100 and I am more willing to just buy snacks there if it will just be "free" anyway. (Dh for whatever reason didn't seem keen on packing food but once I get packed up I may run to Target and pick up a few items. Will at least need some food for the plane. But I will wait and see how much room we have).

We popped by Target today to buy laundry detergent and toothpaste. It was free with gift cards and we earned a $5 gift card.

{That leaves us with $125 gift cards to redeem and I am just meditating on those. I have a large purchase in mind but I want to research it more first. Target gift cards are fine if we don't think of anything else}.

I took some returns to a shoe store (all my returns were online orders that didn't fit well) and dh ended up finding some sandals for Hawaii. I need to remember to donate his old sandals (barely worn; he wasn't happy with them). His shoe purchase was a wash with my returns, so no money spent there.

The only errand we didn't end up getting to was the CU to deposit his focus group cash. I have a couple of days off next week, so we decided to just take care of it during the week. If it doesn't get done, I don't need the money right away. It's just if I forget about it, but I should have plenty of time.

Oh, and I do have one return by mail. I suppose that will actually offset all of the spending I did today. That works out pretty well thought I didn't plan that part. (It's too late to get the return for this month, but the return can then offset those purchase I made on the "next month already" credit card).

We do have to set up dh's direct deposit this weekend. That will be nice.