I've Been Had!

I've always thought I was smart with money. I hang up on guys who want to up my credit card limit, I cover my keypad while typing my password, and I tend to budget quite well. I wouldn't call it cheap ... but maybe thrifty. Twenty five years I've gone without doing anything really stupid with money ... and that all came crashing down yesterday. The culprit ... gift cards.

Over Christmas I got a couple gift cards to various places in town. I now understand why stores love gift cards ... you always end up spending more than you have on the card!!! I spent an extra 170 dollars in one store yesterday and barely even had a bag full of clothes ... do you know how many items of clothes you can get at Salvation Army for 170 dollars!!??? A LOT. That's the answer to that question.

Anyway, my woman said I looked good so I justified spending that much. (She came in under her gift cards!! An art I obviously have yet to master.)

We then went to another pricey place in town to use more of our gift cards ... again, I was tricked into spending more money ... tack on another 68 dollars above the GC's I got for Christmas!! It's like a sickness ... once the flood gates open up, there's no stopping the plastic!! I found myself wanting to go buy more things at places I didn't even have GC's for!! It was all my girlfriend could do to control me!!

The good news is I felt sick to my stomach about spending that much money .. so the shopping spree ended there. By now you can tell the thrifty comment I made earlier, is really just a cover up for me being a cheap skate. I can't help it ... its years of backpacking and being a student that have formed me this way!

After the dust settled .. I had two shirts .... a pair of jeans ... two dress shirts ... a pair of dress pants ... and a belt. Not bad for 250 bucks. Saying that makes me want to yack. I really am cheap.

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I'm 25. My birthday was on boxing day. I don't feel any different. I don't feel older. I don't have aches and pains. I haven't got any white hairs. But I do shake my fist at young kids who walk by my house ... but I've been doing that since the age of 21. Thanks to everyone who gave me a shout out on facebook, it felt nice.

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The Living Sky Casino opened yesterday. I think I'm going to let that sink in for a couple weeks before a blog is in order ... stay tuned.