Single Black Female, Addicted to Retail

 Hey guys!

I adopted a puppy!! She's the cutest thing ever created. Seriously. So forgive me for taking such a long break in writing. She takes up literally all my thoughts. All. Of. Them.

                                               

I mean, can't you see why? She's 2 and half months of adorable that I never expected to have in my life. That being said, she's also rolls and rolls of paper towels, puppy food, puppy treats, hardwood floor safe pet cleaner, chew toys, wee wee pads, biting repellant and sacrificed slippers that I didn't expect to have in my life.

$5 here, $10 there, adoption fees, vet bills, petco starter kit. It's been 12 days and I've already spent a small fortune on this sweet girl. Which brings us to today's topic

Nonessential Essentials 

But Epiphany, you ask, what are nonessentials? Well, I'll tell you. Oreo was a nonessential. I could have absolutely continued to live my life without her. I wouldn't have so much love or pieces of my hands missing; but I would have survived. Nonessentials are things you want, can maybe afford, but don't absolutely need.

- Those new shoes from Rihanna
- Tickets to Coachella to see Bey perform while prego with twins.
- Membership to phishing site (is that a real thing?) to sell the tickets to coachella since Bey won't be performing
- Extravagant evening with dinner and theater tickets
- Having dinner delivered... every night. seamless for life!!
- Spontaneous clothes shopping
- Wine that cost more than $10 a bottle
- Rescue pups... 😐

All of these things are super fun and we totally want to experience a certain quality of life! But if you're trying to save money these are the first types of things you skip. You need to save these nonessential things for when times are a little more flush (tax refund season anyone?)

If you want to track how much money you're spending on nonessentials try for a month, or even a couple of weeks. Keep your receipts and check your card statements to see exactly how much you're spending on going out, and movies, clothes and other nonessentials. Note it in that notebook you got to track your bills, or if you're feeling fancy make a spreadsheet.

Bonus Hint: Keeping track all year long helps when it comes times to do taxes in February. Believe me. I do my own! 😉

That's all for now!

the rest is still UNwritten