Budget This

As of very recently, I am on a budget. Now this sounds easy enough...I would imagine a lot of people budget out their lifestyle on pretty little spreadsheets, catching flack for buying one extra skim latte and getting pats on the back when spending less than allocated.

However I am not one of these people. I like the idea of a budget, and believe that being organized enough to determine what I spend in a given month on things like asian chicken salads from Atlanta Bread or manis would better my lifestyle in the long run, but I don't quite ever see this concept through to fruition. Thus, I guess you could say I've never been on a budget.

So for the first time, I am watching what I spend. Husbandette and I have always reveled in the NYC make-more-spend-more mentality. Heck, for a year of our relationship - A YEAR - we ate dinner out (or ordered dinner in) every single night. Swear. Now this is before I decided cooking was fun and realized I was actually good at it, and so living on penang curry from the thai restaurant up the block was perfectly reasonable. Plus we figured, groceries are expensive in the city...it's basically cheaper to eat out every night.

Well now I have no excuse. I live up in suburbia-land and graze from the limited culinary trough as it is, so cooking at home has become the norm. But I also have an expensive palatte, liking myself to a "Julia Child" and not a "Dinners Under $10" kinda chef. So...grocery bills rock out at crazy numbers. I also believe grocery shopping is an art form - one you don't truly learn until shopping for multiple people, i.e. a family, so I assume I will learn this art over time and wisen up on how to get multiple meals out of one sprig of parsley.

I have to watch what I spend now. This is a test, really, to see if I can pull it off and save some funds. Husbandette is on board with my exercise in caution, as he doesn't quite understand why I need certain things I claim as necessity, like the Tracy Reese handbag I just adore and a new pair of Paige Premium jeans. (helllllooo, that handbag is in the perfect shade of cognac and it's so spectacular I would eat off it - albiet I'd be eating Ramen noodles b/c that's all I could afford after buying it, but still...we make sacrifices). I guess this is all part of the fun of being married. Ho hum and happy valentine's day to you too, scrooge.

So in an effort to make my transition smoother from spend-a-holic to spendthrift, I am opening the measure of possibility should any readerettes feel the desire to buy me a coffee. Or take me out to dinner. Or donate a handbag you've grown tired of. Donations now being accepted.