So Much Room for Activities!*
I need to find a way to finance my activities. I've got plenty of room for them, as my preferred activities all happen in the great outdoors. I have known this for a while, but was reminded of it this weekend after having a blast at tennis camp here in NB, which was not free unfortunately. I've fallen in love with triathlons in the past year, a pricey hobby with the fancy bikes, heart rate monitors, wet suits and entry fees. This is why I still ride my cheap mountain bike, use my fingers to calculate my pulse, wear the "free" wetsuit I got from my first training group and am only doing a couple races this next season. If I could afford it, I'd go on a scuba diving trip once ever three months instead of once in my lifetime, which is all I've done so far. I want to take up rock climbing, but this involves a whole different set of expensive equipment, not to mention the skill set and muscles I must acquire in order to pull myself up many feet in the air with the tips of my fingers in tiny crevices.
These are the things that fill me with joy and make me jump out of bed in the morning, excited for my day/week/month/year. When I don't have a fun athletic activity to look forward to and train for, I become lethargic, bored and usually end up eating more ice cream and frozen custard than I should and then wonder why the top button on my pants is putting up such a fight.
Half the reason I don't always do some of these activities is the money, or lack there of. I have the usual bills to pay, debt to get rid of, groceries to buy and don't always end up with much left over to fund my "recreation and entertainment." There was a time when I financed much of my lifestyle with credit cards in between paying jobs, but that is for another post. These days I operate on a "cash only" basis, meaning if I don't have the cash on hand (or in my bank account), I don't buy it. WHAT?!!!! I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes I have to tell myself "no," which I have recently learned is not a four letter word.
The word "no" sucks. It means sometimes I don't get to do what I want in order to still do those things that I need, like make my car payments so the repo men don't show up at my house and take away my adorable little car. I've started this thing called "irregular income planning" which means I look ahead to see how much income I may or may not have coming in the next month and budget accordingly in the order of importance. 1. Food (groceries only, no going out). 2. Rent/Utilities (if applicable) 3. Transportation (car payment, gas/oil). Once these are taken care of and I still have money left over, I move down the list to my cell phone, student loans, credit card, household repairs/expenses, restaurants/going out money and recreation/entertainment.
This means that some months I can play and other months I can't (or shouldn't) because I just don't have the money coming in to justify another $140 entry fee to a triathlon. Or this means that I don't go out to eat or drink to save up and spend that cash elsewhere doing something that I really love. This might be why you haven't seen me hitting up the latest restaurants and bars in a while. I'd rather eat oatmeal for dinner and be able to pay the entry fee for the half marathon in April. It's hard and takes "discipline," another new word in my vocabulary.
Some months I am really well-behaved and strictly stick to my budget. Other months I am not and I blow all of my "entertainment" money in one weekend, then dip into other budget categories to pay for another race which is a big no-no. Rather than kicking myself, I try to think about how well I am doing, especially considering my previous habit of not thinking about my expenses. I'd throw everything on a credit card and assume I'd be able to pay it off on my next job. Right, which is why I am still paying for trips and things from 2007.
If I have a bad spending week, I try to squeeze in some cheap or free activities that still contribute to my health and happiness without breaking the bank. This might be a run around Lady Bird Lake with friends. I already own the running shoes and I don't have to pay anything to use the trail. Or maybe I start going to group tennis lessons once or twice a month. It won't break the bank to spend $12 for an hour of fun tennis practice instead of spending a lot more money for private lessons. I am trying to find a nice balance between allowing myself to still do the things I love that don't lead me to the bottom of a gallon of ice cream and keeping my recreation/entertainment expenses reasonable and under budget as I try to dig myself out of debt and survive unemployment. I am still learning from all my money mistakes, which sometimes seem constant, and try not to repeat them in hopes of creating a better future for myself and a fatter recreation/entertainment fund so I can buy a fancy new bike AND learn how to rock climb with the correct equipment.
Po$$
*P.S. Step Brothers is quite possibly one of my most favorite movies, only topped by Dumb and Dumber. Highly recommend multiple viewings of it, as I find it to get funnier each and every time.
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