Money Madness

I had to take my husbands van to work because the car was in the shop. I hate taking the van because it guzzles gas. But car repairs are a necessary evil. I only had a little bit of the cash left for groceries but I decided to get stuff for taco salads because my husband was starting to complain about eating chicken meatloaf or eggs every night. This week has been TIGHT and uncomfortable. All the little extras like salsa (even though I buy the cheapest I can find) and lettuce and avocado and seasoning they add up fast. We also needed toilet paper so I grabbed the second to cheapest bundle I saw. I rang everything up and the total came to $2 over the cash I had left (for the week). I stood there, just stood there wondering what to do. I thought about putting the toilet paper back and getting the cheaper one. That would have at least made it so I wouldn't go over. Then I pulled out the debit card and paid the $2 extra. 

I thought about it all the way home. I started listening to the Dave Ramsey FPU CD's again this week. As I was thinking about going over the budget (already) by $2 Dave started talking about the envelope system and how they got to a breaking point when they went out somewhere and found out they hadn't brought the envelope. They turned right back around and went home to get it. He said that's when they knew they were serious about this money thing and they weren't going to break the rules. I was SOO bummed and a little ashamed about going over the budget for the week. I was so determined to stay on budget but apparently not determined enough. I should have put the toilet paper back. Heck I shouldn't have been buying stuff for taco salads.

I got home and the car was there (it was fixed much quicker than I thought it'd be). When I walked in the house my husband said that the repairs actually cost less than the money my mom and sister had given me for my birthday for the car repairs. I thought we were going to have to pay a little extra on top of it even. It was only a couple bucks under but there was enough money left to cover my grocery shortage and put towards a few more groceries for the week and we didn't end up having to put any extra towards the repair. Totally a win win. It is cheating a bit, putting birthday money towards groceries is not entirely in the rule book or not in the rule book.

Either way this week has been difficult, stressful, and eye opening. I NEED to budget better and plan ahead. The car is fixed (mostly) and the budget for the week is still balanced. Oh, and I haven't had one cup of coffee away from home or one single cadbury egg... I haven't hardly bought any little extras for that matter. I'm LOVING my Guatemalan birthday coffee grounds though. They're SOOOO good!