My Budget Busters
April 19th, 2008 by Ana
Apparently my fellow PF bloggers are dying to hear what things bust my budget, because I got tagged not once but twice for CindyS’s “budget busters” meme this week. Peter from Bible Money Matters hit me first, then Shanti over at Antishay Ventenne got me. I guess it’s “confession time” in the personal finance blogosphere in regards to budgets.
- The fast-food drive-through! This one is my weakness, my achilles heel, my vice, and I have gotten to the point where I simply plan for it. I know there will be days when I just don’t feel like cooking, or I’m on the go and getting hungry with a few more errands left to do.
- The $5 DVDs at Wal-Mart. Seriously, this one is just too easy to justify: a DVD for less than a movie theater ticket! We always buy movies we know we like and will watch at least three to five times … but they really add up when you find four good ones in one trip to the store.
- The “day old” sales at the bakery. Doughnuts, muffins, sweet breads, loaf cakes, bakery cookies … yes we have serious sweet tooths here and I love getting them for less than half price! It’s never on the grocery list, but how could I pass up such a great deal on things we love to eat? Let’s not forget the fun day-after holiday candy finds either … I just scored a dozen (YES, that’s TWELVE) Cadbury caramel eggs on my Missouri trip. I won’t even get into Christmas or Valentines Day candy.
Hmmm, seems like food and entertainment are my weaknesses. None of these things are large-ticket items, but they do tend to add up if I indulge in them on a regular basis.
I know I am supposed to tag other bloggers, but all my favorite targets have been tagged already, so I will do an “open tag” where if you have a blog, put up your budget busters. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to leave your biggest budget busters here in the comments.
Posted in budgeting |
April 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Kids’ clothes at the thrift store. Seriously. I do budget for clothes, but I will go over budget if I see a cute item at a great deal. I just got a lovely 100% lambswool Calvin Klein sweater vest for my son for $1.49 (all winter things are on sale). Yes, I had already overspent in this category, but I couldn’t pass it up!
April 19th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Knick Knacks (in its broadest sense) for the kitchen. I can always figure out a
“need” for something.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Thanks for playing along!!
April 19th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I’ve posted about mine before but here they are:
1. Dunkin Donuts
2. McD’s and/or pizza for the kids 1-2 times a week
3. Sporadic shopping sprees (trying to just stay home now that the weather is gorgeous - Northeast)
April 19th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Convenience stores. I drive over forty miles to work and at the mid-point, I come to a “T” in the road. There is a c-store there and I usually stop and get a soda and a snack for work.
Drives the wife nuts.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I enjoy going to the movies and I normally get the pretzel bites.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:00 am
[…] Debt Free Revolution has been double tagged. Don’t you think she should list twice as many? […]
April 20th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Ana-
We’ll take you up on that ‘open tag’.
http://not-the-jet-set.blogspot.com/2008/04/our-budget-busters.html
cheers
April 20th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Booze. especially http://wine.woot.com
I like trying new wines.
other than that our budget busters are eating out and deal a day sites like woot and jellyfish.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Great meme, Ana. I posted my budget busters at my blog if anyone wants to check them out.
http://tvgirlandmoney.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-biggest-budget-busters.html
April 25th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I took you up on that open-tag too.
http://gaminggirl.blogspot.com/2008/04/5-budget-busters-meme.html
April 26th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Going out to eat is our biggest buster. And it is not me that wants to eat out most of the time. It is the wife.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
[…] fast-food drive-through is the Achilles’ heel of Ana at DebtFREE-Revolution, followed by $5 DVDs at Wal-Mart (”a DVD for less than a movie theater ticket!” she said) and […]
May 13th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Ana- A suggestion for the $5 WalMart movie habit- we buy them also because it is cheaper than going to the movies. Once we watch them, I auction them on eBay. I advertise them as bought new last Thursday, viewed once- Usually they sell for $2-$3, but at times they sell for more than I paid for them. One sold for $20.50 because it was out of print. The buyer pays the shipping & it’s easy. We still probably spend more watching the $5 movies than we make selling them, on average- but it has dramatically reduced the actual cost of that habit by more than half.