Craft Show Wrong-doings
Over the weekend I planned on going to a local craft show. I was excited, I love craft shows, love handmade items and enjoy just seeing what is out there.
This craft show was big. I took my two kids as my DH had plans for the day. They were in a good mood and also excited for the craft show. We actually planned on going on Friday but time got away from us and we didn’t have time.
I took out $100 cash to buy gifts with. Before leaving, I talked to DH about what I was going to buy – a gift for my Dad for his birthday. I knew exactly what I wanted and saw a picture of what I wanted on the craft show website. So of course I assumed that particular item would be sold there.
But I couldn’t figure out who sold the item, thus I couldn’t find their spot on the map the show was passing out. Instead the kids and I did a quick walk through of the entire place and got an idea what was there.
The gift I wanted wasn’t there.
Okay, taking a step back what should I have done. Should I have left because I went with just that in mind to buy? Maybe. But I didn’t. I stayed because I still needed a gift for my Dad and saw a few things that might work.
I ended up buying him something for his house – only spending about $27 (tax included).
That is when I should have left!
I didn’t. I stayed and also bought our family christmas ornament (we get one every year), a glass ornament for my Mom (also get her one from my brothers and I every year), a family ornament with all the grandkids names (one each for my Mom and Dad) and an ornament for my stepdad (technically from my kids).
I also bought a name painting – well two of them, one for each child – and they claimed to be “so so hungry” since we were there for two hours! I honestly didn’t realize it was that long! But the food (a drink, hotdog and a small bag of popcorn) was completely overpriced – which I guess I should have expected because the show was held at the local coliseum, which is typically for concerts and shows and such.
In the end, I overspent by $50. I feel like I did good with buying the ornaments even though they weren’t on the list.
However, where I did bad was buying the names for my kids. Yes they were cute, they are unique, they were cheaper then any other place we have seen them. But they were the $40 of the $50 that I overspent.
My DH was disappointed in me – something we never want to feel from our spouses – and I felt bad all day yesterday. I thought about our plan to make a list and stick with the list and to stick with our budget. We paid minimum payments on both credit cards this past payday and are using the money otherwise to buy Christmas gifts. Granted, we are not buying a lot – but nonetheless, I didn’t follow the budget.
I think I will have to only use cash to buy gifts. I will have to leave my credit card home and leave the bank card in the car. It’s easy for me to keep track with the bank card because I typically use it like it is cash. I know I can’t overdraw because it’s linked to our checking account but nonetheless, it’s easy to whip it out to buy something.