How we will NOT spend $100 everytime we go to Target

Ok.... so when you all go to Target you walk out with around $100 worth of stuff too , right?  I know I can't be the only one. Right? And only 1 out of every 10 times did we  actually intend on spending that much money. 

Their store designers/ marketing/ shelf putter-uppers are geniuses.

To quote the movie,  "Twilight"..."Everything about us invites you in...our look, our smell, the way we stock our shelves".  Ok, well maybe that last part wasn't from the movie but that's how it feels to me.  I'm powerless to stop it.

If we do walk out of there under $100, my husband and I almost give each other a high five. I know I'm all kinds of giddy on the inside.

I started thinking the other day... what I can do to stop the madness? Only get what we NEED, then get out and....wait for it.....only go once a month!!! What??!!!  That's crazy talk.

We are in Target every week.  I'm not kidding. We are always forgetting that we are out of something and then going back which means there goes another hundred dollars. Bye bye.

All I can think is spreadsheet here we come. I know I'm not the first blogger to make a spreadsheet to go shopping but I haven't seen one about Target yet.   I'm going to make a list of things we regularly buy at Target and then we have to stick to the list.  We will be able to put some specialty items on the list when before we go that are regular items  but  again. I know this isn't rocket science but it actually took some thought to come up with this list and I want to share it with you.

 If it ain't on the list,  me no buy.  ( I love to let go of the English language every once and a while) I'll give you an update soon and let you know how it's going.

Here is the list. I did one in Excel and a blank one as a PDF that way you can change all of the items in the list to what you and your family need if you would like. If you want to make your own and like the font, I used a free font called Wisdom Script. To download the font, you have to type in 0 for the cost and just hit download.

And the tiny red boxes are the font Wingdings, the  upper case letter Q.

( It doesn't seem that either version I uploaded  kept the fonts visually. I'll keep trying to figure that out. Until, then you can download the font above or substitute any old font you like.)

The List (Google Excel Version)

The List (PDF Blank version)


Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor


Tuesday
 My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
- The Shabby Cottage The Taylor House- House of Hepworths  Bloom Designs

Friday
Naptime Crafters - Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff

Cheerios and Lattes

My Stop-Spending- Stupid- Money Plan ( or 10 things that can save you money if you stop doing them)

Stupid Money (n): The money that you should have been able to save or never spent in the first place but you were lazy, just plain forgot or made a bad choice.

It's the middle of the year and I am tired of spending stupid money on things I shouldn't.  Are you still confused on the concept of " stupid" money? Here  are some examples of "stupid" money  issues:

-Library book fines

I don't want to even know how much I have paid the library this year. Based in how much we love the library, it was a bunch.  It should be a free resource but when you forget to turn in 8 kids DVDs for a week. Ka-ching!

-NOT returning stuff
You look at the receipt and say, oh  I've got a month to return that or 60 days or even 90. And then you look at the recipe again and missed your chance. There's $60 of stuff you can't use sitting in your room


-Not sending in rebates
 Seriously so annoying.  You buy something and it comes with an awesome rebate. You have every intention of sending it in and then before you know it, it's passed and you didn't save the $5- $20 bucks. dang it.

-Forgetting coupons

 I'm not the best coupon user and I buy lots of things that never or hardly have coupons. So when i do see a coupon  for something I actually use, I get all excited , cut it out, put it in the organizer and then forget the organizer whenever I go to the store. And as I'm checking out I remember that I had a coupon for that. grrrr..

-Forgetting Gift cards/Groupons

 You get a gift card for a birthday or Christmas or baby shower or wedding shower... you think you are going to wait and use it on something good or wait until you have coupon to use with the girt card.  And a year or so goes by and it starts losing value or it's been swimming around your purse so long that you just lose it. There goes  $20-$100 . bye bye.

-Mystery Charges on bills you don't check
I'm not the best at reviewing my monthly bills or bank statements on time. I have caught, too late, some mystery charges or late fees or over drafts  that had I caught sooner. I could have gotten removed or reduced  but I didn't so they got me   $5-$40 at a time.

- Traffic Tickets
In the past few years, the red light cameras have gotten us ( whatever) and J got a speeding ticket going from building to building at work. There was $200 a pop right there to get them fixed. Just think what we could have done with that money.

-Throwing away food
we don't do this alot but  there are some times that because we by alot of  food at a big box store ( i know, not the best)  that we throw away a bunch of apples or a half a bag of lettuce or some other kind of food that went bad before we could eat it. Even though we saved money buying the food there,  we are throwing money away by not eating it/

- Reoccurring monthly charges
I'm talking about stuff like Blockbuster online (we didn't use for 4 months because we were too busy), Netflix( always forget to use ), consumer reports...stuff like that.  Apparently, we had been paying $20 a year for Consumer reports for 7 years. So it's not a ton of money, but we weren't even using it and had completely forgotten that we were paying for it.

And my all time DUH stupid money spender....

- Not bringing your lunch to work or out somewhere you could like an outdoor concert or touristy place ( like the Zoo)

 J leaves in such a hurry in the morning that he usually doesn't have time to make his lunch. If he did it would be a  deli sandwich with some yogurt and fruit maybe. Healthy , right? But when he forgets  what does he buy at work? A deli sandwich , chips, and some fruit.  Ahhhh.. So that's $8 bucks a pop almost five days a week on top of what we spend on groceries.

If we can cut back on this kind of stuff maybe we can afford that trip to Disney World next year. Yipee!

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY How Off
DIY Shop - Lines Across My Face -I should be mopping the Floor
Great Fun 4 Kids

Tuesday
How to Nest For Less - Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime - Chronic Christian Crafter - Funky Polka Dot Giraffe
The Winthrop Chronicles


Wednesday
Oopsey Daisy - Thrifty Home - Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
- Junk in Their Trunk  - Southern Lovely


Thursday
My rePurposed Life - Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
Loving this Crazy Life -Scrappy Crafty Happy - Fireflies and Jellybeans - The Shabby Cottage
Quality Cheap Home  - The Taylor House
House of Hepworths

Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now
Family Ever After 
Here Comes the Sun

Saturday


Six Sister's Stuff
Be Different Act Normal


Sunday
Nifty Thrifty Things