CONVERSATIONS WITH SCOTT... "We should spend less money."

You know how you can be going along enjoying your summer, going on vacations, enjoying patio dining at restaurants, buying cute summer clothes, dropping your computer and anteing up to get it fixed, treating yourself to Pinkberry perhaps too frequently and then you sit down to pay bills only to discover you've spent all your money and then some? Shit! 


I pay the bills because I care about if the bank statement and my spreadsheet match up to the penny whereas Scott is good if the two are relatively close. It's silly for us to both spend our time on the banking, I do it and Scott mostly doesn't want to know the details. But then there are the times when I pay the bills and get grumpy and my bad mood affects the mood of the house and that he cares about. Then we have a conversation that goes something like this:


Scott: "What's with you?"


Me: "We were supposed to be rich when we didn't have to pay for preschool anymore. It's been 2 months and not only are we not rich, I can't find any extra money!"


Scott: "Where is all the money going?"


Me: "Vacations, the Arkansas trip, the kids' activities- they better get good enough at something to get a scholarship,... "


Scott: (interrupting me) "I'm going to teach the 5 y/o to dunk!" (there is a commercial about a dad teaching his young kid to dunk so the kid can get a scholarship. If you haven't seen it, it's funny and it's Scott's new go to line.)


Me: "...an iPad, fixing the computer screen, restaurants, food, clothes, did I mention the kids' activities? If they stopped doing stuff for a year we could go on an awesome vacation, but that probably hurts the scholarship chances."


Scott: "I'm going to teach the 5 y/o to dunk!" 


Me: (sigh)


Scott: "We should spend less money."


Me: "We could stop drinking a bottle of wine a night."


Scott: "Let's not get crazy."


So, yeah, the obvious solution is to rein in the spending. My 3 go to things for decreased spending are:


1. Cut out the restaurants. 


We don't go to restaurants that often, but dining out does add up. Gone. Easy. (Except for my Pinkberry habit. I'm cutting it out, but that ain't easy!)


2. Stay the hell away from Costco. 


If must go, stick to the list!!! Not so easy.


3. Stay the hell away from Target. 


If must go, stick to the list!!! Damn near impossible.


Well, Danger Danger Will Robinson, I needed to go to both Costco and Target yesterday. I had an item to return at Costco. I walked in, went to the returns, got my cash and left. Success! It's like I made money, because the original expenditure was over a month ago and the money was long gone. I had 4 items on my Target list. I went in, I put the 4 items in the basket, I resisted the urge to peruse the store despite the fact that I was sans children, I checked out for a total of $30ish. Success!


I was totally exhausted after those 2 stops. It took A LOT of will power to be so reined in. But, I was also quite proud and impressed with my bad self. Just a few more days or weeks or months of my savings plan and I am sure to feel flush except that the kids need back to school supplies, new sports gear, new cool weather clothes (hopefully the warm weather will last for awhile), Scott's car might disintegrate any day, then there's Xmas (the grandparents have to pretend to be thrilled with those handmade kid gifts, right?), birthdays, BLAH!!! It will never end! 


Now I'm grumpy again. A stop at Pinkberry on my way to Target will surely make me feel better!


Peace & Love :-)