Having Extra Money Is a Bad Thing

Having Extra Money Is a Bad Thing!

Posted on April 21, 2008
Filed Under budget |

I should be celebrating having a little extra money in my budget, right? Instead I find that the temptation to spend it on the things that I have been living without for so long is overwhelming. It is rather like being on a diet for months and then going off. You tend to splurge on chocolate, ice cream and potato chips.

There have been a few things that I have been telling myself that I needed such as replacing my printer that died last month. I regularly print out flyers for my business, receipts, reports, etc. I bought a kodak easy share printer/scanner/copier to replace it. It was a good buy and I paid about $20 more than it would have cost me to replace the ink cartridge in my old printer.

I need to be very careful that my list of wants doesn’t creep over to my list of needs. It’s very easy to justify in my mind that something that I want is actually a need especially when I have a little extra to pay for it. For example, I was at Lowes buying the storm door and noticed they had area rugs on clearance. I have wanted one for the living room and it quickly became a need when I found them marked down from $198 to $50. Was it a great deal? Yes but I didn’t need a rug. I bought it and now will have to adjust my budget to make up for it.

After much deliberation, I have decided on my priorities. I have listed them in order of importance and will be funding them in this order:

Emergency Fund — essential to keep my head above water in the coming months.
Consumer Debt — I hope to have the majority of this paid off by the end of the year.
Home Repairs — there are some things like the door that I just HAVE to get repaired before winter.
Business Loan — Getting this paid off would increase my net income from the business by 1/3. Yup, it’s going to be a goner.
All The Other Stuff — Everything else such as the lawn mower is going to have to wait until the four things above are paid off.

Help keep me awake to write by buying me a cup of coffee! .

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Comments

4 Responses to “Having Extra Money Is a Bad Thing!”

Debt Free Revolution (12 comments.) on April 21st, 2008 9:42 pm

We’ve been having this same problem since becoming consumer debt free in February! Hubby has a big “want” list and quite a bit of it is “for the house.”
bouncing back on April 22nd, 2008 2:04 pm

Can you take the rug back? It’s hard to balance the needs and wants list. My wants sometimes become my needs. I want a GPS, no I NEED a GPS. I hear ya.
No Spending Challenge | Oh My Aching Debts on April 23rd, 2008 6:47 am

[...] on April 23, 2008Filed Under Spending | In my post yesterday on having extra money, I mentioned purchasing an oriental carpet on clearance. I stated that I would have to adjust my [...]
cindys on April 23rd, 2008 3:36 pm

BB, I guess I could take the rug back but eventually I do need to buy one and I doubt I will find one for a better price. Although I shouldn’t have bought it in the first place, now that it’s here…