“To Tell Or Not To Tell – That is the Question”

January 18, 2011

Today’s Bit of Advice…..

“To Tell Or Not To Tell – That is the Question”

I know this advice sounds a little deceptive.  I hear my children in whispers all the time wondering “should we tell Mom or not?”.  And I always know something bad has happened and someone doesn’t want to get blamed for it.

But today’s advice really isn’t that deceptive or devious.  It’s about shopping – something I did a lot on my annual Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday trip to the outlet malls in Lake George.  My mother, sister, and I go every year on this day and have a wonderful time.  We shop, have a great lunch, and forget about how much we are spending for one day (well, I forget about it anyway).

I’m very frugal and I worry about every dollar I spend.  Letting loose with my quarters and dimes doesn’t come naturally for me but I’m pretty good at it on this one day a year.  I think I did quite well this year.  My sister talked me into getting a down vest, I talked myself into some rubber rain boots, I splurged on some cute gold sparkle shoes for the girls (shh, I might save those for Christmas gifts), got myself a great purse and wallet, picked up a bracelet, and grabbed some kitchen stuff.  I think there may be a few more things in my bags that I have yet to unpack yet too!

So my bigger dilemma is…. Do I tell my husband all that I bought or just integrate the items slowly into my daily life?  He noticed the down vest because I wore it home and he’s sharp that way.  I had to model the rubber boots for him and he seemed to like those okay too.  But, do I have to point out the new purse and wallet yet or could they just appear sometime?  How about the bracelet?

Do I have to tell my husband how much money I spent or can I just tell him how much money I saved?  After all, this was outlet shopping and we hit some really big sales.  My new purse was 75% off and then I used an additional $5 off coupon.  Can I tell him I saved over $45.00 just on that one item?

To tell or not to tell – that is the question.  I don’t know if my “advice” for you today is really advice or just something for you to consider and decide for yourself.  I think I am going to go with the slow integration of purchases and discussion of my savings.  Seems like the best thing to do in this house.   But how about you?  How do you handle this?  I look forward to your thoughts.

Hope you enjoyed the read.