I spent the weekend in a resort community, celebrating 29 years of marriage to my favorite nurse.  Before you say, hypocrite, we found a deal (the place was empty) and paid less for the weekend than in recent memory anywhere.  We only ate out for two meals, (so why would we be out and about much, it was our anniversary?).

We made pizza with one of my wife’s homemade whole-wheat pizza crusts and sauted garlic,  onions, and spinach.  And a little bit of  Burke Beef, caramelized in our iron skillet prior to the trip.

No, this is not the food network, but just an explanation, that you can have fun in the kitchen and save money at the same time.

The point of this post, however, is there was an outlet mall 5 minutes from where we were staying, and we needed to finish a little Christmas shopping, so off we went.

I am not a good shopper, I am a pretty good buyer, but not so good on the “shopping” thing.  So cell phones are a great invention.  We can go our own ways-and check in periodically – when enough is enough.

I have never been what you would call a wasteful spender, but I in years past, I could get a little crazy with spending at Christmas.  Maybe it was guilt for spending time away from the kids and away from home so much, back in my baby delivering days.

But as I wandered through the different stores this year, many of which would be called “designer outlets”, I was almost sick to my stomach.  It became obvious to me, that as I have written, learned, and began teaching personal finance, that I am now a different person.  The idea of spending 40 bucks for a t-shirt because it was fitted and had a neat logo using letters such as U and A seemed crazy-and remember this was an outlet mall.

My wife had mentioned she needed a purse-there were two different “purse” stores.  The least expensive one I saw in either place was about $150 bucks.  Now my wife is worth anything in the world to me.  But she would kill me if she thought I bought her a purse for that much money, that she would be slogging around to work and to the Y.

Now for those of you who feel that spending mega-bucks on designer merchandise is ok, then we have a problem.  If you are debt free, have provided for your retirement, have 6 months income in savings, money for kids college,  and you want to splurge on what would be considered designer clothing, and accessories, then I can live with that.  Personally, I would suggest buying the basics and giving away the “designer premium” ,but I would not judge you for that decision.  (I really try not to judge, that is not my job).

But for those of you struggling to get by, trying to pay your bills, trying to get caught up with your credit card debt, please, please, please, don’t get caught up in the hype that the marketers throw at you to sell over-priced goods, with logo’s.  Remember that Christmas is for celebrating a special birth, and for spending time with your family and friends, not for being a Mega-Consumer.

And for those of you who are still Christmas shopping, review this post about HOW to do it the Millionaire Nurse way!

And for your basic clothing purchases -so you can walk around fully clothed- buy good stuff, that will last.  I am not in favor of “being cheap” as you usually do have to pay a price for quality.  But, do not, do not, spend a dime extra for a LOGO!

Not if you ever want to be, “A Millionaire Nurse“.