Simply Shopping

A few weeks ago, I was thrilled that my Shopping List effectively cut down on my impulse shopping. Then, I went to Hong Kong, a shopping mecca that's not quite Italy, but far from your local Saturday flea market. Let me just say this: Spending through an exchange rate that's approximately 7.74 makes you very aware. I haven't quite figured out the extent of damage yet, but I can safely conclude that I did spend conservatively and probably spent about the same $ on Christmas gifts this year as I have for holidays past.

Also, I did not resort to paying with a credit card - not even once - and thereby avoided Citibank's 3% finance charge. Currently guesstimating that I spent roughly 55% of what I had originally budgeted for this trip. The remainder's definitely going towards the next getaway. Woot!