Stickin' it to the Man

I don't know if it scares anybody else, but "recession" scares the heck out of me. I really enjoy being a stay at home mom. I also enjoyed work. So, I take tasks at home and make them a little bit like work so that I get a similar feeling of accomplishment. The budget is one of them. No matter how much you do or don't make, I am a firm believer that every household should run by a budget. I didn't used to always believe this, but since I started staying at home, I do. I think Mikel wishes we would have had a baby sooner so that I would have come to this realization a long time ago. But after work, money talk would just stress me out. But now, I have constructed several spreadsheets that maintain our running total budget and our monthly budget. Our monthly budget is done by category item, how much we should spend on this item for the month, a column for actual expenditures, overages by item and a total over/under column so we can analyze where we go over the most and adjust accordingly (most always the ever indefinable "miscellaneous" category). Today, I received our electric bill, up $30 from the past two months. I expected it to go up in the summer months, but the notice that accompanied it was scary. It basically said, get ready, your bill is going to go up up up and there is nothing you can do about it because all Americans use is coal, gas, oil and more coal, gas and then some more oil.
Of course, we've all noticed the gas price increase. Then there is the grocery increase -I'm amazed at how little $50 will get you at the grocery store. Then Cox decides I need to pay $3/more a month for internet (stupid "Power Boost"), and let's not forget the $8/month increase we experienced for car insurance, despite the fact that we just receive a "safe driver" bonus check for not having a wreck or ticket for 5 years! Needless to say, when we discovered AT&T charging us for INCOMING text messages - messages we have no power over - we were a bit upset. Actually, righteous indignation comes to mind. So we actually called them and told them to shut text messages off completely because I'll be darned if we are going to pay them $4 for messages we received from other people (most of which are AT&T customers!). Your not getting my $4, no siree! Talk about stickin' it to the man.
All this to say a few things.
- We REALLY need a renewable energy policy.
- Be conscious of what you are putting out there. Don't be a part of the problem.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Learn it, love it, make it your mantra. Thank you to my old roomate Gracie, who used to threaten bodily harm if she found a yogurt cup in the trash.
- Beware of hidden costs. It's amazing to me how much money we WASTE. It's like a fun little treasure hunt for me now. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to our budget whether or not we have a $4 charge for text messages or an $8/month increase in car insurance. But when I found out I could take a safe driver online course and receive an $8/month reduction in our car insurance bill, you can believe I'm gonna take it. And that $80 refund I am due from my pediatrician, they'll hear a lot from me until I get it - that'll cover over half my of my electric bill. I'm sure I'll throw a parade and invite everyone over when I get that check. Just make sure to email or call me to RSVP because your text won't go through.