Money Laundering 101

Let's face it...times are tough.

Money is tight.

And the economic tide is not showing signs of turning any time soon.

But unfortunately for my dear friend, Emily, she did not get this memo. The memo she got said, "SHOE SALE." And even more unfortunately, Mr. Emily chose this month to actually peruse their credit card statement prior to paying the bill.

All arguments pointing out Emily's thriftiness (*cough*) in prior months and how it all evens out over the year were lost on Mr. E. I don't know if it actually happened this way in real life, but in my head Emily (like any good, rebellious teenager) is sitting on the couch with her arms cross and eyes rolled while her dad, I mean husband, stands over her with several pies charts and graphs lecturing her about her spending. In the end, Emily was grounded from her credit card and she immediately called me to cry about it. I have to say that I was only a little sympathetic. Not that I disagree with her i-didn't-spend-anything-on-shoes-for-the-last-three-months-and-we-have-this-much-budgeted-for-shoes-over-the-year-so-it-all-evens-out-in-the-end argument. I totally get that. I have just been trying to teach her forever how to avoid confrontations like that at all. It is really quite simple.

Let me preface this lesson, by saying that I do not advocate lying to your spouse or spending money you don't have. I mean, hello toilet bowl. Have you met the economy? Mr. Lauren and I sit down every December and come up with the following year's budget together. And I stick to it! Moving on...

My husband uses Quicken to keep track of our finances and while this program has many wonderful qualities, I HATE that every time I use my credit card my husband knows about it before I get home. And I HATE even more having to explain every.single.purchase. My husband is like Emily's. It doesn't matter that I haven't broken the budget, he still lectures me about the $300 I spent at Gymboree. Really, honey? We have THREE children. That is like 3 outfits each! From the sale rack!!

Whatever!

So out of necessity (for the sake of my marriage) I came up with Budget Tweaking step #1:

STEP AWAY FROM THE CREDIT CARD!!!

Credit cards are great and they definitely have their place. Like at the gas station. I love paying at the pump. But at Starbucks...NO!!! My husband does not need to know that I spent $4 on coffee five times this week. All he needs to know is that $20 was used from the Entertainment/Dining Out envelope. I am telling you, girls, the cash envelope system has saved my sanity and my marriage! I still spend the same amount of money (actually less but I will get to that in a moment) but hubs and I don't fight about it anymore!

I will say that switching to cash is an adjustment. It is not as easy as just whipping out the credit card. It requires preplanning. There have been times when I have been out and not had any money in my wallet and so I can't buy something that I want. I am also more conscious of exactly what I am spending so there is less impulse buying. Ultimately, that saves money!

Step #2. Shop grocery store sales!

I used to clip coupons, but I don't anymore. It was just too much work! If you are a coupon clipper, more power to you. I do shop the weekly sales at my grocery store though. Publix has BOGO sales every week. There are certain pantry staples that I will only buy if they are BOGO. With the exception of that random 3 month period where ketchup never went sale and my family almost revolted because I refused to buy it until it did, this is a great tool in my budget tweaking schemes! The sales help me to save about $25 a week...without spending less in my grocery budget. Say what?

My Publix has this wonderful place called the gift card mall. It is right in the middle of the store and it is home to every gift card you can possibly imagine. So even though I usually spend less money each week than the grocery budget allots for, I have never reduced that category in our budget. I simply pick up a gift card for myself. This is a great way to extend those budget categories, like shoes, that Mr. L really has no realistic clue about! (Now I don't get a gift card every week. It varies depending on whats already in my shopping cart. If I am treating the hubs to a T-bone, no card but if it is a chicken every night week then I treat myself.)

Some of you may feel that this crosses the line into dishonest, but Emily and I personally think it is genius!

And last but not least...

Step #3 Don't Brag and Don't Hide!

Just be normal! If you buy a new pair of shoes, go put them in your closet when you get home. Don't hide them under your guest room bed and then spend the next six weeks trying to think of a way to convince your husband that you have always had that pair of shoes. That just takes the fun out of shopping!

When I wear a new something and my husband notices, I simply say "Yes dear, it is new. Thank you for noticing." or if it isn't new: "Dude, I wore this last week. Do you notice nothing???"

And on the other extreme, I personally, have never understood my friends that feel the need to immediately tell their husbands about every little purchase and explain how, based on sales and mad bargain shopping skills, they actually made money on said purchase. My husband doesn't want (nor does he believe) the explanation and honestly my opinion is that it is our money regardless of who earned it and so long as I am sticking to the budget, I don't need permission to spend our money!

So, I'm curious...what are your budget tweaking money saving ideas?