2017 into 2018

2018 is all gonna be financial, and not in a very positive sense, it seems. But I think it will be a good year for me to bring my finances in shape again. 

2017 ended with ID theft while on travel, thus blocking the ONLY card I had taken to desh trip, thus forcing me to stay under budget with whatever cash I had from dollars + demonetization money now retrieved + cash gifts. On the plus side, I would have wasted a lot of money if I had that card. It felt bad to be in all those shops and not able to buy anything when everyone else was shopping left and right, but now I can't even remember what all i wanted so badly, and I still have my money. So all good in the end.

My 2018 resolution was to buy no clothes for myself, and only the cosmetics that I absolutely need. Broke that vow on first day itself by buying scarves, but it was worth it. Inspite of that little cheating, I think I will be able to stick to that resolution for the rest of this year. 

Missed severe northeast winter by being in desh all those days. Came back to a broken water heater, but luckily it didn't flood. Also, it died of natural old-age, and not coz of frozen pipes. Regardless, it put me down by a couple thousand, and hence even more need to be frugal this year. 

We had already decided we won't do any big family summer vacation this year, mostly to save costs. The year started with a vacation in desh, but it didn't cost me a lot *whew*. I may still do 1 or 2 india trips, but will see... I don't count that as controllable expenses anyway. 

So *cheers* here's to a new-cheap me. Will come back next year to see how it went.

Money. Money. Money.

Really?

I was talking to a 96 year old greek woman recently - one of the smartest I have known. Worth $20M in stocks from nowhere.

I asked her - What does it take to be a good husband and father?

Her reply - "Kindness".

Regards,
TS.

i will take kindness as long as it pays my bills, hehe

step # 1

hid all the ads on FB that kept showing wonderful deals on amazon that are soon gonna sell out; also updated the ad settings on it. Hopefully I get lesser temptations now.

it's december now, so i guess it's safe to reflect upon this, as I am not planning to shop for myself in december.


- was able to keep the vow for most part
- discarded or donated a lot of old clothes over the year. still have quite a few left. Will donate most sweaters after this winter.
- i had a couple of salwar suits that i had either never worn or i knew i will never wear. So wore them all in desh trip and handed them to whoever wanted them. same with some desi looking tops, which i had worn a lot in last 5 years but they were still in good shape.
- real struggle came when i had no clothes fitting me for EU trip in Nov. Was able to dig out old dresses and sweater dresses that fit. Did buy opaque leggings (a 6-pack) to go with them. My justification was that i didn't have any good leggings or stalkings in the first place.
- did buy booties for the eu trip, but they were shipped too late. Used winter boots there, but kept the booties, coz again, i didn't have any booties.
- discarded a lot of old bras and undies. But then began falling short of undies, so bought a 3-pack, am yet to open it though. I hate doing weekly laundry. Like to have extras if i skip a weekend.
- my bra size increased, thanks to the weight gain. I had bought a 3-pack of one-size-fits-all kind in summer coz my current ones had begun giving me trouble. However, in October, after being in terrible pain for 10 days, and worrying that i have breast cancer i finally walked in to Victoria's Secret to get remeasured. They confirmed that i am a cup size bigger now, sigh. Anyway they recommended body by victoria, which was also on sale at $25 a piece, so i bought 3 of them, and i totally absolutely love it. had been a while since i wore a well fitted bra. High reco it. Every time i touch my midriff and see the center of the bra intact there, i believe all's right with the world. I also bought 2 more in the new size from other brands (didn't try them yet), coz again, almost all my old ones are useless now, and i am not a fan of frequent laundry.
- i didn't need to buy a single shampoo, conditioner, or soap over the year, even when my daughter did a cleanup in summer and threw out all my bottles that she had seen for half her life in the shower, or were barely 20% full. Even then, i have plenty left that will go into Feb i think.
- I did buy a facewash recently when i ran out of it. I had bought a 3-pack last year. Took me the whole year to go through all of them.
- I also had to buy anti frizz after daughter threw out most of my old products and oils.
- Bought tea-tree foot soak for my nails and learning daughter threw my lotion for nails. Also bought manuka oil for toe nails, was too hard to resist that one and also I had the problem of ingrown toe nail in summer.
- had to buy eye liners as i ran out of them. One pencil also stopped responding to the sharpener, so bought eye liner gel.
- bought a new compact powder when the old one broke too much. same with glossy chapstick.
- had to buy a sun screen (and my skin doc gave me a free sample), a night cream, and a body lotion bottle, as i had run out of them. Also mouth wash and make up remover wipes.
- earlier i used to buy any product i fancied, even if i had plenty at home.
- had to buy henna and hair colors, a necessity.
- before the EU trip did get tempted to buy clothes, but did a round of stores and came out empty handed. Who wants to buy new clothes at such obesity levels, unless one thinks it's to stay.
- did put 7 items in my amazon cart, and thought for for 7-10 days. But deleted them all. I will buy new sweaters to go with my new leggings in Jan when there is a markdown.

at the beginning of the year i got a new credit card that gave bonus miles. I combined that with another card from the same bank, and that sponsored my India trip, my ticket for the EU trip, and my split of airbnb. woohoo! I bought another card in summer for the same reason, and that sponsored my son and mine impromptu domestic travel on thanksgiving. 70 frigging k miles for 2 roundtrips, but chalta hai. worth it.

I still have a long way to go to get my finances straight. But I think i will be able to afford some new clothes next year. Let's see. I do know i have broken the habit of compulsive shopping.