November 2014: Tis the season for the continuation of the G2 saga

October has involved a lot of insanity and a lot of inconsistency in spending. While I did manage to stay relatively under budget and I was able to record my expenses pretty regularly on my phone, I did not do a great job of reigning in my spending (especially in the food category) as well as I could and should have done.

And while I am certainly making a strong point to NOT GO OVER THE FOOD BUDGET this month (with exclamation marks!) in addition to other savings, I can't say with confidence the spending will go down significantly due to a few contributing factors that I will need to take into consideration throughout this month.

THIS MONTH'S UPCOMING MAJOR EXPENSES:

1. New Glasses/Prescription - I need new glasses. Not want them, NEED them. My prescription is about six years old, which is something like two to three times greater than the time in which I should update my prescription, and is actually a slight issue while driving right now. Which is essentially what prompted me to go ahead with it.

Now lucky for me, I am partially covered for eyeglasses through work (which was another reason why I was more eager to pursue glasses too), but the keyword here is partially. They only cover half my expenses. So I decided to shop around in order to find an optometrist that charges a fairly reasonable rate. Ironically, that optometrist turned out to work right by my office. I see him in the first week.

Well that covers the prescription. So what about the actual glasses? Well that may not happen this month depending on sales, but I will say this, at least on one pair of glasses, I don't think I'll be scrimping on the lenses. Because driving, glare and scratches and all that. I've had enough of that.

Which gets me to my next major expense this month.

2. G2 Lessons and test - This past week I instructed my instructor to register me for the G2 test, which he will be assisting me on by letting me borrow his car. While the registration itself is pretty painless, it does cost money, not to mention the money in which I will be using to borrow my instructor's car and his time. All told, just this will cost me over $200 this month. Yikes!

And that's discounting that I'll probably need at least one or two more two-hour lessons (at $60 per session) in order to get more practice and confidence on the road, and then pay the government money in which to place an extension on my license if I pass. (it expires next April)

And if I don't pass... all that money's basically down the drain. So... I better damn well pass on the first try!

Getting my G2 is becoming just as if not more expensive than one of my university courses! Why does growing up and becoming independent have to cost so much bloody money?!


THIS MONTH'S GOALS:

1. Stay under my $200 food budget!!! - Seriously I need to manage this at least once this year in order to prove to my lazy-ass self that IT CAN BE DONE WITHOUT STARVING.

Note to self: part of the reason I'm in this fix is because I'm lazy so I need to STOP IT AND COOK MY MEALS AT HOME.

And plus, as of this moment, my fridge and cupboards are really very stuffed. If there was ever a moment in which I could hole up for a month without buying any new food (like say, a zombie apocalypse), this would be the time to do it.

So... I need to curb the food shopping addition. Focus on shopping my own cupboards. But not wait until I have no food and starving because that's when I binge spend my food budget into the troposphere. That's what happened this month. And it wasn't pretty in the slightest. Although it did get me a lot of food to eat. But still... bad.

2. Keep the budget balanced - This is going to be really really hard, because the above big expenses may end up seeing me dip into emergency funds to cover for the extra costs, which I want to really avoid.

I should be getting a few paychecks from freelance work this month which I am hoping to use to bridge that expenses gap hopefully. But it's also going to hurt, because normally that's the money that I split into my savings AND to accelerate paying down my student loans.

But I have no choice. In my pre-month budget assessment, I'm over $300 overbudget simply due to these extra expenses. Well, at least I have the money on hand both in future income and in savings to pay for it without going into debt, but still... blech.

I have got to keep reminding myself that (provided I pass on the first shot) this money isn't forfeit. I am getting a G2 license, some freedom from late night taxis and, as a lot of my already driving friends have said to me when I started this process "a basic skill that I'm surprised you didn't get yet." This isn't money going to waste, it is providing me with education and a tangible skill I can use and have and sell as a part of my many abilities as a person.

It's a positive gain, even if it means it delays other gains for now....