Mission Possible, with Intent

• She is like merchants ships, she bringeth her food (and other things!) from afar
• She looketh well to the ways of her household

It's time for another Mission Possible for this week.

If you read my post from last night about living with intent, I think that living with intent easily carries over into every area of our lives as virtuous women--including shopping. I've come a long way in the last year toward living a much more frugal lifestyle in many ways. I cook more, clip coupons, shop sales, play the drugstore games, I've started hitting thrift stores--I do many of the right things.

And, I have to confess, at times I've gotten all caught up in it--I've bought things I'll never use and don't have any use for--even for donating--just because it was free or a "great deal". I've gotten frustrated when my newspaper insets don't have all of the "good" or best coupons, just because I don't live in a major metropolitan area. I've been jealous of the deals I've seen other people get that I've had to skip--either because I didn't have the right coupon, or had already used mine, or my stores weren't as well stocked, etc, etc, etc.

For the last few weeks I've been really rethinking my "wheeling and dealing", and that's why you've seen some weeks that I may not seem to shop all that much, or I may skip some deals. Last week I even skipped the coupon insert (!) and lived to tell the tale! I don't blog about every single shopping trip--doesn't mean I don't still try to stay within the limits of frugality, I think I've just gotten so used to finding good deals that I don't pay as much attention as I should to "regular" deals.

If you want to read some other thoughts along the same line, Melissa at Saving Cents with Sense has been doing a series of posts about what it means to be frugal. Her topics include:

What Does it Mean to Be Frugal?

Be Frugal, Value Your Resources

Frugality is Not a Competitive Sport

Signs that You May Need a Coupon Vacation

And so, although I'm still doing my "Mission Possible" runs; still clipping and printing coupons; still working on "wheeling and dealing" and thrifting, I want to be sure each week that I'm intentional about what I spend, and what I bring into our home. Do we need it or really even want it? Can we use it or know someone who can, or do I have some place specific to donate it?

My typical Mission Possible intro says it all--

Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to take the resources we have available to us--coupons, rebates, Extra Care Bucks (ECB), Register Rewards (RR) and weekly ad circulars--to get the things our families need and can use, all while keeping our total out-of-pocket (OOP) as low as possible. We fulfill our tasks at drugstores, grocery stores, dollar stores, and wherever we can find those bargains and frugal finds that benefit our families!

As you make your frugal "steals and deals" this week, please link to your shopping post, or leave a comment about your intentional shopping!

Until next time...

Mission Possible Participants

1. My $.99 trip to CVS 2. Saving Cents with Sense (92% Savings at CVS) 3. My $.09 Walgreens Trip

4. Maven of Savin' ($150 worth for $3 PROFIT!) 5. Liz@HoosierHomemade(Pencils & Paper) 6. My 2nd trip to Walgreens this week

7. Better than Free at Rite Aid

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