It's That Time Again

Spring weather is here, the days are longer, flowers are blooming and the winter blues are gone. Yes, this is my season! This is the time of year that I enjoy the most. But oh boy, I have to keep a watchful eye out for a financial nemesis that provokes me every year - with very little effort might I add. For some reason I love to eat out during this time of the year. Perhaps it's the gas stove in my ranch style home that gets ridiculously hot when I cook in the summer, or maybe there's some type of serotonin in the summer sun that makes me want to hang out more than usual. Another possibility could be the fact that the first 4 months of the year are extremely busy and I'm just catching up for seemingly "falling off the face of the earth" - according to some of my friends. Who knows? All I know is something happens when the season changes and that something usually results in a negative impact to my budget. You know what I'm going to do, I'm going to increase my "blow" budget. Yep, that's what I'm going to do. I just came to that decision.

When I started writing this post, I planned to confess my financial sins and promise not to do it again. I planned on detailing out my 12 step program on how I was going to mitigate the risk of me blowing my budget wide open but no, I'm changing courses. I'm giving myself permission to increase my frivolous spending, yep, that's what I'm doing - even in this recession.

Honestly, I do a pretty good job of managing my money and I have come a very long way from where I used to be. The only debt I have is my mortgage, my e-fund is fully funded and my necessary living expenses only account for about 50% of my income. Most of us know how challenging it can be to balance financial responsibility with enjoying some sort of quality of life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one who feels like I "deserve" this or that, and I'm definitely not one who does not know the difference between a need and a want. However, I have paid the price to have a little flexibility in my budget so I am exercising that option. Where is this extra money coming from? Well, I never adjusted my gas budget from last year when we were paying upwards of $4 a gallon. I'll adjust the budget to what I'm really spending on gas and allocate the excess to my blow money - at least until Oct 1, 2009, when the summer season begins to hibernate again.

Aah, a balanced life ... that's the ultimate goal.