Ideas... Ideas...

So along with my new years resolution has come brainstorming, seems like I can't stop it lately...
The other day I did our weekly grocery trip and went over by $40 and this has been plaguing my thoughts!
It is AMAZING how quickly $40 adds up, 3 things alone made us go over. So that got me thinking, how can I prevent going over in the future on items like these. The 3 extras were a gift card for my nephew for Christmas (late!), a clearance toy and a splurge on a new years eve "party pack" (which wasn't even worth it because it didn't come with all the promised items! Goes without saying, I plan to return this one!!).

So, some ideas I came up with to avoid these items in the future... May seem obvious to some but maybe helpful to others.
1) Only buy gifts if we've planned and budgeted for them! (sigh) Other ways we can cut back is by maybe getting a less expensive gift or gift card or making something homemade...
2) Don't buy things on clearance, even if it's a great price. If you didn't PLAN to buy it then it's too much (may be easier said than done).
3) Research ways to decorate for holidays with things we have at home, I am sure a quick trip to pinterest would have resulted in much better stuff then the junk I have to return anyway.

So there are a few recent $ saving thoughts of mine.

Thanks for reading!
~Casey