Hello, my name is Kate, and I am a Budget Fanatic.
I have an excel spreadsheet detailing all of my family’s
money ins and outs, and it is like a child to me. I love it. I live for it. I
created it from scratch. In the past, I have downloaded numerous budget
templates but none of them ever felt right for me so I tailor-made one to suit
our family. I continue to improve it all the time. I usually spend at least an
hour a day going over it and fine-tuning everything.
I try to explain my budget methods with people and they
think that they would hate it. Life is so unpredictable sometimes and things are
always changing. You have to be PREPARED
(as much as possible) for the unexpected, especially when it comes to money.
There are unexpected car repairs, trips, cases of more f’ing brownie cookies to
buy to support an overnight camp out that turns out won’t be happening anymore after you alredy sold five million cases for it...
A new ironing board has never been an item in my
budget. Why? Oh, because I don’t iron my clothes. I am the type of person that
throws stuff back in the dryer to get the big wrinkles out, and only IF my
mother or grandmother will see me wearing it. If not, I like to think wrinkles
are a part of life. Yes, I am a grown-up, no I don’t care that you are judging
me right now. AND I am sometimes quick at hanging stuff up and folding when it
comes out of the dryer the first time. So there.
I want an ironing
board really badly because it is the last component that I “need” to make my craft room/office
feel complete. When I am sewing, I have to put away the sewing machine in order
to make room on my table for a towel and my iron. It frustrates the crap out of
me. For the last year I have refused to put it in the budget and to also pay
the 29.99 for it. I have watched for a sale, but even when I found one for
19.99, I cringed and walked away with a pout. I just couldn’t bring myself to
buy it. Until today.
The void in my craft room has now been filled with a 9.99
ironing board from a closing out sale at Zellers.
I escaped on Friday night to run to town to grab more purple
yarn for my Period of Purple Crying hats. I swung by the ironing board section on
the way out to see what the discount was, since everything in the store is
either 40-50% off right now. I nearly lost my mind when I saw the 9.99 price
tag. I literally STARED at the thing leaned up on the rack for a solid 15
minutes.
The whole time, just thinking to myself- Should I get it?
When will I ever see one this cheap again? But it’s not in the budget. Well
neither is the yarn. Hmmm. If I don’t get it now for 9.99 then I will feel so
terrible paying 29.99 for one down the road. Or maybe I won’t EVER actually buy
myself one. AHH Shit. If I buy myself
this ironing board then I will HAVE to make good use of it in order to justify
to myself that it was worth it. What will I sew? Some doll clothes for Bears
American Girl Doll; some new curtains for Pumpkins room; a new dress for moi? I’m
not that great at sewing. I should get lessons. Geez maybe I shouldn’t buy this
ironing board right now. Oh, frig it!
I put it in the cart.
The whole walk to the cashier I (again) weighed the pros and
cons, but eventually thought to myself, I need this. I want to sew more. I have
been stuck in a creative lull for the past few months, and this new ironing
board is gonna bring me out of it. I hope.
It is not very often that I make a decision like this that
is not based on a need RIGHT NOW, or buying something in the HOPES that it will
motivate or inspire. It was a wacky moment, but it felt right because I finally
listened to myself.
I walked in the door with it, showed hubby, and immediately
started explaining to him how it was on sale and I couldn’t leave it there, and
you know how much I have wanted one….blah blah blah. He didn’t care one bit. He
said that’s nice and walked away. It was WAY easier then I thought it was going to be to convince him it was a good purchase.
But then I got to thinking…
Last week when he was talking about spontaneously buying
some “non-needed” tools I lectured him about planning ahead and making sure we
put it in the budget BEFORE we go shopping. See, I told you I was crazy about it. He didn’t understand what the big
deal was. SO he may not care too much about this ironing board RIGHT NOW, but I
guarantee you on our next trip to Canadian Tire, when he asks me if some giant
specialty wrench thing can be in the budget, he won’t be able to stop talking
about my ironing board. You wait and see. Sneaky devil.
He won't know what hit him when he hears me say, "Yea honey go ahead and get whatever you want." If he thinks that it will make his
toolbox complete, then I will have no choice but to make some room in the
budget for it. Another lesson learned. If I can do it for myself, then I have to
loosen up my Crazy Budget Lady purse strings a bit for everyone.
Except for more brownie cookies, because I am SO D.O.N.E with
brownie cookies!!
I am adding a new category to the budget this month: "WANT" MONEY FOR EVERYONE!! (In an Oprah Winfrey voice of course) YOU get a new car, YOU get a new car, YOU get a new car...I miss Oprah.
Anyways, I’m not sure if this was a “comfort zone bust” or “gratitude
to myself” moment, but it was something. I learned that it’s really
important to make investments in YOUSELF sometimes. Also, that WANTS are just
as important as NEEDS sometimes. Especially if it will steer you in a direction
you have been trying to go in for a while.
Love,
Kate
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