I've been a huge budget kick lately. Because I'm not working, I've decided that it's my job to make sure we reduce our expenses to save a little extra money. I hate it.
We've always been aggressive savers, especially for retirement, but we are not as careful when it comes to everyday living. We were careful about every penny in the early years of our marriage, but as our combined income has grown, we've definitely become more lax in our spending. Part of it is that we have more disposable income, but another part is that we're both spontaneous and like to have adventures while we can. We work hard and that has translated into playing hard as well.
Because I'm not working hard at the moment, I don't know that I've earned the right to play hard at this point in my life. My husband has earned this right, though - he works harder than almost anybody I know between work and getting his MBA - and I don't want to take this away from him. However, I'm trying to be sensible and recognize that although my income wasn't much, it generally paid for a lot of our adventures. This new situation makes it hard to find a balance between being financially smart and enjoying life to the fullest.
The one thing that has changed dramatically is the number of times we go out to eat, and especially the number of times that I go out to eat. I used to frequent coffee shops and places like Panera to do my work, and I always bought lunch, drinks, and snacks while I worked. Those costs definitely added up, so by staying home more often, I've definitely cut those expenses down. I suppose that I could insist my husband bring his lunch to work too. However, getting lunch is one of the only breaks he gets during the day and I'm reluctant to take it away from him. If he brought lunch, I have a feeling he would work right through lunch and never take a break. When he has to get his lunch, he gets away from his desk for a little while, and gets a little fresh air for at least a few minutes each day. I think both of those are incredibly important for his stress management. While I'm positive that we could save some money if he brown bagged it, I'm not convinced the money savings outweighs the mental health benefits.
However, we eat our dinners at home a lot more often than we used to, and have greatly reduced the number of takeout nights. I could probably save more money by preparing everything myself and not using Dream Dinners, but I'm not 100% convinced that the savings would be all that great. I do cook from scratch at least once per week, and the grocery bills for those meals are roughly the same as a Dream Dinners meal. I've gotten over my guilt about "not cooking," and look forward to the different meals we get to try! Chicken Vesuvio for dinner tonight - YUM!
Aside from meals, the biggest expenses I feel the need to control are the entertainment and the miscellaneous expenses. These are the ones that I struggle with the most, and a lot of it has to do with trying to find ways to fill my day without spending money. I admittedly fail at this aspect of budgeting, and with Christmas coming, I know I will struggle with this even more. I'm not really a shopper, but I am a giver, and when I see something that reminds me of my friends or family, I will often impulsively buy things without really thinking about a budget. Combine this giving with being bored and trying to find ways to fill my day and suddenly shopping becomes a budget buster. I'm really trying to set a smaller, more realistic budget this year and I'm going to work hard to stick to it.
The flip side of the entertainment and miscellaneous expenses is that my husband hasn't stopped working hard so it's difficult for me to justify limiting his play time. Just because I'm not working doesn't mean that he can't enjoy the life he has worked so hard to create. I've been trying to find things to do that he'll enjoy while also being mindful of expenses - things like going to the discount movie theatre instead of the new release theatre, going to free festivals, and using frequent travel discounts and freebies - but I really struggle in this area a lot. Entertainment has gotten so expensive! We don't have a lot of friends in the area so we don't go to each other's house for game night or movie night, and I'm not sure that's something he'd like to do anyway - we're not really board game players. Maybe that's something we could try though, or perhaps we could find a Playstation 3 game to play together, because I'm quickly running out of ways to keep us entertained!
I know I'm completely spoiled that I can be home right now, and that we don't live paycheck to paycheck, but I also recognize that we may not always be in this position. I want to be smart about how we spend our money, but I also don't want to forget to enjoy life! It's a difficult balance and I'm still learning how to manage those competing priorities.
How do you balance your budget?
We've always been aggressive savers, especially for retirement, but we are not as careful when it comes to everyday living. We were careful about every penny in the early years of our marriage, but as our combined income has grown, we've definitely become more lax in our spending. Part of it is that we have more disposable income, but another part is that we're both spontaneous and like to have adventures while we can. We work hard and that has translated into playing hard as well.
Because I'm not working hard at the moment, I don't know that I've earned the right to play hard at this point in my life. My husband has earned this right, though - he works harder than almost anybody I know between work and getting his MBA - and I don't want to take this away from him. However, I'm trying to be sensible and recognize that although my income wasn't much, it generally paid for a lot of our adventures. This new situation makes it hard to find a balance between being financially smart and enjoying life to the fullest.
The one thing that has changed dramatically is the number of times we go out to eat, and especially the number of times that I go out to eat. I used to frequent coffee shops and places like Panera to do my work, and I always bought lunch, drinks, and snacks while I worked. Those costs definitely added up, so by staying home more often, I've definitely cut those expenses down. I suppose that I could insist my husband bring his lunch to work too. However, getting lunch is one of the only breaks he gets during the day and I'm reluctant to take it away from him. If he brought lunch, I have a feeling he would work right through lunch and never take a break. When he has to get his lunch, he gets away from his desk for a little while, and gets a little fresh air for at least a few minutes each day. I think both of those are incredibly important for his stress management. While I'm positive that we could save some money if he brown bagged it, I'm not convinced the money savings outweighs the mental health benefits.
However, we eat our dinners at home a lot more often than we used to, and have greatly reduced the number of takeout nights. I could probably save more money by preparing everything myself and not using Dream Dinners, but I'm not 100% convinced that the savings would be all that great. I do cook from scratch at least once per week, and the grocery bills for those meals are roughly the same as a Dream Dinners meal. I've gotten over my guilt about "not cooking," and look forward to the different meals we get to try! Chicken Vesuvio for dinner tonight - YUM!
Aside from meals, the biggest expenses I feel the need to control are the entertainment and the miscellaneous expenses. These are the ones that I struggle with the most, and a lot of it has to do with trying to find ways to fill my day without spending money. I admittedly fail at this aspect of budgeting, and with Christmas coming, I know I will struggle with this even more. I'm not really a shopper, but I am a giver, and when I see something that reminds me of my friends or family, I will often impulsively buy things without really thinking about a budget. Combine this giving with being bored and trying to find ways to fill my day and suddenly shopping becomes a budget buster. I'm really trying to set a smaller, more realistic budget this year and I'm going to work hard to stick to it.
The flip side of the entertainment and miscellaneous expenses is that my husband hasn't stopped working hard so it's difficult for me to justify limiting his play time. Just because I'm not working doesn't mean that he can't enjoy the life he has worked so hard to create. I've been trying to find things to do that he'll enjoy while also being mindful of expenses - things like going to the discount movie theatre instead of the new release theatre, going to free festivals, and using frequent travel discounts and freebies - but I really struggle in this area a lot. Entertainment has gotten so expensive! We don't have a lot of friends in the area so we don't go to each other's house for game night or movie night, and I'm not sure that's something he'd like to do anyway - we're not really board game players. Maybe that's something we could try though, or perhaps we could find a Playstation 3 game to play together, because I'm quickly running out of ways to keep us entertained!
I know I'm completely spoiled that I can be home right now, and that we don't live paycheck to paycheck, but I also recognize that we may not always be in this position. I want to be smart about how we spend our money, but I also don't want to forget to enjoy life! It's a difficult balance and I'm still learning how to manage those competing priorities.
How do you balance your budget?
No comments:
Post a Comment