We had some financial challenges this week, both in the family budget and in my "grocery" budget. Since grocery money is all I get, I don't have any "personal" money for things I would like to do, so I find creative ways to make fun stuff happen. That's where my challenge occurred this week.
A group of us decided to go see the new Sherwood Baptist Church movie, Fireproof, which opened in Tulsa last night, and we had been told by several sources that one of the local churches was giving away free tickets. It was even in the paper that the tickets were on a first come, first served basis. I called and had five tickets reserved under my name. Imagine my surprise when I got to the church, and they CHARGED me $8.25 per ticket, for a whopping $41.75 out of my grocery money! Oh well! I had invited everyone to go, so I paid for the tickets.
My husband also broke off the key in the ignition of the borrowed car he is driving, so we had to replace the ignition, which was $78.xx total to the local auto shop. Fortunately, we are on Baby Step 2 of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, so we just used a portion of this week's snowball to pay for the repairs.There were many lessons to be learned this week, and here are few off the cuff:
- Before committing to any "deal", make sure you verify the details. Had I asked about the "free" part of the movie ticket deal, I would have saved some money, and we could have seen the movie during a matinee and included hubby, who had to work last night.
- When the key won't turn in the ignition, don't try to force it. Bad things may happen.
- When the key breaks off in the ignition of the car you have borrowed, don't complain. You could be making car payments or having to drive the hubby back and forth to work instead.
- When you spend your "reserve" grocery money on movie tickets, you will have to miss all the wonderful neighborhood garage sales happening on that weekend.
- And finally, when you have no money to spend, stay home. You won't get yourself into budget-busting trouble by walking around in stores finding "great deals" you can't afford.
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3 comments:
Very good advice! How was the movie?
yikes about your unexpected expenses.
I also want to know how was the movie?
The movie was really good; it was alot like Facing the Giants in quality but better in content. And that's saying something because I loved Facing the Giants and we now own it!
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