Marketing

Is the best of life passing you by because you haven't gotten a big screen high definition TV yet?
-television commercial

I fear my husband would answer "yes" to that question but OH MY GOODNESS! I heard the TV ask this question a few minutes ago and I felt so horribly saddened. The best of life... TV?!?! What's wrong with this picture?

 Marketing, whether it be TV commercials, bill boards, bright orange clearance stickers plants little seeds in our brains and makes us feel this manufactured void. "I NEED, NEED, NEED" because something told me so. Wowwzers we lead sad lives.

Honestly that commercial alone is making me want to throw out my TV (not to be replaced) and my computer and the husband's video games and move to a quaint cabin in the woods. Once again I tell myself/ remind myself/ combat the marketing, "I DON'T NEED ANYTHING MORE!" I already have enough.

May we all enjoy THE BEST OF LIFE today (no not your big screen TV): family, friends, beauty, fresh air, peacefulness, and love! Happy Saturday friends  : )

Debt Quote Tuesday

If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.
-Vicki Robin

The stores are littered with orange stickers right now. I can't walk two feet without seeing new clearance items. It's as if the magical retail fairy has enchanted everything, made it "affordable" and obtainable. All of the sudden I "need" everything imaginable and only because everything imaginable is on sale. Fooy!

If I buy something that I can't afford it's NOT a good deal! I present this challenge to my struggling self: please do not buy anything that's on clearance at least for the month of June. I don't really "need" anything more than the immense blessings that already fill my life. I have enough.

Still Keeping up with the Joneses

A friend and I were talking the other day about baby stuff and work and finances came up. It's interesting how we generally do not have any clue about the financial situations of those around us. We can guess and speculate and judge but for the most part we really don't know.

My friend was mentioning that her husband and herself are quite bad with money. They make a decent income but they don't pay any attention to what's coming in and what's going out (oh how I remember those days). It's hard for me to imagine it now... not knowing how much is going where, ever, yikes! They haven't started thinking about saving or retirement. I believe she said they have some debt they need to get rid of (geesh, who doesn't). Well she also mentioned that her sister and brother in law have always been in a bad way with money as well. They're both employed full time and both make over $20 an hour BUT they're loaded with debt, never have enough money, and have struggled over money for their entire marriage. (oh, and her sister is a financial adviser of sorts) Turns our my friends mom has always been really bad with money. My mom is bad with money. Several other relatives are bad with  money. The list goes on...

I mentioned that the main problem my husband and I had is that we always looked at money with a "we work, we should be able to spend" mentality. I think ALOT of people feel this way. There really isn't an I've taken in "this much" so now I can spend "this much" cause and effect reality in how we're all spending our money. I think the US government is the perfect reflection of how MANY in our society live their lives financially. "If I want it I should be able to have it!" Swipe.

It really doesn't matter what your income is if you're constantly spending blindly you're going to end up in the hole. I hate the hole! Oh, how I'm trying to get out of the hole. I think we'd all be surprised at how many others in our lives are living in their own holes right along side of ours.

The Joneses really are broke aren't they.

Baby Steppin (or still crawling maybe)

I spent $10.34 today.

$17.81 over budget for the month so far now.

This week I hope hope hope to stick to the $12 a day budget. I hope hope hope to keep track of ALL spending EVERY day. and I hope hope hope to not lose my mind before Friday. 5 days of work, 2 days of home. It is worth it... it is worth it... it     is     worth     it. sigh.

Spending

Nine days into June and $19.47 over budget so far. Not horrible. Not great.

June 4: $8.04   (-6.81)

5: $5.59   (-.41)

6: $4.23   (+7.36)

7: $6.12   (+13.24)

8: $16.74   (+8.50)

9: $39.97   (-19.47)

I'd be a bit more on track if I'd paid closer attention to spending over the past few days. But alas I strayed into the old evil ways and just swiped away. KEEP TRACK OF SPENDING! SPEND CASH! Why is it so difficult to just stick to the plan?

I'm not to good at this whole adult thing. Wait, at least I'm better at it than our government. ah ha.

Roses

Today I stopped to smell the roses...

in the cooler at the supermarket.

I'm beyond in love with my baby boy but I feel like I've been moving a million miles an hour. Today I was feeling that I'm too busy to be a good mom even. I'm gone for around 10 hours a day for work (long commute) and when I get home I'm drained AND I have tons of stuff to do just to prep for the next day. It's madness. Saturday's and Sunday's at home with my boy are priceless but the rest of the week... blah.

I'm not complaining so much as prefacing that I struggle more with spending/ not spending money (especially on food) when I'm emotionally and physically run down like this. I know that it will only get better. I also know that I won't be working full time forever (I'm shooting for under two years) but at present, AHHH!

Anyway, I was walking past the flower cooler at work today and I thought to myself, "I haven't a clue when I last smelled a rose." I stopped for a moment and felt a bit foolish at my thought process. Who picks up roses at the store to simply smell and not even purchase? Me of course. I grabbed a gorgeous peach bunch of a dozen roses and inhaled deeply. They were lovely! I genuinely don't remember when I last smelled a rose. I know that I love the fragrance but it was so much more lovely than I even remember.

I guess I say all this because it was today's lovely moment for me and you don't need to spend money to reward yourself/ cheer up a bit/ embrace those moments of relief in the chaos.

Life is truly splendid!

Pizza

Spent almost double my budget yesterday, $23.39. I was almost just going to include $19.80 of that in my husbands spending for the week since he bought pizza for dinner last night. But that'd seriously be cheating since it was dinner for both of us. So I'm sucking it up and counting that darn (delicious) pizza in the $12 a day budget.

For the month of June I'm $10.77 over budget so far.

Oh, how I do love food... sigh.

Back to Basics

I kinda feel like I'm back at square one after the past 4 months of drastic life changes. So I'm going to try and start back at the beginning.

The Plan: Spend an average of $12 a day on food, household supplies, and gifts.


The Goal: Freedom!

On June 1st I spent $15.24 ($3.24 over budget). Yesterday I spent $8.14 which caught me back up with a 62 cent cushion. BUT the $8.14 was spent on ice cream. Let me tell you it was super delicious (two flurries). Mine was a drumstick flurry which is one of the best ice cream creations I've ever had. Needless to say we don't need flurries (ok, maybe I do... oh the battle). Not that it matters but I live in a beach town. We have an ice cream place every few blocks and like my coffee addiction I have a horrible ice cream problem. Just being honest.

Anyhow, I'm caught up with the $12 a day budget for June.

During this debt freedom endevour the three main things I've learned that are absolutely essential for me to stay on track with the budget are:

1. Spend Cash. I hate it but it really does keep you aware of your spending and helps limit the excess.
2. Balance the checkbook/ keep track of spending DAILY. Whenever I stray from this little task I STRAY.
3. Blog. Just the simple act of jotting down my spending and battles on the web helps so much to hold me accountable and keep me on track. You all, EVERY reader of this regular ranting have helped my family with the debt pay off we've managed thus far.

MANY THANKS TO YOU FRIENDS!

Things I Need Today

Hugs from the husband
Baby boy smiles
Puppy cuddles
To gaze upon the sky
Listen to bird songs
And inhale fresh outside air

Probably need water too

Nothing more.

My Monster is Back

I've been fighting, really REALLY fighting urges to buy everything lately. I'm so mad that this little monster is back. Over the past two years I've done so good at caging the little beast. I actually thought it was gone. Nope.

Ever since I've been back to work (four weeks already) I've been fighting the consumer mentality. "Ooh, that outfit for baby boy would be soooo cute!.. ahh, we really need a new one of those (bed sheets, socks, pants, shoes, baby swaddler, additional random nonsense that we in NO WAY actually need)... goodness, that sale is so great I really should pick one of those up!" Seriously the monster is back!

As Dave Ramsey says, getting a good deal on something you don't actually need is in no way a good deal. I've learned that I really don't need much of anything (else). We've too much already and yet little monster is back yelling her ugly head off, "BUY IT!" For the most part I haven't been listening but it tears me down so much. I leave work (a supermarket) everyday with a long lovely list compiled over the past 8 hours of random items that I really feel we need/ could benefit from/ I'd love to purchase and bring home to meet my family. There's such a feeling of void while this list floats around in my head but my hands are empty. Again, I've been doing pretty good just leaving the list in the confines of my mind and not realizing it but the battle is agonizing.

I've noticed that even though I have been winning the initial battle the little monster is leaving me wiped out for my journey home. We've been eating takeout ALOT and spending a ridiculous amount of money on food stuffs. I think that I feel this small sense of accomplishment for not acquiring the items on the previously mentioned list, and yet I want to fill the void with something still and food is great for this. SO I don't spend money on stuff but then I sort of mend the wound and reward the accomplishment by spending money on calories. OH, THE BATTLE RAGES ON!

I'm weak. I'm tired. I'm finding myself rather regressed but I'm still determined to ditch this debt and come out on the other side a financially strong responsible woman and mommy!