Snarky Spender Seeks Saving Solution For Uncomfortable Relationship. Must Love Starbucks.

I'm Jenn and I'm a spender. 

Who doesn't love to spend money? The perfectly arranged rainbow display of tee shirts at the perfectly appointed big box store.  I can't pass those up. I need at least three. Makeup aisles clean and clinical but also lit up like a spaceship so I can see how big my pores are. Will that designer-line fix them? Let's put that in the cart. Twenty dollar candles carefully arranged with clean design labels. Maybe one color with a serif font. Yes, this mandarin-honey-sage candle is going to whisk my problems away the moment I light it. If I burn this in my home it will always look and smell clean and be well decorated. I need this right now.

Or maybe the big box store isn't your thing. Do you like the atmosphere of your favorite coffeehouse? Does the deep warm aroma of coffee grab your heart and mind like it does for me? It reminds me of quiet mornings before anyone else is awake. Mornings in the fall before the gray fog has burned off and everything is misty. Muffled. Coffee reminds me of Christmas shopping and touch football games and cozy flannel. And you can get those things every day, topped with a caramel swirl and handed to you in a cup that may or may not be controversial this year.  Let us not even begin to discuss the pastry. That's a league of its own.

Those are just two examples. I could go on all day. I'm Jenn and spending gives me warm fuzzies. 

So why am I here? To wax poetic about my love of buying stuff and experiences?

No. I'm here to stop it.

You see even on an unlimited budget, a human person does not need all that stuff. While I'm not a minimalist, I'm a realist. And the reality is I need to stop spending. I need to stop spending or we'll never be able to buy a house. Or retire. Or afford Christmas. And stuff.

Am I a shopping addict? Not really. I don't agree to a budget and then break it. I don't hide my purchases (most of the time). I'm more of an unaware spender. I don't like to know what's in my account because then I can't spend. I guess I'm a purposefully unaware spender.  That being said I know how to pinch a penny and make it squeal when I'm out of money. I just don't like to live that way long term.

So welcome to my adventure. I need to learn to save.