Keepin' It Real Thursday...it's time for another public resolution.

This is a completely self serving post that is simply to motivate me to get my booty in gear.  Matt and I have a problem called post-payday hay day.  We spend the first few days after he is paid feeling like we're filthy rich and then...

We find out we're spending entirely too much on bills.  I mean ENTIRELY.  I'm 99% sure it's rude to discuss finances in public, but I have the highest hopes that in 3 years or so we'll look back at this post and laugh at how tight things were.  How eating out was really a luxury and shopping was...well...extinct.  And we'll do this from our ipad while lounging in Hawaii with a nanny watching our children...oh wait.  That's right...family medicine.  I mean we'll do this from the same computers we own now, but maybe with the possibility of eating out a few times a month and while wearing new shirts.  First world problems are real people.  (In all fairness, we are so rich in love and have everything we need so please don't feel too bad for us.)

It happens every time I sit down to balance my checkbook and pay our bills.  I panic.  I start thinking "why in the world did we think we could eat out twice in one weekend" or "why in the world did I think it would be a good idea to spend $50 on a train ride around St Augustine?!"  But I know why...because I don't keep a budget and Matt was just paid and I like to spend a weekend feeling like money is not really tight, but I am deciding that today is the day we make a change.

Today, folks, I made a budget.  A real life budget.  And know what else?  I'm making myself try the ole' cash envelope system for some expenditures.  I know you've heard of it.  You take out some cash after pay day and put it in a marked envelope...when the money runs out, you're done.  That's all you had to spend so figure it out.  Spend all your entertainment money on a train ride around St Augustine? Well...I hope it was a month's worth of entertainment folks because you're done.

I have made budgets in the past, but I've never gone all the way with implementing the envelope system, and let's face it, swiping a card doesn't feel real.  In fact, in my wallet, it feels limitless!  So here is my goal...

1. Stop swiping the emergency credit card for non-emergencies! (I'm so ashamed of this)  We've let a little credit card debt creep up on us that must go.  Some of it was for real emergencies, but some of it was for real non-emergencies that I told myself I would just deduct from the next month's non-existent budget.  Debt you will be gone by December.  That is my goal so take it.

2. Stop spending so much on groceries and then turning around and eating out anyway.  We cannot do both.  We have been so diligent in the past about eating at home, but I will say that pregnancy has made me lazy.  I have started "deserving" more and more meals out recently, and I've got to get it under control.

3. Stop running through the drive through on busy days.  I'm a chickfila addict.  Especially now that I've learned how good their grilled chicken wrap is and that they serve caffeine free diet coke! But it must end.  I always tell myself that it just makes it easier for me to let John eat on the way home from something and then have his nap right when we get home, but the truth is that it is equally as easy to make us a quick sandwich when we get home and nap shortly after.  It's the difference in like 20 minutes.

4.  Plan appropriately for upcoming expenditures.  If you know a birthday is coming up, then tighten up a little bit and plan for it.  I'm so bad about just spending whatever I want to spend and then dealing with it after the fact.

5. Set a travel budget.  This is a horrible one for us.  When we travel we just swipe, swipe, swipe, and then when we get home, I try to assess the damage.  This has got to turn around.  We are actually traveling to the MS coast next weekend to pick up all of John's old baby stuff, and I'm determined to try out a travel budget this trip.  We have x for gas (which obviously has to be flexible because gas is a necessity) and we have x for food.  Can't eat out every meal just because we're on the road.  That's what coolers are for right?  And let's be honest...is it really healthy to eat that much fast food in a weekend trip?

6. Fix all of the other financial bad habits that I'm sure will creep up as I try this.

Cue eye of the tiger or some other inspirational song, and let the high fives start! We can do this! And if you see me at chickfila any day soon, kick me square in the ass.

And some pinspiration for myself...

Now get to work!