Its been no secret in our house for the last few months that we have been running a deficit. Yes, we have been paying off the credit card....but the truth is there may have been a little extra the past few months that have been landing on our borrowing account when we don't have the full amount in our bank account.
We keep making the agreement that its no problem and when the next check comes in, we will just cover it. The blame lies with when we get paid, not that we spent too much. Why do these damn credit card companies need it on the 23rd? Why not the 26th or even better the 30th!? (Keep in mind that these are just delusional rationalizations since its a 30 day cycle, you either have the money or you don't and well, we don't).
So what the hell are we spending the money on? Why is our credit card bill $3000 instead of $1000 per month like we've budgeted. Even a $1000 a month may seem like a lot, but like other families we use the points on our Mastercard to buy groceries. We have automatic payments for our cell phones, cable and internet. As well, we use the card for gas and groceries.
A closer examination of our credit card reveals all of the dirty secrets we have been hiding from ourselves and it is the root of the reason why we are sinking deeper and deeper into debt each month.
We spent $750 on groceries, $370 on gas, and $32 at our favourite Canadian guilty necessity Tim's. Now here is where is gets ugly since even though this tips the scale over our $1000 budget, we didn't just do it by a few dollars, we tipped it by a whopping $2300.
Don't tell anyone but here is the juicy dirt of what we spent our money on. We ate out for dinner twice, one was to celebrate a friends birthday and the other was because it was Daddy's night to cook.
We bought curtains after four years of living in a home with a huge picture window at street level that once it gets dark at 6 pm becomes a living entertainment source for our neighbours walking their dogs after dinner.
For two stickers and some certificates for our cars, we spent $325 with NS Registry of Motor Vehicles....really?!
Our charity of choice for the last 12 years has been the Terry Fox Foundation. We do the run every September as a family and chose to donate $55 this year.
I purchased some sneakers for work that I can use for orthotics since the constant walking and standing on concrete is killing my feet.
And for the ultimate, cat out of the bag, secret of where our money went.....We took our cat to the vet. She was oh, such a good kitty for 10 months and then recently took to peeing in our living room on the hard wood. Thought she had a bladder infection, and after testing and spending a half an hour with our vet trying to figure what was wrong with her. He came to the conclusion that the recent appearance of another kitty outside our home is giving our cat anxiety issues. Cat therapy....$140. F**king priceless!
The remainder was spent on the few things we need for our house with small amounts from places like Canadian Tire, Shoppers Drugmart and Walmart.
Now I get that these things were NOT in the budget and what a bad girl I am for going on such a massive spending spree, but really?! This is the part that I don't get....how are we supposed to get our finances in line when every month, there seems to be a list of somewhat essential (except for the cat) expenses.
Damn, we waited four years for curtains!! In my guilt, I dug out the receipt in a desperate attempt to redeem myself and return them. It was two days past the exchange date. For a moment I felt hopeless, a failure and totally self-indulgent, chastising myself for being so irresponsible.
Wait a minute! Hold the phone here....we have two jobs, work a combined total of 90 hours a week and it wasn't spent on gambling and hookers! There has got to be some other way that we can manage our month to month without sweating the small stuff and with allowing ourselves the occasional luxury to make to day to day toil and drudgery seem worth it. What is the point of sacrificing all this time and energy for such a low rate of return?
We are your average Canadian family and we can't afford curtains.....something has got to give!
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