A Winter and Financial Wonderland

Indianapolis currently has its undies in a bundle over the snowfall that began late yesterday and is expected to shower the state's capitol with five to twelve inches of snow by tonight. Last week three inches of the white stuff turned my twenty-five-minute work commute into an hour-and-a-half nightmare, so I've decided to boycott the office today. Which means I can lounge around in my Peace Frog pajama bottoms, catch up on Monday's AMC, flip through the bajillion books* that have accumulated around my nightstand, and cringe over childhood and adolescent ramblings from days of old. Also possibly do The Track to "SexyBack." On a snow day, anything is possible.

I will also be recovering from Saturday's unveiling of our January Visa statement. A whopping two thousand six hundred and forty-one dollars and fifty-one cents worth of statement. Somebody grab me a bucket, because just typing this challenges my ability to keep the butter-and-jelly English muffin I just wolfed down--well, down.

Some of the charges are legitimate, like the five hundred bucks for my implant because my health savings account was short and the hundred and forty smackers I shelled out to update my plates a whopping year and a half after my move to this circular city. We also purchased a new digital camera, a camera we were eventually going to buy anyway but were "inspired" to do so last month after Luke's work one was damaged during his trip to California, because who isn't motivated by an employer's potential wrath over a cross-country business trip's lack of productivity?

These were costly necessities. However, I'm positive that the five hundred and eighty-five dollars we spent at Super Target between January 2nd and February 1st weren't all for milk, chicken, and vegetables, because otherwise I'd be much more depressed over Weight Loss Wednesday. That is the same number I write on our RENT CHECK, people. With all those "groceries" lying around the house, you'd think we avoided restaurants like the plague, but we still managed to rack up two hundred and eighty-three dollars and sixteen cents on activities of the eating-out variety. I'm truly embarrassed over how careless we've been with our money, because even though we cover our bills and remember to "pay ourselves first," that's no reason to be wasteful.

It used to be much easier to commit to a budget. Before Luke started working, I would diligently write out our expenses for each pay check two months in advance and estimate how much we'd have left for miscellaneous items like a parent's birthday or routine oil change. When Luke landed his job, we electronically deposited his entire check into savings with the hopes of paying off the Cobalt by spring. However, after penny-pinching for almost a year, we thought it might be fun to allot ourselves some play money and transferred a small portion of his take-home pay into our checking account. Then we went to the dentist and learned it would take the price of an arm and a leg to pull out Luke's wisdom teeth and accommodate some minor gum surgery and replace my extracted molar and botched crown, so we re-designated our funds to funnel half my check into the HSA and half of Luke's into checking to offset the difference. Because we're paid on alternate Fridays, we were suddenly getting checks every week, and because I'm not very smart, I stopped budgeting expenses and just paid the bills as they came in, not stressing over twenty-five dollar trips to the Original Pancake House until we had to withdraw the entire amount of this damn bill from savings. We spent that. damn. much.

On Sunday night, Luke and I sat ourselves down and, for the first time, actually did the math to figure out how much house we can afford on one income and what kind of down payment we can realistically expect to cough up by August in order to make a purchase by the end of the summer. We created a monthly spreadsheet template to track our spending and categorized our receipts into envelopes labeled for each week of the month, making them easier to record. We signed up for Blockbuster Online's ten-dollar monthly plan to provide ourselves with cheap entertainment. We're still jabbering on about buying a state park pass so we can hit the trails once all this damn snow stops falling and the long underwear can once again find a permanent home in our chest of drawers. And once again, we thanked God for being blessed with the financial means to correct our mistakes and move on with a smarter attitude.

Now, if you're so inclined, please suggest some movies we can add to our Blockbuster queue, even though we've made close to twenty selections already, because seriously, it's so much easier to pick a movie online than it is in the store. We can stand in front of the New Release section for a good half-hour, hemming and hawing over this title or that, because we so rarely rented movies before that we experienced a debilitating case of performance anxiety; who knew when we'd have another opportunity to spend four dollars on the first disc of the first season of Big Love**?

* Don't get crazy over all those pregnancy books. They've been handed down to me by Molly, who's very encouraging on the baby-making front.

** My pick, not Luke's. I'm strangely fascinated by polygamy.

*** This doesn't relate to anything, but did you know that the first season of She-Ra (Princess of Power!) is out on DVD? I'm so adding this to the queue.

Comments

[Jessi]

I am totally totally totally stuck on the TV show House, MD these days - Hugh Laurie is way yummy! I'm halfway through the second season right now. Also, you might want to check out "Thank You for Smoking" - I didn't think I would like it, but it turned out to be really good!

And remember - you can return your movies to the store for a free movie to get you through until another one comes in the mail! What could be more perfect??!!

Oh, and I am totally jealous that you're staying at home - I live so close to work, I have no excuse!!!

[David McNelis]

A couple of things. First, good job on the getting back to the budgeting basics. There are months where we are fantastic at it...and other months, well, we won't talk about those.

Second, Chris is fascinated by Big Love as well. Have you seen it at all yet? Or just have the first disc ordered? I was asked if I'd want a second or third wife, and my response was one wife gives me more trouble than I can handle as it is. Forget another wife....a mistress on the other hand..... :) j/k

Finally, I suggest catching up on some of the Classics, though my wife will disagree. I suggest Cassablanca, Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, ect. Lets face it, you just don't SEE those movies when you're at the Video store. Also have to second Jessi's call on Thank You For Smoking. Great movie.

[Katie]

Good luck on the finances :-) My husband decided to randomly quit his job, move 1500 miles away, and start a new job*. If the new job works out, we'll follow him in a few months. So anyway, in order to make this crazy plan work financially, our household budget (everything outside of bills) is restricted to $125 per week, yikes! I have no idea if we can restrict ourselves to that.

*Husband is a truck driver right now, so we only see him 2 days every 2 weeks. So him moving without us is really not that different than what we do now. He'll drive or fly to see us occasionally, and we'll probably see him on average as many days per month as we do now. Also, his food budget is not part of our $125/week - thank goodness, because eating on the road can get expensive.

[Luke]

At least the snow and the fact of being salaried has given me a full-day's pay despite the office being closed at noon.

She-Ra had best be at the bottom of the queue. That's all I'm saying about that. As for Thank You For Smoking, I want to read the book first.

[Audrey]

The 1st season of Rome on DVD is an absolute must. Seriously. This show is phenominal. I can't even begin to tell you how good it is. Entourage is pretty stinkin' good, too. (In case you can't tell, I am in love with HBO shows on DVD since we can't afford to actually have HBO on our tv.)

[Jackie]

I'm sitting in my little office in St. Louis literally counting down the minutes until our office closes - only nine left - because of this "unseasonable" storm. What? It's winter. There's snow, people. Deal. The city has totally stopped because of what looks like two inches of snow. Whatever.

I agree with Audrey. Anything and everything from HBO is fantastic - Rome, Entourage (although I *heart* Jeremy Piven), Sopranos, Deadwood, Big Love, Six Feet Under. (OK, hated Lucky Louie) HBO on Sunday night is the only time Mike and I watch TV together.

Good luck with finances. I'm absolutely budget-impared.

Three more minutes until we're "dismissed"... Stay warm!

[VirginiaGal]

You need to add "Snow Day" to your list. What's not to love about Chris Elliott and Chevy Chase in the same movie? Yes, it's fluff, but fluff definitely has its place in the world.

Sign me green with envy over your snow.

[bdogg_mcgee]

I got the She-Ra DVDs for Christmas! They're so cheese-a-riffic it's not even funny....

We really got into watching "Smallville" rented through Blockbuster Online, so if you haven't checked it out, it's really good. :)

You know, when DH and I began the whole house-buying odyssey, we had enough saved to put a 10% down payment on a house, but then we crunched numbers with our lender, and it turned out that the 10% down payment we'd put back would have only lowered our payment $75 a month. So, we did 100% financing instead (with a 75/25 loan to avoid having to pay PMI) and are buying furniture , painting, and paying movers with what we'd saved. For us, having that extra money for when the move actually happens (FRIDAY, finally) was more important than saving $75 a month, because inevitably you're going to want to buy stuff for the house and paint. But, that's what worked for us. :)

[Molly]

Wheee! Pregnancy books! How I loved that collection, so so dearly. (And oddly enough, how I am every ounce as happy to be rid of them. Fo-evuh.)

I'm so glad you took a day today. What a crappy day to be stuck in traffic.

Also, I think you inspired me to join the Blockbuster thing. I had no idea it was $10 - and with the $12 we pay in late fees per movie, that really works out...

[Silly Hily]

She-Ra!!!?? You have got to be kidding me. Tell me you aren't kidding? Words can't express how excited that makes me. I freakin' loved She-Ra! Now, if they'll only put Jem on DVD.

I couldn't tell you when the last time I watched a movie was. A new movie that is. If you haven't seen White Chicks yet, you need to rent it. Simply for the "Your Mom" part.

And the budget? Just keep steppin' girl. Nothing you can do about it now, other than get back on track. I have to do the same thing.

[roxanne]

Might I suggest "House of Sand and Fog"? I read the book a few years ago. I just recently borrowed it from the library (I love our library system, much better deal than blockbuster or netflix) and it was really good.

[Diane]

So .... are you serious about applying to DOND?

[daddy d]

Snow day: a time to get something done or not. A time for thought and in doors catch up activities. The time could really be of use.

[mjd]

You might like Lady in the Water.

[Liz]

Big Love is awesome. Plan to rent every DVD of the first season set, though, because you'll get hooked right away.

[TasterSpoon]

I second (third, fourth, fifth) the HBO comments. My squeeze just hooked us up with Netflix and we're working our way through the Sopranos, which I like better than I thought I would. Can you believe he's never seen 24? So those'll be next.

But my favorite movie of all time: Amelie.