New Budgetary Guidelines

You've heard me lament the economy and the fact that no matter how good we are, and how hard we try, it seems like it is impossible to get ahead. Every time we get a little money saved up, something ridiculous happens (car troubles, something with the house, have to pay taxes, etc.), and the savings goes kablooey.

We have been working extremely hard to pay debt (so. freaking. close. to having cards paid off). I can't tell you how good it feels to say that - although, I feel like I better knock on some wood. We never get tax refunds since I always do the summer workshop circuit. So, I'm sure we'll have to deal with that in a few months. So far, two of my friends have found out they have to pay more than $1,000.

Seriously. We work our butts off every day, molding the minds of the youth of America, doing the right thing, and the money situation never gets better. We don't need a lot of stuff, but if the economy keeps going the way it is, pretty soon I'll be wondering whether or not we'll be buying gas and groceries every time we need to. Gas gets more and more expensive, and so does everything else, because it takes gas to get it to us, but our paychecks never get fatter.

I used to watch Suze Orman every weekend, when Adam was working at QT, because he was gone every Saturday night. So, I watched her while he was working. I'm sort of over her now, but on Headline News they've begun a new feature with Clark the Money Coach. He deals with people who have MAJOR debt issues. Ours really aren't that bad at all, when you consider that some people have more than $50,000 in credit card debt. YIKES. So glad we're not in that boat.

One of the people he advised was a single girl who was trying to pay down cards. She's a teacher, and when she gets paid, she goes and takes out $500 cash for all non-bill living expenses. That's what she lives on for the month. We're trying this approach. So far, it's worked quite well. It's so much easier to keep track of what you're spending when you're not using a debit card. This is the second month, and it's worked pretty well so far, even with my trip to Wichita (had to fill up twice and get an oil change) and Adam had to get an oil change too. Since there's two of us and one of her, we get a LEEEtle bit larger allowance, but not too much.

To some of the people reading this our allowance will sound like a pittance - but it's quite satisfying to know that I'm not going out and spending money on random crap that I won't use, or clothes I don't really need. I have so much stuff in my closet that I hardly wear.

Since we moved here, we've been very good about not going out to eat all the time - mostly for health reasons, but there's a definite financial benefit as well. I would much rather save money for a cool vacation that I will remember always than have a meal that I'll forget about in a day or two.

I've never been one for willpower, and this method of budgeting works well for me. When the money runs out, the money runs out. It's much easier for me to conceptualize that when I'm standing at the store holding the cash in my hand, instead of an ATM (access to money) card.

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I don't know if the story I read about the Eagle's new print size inspired me or what, but I decided to try a redesign on my old web home on the range. What do you think? I was over the black.

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I won't post much about the Oscars since I'm pretty late on that, but I loved Helen Mirren's beautiful red dress. It was probably my favorite. And see Lori's blog for some great Jon Stewart lines. Unfortunately for Betsy, none of those lines were: "Betsy, I want to help you have your babies."