A cause for celebration
A couple of things happened this week in the family which called for a celebration. Both of which lead to spending. This triggered a thought about the ways in which we spend to celebrate. You see school ended recently. My wife teaches 2nd grade in public education. On her last day of school, we celebrated. How? We went out to dinner.
Admission: We’re foodies
Now I like going out to eat as much as the next guy. We are foodies. We admit it. If you have ever met us, you would not even have to ask. We like to chow. The problem is, I don’t have the culinary knowledge to whip anything up other than the 6 or so dishes that I have rotated in and out of the menu for years. So…we celebrated the end of the school year for Jen and the kids by going out. As we have done, you can schedule going out into your budget. We did that, but it doesn’t take much for us to break the budget to have someone else serve us dinner. At a cost of course.
Food less celebratory spending
The second cause to celebrate did not involve food. It was an achievement celebration. See the video attached.
The Flickr video is better quality than the YouTube video:
The second celebration was the day that my six-year-old son took the training wheels off of his bicycle and learned to ride two-wheeled. He took to riding without training wheels within minutes. I had tried to teach him months back, but he was not ready. This week he was ready. We celebrated with a trip to the bike shop. Ben’s bicycle did not have a kick stand. His bike was held up with the training wheels that he ceremonially threw away at the park where he learned to ride. So off we went to the bike shop. A couple of impulse buys there not including the kick stand and we walked away spending $64.00.
This week I recognized celebratory triggers for my spending. Who wouldn’t want to treat their family members to celebrations? No one. Go ahead and celebrate! Just grab the mile-high view the next time you celebrate and recognize if it is an excuse to spend outside of your budget.
2 comments
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July 1, 2008 at 2:15 am
Tif
Great post Maury!! I’m a “foodie” too – only it’s because I HATE to cook. And I like to celebrate. And I like things fast. And it’s fun to slip out for dinner when there’s unexpected guests………and, and,and…
I better go buy more envelopes. They’re only $ .89 at Big Lots. (do I need an envelope for my envelope buying?…)
Blessings,
Tif
August 5, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Cliff Ravenscraft
Great Blog Post. Loved the FREEDOM VIDEO!!!! Those are great memories, the first time our children ride their bikes without training wheels.
I’m a firm believer in being in control of your budget and not letting your budget be in control of you. Of course, that is if we have the money to pull from somewhere else in the budget.
Nice Blog!
Cliff
http://gpsn.tv