The thrifting game is the best one.

Ever since I had to start buying my own clothes (early high school), I've gained and appreciation for finding 'deals'. Clothes can easily be very expensive, and when you're working with a babysitting budget (like I was), you have to figure out how to stretch your money as far as possible in order to not only walk out of the store with one or two items. Now, I will add the disclaimer that I never buy just any random clothing item that is a really great deal, because I know myself and if I don't REALLY like what I'm buying, I won't wear it often enough, if ever, to have justified the purchase...even if it was a really good price. Anyhow, in my efforts to make my money go further, I started frequenting the local thrift stores, and a whole new world opened up to my wallet and eyes. Not only could I get amazing prices on things, but I also felt good about putting something to use that would have possibly otherwise been thrown away...and everyone who knows me knows I'm a little bit of a green freak, so this idea sat very well with me. I have continued to shop thrift stores/websites ever since, and I am never going back! I still shop at "regular" stores sometimes, but my definition of "regular" would include Target, Ross and TJMaxx. I can't remember the last time I went to a store other than those three, and I'm almost always to be found in the clearance sections.

So, when you have an itch for a few new shirts or a pair of pants, check out your thrift store FIRST! The biggest thing to remember here is that you have to be PATIENT and you have to be okay with walking out empty handed more times than not. Thrift stores take some digging, but there are almost always gems to be found. I would also advocate you check out thrift stores for any other common household items you might need before buying them new. Dallin just got his first big-boy job, and the office that he uses was pretty barren, so we decided to purchase some things to liven the place up. I had to go to Hobby Lobby to pick up some beads, so we checked out their office decor while we were there. We got some good ideas, but we didn't buy anything due to the expensive price tags on everything we liked. So, we headed over to a local thrift store we hadn't visited yet, and we got two lovely pots/vases similar to what we had seen at Hobby Lobby for WAY cheaper. They were originally $2 each, but we stumbled in there on Memorial Day (forgetting that Memorial Day sales are a thing) and everything in the store was 50% off, so we got each one for ONE DOLLAR!!! They are adorable and looked just as good as the ones at Hobby Lobby did. We also walked out of there smiling with SEVEN new cd's full of music that we both love...and each one was only 25 cents. We only spent $1.75 for over fifty songs!! I don't know about you, but that number puts iTunes to shame....mega huge ginormous amounts of shame.
Lastly, my most recent thrift discovery and love has been the Schoola website that sells women's and children's clothing. I've posted about it before, but it seems my $20 deal is still going! If you use my link, you can get $20 free in clothing from this website (profits from which go towards saving music and art programs in schools around the country), and I will also get $20 if you make a purchase.The credits do not work on new with tags items, but there aren't many of those items on there anyway. So far, with the credits I've gotten, I've been able to get 13 clothing items for FREE, and all of them are adorable! I like to sort the clothes by lowest to highest price, and I don't think I've spent more than $6 on one item so far...it's a great website, and you should definitely check it out. What do you have to lose? It's $20 worth of free clothes with absolutely no strings attached!! Not only that, but after you make your account you can create a "collection" and that will give you an additional $10 credit. So, click on that link and get some great deals. Even if I wasn't getting the credit I would be promoting this website because they have amazing prices and I love their mission. Happy thrifting!!!

Schoola Link:

https://www.schoola.com/stitch?ref=cp-3Xa3qi526

P.s. Don't forget to make that "collection" to get an extra $10! Also, there really are zero strings attached, and you don't have to spend more money than your free $30 to be able to use it....any extra that you don't spend will stay in your account for 60 days!! The best part is then that you can share YOUR OWN link with friends and family and start getting more credit for yourself. There is a cap on the amount you can receive free each year, but it's a lot! So, shop and share.

Photo Cred: Google Images

This Game Yields Real-Life Victory

Well, summer has finally been realized for our household, and I am starting to have a little more time on my hands, so back to blogging it is! :) I have missed this sweet little blog of mine...I love posting on here. It's good to be back!

Dallin and I are still sticking with our May challenge....and really just our new lifestyle change, and we are STILL making amazing progress and accruing some hardcore savings. After four months of really altering our mindset about money and spending habits, the best part about it is that we are STILL enjoying it. I am STILL loving being a "penny-pincher". So, my advice to you today is to make a game out of saving money. It really is a challenge to do it, but it's a challenge worth achieving and a challenge that yields a very rich reward, literally. Here are some of the ways Dallin and I turn our frugality into a game:

1. Talk about your money goals and spending habits...a lot! Don't be afraid to chide each other a little bit if one of you gets weak and slacks off a little on the goal. This keeps both of you on your toes and helps remind you not to make silly, unnecessary purchases. Example: The other day, I went to Walmart (a store I almost never visit anymore) because I was in need of some coverup and mascara as my current tube is almost entirely dried up. I came out with not only the needed makeup, but also a nail polish that I REALLY didn't need...the ones I have barely fit into my storage bin for them as it is! Anyway, I showed my new purchase to Dallin, and his response was, "Jess, you already have SO MANY different colors of nail polish...are you sure you need another one?" This was not him saying, "I am ashamed of you because you broke our goals and that upsets me", this was him reminding me in a nice way that we both have a goal TOGETHER and that I could be better. I do the same to him. A $4 nail polish doesn't seem like a big deal, but what are the $4 "nail polishes" in your cart? What do you come home with from the store that you really don't need and that's not going to make you any happier in the true scheme of things? Well, I happened to accidentally buy the wrong shade of coverup, so on my return trip to Walmart today, the nail polish will be happily returned and that four dollars will buy my eggs for the next month. Not only do we talk about it when we are trying to help each other, but we also just talk about the awesome goals we have, the amazing savings we've accrued, and the things that are finally starting to fall into place for us financially speaking. It's exciting! It is hard to stick with it until you see the money start to build up, but after that, it's SO WORTH IT.

2. Set short-term, easily achievable goals to stoke motivation and satisfaction. Nothing kills good intentions early-on like unachievable or really long term goals. You don't just go and run a marathon without any training! The training also doesn't start with 7 milers every morning...start with half a mile. I am a true believer in baby steps! So, sit down with your spouse or other person this weekend and set a goal for next week. Some short-term easy goals that Dallin and I used when first starting out this new fiscal challenge were to not eat out for an entire week, not buying anything unnecessary that wasn't on my pre-planned grocery list, and to not make any purchases online. These are super easy things to achieve! Not only did they help my wallet by the end of the week, but they also helped my health (I didn't buy junk at the grocery store). 

3. Start LEARNING. Learn how to do things yourself that maybe seem daunting or foreign but can save you loads of money. A few weeks ago I managed to convince a friend of mine to teach me how to change the brakes on my car. In return for the help, I offered one of my insanely scrumptious cherry pies as a form of "payment". So, last night he came over and taught my husband and I how to change the brakes on my car. Now I will be able to spend $70-80 to change my brakes instead of the usual $180-200 that I would spend taking the car to a shop to get the brakes changed the next time in needs to be done. It was so much easier than I thought! You just have to be a little brave sometimes. You will certainly make mistakes, but that's part of the learning curve. It's WORTH it. YouTube is a great friend when trying to learn how to do different things.

4. TRACK YOUR SPENDING. Everyone has a different preference on how to do this, but just checking your bank account once a week does not cut it here. Download the free Mint app on your phone, buy a personal accounting notebook, or get an excel sheet going. At the end of every week, Dallin and I plug in all of our spending into our Excel sheet, and it uncomfortably reveals all of the ways in which we broke our goals for that week. I am happy to say though that plugging in the numbers is now getting more exciting and less painful...because the savings are starting to heavily outweigh our costs now. This is a tiny bit time consuming to do, but I think this is one of the absolute most important things to do if you really want to fix weak spending habits and start to save a good amount of money

5. Finally, get some motivation from people who have really achieved true happiness and wealth by applying these principles. My inspiration? You've all heard of him before...Mr. Money Mustache.  Read one of his articles every day, and apply what you can! Dallin and I aren't anywhere close to as cool as he is yet, but we hope to get there someday. Be inspired by other people, too! There is so much knowledge to be gained out there....stop being idle about it. 

So, start talking about your financial goals for the future and how you can start to achieve them by taking baby steps NOW. NOW is the time to start making small changes in the way you consume products, NOW is the time to open an investment account, NOW is the time to start planning for your future. Making a goal to simply save for a house that you want to buy in 5 years or early retirement doesn't work...but making a goal to stay home and not eat out this week does, and that sets you walking on the path towards that house or early retirement in a more easily achievable and visible way. So, get going and start collecting money as you go around this game board!! 

Photo Cred: Google Images

Buying cheap clothes on Schoola to help our schools and environment!!!

So, I discovered another new favorite online clothing website today that just might be my favorite one! It's called Schoola. This company sells used, donated clothing items, and 40% of their proceeds go to help schools in need, in our country and elsewhere. These funds are used to bring back really important programs (including the arts) that tend to get cut due to budget limitations....so that's another thing that hits really close to home for me since I am a musician. The "Mission" page on their website says this:
"Today, we are 100+ employees working to support 20,000 schools. Together with thousands of community members & customers, we bring new paints to art classes, new instruments to the orchestra, new books to the libraries. Quality clothes get a second life. Parents help parents. Schools help schools. And students get the tools they need to realize their full potential at school."
Keep art like the picture above in our schools!!

Do something good today! The next time you need some certain clothing item (minus a swimsuit...I don't think they sell those), SHOP HERE FIRST! Help our schools keep their arts programs and get AMAZING prices on your clothes. I ordered FIVE items and the total came up to $38! Disclaimer right off the bat....this site does NOT offer men's clothes, only women's and children's (including boys) clothes, but it's still an incredible company.

Here's a little treat for you, too. If you use this link to do your shopping, https://www.schoola.com/stitch/referral
You will get $10 free credit to spend on clothes, and so will I! You then, in turn, can also go ahead and share your own referral link to spread the good news and earn some more credits on your own. So, try it out! Use the free $10!!!! (On a side note, I don't think your $10 will work on new with tags items, but those don't comprise the majority of the stock on this website). There is legitimately no good excuse not to...it's free stuff. I used a beloved sister-in-law's link to get a credit towards my shopping and it worked! No tricksy stuff...the $10 just comes right off of your purchase. I really am in love with this company, and I ABSOLUTELY love the idea of giving back to schools while I'm doing my shopping.

There are other advantages, too, to using this website. Buying gently used, second-hand clothes promotes sustainability and reduces waste. There is absolutely no need to use the materials, resources, labor, and energy to produce the amount of new clothes that we do in this country when there are SO many gently used ones floating around looking for new people to please. Let's be honest....what percentage of the clothes that you get rid of are LEGITIMATELY worn out? Probably not too many. I know for myself that if I get tired of something and don't wear it hardly ever, it usually ends up getting put in the donation bag and some other smart person picks it up for a really great deal. I recently made an order for summer shirts on this website and I can't wait for them to arrive! Shipping is slow, but who cares?! It's an awesome company with an awesome mission....and who doesn't want to support that sort of company these days? I do, and I'll definitely keep using Schoola.

Photo Cred: Google Images