I Hate to Shop...

The title of my post today says it all.... I really do hate to shop. It's just not my thing at all! I had a good friend in college, I'll call her "D". "D" I swear was a professional shopper. Especially for clothing. She learned from the best, her mother. Her mom would go browsing often, and look for beautiful, well made, unique, quality items. Then she would continue her browsing each week, until the item she was interested in went on sale. I don't know whether it was good genes or the training under her mother's tuteledge....but "D" knew how to shop!

On the other hand, I can not stand to do that. I buy stuff like clothing when the need arises. (So, does dh by the way). Since we both detest clothes shopping, my boys love it because they only have to visit that task a few times a year. Trust me it's a chore for all of us when that happens! lol!

The only thing I really do enjoy browsing for are home items. All home items, from accesories, to furniture, to major building materials at Lowes. Even then I typically don't buy those things unless we really need them. (See once again it's an as needed type of shopping).

So, I've really been pondering my Coins blog here. If you are looking for deals on just about anything.... you probably won't find it here. There are plenty of sites listed on my side bar that you can click on to find the latest Walgreens/CVS and grocery deals. Plus I am sure there are many places to find clothing sales or other types of shopping sales, either online or in a store. I'm not a shopper... so I'm not the one to go to for breaking news in any of those areas!

As I have been thinking, I really had to ask myself..."What am I passionate about? What really drives me toward leading a frugal lifestyle?" It isn't the awesome deals, though they certainly help me in certain areas like my budget. What I am passionate about it the steps that our family is taking to not only be debt free, but to live life like never before. It's not necessarily about wealth, but to me it's a journey of breaking the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. It's beginning to understand what saving means, and buying only when you have the money saved. It's learning how to be good stewards of our finances, and taking the steps necessary to be financially free.

It isn't easy. I will be the first to admit this is a really hard thing to learn. I struggle often with a desire to just forget about the budget and "just buy it". I was never taught how to really manage my finances as a youth or young adult, and the habits I have are hard to break. But I'm learning.... and I guess that is what I am passionate about. I want others to learn from our successes and failures. I especially want couples younger than us to learn of the pitfalls and to see that they can start early to really get ahead on the road to financial freedom. Whenever I hear a young couple in their late 20's say to Dave Ramsey on a Friday that they just paid off their house and they are debt-free... I get goose bumps. Seriously. I marvel at how amazing that is, and what a gift they have truly given themselves! And I wish I had know at their age, what I am struggling to learn now. I'm passionate about that process, because I truly believe it is valuable for everyone.

I'm really not sure what that will translate to...here on this blog. I do know that I won't be posting a whole lot of deals! But, I will however be sharing my heart.