Stuff

[lenora_rose]

So Brannie gifted me Heather Dale's the Gabriel Hounds for late birthday, and taleisin did the same for Sherwood Smith's King's Shield (Which, with the arrival of Bear's books changed my to-read lsit to include both that and my current read, New Amsterdam)....

.... and I still ended up spedning frivolous money better saved for other times. Well before October.

But not on DVDs, or CDs or books, or comics, or etc.

I bought something, shall we say, pretty to wear for my husband. To make up for the incredible business of the pre-wedding weeks, and the lack of time spent together, in general and in, ah, specific. Which types of things are also more expensive than books.

Let's just say it was effective (And pretty).

But his comment, regarding the expense, wasn't the expected semi-mock 'you shouldn't have done that', was "It's just money."

This is the same husband who admits he's sometimes very unreasonable about our debt, even when it's less debt than many. About how much things cost, etc. There are times he really does wish we both could be more frugal. And sometimes steps he tries to take to that end (brown-bagging rather than buying lunch, trying to get us to eat in more.)

On the one hand, it's commendable for him to be able to let it go sometimes. (except when shrugging off money matters also means, say, not submitting his income taxes or insurance paperwork because it's paperwork, though the money would help with the debt. Which is due to a loathing for paperwork that is beyond all reason.) On the other hand, my yielding to temptation is not helping my intention to save and focus on school, or the big expense of going to World Fantasy Con, or to cut down on purchasing in general.

Mostly the last. SO many books! So little time! SO easy to forget to return things to the library and therefore end up spending on them anyway. (Of course, that as due to the wedding, too... for the most part.) So easy to make excuses.

Comments

[vilashna.livejournal.com]

i don't know how much you budget, or if you do this already, but it helps to budget a certain amount of spending money and fun money (movies and eating out and stuff). i mean you are going to spend a little on stuff you don't really need, and you're always going to want to have a little fun sometimes. just put a specific limit on it and work it into the regular budget so that having some fun and buying a few things isn't going to mess up the rest of your finances.

i also find a daybook helps me immensely. if i didn't have my daybook, when life got a little busy i'd be lost. :P

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

My portion of our total income is low enough that doing that kind of budgeting is almost trickier than if I had the full income and had to pay the bills with it (as I did with the apartment). It's hard to say why, but it feels more awkward.

Still, It's not so much advice I'm looking for as a chance to say "aargh!" at the failure. The idea with the ban on buying frivolous stuff isn't to prevent me from doing so ever, it's to retrain myself to do so less and remember that the income is limited.

[vilashna.livejournal.com]

*nods* i understand. its sucks having no money :/
aargh at me all you want :)

They day book might help with the library books and stuff though, if you could get into the habit of using it. The fees might not be that much but every bit counts right?

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Hee! Good for you for getting that pretty thing!

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

Welll... we could have managed without...

It's only irksome because I had put down in writing and stated publicly i wouldn't do frivolous spending. As it happens, my bank account could take the hit.

[colin-p.livejournal.com]

What! You wanted me to make sense?!?

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

Last I checked, you're human. Ability to process contradiction is built into the species.

I assume you did get the part of the paperwork whose delay was *my fault*? And recognized it for what it was?

If you recall, though, I was, at one point, thinking I could keep every second paycheque for myself for coffee, food, and frivolous, and put the other one into some joint bills account. In fact, it still sounds like a good idea.

[senekal.livejournal.com]

Man I'm starting to realize that our bloody wedding screwed up WAY more people's lives than just ours. I was so buried in everything going on around me that said fact didn't really impact properly.

I could say "I'm sorry" a lot (and that would be true) but honestly it doesn't seem like enough.

I need to figure out a way to thank all these folks the way they properly deserve. I just don't know what that should be...

Oh - I'm told I'm supposed to make time to get together with Colin to teach him the 40kv5 rules set. When should that happen? (Nick Itsou, my friend from Toronto who was at the wedding made me promise).

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

The only thing I referred to your wedding screwing up was my failure to realise my books were overdue/failure to get them back to the library once I did. And frankly, based on the fact that i left them almost another week after it, I can't say it was anyone's fault but my own.

The wedding caused me some expenses I might not otherwise have had this summer. But only to about the same tune as, for example, the Fringe. Nothing that was not within my ability to cope with, and nothing I considered inappropriate for the circumstances (Still just as glad to have gone halfers on the corclet, really, but still...)

My attempts to be more restrained financially are based on a variety of things going on, of which your wedding, really, isn't one.