Like a smoker with their last carton

That's how Darren described me when I came home with my Christmas clearance crap this afternoon. I just need to get Target out of my system so I can DeTargetize myself for the new year. Do you think there's some kind of gum or patch for quitting this shopping habit? If there is I'm sure Target sells it. Mother footers.

Just a little background. I've never been great with money. Well not true. I've always (mostly?!) lived within my means. But just within my means, whatever those means have been. This still holds true. I don't buy expensive things, I have just found myself in the last 2 or 9 years buying stuff just for the sake of buying stuff. Some stuff I buy to sell on eBay. Some stuff I buy because I think my kids need or want it. Some stuff I buy because I think I need or want it. The end result is that we have too much crap and it's cluttering our house. And the thing is, it's not even that great of stuff. It's stuff that I find on sale or better yet, clearance!
What I end up doing is just recycling or donating 1/2 the crap that I bought 6 months ago to make way for new crap that I'll donate in 6 months. I'm afraid this is sending my kids the wrong message. I'm not sure what the message is, but I'm pretty sure whatever it is it's not good. I'm not that deep and introspective so hopefully someone else can figure out what the message is.

Anywho, fast forward, or I guess backwards, to a few weeks ago when Darren did a first draft of our 2007 taxes when we realized we owed $,$$$ to the IRS in April. I had already been thinking about Operation Target Ho No Mo so I was completely ready for him when he told me to grab a beer and come downstairs to look at our budget for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2008. Ok, that's just me nerding him up, he really didn't say that. Well, the beer part is true.
But I digress. I told him about my plan. He suggested I just cut down on "Other Household" --aka Target Crap in Quicken -- spending rather than thinking I can just cut it out. I just don't think that will work though. I think I just need to quit cold turkey until this recreational spending is out of my system. This is why I created some rules for myself. Some are budget related and some are bettering myself related.

Here goes:
1. No clearance shopping just to shop them. Just because it's 1.24 doesn't mean I need it.

2. No shopping just to sell, not even from Goodwill or my trusty thrift stores. Things can get out of hand this way, too.

3. Only $50 per month (for the family) can be spent on clothes starting in April. Exceptions are: kids clothes and shoes if they need them. They shouldn't need them though since I have shopped overtime for those in the last 6 months and they should be set until like a year from April.

4. No toy buying until October for Ellie's birthday.

5. No leaving work for lunch unless I'm going home for lunch -- much of my shopping is done at lunch.

6. Budget thing: No buying lunch at work. I have to bring it or go home for lunch.

That's it in a nutshell. My thinking is that this will go from Jan 1 to Dec 1.

One more day...