ONLY 3 DOLLARS

I am ending week sixteen of twelve dollars a day $4.39 over budget. I can safely blame that $4.39 on the $4.59 box of protein bars I bought about an hour before I got out of work yesterday. If I could have lasted just one more hour the budget for this week would have been balanced. Seriously folks it's the little things! Every tiny little bit counts. Every single swipe, every single dollar spent, every penny adds to the equation. That is the main thing I've been learning from this process. You can't just say oh it's only $3. Three dollars seems so insignificant but $3 every day for a month is almost a hundred bucks. That's one hundred dollars of debt that COULD HAVE been paid off but it was ONLY $3. Or what if it was only $1 but then next time it was only $5... every single little insignificant tiny bit counts. The more I realize this FACT, the more I don't let THREE WHOLE DOLLARS be "only" $3, the more I take responsibility for my spending the faster I can get rid of the debt burden I carry on my back.

In order to balance my $12 a day budget for this month I've $79.53 to spend this week. My plan for this week is to take every single penny into account and to stop the "gotta have it spending." For example the first 2 months of the $12 a day budget I didn't bring home 2 liters of soda or little extras for dinner like cheese or pudding. The first 2 months we lived comfortably on the basics. The past two months I've been "gotta have it-ing" 2 liters and coffee creamer and take out pizza a few nights a week even though it's been blowing our budget. This week is back to business. I know I can do this thing. I AM going to balance the budget this month!!! It's cash spending from here on out and for goodness sakes if we don't have the cash we can't get the pizza.

So, I'll take $79.53 out of the bank and I'm not going to allow myself to spend more than the allotted $12 every day this week. We all know what happens when I've got $79.53 in my pocket. That's right folks I spend $79.53. I've got $7.53 to spend tomorrow and $12 a day from there on out. I can do it!

(Oh my goodness this is so difficult)