B is for budget

This month marks our fourth anniversary of marriage. Yes. We made it. We are now officially experts in all things marriage . . . except for one thing. Budgeting. In our four years we have (true confessions) never really had a budget. Now, lest you think that we have never had a budget and so we have been forced to declare bankruptcy 12 times over. No. Nor are we really in debt (I've decided this term "debt" doesn't include the farm). Neither one of us are big spenders so we just haven't really focused on it. We'll save and then sometimes we'll spend. But we'll only spend on big things after agonizing over it for quite some time. However, the little things? Well, just throw it into the cart.

We have decided, however, that slowly but surely those little things start to add up. We don't want to collect junk and that we should be a little more cognizant of making choices and *gulp* saving for big things instead of just buying them when we think we can afford it. So this month marks the beginning of a full scale Dave Ramsey type budget.

This is new thinking for us. I won't even tell you how much we have budgeted for food. It's an embarrassing amount considering there is only two of us. But slowly but surely we'll start figuring it out.

My only problem? Now that we are on a budget - I just want to spend! spend! spend! I look at my e-mails that I get from banana republic and instead of automatically deleting them like I normally do . . . I ponder. Ooooh that does look nice. Much nicer than what is in my closet. I look at my "deal" website and think "Oh man - I need that large food processor and the griddle" (something that I have never thought before in my life). It's such a good deal - how can I say no?

It's really only been three days but already we've made progress. Yesterday we actually walked out of Target (it was actually Wal-Mart but Target sounds classier) without purchasing anything. This, my friends, is a miracle.

Although I may have to go back for their waffle iron. It's totally on sale.