{Day 2} Discovery in Contentment and Simplicity

My co-worker said my post was too long yesterday. I totally understand. I tend to write long posts, but I barely read others' long posts.

I promise this one will be shorter.

Yesterday, I shared about my phone, and how much of a "chore" it is for me to use. I'm halfway with finishing my tasks to get the phone that doesn't make me want to throw it across the room every time I use it (might be a slight exaggeration).

Yesterday also marked a grand occasion. My mom started a blog! It's great. She's going to be blogging for 31 days as well!

Today we will be discussing my spending.

Now that I have a full time "big girl" job. One that I can't give up during the summer to travel. One where I'm at work from "9-5," my paycheck is a bit bigger.

Being a big girl means bills:

insurance
car payment
rent
health insurance
phone bill

plus you know, hulu, netflix, food, gas, etc,. Totally put the non-essentials up front.

I'm definitely spend more than I should. I've been able to put away money for different savings accounts, but I've had to even "dip" into the accounts to keep from over drafting.

I had created a beautiful budget, that I was sticking to very well. And then, I just gave up. I started to buy "this" even though it didn't fit into the budget. I know budgets are for tweaking. But this "overspending" (wow, there a re a lot of quotations in this post), has made life stressful and complicated.

discovery 

Miriam Webster defines discovery as: 

the act of finding or learning something for the first time : the act of discovering something. 

I've discovered that my bank account is reflecting that my heart is on me.

I've discovered the overspending is causing me not to save for things I want to have and do.

I've discovered that shopping is a coverup for something much deeper.

contentment

Miriam Webster defines contentment as:

the state of being happy and satisfied : the state of being content.

I've found I'm always stressed and dissatisfied with my spending. 

I've found that spending more money actually makes me less happy.

simplicity

Miriam Webster defines simplicity as:
the quality of being understand or use : something that is simple or ordinary but enjoyable

I've uncovered that my spending is not simple. 

I've uncovered that my budget is not easy to use.

I've discovered that my spending has not made me happy, but in turn has caused me grief because of the complexity of my budget.

Steps to recovery:

1. Evaluate all my spending for the last month.

2. Evaluate the layout of my budget, tweak what is necessary.

3. Clean up my spending and rely on the budget, when that category is out, it's out. 

4. Make sure I'm documenting my spending as to make sure I'm not wasting my money.

5. Look for coupons and sales to help save money.

6. Test out the new and re-evaluate to make sure I'm content and the process is simple.