Caroline's Path of Grace

For the last year or so, I have been keeping a purchasing agenda, inspired of course by Kevin. This is basically a running list of things I want to purchase for various reasons. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a “things I want to buy” list, meaning I don’t have books or records or jewelry stuff on here, but mostly things for a house or clothes for work. So I thought I would talk about how I build and manage this list and how it has helped me keep my spending in control. I have added some paid Amazon links to all of these products if you are interested in getting any yourself.

How it started

Like I mentioned, I got inspired by Kevin keeping a list of things he wanted to buy one day or things to buy for our apartment. He had this water filter on his list for quite some time before finally buying it after a few years. I figured that this would help me reign in my spending and keep me focused on things I actually needed to buy. When I first started living on my own after college, I had this sense of being an adult and spending my earned money on whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. This, obviously, was not my smartest financial move,and only in living with someone else and my brain fully developing last year can I now say I have a much better control of my pleasure spending. I have an official “Purchasing Agenda” on Notion, but I also keep lists on Amazon and keep things in my “Saved for Later”. 

My Notion List

I’ll start with my Notion list. I like to keep it organized by the date I was first interested, so I can almost prioritize the item. Some of the earliest things I have on this list are a record cleaner kit and a black sweater vest. These items have been on here for so long out of justification for purchase. For the record cleaner, I actually had completely forgotten about it, I should add it to my cart now! The black sweater vest is mostly a seasonal item, and I also haven’t found a great one out shopping that I liked yet. 

Up next are some bathing suits, a free standing clothes rack, and green platform Converse hightops. I am always looking for more bathing suits, and I found a green one piece and blue bikini that I loved, yet as summers come and go, I still find myself satisfied with the ones I already have at the moment. The free standing rack is something I know I want for a capsule wardrobe when I live in a bigger space or house one day, so that is still on my backburner.

The last few things I have are a shower scrubber, USB car vacuum, car trash can, Lazy Susan for my med cabinet, and a pair of Hoka sneakers. The shower scrubber I can remove because I put a dish scrubber in my shower to use to clean whenever I’m doing a hair mask. The USB vacuum and car trash can are really items I should buy, but I weirdly feel influenced by car people on TikTok. I keep my car pretty clean from trash, but I do tend to pick people up alot, so these may move into my Amazon cart soon. 

Kevin and I have these small narrow shelves behind our bathroom door that are used as a pseudo bathroom closet, so I have been wanting some rotating Lazy Susan-esque shelves to make everything a little more visible. I have recently been influenced into getting a pair of Hokas, especially since I just bought a walking pad on Prime Day. I love a chunky sneaker, and want to get back into my walking era. I hear good things and also I love to wear sneakers outside of working out. Just haven’t found the right time to purchase them yet. 

Here’s my Amazon list for some of these items. 

My Amazon List’s

On to my Amazon lists. Usually, when things sit in my “Saved for Later” too long, they get migrated into a list so that I can browse later when I’m looking for something I want. The lists I currently have are Clothes, Home, Jewelry & Accessories, nails, Purchasing Agenda, Tech, Toiletries, Travel, and WFH. The WFH list is a little old because I previously had a job where I was in the process of negotiating WFH options, which is no longer the case.

Clothes

Home, Jewelry & Accessories, Nails

In this list, which you can see here, I have a couch cover for eventually when I want to cover up the old outdated upholstery on my current couch, some mason jars with and without lids, kitchen cookware, clear storage bins for my bathroom, and a cat litter box for when I eventually want to get a cat. 

For jewelry, this list is much smaller. I only have a few rings in here and a K necklace, for obvious reasons.

For my Nails list, these are all items I wanted to buy for doing UV or dip nails at home. I have instead been going to get manicured in person since December, mostly because I don’t have the patience to do them myself. Maybe one day!!

Tech, Toiletries, Travel

For tech, I have a few iPad and charging electronics that I really am telling myself I need to buy. 

For travel, I have some items that would be great for travel storage, like packing cubes and shoe bags. I have yet to buy these because my Beis suitcase came with shoe bags and I have tons of packing cubes from my years being subscribed to AllTrue and FabFitFun (not subscribed anymore to FabFitFun though).

My Amazon “Saved for Later” 

I actually recently went through this list and currently have 12 items. I keep things in here that I know I want to buy soon. So far my favorite items in here are Lotus grocery cart bags, a Bluetooth wireless transmitter for travel, straw woven bag, and sugar free vanilla syrup for my coffee.

I have some tank tops, some necklaces, and shoes in here as well, but these are more of “this is cute, I may wear this in summer” but have not committed to actually adding to my cart. They live here so I can be constantly reminded of things I am interested in having in the front of my mind. 

How I manage my spending and purchases

I have mentioned before my budgeting setup. I usually add in all my projected bills and normal expenses, such as gas and groceries, for a given bill cycle then subtract from what my paychecks will be for that cycle based on my planned credit card budget. For example, if I want to spend $1,200 on my credit card for that cycle, I then subtract my bills, grocery budget, gas, other planned expenses and subscriptions to get the amount I can “free” spend for the month. I divide that by days in the billy cycle to come up with an average amount of money I can spend per day. I redo the math every few days and factor in what I’ve spent to update that number. On a day where I know I don’t have any plans, I pop over to my Amazon cart and pick something that is within the budget for that day. This way, I get to buy myself a little treat every so often and stay within my spending limits. It helps that I don’t really eat out because I make 85% of my meals at home. 

What I have bought

In the last 30 days, here are some highlights that I bought. 

I bought a stainless steel gold Apple Watch band and a gold cover for the watch face itself. I thought that having a gold band would make my looks a bit more sophisticated, especially working in an office. I bought a black ribbed bodysuit for work that I have an identical one in white. I have found that I just need some plain tees to wear with jeans or work pants and I love this one. I bought a green crochet shoulder tote bag that I have had my eye on for a bit. I love the color and I love a mesh bag. I have so many black purses and tote bags, I thought this was perfect to add some color to my outfits. 

Today, I bought an item from my “Saved For Later” list – a white maxi skirt. I have one already, but it’s more of a beach coverup skirt, so it is fully see through. I have seen this trend a lot this summer, and it is so perfect for me. I have so few skirts, so I am excited for this one to be delivered. 

The three non-Amazon purchases I made in the last month were 2 athletic dresses from Old Navy that I saw a girl at a Yankee game wearing and thought were SUPER cute. I bought one with a thin strap and one with a thicker strap. They should be coming next week, and I can’t wait to try them! I also bought a new pair of Ray Bans after my Mexico trip while they were on sale. I tried my friend Leslies on and knew I wanted a similar pair.

What I am adding

I don’t currently have any plans to add more to my purchasing agenda. However I have been following some of my favorite creators on their Amazon Storefronts to see what they’re buying. It’s a great source of inspo!

If you have any great recent purchases, let me know! 

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