I recently had to drop close to $200 on car repairs. My monthly "take home" pay (after bills) ends up being around that much. It's very hard to live off of $200 a month and it's even harder to have to spend 100% of that on unexpected life hiccups.
I pushed off my car repairs for MONTHS. I really, really, really didn't want to do them. It was big-ish stuff; the usual oil change stuff plus new transmission fluid and coolant. Unfortunately my car started acting so funny and so off that I just had to go in. Luckily, I've been a pretty steady client of Jiffy Lube and I was able to use a 35% off coupon to help.
It's really hard to live on a budget. Paying off debt feels amazing but it also creates a lot of anxiety and guilt. The idea of spending un-budgeted money caused me great stress. The total bill was around $300 but I ended up spending less than $200 because of the coupon. Even though I saved a boat load and got the best deal that I could I still felt stress/sadness/guilt over it.
That's what I want to talk about today. Ways to cope with spending money
1. Recognize that you are not spending money on frivolous things.
I could have easily spent $200 on clothes or shoes or trips. On anything really. It's so sad because sometimes I honestly day dream about that. About taking half of my extra $1000 student loan payment and buying so many new clothes. But I don't. I work really hard and buy just what I need and unfortunately, at this time, my car needed some work.
2. You can't budget life
It pains me to say this but you simple can't plan for life. You can try and come really, really close but life just has too many bumps and turns. So yes, I budget as best I can and 90% of the time I'm right on track but I have to accept and EXPECT that life will throw me a curve ball every once in a while.
3. You will always be able to more later
My budget won't always be this tight. I will get raises and bonuses and unexpected windfalls in the future. So yes, I feel guilty now for spending money but I know that if I ever come into more money I will be responsible with it and budget accordingly. Reminding myself of how responsible I really am helped with the feelings of guilt.
4. Spending a little now prevents big spending in the future
Okay, spending $200 bucks sucks. Badly. BUT, spending $1000 + dollars because I ignored my car would realllllly suck. So I pay a little now and I prevent big catastrophes in the future. No break downs on the side of the roads, no towing fee, or rental car hassle. By keeping the things that I have now nice and in good condition I am preventing future unnecessarily spending.
Now this list isn't as comprehensive as I would like but I felt it was really important to get it down. It makes me feel better. I'm trying really hard to budget well and pay off my debts and set backs hurt. In the 4 months that I have been making extra student loan payments I have paid 400% more than I did my entire first year :) I am doing amazing and I sometimes have to remind myself of that.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
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