Sunday, October 26, 2008

Easing Stress

I was having trouble relaxing tonight and knew if I didn't work things out on paper, I wouldn't be getting much in the way of sleep later. The bills don't normally freak me out but occasionally (about once every three months) they keep me up at night. At this point, I'm pretty sure we have enough money coming in to cover the bills, gasoline and grocery's. This wasn't always the case. A year or so ago, we had more bills than money. Ok, so we could pay the bills on time every month but we wouldn't be eating or driving anywhere, literally. Now, looking over the bills and incoming money, I think we actually have enough coming in that if we really wanted to, we could actually do that thing... what's it called? Oh yeah, save some of it. I'm not completely certain as I couldn't get on a few of the websites that we have bills through so I had to guesstimate. Anything I wasn't sure of, I guessed anywhere from $25 to $50 higher than what I thought. Now why is every single bill we owe, always, always late? We piss it away to be quite frank. This is what was a problem for me tonight. I needed to know exactly what needed to be saved back weekly for bills as opposed to monthly. We have always had better luck paying bills that were due at the end of the week rather than the end of the month. I figured out how much each bill was divided by 4 and then added those figures up for a weekly amount. It would be great if when taxes came, we could use that money to fix up some of the house and possibly even do that saving thing, rather than have all of it go to late bills. Yes, it's more fun to spend it when you have it but it would be nice to feel secure. I'm still adapting to this adult thing. When I was a kid and into my teens, I occasionally heard the "adults" say things similar to "Just because I'm an adult, doesn't mean I know what the hell I'm doing." I think most of us are just winging it. There is no instruction manual on how to do everything correctly all the time. You can be told a hundred times, the easiest way to do things (i.e. pay bills on time) but you have to learn to do it and stick to it on your own. I have a great deal of self control in my life, unless you throw money into the mix. Particularly if I'm hungry. Eating out is always easier than spending the time cooking the meal and then cleaning up after it. Everyone close to me knows that my stomach rules my life. If I'm hungry, everyone around me is miserable. If I'm hungry, I will spend money to immediately fix it. And then feel guilty for spending it afterwards. I need to get control of my stomach. Bad stomach, on time out for you.
We did not go to a movie today. We were out most of the day doing the shopping we haven't gotten done. Afterwards we went to dinner with my dad. It went well, other than the fact that Jasmine insisted on itching her butt the entire time. I'd get her to stop and then look over, she's itching again. She'd finally stopped by the time we went to do our grocery shopping, thankfully. It aggravated me all through dinner however. When we, finally, got home, we put on a movie. The Happening... sucks. Ok, I guess sucks is a strong word but it wasn't a great movie. I wanted to see something that was in line with this month being October and Halloween so it was between that and The Strangers. Husband thought The Strangers looked scarier for a toddler so we went with The Happening. I had to cover that poor kid's eyes so often she might as well have kept them closed through the whole thing. I just didn't want her seeing person after person commit suicide. I mean, how do you explain that to a 3 year old? Every time she asked me what had happened I would say something completely opposite of what had happened. (guy sits down to slit his wrists, I told her he was playing with rocks on the ground, since the last thing she saw was him sit down by rocks) As long as it stopped the endless questions, I was pretty ok with it. ;)

4 comments:

Wes said...

Jamie:

I agree with you about the film, it was not that great! She had "desert"? He almost bought cough sryup? Come on the plants let them go to each other, but couldn't earlier?

Peace&Love
Wes

Sage Ravenwood said...

I hated the Happening. Thankfully it isn't one of the films for Halloween night with my daughter, she would of been highly disappointed. The lead actress has this never changing dopey look on her face that irritated the heck out of me. I thought the entire movie was the first 10 min. of it, after that you could of put it on repeat. Then ending....ugh...

So yeah not my movie....

As for the bills, your right we live and learn. I find I'm most comfortable when I'm not poor enough to be hungry (been there wasy too much in my life) or rich enough to splurge (ex husbands family kept up in the upper middle class regions)...so that would be were I am right now.

Paul and I have no credit cards (won't use them). And if we really want something bad enough, we save up for it. If we still want it by the time we have the money saved then it's worth it. (Hugs)Indigo

Beth said...

Jamie, it sounds like you're on the right track with the bill-paying and budgeting. But you're right...you do have to be disciplined. You mentioned something that has saved us lots of money: eating at home rather than eating out. We rarely eat out, and Ken takes his lunch to work (as did I when I worked). It might be hard to get in the habit, but if you can, you'll be amazed at how much you can save.

Even when I worked, I always made dinner at home, so I'm all for quick and easy!

Sounds like I won't worry about seeing "The Happening!" LOL I understand...almost everyone thinks it sucks! We haven't finished it yet, but the other night we started watching "1408," and I'm loving it. I can't wait to see how it ends. (Don't tell me!) We gave some other good horror movies to watch, too--I love 'em!

Hugs, Beth

Adirondackcountrygal said...

I know how you feel about hunger while out. Every time we go somewhere with the kids its around a meal time and of course they are all HUNGRY and need to eat immediately or they will die.