AKA - Sunday, day of "holy crap I can't believe I was actually productive yesterday aw crap I still have so much to do today *pout*"
So, yesterday was ludicrously productive. I cleaned the apartment like a woman possessed, including doing 2 loads of laundry, 4 loads of dishes, and cleaning out the beer fridge, and made it to my work Christmas party on time at 6:30. Hurray, right?
Well, it would be if I could stick to a budget and stop making "exceptions" every week. The work Christmas party was at a hotel by the airport, which meant that we spent $15 getting there (between TTC tokens and 2 tickets for the airport shuttle), and when we got there drinks were quite pricey. After the first round I had to hit up the ATM since I hadn't expected to spend so much getting there. The ATM fee was $3.00. Yeah, let that sink in a little. So, what did I do? Decide, yaknowwhat, maybe tonight we don't need to drink that much? I wish. No, I made another "exception". I mean, it was my work Christmas party, right?
Every week there's been exceptions. My partner's brother's birthday. My partner's birthday. Thanksgiving. Visiting. When my sis comes up to visit me. My partner's friends have come to town. We make plans with friends we haven't seen in a while. We decide that tonight we don't wanna cook and we're pmsing so we really, really need to eat at Mexitaco (which always includes ordering a beer and tequila shot to start). And on and on and on. There's really no end to it. But there definitely is an end to the amount of money we have.
If Gail Vaz-Oxlade were my fairy godmother, she'd be cracking me across the back of my head with her wand and yelling "What were you thinking?!!" The saddest, most frustrating part is that I know better. Til Debt Do Us Part is my favourite show and has been for years. Two years ago my partner and I lived by the money jar (or envelope) system. I have spreadsheets and budgets up the ying yang. I just happen to let in too many exceptions.
It wouldn't be so bad if my partner and I still had two jobs each. We did during the summer and it both kept us too occupied to spend a lot of money, as well as the obvious monetary benefits. Plus, I was working for Starbucks, which meant every week I got a free pound of coffee and, since I closed, I would get to take home some of the food that otherwise would have been tossed at the end of the night. There was a period of about a month wherein we didn't go grocery shopping once because of this.
But then, we got caught up on bills, and my full-time job schedule had started interfering with my Starbucks schedule, and I was exhausted from the hours, so I quit. And my partner's boss for the street marketing campaign stopped calling with times and dates for her and her coworkers to go out to events and give out promotional materials. We got comfortable in our new, less hectic schedules but were (are) spending like we've got extra sources of income.
Now, we've got about $40 for groceries this week and I've decided to give up booze until Christmas to reign in my part of the spending. Too bad next weekend is my partner's birthday party at our house. Spend spend spend.
Rowf.
So, yesterday was ludicrously productive. I cleaned the apartment like a woman possessed, including doing 2 loads of laundry, 4 loads of dishes, and cleaning out the beer fridge, and made it to my work Christmas party on time at 6:30. Hurray, right?
Well, it would be if I could stick to a budget and stop making "exceptions" every week. The work Christmas party was at a hotel by the airport, which meant that we spent $15 getting there (between TTC tokens and 2 tickets for the airport shuttle), and when we got there drinks were quite pricey. After the first round I had to hit up the ATM since I hadn't expected to spend so much getting there. The ATM fee was $3.00. Yeah, let that sink in a little. So, what did I do? Decide, yaknowwhat, maybe tonight we don't need to drink that much? I wish. No, I made another "exception". I mean, it was my work Christmas party, right?
Every week there's been exceptions. My partner's brother's birthday. My partner's birthday. Thanksgiving. Visiting. When my sis comes up to visit me. My partner's friends have come to town. We make plans with friends we haven't seen in a while. We decide that tonight we don't wanna cook and we're pmsing so we really, really need to eat at Mexitaco (which always includes ordering a beer and tequila shot to start). And on and on and on. There's really no end to it. But there definitely is an end to the amount of money we have.
If Gail Vaz-Oxlade were my fairy godmother, she'd be cracking me across the back of my head with her wand and yelling "What were you thinking?!!" The saddest, most frustrating part is that I know better. Til Debt Do Us Part is my favourite show and has been for years. Two years ago my partner and I lived by the money jar (or envelope) system. I have spreadsheets and budgets up the ying yang. I just happen to let in too many exceptions.
It wouldn't be so bad if my partner and I still had two jobs each. We did during the summer and it both kept us too occupied to spend a lot of money, as well as the obvious monetary benefits. Plus, I was working for Starbucks, which meant every week I got a free pound of coffee and, since I closed, I would get to take home some of the food that otherwise would have been tossed at the end of the night. There was a period of about a month wherein we didn't go grocery shopping once because of this.
But then, we got caught up on bills, and my full-time job schedule had started interfering with my Starbucks schedule, and I was exhausted from the hours, so I quit. And my partner's boss for the street marketing campaign stopped calling with times and dates for her and her coworkers to go out to events and give out promotional materials. We got comfortable in our new, less hectic schedules but were (are) spending like we've got extra sources of income.
Now, we've got about $40 for groceries this week and I've decided to give up booze until Christmas to reign in my part of the spending. Too bad next weekend is my partner's birthday party at our house. Spend spend spend.
Rowf.
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