Below are some of the most expensive Items I can recall for 2011 with links back to the posts. This is more for me but if you are bored feel free to look back:
Tires for our vehicle, February 2011: $1,100. Post here.
Air conditioning coil replacement: $2,000. Post here and here.
Vacation in Las Vegas, March 2011: $3,000. Posts here and here.
Infertility: around $4,000 with doctor bills, post here and here.
My birthday: $1,000. WTF was I thinking LOL, post here.
Various birthdays: Lots of posts about birthday expenses, found this post here, $700.
Wife: $300, random purchase here.
Refrigerator: $1,600, last expensive item for 2011, post here.
There’s a lot more spending for 2011. A lot of it was document on this blog but I can’t possibly document every single expense. A lot of other crazy purchases did not make it here. YES, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. I’ve known this and I want to change. I’m going to make myself a promise for 2012: No More Spending. Unless I really NEED something, I’m not buying it. No more clothes, no more shoes, no more sunglasses. I have everything I need. Not only do I have everything I need, I don’t need 4 different pairs of running shoes in different colors to match my 8 different pairs of sunglasses in various colors!
ALSO, I need to focus on the baby. As most of you know our IVF treatment above was a success and we are expecting a new addition to the family in 2012. This new addition will be here very soon. For some reason when it comes to finances I seem to think everything will be the same. For now, I am taking it one day at a time…
Happy New Year.
HS
11 comments:
you need to take it one day at a time like you said.... just remind yourself of your goal every day - look at your wife's belly & know that you have to try to change. it will happen, your baby on the way may be the kick in the butt that you needed to see that your spending has to change a bit... I know that the closing of DH plant & relocation for us has been a HUGE part of the fire lit under my butt!
good luck - we are all here for you!
I agree!! hopefully it will help me be a bit more mature lol
HS
I was going to comment but I am not one to speak. In the last 6 months, we have charged $14,205.96 on my credit cards. And in the last year, it was $20,278.78 (yeah, the second half of the year was a lot worse than the first half).
It is hard to imagine those sorts of numbers and what we managed to spend all that money on. And we're not starting the new year off well (spending over $4k on a new fence and water heater).
In my defense, everything I spend goes through the credit cards. Almost all my bills, every tank of gas, every food shopping trip, and anything else. And we pay off the cards in full each month so there's no interest or other charges there. But that's a LOT of money.
We have a pretty good handle on our spending. Our biggest luxury expense is eating out and we're going to have to watch that one more closely.
Happy New Year!
Kevin,
Wow crazy numbers LOL hopefully you get some rewards like I do..
HS
Perhaps a gratitude exercise would help you not buy more stuff...thinking of/writing down something that you are thankful for each day might help you feel more content and thus satisfied with what you have. Your things could be people/non-material, but you could also be grateful for your things, in hopes that you will appreciate them and not want to run out and buy more. Just an idea to help you stay on the wagon. Good luck!
Yeah, we do. In the second half of the year we did really good and got almost $450 in rewards (which is like 3% average) thanks to a sign up bonus for one of the cards on top of everything else.
I was talking to my friend about it and he couldn't imagine how I spend that much without thinking my spending was out of control. I pointed out that over 10% of that spending was on electric/water and my car insurance. And all of those are not bad (we average a little over $100 a month for the electric and water combined and my insurance is as cheap as I can get it right now). Throw in gas, health expenses, food, and other stuff and 70-80% of what is on there makes perfect sense and doesn't seem that bad.
The trip this summer and a weekend at Disney in the fall, those were "excessive" in someone's book but we could afford them and it is important to do some things for fun.
Thanks HS for the positive comments on my blog. Happy New Year!
Sorry about all of the spending! I hope 2012 is great for you.
I don't think this is too bad if this is your only credit card and you pay it off every month. My husband and I have one credit card and it averages $2200 on it per month. Everything goes on it - car/house insurance, groceries, health, kids tuition. I guess I don't get why you can't pay off your credit card every month when your credit card bill is less than mine but you make about double what we earn. I know you have multiple credit cards, is that the problem? Or is rent and car payments taking up most of your income? I've been reading this blog for a very long time, but this is the first I can remember that I've been surprised that, comparatively speaking, we spend more on credit cards than you do but we don't have cc debt. I guess I'm just confused where the rest of your money goes.
I think that introducing no spend days might help. The more no spend days you introduce, the more you make no spending into an habit and then you just do it without noticing :-)
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