Budgeting has not always been a priority here in the Mitchell household. Getting married when you are still young and dumb doesn't really lend itself to knowing how to handle a monthly spreadsheet with numbers on it. Added to that the fact that so far, for most of our married life, one, or both of us have been in school... without jobs, or without a "good" job that really pays for the bills and the Dairy Queen treats.
However, for the last few years, (once Kevin got a real job) we really started to buckle down and watch where our pennies were landing, and where we could pinch a few along the way. But over the last few months, we decided to be even crazier (a term we like to use in this house to describe our budgeting).. and got on the cash-only bandwagon. A reason why a lot of my family members may want to prepare themselves for some crafty Christmas presents this year. Also with that cash only mindset, comes a new appreciation for the concept of Change. No, not Change like the President promised, but Change as in "ooh I just found a nickel under my seat this morning... OR, oooh, I braved a search in my crumb filled sticky purse and pulled out 26 cents.. Change." These moments of search and recovery end up being big deals when you are trying to hunker down and stretch a dollar way past what it was intended to pay for. Find enough, and you can reward yourself with a nice breakfast burrito from your favorite drive through. Hit the jack-pot of change, and you might even be able to splurge for a Starbucks.
We consider any amounts of change "off the budgeting record," meaning that it doesn't need to written down, accounted for, or filled with guilt, about. And there's really no better feeling than holding up a drive through lane because you are slowly counting out in dimes the $2.16 needed for a burrito and a small coffee. Yes, those moments are pure joy. So let's raise our quarters to Obama and sing with Michael while we take a look at ourselves,...and make some change.
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