Did you ever pitch a fit about something as a kid, whining about how "It's not fair?" And then the oh-so-caring adult in your life responded with, "The fair is in August."
I really, really hated that line. And yet, I think my husband should have used it on me last night. It's getting near the end of the month, which around here means reviewing this month's budget and preparing a budget for the new month at hand. I imagine this might be a fun experience if you have more money than you know what to do with. (Do you even do a budget if you're in that situation? Inquiring minds want to know.) But when things are a little more on the tight side, budget time does not equal super-fun time. I've never liked math. I like it even less when the numbers don't add up quite the way I'd like them to.
So here comes my poor, unsuspecting husband, trying to have a rational conversation about the budget and I get all snippy with him. And the really stupid thing about it is, we're having a great month. For the first time in years, we've gone back to a cash-only envelope system. It's worked beautifully and we're at or below budget in every category. Still, there's a week left and we have to really watch things to make sure we don't overspend in these last few days.
For some reason, I had it in my head that not only had we underspent, but that we had significantly underspent. This would be a big deal, because we have this issue with our van looming. It's approaching 300,000 miles, and it's starting to act like it. It won't be long before we need another vehicle, and we'd like to have plenty saved up to replace it when it inevitably bites the dust. So here I am, thinking we've got a nice little chunk to throw into savings. And there's my husband, pointing out that my math is a little fuzzy.
That's not fair!
You know how it goes from there. Instead of being content that we're doing just fine, instead of being pleased with how well we did with spending the income we've been blessed with, I had to have my little fit about how it's never enough. And good Lord, August is really far away.
Today I Gave: My husband a sincere apology. I love every kind of pie but humble. And mincemeat. But especially humble. How can I expect to have open communication about our finances if the poor man is scared for his life to bring up the topic? We went to bed huffy last night and I felt really bad about it, so this morning I called him at work just to say I'm sorry.
Today I Received: A lot of gratitude from Elena. Thank you for the new sweater for her school picture (it was in the budget. I swear.). Thank you for the delicious snack (Pretzels and bunny fruit snacks. Who knew it could be so easy?). Thank you for taking me to Girl Scouts. I do these things because I'm her mom and I love her. It's so nice to be thanked for it.