I haven’t had much to write, and I haven’t really wanted to reflect on my failures this month. Everything went up except for the two categories that could only go down. Credit card balances are up, we have our new car loan, and we’re pushing closer to $200,000 in debt than we ever have been before. Even though the balances on both of our Best Buy cards are going down, pretty much every other card has gone up.
My husband and I have been arguing about what exactly a budget it. He doesn’t seem to grasp the concept. He thinks that you can’t budget because “little things pop up” and I’ve told him repeatedly that the point of a budget is that those little things don’t pop up. He’s not talking about emergencies; he’s talking about wanting to go out on weekly shopping trips for non-necessities, like books, like clothes, like toys. As long as he thinks that a budget is supposed to be busted by these “little things that pop up” we will never get on track financially, no matter how hard I try.
I honestly don’t know how we’re paying for Christmas this year. I told my husband that we’re going to have to limit gifts to 5 per child. He thinks that means five big gifts. I told him this year is not the “Barbie jeep” kind of year. Last year we bought our daughter one of those Power Wheels Barbie jeeps and she hardly drives it. My plan for Christmas this year, is to sit down with sales ads and write a list of exactly what the kids are getting, and then go out the day after Thanksgiving to buy the things that are on deep discount. We’ll do the remainder of the shopping throughout the month of December, but will not deviate from the list. We can’t. We can’t afford it.
I’ve also been looking into Once a Month Cooking, or at least once a week; buying and cooking in bulk and freezing meals. Anything I can do to simplify my life and decrease our variable expenses (like groceries.)
Here is our snapshot of our outstanding balances after paying all bills for the month of September.
My husband and I have been arguing about what exactly a budget it. He doesn’t seem to grasp the concept. He thinks that you can’t budget because “little things pop up” and I’ve told him repeatedly that the point of a budget is that those little things don’t pop up. He’s not talking about emergencies; he’s talking about wanting to go out on weekly shopping trips for non-necessities, like books, like clothes, like toys. As long as he thinks that a budget is supposed to be busted by these “little things that pop up” we will never get on track financially, no matter how hard I try.
I honestly don’t know how we’re paying for Christmas this year. I told my husband that we’re going to have to limit gifts to 5 per child. He thinks that means five big gifts. I told him this year is not the “Barbie jeep” kind of year. Last year we bought our daughter one of those Power Wheels Barbie jeeps and she hardly drives it. My plan for Christmas this year, is to sit down with sales ads and write a list of exactly what the kids are getting, and then go out the day after Thanksgiving to buy the things that are on deep discount. We’ll do the remainder of the shopping throughout the month of December, but will not deviate from the list. We can’t. We can’t afford it.
I’ve also been looking into Once a Month Cooking, or at least once a week; buying and cooking in bulk and freezing meals. Anything I can do to simplify my life and decrease our variable expenses (like groceries.)
Here is our snapshot of our outstanding balances after paying all bills for the month of September.
No comments:
Post a Comment