Poll Results, plus my adventures in NOT buying socks

The results are in!

Of the 10 people who responded to my poll, it is evenly split. Five were raised to conserve and five were spenders from the get-go. One reported that as a teen she was treated to $3000-4000 clothing shopping sprees regularly! I have a few teenagers around here that want to move to that household.

Americans love to "upgrade", either by buying more goods or buying increasingly expensive goods. It's hard to wean yourself from that mindset. Even the most frugal types are always trying to upgrade, although they have strategies to do so for less money. This week I am going to try to catch myself when I fall into that trap and stop the spending before it starts.

I've already been guilty once today! I was checking out my five-month-old daughter's dwindling sock supply this morning and thinking that perhaps I should buy more. She only has five pairs that I can find, although I suspect another two or three lurk in my unmatched sock basket. She could really use a few brighter pairs to match certain outfits. Plus, my Hanna Andersson catalog has been taunting me for weeks.

But how many pairs of socks does an infant need? I do laundry every day, so our five pairs are more than sufficient. Does she need to have a coordinating pair for every outfit? Probably not. If a true sock emergency arose, I could dig an unmatched pair out of the renegade sock basket. After all, the point of a sock is to keep tiny toes warm, not to advertise my ability to match or my love of organic Swedish cotton. At the rate Rachael grows, we'll need bigger socks in a month or two anyway, and then I can try to match her bright winter clothes. Until then, we'll make do with our summery whites and pastels.

See how easy that was?