Expect the Unexpected

So often we use that to tell people to prepare for the worst. This month we had a positive 'unexpected'. The S&K Men's Store near us is going out of business. Tim has gone in a couple times to look at what they have, but generally felt that they had marked things up just to offer big discounts. Then the other day we noticed that the sign was advertising "All Suits $129.99 or Less". Hmmm... curiosity peaked.


Since we have a little cushion in our budget (thanks to our aggressive debt payments), I encouraged Tim to go back and take another look. Tim's usually the one in the family who reminds us to look at what we 'need' versus what we 'want', so it's not easy convincing him to spend money on himself. He wears suits 5 days a week, most of which have been around longer than me. Even though he's lost 25 pounds recently, he's refused to buy a new suit insisting he can have them altered. Finally, he broke down and went this week to see what they had.


Even though I told him to "go for it" and convinced him he "needed" to do this, I didn't worry about him overspending because he had carefully inventoried his closet and evaluated exactly what he might need. He came home inquiring about my usual savings goal (I try to save a minimum of 25% on every shopping trip), so I knew it was a good venture. He ended up buying 2 new suits and 3 shirts. Spent $244. Saved $324 (57%). He SMASHED my savings goal for sure!

Another nice part is that I got a payment in the mail today and had more than enough added to the blow fund to cover the clothes Tim got and what I needed for the kids this month. Woohoo!!