B Is For Budget

It is a sad, but true fact that money does not grow on trees. It is also a sad/true fact that Mr. L & I decided on a strict post-wedding budget for a myriad of reasons. We let ourselves enjoy our wedding & honeymoon to the fullest, but the dawn of proverbial belt tightening arrived soon thereafter.

At first, the idea of restricting my wallet, and (gag) spreadsheeting expenses made me ill. So ill, in fact, that at least 14 temper tantrums were had. I've always been a cautious spender, but I truly abhor being restricted, so I protested. My vision of our budget-restricted days was bleak, cold, bland, and downright depressing-kind of like Charlie's family in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory-long nights with nothing to eat but boiled cabbage soup.

Mr. L was excited about our finances. He was eager to meet and discuss goals, rules, and time lines. The more excited he got about budgeting, the more morose I became. It seemed a hard landing after living in a lavish wedding bubble for a year..

I begrudgingly started researching ways to save money and was exposed to a world of happy savers who loved saving money just as much as they loved spending it. This got me excited. I poured over couponing websites, supermarket sales, and store specials. After a few trips to the grocery store, coupons in hand, I started saving over 30% on grocery bills. I was jazzed.

I can now saw that I am a happy saver. I started to realize that there is so much more freedom in saving than there is in spending. The more we save, the freer we become. The world is a much kinder place when you pay off your debt and have a little change in your pocket, right?

Updates & tips to come...

SIDE NOTE: I went to Office Max yesterday to buy an accordian folder for my coupons. Here's how it went down:

store clerk: "Can I help you find something?"

me: "Yes, I'm looking for an accordian file."

(store clerk gets a very confused look on his face and there is a long pause)

store clerk: "You mean like a musical instrument?"