Bad budgeting

I've been slacking big time these past few weeks with the blog... I just have no motivation to do anything. I have tons of thoughts that I could blog about but no energy to put them down.

Today I'm going to touch on a more personal subject for most people.

Money and finances.

In the last 4 months we've had a baby, gotten married, the holidays came, and we moved. Those things will take a toll on anyone's bank account, and they certainly have on ours. I've always assumed that people just know that good money comes along with working in the oil field. My husband makes very good money, we shouldn't be dealing with the struggles we are. I'll start by pointing out that we have no savings account, which is a huge problem. Small things come up and then we end up broke, for instance 2 weeks ago I had to replace the battery in my hideous vehicle to the tune of $97, which left us with almost nothing in the bank account. Then Justin ended up needing to be driven to work, to the toon of $150 in gas, and guess what happens on my way home? I run over a 2 inch piece of metal and blow my tire, which means a new tire had to be bought, costing us $115! January fell just right and we are getting 3 paychecks and we were planning to use the extra one to catch up on a few bills and get new furniture for our new house but due to all the crap above that didn't happen.

I've always had what I suppose you could call a sense of pride in how well I handled our finances, and lately I've been off my game. I used to make sure all the bills were paid on time, if not early and this past month has been awful, there were a few bills paid late and one even over drafted out account. My husband makes way to much money for us to ever go in to the negative, that was a huge math error on my part. We're finally caught up on everything, except what hasn't come in yet of course and it feels wonderful.

Justin and I did some serious work and reflecting on our budget this past hitch home and we've decided that once his bonus comes in and out tax return is here we'll be buying a new car. We've decided on a Toyota Camry! After the past trip and pack to NOLA with my truck and the problems that have been arising I just don't feel safe in the Explorer. I used to always brag about how reliable it was, even though it looks like hell. And it's really been the opposite lately. It's wheeled me well and saved mine and Brantley's life a time or two, but it's time to move on. I know it seems like buying a new car is probably the last thing we should do given the things I've touched on in this post but I do believe a new car is not only the answer to a lot of our problems but it will help us save in the long run.

I should also mention I've taken up couponing with a very dear friend of mine. I've always been a bargain shopper and as long as the quality is still up to my expectations the cheaper the better. I'm still fairly new to the coupon scene, but I've already got a mini stock pile! I'll probably never be as extream as the TV show, but I see nothing wrong with stocking up on things we use regularly. I've already got quite the lay dry soap collection, 14 bottles, which will be around 2-3 years of deterrent for right around $20!

I suppose that's all for today, folks!