Spending and Saving

My next to last resolution "theme" is that of spending and saving. It probably should read the other way, huh? Saving should always come before spending. "Should", being the key word.



I was never very good at saving, but I did excel at spending. At one point, I probably had $10,000-$15,000 in credit card debt. Some of it was from frivolous purchases like clothes, shoes, books, body products, craft stuff, laptop, etc. Some of it was for classes at the community college, car repairs, or groceries. Regardless of the merit of the purchase, over $10,000 in credit card debt isn't a good thing. And mind you, that didn't take into account my car payment or student loan payments.



About 5 years ago I realized that I didn't want to live with that much credit card debt. I started to chip away at it, with some extra payments and putting my tax return toward the payments. About 2 years ago, I paid off all of my credit cards. I also paid off my car in that time.



I also managed to get my savings up to about $5000 by putting away overtime money and money from each paycheck. However, my savings have dwindled over the past year or so, mostly because I have been taking money out of savings to cover overdrafts on my checking account. And why do I have overdrafts do you ask? Well, I'm buying stuff.



It's not stuff that I need, but I desperately want it. Books, stamping supplies, scrapbooking supplies, etc, etc, etc. It started with a treat to myself after the baby was born, then, it became more frequent. Whenever I felt sad or unhappy or stressed out (which, really is the entire first year after a baby), I spent money.



At least I haven't been charging things to a credit card. I do all of my buying with my Visa check card or PayPal (connected to my checking account). But, that still doesn't me feel less sick to my stomach when I realize that I'm down to less than $1000 in my savings account.

Additionally, our joint credit card bills have been quite high over the last year or so. We always pay off that balance each month, and much of it was purchasing baby stuff, but there's no good reason to have a $2000+ credit card bill each month.

Diego and I both kept our finances separate before we were married even when we were living together. We're both set in our financial ways and like having our money to do what we want to with it. Diego is *much* more frugal than I am, however. He is a good influence on me. But, we need to learn to work more in tandem when it comes to our finances.

I'd really like to get a handle on my (and our) spending this year and increase my (and our) savings. I resolve to:
1. Make a household budget with Diego. Including discretionary money for each of us. And stick to it.
2. Make a savings plan with Diego and implement it.
3. Limit my craft spending. I need to come up with a reasonable amount to spend every month/quarter. Amount TBD.