What the Frugality Game Taught Me

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Being the cheesy writer at heart that I am, during the frugality Game I kept thinking of an equally cheesy blog post I could write about to tell my followers how simply saving money changed my life in more ways than one. However, I kept telling myself that would be entirely too cheesy and I reckoned no one would care. That is, until someone commented saying that I would be surprised how this game would help in all areas of my life. Why, by George, I thought, that’s exactly what I was thinking! So here is your extremely cheesy blog post, and you can thank Joy for it.

1.       The Frugality Game helped me in being less self-centred:

The thing about being a shopaholic is that if you’re not careful, you can become very self- centred. While I did not become quite as self-centred as I have seen others become, I did become self- centred enough to start to dislike this trait that was emerging in my character. I had noticed that in all my conversations I would talk endlessly about this great blouse I found on sale, how it fit me so well, what hair style I would wear with it.  Or I would go on endlessly about this great lipstick I bought, and how it contrasted so well with my dark skin and hair. Every conversation seemed to revolve around my purchases and how I was (supposedly) benefitting from them.

And the thing was that while I would sometimes buy stuff for family members or friends, most of what I bought was for myself. Therefore, not only was I senselessly spending money on stuff I didn’t need, but I was also senselessly focussing way too much on myself. Now the shopaholic era is over I have found myself becoming more interested in other people’s affairs and less on myself and my expenditures.

2.       I have more money.
       

Frugality Game: Final Episode: The Dog Days are over!!!

The Frugality Game is over guys!!! And I have a surprise for you! : I WON!!!
I know I didn't think I'd win, in fact I was pretty sure I would end up coming second after Jackie but let's just say that Jackie hasn't been quite as transparent about her spending as she should have been. (the sneaky wench. Haha!)
Now if you remember, at the start of this game, it was my sister Jane who was all gung-ho about playing this game because she was certain she would win. She was so excited in fact that she created a spending log sheet on which we each had to fill in exactly how much money we spent every day. Now I and Jane had been faithfully filling in our purchases every day, but Jackie got kind of lazy with keeping track of her purchases, and that is why Jane and I thought she was not spending any money at all. But it turns out that she has been spending money. And quite a lot of it at that.
 I only discovered this recently when I had lunch in my favourite restaurant with my sisters. I was begging Jackie to at least give me an estimate of the little money she had spent for my blog. But she kept brushing me off. Finally I said "well, I've spent more than $300, you don't have to tell me exactly how much you spent, but just tell me if it's more than $100, or more more than $150..."
She laughed derisively. "Trust me, I've spent way more than that."
I dropped my fork into my chicken alfredo. "You have? ..Exactly how much more have you spent?" I was starting to get a bit excited, but I was trying to hide it for her sake.
She sighed dramatically. "Well... I had to buy a lot of things this month for the apartment. And then there is gym membership, your birthday present, these clothes I just bought. And lots of other stuff. And that's just October. I spent so much money at the end of September that I don't even want to talk about it. In all, from the end of September till now I'd say I've spent about... more than $600."
"What? I can't BELIEVE you!" I said in an admonishing voice, though I was grinning from ear to ear. "I mean, honestly, I've been telling everyone on my blog that you've been so financially prudent, and that I'm proud of you and this is how you repay me?"
She had the grace to look ashamed and started wringing her hands. "Well, it's really, really hard to save you know."
I was reminded that I'm a shopaholic too and I know how hard it is to save, and I felt sorry for her. "Well don't worry. Even though the frugality game is finished we'll still keep trying to save, and eventually we'll get there, right?"
"I have to get there. I'm broke. Don't expect a Christmas gift from me, kid." She joked.
"Haha, you're funny...You are joking...right? right????
She just winked and said she had to go.


So that's it folks. I've WON!!!! I'm so happy. I didn't even realize yesterday was the 21st till my friend mentioned it and then I started freaking out in the middle of the cafeteria. But I didn't even care. I made it guys. Thanks to the fantastic followers who read along and/ or commented on each post (thanks especially to Zabrinah, Isabel, and E.)
So it'll be back to regular programming from the next post. Blogging about random stuff, though I will keep you up to date with my tales of getting over my shopaholic tendencies. I'm not going to give up on myself. I'm better than I was last month, and I want to be better next month than I have been this month. I just gotta keep my eyes on the prize. And off sale racks and high priced eyeshadow.

Frugality Game: Episode 3 : I fell off the wagon.

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  So I may have suffered a minor setback, not really in the frugality game but in my quest of overcoming my shopaholicism. I kind of spent $40. On eyeshadow.
   I know that's not much of a financial setback when compared to the $90 I spent on my hair but that was an emergency, so I can rationalize that. But this? I don't know what I was thinking. Especially when I recall the fact that I have never spent more than $14.75 on eyeshadow. Till now.
   But let me tell you how it happened.
   I got a ride to work on Friday, and as I've mentioned before, I work in the den of all evil for a shopaholic : a mall. Anyway, to avoid being tempted by the stores in the mall, I've been getting to work exactly on time so that I have to go straight to my desk and have no time to window shop or browse in any of the other stores. But that day I got a ride to work and my ride deposited me at the mall a lot earlier than I expected. So I had some time to kill. I wandered up a staircase and ended up in the clothing store of one of my friends who we'll call V. I was proudly looking through racks of clothes without being (too) tempted, and basically I was just very smug about getting over my shopaholicism and being so frugal.

Lets play a game.....

Disclaimer: Pic compliments of www.lilitu.com

 
My sister has just suggested that we play a game. I perked up hoping she meant something like Uno or Poker or something interesting.
   "I propose we play a game this month. I've decided to play this game with my friend T and we decided to challenge each other to see who can spend the least money this month. 'Cos we're both trying to save. Do you want to play too?"
   My shoulders immediately slumped and I went back to frowning at the laptop screen. I thought I knew why she was mentioning this game to me. Earlier this very night I had unwittingly allowed her to read my last blog post on being a shopaholic. Still in denial about how horrible my shopping habits have become, I kinda don't think I need to play any silly frugality games. Pssh. I can stop my shopping anytime. And I will. All on my own.
   Yes, these were the thoughts that raced through my head in the seconds that followed her announcement. Then I figured what the hell, I might as well play this game. I mean, I only have a part time job while my sister has a permanent full time job, so she makes more than me, so she is probably going to spend more than me. I should win this game easily.
   Then I remembered something about my sis Jane: she is the sensible sister. And she doesn't like to lose.
My other sister Jackie and I are far more flighty, live-for-the-moment people. We're both shopaholics, we're both random, and we both have odd senses of humour. Jane is special too, but she's just always got her head on more than us. She's dedicated, passionate to what she loves, and single-minded. And she doesn't like to admit it, but she can be very competitive. She will be a worthier opponent that I had previously thought.
   And so without further ado....let the games begin.
  This will be a series I will try to blog about at least twice a week till the end of this month-long game. Should be interesting seeing how a shopaholic will cope against a sensible sister. Lets do this.


   p.s. By 'month', my sister means that this game will commence from today, Sept 21st till Oct 21st, as September has nearly ended (and thank God for that. September has not been my best month. lol)