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Make do

It took a few months for me to figure out that the theme for 2016 is "Make Do." Because I have compulsive spending habits (that got me into over $20 000 in credit card debt), I have to be very careful with my idle time. If I am on a computer I have to avoid online shopping, and if I have a few free hours on the weekend I have to avoid the shops.

It is not made easy when my newest credit card allows me to designate three shopping categories to receive my 2% cash back each month. Since January, one of my self-selected categories is "Drug Store." I have been out of my nice face serum since late 2015, and it has been so tempting to go into the drug store and purchase another $50 bottle, knowing I will get $1 back for the purchase. But I have avoided the drug store and saved the money, and I am instead using up a jar of $50 cream that I purchased last year. Making do with what I already have. I am similarly avoiding Sephora, since I have at least 10 lipsticks and liners that I can use up, and a few mini tubes of mascara that I bought on a whim last spring.

I have an obsession with tech, and I bought two mobile phones in 2015 (one new and one used). I decided to keep the new one, and sell the used one. I am currently a bit obsessed with another new phone, and the wearable technology that accompanies it (at a hefty price, natch). I have promised myself that I will "make do" with the phone I bought last year because it is still a good phone, and that I will not buy another phone until 2017. Maybe by then I will find a used version of my latest obsession at a cheaper price.

I've decided to switch my mobile service to a cheaper company, even though sometimes it is slightly crappy. Am I so important that I have to be on call at all times, or that I have to have data service in every area I visit? If my phone is not getting service for a bit, it is a good opportunity to put it away and enjoy where I am, what I am doing, and who I am with at that moment. Nothing in my life is so urgent that I have to pay $15 more a month for a phone service. I will make do with what is cheaper.

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