My daughter recently graduated high school and I couldn't not throw her a graduation party. Our apartment is too small so I decided to rent a lodge. This rental cost $75 and it was a really nice and big place. Her father said he would take care of the food and cake, so that left me with decorations, drinks, plates, eating utensils, and napkins. I budgeted $100 for this and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to find almost everything at the Dollar Tree, where everything in the store is $1. I purchased the rest of the items at the grocery store and a party supply store and I only spent a grand total of around $60, well under my $100 budget! The Dollar Tree had a ton of party supplies and graduation decorations and I even got a little carried away with the decorations. Throwing her this party that she so greatly deserved only cost me $135. Granted, I was lucky that I didn't have to provide the food, but if I had, I would have made it all myself and not had it catered.
Now I could have probably spent less had I made my own decorations, but from my past experience with DIY projects, I usually end up spending more money because I buy so many things to make the projects. I never have the right things at home and I'm not always creative enough to make other things work. I spend so much time looking at different stores for the right supplies it just isn't worth it to me. I had enough going on anyway that I really didn't have the time for all this. I love saving money and I am known to go out of my way to do so, but I limit myself to how much time I spend just to save a couple bucks. It seems everyone is on these DIY Pinterest project kicks nowadays, but I value my time too much to be wasting on something that is only going to be used for a few hours.
photo credit: personalized glass mason treat jar and foil wrapped chocolate peanut butter cup snack treats via photopin (license)
Labels: frugality
