NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

I don't make New Year's resolutions - I am the type that declares "Screw that..." and does what she wants.  I know what I should choose - get back to the gym and quit smoking - oooh - I said it - smoking!  I need to do that - again - in my time!

I had a choice for Christmas from Ted - usual gift certificates, tires for my car, or simply add money to my gift for my student and his family who are homeless.  I chose tires and more on the gift certificate to my student.  Ted never expected me to choose one!

I made it threw Christmas - shopping for others, seeing my boyz, and not buying for me.  The hardest part was the day after Christmas - the SALES.  OMG - THEY WERE GREAT.  Coach offered 20% at Macys, the GAP had 50% off all sale items.  MK, Cole Haan, and Av had great sales.

I bought nothing.  I had to buy dog food and Starbucks coffee, which I get on sale at Target.  With nothing else to do, I browsed the stores.  I needed no help - just looking.  I found some serious sales on MK and Coach shoes and boots at Macys, which I actually detest.  I looked and saw nothing.  I did not have gift card, so buying was not an option.

I then cruised 20 minutes to Woodbury Commons - not to add insult to injury, but to really see if I was "fixed".  I went to my usual  haunts - MK, AV, Kate, KC, and Joe Jeans.  Nothing... jumped out at me.  Nothing said "BUY ME!"

I turn 50 on January 16th and I want new appliances and some new furniture.  The best part is that I can get them.  We are moving forward with more renovations, so I feel like my goal of selling is closer, if we decide to sell in five years. With all our renovations, we have paid cash - I always flipped at the thought of saving and then using our money, but now I am glad.  Ted is pragmatic, I am instant gratification!  He has taught me to be a good consumer with cash.  Now I am a practical consumer...of nothing for me!

So, what are your resolutions?  What did you get for Christmas?  Please share - it is not rubbing it in!  I really love to hear what great buys you all got!!!!  And do not forget the resolutions!  Can you quit shopping for you for four months?

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

I got my bank statement today, which I usually avoid like the plague.  As a teacher, I have the option to get the BIG CHECK or save for summer all year.  I have always chosen to save on my own - why let them make interest on my money?

A colleague inquired about my Blog and no shopping - she confessed to being a SHOPAHOLIC as well.  LOL - she gave me a gift for my Christmas Cookie Exchange/Colleague party!  She wanted to know if I was really saving money.

So, instead of using the check and balance system of "if I earn X amount every two weeks, and I have X bills, then I have X amount to spend," I actually looked at my bank statement.  YOU do not need to yell at me for this reasoning, Ted does every month.  But...I always have more money than the BIG CHECK WOULD GIVE ME by  summer, and I HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON ME.

So, the purpose of this post.... I have $5,000 more in my account now than I did last year. 

Frankly, I am a bit upset it is not more... I did throw a party last week that cost over 400 dollars and the Christmas /Eve is about 700 dollars... but I love doing it.

Finally, I really did tell Ted not to get me gifts.  I will need perfume around my birthday - January and then there is Valentine's Day.  I hope that the next 6 months I save even more. I have a numerical goal in mind and I hope to meet it!

FIVE DAYS 'TIL CHRISTMAS!

Only five days until Christmas and I am not all JONZIN'.

Yeah, right.

It has been four full months since I bought an item for me!  Do not get me wrong - I WANT A LOT OF STUFF! But I am using restraint looking, touching, but not buying. 

I saw boots, coats, sweaters, perfume, earrings that I would have purchased simply because I wanted them.  I actually went BACK TO MARSHALLS TO VISIT MY DESIGNERS SHOES FOR THE HELL OF IT!

Most had left - which saddened me.  But I did meet up with Cole Haan, AV, ugh...TOMMY, AND COACH!

Then I spied a MK hat and glove set and actually experienced heart palpitations!!!   Seriously????!  Why???!  MK, you are driving me crazy!  I stared at the gift set for what seemed like 10 minutes, and then I went to scarves since I was there to buy a gift for a friend.  I left with nothing.

The reality is I hate shopping;  I love buying.

Ted just asked me for my Christmas List.... I  told him I bought the gift cards for my student.  Knowing his six year old brother will get a present is all I need.

Yes, this experience is changing me.  Do I like it? NO. When I am 65 and in Europe, I will smile that I gave up shopping for needless items that I simply wanted!

someone comment!!! i have over a thousand hits and this is hard!  tell me what you bought, what you want, what you think!!!!

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

It's the most wonderful time of the year... ESPECIALLY SINCE I HAVE NOT SHOPPED FOR ME IN FOUR MONTHS!

A colleague at work this week said receiving gift certificates as gifts is cheating. She really wants me to succeed! If Ted, friends, and family truly never gave me gift certificates, then I would agree. But they never know what to buy me, so I get gift certificates from them - and always have.

One time early in our relationship, Ted and I were malling it - walking through the mall - and I was craning my head to see what was in the GAP.  Ted, who is fashion inempt, interpretated my neck craning as 'OH, LOOK AT THE DISPLAY IN THE WINDOW!"  So, with a good deed in sight, he went and purchased me everything in the display window.

UNFORTUNATELY, it was all long undrwear, socks, and the plaid wool shirts!  He eagerly - no, make that proudly - presented me with my presents on Christmas morning.  Seeing GAP, I got scared; actually, Ted shopping even for himself is scarey.  Needless to say, the items were exchanged for the outfit I was craning to see BEYOND THE WINDOW DISPLAY!

Another time he bought me a toolbox with a ton of tools since I always take his.  It was needed, but not the gift of MK or JCrew I wanted.  Thus, I accepted the gift and was grateful I had purchased me everything I desired for Christmas. This was when he vowed to get me gift certificates!   I BEAMED.  FINALLY, DUDE, WE ARE SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE!

And that  has been my way of having a Merry Little Christmas - buy for me a long the way as I shop for others.

THIS IS WHY ACCEPTING GIFT CERTIFICATES IS NOT CHEATING.

For my birthday, we have a tradition of taking ME to Woodbury Commons on a shopping spree!  I get to buy all that I want, and he pays the bill.  He wants to see that smile on my face, and frankly, Kenneth cole, Cole Haan, and MK definitely deliver!

Gifts are not cheating.  I vowed NOT TO SPEND MY MONEY ON ME.   I am not about to turn a gift down - and if I did - everyone who knows me would drop dead laughing and think I was lying.  I love gifts!  I love giving them and I REALLY love receiving them!

BRING IT ON, BABY!

This year, I won't be getting gifts - maybe a bottle of perfume.  I bought presents for a student whose family is homeless.    I already bought all Ted's presents in October.  He probably will get me a gift certificate for Ciao Bella, my hair salon. 

THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Today I had a parent conference and was caught off guard.  My intention was to get the student back in class, back on track and back to work, despite the fact he is a disruption.

Instead, the mother blurted out a plethora of "thank you's " to all of us and dropped a bomb - she and her two children are homeless. I just cried. I could not speak.  I sobbed the whole drive home.

 I have had homeless students in the past - one lived on metro north train to nyc where he worked from 6 pm to 3 am.  he did his homework, washed up, and slept on the train.

I simply did not expect this today.  All I kept thinking about is all the STUFF I listed I wanted;  the gifts I  do not need. I thought of his little six year old brother who won't have a Christmas, his mother who is working over 40 hours a week and making no money, my student who I assumed had a home with two parents.

I am sobbing even now...

So, tonight, I will rip up my list that I am sure Santa Ted has checked twice.  In its place, a request that we buy toys and clothes for the three of them.