Hi everyone. New here and really happy to have found this thread.
Brief bio: single mom of 2. My older son is 13 and autistic and my younger son is almost 2. I'm a college student and employed full time. I recently bought my first home.
I've always been kind of smug about the fact that I don't "waste" a lot of money on things like clothes, shoes, makeup, silly home decor, etc. I'm just not a super materialistic person. So you'd think I'd be okay with money, right?
Nope. Instead of blowing my money on cute shoes and candles, I like to invest heavily in Taco Bell and Sonic. I printed out my bank account history just from the beginning of this year and so far, I've spent about $1200 on fast food, coffee and drinks from Sonic (something about that ice...).
That is so embarassing. I've thought about it quite a bit and I think it kind of stems from my upbringing. We were very poor and, on top of that, my mom and stepfather were very religious. We never ate out or made fun impulse purchases. We didn't buy fun food for the house, only the necessities. As a child, that frankly sucks. I always felt deprived to some degree and I definitely noticed how different we were from other families. In my mind, I associate not buying a coke at the gas station with that time in my life. Does that make sense? It makes me sad almost, like I'm back there. There is something comforting about being "able" to waste money on candy and bean burritos. It's like my way of reassuring myself that things aren't as bad as they used to be. But truthfully, I need that money. I'm doing ok, but things get tight sometimes and there isn't some huge surplus of income that I just don't have anything better to do with.
But I really have to stop. First of all, I'm gaining weight. But most importantly: my kids need a financially stable mother. They need savings accounts. I need rainy day money. I want to pay my house off earlier. And hell, who knows, maybe I would buy a cute outfit every now and then if I weren't flushing all my money down the fast food toilet.
So I'm stopping. I think it is going to be hard. I know it will. And I think it will take some time before I start to see the benefit of my efforts, which is always tough. I want immediate reward.
Has anyone else had to completely cut out fast food, coffee, little stupid impulse buys? Advice us greatly appreciated!
May 15, 2017 at 10:43AM
