No Job, Plenty Fun: The Budget

Day 28: in which Marsha revisits the idea of needs versus wants and decides that if there is a Land of Frugality, she is not its Queen.

Do I want it or do I need it? And how much of each can I settle for? In this last post of a budget-watching month, these are my questions.

I think needs are fairly simple. Given the life we have lived, the aspirations and limits that are ours, we have some financial imperatives beyond food. One example is dog treats. It would be unfortunate for all of us, since we have chosen to welcome Sadie into our home, to do less than welcome her with ample love-in-a-box. Even though there  is life without Milk Bone, I consider it necessary to keep a good supply handy. But I buy her treats with an eye to value. I have not yet fallen prey to the doggy bakery with a full display of gourmet treats for the pup.

Wants are easily classified, not so easily quantified. Take coffee. I like good quality coffee. I won’t drink the standard stuff. If I could not buy the fair-trade, organic, whole beans from Colombia (or Ethiopia or Huaja,) I wouldn’t drink coffee at all. So what does that mean in my budget? I somehow must come up with a bottom line. At some point, the pleasure of being frugal is trumped by the pleasure of the coffee itself. It’s one expense I’ll pay, and one reason I call myself fairly frugal, not the Queen of the Realm.

There are some things I would do differently. I notice in my budget, between the sum I had in mind and the money we actually spent, I have just enough for a nice day or night away. And all our entertainment was free this month: A few lectures, a karate function here and there, a couple meetings and hook-ups with friends. That’s good, but probably not entirely typical. Once a month, a cover fee to hear Eva Scow would be great.

today $0.00 –  fairly frugal, to celebrate this last post

$0.00 + $1882.08 = $1882.08

The river of money moves on, with me flowing toward a spending spree. MacFrugal’s here I come.

No Job, Plenty Fun: The Budget

Day 27: in which Marsha begins to see the light at the end of the budget blogging month.

I had a number in mind when I started this budget. I suppose, if I had been completely transparent (how is this ever possible, and why on earth do we use this word to describe honesty?) maybe I would have shared that number at the get-go.

I didn’t. But I can share with you now that I am rapidly approaching that sum. Stanley has a retired friend who says he lives on $600 a month. I think he is a liar. Maybe he just does  not count certain items, such as food. Granted, we are two people, but even doubling that sum to $1200 each month would be tough. $300 or so in utilities makes a deep cut.

I should pause for a moment and be grateful that we have the money to keep up these hefty payments. I know many people struggle with much less. But it is our life I am examining. We are almost to the end of the month and the end of the money I wanted to spend. Which makes me curious. How would I change the way we spent our pennies?

today $30.27 food for the grill

$30.27 + $1851.81 = $1882.08

No Job, Plenty Fun: The Budget

Day 26: in which Marsha contemplates the monetary value of truthfulness.

Mostly, I am keeping this budget for me. I have nothing to lose by being honest. I know what I’ve done, right? But I find myself in a moral dilemma.

I made a mostly philanthropic purchase of two books written by Tiago, a Peace Corps volunteer. The proceeds will help fund his school project. It’s not much, but the FedEx guy was very efficient and dropped it off in February instead of March, as he should have. So, it’s in this month’s budget.

Then, The Hermit reminded me of the Great Lectures series, and because I was already hooked up to internet, I found an opportunity to purchase Russian History at 70% off. It won’t be here until March, but this, too, is a February expense.

Blame it on Tiago and The Hermit. The budget is going through the roof.

today – $49.90 books, $114.98 dvd’s = $164.98 worth of honesty

$164.98 + $1650.83 = $1851.81

No Job, Plenty Fun: The Budget

Day 25: in which Marsha experiences regret.

A few days ago I looked at the amount of money I had spent and made a foolish promise. I am having a truly difficult time honoring my commitment not to spend any more this month.

I could satisfy myself with the daily dose of free wonders: the three deer that walked along the pond path as I walked along the trail, the red-tailed hawk that has decided to be my pathway friend, the small hawk that we’ve figured out is an American Kestral. That should be enough.

Or I could busy myself counting the items we don’t spend money on: massive cable television subscriptions that we can’t possibly watch, the second car we decided not to buy only to find out we are perfectly fine with just one, expensive matching furniture when we wouldn’t appreciate the value.

Instead, I used our thriftiness as an incentive to give myself permission to spend. Thank goodness February is a short month, or this could get ugly.

today $84.13 Target – at least I got a table umbrella that I will use daily when the sun returns after this rain passes through

$84.13 + $1569.70 = $1650.83

No Job, Plenty Fun: The Budget

Day 24: in which Marsha enjoys the curative power of the sun. Again.

I know I live in paradise. I didn’t know that two years ago, even though I am in the same home in the same neighborhood  and the same city. February in Central California is reason enough to celebrate.

This is where I also celebrate the lack of a house payment. I should have reported one this month, right? While I am enjoying the weather, I am doubly fortunate, because I’m also enjoying the lack of that expense in my budget. It’s usually the big one.

I’m not bragging. I’m celebrating the sacrifice Stanley and I made to get that cumbersome chore out of the way before he retired. If you are looking ahead, this is the one biggest way to treat yourself well in the future. So, maybe a little brag.

Today, there are no worries, only sunshine. Which makes me curious. What other expenses are absent from our budget, like the sun of tomorrow, impacting us because of what isn’t there?

today – nothing for the house payment

$0.00 mortgage + $1569.70 = $1569.70

No Job, Plenty Fun: The Budget

Day 23: in which Marsha sees the hawk circling above her and knows fearsome beauty.

Red-tailed Hawks are common here along the bluffs of an old river. In twenty years (minus one) of living here, I’d never before had the time to stop and look. Today’s hawk had pounced on a huge grey heron that wisely raced back to it’s family and protection. Then the hawk came after me.

At least that’s how it seemed. It glided round and round, thirty feet above me on my walking trail, and I know that it was sizing me up for dinner. Or Sadie, strapped to me by a leash around my waist. That hawk bragged to us about its beauty, showing the feathered underside, then tipping to let us see the magnificent spread of its shoulders. I know these creatures can be held on my hand, but at that moment, I was in fear of claws ripping into my shoulders and carrying me away, Sadie dragging along behind. Fear and beauty in a retired moment that I waited twenty years for. Try to put a dollar value on that.

Three tiny purple flowering bulbs and seven jonquils reminded me to go to the nursery to buy more color for the yard. These first blooms overjoyed me. I needed to give them company. I came away with only a handful of marigolds, but a large amount of pleasure at my first visit to a nursery this year.

today $5.69 marigolds, $64.15 Trader Joes’s

$69.84 + $1499.86 = $1569.70 and a promise to maybe not spend anything more this month..

No Job, Plenty Fun: The Budget

Day 22: in which Marsha contemplates the lasting qualities of ground cloves. And cinnamon sticks.

Counting pennies gives me so much food for thought. This morning, sprinkling the ground cloves onto my oatmeal, I wondered how often in my life I have had to replace the spices in my cupboard.

Basil, often. Cayenne pepper, every once in awhile. Allspice? Never; I don’t think I know what it is. Recently, my mother gave me some wonderful tea that she believes has been around for twenty years or so. Some things, even though we do need to replenish them, last for so long, you can happily forget their cost.

today – $15.67 from the hardware store – I didn’t ask Stanley what it all was, and didn’t much care since it didn’t include flowers for the garden, (a tomorrow expense.)

$15.67 + $1484.19 = $1499.86