Spring Budget Update (Not so Hot)
Posted on May 1, 2011 No Comments
Spring conjures up thoughts of warm weather and blooming plants for most people, but for me Spring usually comes with some anxiety. See, after a long miserable winter, cooped up inside and buried under layers of clothing basically made of down comforters, I tend to go a teensy bit crazy with the spending. I want to buy new dresses to herald peep-toe pumps seaso. I say yes to every social event, from weekend gatherings to concerts to weddings. Impatient that the weather is not cooperating, I book trips to warmer climates. I throw parties. As I’ve mentioned before here, spring and me are total BFFs. And this year is no different.
Travel
I take one long vacation (seven to nine days) per year. And I manage to take a weekend trip usually once at least every other month, just to get out of Chicago. I usually do this cheaply, staying with friends, booking on Hotwire, flying Southwest, etc. But we have an unusual circumstance this summer: we’re traveling to a friend’s wedding in Napa. It’s going to be amazing, but we realized after pricing flights (and waiting for costs to come down — they never did) that we couldn’t afford to take this trip and our usual late summer adventure this year. At least, not while man-friend is out of work.
So, rather than spending a lot on a one-weekend trip to Napa and then another $1,000 or so in August/September on our usual trip, we’re extending the spring Napa trip to a nine-day excursion to California. Staying five days extra will probably only cost us about $500 more (for 2 people) since the flight and rental car are already booked. We can get our favorite little hotel in Carmel (California) for about $100/per night. Obviously I need to add gas and meals onto that trip, but we won’t be indulging in much else while there. Still, it’s an unexpected expense and I’m always bummed when expenses aren’t planned for.
But… there is a silver lining. I got offered a side job in May that will cover the $500 extra days of the trip. See, it helps to have a ‘side hustle’ for situations like this!
Parties
B (my man-friend) graduated from law school and passed the Illinois bar exam. This obviously calls for a celebration. I, however, sort of underestimated the demand for such a celebration. I figured there would be drinks with friends and a dinner with the family, which I was happy to provide. Now, however, there is to be a party with the extended family, too. More family than I originally considered. So we now are renting a party room at a local pizza joint (our house can’t hold 30 people). I thought I would just order five or six pizzas and somehow without crunching any numbers figured that would cost only like $50 to $100. I was so wrong.
These places make you order by headcount, so even though it’s the cheapest category of party place around, it’s probably going to be closer to $500 or $600 when you factor in tax and tip. (At least this includes salad, appetizers, pizza, and soda.) And you might say, “Why do you have to pay, Nic?” because it’s technically a party for his family, but I initially offered to throw the party before I knew about inviting his extended family, and he’s out of a job so he can’t throw it (trust me, if it was up to him we wouldn’t have a party), and I love his mom and want to do what I can to make her happy because it’s really her day too and she never asks for anything and she does TONS for us, including house and pet sitting every single time we decide to jet off randomly to places like Charleston and Napa.
Please don’t mistake this for complaining. As I said, I’m happy to throw the party and I’m the one who initially offered to host. We never have hosted any kind of Thanksgiving or Christmas or anything that incurs a cost, his family always has us over for holidays, and they always help us out when we need it. We are adults, and we are celebrating a HUGE milestone in B’s life. I just, kind of oddly, didn’t plan for that expense when I thought about the Spring, so now I have to figure out how to fit it in. Which I will.
Gifts
Which brings us to gifts. Luckily I already gave B his graduation gift (the trip to Charleston). But it’s also his birthday in April, which necessitated a gift. And I have a bachelorette party in June, which also joyfully requires some sort of leopard-print, feathered nightie gift and an evening of drinks and downtown nightlife. And the same day is my brother and sister-in-law’s baby shower and you KNOW I will be bringing out the big gift-giving guns for that one.
Concerts/Sports
I thought I was done purchasing entertainment tickets after the Arcade Fire/The National/Dispatch buying bonanza that happened earlier this year. I was wrong. Eddie Vedder is coming to the Chicago Theater in June with his ukelele and you know I’m not missing that. So two tickets at (gulp) $90 … cha-ching! But I managed to say just say no to Florence and The Machine and to Pitchfork (sobs) this year and to Lollapalooza (I think) so I seem to have reached my ticket-buying threshold for the year.
Still need to sign up for my $75 Olympic Distance triathlon, though, and book a hotel room for it. Ouch again.
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So basically my budget is looking busted for the month of May. I need to do some accounting and see how I did for April but other than a big shopping splurge and the Charleston trip on the May credit card I should miraculously still make all my savings goals for the month. I was really, really busy with work and very preoccupied with my training schedule for the triathlon so I think I saved a ton in dining out and entertainment.
May and June still might be salvaged if I can put my tax return and my side hustle earnings towards my extra expenses for those months. Then if I tell myself I need to be REALLY good in July to get back on track with my annual savings goals, I just might come out of spring with my accounting books looking ok and my savings accounts where I want them.
This story to be continued. Until then, enjoy the warm weather!
Category: Life, Money
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