*Gasp!* I Bought Something for Me!

Maybe it's just me, but I have a hard time buying anything even remotely a "want" and not a "need" for myself. There are a couple reasons, I think. First, as a mom, it's hard to get something for me when I have very likely just told a child (or two!) that I won't buy them something. Second, while I'm digging out of debt, I feel guilty spending money that could go towards extra on a credit card. Dave Ramsey and most other financial folks agree that you need a little spending money in your budget to have fun with, but I usually limit that to an iced cap from Tim Horton's or a caramel frappe from McDonald's, and even then I occasionally feel guilt over spending less than $3!

So buying something that wasn't a true "need" was a major deal yesterday. And even though I didn't spend a penny out of my pocket, I still feel kinda guilty! (It's a childhood thing - love my mom, but she was the queen of inflicting guilt.) Anyhoo, I have been saving my Amazon.com gift codes that I have been earning through Swagbucks and MyPoints with the expressed intent of using them for a digital camera. Yes, I'm still in the 20th century with my film camera! I had been hoping for a Canon, which Consumer Reports rated pretty high; however, as my codes have been piling up, I've been getting kind of impatient. After all, a Canon isn't exactly cheap! :-) My daughter has a Kodak, and when I started to read the reviews on Amazon, the Kodak was actually getting better ratings. So I looked at them again yesterday and determined I had more than enough in gift codes to get a 10 Mp Kodak. I still can't quite believe I ordered it, but I did! I even have about $10 left over in codes, which I will continue to accumulate.

Now the next question is, will I save the rest of the codes I earn this year for Christmas shopping on Amazon or get an MP3 player? I don't need anything fancy, and my swagbucks have been adding up quickly the last few months, so maybe I can do both. Tune in later this year to find out! lol