I thought I knew what our financial situation was. I mean, I am the accounting department, you’d think I would have a firm grasp of this stuff. Yeah, well, more like my hand was in the general vicinity and maybe touching this concept.
We recently had a slight reduction to the incoming cash flow and it required that I take a closer look at our budget. And much to my dismay I discovered that if we stay right on track with my current bill paying strategy we will pay off our debt…..ummmm……never. To add insult to injury, any vacations or surprise home maintenance bills will just increase the debt that we are not paying off. And savings? Well, that is just a silly pipe dream. Behold, my friends, delusional accounting. Awesome!
So the belt tightening begins today. Marshalls and I have broken up; Banana Republic, I don’t know you anymore and Ann Taylor, lose my credit card number. That part is relatively easy. Our gym membership is going to be suspended; much more of a sacrifice for Bob since I haven’t even seen the parking lot of that place for a year. And we have reduced our dog walker to two visits a week.
Now to the real sacrifice: Starbucks. I bring my lunch to work and have justified my cappucino habit with the huge savings that not purchasing lunch implied. But now, even my dear Starbucks is on the block. Today I attempted to bring a thermos of coffee to work (still a Starbuck’s product -VIA) but apparently this thermos was last used to transport liquid rubber. Nothing like giving up sweet nectar to be mocked by a foul tasting coffee colored liquid in its stead.
Don’t get me wrong, I realize that I have it way better than most. I am not in danger of losing my home and both Bob and I are gainfully employed. I am not really even complaining. I am mostly just mad at myself for not having really looked at the “money in” and “money out” columns more closely before. I knew that I was doing a lot of juggling, but I didn’t realize that it was because of a lack of actual money. In my mind it was because the furnace broke or because we went on an impulsive shopping jag at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
There is some relief in knowing the real deal, financially speaking. Our revised budget will take a little getting used to and maybe a new thermos. It doesn’t come as a huge surprise, however, that we were living above our means. That is the American way after all and we are nothing if not patriotic.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Allan bristow // Apr 11, 2010 at 12:40 am
I really love your posts. It reassures me that in this sea of life I, and we for others that agree, are not not bobbing and treading water alone. Your outlook is not wrapped in a “chicken little” type of attitude. As we float in This sea, we occasionally run across a little island of like people and sadly realize that there are more of us “normal” people out there than we realized at first. Welcome to the internet. Maybe that is the attraction of reality shows. Maybe a majority of the viewers are “normal” and we watch to reassure ourselves that all in all we son have it that bad. The “Jesus H’s” and “Holy craps” are verbal testiments to realizing that there are many many more people out there worse off than I. I know I go to bed happier after “wife swap”. Lol. Keep up the great posts Diana. I love them. Peace and Godspeed. Allan
2 jwoap // Apr 18, 2010 at 5:55 pm
You know it’s easy to get lost in the spending part. I can remember when my husband I achieved a specific salary amount together and we proclaimed loudly “We have been living on 65,000 a year for the past 5 years just fine, we will not live beyond our means period.”
ha ha ha
While we didn’t and don’t live above our means our spending did go up.
As a couple we have no credit card debt. But I do have my two credit cards that I do my own thing on and that I am responsible for and they could be better. I don’t think I owe more than 3k but still.
So good for you. I really mean that. It’s hard to take responsibility and take a real look at what’s going on. And you did it.
Leave a Comment