I’m in an introspective mood. Ha! But I just got an email from a mom asking me why I am into thrifting? And deal hunting?

Which led me to think, well, who wouldn’t want to save money? But then again, I’m just taking my perspective into account. Some others just have the money to burn, some don’t know that its really possible to still actually get some price shavings out of things they need to buy.

So how did I get to be a thrifter and deal hunter?

Once upon a time, when I was single, I was a spend thrift. Yes, I lived from payday to payday. With nothing to worry about. It didn’t help matters that I found it (luckily!) to find jobs and good paying jobs (at that time ha!) at that. So I would party, shop, sleep, work. And I burn through my salary like crazy and often I had to call my mom to bail me out coz before the payday comes I ran out of money already. I shudder when someone mentions thrifting, or even http://equote.com, to get price quotes first before buying something.

So what changed all that? It was a gradual change, really. One big factor was that I got married and had a family. That totally changed my way of life. I started to think of my family first. Their needs and having emergency fund became foremost in my mind. I was also greatly influenced by my husband, who, while not really tight-fisted but knows how to spend money very wisely and investing it.

My mom too. She was the one who got me introduced to the thrills of thrifting and second hand shopping. And now, everytime I shop, specially online, I think its already programmed into me to wait for one-time sale events for the item I need and when I have things in cart, I still search like crazy for discount and free shipping coupons.

But be warned also that sometimes sale events can also be a big budget blower. I’ve learned this the hard way. Sometimes you think you saved big coz its on sale but you realize you bought things you actually don’t need. And that’s a total waste of money. So now I rarely ever go to store sale events. If I do I stick to what I want to buy in the first place. I prefer to shop sale events online, it allows me to take time to deliberate.

And what did I get out of being a thrifter? One, its FUN! Really fun. And of course, savings. Specially on clothing. I save big. For indulgences and ‘luxury wants’ I still go the thrifters way and wait for limited time sale events. So I get what I crave but at a much much lower prices.