Financial Flaws Friday

 

This month I have been using Spending Diary to keep track of my expenses.  I have used this before, but at the time I was to busy to keep good records.  I do have a little more time on my hands since my recent layoff and the reality check is good for me.  Actually I kinda kept track a little bit last month, and some of the totals in certain categories were shocking to me. For instance, under the category Restaurants, in two weeks, we had spent close to $162.00.  When I was working that would have been less shocking, but we are now down to one income.  It was a wake up call.  Oh, and another category that I was less than pleased with was my Thrift Store Shopping.  (Cheaper retail therapy).  Not so much. Last month I had spent $100.00 on buying things I thought I could resell in a recently rented booth at a local antique store. My sales in the antique booth are nil, nada, zip!   Why is that you may ask?  My prices were too high ( I recently marked down the majority of the items). Maybe my hoarder tendencies were kicking in and subliminally I did not want to actually sell any of the stuff.     I will be checking back today to see if any of the markdowns helped with sales.  Meanwhile, I am staying out of the Thrift stores for a bit.   This week's totals: Restaurant:  $11.46  ( Awesome!) Grocery:  $114.71   (I am proud of this!) Gas:  $51.00  ( job interviews, we are in a somewhat remote area) Thrift Store Shopping: $65.00  (need to really keep an eye on this!) Whew, I feel a little bit better having confessed my financial flaws.  I think this layoff will really open my eyes to my inner financial diva.  I know she is in there ready to slay the spending dragon.