girl with razor sharp wit and intellect; classic over achiever. i'm a work in progress trying to learn more about life, feed those around me, and work to remain an eternal optimist.
To save or not to save, that is now the question. I like the idea that I now have some $$ to put away in savings, but the urge to pay off more debt is overwhelming. Laura Rowley posted a great article that speaks to the psychological effects of saving with regards to fixing your personal finances. There are some other interesting topics she writes about, like how we spend in our 20s and begin to, well, pay for it in our 30s and 40s. Yeah...I often wonder what it was I spent $17K on between 1996 - 2002. Some airline travel, food, rent, and a lot of useless crap.Damn it, where was my common sense the days I signed up for credit cards while in college?
Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion and Poreless Moisture ($74/$45)
After today, I have ONE student loan payment. Wooooohoooo! Extra income! Technically, I could pay off the remainder right now... Pros: it's over and done with, no need to pay the $1.75 in interest. Cons: I take more out of savings (but that's where the money would be going after paying off the loan, so...not really a con when I think about it) Guess I'll get on that later.
And I'm happy to say that I only went over my $50 grocery budget by three dollars. With the rising cost of some items, I may have to re-evaluate that budget. Or not buy wine. :) Decisions, decisions.
Other items purchased out of norm:
$1.98 Two Pria bars, for post-hard core workout snack
$2.99 Donuts and Moon pies for work thing
$7.24 fresh cherries (yes, for 1.45 lbs) !!!!!
$9.99 Cakewalk Wine
$22.20 on extras. Could have been worse, I could have gone on a cheese buying rampage (and therein is the cause of me not losing more weight. D'oh!)
Dad is visiting today, and we went to have some Mexican food for dinner. Oh, the irony of me being a single Mexican female. We walked it off at Half Price Books, where I dropped $22 on three books and cupcake kit for my new 'hobby.' *sigh* (burp)
Call it good a good financial decision or a change of heart, but I did not get a tattoo today at the convention as much as I really wanted to. Part of it was that I just couldn't connect with any art that I came across, even though one of the artists did a good job drawing a sacred heart to get done on my wrist. Even with that, though, I couldn't decide if I really wanted it on my wrist.
The other part was that I wasn't sold on spending $250 (!) from my savings. I know that sounds ridiculous considering I now have more than $2K in savings but it took almost two years and two jobs to actually put money into that account. I like the fact that I have a cushion should something come up (like a speeding ticket and defensive driving).
OK, so maybe it's more the former than the latter. This tattoo is at the top of my 'Crap I Want But Don't Need' list, and this particular one has more meaning to it than that ones I already have. Maybe that's another reason why it didn't come to fruition.
Have not had the chance to research the home purchase. Instead, after the interesting week I had, I picked up a couple of books at the discount book store (entertainment on the cheap) and went to Sephora for some retail therapy (more on my product purchase and usage later).
Other happenings at the convention today, Baby Gap got his 'tribal seahorse': DO waited for the artist that we used at the last convention to be free, but began to get the Itch For Ink and decided to begin the work on the tribute for his mom with a different guy (both of whom thought I was his wife; you can imagine the palpitations DO was having with that and how hard I was trying not to laugh):
Weekly summary: Stuck to food budget Got speeding ticket (add defensive driving) Bought half priced paperbacks Did not stick to gym plan (though I did go 3x) Paid for cheap hair cut at Aveda school Did not spend $250 on tattoo
Oh, and auditions were pushed to next Saturday. There's something to look forward to. Yes, I continue to have trouble turning my frown upside down and it's unbelievably frustrating. I have nothing in my life that I have reason to complain about: good job, financial security, physical health, funny cat, interesting friends. It could be Fight Club syndrome or a 'mid-life crisis.' Or it could be something else entirely. I'm hoping my Sunday coffee & Times ritual will jump start the week.
Hey, here is the story Forget about your troubles in life Don't you know it's not easy When you've gotta walk upon that line That's why You need That's what This is what you need I'll give you what you need
