This week wasn't a total disaster. I spent $158, and slightly over 1/3 of that was for medical expenses. There was definitely room for improvement this week but at the same time I didn't buy a single object this week.
Green is purchases that were either necessities or purchases that I will only give up if I end up in serious financial trouble. Orange purchases were probably okay but should've been considered for longer. Red purchases shouldn't have happened. Asterisks indicate physical objects.
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- Two prescription refills: $20
- Physical therapy: $35
- Tithe: $5
- Guitar lesson: $45
- Museum membership and lecture: $35
- Another Star Trek kindle book: $8
Total: $148
($55 of that was medical)
- "No peeking" bonus (guitar fund): $10 = $158 total
- Clutter tally: 0 objects purchased
Bank account balance: $0.00.
$44.75 still owed to the Chief Engineer for my ski boots.
I also started something new for myself this week. I have a very bad anxiety-driven habit of obsessively checking my bank account multiple times a day. Unfortunately my bank account's online system displays not just my checking account balance but also the numbers for my tiny little stock portfolio. So yes, every time I look at it, the numbers are different. Even when I check it eight times a day. Which I have.
It's easier to break habits when there's an incentive. My incentive is to "pay myself" $5 for every day that I don't look at my bank accounts or look up any stock values online. The money then goes into my guitar fund. The idea occurred to me on Tuesday, so you'll see two "no peeking!" bonuses for Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully a few months of this should help me break my habit and help me save for a guitar (or knowing me, the guitar money will end up paying medical bills instead.)
The museum lecture and membership I shouldn't have purchased, nor the kindle book. Not right now, anyways. But given that the lecture is about space disasters and Ken Mattingly (Apollo 13's original co-pilot) is speaking I went mildly crazy at the opportunity to hear him talk. Between that and a Star Trek book and the amount that I spent, I think I'm living in a world of science fiction right now.
Reality better set in soon because I looked at my upcoming expenses for the first week in February: Two physical therapy appointments and one psychiatrist visit will total $210. Yes, I know I need a cheaper psychiatrist and I did just make an appointment with the only psychiatrist I can get to without a car who takes my insurance. I nabbed his first open appointment, in April. Until then this expensive psychiatrist visit is an important appointment that I have to keep.
I've been blabbing on a lot lately about money, when this is a hoarding blog. Are you enjoying the Diagnosis: Affluenza posts? I'll have more hoarding horror stories to tell this week. We're headed back to Pennsylvania to spend a day skiing, and that means (tada!) we have to stay with my parents.
See you soon!
The money/spending/acquiring is part of hoarding- you might be great at getting rid of stuff, but that is pointless if you are buying twice as much stuff to 'replace' what you throw out!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you don't necessarily have to stick to writing about what you initially set out to write about...
thanks for the encouragement!
DeleteI agree. I think most people with hoarding issues also have money issues. Blogs grow and evolve. Mine isn't the same as it started either. =) I think your keeping track of the money better will make it that much easier to stick to not acquiring more.
ReplyDeleteyours may have changed, but I'm still enjoying it!
DeleteI definitely get the connection between money and hoarding so I have no problem with your affluenza posts. The name of it always gives me a chuckle. I think I need to reread your blog or at least parts of it to get going on my own decluttering again. It stalled near the end of the year and things are bad.
ReplyDeleteI do think checking your bank statement online is something you should do on a regular basis. I'm telling you this from the point of view of someone who tried to buy $80 worth of groceries knowing full well I had $500 in the bank. When my card was denied I knew something bad happened. There were two fraudulent charges that drained the bank. This is also why I don't have overdraft protection. They could zero it out but not put it in the negative. I hadn't been checking the statements lately otherwise I would have caught that almost as soon as it hit, not after I was denied at the store.
I'm starting to think I need to read my own posts again to get back into the decluttering swing of things! It's so easy to fall off the wagon.
DeleteI definitely agree that it is important to occasionally stick one's nose into their own bank accounts to be sure that no one hasn't gotten in and done things they shouldn't have. I just need to train myself to understand that once a week is acceptable, not eight times a day!