There must be a light under the bushel!

New Year's Day in July

I've been looking at houses lately and getting a big itch to buy my own. I can't start making serious decisions until my dad gets through his surgery, but since he has an optimistic prognosis, I can start planning. So, I realized that the most reasonable first step was to check out my finances. But nah, that didn't seem very fun, so I went to look at neighborhoods and houses instead. That was a mistake. I (surprisingly) decided I would be perfectly happy with any number of houses that I saw. Unfortunately, once I did look over my finances, I realized that all the houses I could be happy with were out of my price range.

So, I decided it's time to crack down with a budget. I made a plan and made my first transfer to my savings account. I transferred the money back to my checking account three days later. Okay, so I'm not off to a great start. It's alright. I'm planning to make up that savings withdrawal from my next paycheck. This is obviously a pattern I can't start, but damn, I'm used to spending my money whenever and on whatever I want.

My friends always tease me because I'm sitting in a pretty cushy spot. Since I moved back home and have no kids, my expenses are almost laughable. But, they'll get a good laugh now because it's damn comical to see how deprived I feel since I denied myself a shopping trip this week. The poor Movie Trading Company. I hope they don't go out of business. I'm too embarrassed to admit how much money I spend there, but between their music and dvds, I'm kept well entertained. I couldn't just quit cold turkey, though. I've just decided to cut out buying music for a while. I have plenty of music I've not really listened to much that should keep me entertained. However, some dvds are being released soon that I have to have.

Another big plus in my favor is that I'll be going back to work soon. I always spend a lot more money in the summer when I'm off work. When I'm on vacation, I think I pretend like I'm a rich person with limitless money who doesn't have to work. It's a nice (although stupid) fantasy for a teacher to escape with in the summer. This fantasy will come to a crashing halt in about another week and a half.

Anyway, if I want to maintain the life to which I've become accustomed, I definitely have to crack the whip on myself financially. I've decided that I'm just going to have to put down a fat down payment in order to get the house I want (and be able to afford housekeeping and lawn services, which I really need). I've decided that I must have descended from royalty because of my attitude about housekeeping. I absolutely do not mind paying for someone else to do it, but I feel extremely put out if my head ever has to be level with a toilet seat. Sounds like a reasonable (and not at all snobby) conclusion to me!

So, it seems as if I'm making a New Year's resolution in July. I just hope it works out better than the resolutions I make in January...