Shit Is Hard

Man, shit is hard. Financially, that is. Okay, part of this is by choice--choice because I choose to sock 10% of my paycheck into my retirement account....I choose to shift 15% of my after-tax pay into an automatic savings with ING for me and Kwabena....plus I choose to find an extra $300 a month to pay on my car to get that thing paid off a year early.

All of these tight financial goals, along with living on a cash-only budget, has really got me struggling as of lately. This week I needed to go get some groceries, but had $22 in cash. That's it--$22. I knew that it wouldn't be enough, especially since I was headed to Whole Foods (which I try to stay clear of because of reasons stated previously). But I knew that the items I needed to buy were not cheap, so $22 wasn't going to get me very far.

I ended up having to use $15 from my bank card, which totally sucked. I've really gotten used to this cash-only policy, so to break down and use $15 from my card, well, I felt like I had failed, or had slipped back into old ways.

But this month is just hard. I think part of what hit me hard was having to put extra money towards this Canada skip trip we took recently. It set me back a pretty penny, even though Kwasi graciously picked up the tab for much of the trip (yeah, baby, I'ma pay you some money back...).

I also did a little shopping, only because I had scorched my favorite black pants (that I have owned and rocked for the past 9 years!!!) with an iron last week. They needed to be replaced. So I stopped at Banana Republic's outlet store, and found a nice pair for $75. Okay, I really didn't want to pay $75 for a pair of pants. Not that I never have before. But when you're dealing with a cash-only system, $75 hurts to part with all at once. Paying with credit, you barely blink an eye.

Anyhow, I also bought a rack of v-neck T's. Not bad for $9.99 each, but when you buy 5 of them, $50 is a shit-load of money for some T's! Again, hard to part with $50....

*sigh*

After tallying my bills up, I actually reconsidered just taking everything back to the store and getting my cash back so I could....uh....buy food....But I realized that I really did need these clothes. My wardrobe is suffering, and if I don't even have basic T's to wear as the weather changes, what in the hell will I wear?? You really can't beat $9.99.....

So, I sit here right now, still determined to get my car paid off early....to keep socking 10% into retirement, and 15% into savings. I should be getting a 4% increase at work. Not much.....And I am even considering socking that little extra into my investment account.

This year is about living frugally...even if it means we eat Ramen noodles for a bit. :)