Impulsive Spending! Yikes!

Hi everyone! I hope you all have had a nice Monday. I spent it trying to re-brainwash myself to STOP spending!!! We were doing so well with our budget and we blew it this weekend. I got a refund check from money leftover from new student loans. Nothing huge, but it gave me the feeling that we have lots of cash to spare. This is not the case, nor has it EVER been the case! Let me tell you what went wrong this weekend…

Well, the refund check arrived on Friday and we promptly deposited it. We discussed in full where this money was going to go. Since it is technically still debt, we were planning on paying off higher interest debt with it (We have 2 cards with almost 30% interest). I had the day off from work on Saturday, so I had a lot of homework to catch up on. It is an online class on the science behind cooking, and my lab assignment was to make a souffle and discuss the science behind lofty egg white foam, etc. Well, the recipe called for 8 ramekins. I only had 4. Instead of asking my neighbors if they had any ramekins to spare, I went out and spent $14 on 4 new ramekins. Not smart. Then, since I was making the souffle until 5pm, dinner was not ready, so we ordered take out and spent another $30!!! Ugh! It’s spiraling downward, people! Then next morning, I had to be at work at 6am, so on my lunch break I spent $4 at Starbucks on a latte and a Sunday newspaper (I did use the remaining $2.50 on a cell phone rebate card). As I was leaving work, I was tempted by the sales I see all day at work and left with $52 worth of clothing for my kids!!! As I left the store, I knew this was a HUGE mistake. Ugh. We spent $100 total that was not budgeted for! What caused me to spend all of this money?

First of all, I have been utterly exhausted. Staying continually motivated takes energy in itself, so I need to make sure that I am getting enough sleep every night. This is really hard because my husband is a night owl and I like to hang out with him after the kids are in bed. Guess, we’ll just have to make sure they are tucked in earlier. Maybe I would have been more likely to go out and ask my neighbors for ramekins if I wasn’t so exhausted.

I also need to stay healthy since it is easy to get depressed about everything when I am sick and then the house gets trashed by the family. Moms, you know what I am talking about here! I have been fighting a cold for weeks now. Nothing full blown, but a nagging cough going on. I’ve been taking my vitamin D but have been lagging on the exercise front. I’ve been running 3 miles every other day this week and I notice a huge difference in how I feel. I cleaned the house today and it makes me happy to be in an organized space.

I really don’t know why I spent all that money at the store where I work. I didn’t even buy that many things: socks and leggings for my youngest, khaki capris and flats for my middle child, and a pair of shorts for the oldest. I guess the overspending had to do with my overall mood. The gloomy winter days and the very early morning work hours just took their toll on me, I guess. I have to say that in the past, we could have spent $200 in a weekend without even blinking an eye – so we are not back to where we started. I guess that $100 will have to come partially out of the February grocery budget and partially out of that student loan check. YUCK! Today, I did not overspend, the kid’s lunches were packed and I kept repeating my mantra “Just one day at a time.” Gosh, being on a budget is a lot like dieting, isn’t it?!