This is actually really horrible, but I am going to be completely honest with you here....I know my post is a day late (again) I promise I am trying really hard, but sometimes life just gets in the way and I was not prepared ahead of time for my 31 days of posts ;-) Anyway, here is the reason why (which is perfectly fitting for today's subject)...
Yesterday we had a budgeted plan to attend this seafood dinner at a nearby winery with some friends. The food was fabulous and the wine was great. We had a babysitter for the afternoon and had planned to be home around 7pm. Well, some how our well planned evening turned into a 2 hour limo drive and night of dancing until 3am! Needless to say we had such a fabulous night! However, this budgeted event turned into a much bigger ordeal and we spent well over what we had planned for our big date of the month!
Now before you freak out...one of the friends that was wine tasting with us owns the limo company and so he nicely donated the limo ride ;-) That doesn't take away from the fact that way too much money was spent on gas, tip, and a night out - not to mention the babysitter until 4am - YIKES!
It can't get much worse than missing doing my blog post about saving money because I am out spending money like we just won the lottery!!
I could have chosen to sit here today and pretend that I was deathly ill and just couldn't possibly muster up the energy to write last night, but what good would that do anyone? I am not going to pretend to sit here and act like I have it all together and have never fallen off the horse on this long journey towards financial freedom. I am human, just like everyone else, and this journey is not without its ups and downs.
My husband and I sat here for a bit this morning looking at the receipts from last night and we both started to get down and frustrated with ourselves. But you know what? Life is way too short for that! Although we will need to eat top ramen for the next two weeks to make up for it, it is in the past and after all is said and done I don't think I would take it back, money and all. It was good for us to let loose last night, like we haven't done in ages. We haven't been in a limo since our wedding 7 years ago and the fun we had just driving around with our friends was priceless.
Now this is not to say that you should forget all my advice about budgeting and making hard decisions, but I am here to say that making a financial mistake doesn't mean that you should throw in the towel and give up. Don't be too hard on yourself. It is like dieting, sometimes you will do well for a month and then you have a night of binging on cake and ice cream. One night doesn't ruin the whole plan, but if you don't make adjustments to stay on track after that, then you will find yourself back in your fat jeans ;-))
So please, if you find yourself in a situation like I am in today, get back on the horse and try again. And please please please, if your spouse messes up don't be too hard on them! Luckily, last night was a decision that we made together so there is no blame to be had. But I would hope that if I made a poor financial decision on my own, that couldn't be rectified by just returning an item, that my husband would forgive me and help me to move on.
The key is to learn from the mistakes, adjust your budget as necessary, and move forward. Don't live with regrets, just learn from them.
Anyone have a story of a poor financial decision that you've made while on the journey towards financial freedom?
1 comments:
Wowsa! Sounds like a fabulous time. It's things like this that happen that make you just say "forget the buget, this only happens once in a blue moon." I'm totally jealous. Sounds like fun. Thanks for stopping by Lauren Inspired and for your kind words. My husband is from Gardnerville, we got married at the CVIC hall actually. Small world (not really, since clearly you know I'm from Sparks, ha). Happy Halloween :)
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