money money money...MOOONEY

Grr. I feel like my money is just flying out the window. It's like once you cheat on a diet, it's a lot easier to continue cheating. I don't know why I'm having such difficulties, when I was married I was on top of my game with money; maybe it's because I'm only accountable to myself that I am able to spend more money. It's like two steps forward, one step back.

I finally bought my coat from Ann Taylor; I sucked it up because I figured that it was of really good quality and will last me years. I called the store here in Tucson to see if they had my size and would hold it for me. Because we are considered a "hot" store, they didn't carry it so she told me to just order it online. The salesperson was nice enough to give me a code to use online to save 30%. (Sweet.) So I typed in the code and not only did I save 30%, I also got free shipping. :) Instead of paying almost $200 (including tax and shipping) I got my coat for $127.77, with tax, meaning I saved over $56. Patience pays off, huh? So I'm really excited that I'm going to finally have a nice coat for winter, especially since I'm going to be in Dallas.

I've decided that I need to just pull out my budget money and then hide my debit card...I can't be trusted to keep it in my wallet. I'm going to get back on track this week, I swear. The good news is that I was able to fill up my car for $17.00 yesterday. :) How nice is that? It's also been almost two weeks since I filled up last so it looks like my monthly gas bill will be less than $40. No complaints there.

Okay, back to the straight and narrow. I'm feeling better already.

Budget vs. Spending Plan: Does changing a few words make a difference?

Hmm. This is a really informative article from the Wall Street Journal about making a spending plan. (Wow, what do you know, it's entitled How to Make a Spending Plan.) The article starts off stating that budget is one of the most hated words in the financial vocabulary and it's on the same par with the hatred of the word diet. Now, do I agree that by substituting the word budget with the words spending plan make me feel any better? Well, as good as I feel when you say, "I'm going on a lifestyle change." When we all really know you mean diet.

I guess spending plan does sound better than the word budget, just like the word meat sounds a lot better than flesh.

"What are you having for dinner tonight?"

"Why, we're cooking up a big plate of chicken flesh tonight, want to come over for dinner?"

In any event, I don't know why we get caught up on words so much when they all mean the same thing; if it gets one person to spend less or if they feel more confident in their choices by not drifting off of their spending plan, well great.

Anyway, don't know why I'm hooked on wordplay today. Maybe because it's Friday and I have to work tomorrow for three hours, or maybe because my spending plan was a little off last night because of some pancakes...

Seven days, no spending.

Ah yes, CNN Living again has a very interesting article about a guy who decides not to spend any money for seven days. Basically he does it as an experiment to see how much money he really uses in a week; interesting how we burn through x amount of dollars and aren't even aware. Although this dude sounded like a cheapskate to begin with, sounds like maybe he won't be so much anymore after his little experiment.

In trying to pay off as much debt as I can in order to be debt-free and buy a car with cash within the next few years, I'm really watching every penny that leaves my wallet. I rarely eat out anymore and am cooking a lot more at home (yay!) I'm so tempted every where I go to buy something. These sexy high heels at Guess ($115):

and a new winter coat at Ann Taylor Loft ($169):

This coat is way cuter in person, and looks way better on me. hehe.

I typically don't ever go to the mall but when I was in Dallas I walked past Ann Taylor Loft and fell in LOVE with this winter coat and since I don't have one and will need one, I'm contemplating buying it but I would definitely buy it with cash. I probably could afford it now but I'm trying to pay off my Vita-Mix on layaway so boo, I don't think that will work. Maybe boyfriend will buy it for me. :) I found another cute coat at Old Navy for half the price, but do I sacrifice? Why not spend the money on something I LOVE that is made of higher quality materials that will probably last me a lot longer? Doesn't that make sense in the long run? Buy quality even if it is more money? Budgets suck but so does debt and taking two steps forward and one step back is just asinine. I guess I'll have to figure a way to fit it into my budget if I really want it, right?

In any event, read the article and let me know what you think. Spend no money in 7 days? Ha. I don't think I could.

Budget time...again!

So I'm back on the whole budget kick to get my ass in gear with paying off my debts. After watching an episode of Real Simple. Real Life on TLC (which is a pretty good show but sometimes too "white bread" for me, if you know what I mean) where they really helped this graduate student get her bills on track I got motivated to sit down and evaluate my paycheck. Here's what I've come up with:

• 20% goes to debt
• 10% goes to savings
• $160 cash goes towards gas, food, and fun items.
• Debit card is used only for dog and cat necessities (food, litter, and treats), bills, and prescriptions, and Christmas presents.

I'm also saving cash to pay for a few things. I put my beloved VitaMix blender on layaway after I found it at an awesome price ($479 when it's normally $525) so I'm hoping to have that paid off before the end of the year. I also need new contacts desperately so I have a separate envelope for that. And I also have started a VACATION envelope and I'm socking away $20 of my money and $20 of bf's money every paycheck so that one day I'll say, "hey babe, let's go on vacation" and I'll whip out this huge envelope full of cash and it's all paid for...how sweet would that be?

So far I'm doing great and I've learned that after all of the bill paying and everything else, I will have more money left in my bank account (as in hundreds) than I normally do at the end of the two weeks between paychecks. This is going to allow me to save more money and pay off more bills. I also don't have a winter coat and couldn't afford one last year since I was unemployed, so maybe some of that extra money can go towards LL's Ann Taylor Loft winter jacket fund! I'll keep you posted!