I bought my eleven year old his new winter coat today. As I write this, it is 84 degrees outside and he is at the movies or pool living up a summer dream. But I am at home running a hot load of laundry and beaming from ear to ear.

I found a gently used Swiss Tech coat at the thrift store today for $8 ; and it happened to be 75 percent off winter items. So, I spent $2 instead of $39.99 for the same jacket. 

No one will know but me. 

He will still look cool.

It will still smell like his brand new sweats because I wash everything the moment I buy it, both new or used. 

I took the difference and slipped it simply into an investment account. 

When my youngest goes to get her clothes at this same age, I will be able to buy almost three completely brand new coats for the price of one now. I am giving to my future self and my family.

Compound interest is the strangest, most underrated tool of the millennial generation.

Somewhere along the way we got told to invest and enjoy life—or don’t have kids. I liked to challenge both of those and say it’s still possible to win. It’s still possible to live the original American Dream. We’ve just got to go back to common sense, boundaries, and push against the marketing giant manipulation.

Of course, that wasn’t all I found in our shopping adventure. The thrift store is a treasure hunt I have discovered over the years. What once I found tacky, I now found resourceful. There was still a list of things I wouldn’t buy second hand— but winter gear was absolutely allowed.

I ended up finding a Lands End khaki coat for me. It was neutral and classy and would fit perfectly with what I already owned. Brand new, this coat cost $200 in stores. Because it was summer, it was on sale online for $99. But my thrift store was selling this beauty for $2 after discounts today.

New Balance purple windbreaker to wear on my morning walks retails usually form $175 to $100 range. I paid $2.

Nike gray hoodie for those alpaca, athletic sport tween and teenage boys—retail $65. Normally $8 at the thrift store and $2 after the discount.

Nike zip up lightweight hoodie for cooler nights was normally $75 and I paid $2.

As I drove home from my unusually larger, yet very successful haul, I started daydreaming about when my littles would grow up. One day, when my daughter is my age and living on her own, what if she is asking for a brand new jacket. It is not a strange thing to expect. I have done the same when asked about birthday gifts. Parents in general like to bless their kids.

I would be able to take the difference I saved today $198 and invest it. If I never touched it for thirty years, just move it into a fund and let it grow as if I had already bought a new jacket, it would be around $3400.

My daughter would not need seventeen new coats, but she certainly could get one without it hurting my wallet as a birthday gift.

With Lands End quality, it may even be possible the jacket I bought today could still be in use thirty years from now.

I am giving to my future self and my family.

Of course, with my mini me, a fun toy was found. It was an ABC puzzle that normally retails for $7.88. I paid $0.50 at the store.

Doing math can give you a dopamine boost even more than spending. Saving can be rewarding too. Saving can give you the opportunity to say yes to more or yes to something you never thought possible.

For supper I planned, a simple taco dinner 

before hitting the ball fields.

A Taco Bell dinner for seven using their bundle deal for $21.79 for four, adding it up comes to about $45 to $55 with value meal items.

I paid hamburger prices at $16 for two pounds
$4 for cheese
$3 for sour cream
$6 for taco shells

I spent $29 on dinner tonight.

Let us invest the other $26.

That would be $171 when I take my grandkids to Taco Bell one day.

Today’s spending money turned savings pays for my future family suppers too. 

This difference was our thought process and what we did with the money today.

We do not worship money.
We do not love money.
We use money. It is a tool.

No one says you cannot have nice things.
No one says you cannot save for retirement and still wear name brands.
No one says you cannot have your taco and eat it too. You just have to do it a different way.

And that different way will bless those behind you.

Challenge yourself to play a different game. Try to pick one thing to change in your shopping habits next month,

Instead of quantity, think quality. 

Instead of want, really ask if it is a need. Do you need twenty options in your closet or would ten or even five that you feel amazing in be enough?

Instead of settling for full price, find the same thing for less and invest the difference.

The truth is consumerism has gotten out of control, which means we can shop smarter not harder. Play the game of price to your advantage.

What you spend today does not just cost you right now. It costs the opportunity of time and investment. 

Use it wisely.

This also could mean not spending hours finding a good deal. There’s a balance. Your time is worth something too— and there’s moderation with finding a deal and the time it took to acquire.

It might have cost me $617.88 to get what I got today. It was justified. I needed new coats that fit. I needed to feed my family. I needed to provide for them.

Society says you worked hard so you deserve this treat.

But I reversed the system and played the game differently with intentional spending. 

I played the investment game instead of the entitlement and dopamine marketing game.

I didn’t go to the outlet malls like everyone on instatweetbook influences you to do. I went to the small town shop in my own neighborhood backyard.

Everything at the thrift store cost me $12.87 today and food cost came out to $29 for supper.

$41.87 versus $617.88 is not hard to see the difference. If you went to someone and said I had a gift for them, would they rather take $40 or $600?

Gift yourself! 

Let us just for fun see what would happen if I took the difference between retail verses what I paid today— and put it into an index fund. The result was the same name brand and quality winter coats with tacos for supper. We still got the reward and “I deserve this treat.” Same ending.

$576 was the need difference, tucked away into an investment account we cannot see or easily touch.

Let us say we set it aside so our youngest daughter can one day get tacos and coats for her kids.

Now investing can seem simple or confusing at first, but compound interest is powerful. If you were okay spending money on winter coats and tacos, why does it feel different when it is saved instead?

Now say there was a third gift option. Not $40, not $600– but you get both the coats, tacos and $5100 in the future.

This is where we need to flip our mindset.

You grow what you focus and water with your thoughts, money, time, and intention.

Make it frictionless as possible to invest.

It is extremely easy to do. We use an online banking app, and with so many people using smartphones, let it be to your advantage. You just move the difference between retail and what you would have paid and let it get to work. You will not have to think about it again.

Consider playing the Rachel Retail Game. It is fun and the rewards are now and keep going.

Instead of Buy Now, Pay Later

Save Now Win Later.

Need ideas of where to invest or open up an account? Here’s our recommendation– and you can earn up to $100 by opening a FREE account today.

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Rachel Redlin was a columnist, author, journalist, and award-winning radio host. She lives in Northwest Kansas with her husband and six children, where she writes about faith, food, and the simple everyday life. Want to read more or contact us? You can subscribe to the FREE newsletter at www.simplybloominggrace.com

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