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Track Your Business Expenses Efficiently

Primarily, business credit cards help a business manage its finances more efficiently. For instance, tracking business expenses can prove to be a challenge. Keeping inventory of the costs and making sure that not a single cent is missed involves a lot of work. However, this task is made much simpler with the help of business credit cards.

How Do Business Credit Cards Help You To Manage Your Business?

Read Full Article: Track Your Business Expenses with Business Credit Cards

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I was just wondering how you all are doing?

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I joined your group because you guys AMAZE me in your drive to be so self-controlled!  Seriously, I am amazed.  I own 1 pair of pants, 2 skirts and a few tops for the summer.  If anything, my family gets on me for not owning enough clothing and they get tired of seeing me in the same old thing over and over and over... :)  I like spending my money on books and shoes and handbags.  So, hopefully I will be inspired by reading your blogs to give up spending money on those items.  I'm not ready to do it yet!  But, maybe after spending some time with you all, I will be able to do it!!

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I found a loophole in the rules of my Shopping Embargo. I am allowed to purchase embargoed goods as presents for others, provided they are legitimate presents, right? But at no point did I say that I was not allowed to purchase any presents for myself on someone's behalf. This is a loophole that will be closed immediately starting right this moment, because I already went back to Target and purchased a sleek new red Nintendo DS Lite for myself, on behalf of my husband, as an early 2nd anniversary present.

Oh, and I bought one for him, too.

And a carrying case with all the necessary travel gear.

And two games.

So that's it! I am done! No more shopping for myself! This means no gifts, no treats, no nothing!!!

And really, for this transgression, I really ought to push my end date forward a bit to the end of August. But I'll see how I feel at the end of this month. If I promise to be really really really good, I think I might let myself off easy.

But only this once.

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I felt it was necessary to post an update about the Embargo, considering my last post about it indicated that I was faced with a whole lot of temptation. And, yes, I truly was. In fact, I still am. But a promise is a promise, no matter how bad of an idea it seems right now.

(And, yes, I'm fully aware of the fact that when I look at my receipts in August, at the end of this Embargo, I will be quite pleased with myself and the small increase to my savings account because of my efforts. But right now, it really sucks. It's kind of like being on a diet of rice cakes and water for a week, knowing full well that at the end of the week you would have lost an obscene amount of weight. You want to get to that next size down, but you don't want to put in the effort. And right now, I really don't want to put in the effort.)

My purchases this weekend were as follows:

• From the Carter's Outlet: 8 1-piece pajamas for the baby, 2 of which are in the next size up. Total cost: $85, including tax. Because of this purchase, I also received a coupon for $20 off a $50 purchase if I return this month to buy more clothes for him. Considering that I need to buy more pants for him, this is probably a good thing.
• From the Old Navy Outlet: 3 pairs of socks for the baby. Total cost: $1.60 How can you possibly beat that?
• From Target: A bubble mailer (so I can mail something out to one of my neighbors), some white onesies for the baby in his correct size (I had to pack up all but 4 of his current onesies because I can barely get them over his head), some shampoo (with a coupon!), 2 jars of baby food, 2 refills for the Diaper Genie ($2 off the regular price - the lowest price I've ever seen), light bulbs, and wipes. Total cost: $46, including tax. And you have no idea how difficult it was for me to rein myself in, especially since the Nintendo DS Lite was on sale - and they had a red one in stock, staring at me!
• And from the grocery store, $35 of food.

All in all, it wasn't terrible. I am most proud, though, of the fact that absolutely none of this was on plastic. Everything was paid for in cash. (Well, I broke out the debit card at Carter's, so I didn't exactly plan that one too well...)

And, of course, what greets me in the Sunday paper but scads of ads tempting me to go out and buy things that I want but don't really need. So, in that respect, this Embargo is a good thing. After all, as much as I want a Nintendo DS (because, mind you, everyone else has one), I have much better things to do than sit around playing it.

Like laundry. Or even better, sleep!

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I am pleased to report that I still have not purchased anything on my banned list. This is not to say that I have not bought anything. Rather, it means I have only purchased things that are necessities.

Among my recent purchases:

• Hannah Montana t-shirts for my nieces. They love Hannah Montana (High School Musical is so 2007, you know), and as they both have birthdays coming up, I thought it was appropriate. Total cost for the two shirts: $13 plus tax.
• Diapers for the baby. I think it goes without saying that these were a necessity. But I got them all on sale, and now I have enough diapers until he moves up to Size 4.
• Food.
• Toddler spoons for the baby. I have two that I inherited from my sister, but Baby C hasn't taken to them. I'm hoping he'll do a better job with these new spoons.

Today, I have to go on a field trip to the Lake Buena Vista Outlets, where my company has an outlet location. Is it completely necessary that I go? Well, no, not really. But I have stuff to return, and I need to go to the Carter's outlet, anyway (Baby C desperately needs new pajamas, which I'm really hoping they will have), and I'd really like to leave work a little early and get a jump start on my weekend.

This does mean, of course, that I will be sorely tempted at every turn. So it's a good thing I've printed out my Shopping Embargo rules to make sure I stay within the letter (in case the spirit fails) of the law.

But temptation does not stop there. Oh, no. You see, there's a new Target coming to my area, and it opens on Sunday. And they sent me a coupon for $5 a purchase of $25 or more. So, of course there will be plenty of things that I will see and say, "Oh, I want that!" And then I need to rein myself in, and remind myself, "Eileen, this is a Target. There are plenty of other Targets all over the country."

And did I mention that JoAnn's had all kinds of crazy 10% off coupons in last Sunday's paper? It's like somebody knows, and they're trying to make me fall off the wagon!

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I was just reflecting on that fact that, if this were (almost) any other year, my Year Without Shopping for clothes would have already started. But no, here we are, and it's February 29th, that one extra day, and I'm wondering if there is anything, ANYTHING, I should be buying before midnight tonight. Over the past couple of weeks, I have made some trips to the stores to buy a few things that I thought of as necessities for the next year:

- a pair of black dress pants that fit (my most recently purchased pair were 3 sizes bigger than I need now, and alterations were just a little too extreme)

- a couple new tank tops

- a cheap straw sunhat, which I've been meaning to buy for years, but now that I'll have a garden, I'll really need it

- a new pair of yoga pants (I gave all my nicer, but bigger, pairs to a pregnant friend, who I know will need them during her first year with her baby-to-be)

- my Merrels, which you've already seen

- a pair of flip-flops, to take to the pool, etc.

And then there was just one impulse buy, this over-priced, pseudo-hippy long-sleeved t-shirt from Lucky Brand Jeans that is so me that I want to be buried in it:

And with that, we're done. Since I committed to this a few weeks ago, I've been thinking a lot about why I've decided to stop buying clothes for a year. While there are definitely financial and environmental benefits to it, I think the major personal reason is because I just want to escape that centrifugal feeling of consumerism that I feel myself getting sucked into. Just because I may have the cash flow (as opposed to the cash) to consume, doesn't mean I need to. I've had lots of chats with people, but particularly my sisters, about how people get used to, even comfortable with, a certain level of debt, and just sustain that while using whatever credit room they have to live some sort of unsustainable lifestyle. I am no longer interested in pursuing this. Rather, I'm more interested in taking back my time, money and attention from the marketing machine that chews them up and spits out a person that somewhat resembles myself, but has less time and money, and who doesn't seem that much happier, healthier, or more well rested. Fie, I say. I'd rather knit. 

I'm kinda going into this with more of a curiosity, rather than any specific goals, of what this year will mean. But whatever it ends up being, I'm glad I have the rest of you to share it with.

So to Jennifer, who got this all started..... 

and Eileen, who left us all in the dust at the starting gates....

and to aika, The Crew, Carol, and LG, who have also joined the Stop Shopping Challenge...

I'd like to say good luck, and I look forward to sharing the next year with you!!     

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it's super extra ironic because... i work for that retail mega-chain: Gap, Inc.  yep.  it's true.  i work for the online division.  great employer, btw.  love my job and my co-workers.  i actually have very little to do with the clothing... because i'm a product manager over our data warehouse.  but, that i work for the gap AND have decided i need to cut out my shopping habit is, if you ask me, pretty ironic.  or, at least, comical.

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I just joined out of simple curiosity. I do not have a problem with shopping too much, in fact, quite the opposite...

I wish you all luck, and I look forward to reading your updates and successes!

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I promise I will stop doing daily reports on this, but I am so very proud of myself today!

I just boxed up birthday presents for four friends who all have birthdays before the beginning of August. (This now means I am finished with birthday shopping for all but one friend.) Moreover, I picked up not one, not two, but three wallets for my husband so that he can finally retire his (which I bought for him in, oh, 2000?) and have backups when the next wallet falls apart. I also got some fun onesies for the baby and his friends (complete with matching bibs), and a bunch of shirts for myself.

And I didn't spend a single penny!

That's right! Two or three times a year, my department sells off all the sample products that don't make the cut for the new season's line. Think of it as a giant department garage sale. Anyway, in exchange for setting up the room for the sale and working the sale, people in my department get to sort through items and take the things we want - all before the doors open and the feeding frenzy begins.

So, I essentially bartered my time and energy for these goods. And, as I didn't spend any money, it's all well within the guidelines I previously set forth for myself.

[smiling] Freebies rock!

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