I’m going to try start posting about stuff we are buying on a daily basis to see where I can cut back. For the record, I haven’t bought anything fancy over the last couple of months. No new clothes, no sunglasses, no new shoes, no golf equipment, no computer stuff, no Apple gadgets NOTHING! Remember I freaked out about our debt back in May and decided to take control of our spending.
I’ve also cut back on drinking alcohol. I haven’t been to a bar since the first week of June before my birthday and I also quit smoking the morning after my birthday. I was more of a social smoker but I could easily finish a pack in one night of drinking with friends.
With that said, here is our weekend spending from Friday at 3 PM to Sunday night:
Friday I left work around 3 and went to Walmart with the wife. Our neighbors invited us over for dinner but asked us to bring some drinks. I picked a 12 pack of Coca Cola and a 6 pack of Seven Up. The wife wanted a snack and a Dr. Pepper at checkout. Total spent at Walmart on Friday was $10.59.
On Saturday, the wife’s parents wanted to go look at furniture and offered to take us out to dinner with a couple of their friends if we came along. We went to a Mexican restaurant and we picked up the round of drinks before we got our table. We figured since they were inviting us out to dinner at least we could pay for some drinks. The total with tip was $40.84.
Sunday we stopped by Academy (Sports store in Houston). I needed some fishing stuff and the wife found a couple of things she didn’t really need but it was only $12 so I didn’t care too much. The total there was only $32.
We ate all other weekend meals at home but Sunday night we were too tired to cook so we called our favorite Chinese restaurant and ordered some food. We hadn’t had Chinese food in a few months so we decided to splurge a little. The total was $21.59 with delivery and tip.
So that sums up our weekend spending, I had a mental budget of $100 so I think we did OK. The wife and I are finally on sync with the spending. We had a little ‘debt’ talk and now she’s aware of our credit card numbers. We also came to the agreement that unless we really NEED something, we are not going to buy it.
I hope everyone had a good weekend!HS
Hump Day
2 hours ago
19 comments:
I'm proud of you for telling her! But... a Dr. Pepper at the register? A snack? You guys were headed to dinner! That was probably $3 right there. And $12 for some shit at Academy she didn't need? Doesn't sound like she understands the severity of the problem, despite the fact that you explained the numbers to her.
Sigh. Can't even talk about the eating cost.
Hey Ronnie!
Keep in mind it was 3:30 and dinner was at 7. She got some popcorn chicken and the DP to go with it. Also, keep in mind she stays home all day during the summer so impulse purchases are bound to happen when you leave the house.
HS
Great job tracking your spending for the weekend, keep it up and you'll be out of debt soon. Keep having your "debt talks" with your wife too, if you talk about your progress and where you spent the money every week then there won't be any surprises.
You told her? I'm so proud! How'd she take it? Hey, don't beat yourself up, and don't listen too much to Ronnie. The fact that you are taking steps is fantastic! You have got to focus on the positive. And keep taking steps forward. Don't give up. And you'll get there!
Congratulations on having 'the talk' with her. Was she surprised at the numbers? Does she understand that you felt completely responsible for taking care of the debt the both of you created? Is she on board?
She was not surprised but at also not concerned like I was hoping she would be. I'm just glad it didn't cause a fight between us..
HS
"For the record, I haven’t bought anything fancy over the last couple of months. No new clothes, no sunglasses, no new shoes, no golf equipment, no computer stuff, no Apple gadgets NOTHING!"
June 13: "I'm proud to say I'm the new owner of an iPad 2 16 GB in white" (plus the portion of the bill you paid)
May 9th: "Well there you have it, Mother's Day set up back close to $300."
April 29th: "We had to get the wife the new white iPhone 4 last night."
Plus .. snacks on your way to dinner? $12 of "things she didn't really need"?
And then the excuses begin: "so impulse purchases are bound to happen when you leave the house." Is that just another version of "life happens" or "stuff comes up"?
The words change, but the meaning behind them doesn't. It's nothing more than an excuse for spending money.
Until you stop lying to yourself about your spending, nothing is going to change.
You were too tired on Sunday to cook? Friday you went to the neighbor's to hang out. Saturday you went to dinner with the in-laws and went shopping. Sunday you went shopping. What was so tiring that you couldn't fix dinner?
You said you had a debt talk...did you really TALK? Or did you just say, hey honey...we have this debt, but don't worry, I will take care of it. And you said you agreed to not buy stuff unless it was NEEDED, yet you spent almost $100 this weekend on stuff you didn't need.
Congrats on cutting back on drinking and smoking...those are huge $$$
Frugal,
My birthday was the last time we spent any significant amount of money... read the post date May 18.
Mysti- I guess we just didn't feel like cooking- sorry :( it was a lazy Sunday..
HS
That's a big improvement compared to previous spending, but you still spent over $100 in 2 days.
To show you that you could still improve further upon your efforts, hubby and I and 3 children have an entertainment budget of $100 for 30 days (as compared to your 2 days)! ***all your expenses essentially came under entertainment - soft drinks and snacks, fishing gear, drinks at a restaurant, chinese food***
It's definitely a step in the right direction and I'm happy that you have finally come clean about the credit card balances with your wife. She really needed to know.
So you had the talk with the wife, and she did not seem as concerned as you??? HS - that is not a good sign.
As for impulse purchases - this is where you two get in trouble. And you had to buy a round of drinks?? Sir, not only do you need to tell your wife about the debt, but your family as well.
HS - you need serious help.
Don't you just love when you've made a huge improvement for yourself and everyone tells you it isn't as good or as much as they would do? Considering it'd be easy to flip back and find posts where you'd dropped 300+ in a single night, I'd say that 100 across 3 days/nights is a huge improvement.
You have to run your race, just your own. Not Ronnie's, or frugalforties' or even mine, just yours.
I'm glad to see that you've talked about the debt issue, I hope that it continues to help things improve for you.
Actually, no the date on your iPad post is JUNE 13. Only a mere month ago, unless you've forgotten the date of your own birthday. ;)
@texancountess, where is this "huge improvement"? I'm not seeing it. There have been plenty of periods here over the last 4 years where he's freaked out about the debt and said he's going to quit drinking, quit smoking, quit spending. It's part of the 6 week freak-out cycle.
In the meanwhile he's still describing wants as needs. He doesn't *need* fishing gear. He wants it. He's still lying to himself about what he spends and how much and when (the birthday iPod is a prime example).
Look, if I were to see any REAL change here, I'd be the first to say "kudos on a real breakthrough". But this isn't real progress. It's just more of the same with the usual layer of denial, using different words
HS posted on my blog that he wasn't a troll and that he must be the "most hated blogger" out there.
In the off chance that he really isn't a troll and that he really does want to understand ... I'll try one last time to explain.
Those people who are serious about PF blogging and improving their financial situation don't say things like "hopefully" their debt will "go away". They don't claim that things like new iPhones and fishing gear are "needs". They don't talk about how they "have" to spend thousands of dollars on booze with their friends. They don't talk about how they took 2 trips to Vegas in a year and racked up more credit card debt doing so. And they don't excuse this kind of spending with "life happens".
Every time HS says he's serious about his debt and serious about getting his finances under control and then makes the ridiculous excuses about "that's life" and "impulse spending is bound to happen", he spits in the face of every PF blogger who is truly struggling with serious financial issues, who truly does have "life happening" - things like job loss or illness or even death. He spits in the face of every blogger who is taking responsibility for their actions and their spending and where they are and truly attempting to do better.
His entire blog is an immature ode to the "whoops ... oh look at my bad" attitude of an entitled generation.
And that's why there are no kudos for the same old cycle from anyone who has read here for any length of time.
If he wants to spend frivolously and go into debt and buy fishing gear and iPads and drop $300 on birthday parties, that's no skin of my back or anyone else's. But don't do so and claim that it's "bound to happen" and then say that you're struggling with your finances.
The first day he actually acknowledges the difference between wants and needs and how it relates to his spending then I'll give kudos. Until then, it's just smoke and mirrors.
Maybe you should both track your spending for 30 days, a simple small notebook or daily notecard. Then at the end of 30 days you both will have an eye opener on a more realistic budget and on ways to cut spending.
Also if you can budget money for eating out each month and don't go over it so what if you don't feel like cooking you can use the going out money. The key will be not to go over alloted amount.
Also you need to understand the true needs of life over the wants.
Maybe a good first step would be to sponsor a child and learn about their world (we have a sponsor child in Africa who is grateful if he has shoes.) Our previous sponsor child turned 16 and had to go to work to help his family, school and all else was over. I know giving to those less fortionat keeps things in perspective for us.
I agree with texancountess - It is YOUR race. Fact of the matter is, you both make a decent amount of money together to afford some amenities. And you've decided you do want to work towards paying off your debt. Now you need to make a plan, make a budget, and stick to it. But "budget" doesn't have to be a four letter word. It can include things like spending $100 in a weekend if you make enough money for it. But, only you know that. Analize your expenses... what are you current bills. How much is your take home pay each month? How much do you want to save? Then decide how quickly you want to pay down your credit cards, and what will it take to get there? i.e. - If you have $11K in debt, and you pay $1K/month on the debt, it will take you at least a year to pay it off. Are you Ok with it taking a year? If not, what do you need to change not to pay more per month to pay it off faster? That's the kind of stuff you need in your plan.
Also, have you heard of Dave Ramsey? he is all about taking control of your money. He's coming to Houston Oct. 8th. http://www.daveramsey.com/live/city/city/Houston/date/20111008
Hey HS - I know you probably feel beaten up by people posting to your site but since you're putting it out there in the world of the internet, you're going to have some people tell you some truth that you might not want to hear. I can appreciate how hard it is to stay on a budget - I've had ups and downs and have finally decided it's time to get real and get serious about getting out of debt. Here's what I'm following - I'd recommend anyone else seriously following this blog and working on getting out of debt follow it too - this is one of my favorite financial sites:
http://www.credit.com/blog/2011/07/the-debt-diet-challenge-week-1-vacation-brain/
I've tried Dave Ramsey but my spending is more emotional in nature and the Debt Diet created by Jean Chatsky gets more to the "why" of your spending which I'm finding to be quite helpful. Plus - you get to read about some people working her plan to see if it really works.
You had the debt talk! I'm impressed and want to hear more about it! I think that's a pretty good weekend, especially compared to your old ways. Baby steps!
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