Failure and Excuses

Picture Source

I did not meet my budgeting goals this month.  I did not meet my budgeting goals this month by several hundred dollars.  This is the result of several factors.  Some are my fault.  Some are not.  I'm going to tell you about it, partially because I'm sitting in a very boring session of the UAGC conference (most of which has been wonderful), and partially because I figure if I tell you, I'll be too embarrassed to overspend again next month.  For your convenience, I have categorized and itemized my expenses and excuses.

What was my fault:
1.  I spent too much money on going out to eat.
2.  My power bill was too high.
3.  I bought too much stuff.

My Excuses:
1.  Going Out to Eat:  I have been looking for friends since I moved up to Salt Lake.  This month I finally made friends that want to hang out, climb hard, and laugh a lot.  Unfortunately, they also like to go out too eat at very nice places.  After the first time, I started just getting side orders or dessert while they got steaks.  I now have the reputation as the girl "who never eats anything."
2.   Power bill:  I give up!  I keep my apartment at 65 or 60 degrees all day, and I have things like my router, computer, tv, dvd player, etc. on plug strips that I only turn on when I need them.  When I was gone for a week at Christmas, I even turned off my water heater.  After all that paranoia, my power bill is still over $70 for a one bedroom apartment on the second floor.  I give up.
3.  Stuff:  I was doing so well.  I had shopped at thrift and discount stores and craft stores to get several things I'd been craving for the apartment forever.  Halfway through the month, I had spent my "stuff budget," and resigned myself to not spending any more money on stuff.  Then I found the deals.  One was a fantastic area rug such as I have been drooling over for years, brand new, soft on the feet, matching everything in my living room, covering up my old carpet with cigarette burns in it, for only $50.  The other was a Groupon deal on one of those things you tell yourself "I really want to try that someday, but don't want to spend the money.  If I ever find a deal on that, I'm totally doing it."  There went $40.  Between those two, I overspent my stuff budget by nearly $100.  Ouch.

But even with my going out to eat, my high power bill, and my splurges on stuff, I would have been ok.  My budget had some wiggle room to accommodate unforeseen circumstances, deals, and splurges.  I could overspend the budget somewhat without overspending my income.  What blew my spending out of control were the following big-ticket items I maybe should have seen coming, but didn't.  Even if I had, I would still have had to pay most of their expense out of my savings, even if I didn't spent a penny on stuff or going out to eat.

What wasn't my fault:
1.  I had to renew my car insurance: $360
2.  I had to change my oil, rotate my tires, etc. $60
3.  I had an opportunity to pick up 2 cheap credits toward my Gifted and Talented endorsement by attending this conferencing I'm blogging through at the moment.  My school was generous enough to pay for my registration fees (over $200), but the credit is mine to purchase.  I absolutely don't mind paying for it, it's more than fair, and I'm still getting a very good deal on the credits.  It is, however, another $75 I didn't see coming.

Those three items alone crashed into the roof of my monthly budget to the height of nearly $500.  Ouch, ouch, ouch.  One of my teachers will a flair for the dramatic once stood in front of us and demanded, "Do you know what the most sensitive part of the human body is?" Staring around the room defiantly he paused, then reached into his back pocket and help up his wallet.  "This.  There are more nerves connected to a person's wallet than to any other other part of the body.  Threaten a man's wallet and he gets upset and hurt very quickly."  It's true.  Here I am, turning off lights and water heaters and ordering side dishes and saving receipts, only to have a $500 sock to the gut.  It's disappointing, discouraging, and a bit embarrassing.

There are 11 more months until my car is paid off on my current budget plan.  If I have unforeseen expenses like this every month, I'll never make it.  But today is payday, so it's time to take a breath, fill up my gas tank with the last of my gas money for this month, and start a new excel page for February.

Here goes nothing.

How I feel about this session of the conference.  Most of the sessions have been absolutely fantastic and useful and inspiring.  But in every conference there's always at least one disappointing session.  This time the disappointing session just happens to be the longest session at the conference: 4.5 hours.