I fell off the wagon.

It is time to reveal to you my second goal for the month of April. And it is also time to confess that I have already failed at it. 

My second 3 in 30 was to stay on a budget.

 

I have this problem, see. 

I spend way too much money. 

I guess part of it stems from the fact that I can. I have no debt. I have no bills. I have no responsibilities like going to school, feeding kids, or budgeting for husband and therefore all my money gets blown.

My secret indulgences are DVD’s, Jewelry, and Shoes. I spend way too much money on those items.

See:

My ridiculous DVD collection.

 I have close to 40 pairs that I regularly wear.

I have dozens and dozens of necklaces and rings, watches, bracelets and earrings.They are my newest obsessions.

See, one of the problems that I have is that I have become comfortable in spending however much I want on whatever I want. (I recently spent $65 on a bracelet for crying out loud. I still cringe when I think about it, but then again it’s just SOOOOOO cute, how could I not?)

See my problem.

So, for the month of April I decided to stop spending so much. The past few months (OK you caught me, for the past year or so) my credit card bills for the month have been at least $1,000. Sometimes more {although I can't think of a month when it was less.} Now, here is the good news. I am not going into debt. I have enough cash that I can pay off my credit card in full each month.  So, it is not as though I am spending myself into a mountain of debt. {Like I said, this girl is 100% debt free} However, my savings account… well, that is a whole nother story.

I used to be a huge saver. I had thousands in my savings account at one point. But then I went back to school, traded in my full time job for a part time job, and slowly depleted my savings. Now that school is over {can I get an amen sista?} I can go back to a steadier working schedule and can start to save again right? Well, I should be able to but another confession leads me to say that I have not been able to save much over the past 4 months since graduation. I am typically spending that money on my stupid CC bill. Which is way too high by then end of the month.

So, for one of my 3 in 30’s I have decided to stop spending. I have put myself on an extremely tight budget. Are you ready: $75 dollars a week. Now this is a significant decrease, seeing as how I was typically blowing around $250 a week. $75 dollars can be blown in any way I see fit, but only $75. All I can say is It Is Hard. Week one I was brilliant. I only spend $4 more than my allotted amount, and I decided to roll that balance over to week 2.

I even have this inspired idea, {that I cannot take credit for, thanks to Carly} that I pay myself on FRIDAYS so that I get the majority of my $ for the weekend.

Week 1 was not met without challenges. I had to stop myself numerous times from splurging. I had to rethink what I was buying. I had to prioritize what was important. I felt great. I felt accomplished. I felt like I did a great thing at keeping my CC bill DOWN for the month of April.

Week 2 rolls around. My friends invite me to go to the What Women Want expo on Saturday, which sounds fabulous right? {I thought so too}

Well, I started out good. I had already spent some of my weekly money on this necklace:

(cute hu?) So I didn’t have my full $75 bucks for the week. Also, I still needed to go grocery shopping, so I knew I couldn’t spend more than about $20 bucks at this event. Sounds great. I get there and I start making mental notes about how much I am spending. $3 on nail polish. No problem. $5 on a necklace. Not bad. $3 on iPod accessories. So far so good. I am not going overboard and I am really having fun. Then, I saw these.

 At first I walked away from the booth. Because I was on a budget. Then, I happened to see the booth again on my way out. I stopped and looked. My creativity started flowing {I had been inspired by some other accessories I saw at the expo} I saw a woman clip one onto her high heals. 

 Adorable. 

 

I thought I could clip some onto some necklaces and make some homemade versions of these cute necklaces that are so in right now. 

 {Don't mind the awkward and poor quality photograph of my necklace.}

I also saw another woman clip on onto her headband. 

I just decided I could buy 2. That was right in my budget. I started thinking about the colors that I would get to put on some high heals. I thought about the colors that would look good on my headband with my red hair. Then I thought about the colors that would look good bunched up together on a necklace. As you can Clearly see, I didn't end up with just 2. I picked out 4. So the woman starts running my credit card. While she was running it I kept looking. She finished the transaction. I found 3 more that I liked. I made her run the card again.

**Fail**

By this point I am beyond my $20 budget that I had given myself for the day.

Then. I saw it.

The cutest pencil skirt that I have seen in ages. {I love pencil skirts} they show off my best ASSet. {wink wink} And since Mr. Right is still out there somewhere, I figured I’d better give him just a glimpse of that ASSet he could be marrying at some point right? {ha. Ha. HA.}
I was completely and totally sold. I tried it on. I was even more sold. It even had the cutest duck feathers hanging off my bum. The cost $36.

I couldn’t resist.

I failed on my 2 week of budgeting.

But just LOOK at it. Could you die?

Are you so impressed with my one-handed-taking-a-picture-of-my-bum talent? {it is harder than it looks}

And sorry it is so wrinkle-y. I wore it yesterday and sat down a lot. And was too lazy to iron it for this picture.

Confession: the skirt is not the only story I could tell about splurging on Saturday. I did the same justification for some other somewhat expensive items. Bottom line: I think I spent a week and a half’s worth budget in 1 day. Bummer.

Don't worry, I am going to figure in what I spent on Friday into the next few weeks so that it will all come out even in the end.Even more of a strict budget coming right up. Meanwhile, I am getting back on the wagon and I am going to start saving. Because a 26 year old single woman with a good job and no bills should have more to show for her life than a zero balance in her savings account.

Here is to failing at life’s goals and NOT giving up on them.

What are your secret indulgences slash failed goals? Are you ready to get back on the wagon with me?