Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Karma

My husband, LeGrand, and I recently made a huge change in our control of finances. He took over the bills and the budget. I have done such a fabulous job for the past ten years, that we decided he should take a turn. Or, I needed to reign myself in more efficiently. But, hey, I am proud that he has never tried to control me, it was all my idea!

I really have done a great job giving us a fairly normal life for the past four years of grad school. Being a stay home mom with three kids and a partially working husband has not been easy, to say the least. But, having LG take over has been an even more exciting challenge. Let's just say that my eyes have been opened to a whole new penny pinching world. And, so have his. It's supposed to get better after school, not worse.



These are just a few of the law books

that the money from our budget

paid for in the past four years.

The total amount paid for law school:

trust me, when I say,

you don't want to know.

(Besides, we really haven't
paid for anything but the books -
we have the next 30 years for that)




This is the milk dripping off the car last Saturday.
We had gone to Sam's Club
and I dropped the milk in route from the cart to the van.

To salvage the rest of the gallon,
I placed the upside down container (hole on top)
inside a shopping bag.

I had LG hold it just at the right angle,
out the window of the car, all the way home.

By the time we got home,
there was only a remaining half gallon
(but hey, in today's world that adds up to $2.25)

Did I mention that it was cold and raining outside?
It took LG's arm a good 1/2 hour to defrost.

And, even though he wouldn't admit it,
he was laughing inside when after he complained
I purposefully ran through that mud puddle .
(The kids and I didn't even try to hide our amusement)

This is the vanilla that I wish I would have known about.

My self proclaimed budget at Sam's was $100, and when I reached my limit, I left the desired vanilla behind.

The next day, when I reached my desired $80 budget at the grocery store, I again left the vanilla on the shelf.



Two hours later, I had to borrow some from the neighbor.

Sixteen hours after I borrowed, I found this little culprit in the back of my shelf, hiding behind all my spices.



This is the brand new bottle of Clorox wipes.

When we got it out of it's package, there were no wipes inside, just suds. The estimated worth of the missing wipes...$3.

I think that Sam's Club is out to get me.

This is me at the bank trying to redeem a twelve dollar service charge.

The bank closed out our overdraft credit card last year without telling us. (Good for us, we never used it)

Now, the bank it trying to penalize us for not having the correct kind of checking. (it needs to be linked to a line of credit)

I have no idea why it took the bank eight months to finally give us a service charge. I think they waited just long enough so that they could make us reapply for the credit. Is there a conspiracy?

LG told me that if I could get the $12 back it was ALL MINE! So, after getting nowhere with customer service on the phone, I carted a couple of kids into the local branch. Sophia took my picture.

So, on to the Karma. Since January when LG took over the finances, he has become notorious for leaving all of our money in savings, except for what we absolutely HAVE to have. Whenever I go to the store, I have discovered that I better call and make sure that we have money in checking. I cannot tell you how many times my card has not gone through. I have gotten onto LG about this several times. It is so embarrassing! And especially frustrating when you have just wrestled your way all the way through the vastness Wal-Mart with three kids in tow.

Friday night we stopped to rent some movies. Food City has a great deal: 5 catalog movies for five nights for $5. LG was standing with the girls as I went to check out. What happened? Do you have to ask? My debit card was declined for the third time of the week. I paid with my credit card, while shooting LG a look and explaining to the clerk that we really do have money. Let's just say LG and I didn't do much talking the rest of the night. He thought that I had spent too much money, and I knew he just didn't transfer enough money. He went to his laptop to crank out the numbers and I came to my refuge that we call the blog. One hour later, he came out and apologized. He said it would never happen again. We made up.


Fast forward. It is Saturday night at 11:30 PM; LG has not arrived home from the church yet. I begin to worry. He comes running in the door, asking me where his Discover Card is. "I don't know, it was laying out on the table last I saw it", I reply. I had washed LG's wallet the week before, when it was "misplaced" for the thousandth time. (Everything is misplaced to LG, not lost, because he always finds it eventually - he is still searching for his first three wedding bands) LG had transferred the contents of his wallet to his new wallet that was gifted to him by Abigail at Christmastime, and he couldn't find his credit card.


I inquired, "What do you need it for?" LG shrugged, "I just went and got gas and my debit card was declined. I couldn't find my credit card either, and the clerk said she was going to call the authorities. I tried to go to the ATM and take it out, but even though I transferred the money last night, it wasn't in there. I tried to take it out of savings, but the bank said that service wasn't provided with our account." I promptly ran to pay for his gas. When I got home we did a thorough search for the missing Discover Card.....it was right in his wallet the whole time.

It's a good thing the man has a sense of humor...because you know I was laughing AT him the whole time. It made me feel better that he was laughing too.


Hey, you're scary.
That's better.
Your eyes are closed.
Thank you.
You're welcome.

10 comments:

tiki_lady said...

OHH! finances finances! Budgeting and fidgeting! I am one who loves and thrives to be on a budget. I am also one who hates to feel like there is no money (when others are around)I don't mind being poor in my house) and I would die each time my card would be denied! If this happened to me more than 3 times I would religiously and obsessively go to the ATM and pull a balance EVERY time, before I got to the register. DH, he refuses to budget. He spends money on whatever he feels is necessary, whether for him or the the children. (the house is last on the priortiy list). I budget and save so I can buy something for the house. DH budgets and makes do so that he can buy a toy or something. Both of us need to agree on the things we are budgeting for. I have my faults too. I am addicted to goodwill and if I spend $100, I feel like I have saved us money. However, $100 is still $100 that was blown on nothing substantial.

tiki_lady said...

I have to say I enjoyed this post and like how you two work together! LG, I can so relate to being frazzled at the pump and the entire wallet episode and not being able to find the credit card, only to have it in your WALLET! WE have bonded.

tiki_lady said...

ok, I am a post hog! I just wanted to let say in the future if the milk thing ever happens again. All you have to do is go inside to the front counter with your damaged goods and they replace it. Do you know how many loaves of bread the ninny's packed wrong. Underneath my cart and while strolling out, I ran over and crushed the bread because it had fallen. They over loaded the cart. Hence, new goods.

Mia said...

We just traded the budget duties at our house too. It was time to trade the responsibilities. Finances gets to be a big responsibility after a few years and it is good to trade off and let the other one be in charge for a while. My only beef is that my husband doesn't update it as often as I did, so I don't know from week to week where we are in a certain budget category. But to be honest I have been spending less since I don't know how much we have to spend. Glad that after all was said and done that your hubby could laugh at himself. Oh and glad you found the vanilla.

Lindsey Rose said...

When will it ever end right? I have to say that you are really good to just let go of the budget. I would literally go crazy! Also, I really do think Sams is out to get you. Did youcall Clorox about the wipes?? You need to so they send you free coupons or something. Hey we love free right? Also Kroger is having an awesome sale right now and if you print off the coupns from your website some of the stuff for sale like cookie mixes and stuff are practically free! Stuff like that is great for food storage!

Renee said...

Vanilla is sooo expensive.

Marilyn said...

We tried that trade off too. And frankly, after over 30 years of marriage, we both like it better when I take care of the finances.

Rita said...

Poor LG -- karma is a stinker sometimes, isn't it??

I pay the bills around here -- and I doubt that will change. It would give Matt a nervous breakdown to deal with it!

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