Prime Rate Credit

Budgeting seems like one of those things that seems like such a great idea, and when written on paper, it seems to make complete and total logical sense, and even seems to be the only way to go if you want to have any hope of running a succesful financial life. However, when we step back into reality after our little budget planning systems, and are faced with both unexpected expenses as well as the occasional temptation to buy things that we know darn well are out of our budget, it becomes a lot less romantic to have a rigid budget.

Take for example by own situation. We just moved into a new house last year, and we’ve been in it for about a year now. The house was only about two years old when we moved in, so we figured we’d have minimal updating or repair to do when we moved in. The problem is that we didn’t account for how much furniture, decor, and other things we would be purchasing as first time homeowner, so it really messed up our budget from the get go.

You have to buy lawn mowers, many tools and other accessories that you didn’t have, including shovels, rakes, gardening things, maybe some landscaping items, and tons more stuff for the inside. Today, I still haven’t finished half of the rooms, and it won’t be another year before I intend to do so. It would simply break the bank if we were to try to force all of it into such a small time frame.

People are faced with these kinds of choices every day. What to wear, what to eat, and how to accessorize your home are only some of the ways that we can so creatively throw money down the prodigal toilet, so to speak, and I for one can be very good at doing that, especially if something strikes my fancy as being a “necessity” right away. For example, we are trying to take it slow and buy things that we really like that will also last a long time for our new home.

I made a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond the other day, fully intending to not really buy anything, just browse on my lunch break from work. However, I ended up purchasing a hundred dollar painting that I just had to have, because when was I going to find a deal like that again? These are the types of temptations that can sabotage your budgets, so it’s best not to go out just to “browse” as I’ve learned many a times.