Gotta get serious again
I think I’m getting lazy and resting on my laurels a little too much lately. I’ve recently posted about a bunch of big purchases ($200-$600) that I’ve needed; those I don’t regret purchasing. But I’ve noticed that I’ve been easing off the debt/budget bandwagon and spending more than I ought to. I haven’t been getting serious about prepping food in advance for when I need meals outside of home. I’ve been splurging too much at restaurants. I’m buying more stuff than I need when I go to the grocery store.
My budget for the past 2 months definitely reflect that. I’m over, not a ton, but enough where it impacts how much extra I put towards debt, probably about $100 or so. A comment on a recent post about being ok taking 5 years to pay off my debt chided me for not needing quite that long, and ya know, they’re right!
If I think about every day, no, I didn’t have to buy that $4.75 (tip included) mocha when I got up late and didn’t have time to make coffee at home – I could have sucked up the semi-bad (but free) drip coffee at work and dealt with it. No, I didn’t have to go pick up a fast food burger and fry. I could have had something small, carried it with me, gone to my photo lab assistance gig and come home at 9:30 and had a late dinner.
I’ve got to tighten up my minor spending habits – I’m doing ok on the bigger stuff, but the small stuff, yes, I need to sweat it more than I do! I think this is going to be my biggest hurdle in following a budget – I don’t really. I use it as a rule of thumb and then oh well, I’m over this month. That has to change. It will be hard, and I guarantee you’ll be reading more about this in the future.
DebtMaven 