OUCH I can't believe my eyes!

Since we lost our jobs earlier this year, I knew that we had an income problem but after religiously tracking our spending for the past month, I now realize that we have a spending problem as well. A prime example of that would be the totals just from January 1st to January 24th. It truly is an eye opening exercise and also a, "WOW, Golly Gee! We totally suck at eating in and staying in!" kind of a moment. The Entertainment, Food and to an extent Food categories are killing me.

Inclusive in the Entertainment category is us buying alcohol for our NYE's party since we didn't want to go out; us going out for birthdays (3 of them) celebrations, snowboarding for DH and kiddies, and anything that's recreation related. I know, I know...so unnecessary. Trust me, I've already said it to myself.

The Food category includes eating out, coffee and kids school lunch. I know that we can definitely eliminate all but $50 from this category.

The Expenses category includes the cost of gas, tabs for one of the cars, and pretty much anything that isn't a regular bill. But, for the most part it is mostly all gas for the car. DH cannot take the bus but does carpool 4 or 5 days a week. I on the other hand work 2.2 miles away from the house. You would think our gas bill isn't as bad but of course when you're busy eating and drinking as much as we do, you have to drive there. FML.

Education expenses are those that will be refunded to me from work. I have to put them on our debit card since we cut up all of our credit cards.

Beauty category is high this month due to me getting my hair cut and colored. I normally only do this every 5 months and I was due. What I should have done was cancel the appointment, but my gray hair was starting to show and my ends were drier than the Sahara desert.

Now, that $9,600 is what we took out of our 401(k) to catch up on our mortgage. To date we have sent them $10,106.32 and are still behind on our mortgage by $2,021.27. We should be all caught up by the end of February.

What did this exercise teach me?

1. First and foremost, it taught me that we spend too much money on STUPID things.
2. It also taught me that I need to relearn the word, "NO". NO to myself, NO to DH, NO to my kids, NO to my ALL MY FRIENDS. NO to EVERY DAMN PERSON that asks me to do anything other than sit in my house.
3. That even though we spent like we weren't in debt up to our eyeballs, there is room for us to catch up. All we needed was a smack upside the head and a dose of reality. You better believe I'm going to fix this for February.
4. That had we just stayed home and turned down all invitations to go anywhere, we would only be $265.00 behind in our mortgage and not a whopping $2,021.27.

Please excuse me while I go berate myself and my husband some more.