Hitting a Slump

On By youmeanmeIn Musings

I haven’t been posting a lot because I’ve spent the last couple of months hiding from my budget.

My frugal re-set over the course of the last few years has worked in the sense that I always seem to have a bit after my paycheque even if I exceed my budget. However, I have been spending on things and then not wanting to hold myself accountable.

Here’s an example: I would like more summer dresses. The season is so short and I’d like to really enjoy it when I can.

Step 1: Pull out all my clothes and assess the number of outfits I have. It turns out I have a lot of casual, weekend dresses  but only a few work appropriate dresses

Step 2: Figure out a realistic number of dresses that would help me fill the gap. To wear 2 dresses/ skirts per week I would need 5 more dresses.

Step 3: Set a budget. I thought $75 would be good as one good work dress at a big box store at the mall ranges from $70 – $120.

Step 4: Hit the thrift store.

This all sounds great, right? If the cycle ended here it would be alright.

Step 5: Find lots of dresses and have a bill that goes up to $99.36. That $0.36 counts as my goal then became spending less than $100.

Step 6: Avoid looking at my budget as $75 was already tight in the budget but the extra $24.36 is making it worse.

Step 7: Since I haven’t looked at my budget, completely forget that I had already spent my entire fashion and miscellaneous lines so I spend a little extra at the grocery on some seasonal items.

Step 8: Find the Thrift Store bill and resolve to not look at my budget but also not to spend another cent.

Step 9: Forget the resolution and buy Bunny the jumbo version of her pet food and throw in the jumbo version of birdseed for the outdoor families of birds, chipmunks and squirrels that raid the feeders.

I’ve only done half my budget so I’m not actually sure where I’m sitting right now. That’s a job for tonight.

My only resolution at this point is to re-instate my weekly budget dates!

 

9 thoughts on “Hitting a Slump”

  1. OMG – I’m dying laughing only because this is me right now. I literally can’t stop myself. I haven’t been posting for a bunch of reasons but I am so ashamed of myself for falling off tack in my budget. That being said you can’t fix the problem if you can’t find the pattern. Good for you to figure that out. You can’t change the past but you can starting today go back to a budget. If your previous budget keeps failing – maybe it needs some tweaking. Learn and Grow.

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    1. I’m so glad you got a laugh :D. I’ve taken a break from budgeting properly and I’m reaping the rewards of my laziness. This was a good reminder that when I let things go I have some real consequences. It was also the kick I needed to remember to go weekly 🙂

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  3. Long term solutions (of any type) require REALISTIC action steps. If you feel a weekly budget is a PLAN OF ACTION you can maintain FOREVER, it is a good idea. If not, it is like a DIET. A little success is followed by undesirable patterns of behavior that result in failure.

    Discovering the ROOT CAUSES for the NEED to spend will likely lead to a SUSTAINABLE plan of action with significantly less STRESS.

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    1. That’s true. The weekly budget check-in had been my go to until December. After the concussion things got dicey with me and my electronics. I’m only now able to want to look at my things at home again after spending all day in the office.

      I’ve been avoiding the budget so it’ll be good to really look at what I’ve been overspending on. My sense has been that it’s on fashion items but I know some of it has been meeting with friends.

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  4. This has been me for the last month. I recently became debt-free, only to tack on more debt by purchasing a car via finance (this was more need than want, my car was kaput- though I could have gone with a cheaper option). Since then, I’ve been in denial about my new situation and haven’t been budgeting. GAH. I need to get over myself and get back on track – but honestly- I’m scared. XD

    Okay. I’m going to do this. Right now before I chicken out! *scurries off review the damage*

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