My Hack to Save Money - Wishlists

Having a wishlist isn’t revolutionary - especially if you celebrated Christmas growing up - but I’ve found that having a wishlist is one of the best ways I’ve been able to save money.

Whenever I find something I want to purchase - big or small, clothing or hobby, etc - I add it to my Google Sheets tab I created within my Cost Per Wear Tracker (see it linked here on my links page). I found many different wishlist trackers (paid and free) but none felt perfect for me so I made my own. Some felt too simple so that the “itch” to make a spreadsheet wasn’t scratched, others felt too detailed that I knew I wouldn’t fill everything out (or look at the data I could pull), but this Goldilocks works for me. It may work for you, too!

Here are my columns:

• Category (dropdown - examples include hobby, running, tops, bags, shoes, home, etc)

• Item Name

• Brand

• Approximate price

• Priority (dropdown - examples include low, high, “when mine breaks,” “Christmas Bonus at Work?” and “ask for birthday/Christmas”)

• Link

• Date Added

• Days Since Added [=today()-date added]

• Date Purchased

• Days Waited [=today()-date purchased] - I typically also just X out Days Since Added when I do purchase but that’s just what works for me