The spending has begun. Funny how uncomfortable it feels, how it feels like forcing myself! I've clamped down on myself so long, it feels curiously risque to spend money even on things I need.

To recap: I signed up to get a $400 bonus from Discover which I will earn by charging $2000 per month from September through January. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take care of some big ticket items I need to get anyway. I have the money on hand to pay the bill in full each month.

So this weekend I began in earnest. I decided I would tackle the problem of the couch. I have wanted to get it recovered since I got it (and I did go through channels trying to get it done for free. No dice.) The current fabric is a very cheap rough open-weave staticky acrylic that attracts lint and hair and then holds onto it for life. I went to a recommended upholsterer with pictures and measurements. She told me that the labor would be $800 and then there was the cost of fabric. She said that good fabric was $40 a yard, and I would need 15 yards. Well, this gave me pause.

So I went to furniture places to price the cost of a replacement couch. I didn't find anything. The fact is, my couch is perfect in size and shape, and the sleeper part of it is very comfortable. It's just the fabric I hate. Furthermore, I really had to look to find a couch that would fit through my door -- they are not easy to find. It is somewhere in between a normal couch and a loveseat.

So I decided to look for fabric on my own. I went to Jo-Ann's, and happened upon a 50% off sale for home decor fabric. It took several tries, but I found a suitable fabric that I could special-order (i.e. there was enough footage in the warehouse). It is REAL upholstery fabric, heavy and closely-woven. It is brick red in a subtle geometric print. With a coupon I got another 20% off, so I bought $600 worth of fabric for $245! I am so pumped. Yes, it will be expensive, but I'm just going to look at like a car repair. I'll finally get it right, after that unfortunate "crash" with the wrong godawful fabric.

So until the fabric comes in (one or two weeks), that project is on hold.

My next project was to replace some of my footwear. I walk so much that I have literally worn out two pairs of short boots (not snow boots) in the last couple of years. So I went to DSW and after much trial and error found a pair in both black and brown. I also bought a pair of brown loafers to replace the ones I scraped up in a fall. I will save the old loafers as "painting" shoes. The three pairs cost $158, which I thought was pretty good.

Then to Home Depot, where I tried to buy cellular window shades for my kitchen. I picked out two, which had to be cut to size. After the first one was cut, the second wouldn't come out of the box. Turned out it was damaged in some way. So I have to go back today and get another one, as there were no more matching shades, but there is a shipment coming in. I spent $100 on the one shade, and will spend another $100 on the second.

Other spending: $48 on groceries, $6 on eating out, and $10 on a trivet at Williams-Sonoma (to match one I already had). Then there was a little spending that DIDN'T go on the Discover card -- $1.50 for laundry, $1 for a garage sale basket, $3 tip for a haircut (used a gift card for the cut itself).

Later today I'll be buying plane tickets for a trip in December.

I'll get there, but I can see it will be a challenge to do it without spending foolishly.