photo credit: John LinwoodI recently posted frugal ideas for throwing a party for our oldest son’s 5th birthday. We ended up shopping for a lot of the clearance items that were left over from this past Halloween and found some really great decorations and candy for the upcoming event. Just this past weekend, we were at the local Super Target and came across all of their remaining Halloween items that had been marked down to 90% off! They had a lot of candy and decorations remaining that had been thrown into one aisle and were a complete mess. Since we had our oldest son with us, we decided to make a game out of the event. He loves pirates right now, so we told him he was a pirate looking for buried treasure and would give him things to look for. He loved it and we all had a blast and came away with a ton of candy, costumes for next year, and decorations for his birthday party. We spent over 1 hour looking for our buried treasure (or clearance items) and spent less than $10.
Later in the weekend, we took advantage of a triple coupon offer at one of the local grocery chains. My wife and I sorted through all of our coupons that were less than $1 off, as the grocer would limit the tripling to coupons .99 cents or below. It is strange to say, but we actually had fun together looking for these coupons, which took us a little over 1 hour to complete. Before we headed to the store, we sorted the coupons into categories (i.e. dairy, frozen items, soups, etc.) and split them up as evenly as possible so we each had a set. Once we had the coupons in hand, we set off to the grocery store. While at the grocery store, we split up and each looked for their respective deals with the pile of coupons that we both had. While we didn’t officially say it was a competition, my wife and I secretly tried to see who could get the best deals. It basically has become a game to us. Whoever can get the highest number of free products or discounted items wins! This wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, that we made a game out of shopping.
Recently, while at work, I was discussing credit cards with a few of my co-workers. Everyone in the group stated how they had cut their cards up or only used them in an emergency, except for me. In addition, every other person (besides myself) stated how he or she had gotten into such high credit card debt that they refused to use credit cards any longer. I applauded these co-workers for their efforts of breaking the credit card debt spiral that most people get themselves into. When it was my turn to tell about how my family uses credit cards as a form of passive income, most of the others were in shock. They couldn’t believe that we would charge everything we possibly can to our credit cards, just so we could bring in some extra income. I explained that we have strong personal money management skills and write down every single purchase we make on the cards and have a monthly budget to balance against. One lady commented to me that she could tell that this was a game to me by looking at how excited I got telling my story. She thought it was great to use these cards to my advantage.
After hearing the comments that my fellow co-worker made to me about treating credit card purchases as a game, I then realized that it was something that actually gave me excitement. I was treating these purchases as a game to see how much money I could make from using a credit card. In the paragraphs above, I provided 3 recent examples of how my family and I actually make a game out of our frugal behaviors. The post-Halloween shopping experience with our son was made into a treasure hunt. The trip to the grocery store was made into a competition between my wife and I against each other. How we use credit cards and what we can redeem from accumulating points and rewards was also a game. I then started to think about all the other daily activities that our family participates in. It was startling to think that almost everything we do that is frugal we turn into a game! These activities are actually a form of entertainment for our family.
Do you treat any of your frugal behaviors as a game? Do you make competitions out of shopping for clearance items?
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Dawn 11.12.08 at 12:17 pm
You know, even though it is very serious to me, I still see my $900 a month goal as a competition with myself - how much better can I do this month? next? When I got my second job paycheck the other day I couldn’t wait to add the total to my sidebar. I certainly feel the same way with my grocery shopping - how little can I pay and how long can I make these groceries last? I agree, making it fun is a great way to stay motivated!
Chris 11.26.08 at 12:47 pm
Thanks for the great post. Turning your mindset away from spending and towards saving is a hard thing to do. A lot of it comes down to psychology. Using tactics like this works well to start off on the right foot or to increase the effectiveness of your savings plans and meeting your financial goals.
steve 11.28.08 at 11:31 am
Managing turning a challenging problem or goal that may be difficult for you into a game is switching a more negative, “worrying” mindset into a more positive, lighter and playful one. It will likely be easier and more fun to achieve any goal that you have using such a strategy. Thanks for reminding me of this good idea through your article.