“Spending Money” Archive

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Wedding Bills…

A friend of mine got married this weekend. He and his beautiful new bride, despite desires to keep up with the lavish weddings of friends, held a small wedding with a cheese and cracker reception. Instead of spending money on a one day celebration, they invested their money into a home.

When my husband and I married, money was no option. Meaning, my parents and I had no money – so spending it wasn’t an option. Somehow, my parents and my husband’s parents made our wedding feel like a grand affair. Maybe it was because they chose to emphasize the celebration aspect and skip the uber competitive stuffed chicken dinner with seafood appetizers and an open bar.

I loved our wedding. It was beautiful – without a huge price tag.

I’ve been to a LOT of weddings over the last few years. All were high priced sit down dinners with open bars – no doubt, they were fun. My friend who married on Sunday was the first to say no to keeping up with the Joneses.

How much did you spend on your wedding? Was it the right amount? Too much? Too little?

Posted by Beks on March 18, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Spending Money | 24 Comments »
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Carpooling Dilemma …

I use public transportation every day. Aside from being good for the environment, it’s good for my pocketbook. It’s not that I can’t afford to drive to work; I simply would rather use my money to pay debt than pay Chevron and Jiffy Lube – plus, the $175 a month parking fee is more than steep. Unfortunately, I’m having a problem and I need some advice.

A co-worker in my department lives 2 blocks from the transit stop I wait at each morning. About 4 months ago, he started pulling over and picking me up on his way to work. I felt guilty about the free rides and my lack of desire to share the expense, so I changed my hours to use public transit again.

A week later, he changed his hours to match mine.

Over the last few weeks, he has started to complain about gas prices. I asked him why he doesn’t use the free public transportation and he responded, ‘Eww. No. I wouldn’t be caught dead on public transit.’ I used this opportunity to tell him that I use the money I save in gas to pay debt. He rolled his eyes.

Yesterday, I told him I was driving to work because I had to meet my sister and needed my car. He snapped, ‘Well, it would be nice if you offered to drive me once in a while.’ I was unsure of what to say so I dumbly said, ‘I’m sorry’ rather than explain myself…again.

I already know changing my hours won’t work. I’ve tried to sneak out of the building and hide at the bus stop but he always finds me and gets offended if I turn down a ride home. He makes my turning down his offer for a ride home to be a personal insult – and then talks about it at work. It appears as though I have to talk to him about it (more clearly than the first time) but I’m not sure what to say or how to bring it up.

Any advice?

Posted by Beks on March 16, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Saving Money, Spending Money | 40 Comments »
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Revoking Shopping Rights…

I wasn’t joking on Tuesday when I asked my husband to do the grocery shopping for the next four weeks. I can’t resist Easter candy and we can’t afford it so I thought it would be a good idea.

Thought.

Hmm.

Last night, I asked my husband to pick up tomato soup and bread for dinner. Total spending shouldn’t have been more than $5.

He spent half our grocery budget – mostly on snack items I never buy.

He was excited to have ‘helped’ and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’m not sure how we’re going to eat the rest of the month unless I can make meals out of Fritos, beef jerky, and Oreo cookies.

I had wheat bread with tomato soup for dinner last night and wheat bread with oranges for lunch today. 26 more days of 50 cent meals.

I can’t be mad. He was willing to take over the shopping without complaint and bought the things he thought I would like. Sure I’ll be eating wheat bread with carrots or oranges for the next 26 days, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m married to a sweet man… a sweet man who won’t be doing any more grocery shopping alone in the near future.

Posted by Beks on March 3, 2010 at 10:10 PM in Spending Money | 25 Comments »
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Overspending Karma…

In general, I can be trusted to eat fairly healthy. My snacks for work are generally brown, wheaty, and taste like cardboard. But there is one time of year I am not confident in my food choices…

The deadly season of Easter.

It’s not the peeps that make my heart go pitter patter; it’s the tasty chocolate Cadbury Mini Eggs. I can’t resist them no matter how much they cost financially or physically. Sure the $2.50 price tag isn’t terrible but literally, I can’t fit into my pants after eating them. This is likely because I can eat a bag in less than a week and there are 56 grams of fat and 1,330 calories in each bag of yummy goodness.

I had to go to Target to buy a bag of dog food and couldn’t resist the bright sale sign resting on the heavenly purple bag (why don’t they ever put flax seed on sale?). I took the treasured chocolate eggs to work with my lunch and set my carrying bag on the table to pull out my food for the refrigerator. Distracted, I left the chocolate eggs in my carrying bag on the lunch table. 20 minutes later, I realized my mistake and went back to the lunch room to retrieve my food.

My carrying bag was there… the eggs were not.

My heart was broken (but my hips were thankful).

I’ve been hit by overspending Karma. I knew I shouldn’t have wasted the money (or the calories) and it was taken from me. Sure it seems silly to feel guilty for spending $2.50 when I’m planning on heading overseas – but saving for the trip has renewed my penny pinching ways to an unprecedented level. Since I don’t have the willpower necessary to resist the minefield of temptation, my husband will be doing the shopping for the next four weeks. Sorry Cadbury, our love affair is over.

Alas, I will eventually discover which of my co-workers has ‘sticky’ fingers – I’ll simply look for the one who can no longer fit in his or her pants by Friday.

And I’m kidding about Karma… well… kind of.

Posted by Beks on March 2, 2010 at 12:51 AM in Saving Money, Spending Money | 18 Comments »
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Save a Nickel – Help the Environment…

I’m a fan of recycled canvas bags for many reasons but I have a new one – 5 cents per use.

Target Stores (along with Henry’s, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, and Whole Foods) offer 5 cents off your bill for each bag used. The program started in November but somehow I missed the giant glowing red signs posted at eye level on each check stand until today.

Obviously I’m a very observant person.

The bags don’t have to be Target brand recycled bags but they cannot be regular plastic bags that you happen to be reusing.

If you know of any stores around you offering the same incentive – let me know!

Posted by Beks on March 1, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Saving Money, Spending Money | 16 Comments »
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Two Things I Never Want to See Again…

1.) A car payment

2.) An elderly woman wearing pants with ‘Naughty’ crocheted across her hind quarters.

While I can’t stop an octogenarian shopping at my local Target store from reliving her youth inappropriately, I can stop car payments. How?

Our tax refund this year is just shy of $6,000.

We will wipe out 60% of our car debt. SIXTY PERCENT!!

YES!!

Posted by Beks on February 5, 2010 at 9:00 AM in Reducing Debt, Spending Money | 31 Comments »
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It’s Raining in California…and it’s expensive.

We’ve been experiencing serious rainfall here in southern California. Parades of storms have been dancing across the area and they aren’t willing to move on. It’s like the ex-boyfriend you can’t seem to get rid of.

Californians aren’t necessarily ‘prepared’ when it comes to rain stronger than a light mist. Our local fire station ran out of 700 sandbags in less than 4 hours on Saturday.

Our house is located near the top of a low grade hill with a strong supporting wall so we don’t run the risk of flooding or landslides but my husband had to install rain gutters to keep the water from seeping under our front door.

Yes. Prior to this week, we did not have rain gutters… on a 50 year old house. In fact, more than half our neighbors don’t have rain gutters. If it actually rained in California, maybe we would have considered this sooner. Financial setback – $200. I guess we’ll be eating top ramen for the next three weeks.

My husband has been out in the rain stacking sandbags in the neighbor’s yard downhill from us. Their house has started to flood and the storms aren’t halfway over.

Some things are still funny. The transit company was out in waders measuring the water height on the train tracks. It would have been appropriate had the water been more than… 4 inches.

I still can’t complain. My sister is in Kansas City where the weather hasn’t been above freezing for most of the month. Sorry Liz.

How is the weather fairing around you? Has it set you back in your finances?

Posted by Beks on January 20, 2010 at 12:23 AM in Spending Money | 12 Comments »
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