Truly Rewarding!

I have been thinking about the aims I had for this blog - to look at where I can limit my spending and find a sense of newness in my everyday life through things I already own or looking at new experiences I can have. I look back at the last 80 days and I know I have managed to have a new appreciation of things in my life and I know I have spent a lot less money on things that I didn't need but I still could have been better.

Now there are certain things in life that I can't live without and one of those is reading and books and magazines. I have been good and been to the library several times already this year and have been enjoying books that I have borrowed but in the long run I know that I will still buy books in my future and I like to think they are not a waste of money as they give me ongoing pleasure in a number of ways. I try to only buy them second hand to reduce the cost as much as possible. I try to limit magazines to my two favourite but always manage to slip and buy others as I can't resist them...

Loyalty cards and reward systems are an increasingly common marketing ploy used by companies to get our business and I have several but I do try to use them wisely. Today I got some retail therapy all for free because of loyalty points earned through the spending on our credit card. As we have a revolving credit attached to our mortgage we put all of our everyday spending through this card and pay it off each month so I don't feel we are spending money just to get reward points and we have used the rewards mainly to buy fuel when we are travelling - making many journeys free for us - or for gifts - allowing me to spend more that I might normally on someone and not having it affect our budget. 

Today it was a gift for me - I got two magazines - one my usual and one that I enjoy buying now and then and savouring the pictures of beautiful interiors. I also bought myself two lovely little journals to write my thoughts and ideas in. It felt so much like spending "money" that I earned buying groceries and other miscellany. It just requires discipline with the credit card...