Giving it up~ a Giveaway

I've been thinking a lot about frugality and generosity, and how to make them not so mutually unexclusive (is that too many double negatives? I just got lost...). I think of myself as generous in some ways, like with compliments, letting cars go ahead of me (am I really in that much of a rush to get to mommy group or the grocery store? Come on now.), and occasionally with my time. However when it comes to gifts that require the giving up of my Scrooge Purse (thanks hubster!), I'm less generous. My husband is very generous, which mostly I think is amazing, but occasionally I find myself resisting his generosity because it gets in the way of my frugality. So I'm wondering how to make the two coexist more in myself.

In that spirit, and in the spirit of Valentine's Day, and my kiddo's first birthday (he almost was a Valentine's Day baby-- had I not had to push for FOUR HOURS he would've been!) I'm going to offer up the $10 gift card to the Maine Mall (or other ggp affiliated malls) that I received this morning.

Disclaimer: In the past when I've been a recipient of these mall gift cards, they've been a little tricky-- there are some weird rules about using them in combination with other credit cards or cash, so enter at your own risk.

You may enter up to thrice times. How to enter:

* Become a follower of this blog and leave me a comment letting me know you've done so.
* Leave me a comment with your thoughts on the intersection of frugality and generosity.
* Post a link to my giveaway on your blog.

This giveaway will end next Friday, February 19th, at 11:59p.m.

And congrats to Eunice, who by default won my little Oikos coupon giveaway!

Frugal F&*!up

Welcome back to the Frugal F&*!up!

This week, a triumvirate of events collided to sabotage my budget:

1. I went for the gold. I got my Rite Aid total up to $100 (counted before coupons-- will give you the actual totals later) so I could get the $35 Visa card back before the promotion ends this weekend.

2. That temptress, cheap laundry detergent, lured me in like the saucy vixen she is. While still cheap, I ended up with seven bottles, which put me out just over $14.

3. My son's first birthday party. While we're keeping it pretty chill, yo, the event inevitably adds extras to the grocery list.

Now, probably a normal person would say "okay, so you're going to be over budget this week. Relax, you have the money and it's not the end of the world."

However, I am not a normal person. I vascillate wildly between perfectionism and complete slackerdom. I struggle to live within the murky grey and stay away from the black and white, extreme, all or nothing thinking. Much like when I used to go from diet to diet, swearing to be all pure and then the next thing I know I wake up next to a credit card slip from Pizza Hut and find frosting smeared on my eyebrow.

So I'm obsessing over my Frutal F-up. I feel like the principal found out and he's coming to take me to his office for a paddling. (When I was in elementary school, our principal actually was allowed, for a time, to paddle kids! Shocking, no?) My husband, who does not necessarily view frugality as a positive thing (which could be a whole blog in and of itself-- Cheapskate and Not-so-much Mate? In fact, in the early days of our relationship, I kept finding pennies outside on the driveway. I finally mentioned it to him. Turns out he was THROWING THEM AWAY. That was thisclose to being a dealbreaker!) told me to lighten up. Actually, he said "you need to loosen up the hold on your Scrooge Purse."

I think he might be on to something. So I'm going to toss the proverbial pizza box in the recycling bin, scrub the frosting off my eyebrow, and enjoy the fact that our sweet little boy is turning one. I'll start the frugal thing again on Monday.