I've failed.
If I could remember what I thought when I checked my bank account Friday morning, I'm sure those two words, would have been the first thing that ave come to my mind.
With only $0.33 left in my checking, I knew I'd finally achieved my goal of being a broke college student. A goal I haven't been striving for.
However, failure was not on my mind, as I promptly blame my insuffient fund account on the fact that this month has been very heavy in the way of bills. Between my two charges of $96.50 in court fees, and purchasing a brand new camera flash...on top of my regular spenditure, I was pretty sure that was the blame.
Over this year, I've made a big effort to cut back on my impulse shopping, purchasing food once a month, paying all my bills on one check... everything else on the other, insuring that there is money for my bills..
I really thought I was making great strides, but just wasn't bringing in enough money.
Just to be sure, I sat down with my bank account and crunched some numbers this morning.
Could someone PLEASE tell me why in the world I was going to Wally-World that often this month?? I hate that place!
Oops.
I'll admit I'm an impulse shopper, which means I have very little regrets about the purchases made without prior thought..until I'm broke that is..That being said, this month I did have a lot more of legitimate "need" purchases than normal, due to..um..circumstances.
But um...perhaps I could have thought this through a little more.
I had set amounts for: Food, Gas, Bills and General Purchases, and I truthfully thought the amounts were reasonable. Compared to what I'm actually spending.. like not.at.all so much.
So I bought a separate visa card, to put my "expenditures" like, food, gas and house supplies on that. that way when the money is gone its gone. In turn, causing me to be more vigilant about watching where my money's going. I'm also going to start purchasing staple products from a site called Alice.com, which will keep impulse buying down.
Not only do they have most of the items I would get in a place like Wal.Mart they also have FREE SHIPPING ON EVERYTHING. Can't beat that people.
If only stores would have little carts to calculate your totals, as you shopped...watching that balance increase as you add things, goes a long way to making me think about what I'm buying!
I'm not much better when impulsively buying food...I mean, you can never have enough food right?
Am I Right?
Especially if has the letters : I C E C R E A M on it.
Its an addiction.
But back to the point, I've written down "menus" for the next four weeks, and try to buy only the things needed to make those items, and maybe a few snacky items. I also make sure I've eaten before I grocery shop, as the will negatively effect my budget.
I've got to get a handle on my monies now or I'll NEVER get a car, or be able to set foot in other clothing store for a long.long.time.
And that, my friends, will be a very.sad. day indeed. I've bought maybe 5 new pieces of clothing this entire year. I've avoided them like a plague, because my impulse disease is very.hard. to control in those places.
Anyway. The brain is wandering from the subject at hand.
So in conclusion, there really isn't a real good reason I should be completely broke at this point, starting from the ground up every.single. month. I mean there are reasons, but I think i could have managed my money I LOT better than I have to date. Thankfully we make mistakes to learn from them.
And that's what I plan on doing.
Dear Self,
You want this right? Its time to buckle down and get a move on!
Sincerly,
Tired of Being Broke.
If I could remember what I thought when I checked my bank account Friday morning, I'm sure those two words, would have been the first thing that ave come to my mind.
With only $0.33 left in my checking, I knew I'd finally achieved my goal of being a broke college student. A goal I haven't been striving for.
However, failure was not on my mind, as I promptly blame my insuffient fund account on the fact that this month has been very heavy in the way of bills. Between my two charges of $96.50 in court fees, and purchasing a brand new camera flash...on top of my regular spenditure, I was pretty sure that was the blame.
Over this year, I've made a big effort to cut back on my impulse shopping, purchasing food once a month, paying all my bills on one check... everything else on the other, insuring that there is money for my bills..
I really thought I was making great strides, but just wasn't bringing in enough money.
Just to be sure, I sat down with my bank account and crunched some numbers this morning.
I was very dis-hearted with what I saw.
Though I'm not spending much on "fun stuff"... um.. I made at LEAST 3 trips to Wal-Mart walking, spending no less than $30 each trip. And then one $50 trip to Target .... which tallied up to $322+. Could someone PLEASE tell me why in the world I was going to Wally-World that often this month?? I hate that place!
Oops.
I'll admit I'm an impulse shopper, which means I have very little regrets about the purchases made without prior thought..until I'm broke that is..That being said, this month I did have a lot more of legitimate "need" purchases than normal, due to..um..circumstances.
But um...perhaps I could have thought this through a little more.
I had set amounts for: Food, Gas, Bills and General Purchases, and I truthfully thought the amounts were reasonable. Compared to what I'm actually spending.. like not.at.all so much.
So I bought a separate visa card, to put my "expenditures" like, food, gas and house supplies on that. that way when the money is gone its gone. In turn, causing me to be more vigilant about watching where my money's going. I'm also going to start purchasing staple products from a site called Alice.com, which will keep impulse buying down.
Not only do they have most of the items I would get in a place like Wal.Mart they also have FREE SHIPPING ON EVERYTHING. Can't beat that people.
If only stores would have little carts to calculate your totals, as you shopped...watching that balance increase as you add things, goes a long way to making me think about what I'm buying!
I'm not much better when impulsively buying food...I mean, you can never have enough food right?
Am I Right?
Especially if has the letters : I C E C R E A M on it.
Its an addiction.
But back to the point, I've written down "menus" for the next four weeks, and try to buy only the things needed to make those items, and maybe a few snacky items. I also make sure I've eaten before I grocery shop, as the will negatively effect my budget.
I've got to get a handle on my monies now or I'll NEVER get a car, or be able to set foot in other clothing store for a long.long.time.
And that, my friends, will be a very.sad. day indeed. I've bought maybe 5 new pieces of clothing this entire year. I've avoided them like a plague, because my impulse disease is very.hard. to control in those places.
Anyway. The brain is wandering from the subject at hand.
So in conclusion, there really isn't a real good reason I should be completely broke at this point, starting from the ground up every.single. month. I mean there are reasons, but I think i could have managed my money I LOT better than I have to date. Thankfully we make mistakes to learn from them.
And that's what I plan on doing.
Dear Self,
You want this right? Its time to buckle down and get a move on!
Sincerly,
Tired of Being Broke.
No comments:
Post a Comment